GROUNDLING 4: TRANSITIONS

by ardavenport

- - - Part 7


Onie's head hurt. Her back hurt. But her first coherent thought was of Lillis, who would be terrified that she'd been hurt.

Falled off again.

Her eyes hurt when she cracked them open and looked up at the gray sky. Grimacing, she lifted her head, looking for Lillis.

"No! Don't move!"

Hands pressed her back down and Onie now stared up at a frantic Tilly. Viewed from below, her eyes were more brown than green. She knelt next to the hedge that Lillis had jumped. It was not that high, it would hardly came up to Tilly's chest.

"You'll hurt yourself. The Healers are coming."

"Aye? I's just bruised." Onie grimaced. "A lot." Then she turned her head toward a mournful whinny, lifting a hand toward her Companion.

"Weren't yer fault. I's just na ready fer tha' part."

Tilly's open mouth gaped even wider.

"Wha-? What?" She jumped up to her feet, looking Onie over head to foot. "Why aren't you dead?"

"Aye? Didna fall tha far." Onie felt her side and slid her hand under her back and grimaced. "Be some bruises, but tha ground aren't tha'hard."

"What?" Tilly stomped her foot. "It's frozen." Her eyes darted to either side of Onie. "And . . . " her foot kicked at the dusting of snow a little too close to Onie's head. " . . . you landed on a rock! You should have at least broken your back!"

Onie's fingers felt again, and she silently conceded that there was a flatish surface under her under the grit and cold snow. "Well," she shifted her shoulders, "I gots bruises fer sure, but donna feel nothin' broken."

"Oh, out of the way, out of the way!"

Onie recognized Healer Luba's breathless voice approaching. She appeared, her large bosom heaving from the run.

"Oh, I've been waiting for this." The Healer sounded far too happy for Onie's liking.

Luba dropped to her knees beside her and pelted her with questions. Onie could move her hands and feet. Yes, her head hurt, but it was feeling better. She was stiff and sore, but Luba's physical examination of her limbs revealed no broken bones.

The whole process took longer than it might have if Tilly, who positioned herself opposite Luba on Onie's other side, hadn't kept interrupting with dire descriptions about how Onie had fallen as if a god had swept her out of the saddle and cast her down to the ground. Onie glimpsed in the corner of her eye young Saston and Bron (the rest of the riding class seemed to have been dismissed) reacting to the tale of horror with a couple Healer-Trainees and a downcast Lillis.

"I'll get the litter," Tilly started to rise to get the litter that the three Healer Trainees had brought, but Luba stopped her.

"No. I'll examine her here. Don't put her on a litter, or a bed. Don't lift her off the ground." She glanced back toward her Trainees. "I've seen her draw strength from it. Now we can see how much." She flexed her fingers over Onie's chest like a musician preparing over an instrument.

"I can anchor you with my Mage Gift. I've done it in the field before," Tilly offered. Onie was not reassured.

"No - - - " Luba started, casting another glance at her Trainees as if measuring their worthiness. "No - - - Yes. I think, yes, someone else should see this."

They fell silent, kneeling on either side of her, Onie looking up at the bottoms of their bosoms and chins and the gray sky above.

Breathing deeply, each one prepared their mysterious Gifts. Onie had been in the House of Healing enough to have seen them working. There was not really much to see. Healers with eyes closed laying their hands on their patients, who seemed very grateful for the attention. But otherwise, watching them was like trying to follow the work of a carpenter building something on the inside of a house by looking at it from the outside. For a house with no windows.

Luba laid her hands on her middle and Tilly did the same. Luba's hands were especially warm. Her bosom rose and fell with her deep breaths.

"Ahhh!" Her head flew back, her body spasming.

"Ooof!" The weight of Luba's body collapsing onto her chest pushed the air out of her.

Then again when Tilly's body added its weight to Luba's.

Onie gasped at the sound behind her, a Companion's scream. Her eyes turned toward Lillis and she froze.

Head down, Lillis had her eyes squeezed shut, her legs splayed outward in an ungainly way as if she was fighting to hold her place.

Bron Childorns shouted. "Ooow! That hurts! What are you? - - -" joined by a frantic torrent of loud snorting and panicked whinnys. But Onie did not look at what was happening. Eyes pinned to her Companion, she knew immediately that she must not move or in any way disturb what Lillis was doing.

A bell sounded, low and mournful.

"Healer Luba!" "Luba!" The Healer Trainees feet and legs appeared, but they stayed back from their mentor. Lillis's head lowered, her ears down. It was a little harder to breathe under Luba and Tilly's combined weight but Onie kept still, sure that any movement might interrupt whatever her Companion was doing.

The bell sounded again, reverberating over the field, the tone lasting longer than any bell from any tower should.

Onie heard people's voices, shouting in the distance. Lillis's head very slowly lifted, as if she was pulling up a great weight. Her slender legs trembled.

The bell sounded again.

Lillis whipped her head back and her whinny was almost immediately followed by a louder answering equine panic and hooves pawing the ground.

"Uuuuuuuhhhhhh!" Tilly suddenly flung herself up and back. Then Luba did the same with a scream that came out as multiple squeals. Onie never would have thought that she could have made such noises. Immediately the Trainees surrounded her. Luba was gasping and incoherent for a moment before she was able to tell them that she was uninjured.

A warm breath passed over Onie's hair and she looked up at Lillis's huge, soft, white nose.

"Oh, dear," Luba cried out, putting a hand to her chest. "I seem to have soiled my robes."

Onie heard Tilly's voice shouting, angry and full-throated. "Oh, god's hairy ass!"

The Healer Trainees hurried to retrieve a case that they had brought with the litter. Apparently, this was the sort of emergency that they normally came prepared for. But Tilly did not wait for them. She somehow managed to kick and squirm her way out of her pants over her boots. She did accept a cloth from one of the Healer Trainees to wipe herself with and then she threw it down on the ground with her pants and left the mess for them to clear up.

By then more people were arriving. Heralds, Palace Guards, Companions. All asking questions, particularly about why the Death Bell had sounded.

Onie has suspected that was what the bell she heard had been. It certainly sounded like a Death Bell and anyone who had grown up with Valdemar's tales and the Bards' songs knew about the Death Bell in Companion's Field that rang whenever a Herald died.

But, who had died? Tilly was vociferously alive and cursing. And shouting.

"Gunnar!"

Another Companion arrived, this one with a man (a Herald?) wrapped in the distinctive blue-and-white striped blankets of the House of Healing.

"Tilly!" Grasping the mane, he leaned far over the Companion's neck as he trotted right up to Tilly. "What happened? You died!" He grasped her with his free hand, desperately confirming that she was real.

"Gunnar, you shouldn't be up." She took his hand in hers. "Seekar, take him back. It's cold out here."

"You're not really worried that the cold will kill me, are you?" he asked with a slightly crazed laugh. "I'm not going to stay in bed when I've lost the only comfort I have knowing that I'm going to die before you." His voice collapsed in a near sob and to Onie's surprise, Tilly did as well as she clasped his hand and arm tighter. As the now silent crowd around them watched, Gunnar, who had to be Herald Thintry, pulled back first and wiped his face.

"Tilly, tell me what happened. But, but first . . . why aren't you wearing any pants?" His eyes went down to where her bare thighs showed under her long tunic and heavy outer coat.

Tilly broke away from him. "Because I soiled them. After I-I almost had my soul ripped from my body," she whirled around and pointed, "by her!"

"Aye!" Onie's voice went higher than she meant. "I did na do'at!" She started to rise, her sore body struggling, but Luba shouted her down.

"No! Stay on the ground. You'll heal better that way. And," she turned to the Healers around her,"Walk her back if you can. Or drag her back if you have to, as long as she's touching the ground. The more of her touches ground the better. But," she shouted, "don't anyone touch her. Not until we find out what happened." More of them had arrived, including, to Onie's surprise, Healer Ingress and Chellie, peeking from behind the crowd.

There was a moment of confusion while people sorted out that Luba meant that only the Healers should not touch Onie. But first, they sent Gunnar Thintry, looking gray and spent and still astride his Companion, back to the House of Healing and to Onie's relief, Tilly joined them. But unfortunately after they left most of everyone else's attention was focused on her. The Queen's Own, Rolan, Dean Teren and most of the Herald instructors from the Collegium had joined the crowd by then.

They let her sit up. And then, with help, stand. Chellie rushed forward, darting under a Herald's arm to support her. She swayed for a moment, really having to rely on them to stand. It felt like all the blood was rushing down to her feet, but she steadied. Dean Teren only asked her if she knew anything about what had happened. She had no idea and she firmly denied that she had in any way touched Tilly's soul.

That got a smile from Teren and he sent them on to the House of Healing. But Onie paused when she saw Bron Childorn, sitting on the ground, Hyer with his head down next to him, a Healer holding his arm. The expression on his face was one that Onie had only seen a couple of times, when he sank into grief over his dead wife, the one he had been life-bonded to. Ingress assured Onie that he would be well; he and Hyer only had a shock. When the Death Bell rang, Bron moved to help, but Hyer stopped him. Since Companions did not have hands, Hyer used his teeth to grab his arm to keep him away from the body-pile of Tilly, Luba and Onie. Some physical damage was done, but Bron's arm was not broken.

"I would offer my services for his other injury," Ingress noted softly, "but pairing with a Companion is better medicine than I could ever hope to give him." She nudged Onie forward again. "Let's go."

Lilli's warm nose on her back gently prodded Onie forward. They moved slowly at first, but Onie gained strength. She was still sore, but she felt as if she could walk on her own by the time they entered the House of Healing. She briefly turned back toward Lillis, whose big horse-body would not be welcome inside. She bobbed her head encouragement and whinnied that she would remain close. Onie let Healer Ingress lead them in and down to the lower level and then into one of the small rooms there.

"Thank-you," Ingress sent Herald-Trainee Dron Oldleaf, who sometimes had kitchen duty with Onie, away. Chellie looked uncertain about staying.

"Ye kin stay, if ye wants," Onie told her.

"Oh, yes, please. Please, if I can help."

"You can help me take Onie's clothes off. Luba wants you to take off all your clothes and lie flat on your back, or wherever you've got the most bruises, as outlandish as that sounds."

Chellie looked a bit uncertain until Onie reassured her.

"We're all girls here. I don'ave na tha' any otha girl'as."

Chellie sighed her gratitude, her eyes bright.

Onie was more concerned about Ingress. "I thought Luba says ye Healers is'na s'pose ta touch me?"

"I'm a Mind Healer. I don't think her warning applies to me. Or if it does, she can complain about it later."

They sat Onie down on the floor and took off her outer clothes, Chellie neatly folding everything and putting it on the room's narrow bed. When they got down to Onie's chemise and drawers, Ingress gave her the blanket that had been folded at the end of the bed to cover herself. Then she quickly untied Onie's braid and had her stand so she could tell Luba what her injuries looked like. Chellie audibly sucked in air.

"Lotta' bruises, aye?" Holding her brown hair in front of her, Onie peered over her shoulder, but she could not see much.

"I would say so," Ingress agreed. The Healer came around front to confirm that all the bruises were on her back where Onie landed. Then she had her lie down, her bare skin on the stone floor with the blanket covering her. Ingress tilted her head as she looked down at her.

"Is that really comfortable?"

Onie shrugged. "S'always abit chilly at first, but it warms up."

"Really? And you really sleep on the hearth of your room?"

"Aye; I have a bedroll. An' I always did growin' up, too. Widow Tossem, tha wise woman back in Fair Fields, swears tha' hard beds're good fer tha back an' that straw an' down mattresses makes ye soft."

"Well, I suppose that is one way to look at it. But I can honestly tell you, Onie, that if I were to lay down naked on a cold stone floor, it would suck all the heat from me and I'd die from the cold in less than a candlemark." She sat down on the bed. "You are much more unique than you know."

Onie had nothing to say to that. Her mother and father had always said she liked to sleep on the stone hearth. Even as a little, they said that she would always cry when they tried to make her sleep in a bed or a cradle. The only time she remembered not sleeping on the hearth was during the Mage Storms, when no one could tell when all kinds of unnatural things could appear and roam at night. Her father fortified the one room where they slept, but even then Onie took the floor.

Onie knew that Ingress meant nothing bad, but her words made her sound abnormal, strange. Was she really the only person Ingress knew who slept on a hearth? She stared up at the white-washed ceiling, lit with cold snow-daylight from the room's small high window. She had never thought of it before, but Onie could not think of a single other person she knew who did. Not even Widow Tossem, who slept on board covered with a blanket.

There was not much for them to talk about while they waited the minimum candlemark that Luba had asked Ingress to wait before checking Onie's bruises again. Onie asked Chellie why she had come and the younger girl admitted that when Delias passed on the message that her surgery would be delayed at least a day she had come to the House of Healing to talk to Morlin. But when she got there and found Ingress, they heard about Onie's riding accident and then the Death Bell rang and Chellie panicked, running to Companion's Field with everyone else. She saw worried people, especially Heralds coming out of the Collegium and the Palace, running to the Field with them. Ingress assured Onie that classes would have been canceled and the whole Palace would be in an uproar about the Death Bell sounding after Tilly apparently died, but did not stay dead.

"I wonder if this has ever happened before?" Ingress speculated. Conversation died down and Onie dozed until she felt Ingress's nudge for her to get up.

Holding the blanket to her front, Onie still felt sore and stiff as Ingress positioned her in the light from the window.

"Well, god and goddess, I don't believe it."

"Aye?"

"It's a little better," Chellie told her.

"It is," Ingress agreed, "Here. Here and here." Ingress's finger touched Onie on the shoulders and the back of her thighs. "The rest of you is still heavily bruised but I would never have expected to see this much healing so soon. Unless you could Heal yourself, which is what Luba suspected. She was hoping to be able to see it, but apparently it's fatal to look too closely."

"Aye? I are'na na Healer. Na been doin' nothin' but lying here."

"No, you are no Healer. But if your Ground Gift allows you to draw real strength from the ground, then your body being able to Heal itself could be a natural manifestation." She spoke speculatively. "You've never been injured like this before?"

Onie told her about falling off Lillis when she was first Chosen. It had been summer and she had landed in a field of tall grass, but she had still needed some time to recover. She had no way of checking her backside for bruises, but she had been more saddle-sore then back sore the next day. Otherwise Onie never put herself in a position to fall anywhere. She sometimes got ordinary bumps or a cut in the kitchen, but they seemed to heal not much faster for her than for anyone else. The nearest House of Healing to her home town was in Kettlesmith. So, Luba's attempt that day had been the first time any kind of Healing had been tried on her.

"Lie back down."

Onie did, shivering a little at the cool stone before it warmed up.

"Aye? Ye goin'ta tell Luba 'bout this?" she asked as Ingress went to the door.

"Yes. I think it will cheer her up to hear she was right. And she will want to see it for herself. And," she added, "I'm going to find a nice hearth for you to sleep on. I think you will need to stay with us for a little while."


- - - End Part 7