WOT Adv 6

-- The Wheel Turns --
The next morning dawns cold but clear. After a meagre hunt that lasts a couple of hours you return with some small game. A scrawny rabbit to keep you and maybe the old man somewhat fed. You skin it and cook it and supplement his meal of cold jerky for breakfast. You ask the, Oravan (the man's name) if there is a village Wisdom. He points down the road.

"Well, Aybiya lives in the center of the village about a quarter of a mile away. She's the town healer. Most folks come to her if they need somethin'. I ain't never seen her cure death though." He continues to hoe at a small plot of land outside his one room, cabin-like home.

You decide to visit and by mid morning you stand outside a door pointed in a deep shade of blue.

You knock on the door that stands near the central square of the villiage. There isn't much else there. There's a tavern but it isn't open yet and isn't available for overnight stay. There's the Wisdom's house and what looks like a store of somre sort.

A small boy answers the door.

"I must speak to a Wise One by the name of Abyiya. A friend lies wounded at death's gate."

The little boy of some four or five just looks at you with wide eyes. He says nothing and you get the idea that he doesn't quite understand what you're asking.

You try again and finally a plain looking middlge aged woman of slender build appears at the door wearing tan colored shawl over a simple dress.

"May I help you?" she eyes you quizically.

You explain the situation.

She doesn't quite understand. But after a more in depth explanation complete with gestures, she can see you're in earnest about someone needing aid and she grabs a satchel and follows you back to Oravan's home.

"Ah, why didn't you say someone was sick?" she asks as she notices Maeslyn's sleeping form. She lifts her skirts as she steps into the house and you can smell the familiar bitter smell of healing herbs. She places a hand on Maeslyn's head and clucks her tongue. "This woman is sorely wounded!"

She then ushers you and Oravan outside so she can work in peace.

You spend a few hours chopping wood and stacking it outside the northern side of Oravan's farmhouse and get good and sweaty, as you wait for some news from inside.

After a lengthy time, the door opens and Aybiya joins you by the chopping block.

"Well sir. She's going to be alright, but you did good to bring her to me. I've done what I can for her wounds right now. I'm afraid there's nothing that can be done for the mental strain of whatever she's suffered. Such healing only the Creator can manage.

"But what I can do, I offer. Here, take these," she says as she hands you a packet of herbs wrapped in a white cloth. "Be sure to strain these herbs in boiling water and then place them on her wounds, especially those on her back and face. Otherwise infection might set in. She must also drink the water you used to strain the herbs. Do this twice and after pleanty of rest she'll be better before you know it. Let me know if she worsens," she adds and then picks up her bag and heads for home. "We can work out the cost of the herbs when your friend is better."

You take a long drink of cool water and wipe the sweat from your brow and step inside the cabin. Still weary from your fight in the forest the other day, the hard physical labor is starting to wear on you.

"How do you feel?" you ask Maeslyn. She's lying on the bed and her eyes are open, but her mouth shows sign of strain.

"Better that we're out of that forest," she says and smiles weakly.

You nod. "You need your rest. But I'm going to go back into those woods. To find your horse. And to slay the beast."

She stiffens. "No, Maer. Don't go! You don't know-- you don't know what that things was. What it can do. If you venture into its above again, alone you could die! The two of us together barely made it out alive."

"But your horse---" you start to argue.

"--Is only a beast of burden," she says with a sigh and sits up straighter in bed. "Look, let's buy another instead. If it fled into the woods, it's as good as dead. I didn't have much of value on it anyway. Just some observations I had written down on some parchament is about all I really value. And even that isn't worth my life. Please don't go!" she pleads.

You consider her words. "I will think about it. For now, you are to apply these herbs to where you were hurt, twice a day and drink the water too."

Maeslyn sniffs at them. "Gah!" Her nose wrinkles in disgust. "I know those herbs. This Wisdom knows her business at least."

She pauses and glances at you.

"You saved my life again, Maer." she says. "And were wounded in the process. Come here. Let me look at those scars."

"They will get better." you shrug.

"Yes, but they'll be better the sooner if we help it a long a bit."

She traces an angry red scar above your left brow lightly with her smooth hands. Her brow furrows a little in concentration. You can see her pupils contract a little and a sigh escapes her lips.

In amazement, several scrars and bruises lessens and the throbbing and itching you had felt subsides considerably.

She lies back and smiles. "That's all I can manage today. But hopefully it helps mend some of the pain I'm sure you've received trying to protect me. Now I must rest." and as soon as she leans back against the pillows she's asleep.