Chapter Four

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

-Charles R. Swindoll

Rayen scrubbed her face with a small towel and it felt so good to get off the grime. She had trouble believing her crazy day went from a car crash, to wherever this place was, to stumbling into a war zone, and then to playing head nurse/doc/teacher all within a day. Well, two days perhaps as the moon was up in the sky. She let out a long puff and finished freshening up.

After her encounter with healer Keegan, she didn't run into many roadblocks nor were they nearly as irritating. The other healer and staff members were willing to listen after her confrontation with Keegan. The healer that came with the Knights, named Arin, was rather compliant and didn't argue with her when she asked him to wash his hands between each patient and whenever they were soiled. It's basic hygiene!

Despite that, Arin was the most skilled at setting bones between the three of them, so she had Cyrus assisting him as needed. The large swordsman was very useful in keeping the wounded still when Arin had set the bone in place. She really wished she had ear plugs, the snap and the men's screams added new material for her nightmares.

Keegan continued to irritate her throughout the day and became a kiss up after he got over his initial shock. He still gave Iryna and Taena the cold shoulder and ignored their presence in the hall. Instead of asking the closest one for help, he kept grabbing Cyrus instead. He tried to lure Pokk into helping him, but the black haired man gracefully diverted each of his requests. He certainly had a talent for subtlety insulting the brown noser in the most hilarious ways.

Pokk was an interesting find, to say the least. He was rather helpful in identifying the seriously injured and would bring it to their attention. He paired well with Cyrus when he helped ready the soldiers with dislocated limbs and would entertain the concussed men with apparently comical tales, from the laugher she heard for a few hours. He walked around with an annoyingly perfect poise for such a tall lanky man, but was otherwise unobtrusive. He was rather charismatic in his own unique way.

Iryna and Taena took turns in gathering supplies, assisting her and resting at Rayen's insistence. Iryna immediately voiced her distaste of resting, as it could tarnish her reputation with the other servants since they were still working, and Taena nodded her head along by her side. They relented once Rayen explained that between the three women, each would need to be awake a few hours that night to check on the concussed men.

Rayen drew on a white chemise and plain blue outer gown that was supplied by Iryna's aunt, Baylee. Cyrus left when Baylee herself came to give Rayen the clothes. The head maid left a bitter taste in Rayen's mouth with her stiff stature and holier-than-thou attitude, but she tried to keep the snap judgement under control.

It was easy for Rayen to figure out that the Greenwood family had a tense relationship with each other. Iryna wasn't quick enough to hide the slight divot in her brow when the head maid was mentioned. Though, her assistant was able to collect herself before her aunt took notice. Once Cyrus and Baylee left, Iryna's eye kept twitching for a good five minutes.

Rayen was lucky that her makeshift team was able to treat most of the wounded soldiers. Though, like all things, there were some good men in the hall that they weren't able to save. Some from crushed organs caused by the bodies weight in those large death mounds and Rayen believed others had hemorrhaged in their skulls.

When something expanded in a confined space, like your skull, there is only so much room for it to go before the pressure causes it to explode, like a rockets used in fireworks. Eventually, the pressure would build up from the increasing amount of blood and the brain would be pushed through the small hole where the spine meets the skull. There isn't anything one could do once it happened; it's a sad and quick death sentence.

She wrapped the burns on her calves with some bandages from her bag and applied the burn ointment she got from Arin. She was surprised that her bag hadn't 'wandered off' in all the chaos of the day, but Taena found it next to their supply area. Rayen had known that she was going to irritate her wounds when she'd tend to the soldiers, but it was a price she was willing to pay to help them.

The ointment reminded her of the other prescription Arin gave her and she gagged at the thought of taking it. Just as the wounded men did, she had to drink burdock tea from the armies' medical supplies for its anti-infective properties. Rayen was really reluctant to take it. She remembered the horrible taste from her lessons with Nan.

On the plus side of her day, besides living that is, was finding the redhead from the battlefield. She found him on Arin's side of the hall and was ecstatic to see him awake and grumpy. He had a good sized goose egg on his noggin, several open wounds and a few broken ribs. She was happy when she found out his name, Tormund, and that he was able to answer all of her questions correctly.

Even his grouching at her for stitching his wounds closed and binding his chest, didn't knock the smile off her face. He blatantly stated that he thought she was insane. She let out a laugh and told him to ask Davos about her later. After telling him that he needed to stay in the hall that night for observation, she mossied her way to the next patient.

Rayen hurried to tie her tennis shoes as she had the first shift of the night. The three women and Arin, he insisted, agreed that they each would take a three hour shift and wake a healer if needed. They planned to have Rayen take the first shift, Taena-second shift, Arin-third shift, and Iryna-last shift. This way everyone would be able to get some rest on the nearby bedrolls before the trials of the next day began.

Once she got to the medical hall, Rayen found Pokk asleep in a stuffed chair that certainly wasn't there earlier, her two female assistants sleeping near the hearth, and a gaggle of soldiers sipping at their mugs around a bench. Some of the men seemed to be happily buzzed on the alcohol, while others were her concussed patients, which she distinctly told them to avoid it for now. She grinned when she saw that her redhead was there too!

Rayen debated whether or not she should intrude on the 'male bonding time', but shrugged her shoulders. 'Might as well. I'll be getting to know a lot of them for the next few days,' she thought. The auburn haired woman grabbed a mug and filled it with water; she couldn't be inebriated while on the job. She picked up the hem to her gown with one hand, the standard length was long on her petite form, and sat at the short end of the table.

The men's conversation went abruptly silent, clearly waiting to see if she'll be leaving the table and let them have their merry way. She kept her eyes on them, sipped on her mug, and smiled sweetly. Her eyes were at odds with her bowed lips, they clearly dared the men to ask her to move.

Varn shrugged and continued to whittle away at his hunk of wood. He wasn't having any ale tonight and he wasn't going to step into a fight he was not likely to win, they did enough of that the day before. He saw her argue and win against the Wildling leader, who was notoriously stubborn, when he said he didn't need any medical help nor those 'stitches' she placed on his arms.

Varn ignored his fellow men-at-arms to create the Mormont bear he was trying to pull from the tree limb. It was rather difficult with his constricted movement, so it was taking him longer than normal. He was nudged by his fellow Mormont, luckily when he wasn't whittling, and refocused on the conversation. The Reeds, Hornwoods and a few Knights of the Vale continued their conversation, too drunk on ale or relief to notice the tension between the two offending parties.

The crazy healer was staring at the Wildling leader, who continued to stare back. It was making the two sober men very uncomfortable, with the intensity that kept increasing with each passing moment. It reminded Varn of when he was a young boy and saw his first fight between two large predators that were eyeing the same piece of game.

He really hoped it didn't end like that. Both creatures mauled each other and let the game pass by. Plus, he was reluctant to place himself in front of a berserk Wildling.

The Maester smiled widely before saying, "Like what you see, Red?"

Varn concluded that the woman had a death wish.

The Wildling, Tormund, kept his face blank and stared with his icy eyes. "Well you have the right assets, but missing a bit in the head aren't ya?"

The woman let out a loud laugh that was startlingly different from the demure women that Varn normally interacted with. "Maybe a smidge," she replied, "I'd have to be to deal with all this. I have a mini army of men to look after, after all."

Tormund slowly nodded his head, agreeing with her statement. Her knew from his own experience, that it wasn't easy to deal with men at their best, but injured men that were limited in their abilities, tended to do stupid things and extend their recovery time. Thus becoming more of an annoyance when he'd had to listen to them gripe. He could sympathize, to a degree, with her situation.

"So, what are we going to do to pass the time? Y'all are stuck with me for a few hours before we change shifts," she continued. "Stories are fun and all, but can be rather monotonous after a while."

The Wildling was quick to reply, trying to startle the woman, "We speak of our battles, relax before combat and fuck the willing women."

"Fair enough I suppose," she shot back with her smile remaining on her face, "You'll have to do better than that to rile me up. Plus if this is you flirting, you're not my type. Since we aren't doing one of those and the other is rather boring, what do y'all do to relax? Read books? Play games?"

Both Varn's and Hector's, his fellow Mormont, eyes continue to bounce back and forth as they watch the match unfold.

"Woman! You'd know if I was flirting with you!," Tormund's accent thickened as he raged. "We are too old to play games!"

"No one out grows a good game. There's poker, gin rummy, blackjack, chess, Cards Against Humanity, and Risk to name a few." She paused and cocked her head. "Of course three of those can be gambled over, so there's that."

The three men stared at her as she fiddled with her mug. Eventually she grew uncomfortable enough to blurt out, "Poker, gin, blackjack and Cards Against Humanity are all card games. The first three are typically used for gambling. Chess and Risk are games of strategy. Though, I think Risk is better since you can have more than two players."

Tormund smirked as she shifted in her seat. He greatly enjoyed seeing this woman off balanced. He hoped to continue when he asked, "Well, since you are so knowledgeable about them, why not set us up with one?"

Rayen gagged as her water slipped down the wrong pipe. She coughed and caught her breath before glaring at Tormund. "I don't know if I have any of the cards in my bag. Plus chess and Risk require a board."

Varn, Hector and Tormund each glanced at the empty table and back at her.

"Not like that! One that has details on it! Risk has an environment pictured on it and you build your army, attack or ally with your neighbors to rule the world. Chess has black and white pieces, one color per player, and each piece has a different movement or attack. The game's goal is to get to the other's King piece and kill it."

Varn and Hector share a look, they had heard of chess before, but never the other oddly named games.

"Oh! Wait! Give me a second. I might have a pack of cards in my bag from the last time stayed at work for a few days. We got snowed in and had to stay to help the patients!" She grinned and rushed towards her stash of supplies. "Be right back!"

Tormund frowned as he watched her move across the room. Varn started to finish the basic shape of his bear and Hector just drank is ale. They figured whatever she brought would be crazy.

They certainly knew it when she came rushing back, cackling, with a red and black box.

"Plus five cards Tormund!" Rayen said with glee as she slapped the card on the used stack.

The redhead growled as he picked up the extra five cards. Now he knew why she had him sit on her left. The minx!

Varn and Hector tried to keep their mirth to a minimum. It was hilarious to see Rayen working so hard to get Tormund to lose. Especially since his reply to the game's rules and her this-might-be-hard-the-first-time-you-play went along the lines of I always win! No matter the game!

Since then Rayen went out of her way to make Tormund lose. Was it petty? Probably. Was it worth seeing the frustration on his normally stoic face? Absolutely.

A few more rounds followed with Hector showing his "Uno" thus winning and ending the game. They played two more hands, before Tormund had enough and Rayen couldn't control her laughter anymore.

"I'm sorry. I promise to stop. It gets better." She wiped away stray tears from her eyes. "Just don't automatically think you'll win the game, if you barely know the rules or never played it before."

Tormund huffed and placed his remaining nine cards next to her. Perhaps he shouldn't play any of her games in the future…

"Don't be like that! I bet you could do better than me at Risk!" She pouts as she gathers the cards to place them back into its box. "I always suck at that game."

That caught the trio's interest. Hector nudged Varn's arm and jerked his head towards the healer. Varn sighed and softly asked, "How does one play Risk?"

She brightened and eagerly went on to tell the rules of the game. She amended it a bit, since she didn't know if they had continents, such as Asia, Australia or the Americas to name a few, like the original Risk did. She changed it to kingdoms or large city-states, which was more common in less than modern times. "The only problem, other than the lack of a board, is the lack of pieces." She shrugged. "Like a tree for me, a bear for Varn, an axe for Tormund, and maybe a standing grizzle for Hector? Anyway, each player would have a different defining piece."

Tormund sipped on his water, he had to throw away his ale to get Rayen to stop nagging him, and thought over the game. It sounded interesting and it could be a good teaching tool for his men. He couldn't stop a small smile from slipping on his face. Plus I can beat the nag at one of her own games.

"I'll talk with Davos in the morning and see if he has any maps we could use instead of your 'board'." He nodded curtly.

Varn and Hector looked at each other and the shaggy haired Varn shrugged. Hector nodded his head and Varn obliged, "We will make the pieces. They might be rough but we can have a set of five for each of us to use."

Rayen wilted in her seat. She had a feeling that she was going to regret introducing these men this particular game and that Tormund was going to kick her ass at it. A small hand shook her shoulder and she turned to find Taena behind her.

"It's time to switch," the brunette whispered softly. "Your bedroll is next to Iryna's and mine."

Rayen nodded and reached toward the ceiling to stretch out her aching back. She smiled at the three men and said, "Thank you for the lovely evening gentlemen. I'll leave the deck of cards with you if anyone wants to play again or share it with someone new. Have a good rest." She shot a glare towards Tormund, "And you lay off the ale for the rest of the night."

AN: I hope everyone got a laugh out of this chapter. It was honestly really fun to write. We are moving along, which should have Rayen meeting more main characters soon!

Let me know what you think!