[Archive] Mending the Flesh

Azradi\'s tent is simply appointed but her few things mark her has a woman of wealth. A richly woven rug lies on the ground, a little sandy near the entrance. Something more than a cot and yet less than a bed stands in one corner as well as a large chest, two chairs and a small table. Her armor hangs from a stand made to hold it, the left shoulder is rent, torn and stained with blood.

The Corsair herself lies in her bed. Her face is pale and her bare shoulders show above the blankets which are modestly pulled up over her chest. He left shoulder is bandaged but already soaked with blood. Bruises radiate up her neck and down her arm and chest. She stares upwards, her eyes unfocused and dull with pain.

Su\'ad lays on a litter in Azradi\'s. This would be something less than a cot, but more than a pallette. Its not that she\'s been staying here a whole lot since the battle, but when she was able, she had her litter carried to Azradi\'s tent. \"They say misery loves company. If they do, then I would expect you to be very happy now, Azradi.\" she says softly, not even sure if she is heard. Su\'ad reaches for the bitter tea she\'s been told to drink.

A raspy, slow chuckle answers Su\'ad. \"The next time a man like that calls out, stop me from responding,\" Azradi responds. She adds, with a bitter note: \"I knew I was no match for him.\"

\"Well, I was prepared to strike him, but someone got in the way!\" Su\'ad replies with a playful tone, glad to get a response at all. \"You should learn the bow. I don\'t know why Alphros didn\'t insist you take up the bow.\"

\"Alphros has had little to do with my training until recently,\" the anAzulada answers. \"My father taught me how to use a scimitar and to sail.\"

\"I think I would rather master my first skill before I learn another.\"

\"Well, a bow would simply keep you out of arm\'s reach, or sword\'s reach, as the case may be. Though, come to think of it, it didn\'t help our sentry too well, did it?\" Su\'ad\'s mouth pulls in a jerking motion, but it’s not really a smile. \"I am just glad you survived, honestly.\" She tries to shift on her palette, but her flesh screams silently at her, and she groans. \"I\'d like to know something. About Alphros.\"

There are healers in the tent, although some of them are far too old to take are of themselves, much less anybody else. There are others, of the younger kind, but they know far too little to be of any good. And between these two, not much healing is being done. One whispers to another, in the ears, hoping only that no one hears her: \"I say, Akila, why don\'t you ask that other woman from the Black Tower to see if she can help us with this? Mother Fatin, here, is falling asleep and if anything should happen to the Lord Farside\'s sister, you know whose neck will be on the line?\" To this, the girl called Akila immediately take her cue and leaves the tent. When she returns, she has Naureen with her. \"Ah, Captain,\" The woman comes in with her faithful ol\' box of herbal goodness. \"I heard you bit more than you could chew... and you needed,--\" At the sight of Azradi, however, she stops and stares. \"Good gracious, my Lady,\" and going towards her, she points to the better-than-a-cot-but-not-quite-a-bed. \"You must not stand up or sit, even. You need to lie down. If you lie down, you will not lose so much blood.\"

\"I am glad you survived too, Su\'ad,\" Azradi smiles, though unseen by the Corsair Captain. She hesitates, and then asks cautiously, \"What do you wish to know about my brother?\"

The lady in question, lying in her bed, looks at the newest healer to enter her tent. \"I managed to work that one out for myself,\" she says wryly. \"When I try to sit up, I become dizzy.\"

Su\'ad starts to protest as the healer starts to attend her first, shaking her head silently, and pointing to the lady of the tent. She is satisfied when the healer sees Azradi\'s predicament. She waits a few moments, then says, \"Well, I have been exceedingly curious...why do the cats follow him around at Farside tower?\"

As Su\'ad\'s healer gets to cleaning the wounds of the Corsair, she is stopped. \"Use this,\" Naureen tells her, giving her a bowl of some kind of liquid in her hand. Then, she beings with the task of healing Azradi, even though she is no \'healer\' by title. \"I hope this is soft enough,\" she smiles and tells Azradi, when she picks up the cotton balls and dips them into the antiseptic liquid that is a hideous yellow color. \"It will burn, but the burning will stop in a few minutes. With the alcohol I added some turmeric root as an antiseptic,\" she offers, \"I don\'t know if healers use it, but I know my aunts used to apply lots of root powder when I got hurt as a child. Its magical curative properties maybe old wives tales, but I\'ve always known it to work.\" She then stops her yapping when she hears Su\'ad\'s question. Of course, she is only being good-mannered by not interrupting their conversation, and her interest in the answer is not even remote!

Again laughter sounds from the prone woman. Azradi replies, \"It\'s called the family curse or Beruthial\'s Curse. I can\'t tell you why it happens I\'ve never paid attention to the more arcane aspects of the family history and heritage but it when it happens, it\'s always to those who do not like cats and never to those who do like them.\"

She winces and inhales sharply when the yellowish concoction is applied to her wounds but continues in her explanation. \"It\'s very rare, only happens every few generations. My first memory is of his cats. I was very young and they delighted me.\"

\"It is a /family/ curse, then?\" Su\'ad pulls up her gown high, exposing her thigh all the way, to reveal the blood-soaked bandage between her legs.

The healer who is treating Su\'ad gasps on seeing the blood-soaked bandage. It doesn\'t look like she has been to many wars or seen such gruesome injuries. And, it is a good thing the girl does not faint because from the dizzy expression on her face it might just be a possibility. \"Erm,--\" she tries to draw Naureen\'s attention, \"This one is bad,\" she tells her. \"I,--I was wondering if you should look at this one.\" Trying her best to clean the wound, she tries her hardest to remove all the caked up blood and gore.

Naureen, on the other hand, has just finished with the yellow potion, and now, she calls for the healer to bring her \'onions\' and bandages. One can only wonder what she plans to do with those. Grinning, however, when the onions are brought to her, she cuts on open and after slicing it nicely, she says to Azradi. \"Excuse the smell, my Lady, but you will have to bear with it.\" The freshly cut slices are then applied to the slashes on the shoulder, before bandages are wrapped in place. She finally hands Azradi a glass of warm \'tea\' that smells of peppermint, even though it might not taste as pleasant with all the myriad herbal oils that have been added to it to increase its strength.

Su\'ad tries to watch the healer work, but that basically calls for a perpetual half-sit-up, and that just makes everything hurt. After a moment, she just flops backwards, staring at the ceiling and just wincing every once in a while.

\"Yes,\" Alphros\' sister replies, puzzlement clear in her voice. \"A family curse. Why do you as...\"

Unexpectedly, Azradi yowls like one of her brother\'s cats. She sits up suddenly, upsetting the offered cup of tea. \"That hurt worse than the yellow concoction!\"

She wrinkles her nose too, at the smell and pulls her covers up for modesty again, glaring at the healer Naureen. Her movement causes a few spots of blood to appear on the fresh bandaging

\"Azradi...\" Su\'ad chides, for being a poor patient. She looks at the bandage and shakes her head, making a clucking sound. \"You\'ll tear things up that way...\"

Glaring right back at her patient, who draws fresh blood from a cleaned wound, Naureen\'s brow paints with a patina of thousand lines that etch deep into her skin. \"My Lady,\" she speaks with a no-nonsense strict tone, \"I will not have you make sudden movements like that which can strain your injuries. Since you had the courage, strength and stamina to go to battle and face the enemy, I expect you to have similar courage and tolerate the sting and smell of your treatment. Now drink your tea before it grows cold.\" Black eyes narrow. \"I will not make it again, from scratch, and re-heated it is useless.\"

Turning her back, she now goes towards Su\'ad. \"Now you,\" she shakes her head and asks the girl to get her some needle and silk thread. \"Your injuries are not going to be so easy...\" As Akila threads the needle, Naureen applies some ointment, saying, \"This might help to numb the pain.\"

\"I -see- the enemy coming,\" Azradi insists. But she drinks her tea as ordered, evincing little distaste for it. \"As I was saying: Why is it important that Alphros\' affliction is a family curse, Su\'ad?\"

After Naureen instructs Azradi, Su\'ad just closes her mouth and keeps herself quiet. But as it becomes her turn, she does not seem to be looking forward to it. The wound already burns and stings as it is. \"Thank you,\" she says for the ointment, and then to the healer who was helping her, \"Could you help prop me up? I\'d rather watch.\"

As the woman finds pillows and such to help her sit up (in a most unladylike fashion) and Su\'ad settles down, she finally answers Azradi, \"Well, I asked because I was curious. But now...it seems it might be used as evidence for his claim.\" Her attitude toward Alphros\' claim is greatly changed, one might note.

Naureen says, \"I don\'t think it is something you want to watch, Captain,\" and taking the needle and thread, she bites her lower lip firmly as she examines the slash on the inner thigh. \"I,--\" her dark eyes flicker back and forth between the wound and Su\'ad\'s face. \"I would prefer it if you turned your face away. Tulah,\" she calls out to the second young healer. \"Hold the Captain\'s hand if she moves I won\'t be able to make clean stitches.\"\"

\"I suppose it does,\" Azradi reflects, \"I had not thought of that. It has always just...been.\"

The anAzulada lady sets her empty cup down and carefully lowers herself down to her bed, casting a worried glance in the Corsair Captain\'s direction \"Watch out for the onions, they don\'t warn you about them.\"

Su\'ad leans back to face the tent ceiling once more, though her head is propped quite high now. \"I\'d rather watch so I can know when to brace, and so I can look forward to when it is over.\" she says. \"Otherwise, you will need a few to hold my hand...and shoulders...and legs...\"

\"Make sure no sword is handy, either,\" Azradi comments drily, her eyes sparkling. Or perhaps that is just the smell of the onions.

Sighing, Naureen tells Su\'ad: \"Very well, if it will prepare you for what\'s coming...\" And as Tulah helps Su\'ad sit up again, she does make sure to hold her hands tightly. \"Your wound is very deep,\" she says, \"How did this happen?\" she looks towards Su\'ad as her brow furrows. \"I mean, how did,--\" She lacks words to describe how anyone could make a slash like that, with a sword. \"Did you at least kill your assailant? If I should see him, I would have his hands!\" A small growl is emitted and for the first time anger writes itself on her face in red letters. Gripping the needle firmly, she then makes the first jab into the skin. It is a quick jab, though, and before one can even notice she plucks the needle out of the other side while binding the wound.

Su\'ad shudders as the needle passes through the angry flesh of the gash, and her whole body tightens, and her free leg moves just an inch. She closes her eyes tight for a bit, a scream strangling in the back of her throat. Once the worst is over, she relaxes suddenly, breathing very hard. \"Oh...this is going to be a long day.\" She looks at the hand she\'s been squeezing, and the fingers look like purple little bulbs of blood, ready to explode. Su\'ad releases the hand and shakes it to ease the muscles. \"Sorry.\"

As soon as the needle is thorough, Naureen stops. She glances at Su\'ad and says, \"If we want to do this quickly, you will just need to bite onto some wood and let me finish this in one go.\" Her eyes travel to the girl, Akila\'s fingers, and laughing she says, \"I told you a healer\'s job wasn\'t so easy. Give the Captain some wood.\"

Whether from the tea or merely the effects of her own body healing - Azradi closes her eyes. \"Wake me if Alphros comes,\" she murmurs to anyone, but probably her servant.

Soon after, her breathing becomes even and shallow as she drifts off to sleep.

\"Well then, just hold me down, and don\'t listen.\" Su\'ad says. \"But bring me a leather belt instead.\" When the belt comes, she doubles it once and places it between her teeth. \"Freddy.\" she says, then looks away.

Without much a-do, Naureen clenches her teeth and runs the needle and thread through the bloody gash with nimble fingers. The work is a neat as any you would see, and considering this is flesh she is stitching and the woman is not officially a healer, her work would surprise anyone of greater talent. Finally, when the last stitch is pulled through, she looks at Su\'ad and smiles. \"There, there,--\" she says, softly, \"It is all better now you can take a big breath and let go.\" A knot is tied and the work with the needle is over. Putting it aside, she picks up a bowl filled with a red paste. After applying it, she takes the onions and puts them on, before covering the gash with bandages. \"You will have some tea, too,\" she says, \"And I don\'t want to see you strain your injury. If your stitches break, you will be answerable to me.\"

Su\'ad tries to be brave...she really does. But getting the wound, while painful, involves a bit of numbing shock, and the flesh smooth and healthy. Now it is fevered and proud and tight, and the nerve endings are raw and angry. She holds her breath, she cries out with a gurgling noise, she weeps...and finally she screams and thrashes about, with only the healer women to throw their weight on her and hold her down. By the end, even though Naureen tried to be quick, Su\'ad is weeping, tears flowing hotly down her cheek. The rest seems simple and easy by comparison, even the onion. The numbing might be occurring in the mind, by now. Su\'ad seems exhausted. \"Don\'t worry,\" she croaks as she lies like a fish out of water, gasping. \"I won\'t be breaking the stitches.\"

The screaming wakes Azradi from her sleep. She moans softly as waking also brings awareness of her pain. She lifts her head and watches Su\'ad with great concern.

Ok, Naureen didn\'t expect the trashing. She eyes Su\'ad at the end of it with cautious concern. \"The tea,--\" she takes the glass and puts it aside. \"I think you need something to numb the pain more,\" And handing her a tree bark that is much like a willow, she offers it to Su\'ad. \"Chew on it, like I told Lord Farside.\" Taking all her various bowls of potions and ointments, she now packs them up in her box. \"Give them both some more of the tea when they look a little better. Also,\" she adds, \"Give them both something to eat. Force them, if you must. Soups and fresh milk would be best, along with honey. If you can\'t find any milk go to the Narakshi tribe’s leader. I am sure he will sell you some, if not give it to you openly and freely.\"

Su\'ad takes the twig and chews it as directed. Quickly her mouth, at least, grows numb. But the taste is awful. She makes a face, but keeps chewing. \"I need you to get me better. Of the three of us, I count my injuries to be the lesser, and I must continue the battle as best I can.\"

\"Aye,\" comes Azradi\'s sleepy voice. \"I must be able to fight again, as well.\"

\"My brother will go into battle again, injured or no, and I will be by his side.\"

While packing up, Naureen listens quietly to the talk in the background between the two Corsair women. She shakes her head upon listening them talk of entering battle so soon. Then, out of nowhere, she looks at Su\'ad and says, her words laced with hesitation, \"If you don\'t mind me asking you a question...\" Her black eyes are lowered and for a minute she wonders whether she wants to say what\'s next: \"I heard that you whispered something into the ears of your assailant. What was it?\"

Su\'ad\'s eyes were half closed, and she continued to chew at the twig. But as the question is posed, she is suddenly alert once more, and she props up on one elbow, looking at Naureen...studying her...listening to the hesitation in her voice. When she speaks, Su\'ad\'s words sound carefully chosen. \"I said a name...a name to strike fear in his heart, and perhaps to send him to hell.\" She hesitates for just a moment more, glancing over to Azradi, then she says, \"Mazrakhor.\"

Su\'ad may glance to Azradi, but it is met with a blank look. \"Who is Mazrakhor?\"

\"The name sounds familiar...\"

Not showing any recognition to the name herself, Naureen merely mouths an \'O\'. And, when Azradi asks the important question, she looks towards Su\'ad again, for a response. Her job in the tent is nearly complete, so now she is just here for all the gossip! And, gossip is something Naureen is very good at. Like any good gossiper, Naureen knows that gossip like this is worth staying for!

Su\'ad looks at both women like she cannot believe her ears, and sighs sadly. \"Once, when Umbar was great, there was a great warrior...a great Corsair. His name was Mazrakhor, and he struck fear in the hearts of Gondorians. \'Devil of Umbar,\' he was called.\"

\"I remember that title,\" Azradi replies, turning her head. \"My father spoke of him.\"

Su\'ad nods once, and half smiles. \"I thought it would be an excellent curse to lay upon his ears, before I ended his life. Sorry, I was a little caught up in the moment. I should have left him alive.\"

\"We may have not had the chance even if you had stayed your hand,\" Azradi says, turning over to her good side to face the woman on the other pallet. \"That strange Knight seemed intent on his death.\"

Still pretending ignorance, Naureen listens to Su\'ad speak of this Devil of Umbar, who has instilled dread into the heart of Gondor. This news about the mysterious Crow-Knight, however, has captivated her interest. With eagerness and curiosity, she asks: \"Do you know anything about him? Where did he go? Was he hurt? Did he say anything to you?\"

\"I fought beside him all night and yet he said nothing to me personally,\" Azradi replies, gazing sightlessly into the distance. \"He came out of the darkness and disappeared into the darkness.\"

\"But he was a man. At least he bled like a man and felt pain.\"

Su\'ad\'s eyes are unfocused for a while, deep in thought. But when she returns, she looks at the two women. \"You know...I cannot even say what he looked like, so preoccupied was I with my own troubles. He called for assistance a couple of times, other than that, I regret that I do not know.\"

Nodding in agreement,\" He called for help when the Gondorian lord hit me so hard I was knocked to my knees.\"

\"But for the most part, he spoke to the Gondorian. Insisting his death was necessary to redeem all of Gondor for their sin of breaking a parley.\"

\"Oh yes, I remember that.\" Su\'ad responds. \"Like a ghost of vengeance was he. Let us remember that, should we ever think of betraying the honor of parley.\" She smiles, but then her smile fades once more. \"What news of the boy?\"

Naureen says, \"So his wounds did bleed?\" and pausing for thought, she says, \"Maybe he will show up again. And this time, you can invite him to the camp. I am sure he would not refuse an invitation from one like you.\" Glancing at Azradi, she grins. \"I wonder where he is from... his allegiance is to our own cause, but we need to know more about him. A force like his, should there be more, would be one worth having on our side.\"\"

\"A spirit or a man?\" Azradi muses. \"Blood or no, we may never know.\"

\"As for Yildirim, I have heard nothing. I have been laid up in here with no news.\"

Su\'ad sighs and shakes her head. \"Lord Alphros may send spies to find him, if he yet lives. Do not be surprised if he does not. They call us honorless and barbarian, but we are the civilized ones, and merely take our hostages as slaves.\"

Sighing, Azradi rolls onto her back again, wincing as her shoulder is jarred by the movement. She does not reply to previous comments but says: \"There is little you or I can do now, Su\'ad -- except rest.\"

\"Thank you for your services, Naureen. My servant will pay you.\"

Naureen shakes her head and waves a dismissive hand. \"It was my pleasure to be of assistance,\" she offers, and taking her box she is about to leave the tent. But, on her way out, she whispers ever so quietly to Akila in her ears, \"I expect all Farsiders pay for services rendered, much like the Master Assassin.\" And rolling her eyes she is gone out of the flap door.