TMW Shorts

Pushed Too Hard

Cassia's POV:

"Hey Cassia?" I turned to look at my mentor. "Hm?" "I was wondering if you could manage the station for about an hour while I go check on some people?" "Yeah, of course! Be careful, Hazel. And put some shoes on while you're at it!" I turned back to the herbs I was crushing. 

Everything was going fine until a small crowd of crew mates were standing in the already cramped room. I was getting a bit agitated. Once I finally tied the wrap on the last patient, Keon and Hazel walked in. 

"Cassie! We need you in the kitchen. Saffron was trying to impress Star by flipping knives and I think you know how that went." I nodded and hurriedly followed Keon out of the room after grabbing some bandages and alcohol wipes. When I got to the kitchen, I saw exactly what damage had been done. 

"Saffron! You should know better than to try to grab a falling knife! When a knife falls, assume the entire thing is a blade. I'm going to have to clean this. It's going to hurt so brace yourself." A small string of curses escaped the captain's mouth. I put the dressing on her hand and said, "There we go. Come back to the station if you need anything else." 

Soon it came time for dinner. I told Hazel to go on ahead while I finished up my work. I ended up working through the meal and late into the night. When I finally went to sleep it was so late it would be considered early. I woke up to find Hazel left a note that explained she left to go get more supplies. 'Shoot! I forgot we're in port today.' 

After skimming over the note, I got to work again. I made creams and tidied up Hazel's workspace. There weren't any people around so I decided to study a book on herbs. Eventually Hazel returned and brought me a book and a special tea she got while in port. I continued to work. At dinner, I didn't eat much due to the fact that I needed to memorize the names and descriptions of edible mushrooms out of the book Hazel had brought for me. 

The next few days were a blur with little sleep or nutrients in between to tell them apart. I woke up one morning and immediately something felt off. I ignored the feeling and got right back into studying techniques for dressing complicated wounds. I couldn't focus but I tried to push past it.

My head started to hurt, but soon it was time for lunch. Hazel finally pulled me away from my work. When I stood up, I almost fell. I blamed it on me just being me. I chatted with the crew for a bit while sipping on a small cup of soup. We all finished our meal and everyone got up to leave.

I stood up too quickly and my vision swam. I reached out to steady myself with the table and shook my head. Keon noticed and spoke up. "Cassia? Are you ok?" I felt dizzy. "Yeah, I'm fine." "Are you sure?" "Of course, just a tiny bit of orthostatic hypotension. Nothing to worry about." Keon gave me a worried look and wandered off to Saffron and Allistar. 

I stood there for a second and swayed a little bit. My head was still pounding. I walked back to the station by myself and made a concoction of herbs to help with the headache. As I was already sitting down and getting ready to get back into work, Hazel, Saffron, Keon, and Allistar walked in which startled me. Again, I stood up too quickly. 

I saw stars for a second and then everything went black. When I woke up, it took a few moments before my vision cleared but when it did I realized I was curled up on Saffron's lap. I groaned and shifted. I heard Keon freaking out in the back. 

"She's so pale! How did I not notice? What happened? Ohmygodsohmygodsohmygods...." "Cassia? Can you hear me?" "Mhm." I hated how weak I sounded. "How do you feel?" "Awful." Allistar, Hazel, and Saffron looked at each other and back to me. 

"When was the last time you drank something?" I hesitated. "A few days ago, I think." "And when did you last eat something solid?" "Also a few days ago." I looked around. The world stopped spinning around me. 

Hazel looked at me with intense worry. "Have you been working yourself into exhaustion again?" She asked quietly. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN AGAIN?" Keon roared. I winced at the volume change but I nodded. "Cassia has a habit of taking care of others and forgetting to take care of herself." Hazel explained. 

Saffron looked angry and I started to panic. "Cassia! You can't do that to yourself. You have to take care of yourself first before you can take care of others. Hazel, is it ok if Cassia takes a few days off?" "Of course." "But I have so much stuff to do-" "I'm sure everything can wait. Hazel can manage, the ladies in the kitchens can handle themselves, and I don't think we need a seamstress at this exact moment in time. Now, go rest. Captain's orders."

 And so that's what I did. I rested for a few days and slowly got back into work. The crew always looked after each other, but we stepped up our game after the incident. Never letting anyone push themselves too far.

(Author's Note: Ok so I do realize that this isn't as short as I thought it would be but here it is. I wrote it a little while ago and thought it should be included. Now that I'm out of school for the summer, I should have time to actually write and post more. Have fun!)