((A/N: Yeah, 'maybe this won't be so bad.' Famous last words. That was my thought after my first treatment, then a couple days later... well, read on and see.))
Chapter Five: Treatment Aftermath
Vendel had overheard in passing Bagdwella's shop that the Trollhunter was in Trollmarket this eve. For around three days after his mother's first treatment for her disease the human had been absent a considerable amount from the community he'd sworn to protect, but for all his bluster the white-eyes healer didn't mind this time. Only Blinky, Aaarrrggghh, and Draal understood the situation better than he did.
Severe sickness was never something to be uncompassionate about.
To the point when he heard of Jim's presence Vendel turned from his current task to head towards the library to have a word with him. There was something, a token for Barbara from one healer to another, that he'd been wanting to have passed on but they'd never managed to catch one another before now. Soon the library came into view and without preamble he started to enter.
"Is she feeling very bad?" came Blinky's voice through the entryway as Vendel opened the door. The healer paused, realizing he'd come in the middle of a conversation between the scholarly Troll and the Trollhunter.
"She told me it's like the flu," Jim replied in a pained tone. "But I've seen her with the flu - this is so much worse!"
"Should we be concerned?"
"She said it's normal so far, just the side effects, but I really didn't want to leave her tonight. She insisted, said we agreed this wouldn't interfere with my training." Vendel heard Blinky make a thoughtful noise.
"I am certain your mother knows her body better than either of us," he reassured, "nor is she the kind of woman to send you away if she were truly in need of aid." Jim sighed.
"I know, and I asked Aaarrrggghh to stay with her just in case - he showed up before I left - but I -" The Trollhunter's voice failed him.
"You are a dedicated son," his mentor surmised. "Barbara is also a very strong woman. This is the first cycle of treatment, yes? So it is an experimental, see-what-happens phase. For things to be harder now than they will be in the future is only natural." Again the boy sighed.
"I know."
"Come. We will do some light physical training to help take your mind from your worry." Vendel moved off without their knowing he was there, heading back down the street before they left the library.
Maybe he'd just go give this little token in person.
Some people felt the effects of chemo right away, even during treatment. Some not until hours or even days later.
Barbara was one of the latter.
Aaarrrggghh looked on from where he had seated himself by her bed. Jim had contacted Toby on the walkie-talkie, asking if the Troll could come over and sit with his mom while he was at training, and of course the big guy was happy to do it. But it was never easy to watch helplessly as someone you know and cared about to any degree suffered.
Around mid-afternoon that day Barbara had begun to feel under the weather, and things had progressed from there to the present. She lay under a warm blanket in her lightest pajamas, groaning slightly as she battled against the feelings of nausea and aches asking every limb. One hand held onto one of Aaarrrggghh's fingers which he'd offered for her to squeeze.
"Medicine helping?" he asked, referring to the nausea medicine she'd taken some time earlier.
"Some," replied Barbara as another shudder took her and made her stomach clench nauseatingly.
"Been a while." Barbara had taken one of her anti-nausea pills before Aaarrrggghh had arrived. "Take another?" Barbara turned her head to look at her beside clock.
"Not for another hour and a half." She turned her head the other way to look at him. "I know Jim already said it, but thank you for this. Not for me, but for him." Aaarrrggghh chuckled.
"Happy to. We said we help however could. This best way I help. Can't hurt my fingers." Barbara chuckled weakly as well - a welcome bit of humor really - and gave his finger a squeeze.
"No, I doubt I could. I'm just glad it's hitting now, instead of right after my chemo. Being contaminated with the chemo drugs would make anyone helping me so much harder." Through the half-open door below they heard the sound of the basement for opening, and Barbara frowned. "I thought Draal was helping with the training." Aaarrrggghh frowned as well, sniffing the air, then a moment later smiled as footsteps - along with the thump of a cane - were heard.
"Vendel," he identified.
"Hmm, Barbara?" they heard the healer call out.
"We're upstairs," Barbara called back, and a few moments later Vendel pushed the door open, carefully stepping in.
"Ah, here you are. And Aaarrrggghh. I was informed you would be present as well."
"Jim insist," Aaarrrggghh explained with Barbara adding,
"He wouldn't go off to train until someone could stay with me."
"Yes, so I heard." Though he'd rehearsed what he'd wanted to say Vendel hesitated. Despite having quite a bit of respect for the Trollhunter's mother, for a human, and a few brief interactions he wasn't quite sure how to go about this. Thankfully Aaarrrggghh unknowingly came to his rescue.
"Why Vendel come here? Blinky would call if Jim in trouble."
"As it happened when Blinky informed me of your affliction I had a small idea of a way that I might add my aid to that of the others," explained Vendel, loosening one of the pouches he wore around his waist and reaching two fingers into it.
"Affliction," echoed Barbara with a small laugh. "I like that. Fitting."
"Hmm, quite," Vendel agreed as he pulled the object out, letting it hang from two fingers so they could see.
"Bracelet?" Aaarrrggghh wondered. That's certainly what it appeared to be, sized for a human and made of gemstones held in place along the leather band by thin metal wires.
"Yes. Barbara, if I may ask where is your cancer located?" Barbara was clearly confused but decided to just go with it; her thus-far go-to reaction for all things Troll.
"My left side."
"Ah, splendid! That will place this close to your heart, which means the gemstones will have an even more potent effect. If I may?" Vendel gestured, and Barbara lifted her left arm. But rather than tie the bracelet around her wrist he tied it around her bicep with considerable dexterity for the size of his fingers; it was secure without being too tight and when Barbara lowered her arm the stones were tucked up against her ribs and her heart.
"Thank you, Vendel. It's beautiful."
"And it will aid with your healing. As I once elaborated to the Trollhunter while humans carve stones for beauty, Trolls carve them for power." He nodded towards the bracelet. "Each stone I selected and carved for their known healing properties for humans: amethyst for pain, yellow jasper for nausea, hematite for improving blood circulation, ruby for stamina and energy, clear quartz for the immune system, tiger's eye for mental clarity, and turquoise as an overall healing stone and for positive mood." Barbara blinked, then chuckled.
"Turquoise is called the master healer, especially if it's given as a gift." Vendel blinked in surprise.
"That is correct! I was unaware that you knew of such."
"When I passed my final exams to become a doctor a friend in my class gave me a hematite necklace with a Rod of Aesculapius in turquoise. It's the symbol of medicine, and she told me about the stones. She was always really big into that kind of thing." Barbara lifted her arm to look at the bracelet. "Will this...work on me? I'm human..."
"I believe it may help. In the recent past I offered an amethyst stone to the Trollhunter to counteract a migraine, and it seemed to help." Barbara smiled.
"Well, even if it doesn't I appreciate the gesture. As humans say, it's the thought that counts." Though she couldn't see it, however, Vendel privately though that Barbara's complexion had improved a bit, and she seemed more relaxed.
"Well, I'll leave you to rest. Should any of the stones lose their inner luster have the Trollhunter return it to me and I shall replace the spent stone." With a final parting nod Vendel slipped from the room, rather pleased with his effort and its seeming effectiveness. No, it wasn't a cure - he highly doubted even the most powerful Troll magic would've provided a cure - but hopefully it would help get someone he highly respected through her ordeal.
Later Jim would quietly thank him for it, when he brought the bracelet back for a stone replacement, and told him his mother wore it every day.
