Chapter Fourteen
Even though she knew it was childish, Nel took dinner in her room that night, claiming a headache. Her embarrassing afternoon, coupled with her usual fear of confrontation, and she knew there was no way she'd be able to hold any food down if she ate with everyone.
The next day, Nel went right back to work, doing as much as she could in the privacy of her room. Lady Pauline did remind her though, when she saw how frustrated Nel was getting, that this was going to be the event of the year, if not the decade. No one wanted anything to be left to chance, which Nel could only agree with.
It was sometime after midday when her father came into her room, a box tucked under his arm. And, as usual, he cut right to the point.
"So I hear you gave everyone a show of sorts?"
Nel groaned, her face falling into her hands, "I don't want to talk about it."
"So you're going to hide in your room until your wedding and hope everyone just forgets?" he asked sardonically, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Is that a bad idea?"
He shrugged, "I'm ok with it, but something tells me that people are going to expect to see you before that."
Nel groaned again and Halt gave her a small smile, "Relax, I'm sure everyone has already moved on."
Nel made a 'humpf' noise, clearly disbelieving him.
Halt sighed and moved to sit across from her, placing the box on the table.
"I actually didn't come to talk about your…escapades."
Nel shot him a quick glare, but he was proud of the word choice.
"Nellie, please?"
Slowly, she lifted her face all the way up, still blushing.
"I know you said you didn't need me to act as your father right now, but I need to for the next ten minutes or so." he began.
At her curious look, he sighed again and dropped his own gaze for a moment.
"I…contacted Baron Arald before he left Redmont, asked him to stop by the house and grab something for me," he gestured to the box between them, "Which he was more than happy to do."
"What is it?" she asked.
"Something for you, and actually, it might help with yesterday's problem as well." There was a slight pause right before he said the word 'problem'. Hoping to distract her from it so she wouldn't get embarrassed again, he pushed the box towards her.
Nel spared him a glance before accepting it, opening the package gently. A gasp escaped her lips and her eyes grew wide, "It…It's beautiful."
"It was your mother's." Halt said quickly, clearing his throat uncomfortably, "She had always hoped you would wear it on your wedding day."
Nel was looking at him, completely stunned,
He cleared his throat again, "Of course, you don't have to if you don't want to. I know a lot has already been invested in your dress, I just thought you might li-"
"I didn't know you still had anything of Mom's." her voice was soft, barely above a whisper as she cut him off.
He nodded slowly, "That trunk, in my closet, the one I never let you open? All hers, though I suppose, most of it should be yours now. Old clothes, a little jewelry, some books. It's been years since I looked at any of it properly."
She knew immediately which one he was talking about. It wasn't a large trunk, pushed to the very back of the closet, as if trying to keep it out of sight. Never in a million years has she thought that it contained her mother's possessions.
"Arald actually brought the entire trunk to the castle, if you want it. Again, I don't know if you'd want any of it. It's not a whole lot, but it is the only things I have left of hers. I got rid of all of the other stuff not long after she died." her dad continued, babbling on in her silence.
No one ever believed her when she said she got that trait from him, but they rarely saw her father nervous like this, if at all.
"I should've told you sooner I guess. It-"
Nel moved around the table, wrapping her arms around him tightly and placing a quick kiss on his cheek.
"Thank you dad." she whispered.
Halt's mind immediately flashed back to when she was a tiny, little girl, smiling up at him with her two front teeth missing. His heart clenched at the memory and he quickly returned the hug, trying not to cry.
A moment later, she pulled back, grabbing the package containing her mother's, and now her, wedding dress, "I'm going to get this fitted and stop the alterations on the other dress."
Halt nodded and watched as she smiled and almost skipped out of the room. He was hopeless in the wedding planning, but at least he could help a little bit.
"Two of them?" Gilan asked curiously.
Cassandra nodded, "No one knows where they are. Their lieutenant seems to think they deserted; apparently they don't have the best reputation for being reliable."
Gilan hummed thoughtfully at her response. The two were walking down the hallway together, having just finished Cassandra's training for the day. The subject had quickly turned to the latest news that Cassandra had overheard from Crowley, the disappearance of two guards.
"You don't agree?" she raised an eyebrow at him.
Gilan shook his head, knowing better than to try to convince her otherwise, "How often do you have guards that desert their post?"
"Happens at least once a year." she admitted sadly, "I don't know why though. Sometimes we catch them, but the reasons always seem so…thin?"
"It does happen, everywhere." Gilan had to agree, "But a few weeks before the wedding?"
"You think it could be related?"
"What are the chances otherwise?" he countered. "We're trying to stop the Temujai in the middle of their worldwide takeover. A treaty to unite five countries is going to be bound together in a very ironclad way and two guards just happen to disappear?"
"It is a little suspicious." she murmured, "Crowley thought so too. He's having Halt look into it."
"I'll offer to help, just in case." Gilan decided.
"Goes without saying, but try not to spread the word. Crowley doesn't want to start a panic."
"Of course."
The two of them continued in silence for a minute before turning a corner, trying to head downstairs. As they turned that corner, felt more than anything as he stumbled into someone. Their foot landed harshly on his and he tripped forward. Scrambling, Gilan was able to grab hold of the banister, but the other man wasn't so lucky, tumbling back down the stairs with a surprised grunt. Gilan winced in sympathy as he landed at the bottom of the stairs with a pained groan.
"Aloom!" Selethen yelled, racing back down to his friend.
Cassandra and Gilan followed quickly. The stairs weren't very steep, but he did look dazed when they got to him.
"I'm sorry!" Gilan said instantly, kneeling next to him, "I didn't even see you there!"
"All good," he mumbled, "I didn't see you either."
"Are you alright?" Cassandra asked, looking very concerned.
Aloom nodded, accepting Selethen's hand back up, "I'm fine. Just a little embarrassed."
Her expression showed that she obviously didn't believe him and Gilan had to agree. Aloom was leaning on Selethen, blinking rapidly. Gilan noticed a trickle of red on his temple and his eyes hadn't seemed to focus just yet.
"You don't look alright."
"I'm fine," he tried to assure them.
Gilan just shook his head and went to grab his other arm, "Come on. Nel's room isn't far. At least let her look at you, if nothing else to stop the bleeding."
"I'm bleeding?"
Selethen rolled his eyes, "Yes. Still want to insist that you're ok?"
"Would you accept it if I did?" he tried.
Cassandra shook her head, answering for all of them, "No. Now let's go. If Nel finds out that there was someone injured and we didn't drag them to her, we're the ones who are going to pay."
Aloom groaned, protesting, but they ignored him. Together, Gilan and Selethen lead him down the hall towards Nel's room. He seemed to get a little more steady on his feet on the way there, but Gilan held on just in case.
Cassandra knocked on the door as soon as she could. Nel answered a moment later, looking confused, until she saw Aloom. Her attitude changed immediately.
She swung the door open and directed them to place Aloom on the couch near the fireplace, running to her desk and grabbing the medicine kit that she had slung over the chair.
"What happened?" she asked, pulling out a cloth and pouring a little water on it. She pressed it gently to Aloom's temple, dabbing at the blood there. He winced a little as she did this, but didn't pull away.
"He fell down the stairs." Selethen answered, watching her intently.
"My fault." Gilan put in apologetically, "We ran into each other."
"It's alright," Aloom insisted.
Nel finished with cleaning the blood away. Looking at it critically, eyes narrowed, she then reached into her bag, pulling out a small container.
"Do you have any allergies?"
"Any what?"
"Reactions to any substances?" she clarified, still looking at him intently, "Anything that makes you nauseous, causes a rash, makes it difficult to breathe?"
He shook his head slowly and Nel nodded, opening the container and dabbing a small amount of the salve inside onto the tiny cut on his temple. Nel then set it aside and put a single finger in front of him, "Just follow my finger."
She began moving it up and down, then side to side. Gilan could see Aloom trying to follow along, but he kept blinking. Eventually, Nel slowed her finger down and he was able to track her movements. Nel frowned and asked, "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Aloom watched her finger very carefully.
"Two?" he guessed.
Nel sighed, "Ok, well, your head will be fine. It's just a small scrape, but you do have a mild concussion. You probably hit your head on the stairs harder than you thought."
Aloom groaned, but she smiled at him, "It's alright. A couple days rest, don't strain yourself, and you'll be good as new."
"Just rest?" Cassandra asked, "That's all?"
Nel nodded again, "The best medicine for anything is time, head injuries especially. Concussions are like a bruise, just inside your head instead of outside it. No matter how many salves you put on a bruise, it doesn't make it go away any faster. I'll make you something to help with the pain if you need it, but rest is the best thing."
"Thank you."
Nel smiled and moved over to her desk, already reaching for the herbs she needed, almost without having to look. Gilan's chest swelled with pride. Yes, it was a small injury, but Nel was so confident and assured whenever she had anything to do with medicine. She knew her abilities and didn't second guess herself. He could only wish that she could carry that attitude into all aspects of her life.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Gilan noticed Selethen watching her as well, a quiet appreciation on his face. Now knowing that his friend was going to be alright, he watched as Nel mixed the herbs together, unaware that she was being watched.
"What was that word you used before?" Selethen asked her, "The…aller…"
His voice trailed off as he tried to remember it, but Nel answered, not even turning away from her work in front of her.
"Allergy. I'll admit, it's a newer word. Malcolm came up with it a year or two ago after he did some intense study on the matter. It's exactly what I said it was, a body's reaction to some sort of substance. Malcolm and I had a lot of patients who would come in with the same symptoms. A lot of them would be related, so at first he thought it was something in their homes making them sick. Then he realized it may be a family trait and only when they interacted with a certain substance. As far as we can tell, anyone can be allergic to anything, but it's more likely to be passed down through the family line. We had patients who couldn't handle eating fish, others who threw up every time they ate a certain fruit, the list goes on. A few of them ended up being allergic to some of the herbs we use in medicine, which is why I asked. Malcolm also thinks that maybe why so many people are sick in the spring, because they actually have allergies to the new plants that are blooming."
She finally turned around, a small bag holding the herbs in her hand, and saw the four of them watching her intently, listening to her every word. Instantly she began blushing, her medical babble halted.
Selethen had nodded in understanding though, "That makes sense. We actually have a similar word in Arrida, that would explain why we didn't recognize it."
"Don't worry, we didn't recognize it either." Cassandra joked. Gilan hadn't noticed, but she'd slid into the seat next to him.
"W-What is it called in Arrida?" Nel asked nervously.
"Alhasasia," Selethen said, "It means much the same thing. Our doctors only discovered it in the last few years as well, but word of medical advancements spread quickly in Arrida."
"You can thank the university for that," Aloom put in with a small smile.
"I've heard of the university," Nel muttered, "What's it like?"
At that, both Selethen and Aloom shrugged.
"We don't really know, neither of us attended it." Selethen responded, "I've visited, I know that they are constantly studying, but that's about it. Each region has a doctor on staff that studied there though and they stay up to date on any new discoveries that are made."
"That's exciting. Maybe you'll get to work with the doctor in Al Shabah." Cassandra said hopefully.
"That's easily arranged." Selethen smiled.
Nel blushed, obviously embarrassed, and moved to hand the small bag of herbs to Aloom, "Brew a tea with these if you need to. There's enough for a couple days worth, but if you need more, let me know."
"I'm sure it'll be fine." Aloom said, but took the bag gratefully anyway, "Thank you."
"Anytime."
"We should get going then," Selethen stood up, "We were supposed to be at another meeting a few minutes ago."
"Everything ok?" Cassandra asked.
Aloom nodded, "Something about transporting soldiers to Toscana as soon as we get home."
"I'll come with you, help explain why you're late." Gilan offered.
They nodded their thanks and together the group left, Nel waving goodbye behind them.
Professor: Hey everyone! So, just a couple quick things.
For languages, I am using Google Translate. I decided to use the Arabic language for Arrida's language as it was the closest I could find to what Flanagan uses in the books. If I am wrong about that though, please tell me and I will correct it. Also, if any of the translations are wrong, please forgive me and let me know. I'll fix them as soon as I can.
'Alhasasia' literally means 'allergy' according to Google Translate.
For the medical content in this chapter, any previous ones, or any future ones, please do not take it as fact. Sadly, Nel is not actually a real doctor. Her medical knowledge is my medical knowledge and my medical knowledge comes from what I have discovered through the use of the internet and doctor shows. It is in no way supposed to be actual medical advice. I try to make it as close to the truth as possible, but it does not replace advice from an actual doctor.
That being said, the medical knowledge in this story is kind of limited anyway, so it is not supposed to be completely correct to begin with. They are still finding stuff out and making massive discoveries, but that doesn't mean they have all the details regarding everything. I'm attempting to keep it at least semi-close to historical, but also fall in line with the characters and where they were at, medically-speaking, in the book. I totally believe that Malcolm is smart enough to figure out allergies, even if he doesn't know everything about how they work. If someone from a thousand years ago can make a record of an allergy without having the word 'allergy', than so can Malcolm.