Bloom and Blossom

[Esani]

It was as quick as a blink. The man who was once spewing obscenities was now gushing praise.

“Brother Mulden, my peer, no, my savior, the one voice of reason in this madness, Balance bless you! I have been subject to most abominable treatment, of which I will spare you the details – spirits, my stomach churns at the memory! - by this harlot here, this witch, who means to inflict me with all sorts of dark and dreadful magic.”

Kisu, cheeks streaked with tears, shot him a look of disbelief. “What are you talking about? I can't even use magic! I don't even have my kit!”

“Instruments of torture, you mean. Brother Mulden, hear me when I say that not moments pass, I was sitting on my own step - which is not a crime, I do recall - sitting on my own step, unwinding after a rather exhausting session with the children, when all of a sudden, there is a clamor! An explosion of noise! And suddenly this madwoman rushes past the steps, evil designs on her mind. She hardly makes it past two steps before she claims that the master healer has sent her. Lies, I know, for who would send a healer for a man still in the prime of youth, of invigorating and blessed health? The spirits prompt me to speak true, and I denounce her false claims. But she has none of it. Suddenly, she throws herself upon me, and I am assaulted!”

“I never assaulted you!”

“Quiet woman. See? Even now she lashes out at me, like a rabid dog biting the leash. Look here!” He turns his head to reveal his bruised temple, where Jacinthe had thrown her scepter. “Tell me who would strike this blow. Or did I deliver it on myself?”

Kisu sniffed. “I..I don't know, it was... it was there when I got here.”

“Look at my house! Wrecked! The living room, dashed to bits. Bookshelves upturned, paintings fallen. All her doing. She swept in, bearing unnatural and some might say magical strength, and sought out to tear my place to pieces. Dashed cake on me too. Child, you must be dabbling in foul arts to be possessed of such powerful magics.”

“I can't use magic!”

“Brother Mulden, you of just and noble temperament, even you must have a heart that hardens at these falsehoods. As I say, I sat here, stunned! aghast! as she wields her instruments, her horrible scalpels, her cruel and gleaming knives, and I shake like a babe, truly, for who knows what schemes she is plotting, what disfigurements she sets to shape. And just as she is about to strike the blow, you arrive, quick on miracle's wings. Praise be! If you were late by barely a moment, why I... no, I cannot contemplate it, I shudder to think.”

“Scalpels...I don't even have my kit! All I have are bandages.”

“To strangle me, indeed! If you were to search her, she would not have any sharp blades or scalpels, true. Because she has hid them! Fast as sin, she can whip them out and cloak them in, as quick as you can say a prayer. O Brother Mulden, you have known that I have never taken a sick day, nor been held back by any infirmity. Why would I call upon a healer? How clear it is to see that this poor woman, this wretched harlot, poor thing; it is clear she is suffering from the madness of menses. Moonflow has swamped her senses, inflicted her with a red insanity. I forgive you, child. You know no better.”

Kisu's mouth opened and close. She couldn't find anything to say.

“Brother Mulden, if you can forgive my unsightly undress – the little ones were having a party, and I cannot refute them, sweet dears – may I ask what reason has brought you here? Balance, surely, has contrived of some excuse for you to rescue me, of which you have my heartfelt and appreciative thanks. Tell me, and we can have a laugh at this at the coming ceremony, which I have every mind to still attend, despite this traumatic assault.”

[Tieg]

Falther Mulden listened patiently as Father Esani poured out his version of what was going on. He nodded at the appropriate moments and appeared to be put at ease by Esani's assurances, but when all was finished, he very calmly stated.

"Brother Esani, perhaps you will feel more like yourself after you have cleaned up some. You see, your son Tieg is the one who told us that you had fallen and injured yourself quite severely. As we speak Father Edwin Cotler is on his way as well. You and I both know quite well that you would not be in this state if you were not impaired in some way. Is there something I may help with? I'm certain you would want a cloth to clean your face, perhaps some fresh garments?"

He looked to Kisu with upraised eyebrows. "Can you find some things to help him be comfortable perhaps?" He turned over his shoulder and nudged Tieg slightly. "Take Tieg with you. I'm certain he knows where to find these things in the house."

Mulden continued to wear his unerringly benign air of friendliness after shooing the others away. "So, Brother, how severe are these injuries? Was young Tieg exaggerating? However could you end up on the stairs in such a state? Why did you not flee if you were able? I pray you did not take a tumble down these same stairs. A broken back will not be aided well by a healer without magic. Brother Edwin may be awhile still. He stopped to get some treats for the children so that they would not be a bother while you rest."

Then in a more confidential tone he stated. "And you know, brother, the state of your health has been the subject of some gossip in the past. It would be best if you let the healer see you now and then. Especially if you desire to advance within the priesthood." The words were offered in a helpful way, not with the slightest hint of malice. One might have assumed he was being genuinely helpful, though also quite manipulative. Mulden was known for being perfectly friendly with most everyone, but there was an insightful devious side to him that was often cloaked by what seemed like good intentions. He certainly would not have said such a thing to Esani in front of Brother Edwin or many others in the priesthood. It was intended solely for Esani.

[Esani]

"Can you find some things to help him be comfortable perhaps?"

Kisu looked relieved to leave. She attempted to move, but Esani snared her in with a look. The look said 'Sit down and shut up.' Kisu sat down and shut up.

He looked up at Meldon with innocent eyes. "You pain me," said Esani, his voice a wounded reproach. "Loose tongues speak lies, but yet you choose the gossipmongers over a brother of your own order. Do you think I am deaf to the rumors? Do you think I would back down from my calling for a few naysayers? If it is not my health, it is my sermons; if it not my sermons, it is my manner of dress. There are those who would cut me down regardless of what I do, healthy or ill. But a few whispered words behind my back will not stop me."

The priest grasped the railing, and with a deep breath and clenched teeth, hefted himself into a stand. His body trembled, then stilled.

"Would an ill man be able to stand with ease as this?"

The Osai girl shot up, eyes and mouth wide. "Sir, you are bleeding!"

The back of his robe was streaked with red. Esani gritted his teeth. "Your services are not needed. You are free to leave."

"Sir!" Panicked, Kisu's eyes dashed around and caught the nearest book. She grabbed it, flipped through the pages, threw it down; picked up another book, flipped through the pages, turned it right side up, flipped again. "Please please please please please let me find the right one please please please please please..." As she pursued her books, Esani braved a step forward and wagged a finger.

"Tieg was very quick to alert you of my 'need' for a healer. Was he so forthcoming in telling you how he stole my vase? Did he make mention of how he tore my robes to shreds with Weldon's little princeling? I am sure he did not leave out how he sent my Jacinthe to tears on her birthday by stealing her cake? Tieg is a sweat boy, not strong in the virtue of honesty. I am working with him on that, spirits help me, but I would not put my faith in a boy that had betrayed my trust so frequently."

He shambled forward, the white knuckled grip hard on the railing.

"Brother," he said softly, painfully, "I expected to be accosted by healers and children, but not you. You side with a boy you do not know, over me? Is my word not good enough? Your intentions are good, but I would like to remind you that it is my body and the only expert on my health is me. Besides, would you have the heart to tell Edwin that his plans for the ceremony must be postponed? He has worked hard for it, as have I. I hope you realize that choosing the word of a country boy over two of your peers won't bode well for your advancement in the priesthood. But if you insist on this folly well...let us say the next time rumors abound, it won't be me who is the target.

"I say, when Brother Edwin himself come, let him decide if I am not healthy to attend the ceremony. I dare say he might see me in surprisingly good health."

[Tieg]

Mulden was quite alarmed by Esani's retort. He realized that 'ease' was a relative description.

"Brother Esani, while this child may be a liar at times, he did not appear to me smeared in cake and raving like a lunatic. Forgive me for suggesting that this was not the best way for you to be seen by Father Edwin, especially if you expect him to believe you might possibly be fit to attend any ceremony. Indeed I think if the two of you showed up like that you would both be disowned by the temple. Tell me, does Brother Weldon know that you hold him in such ill regard? I would wonder if this child, raised by you has a penchant for stealing things. Did you teach him that? I'm certain Brother Edwin will be most bothered to discover you've been teaching children to lie and steal or that you have such a poor capacity to control such nonsense. Don't play this game Esani. You yourself seem aware that you bear more faults than strengths. There are plenty of older, more qualified priests who would be very pleased to be offered your present appointment. Father Edwin might think you are the bees knees but that won't last long if you are perceived as so weak and sickly that you cannot control the children that the temple has entrusted you with."

Meanwhile Tieg knew exactly what was wrong with Esani but not because he should have had any business knowing. The pain, the bleeding, all of it flashed in front of him in vivid colors. He moved to where Kisu was flipping through the books and stooped to help her. Maybe he would find a picture that would help him describe what he knew to be the problem.

It was odd since he had never really studied anatomy but he was able to make perfect sense out of the diagrams he saw. Musculature, skeletal systems, he was instantly fascinated to see it drawn in two dimensions. It seemed far too simplistic on paper. He understood it in such greater depth how each piece fit together into a larger structure.

He tried not to get lost on a tangent and eventually discovered a picture that was helpful. It was a depiction of the lower pelvic region including the spine. He found the words there for the bones he knew were involved in Esani's injury.

Pushing the book toward Kisu he spoke quietly so as not to draw Esani's (or really anyone's) attention to himself.

"Here, this is one is broken, the ehh, acetabulum." He pointed and tapped at the picture. "But he is not shaped quite like this. His bones are longer here."

Tieg had nothing to draw with so instead he drew an imaginary line with his finger. "Longer..." He said again. "And thinner, fragile." Still hushed he said. "They are misaligned, he needs a splint. It is poking him here." He was gesturing to the abdominal cavity, specifically the intestines.

At the same time Mulden was not the least bit amused. Esani might have thought he had an upper hand in terms of Edwin's favor, but Mulden had spent more time at the temple and with the order in the last few days than Esani had in weeks. Edwin would listen to him if he had a bone to pick and right now Esani had pissed off a priest who was not without teeth. Mulden folded his arms. "I did not come here expecting this. I am shocked. Look at you brother! You are bleeding. This is not rational!"

[Esani]

Mulden was not amused but Esani sure was. The priest giggled. A light, affectionate giggle that a mother might give to a child who said something stupid.

"You think very highly of yourself," Esani said, looking from under thick lashes. He looked quite dainty holding a manicured hand over his mouth. "Let me tell you what is rational, Mulden. It is rational to assume that after a lively party with four and five year olds that I would be a little worse for wear. It is rational to assume that I would be a tad annoyed at visitors coming into my house, making demands on me, taking the word of a child who they hardly know over mine own.

"I do not think, however, that it would be rational to come into my house, unasked and uninvited, and threaten my very status as a priest based on wild accusations. All I said is that I am healthy and quite capable of walking - afterall, I AM healthy and I AM walking - and suddenly I am a liar and a thief, and there are more qualified priests to take my place? Why Mulden! Are you suggesting that the elders are so incompetent in their task that they would hire such a person of ilk? A liar and a thief...truly Mulden, if you think that is the case, tell them in person. Tell that they themselves are unqualified, that they chose persons of poor quality, since you certainly think you would do a better task than the Revered Elders. No, in fact, let me tell them.

"I shall tell Weldon to, that he is a liar and a thief. As you imply the child is a reflection of the parent, no? Since Tieg steals, I must be teaching him, yes? Thus, it stands to reason that if Keleth lied, then Weldon must have taught him. When Keleth stole into my clothes, then Weldon must be sly of hand. Where did you get the idea that I disliked Weldon? You are the one who thinks lowly of him, to deem him a poor father."

Kisu was breezing through tomes, picking one, searching it, throwing it down, picking another one, searching it, when a finger pointed to a page of the skeleton. Yes, the acetabulum, that makes sense, a broken acetabulum could be the cause, but....

She turned to the boy. "How do you know this?"

"Now, I would like to offer a suggestion," continued the halfbreed, swaying slightly. "I suggest that perhaps your five minute observation may not be the entire story. I suggest -and this is shocking, but bear with me - that since the ceremony is days away, that I might actually bathe and be well groomed for the occasion. You seem to be of a mind that I would actually wear this cake-stained garment for the ladies of Silver. I do bathe, you know. Might I also suggest that as a man who has never raised children, that you stick to your expertise while I stick to mine. Tieg has only been with me for barely a year; his father, who sought solace in a bottle, may have left some unwanted tendencies with the boy. Did you know that? Or was it easier to judge me, slap me with the label of bad parent, by one who has never been a parent?"

Esani swayed. The trickle of blood beneath his feet grew to a pool. His face had grown so white it was transparent; the web of blue veins were visible. Still, he smiled thinly. "You are the one with the many faults, Brother Mulden. Judgmental, hard-headed, quick to anger. I will keep you in my prayers, and I forgive you."

[Tieg]

Tieg glanced up irritably as he heard Esani going on about his supposed lies and thefts. It had truly only been once he had taken things and he didn't typically lie. Esani kept harping on it though, as if it were some inherent trait. It upset him. His eyes stormed over and he nudged Kisu's books away.

"None of my business anyway." He grumbled. "You figure it out. I'm just a stupid lying thief."

It didn't help that the man's physical state was deteriorating. The blood on the floor, the deliberate pain the man was putting himself in for the sake of foolish pride. Tieg couldn't ignore it. It was in the forefront of his consciousness and it was making his collar extremely uncomfortable. He'd only ever tried to help the stupid priest and he was going to stand there and kill himself because that was the only thing he was good at apparently. And he'd blame everyone else for it the whole time. Stupid stupid stupid priest.

Mulden was staring at the pool of blood at Esani's feet, ignoring his face and even the words he was saying. He was incredulous. It seemed that Esani was in his own little world. And though Mulden was not from this order originally if there was one thing that would inspire him not to move to Myanar, this was certainly it. Nothing Father Edwin could say to sugar coat the idea would fix this. It probably wouldn't break Edwin's heart but it wouldn't make him happy either.

"I see." He said, staring at the blood. "Well I certainly hope you manage to get that in order before the ceremony." He said pointing to the enlarging puddle of blood. "Because if you don't I think you'll be watching it with the Spirits while someone else gives your speech."

At this point he was hoping Brother Edwin would show up soon. He somehow doubted Edwin would be able to talk sense into this man but the other priest's arrival would mean that he could leave with his own senses intact. He wanted to be done with this and forget that he'd encountered young Tieg at all today.

[Esani]

"This?" Esani kicked the red pool. "The noble and just Mulden unmanned by a few drops of blood? I have had paper cuts that bleed more than this."

Suddenly, a book was shoved into his face.

"Sir, you are a textbook case of broken a-see-ta-ba...ah-se-tah-bull... " Kisu looked over the pronunciation. "Ah-say-tay-bul... ah-say-ta-bowl... listen, you have a broken bone. You shouldn't be standing. In fact, I don't know how you are standing because you should be in loads of pain right now."

"And yet, I feel absolutely fantastic."

His body was trembling. His eyes were bulging. Every muscle looked like it was contorted in pain. Skin that was already pale was a bloodless white, drawn tight over a gaunt and twisted face. The priest was a silent agony.

"Absolutely fantastic," he said with a smile.

"I don't know about that." When the priest glared at her, Kisu shrank, but balled her fists and stayed her ground. "I don't know what you priest guys are arguing about, but this kid is the only one that's making sense. You're hemorrhaging really badly and if we don't stop the bleeding, you could die. Seriously die. And I don't mean that in an over dramatic way. You're seriously going to die."

He waved her off. "I am surrounded by idiots," muttered the man with the cat ears. "My words are wasted. Argue amongst yourselves. I am going to get a glass of wine."

Bell collar chiming, he limped off the stairs. His hair, like a black bristled brush, painted the floor in a wide streak of red. He disappeared around the corner.

And then a crash, a groan, a thud of dead weight.

Kisu rushed into the living room. "Sir? Sir?!" Her slaps could be heard in the lobby. When she finally returned, the healer looked rejected but oddly relieved.

"He...um...passed out. Blood loss will do that. I could have told him that, but, you know..." She straightened her shoulders. A surge of confidence brought a life back into her steps. "Ok! So, we need a splint for him. Can one of you guys get one? And some cloth, and new clothes for him. I think I can get him set up good when he's not...you know...cursing at me and stuff."

[Tieg]

Kisu had looked at the other two. Mulden had looked to Tieg. Tieg was still angry. He scowled and looked at the wall. He wished the stupid priest would bleed to death. He deserved to. It was obvious that no one in the house cared about Esani or he would not have been alone here bleeding to death so that strangers, strangers brought by Tieg could save his stupid, pathetic, worthless life.

"I told the woman at the healer's that you would need a splint. They didn't tell you?" Tieg muttered.

Mulden was not heartened by the young man's demeanor. "Tieg I'm certain he is simply not himself. Pain will do that to a person. What an incredibly stubborn man."

Tieg's eyes narrowed. "No. He's always like that. Next he will blame you for the fact that he was standing there bleeding. He'll find some way. That's what he'll tell Father Edwin."

"Well, we'll know better won't we." Mulden said. "Splint. So where can we find something appropriate Tieg?"

The boy shrugged. "You'll have to improvise. I've never made anything like that before, but I saw my dad once splint a leg with a tree branch. It worked well enough for the leg to mend on its own. Father Esani's got more broken than just a leg though. You'll probably need something broad and flat to set him on then lash him onto it so he can't wiggle and try to stand up. That's what he'll want to do I'm sure so you'll have to tie him tight. I'm sure he'll yell like crazy. He can be pretty loud. You should probably find Melisandre to do it. She's pretty good at that sort of thing. Though, she might tie it too tight.

Tieg wondered if there was a flat board like that in the cellar. Father Mulden was puzzled. "Who is Melisandre?"

"House servant." Tieg replied. "She might be occupied right now but I could try to hunt her down if you want..."

"Where are the other house servants?" The priest asked.

"Probably avoiding--" He pointed in Esani's direction.

"He was quite loud." Mulden remarked. "But I'm certain he'll feel much better once we've gotten him sorted out."

Tieg shook his head slightly, figuring that there was no way Father Mulden understood at all. He shifted from one foot to the other. He didn't like the idea of fetching Melisandre. He was the one who'd tattled on her and gotten her punished. He wanted to apologize, but knew it probably wouldn't matter. She'd still hate him. Then again, she might not mind putting Esani on a board after how he'd treated her earlier and she might know where to find a body-sized board long enough to fit him. He looked to the young apprentice healer. "Do you want me to find Melisandre?"

[Esani]

"I told the woman at the healer's that you would need a splint. They didn't tell you?"

He was just as bad as the priest. She was doing the best she could. She didn't need some scowling kid who thought she could do her job.

Then again, maybe he could do her job. It wasn't as if Kisu was the best healer around. She didn't have her tools, her patient hated her, and now this teen kid had puzzled out the problem before she could. Maybe she really wasn't cut out for this healer business.

No no no, none of that. Have to stay focused. No time to feel sorry for herself with a patient bleeding on the floor. She studied hard, did the tests, found herself a good master healer to teach her. She could perform just as good as anyone else. She could do this.

While the other two were debating over a split, the Osai rolled up her sleeves and knelt down to check his condition. One hand held his wrist, another pressed into his neck. Cold clammy skin, low pulse, plus the dizzyness and confusion he displayed while conscious pointed to mild blood loss. At least she got that right.

As for the broken acetabulum, well, all she had was the word of some kid who shouldn't know anything about the complexities of the body. She needed to check herself. As careful as she could, Kisu slipped a hand underneath the priest to undo his robe. It was surprisingly complicated. Swath after swath after swath after swath of fabric, layered one after another, like a gratuitously wrapped present, and after much pulling and tugging she finally opened the robe, to reveal a thin chemise underneath.

The boils caught her offguard. Huge black and red cysts ravaged his body, bubbling out of the skin. Like little volcanoes they erupted in tiny rivulets of goo, seeping down his chest, his arms, his legs, everywhere. Beneath the cysts though, was what startled her most. Esani was skinny. Not normal skinny, but emaciated skinny. Bones were clearly pronounced underneath a skin that was papery thin. Kisu, without peeling off the chemise, could see the ribs heaving with every breath.

"Do you priests eat? Or is that...like...not part of your religion or something?" Honestly, she could think of nothing else that would explain it. "He must be awfully dehydrated. These...fluids...drain the body of water. And all this blood loss isn't helping him."

She pressed a hand against his pelvis. There was an audible squish as the hand flattened against the bursting cysts. Feeling around, she could tell there was something definitely wrong with the alignment. In fact, there were few bones that were even in the right position.

Her eyes made a quick check of the rest of the body. Not only did the man have a weird skin condition, he had a crippled arm, a shortened leg, was as skinny as a toothpick, and - her eyebrows widened at his feet- he only had eight toes.

Kisu realized too late that she was waaaaay over her head with this patient.

"Do you want me to find Melisandre?"

"Um....yeah..." she shook herself out of a daze, and covered the priest with his robe. "Find someone. Anyone. We need strong hands to lift him up." Nervously, she bit her lip. "I really wish I had my kit."

[Tieg]

Tieg twitched uncomfortably as Kisu experimentally applied pressure to Esani's broken midsection. He was familiar with Esani's boil-covered body and his frail physical condition. None of this was new or even shocking to him. It was simply how the man was. Most of the time Tieg endeavored to ignore it. He couldn't see the boils much of the time but it didn't change the fact that they were there and they caused the man discomfort. Tieg tended to sense things like that. But he did not trouble people over acne or minor bruises. Sure Esani's problem was worse than acne, but it was not as if Tieg knew how to fix it.

The boy reached unconsciously for his collar, tipping it slightly with his fingertips. It was uncomfortable but he was actively ignoring it, avoiding it and pretending it wasn't there, much the way Esani laughed off his multitude of wounds. It was certainly a bad habit, but he was far from shaking it.

He was eager to leave the area that had Esani in it. He would be relieved to be away from the priest and his broken pelvis. The healer's apprentice could take care of it and if he moved far far away he would be even better at ignoring it.

What he did not look forward to was facing Melisandre. The woman was surely closed up in the cellar hating him and everyone else in the house with her every breath. Sure, the fact that Esani was lying face up on the floor was a good indication that he would not be carrying out his earlier threats but Tieg was not counting his blessings yet. There was that, and if he ran into the chastiser while he was poking around down there he was apt to get an impromptu lesson on wandering places he wasn't supposed to go which was, in his mind, far from ideal.

He stepped lightly on the stone floor after descending the house's staircase into the cellar. It smelled musty, but the odor conjured other bothersome associations in Tieg's mind. By the time he had taken several steps from the staircase, there wasn't a muscle in his body that wasn't tightly wound and ready to spring back up the stairs. It wasn't an irrational fear of an imaginary monster. There was a real monster that lived down there.

Tieg knew that there were some smaller rooms in the cellar where Esani sometimes put unruly servants. He suspected that that was where Melisandre was, but if he was unlucky there were any number of opportunities for him to come across the chastiser before he got there. Then, there was the problem of not knowing where the keys were. As he made his way fearfully down the corridor he started to worry that Melisandre might not know where that key was either. Surely she would tell him if he was there to let her out. He quietly rued the fact that her two annoying sisters were nowhere to be found. No doubt they'd seen an opportunity to sneak off and have fun since there was no one to rain on their parade. Sure they could have gone and gotten help in place of Tieg, but he'd been the one to put his foot down. They were useless even if they were sometimes nice to look at.

He heard an errant sound and froze. He thought he could hear someone shuffling around elsewhere in the cellar. The underground portion of the house was quite sizable and partitioned in such a way as to provide it considerable utility. Once he was sure that the person was not alerted to him, he scurried the rest of his way down the hall and took stock of the smaller rooms where Melisandre was likely to be kept.

He wasn't sure what the smell was down there. It was a little like rancid meat perhaps. Tieg grimaced at that thought and tried to ignore it as he peered from a dark hallway into darker rooms to see if he could spy or hear movement within.

It seemed like long minutes ticking by before he thought he heard something.

"Melisandre." He said in a hushed voice. "Melisandre, is that you?"

-==-

Father Mulden was a squeamish soul. At the first hint of a boil he could not bear to look at Esani's figure much longer. He instead strode to the far end of the room where he could not see hear or smell Esani's disgusting form.

"Where do you suppose the children are?" He inquired of the apprentice healer in conjecture. "They have all been so quiet. How do they stay so quiet? That's not normal. Perhaps I should look in on them."