New training (attn: Nox, Open)

[Matalina]

Everything was bustling around the makeshift camp they had set up outside town.  Adrim hadn't really signed up for the whole medic thing, but he was proficient at it and they needed an extra hand.  It beat his daily workload, and Nox was busy taking care of his own trainees so the lad, though he was a grown man, wouldn't be bothering him much today.  Reading was still his lowest skill but he enjoyed it and enjoyed talking with Adrim about the things he'd read.  

 

There was a sick boy lying in the cot in Adrim's tent.  He was sick with a fever and the midwives in town didn't know what else to do, so they brought him to the evil Asha'man.  That was what his mother had muttered.  There was nothing Adrim could do for the boy.  He had the classic signs of being able to channel.  It made Adrim wonder what had happened to the boy to bring on the power.  Adrim was glad that he would never have to suffer the illness associated with the taint of Saidin.  But first, he had to survive this sickness.  

 

One man dragged a form through his tent flaps, with two boys in his wake.  It only took Adrim a moment to see the long lean form of his friend lying on the ground with shards of earth embedded in his body.  Thankfully nothing vital, but he was losing a lot of blood.  Adrim knelt down on the ground.  "Oh, Nox what did you do now?"  He hung his head and said a prayer and then looked up at the boys.  "I need the two of you to help me pull all the shards out.  All but these two, we do them last."  Adrim started weaving a healing weave and then thought, this was a good teaching moment, and one Nox would never show them.  The boy was good at whatever he tried, but healing had not been one of them, he didn't even like to delve a body anymore.  One mishap was all it took to send the boy into a panic.  "Watch carefully, I will do the weave slowly but I cannot be too slow, Nox is losing a lot of blood."  

 

Adrim restarted the weave with three sets of young eyes on him.  He the weave sink deep into Nox's body and he whispered.  "Start pulling them out now."  The healing was working and the small wounds were healing but the larger ones were slower to work - mostly because they had rock shards still embedded into them.  

 

All the smaller pieces were removed.  He looked at the two Soldiers with a grim smile.  "There will be blood, lots of it.  But I need to you pull them out while I do the healing."  After there ascent, Adrim wove the weave again and nodded.  "One, two... three."  As the shards pulled from Nox's body and blood welled up and over on to the ground Adrim let the One Power do its job.  It was a miraculous thing to watch the wound knitting together with the help of the One Power.  

 

The wounds healed like they had never been there and Nox's breathing was ragged.  Now they could only nurse him back to waking and pray he was strong enough to survive the healing.  He looked pale and ashen, so much like the boy he'd met some years ago.  Adrim ran his fingers down the side of Nox's face, the beard was no longer just stubble.  His sweet smooth face was something Adrim had loved about him when he met, had been why he'd chosen him, but that was a life Nox wanted to forget and Adrim respected that, nor did he blame him.  Adrim muttered to himself.  "Boy, you better not die on me like this." as he reached under his neck and legs and lifted him effortlessly and curled him to his chest before lying him down in a second cot.  

 

Adrim turned to the boys.  "Tell me what happened?"

[Oddpositions]

                Once they entered the tent, everything seemed to happen at once. Merdyn could barely keep track of what was happening. Oh, his attention wasn’t hard to hold when Adrim had shown them the healing weave. That was one Merdyn was dying to learn, although he had hoped to learn it when one of his teachers wasn’t literally dying…

 

                Then came the blood. There was so much blood. Merdyn sicked up at least twice during the whole ordeal, but an Asha’man did not vomit at the sight of blood. And Asha’man was a weapon, and where there were weapons, there was blood. No. He instead opted to swallow his own vomit both times. As soon as he was free of this, he was going to seek out soda and salt immediately. Anything to get the disgusting taste out of his mouth.

 

                Merdyn did not miss the delicate touch that Adrim laid upon Nox’s face.

 

                Hmph… Are they lovers? No. Nox doesn’t strike me as the type. I haven’t caught him sneaking any glances at me, so that can’t be it… Not that he’s my type… Perhaps Adrim is his father? I’ll have to ask around the Tavern later… Although I doubt Nox will like to hear that I am prying… Guess I’ll have to be quiet about it.

 

                Adrim addressed Ful, Merdyn and the nameless child in tow. Merdyn had no issue speaking up first, “I’m afraid I was late to my lessons today, Ful wasn’t; so, please Ful, if I miss anything, jump in… When I arrived, they had just rescued this boy from the river. We were trying to figure out where he came from and what to do with him… Then they appeared. Trollocs.”

 

                The word tasted like ashes on his tongue. Merdyn hated Shadowspawn. He felt it a great injustice that the Creator had ever allowed the Dark One to come into existence, let alone all the other things that went bump in the night. If the Creator was so powerful, why let some thing so chaotic exist? Especially if that thing had the power to undo the entire Pattern. It just didn’t make sense to Merdyn.

 

                “Long story short, Nox commanded the two of us to weave shields of air for protection. We complied, and he encased the two Trollocs in a tomb of stone. Right when our shields went up, Nox did something to make the stone traps explode, killing the Trollocs instantly. Unfortunately, Nox was caught in the blast and, as you can see, took some shrapnel. I vow to you, Adrim, that we had no idea what he was doing. If either of us had the slightest inclination that he was making an explosive deathtrap, then you can be sure one of us would have shielded him as well… I suppose it’s my fault… I was closest to him, and I did nothing… But, I swear, I did not know he was going to do what he did. I thought he might just leave them there or heft them into the river…” Merdyn spoke softly, trying to keep a tremor out of his voice. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes, but he held them back too. An Asha’man did not cry.

 

                Light! Please let Nox survive this! It should be me lying there, not him.

[Lih-Lyh]

In the recent month the fighting had slowed, and medic tents were being set up to help, the healing skills from black tower forces proved to be invaluable, the backbone of medical operations here. Still these places barely coped with the sick and injured refugees from every walk of life - combat casualties of conflicts and disease. Or so he heard from passing soldiers and dedicated.

 

Ful nodded respectfully to the medics each time he encountered them but never stepped inside a medical space until now, as he entered this tent and stopped in front of the asha’aman. There was a warm, cloying smell of living bodies and dirt in the air. This smell was coming from a cot-space halfway down the makeshift ward. Ful stepped between the cots and faced the man working, laying a calming hand on the little boy by his side. Adrim. The one Nox quoted earlier, who said failure wasn’t failure. His voice was full of authority.

 

They helped him remove the shards, all but two carefully. Then, over-solemnly, Ful looked up at Adrim as he healed Nox, trying to remember how the threads worked together to create this weave. The complexity of the weave startled him. Wonderment tried to escape his composed expression as the wounds repaired themselves. He contained it well. Ful swallowed, looked away at the blood, and thought he’d like to learn healing. He stroked the boy’s blonde hair absently. The healing was now complete.

 

Ful stood back from the pair, Adrim and the sleeping Nox on his cot, as Merdyn launched into words. He was disinclined to speak, for his head was empty of words to say. Ful said nothing, stationary in thought for some time.

[Matalina]

Of the two boys, Adrim was glad for at least some coherent words, the younger soldier with the boy looked dazed.  Though he was aware, he showed interest when Adrim started his weaves.  Nox shifted in his bed and groaned, "That's a good sign." The words left a smile on his face.  Adrim would take him back to his house until he was recovered - Nox would just love that.

 

The story was interesting at the least completely something Adrim believed Nox would do.  He chuckled at the boy's worry about not protecting his instructor.  "It is not your job to protect Nox.  He's fully capable of handling his gift and I will reassure you that he knew the consequences of his actions.  Never really cared for protecting himself."  Adrim sighed, "He has never thought much of himself despite his achievements."

 

Adrim knelt down in front of the young boy who was clinging to the soldier who brought him in.  "Are you all right?  Can I take you to your parents?"  Adrim looked up at the soldier who was in shock.  "You, Soldier need to take a seat, and rest.  I will bring you tea that will help."  He turned his head to see the other man, "And if you would like to ease your guilt, sit and watch him.  I will handle the child and you will tend these two.  And the both of you will come here tomorrow in lieu of your training with Nox since he's incapacitated at the moment."

 

[[ We don't have to do more lessons but I figure if ya both wanna learn to heal Adrim can show you. We can start a new thread when ya'll are ready don't need to continue here, just wrap this one up. ]]

[Lih-Lyh]

Ooc: Thanks so much Matalina! Both of us are super interested in learning from Adrim while Nox is out. 

 

Ful sat, sipping on the cup of fortifying tea. He was still shaky, still weak, though he put a brave face on it. He had seen Nox injured during the fight against the trollocs. It was as much as they could do to drag Nox to safety. He looked pale, but was breathing better after the healing. 

 

The ground lurched and Ful shot out a hand to steady himself against the tall back of his chair. Adrim had brought the tea and then he was gone - along with the young boy whose name they never learned. The young boy whispered “good luck” to Ful, Merdyn and Nox then never looked back. Ful sighed, settling back “what a day Merdyn. I hope Nox gets to go home soon."

[Oddpositions]

                Merdyn nodded at Adrim’s words. He would sit and watch Nox all night if he had too, Ful didn’t need watching. The young man seemed to take it all in quiet stride. Sure, there were others that could tend to Nox, but Adrim was right. It would help ease the guilt. Seeing Nox bloody, lying on the floor, had brought back unpleasant memories for Merdyn.

 

                Don’t think about it… There was nothing to be done for Killian. You had no idea that Father was planning that ghastly massacre… If you had never met Killian he would be alive… But if you hadn’t met Killian, your life would have been a miserable one… No, you wouldn’t take any of it back. It was Father’s fault…

 

                It wasn’t your fault…

 

                It wasn’t your fault…

 

                It. Wasn’t…

 

                Merdyn gave a start as Ful spoke to him. Looking around, he had noticed the boy and Adrim had left. Merdyn gave Ful a mournful look, “Light, Ful… You’ve been here longer than I have… Does this happen often? I don’t know if I can get used to the shocks. This morning I thought my biggest problem was a hangover and upsetting Nox, but that all seems of little consequence now.”

 

                Nox’s chest rose and fell slowly, in the even motions of a deep slumber. Adrim had used the One Power to heal Nox. If that didn’t work, nothing would. Today’s events had hardened Merdyn slightly. Looking from Nox to Ful, Merdyn felt a new resolve take root inside of him. He would become an Asha’man, even if it killed him. He could not let today repeat itself. Merdyn would become strong enough to defend his new found friends, and inevitably the World. Tarmon Gai’don was just around the corner. The Dragon Reborn walked the Pattern once more. The time for games was over.

 

                Merdyn was done messing around.

 

 

[[OOC: As Lih said, we'd love that! And I am good here, whenever you guys wanna start the next scene.]]

Edited May 24, 2018 by Oddpositions