Majorly sorry for 2 things, not replying to review and private message and also for taking so long to post this. I'm afraid that i've hit the 'oh $&&£$ (insert cussing here), i've got essays' season. Had one due last week, another on the 11th november and two others i have yet to remember the date for as i only have a week for this philosophy essay and i've hardly got anywhere with the reading let alone the essay. I am afraid that posting will be sporadic due to work load and i can't guarantee i will reply to reviews. (there's one particular reviewer i keep meaning to respond to but since the responce actually requires quite a lot of typing and thinking it keeps getting shoved behind my heavy final year degree work - i'm particularly sorry for that one. O.O)
Anyway, since i have got round to updating, here we go...
Wrath's Recompense 4
Eönwë strolled into his tent, still high on battle-lust, with the resolve to get out of his armour before the huge crash that followed battle-lust hit. He and, by the sound of it, the generals behind him were surprised to find Riona, frowning and pacing the length of the tent restlessly.
The moment she registered his presence, he found himself with arms full of worried woman. After a second or two hugging him, she pulled back and sat him on one of the stools in the tent and began removing his armour systematically and piling it neatly in a corner. Once she'd also removed the padding, she looked pointedly at his left shoulder and glared at him and bit her lip before going to the iron brazier in the corner of the tent to retrieve something.
Much to his, and the generals', surprise she removed a terracotta bowl from within theflames and placed it carefully on the table. The bowl was most of the way full of water and floating in the water was one of her finer needles, ready threaded as well as a roll of thread. A crude twig contraption held a clean rag above the water, which was slightly damp from the steam rising off the bowl.
Riona carefully lifted the rag off and wiped her hands then washed them with more water she'd obviously prepared earlier and began to wash his arm off. Once the cut was clean she dropped the rag back in the hot water and picked up a second off the little rack and dropped a clear liquid from another little terracotta bottle onto it and began washing out the wound. Eönwë hissed in surprise as this liquid touched the cut – that stung!
Riona just gave him a stern look and held his arm still as she carried on tending it. Once she was apparently satisfied with the cleanliness of the wound, she picked up the needle and thread and deftly began sewing it up as if it was his tunic, not his skin!
By now the battle-lust had worn off and he could definitely feel the needle going in and out, pulling the skin together. After what seemed far too long, she finished tending his wound. Much to Eönwë's amusement, she then turned to the generals and gave them the same treatment – they had been sniggering quietly at Eönwë and when they got treated to the same care, they suddenly seemed to find her mothering a lot less funny.
Throughout the tending – at least once Eönwë's own care was finished – he was collecting all the information about the battle – how many they had lost, injuries, and such like. All the while, he observed the auburn-haired woman, noticing all the little things she did – and the differences in her tending methods from what the healers around here used. The most noticeable thing was that she boiled everything. Clearly there was a purpose to the boiling, but for the life of him, Eönwë couldn't work out what. Granted, everything seemed a lot cleaner after a boil, but he couldn't see why you should boil the needle and thread.
Even if she had spoken their language, he and the other generals knew better than to ask. All of them had enough experience of women generally to know better than to dare.
XXX
The next day, she insisted on checking all injuries and cleansing them again. Cleanliness seemed very important to her. When she came to one of the humans, the head of one of the three Edain Houses, she frowned at the wound, which had gone red and was swelling. Eönwë watched her curiously – he had no idea what had happened to the injury to make it go red like that, he'd never seen that happen before, but it obviously worried Riona. After a short time glaring at the injury, she cleaned it out rather thoroughly and then got a cloth she had made sure was especially clean and used a third bottle of stuff on it, which evidently stung as badly as the cleaning liquid she'd used the previous night.
As she finished cleansing the injury or whatever she was doing, a human Healer entered the tent and looked at it. Under Riona's glaring gaze, the man washed his hands before actually touching the wound and nodded then looked at the others in the tent.
"The girl knows what she's doing, I'll give her that. She's cleaned out the wounds with distilled alcohol, which lessens the chance of an injury going rancid and she's being very carefully making sure this one is as clean as possible, since it's obviously going the way of rancid. I don't know what that third liquid is she's using, but I'll bet its stuff from wherever she's from that's designed to combat whatever it is that makes a wound go nasty." Both Eönwë and the Elves had raised eyebrows, while the other men were nodding knowingly. Obviously a wound 'going rancid' was a specific problem for humans that apparently needed treating. Riona clearly knew this and how to treat it.
"Is this 'going rancid' dangerous then?" Asked one of the Elves, Eönwë wasn't going to admit he was glad the Elf had, since he didn't want to admit he had no clue about it either. The Healer gave him a long look.
"If you don't catch it quickly enough within a day or so, it can be fatal – often through a slow, painful death. Rancid injuries kill more of our men than the battles themselves do and it's a horrible way to die." The Healer rose, ready to go, then turned back. "I'll send some willow-bark essence, which he's got to drink at every meal. It'll make the swelling go down and that seems to help with the healing. It wouldn't do for him of all people to get the sickness and die."
The Elves and Maia looked at each other, surprised. None of them knew that. Eönwë was suddenly very glad he wasn't human – and the Elves looked like they were thinking similar things, they had all forgotten how fragile the race of Men could be.
XXX
That afternoon, the Healer called back with the tea mix, and to ask if he could borrow Riona, she might not speak the language, but she obviously knew her way round Healing more than enough to be of help in the human part of the camp, where any pair of healing hands was more than welcome.
She hadn't needed any encouragement. She swiftly packed up the things she'd prepared to heal Eönwë and his general staff and followed the Healer out, leaving Daffyd playing in the corner of the tent.
Working without her in the tent suddenly felt strangely empty – he had become used to her quiet singing and general presence and now he missed it. The other generals obviously felt it as well. The obvious pleasure on their faces when she returned for meals (and to ensure that their wounds were clean, as well as the willow-bark tea taken – she was an effective bully when she wanted to be) spoke volumes.
The new rumours flying about on the subject of Riona amused Eönwë, though also reassured him. The latest ones were along the lines of her being a great Healer in her own land; brought there to tend the enemy and the little boy had been brought along to ensure her compliance. He suspected that the change in nature of the theories on her presence had changed in relation to the fact her Healing methods had apparently been very effective in dealing with rancid wounds and the men were very grateful for it.
XXX
A few days later, Eönwë gave in to something he'd been wanting to do since he'd found Riona and Daffyd. He justified it with the theory that in concern for his army, he needed to know more. A part of him was honest enough to admit that there was a certain amount of sophistry in that justification.
After all the generals had gone to their own beds, he lay down on his own bed roll, closed his eyes and sent his thoughts out to Estë, thinking she would probably know the most. She answered almost immediately, like she'd known that he would contact her. With the Valar, there was a fair chance she had. They were like that.
Once he'd explained everything about Riona to the lady, Estë was silent as if thinking for a while before responding.
"The Healer of Men is right, she knows what she is doing. More than the race of Men of Arda should, for she is showing knowledge beyond what has been taught to them, far beyond in fact. They have barely grasped the importance of cleanliness and she knows about infections. That third liquid she is using is extracted from a fungus and specifically combats sickness." For the first time, Eönwë noticed that the lady's presence had the sense of being somewhere else as well as with him. Judging by what she was saying, the somewhere else was Riona's mind. He suddenly heard a sharp gasp.
"How does she know that?" The shocked tone of Estë's voice virtually confirmed that she was looking through Riona's mind. "Neither Man nor Elf should be even near discovering that for millennia yet!" Eönwë almost got the sense of the Lady pacing across a room.
"Lady?" He asked at her, very worried by her reaction.
"Did you ever find out where she came from?" she asked urgently.
"A place called Ireland, it was an island judging by the map she drew. The boy with her was from another country on the next door island called Wales." The statement was met with resounding silence. When Eönwë was almost ready to prompt the Lady to speak again, she finally spoke.
"That explains volumes, Eönwë." She paused, sensing his worry. "No, she is no danger, in fact she is an asset to have. Where she comes from simply explains how she knows not only of how to treat sickness, but its causes down to a level of detail beyond what any but the Valar and Eru should know. Keep her safe – I expect you to bring her back to Valinor once you've finished with this War, I want a long talk with that girl." The assurance that there was nothing to worry about with Riona relieved Eönwë, though a part of him still wanted to ask 'are you sure?'
A tinkling laugh filled his mind.
"I am more than sure, actually she feels rather strongly about you. Maybe you should take some time to enjoy that affection?" Eönwë was about to ask what that comment meant, but before he could, Estë cut off the telepathic link. She left behind a sense of more of that laughter.
He reflected on what she'd said, Riona felt strongly about him? Strongly affectionate? The Maia didn't notice the pleased grin that spread across his face at the notion.