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breezeshadowPending Title: The Cold
Genre: Fantasy
The Troops: Kader and Tegre
Status: Incomplete, only Part I, very rough
Rating: 13+ for foul language. Come on, guys, it's Kader.
Summary: Rezten sucks. Retzen sucks even more in the dead of a Welen winter with a sick soldier.
----
She had this argument every day, in all kinds of different circumstances. It did not matter what the illness was, what the treatment may be, where she was, what age her patient was... Everything always boiled down to the same basic debate.
"I don't care if it tastes like horse shit. Drink it."
Tegre sat cross-legged on the bed, staring with a frown into the mug she had handed him. He did not respond to her comment, instead swirling the liquid and, she could tell, trying his absolute hardest not to make a face at it. She sighed, leaning forward and tapping his knee.
"Look if you're going to pout at it I expect an argument back. That's how this works."
"My throat already hurts."
Kader figured that; Tegre's voice was so croaky she could barely understand him when he spoke in a normal tone. Luckily for her he usually forgot how to do anything other than whisper, so she could barely hear the scratch.
"Well this will make it better. It's kaloba and garlic."
"Not even honey?"
"Sorry, I don't have the ability to pull honey out of my ass, because I'm not a fucking bee." Kader sighed, staring at the fireplace crackling in the center of the room. "I know that shit's great for colds but it's also great at being expensive."
Tegre sipped at the liquid, then pulled back, wrinkling his nose. "You usually have honey."
"Yeah well lately everyone just has colds instead of broken legs so I haven't made much money lately. If you'd like to go break someone's ankle then we could get honey." Kader picked up her doctor's bag, rummaging through it; maybe she could at least find some sugar, to shut him up and get him to take his medicine like a good little soldier should.
"It may be worth it." At that comment she was completely thrown off, though, coughing out a laugh. She looked over to find Tegre staring thoughtfully at the liquid. "I'll fight off a mugger, then you conveniently treat them."
Kader could not hide her grin. "That's a brilliant business plan. Mutilate people, treat them, take their money. No one would ever suspect it."
"It's Rezten." Tegre sipped at the liquid again, then gave up, putting it back down on his endtable; he had barely set it down before a sneezing fit took him. Kader shook a finger at him.
"See? That's what you get for bitching about honey." She went back to the doctor's bag, at least pulling out a smaller pouch and chucking it onto Tegre's bed. "There, you four-year-old. There's sugar in there somewhere."
Tegre sniffed and picked up the pouch, staring into it for what Kader thought could be an eternity, possibly two. Then he finally pulled a miniscule sack, sealed with a little string, from it, glancing up at Kader. "You have a bag problem. I'm taking you to a therapist."
Kader snorted. "How much has happened to me and you want to send me to a shrink because you think I have a bag addiction?"
"I don't think." Tegre opened the pouch and dumped half of the contents into the cup. He then tied it back up, put it in its original bag, and returned it to Kader with delicate motions. Kader doubted he noticed her rolling her eyes, as he swished the medicinal tea before sipping at it. "Needs a little more."
"Fuck no! Then we'll have no honey or sugar! How do you expect me to get kids to drink even a simple ginger tea without sugar? Ginger tea has one of the better tastes of -- What? It does!" Kader glowered at Tegre's raised eyebrows peering over the mug. "Admit it. It's better than that."
"Most things are." Yet he drank it anyway, in delicate sips.
The silence used to bother her, slip underneath her skin and bubble in her blood. But after two years- - had it really been two years? Sometimes it seemed like an eternity -- she had finally gotten used to it, understood that the silence need not be discomforting. As she told Tegre so many times, she was no therapist; the human mind to her was simply confusing, and so things they would have figured out right away took her a little longer. She had tried forcing Tegre to talk often for at least a year, and had finally realized that it just did not work in the long run -- he would stammer, look away, or just not respond, most of the time.
She tried to give him his space but it was so hard, when silence to her was so oppressive, bringing with it dark tendrils from her mind, taking hold within her memories. She talked to drown out herself, so she would not be swallowed whole by her own thoughts. All the same she had discovered that in good company, the dark tendrils were a grayer colour, more likely to wait and watch, rather than immediately start chattering of misfortune.
Sometimes she could even think about them without having to go all the way through them. She did not quite understand it, but it brought comfort all the same.
More comfort than Tegre's coughing fits brought, at any rate.
"The kaloba should help with that. Maybe you need more." Kader moved to get her tea kettle, but Tegre reached out and took her wrist, just for a few seconds -- barely enough time to give the pins and needles a chance. "Or you can just suffer. That works too."
With a sigh Kader got up and looked out the window; it was a bright day as usual, with people bustling frantically through the streets two floors down. Of course in fine Rezten tradition she could spot at least two muggings happening, and what she thought may be a drug dealing, judging by the proximity to an alleyway and the paranoid glances. All the street needed was a guard walking by swigging whiskey and she'd be looking at a perfect microcosm of the country's capital. The government claimed it was trying to cut down on police corruption, but Kader figured that meant they were raising the minimum bribe amount, or perhaps phasing out hard liquor at the stations.
She would give them more credit if she hadn't been under their thumb most of her life. With a sigh Kader turned from the window, and then swore and crashed back into it when she found Tegre standing close behind her. He backed up quickly, holding his hands.
"Sorry."
"Don't be." She swore softly and looked back out the window. "There's nothing to see. Unless you want to pick out a customer for our business plan. There are two potential candidates out there already."
Tegre slipped to the side to look out; he barely was there for five seconds before turning around and returning to his bed. Kader frowned as he curled up on the bed, coughing.
"If you're getting a cough you may have influenza, you know." She got a sneeze in response; Kader walked over to her bag and began pulling out herbs and spices. "I have a little cayenne left and of course ginger."
She got no response, unless the hack counted as one. Kader sighed and glanced over at Tegre's mug; it was empty, and so she picked it up and swirled some water in it, carefully dumping the water at the edge of the fire. She glanced over at her herbs, thinking of what may help and yet not taste like Rezten sewage. She had plenty of lavender left, though the smell drove her insane; she also wasn't sure she could combine it with the garlic or cayenne without creating a doctor's abomination. She finally took out the mint and crushed it and some of the lavender into the cup, pouring hot water over the mix and setting it on Tegre's endtable.
Her supplies were running desperately low; she wasn't out of just honey but nearly out of bandages, antiseptic, and anesthetic. Finding the latter two were so difficult anyway that she hated to run so short, preferring to buy them in massive bulk and then use them but sparingly. Unfortunately she had only been treating little scrapes and colds the past few weeks, though she wasn't sure whether it was the result of people being less clumsy or people going to clinics.
Whatever it was, it meant less business for her, and less money, and eventually, no supplies or job. Tegre did what he could but her pride would not let her take the man's salary; he had paid her back a thousand times over and so whatever money he made as a private guard was his to keep. Somehow she couldn't get him to stop handing over money, though, sometimes even half of his wages without a word.
Kader did not even bother counting her coins; she knew it wasn't enough. Instead she packed up her doctors bag, and wrote a quick note that she left beside the mug near Tegre's bed. She looked over at him for a moment, considering letting him know she'd be right back -- but except for the occasional cough he had gone quiet, and she hoped that he had finally fallen asleep so he could recover from the cold he had somehow managed to catch.
She took her jacket, just in case Rezten remembered it was winter, and slipped out the front door.
Genre: Fantasy
The Troops: Kader and Tegre
Status: Incomplete, only Part I, very rough
Rating: 13+ for foul language. Come on, guys, it's Kader.
Summary: Rezten sucks. Retzen sucks even more in the dead of a Welen winter with a sick soldier.
----
She had this argument every day, in all kinds of different circumstances. It did not matter what the illness was, what the treatment may be, where she was, what age her patient was... Everything always boiled down to the same basic debate.
"I don't care if it tastes like horse shit. Drink it."
Tegre sat cross-legged on the bed, staring with a frown into the mug she had handed him. He did not respond to her comment, instead swirling the liquid and, she could tell, trying his absolute hardest not to make a face at it. She sighed, leaning forward and tapping his knee.
"Look if you're going to pout at it I expect an argument back. That's how this works."
"My throat already hurts."
Kader figured that; Tegre's voice was so croaky she could barely understand him when he spoke in a normal tone. Luckily for her he usually forgot how to do anything other than whisper, so she could barely hear the scratch.
"Well this will make it better. It's kaloba and garlic."
"Not even honey?"
"Sorry, I don't have the ability to pull honey out of my ass, because I'm not a fucking bee." Kader sighed, staring at the fireplace crackling in the center of the room. "I know that shit's great for colds but it's also great at being expensive."
Tegre sipped at the liquid, then pulled back, wrinkling his nose. "You usually have honey."
"Yeah well lately everyone just has colds instead of broken legs so I haven't made much money lately. If you'd like to go break someone's ankle then we could get honey." Kader picked up her doctor's bag, rummaging through it; maybe she could at least find some sugar, to shut him up and get him to take his medicine like a good little soldier should.
"It may be worth it." At that comment she was completely thrown off, though, coughing out a laugh. She looked over to find Tegre staring thoughtfully at the liquid. "I'll fight off a mugger, then you conveniently treat them."
Kader could not hide her grin. "That's a brilliant business plan. Mutilate people, treat them, take their money. No one would ever suspect it."
"It's Rezten." Tegre sipped at the liquid again, then gave up, putting it back down on his endtable; he had barely set it down before a sneezing fit took him. Kader shook a finger at him.
"See? That's what you get for bitching about honey." She went back to the doctor's bag, at least pulling out a smaller pouch and chucking it onto Tegre's bed. "There, you four-year-old. There's sugar in there somewhere."
Tegre sniffed and picked up the pouch, staring into it for what Kader thought could be an eternity, possibly two. Then he finally pulled a miniscule sack, sealed with a little string, from it, glancing up at Kader. "You have a bag problem. I'm taking you to a therapist."
Kader snorted. "How much has happened to me and you want to send me to a shrink because you think I have a bag addiction?"
"I don't think." Tegre opened the pouch and dumped half of the contents into the cup. He then tied it back up, put it in its original bag, and returned it to Kader with delicate motions. Kader doubted he noticed her rolling her eyes, as he swished the medicinal tea before sipping at it. "Needs a little more."
"Fuck no! Then we'll have no honey or sugar! How do you expect me to get kids to drink even a simple ginger tea without sugar? Ginger tea has one of the better tastes of -- What? It does!" Kader glowered at Tegre's raised eyebrows peering over the mug. "Admit it. It's better than that."
"Most things are." Yet he drank it anyway, in delicate sips.
The silence used to bother her, slip underneath her skin and bubble in her blood. But after two years- - had it really been two years? Sometimes it seemed like an eternity -- she had finally gotten used to it, understood that the silence need not be discomforting. As she told Tegre so many times, she was no therapist; the human mind to her was simply confusing, and so things they would have figured out right away took her a little longer. She had tried forcing Tegre to talk often for at least a year, and had finally realized that it just did not work in the long run -- he would stammer, look away, or just not respond, most of the time.
She tried to give him his space but it was so hard, when silence to her was so oppressive, bringing with it dark tendrils from her mind, taking hold within her memories. She talked to drown out herself, so she would not be swallowed whole by her own thoughts. All the same she had discovered that in good company, the dark tendrils were a grayer colour, more likely to wait and watch, rather than immediately start chattering of misfortune.
Sometimes she could even think about them without having to go all the way through them. She did not quite understand it, but it brought comfort all the same.
More comfort than Tegre's coughing fits brought, at any rate.
"The kaloba should help with that. Maybe you need more." Kader moved to get her tea kettle, but Tegre reached out and took her wrist, just for a few seconds -- barely enough time to give the pins and needles a chance. "Or you can just suffer. That works too."
With a sigh Kader got up and looked out the window; it was a bright day as usual, with people bustling frantically through the streets two floors down. Of course in fine Rezten tradition she could spot at least two muggings happening, and what she thought may be a drug dealing, judging by the proximity to an alleyway and the paranoid glances. All the street needed was a guard walking by swigging whiskey and she'd be looking at a perfect microcosm of the country's capital. The government claimed it was trying to cut down on police corruption, but Kader figured that meant they were raising the minimum bribe amount, or perhaps phasing out hard liquor at the stations.
She would give them more credit if she hadn't been under their thumb most of her life. With a sigh Kader turned from the window, and then swore and crashed back into it when she found Tegre standing close behind her. He backed up quickly, holding his hands.
"Sorry."
"Don't be." She swore softly and looked back out the window. "There's nothing to see. Unless you want to pick out a customer for our business plan. There are two potential candidates out there already."
Tegre slipped to the side to look out; he barely was there for five seconds before turning around and returning to his bed. Kader frowned as he curled up on the bed, coughing.
"If you're getting a cough you may have influenza, you know." She got a sneeze in response; Kader walked over to her bag and began pulling out herbs and spices. "I have a little cayenne left and of course ginger."
She got no response, unless the hack counted as one. Kader sighed and glanced over at Tegre's mug; it was empty, and so she picked it up and swirled some water in it, carefully dumping the water at the edge of the fire. She glanced over at her herbs, thinking of what may help and yet not taste like Rezten sewage. She had plenty of lavender left, though the smell drove her insane; she also wasn't sure she could combine it with the garlic or cayenne without creating a doctor's abomination. She finally took out the mint and crushed it and some of the lavender into the cup, pouring hot water over the mix and setting it on Tegre's endtable.
Her supplies were running desperately low; she wasn't out of just honey but nearly out of bandages, antiseptic, and anesthetic. Finding the latter two were so difficult anyway that she hated to run so short, preferring to buy them in massive bulk and then use them but sparingly. Unfortunately she had only been treating little scrapes and colds the past few weeks, though she wasn't sure whether it was the result of people being less clumsy or people going to clinics.
Whatever it was, it meant less business for her, and less money, and eventually, no supplies or job. Tegre did what he could but her pride would not let her take the man's salary; he had paid her back a thousand times over and so whatever money he made as a private guard was his to keep. Somehow she couldn't get him to stop handing over money, though, sometimes even half of his wages without a word.
Kader did not even bother counting her coins; she knew it wasn't enough. Instead she packed up her doctors bag, and wrote a quick note that she left beside the mug near Tegre's bed. She looked over at him for a moment, considering letting him know she'd be right back -- but except for the occasional cough he had gone quiet, and she hoped that he had finally fallen asleep so he could recover from the cold he had somehow managed to catch.
She took her jacket, just in case Rezten remembered it was winter, and slipped out the front door.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-06 08:51 pm (UTC)More personally:
She talked to drown out herself, so she would not be swallowed whole by her own thoughts. = <3, nicely done.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-06 10:25 pm (UTC)And yeah, Kader is one of my favourites; I relate to her a lot even though I don't have her horrifying past or rampant anger problems.