Chapter Sixty-Three
The bellringer mouse in question was at that very moment sitting with Winokur at the children's table, trying with limited success to teach Geoff's three Sparra students some table manners.
Brybag, Skytop and Harpreet were fledgling sparrows, their mature plumage only just starting to poke through their fuzzy coats of chick's down. They sat on the bench between the mouse and otter, raised up on cushions so they could reach the plates set before them. Right now the ravenous trio were putting away honeyed chestnuts and sesame seed plum muffins at a rate that kept their keepers' eyes round with amazement.
"Hares with wings, they are!" Winokur declared. "Whoa, slow down, me downy hearties! Don't wanna go gettin' them seeds 'n' nuts stuck in yore craws, now do ye?"
"Wink!" Cyrus chastised him over the birds' heads for slipping into the nautical, freewheeling otter jargon. "We're supposed to be teaching these Sparra the correct way to speak! Now cut that out!"
"Aw, Skipper Montybank talked like this ter Highwing all th' time when that sparrow was a chick, an' lookit how well that featherbag turned out!"
"Then let Montybank talk to these birds like that! You and I are Brother Geoff's assistants. We have to set an example!"
Brybag stabbed at his empty tin plate with his beak. "Morra!"
Cyrus looked down his snout at the raucous sparrow. "Now, that's no way to ask for seconds! The correct word is 'more,' not 'morra!' And you should also say 'please,' since that's the polite thing to do. You're all students of the Redwall way now, so you're going to have to learn to behave like gentlebirds. Now, repeat after me: More, please!"
"Morra, morra!" Brybag screeched anew.
"Well, I'll say one thing fer shore," Winokur laughed. "There's no disputin' he knows what he wants!"
"That he does," Maura observed from over their shoulders. "But we'll soon have all three of these fine Sparra talking and acting like proper Redwallers. Now, then, just how many candied chestnuts has this little ruffian devoured this evening?"
Winokur peered into the serving tray at the center of the table. "Uh ... all of 'em, it appears."
"Then I'd say this bottomless birdgut has certainly had his fill for one sitting. Although I suppose, if he asks nicely, I might be convinced to have Friar Hugh bring out some more ... "
The sparrow trio ruffled themselves down into contrite fuzzballs upon their cushions, abashed by the Badger Mother's thinly-veiled reprimand. "Morra ... please?" Brybag trilled as innocently as he could.
"That's much better." Maura leaned past them to pick up the empty tray for a refill, but noticed as she did so that Budsock's plate lay most uncharacteristically half-full before the young squirrel. "Is something the matter, Budsock? You've barely touched your acorn bread, or your stew."
"He hurt 'imself comin' down th' wallsteps!" Droge blurted out. "Fell right on his - ow!" A swift elbow in the side from Budsock interrupted the vocal 'hogchild.
"He did, did he?" Maura turned her probing gaze to Budsock. "Where did you hurt yourself? And tell the truth!"
Budsock squirmed and fidgeted under that demanding look. "Aw, 's nuthin', Mother Maura! Just bumped my nose an' paws a bit - see?" He hastily thrust out both paws to demonstrate that they were largely undamaged.
"Don't ferget yer ankle - yowch!"
"Now, Budsock, it's not nice to kick your friends under the table like that. So, tell me about your ankle ... "
"It's fine! I swear!"
"Oh really? Well, something's ruining your appetite. Up on your footpaws! I want to see how you're walking for myself."
Reluctantly, Budsock rose from his seat and took several faltering steps across the stone floor behind his bench. Try as he might, he was unable to keep a noticeable limp out of his gait.
"Oh, you foolish child!" Maura bemoaned loudly enough to attract glances from several of the surrounding tables. "That needs a poultice wrap, maybe even a cast! I hope you haven't damaged it more by stupidly running about on it like that. Right, it's up to the Infirmary for you!"
This prospect seemed to terrify the usually carefree youth. Budsock froze in his tracks, giving Maura his most pleading wide-eyed stare. "No! Don't hafta go to th' 'firmary! I'll get better on my own! I'll go to bed an' stay there an' only eat vegetables an' ev'rythin'!"
"Enough of this silliness." Maura passed the empty nut tray to the young badger sharing the bench with Droge and Budsock. "Metellus, would you please go to the kitchens and fetch some more honeyed nuts for our hungry birdfriends while I see to Budsock?"
"Certainly, Mother Maura." Metellus did as he'd been bid, though he threw a concerned glance back at Budsock as he shuffled off toward the kitchens.
Maura came around the table and took Budsock firmly by the arm. "Nothing for it now, you little rascal. You need a healer's attention. Off we go!"
Her paw suddenly grew heavier as Budsock collapsed in her grip in protest. "Nooo!" he wailed, flinging himself tail-first onto the floor so that Maura would have to drag him if she wanted to take him anywhere. "Don't wanna go to th' 'fimary! Don't wanna!"
"We're going there if I have to pick you up and carry you like a baby ... which is just what I'll do if you don't stop acting like one!"
"Nooooo!" her stubborn charge cried, tears springing to his eyes.
"What has gotten into you?" Maura asked, frustrated. By this time they'd attracted the attention of everybeast in Great Hall - hardly surprising, since Budsock was screaming as if she was murdering him. She was utterly mystified, for the distraught squirrel was well past his infant seasons, and she had never known him to act this way since his arrival at Redwall. "There's nothing to be afraid of - it won't hurt at all. It'll just be a wrapping to make your footpaw feel better ... "
"What's the problem here, Maura?" Vanessa asked, coming over from the main table.
"Budsock appears to have sprained his ankle, Abbess, but he's refusing to go up to the Infirmary."
"Is that so?" Vanessa knelt down before Budsock, resting a paw of comfort on his arm. "Now, now, dry those tears and be the brave young squirrel we know you are. Tell me, why won't you let Maura take you up to the Infirmary? She only wants to stop you from hurting ... "
Budsock blinked at her. "Don't want that fox lady touchin' me," he whimpered.
Vanessa and Maura traded a wordless glance of understanding. Budsock's behavior made perfect sense now. The Abbess looked back at the whimpering youngbeast. "Then I'll just have to tend to that ankle myself. Would that be all right with you?"
Budsock sniffled and nodded.
"Okay, then, that's settled. Now, Maura, this wounded warrior shouldn't be walking all the way upstairs on that bad foot. Would you please do the honors?"
"Of course, Abbess." The big badger scooped up Budsock as if he weighed nothing and proceeded to carry his teary form out of Great Hall. Vanessa followed right at Maura's heels.
Metellus, on his way to the kitchens, had frozen upon hearing Budsock's hysterical outburst, stopping to turn back toward the scene. He just so happened to have paused alongside the table where Mona sat, although he was not immediately aware of this. He was still close enough to the children's table that he could hear almost every word that passed between Budsock, Maura and Vanessa - a clarity of sound much aided by the surprised hush that had fallen over all of Great Hall. And when the anxious squirrelchild had at last voiced his reason for not wanting to go to the Infirmary, his whimpered explanation was clear to ears even at this distance.
As Maura and the Abbess bore their patient away from the sea of staring eyes, Metellus looked aside and inadvertently locked gazes with Mona; so providential was that moment that the young badger didn't even realize into which creature's eyes he was looking for several heartbeats. In those first unrecognized moments of that silent visual exchange, he saw not the vixen but only the pain and sadness and loneliness in those red-brown orbs, the forlorn soul behind those eyes laid bare in the flickering torchlight. Then, in an instant, the rest of the fox coalesced around those shining eyes, and the illusion was shattered. But the impression would remain with Metellus long past those fleeting moments.
Mona quickly and self-consciously looked away, as if ashamed that any woodlander might have glimpsed what she'd revealed in that unspoken confession. For his part, Metellus broke the gaze half a heartbeat later, feeling as if he'd been shown something he wasn't meant to see. His thoughts in a whirl, he hurried onward toward the kitchens for a refill of candied nuts.
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Later, after most everybeast had finished its dessert and filed out of Great Hall, Granholm and the other squirrels and hares of the afternoon's lookout rotation came down for their own late dinner, their relief having arrived with full bellies.
A few of the Long Patrol and Monty's otter crew, lingering in Great Hall over their second (or third) desserts, waved the hungry sentries over to join them. The latecomers were filled in on what had happened with Budsock.
Granholm shook his head as he tucked into his acorn, lettuce and yellow cheese salad. "Only common sense. The lad sees his mum an' dad butchered by foxes ... o' course he's not gonna want to have one tendin' his hurts. Abbess shoulda figured that out a long time ago."
"Now, Granny," Sergeant Peppertail said, "I'm not any happier 'bout havin' one of Urthblood's flippin' vixens livin' here than you are, chap. A good deal less, I'd daresay, wot? I know I'd do th' same bally thing that squirrelly tyke did if I got hurt m'self, an' insist on havin' the jolly ol' Abbess treat me pers'nally. But Mona does seem t' know her beans as a medic, an' I reckon anybeast who doesn't mind havin' fox paws laid on 'em's entitled t' take her help if they're willin' t' have it. I know there's a hare or three 'mongst us who'd not be with us now if they hadn't accepted th' ministerin's of that bloody badger's swordfoxes. Long as th' Abbess says she's welcome, we gotta make her welcome."
Granholm waved a paw. "Oh, I don't have any problem with Mona myself. She seems quite decent, for a vixen, and I'd have no qualms about being her patient. But I never saw my loved ones slaughtered by her kind. I'm just sayin' it might be a bit ... insensitive ... of the Abbess, keeping her on as Infirmary keeper when she knows full well there are traumatized youngbeasts at Redwall now who might not react well to having a vixen for their healer. Woulda been like asking me to trust a searat healer, after all they did to me while I was their slave."
"Good point," said Peppertail. "Well, soon it won't be a bally issue anymore, after them brushtailed swordswingers've got their fortress built across th' river an' Mona goes to live there. 'Til then, guess we'll just all hafta grin an' bear it, wot?"
"Suppose so," Granholm agreed.
The former slave squirrel had refrained from mentioning to any of his fellow sentries on their way indoors the thing he might or might not have seen from the east walltop. He held his silence on that topic here too; how did one even begin to go about describing something you weren't even sure you saw? Granholm told himself he'd go back up to the ramparts in the morning for a second look. Until then, he would wait to report to the Abbey leaders until he felt he actually had something to report.
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"Yes," Vanessa diagnosed after a thorough examination, "definitely a sprained ankle. You must learn to be more careful on those wallsteps, young squirrel! They're not there for you to play on!"
"Yessum." Budsock sat on one of the Infirmary beds, back against a pair of propped-up pillows and leg extended in front of him so the Abbess could look at it in the lamplight. He was far from his usual rambunctious self, subdued and compliant after his outpouring of emotion down in Great Hall.
"Fortunately, we've got just what we need on paw to have you good as new in no time at all. You just lie there while I fetch it. And while I'm at it I'll also grab some ointment for those scraped elbows and paws ... "
Maura followed Vanessa into the back corner where the medicines and healer's supplies were stored. The three of them were alone in the Infirmary, and Maura spoke softly so that Budsock wouldn't be likely to overhear them.
"Vanessa, you have got to do something about naming a permanent replacement for Sister Aurelia! And not just because Mona will be leaving us soon. You saw it yourself just now - Budsock was terrified by the idea of having her treat him! We simply cannot have a head healer - not even a temporary one - who scares our little ones!"
"I think you're overreacting, Maura," Vanessa said as she gathered up what she needed to treat her young patient. "Budsock and Metellus are special cases. They lost their parents to those slaver foxes so recently ... "
Maura shook her head. "I'm not so sure. I spend more time with the children than you do, Nessa, and I can tell you it's not just our two most recent arrivals who regard Mona with trepidation. It doesn't seem to matter that Machus saved Cyrus's life last summer and is now remembered at Redwall as a hero, or that Tolar and Roxroy's two visits have been quite amiable, or even that Mona herself helped settle all their upset stomachs back on Nameday. There's something about her they just don't take to. Children can be odd that way, the way they form opinions about some beasts without getting to know them ... "
"Perhaps they associate Mona with Aurelia's loss," said Vanessa, adding a roll of bandage cloth to her inventory. "She was right there when it happened, and she's taken Aurelia's place. And then there was that tantrum Mona threw in here that evening. Thank goodness there hasn't been a repeat of that little performance."
"Yes, thank goodness. But whatever the reason, most of our young ones have come to associate Mona with this Infirmary over the past half-season, and those associations are not good ones. Maybe they've gotten wind of some of the rather bizarre statements that vixen has been heard to make ... "
"Or perhaps our two newest arrivals here have indeed been influencing the other children with their unflattering views of foxes. The simple truth is that Mona was far and away the most qualified creature here to fill in for Aurelia. There really wasn't any other choice to make, and I am most thankful that she offered us her services. And if any of the children, or anybeast else at Redwall for that matter, has a problem receiving treatment at her paws, I'll treat them myself, the way I'm doing now for Budsock."
"That's all well and good, as far as it goes," Maura whispered. "But you're a busy Abbess, and might not always be available when remedies and healing are needed quickly. You must install somebeast who will staff this Infirmary full time, and who will be acceptable to all Redwallers, of all ages."
Vanessa sighed. "Yes, I suppose you're right. But as long as we have Mona, it's not exactly an emergency situation." Satisfied that she'd collected everything she needed for her waiting patient, the Abbess started back toward the squirrelchild's bed.
"Then again," Maura countered as she kept pace alongside Vanessa, "if Mona's half the healerbeast she's reputed to be, naming Aurelia's permanent replacement now would give them a grace period during which they could learn at her side before she leaves for Foxguard."
"True. I'll have to consider the matter more fully. But for now I have a patient to tend to ... "
In no time at all Vanessa had Budsock's sprained ankle bound up in a wrap-around poultice that would ease the pain and speed recovery, with a healing slave spread on the squirrel's bruised paws and elbows as well. The Abbess agreed to his request to sleep in his own dormitory bed, as long as he promised to stay in it until Vanessa could check on him in the morning. Then, wanting to reaffirm his bravery after his teary display in Great Hall, Budsock asked if he could walk from the Infirmary to his bed under his own power.
"I ... suppose that would be all right," Vanessa relented, "as long as you don't run or jump on that ankle. The wrapping should give enough support to walk on it safely, if you're careful."
"You'd better take my paw, just to be safe," Maura added.
As the Badger Mother led Budsock out into the corridor, they found Mona waiting there. The healer vixen had lately taken to sleeping in the Infirmary, so that she would always be there anytime of the day or night lest anybeast require her attention. Mona had wanted to stay clear of the sick bay while Vanessa saw to Budsock, but now there was no way for the young squirrel to avoid her.
Maura reassuringly squeezed his paw. "Nothing to be afraid of ... "
Budsock jutted his jaw out at Mona defiantly. "'m not afraid o' her!"
The pretty vixen flashed a disarming smile. "Of course you're not. Feel better, my brave young rogue."
Budsock led the way up the hall toward his common dormitory, all but pulling Maura after him, the haste in his limping gait betraying his anxiety to be away from there.
Vanessa tarried a moment at the healer's side. "Thank you for being so understanding, Mona. He's young, and his recent loss was a terrible one. He will see things differently when he gets a little older. You yourself lost your sister to searats when you were little more than a child, so I'm sure you can identify with what he must be feeling. Please don't take it personally. It's very difficult for him now - him and Metellus both."
Mona nodded her appreciation. "There are quite frankly times, Abbess, when I feel as if I don't belong here at Redwall, and this evening was one of them. If it weren't for the support and trust you've shown me yourself, I don't know what I would do."
Vanessa set a paw lightly upon Mona's arm. "There's always a place for any creature of good will at this Abbey. We're all still getting used to these new ways of Lord Urthblood's, learning how to see foxes and rats and weasels as friends. I daresay it will take some of us longer than others. Don't lose heart, Mona. If you're truly a good soul, everybeast here will see it eventually. Good night, now."
"And good night to you, Abbess." They parted ways with an exchange of friendly nods, Vanessa strolling down the corridor to her private chambers while Mona entered the Infirmary she currently called home.
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For a long time after changing into her nightshirt, Mona sat on the edge of her bed, unable to bring herself to lie down to sleep. The mistrust and skepticism of woodlanders was nothing new to her; she'd long ago grown accustomed to having such attitudes directed at her in the Northlands, even after joining Lord Urthblood and refining her healing skills under his tutelage. But here it was different, being alone amongst the Redwallers and accepting the full measure of their hospitality even as some of them regarded her so obviously as an outsider, an aberration, somebeast who didn't fit in with the rest of the Abbey. It was worse than ever now that Captain Grayfoot had left to go build his tavern. She'd long known the ferret officer, and coming down from the north with him had greatly eased the transition of moving to this new place. Now there was just Judelka, who would have been next to useless as a source of commiseration even without the distractions of her newborn, and Smallert, whose disgraceful conduct of the previous summer rendered him disreputable in the eyes of anybeast whose first allegiance lay with Urthblood (as hers most certainly did). Lady Mina was Mona's saving grace, for that Gawtrybe squirrel liked and trusted her as much as the healer vixen respected Mina, and her marriage to Alexander had helped elevate Mona's standing in the eyes of Redwall's squirrels. Of course, there was a downside to even this alliance, since the Long Patrols were suspicious of anybeast who swore fealty to the Badger Lord - which made Lady Mina highly questionable in their view, and Mona doubly so.
There was just no winning.
Thank the fates for the Abbess. She'd been one of the few Redwallers to give Mona the full benefit of the doubt almost from the moment she'd arrived at Redwall. The other Abbey leaders might still harbor reservations about her, but as long as Vanessa asserted that Mona was welcome as a guest and appreciated as their interim Infirmary keeper, they had to be as gracious about the situation as they could bring themselves to be, regardless of their inner feelings.
Still, it was hard. Mona was a very sensitive creature - she had to be, in order to be attuned to other beasts' pain and distress. She just wished sometimes that those around her could be as sensitive to her as she was to them.
She realized that somebeast had come to the Infirmary door. Glancing up from her bed in the far corner of the long room, Mona saw Metellus standing on the threshold. She expected the young badger to turn and flee, but instead he ventured farther into the sick bay toward her. "Where's Budsock?" he asked.
"Maura took him to his regular dormitory bed. She and the Abbess thought he would be more comfortable there." Mona was almost tempted to add and no, I didn't eat him, but she resisted.
To her surprise, Metellus stood his ground. "I wanted to apologize to you for what he said. Down there in Great Hall. I saw the hurt in your eyes when you thought nobeast was looking. Bud didn't mean to hurt you. Neither of us ever meant to. And I'm sorry if we did."
A wistful smile lifted the corners of Mona's mouth. "Thank you. That means a lot to me, you coming here to tell me that."
"Is Bud gonna be okay?"
"He'll be fine. The Abbess took very good care of him."
"Oh." Metellus was silent a few moments, then said, "If I ever get sick or hurt, you can take care of me. I won't mind."
Mona felt a tear moisten her cheek, and hoped it wasn't visible in the subdued lamplight to this badgerchild who saw so much. "Well, I for one hope you never need a healer during the rest of my time at Redwall, but if you do, I promise to give you my very best care."
"Okay. Well, good night." And with that, Metellus turned and shuffled out of the Infirmary.
Mona sat on her bed alone for some time after that. When she finally put out the lamp and slid beneath the covers, she fell quickly asleep, and enjoyed the best night's rest she'd had in a long time.
