lover/fighter - Finnick Odair

Chapter 36 - Pride, honor and sacrifice

"Crap," Rhea curses as the bandage scissors she has just cleaned and disinfected fall to the floor with a clatter. With little joy, she sinks to her knees to search for her equipment under the wooden table. She finds it shortly afterwards and tries to stand up again, but unfortunately, she misjudges her position a little. Her head hits the underside of the tabletop and the muffled sound can be heard throughout the whole room.

"Ouch," she moans, and then finally manages to heave herself back onto the chair. She rubs the back of her head, her face contorted with pain, and throws the scissors onto the table in annoyance. Then she casts a sharp glance at Tarek, who is laughing his head off at her misfortune in the seat opposite.

Tarek Castillo, Mirella's eldest son, a boy with dark brown curls and mischievous emerald-green eyes like a cat's, is currently 15 years old. Rhea has known him since he was a little boy, which is almost 7 years - almost half his life. How much time might she have spent looking after him and his equally lively brothers over the years? Quite a lot, definitely enough for Tarek to jokingly refer to her as his sister. Of course, she secretly finds this quite heart-warming, even if she sometimes feels more like the strict aunt.

In any case, the many hours spent together have at some point led Tarek to start seeing Rhea as a role model. As is the way with children, they are quick to look for someone to emulate. Even during Rhea's studies, he began to show more and more interest in her work. He often took curious glances at her thick textbooks while she sat at home studying, fascinated by all the vivid illustrations, even if he hardly understood any of the words.

Rhea thought it was just a phase and expected him to find a new hobby after a few weeks, but it didn't turn out that way. On the contrary, it actually became quite exhausting after he started pestering her with questions. He was always a bright guy and pretty smart. Even though, like Rhea, he never went to an elite school and his education was very poor, he has the ability to ask the right and important questions and that's something that's hard to acquire.

This is how she came to make Tarek her "assistant" out of necessity, so to speak. She gradually teaches him a few simple things, how to apply bandages properly, how to clean wounds, how to prepare simple tinctures, all the tasks he can be assigned with on his own without having to worry. Despite his cheeky disposition, he has now proved that he is very reliable when it matters, so she has entrusted him with keeping the second practice in order in her absence. Of course, he can't take over her duties there, but it has proved extremely helpful to have someone who can keep an overview. And who knows, if he stays on this path, maybe his future will look similar to Rhea's life now, probably better, because at least she can make sure he doesn't fall into the same hole as she did.

But it's all still a long way in the future and she has enough on her plate right now. She's been sitting with Tarek all morning in the little pub where she used to work years ago. That's how she came to know Baz and Lucia Winter, the middle-aged couple who own the place, as well as the rooms above it, which Rhea uses for her secondary workplace. When this idea developed from occasional favors into a full-time job, she inevitably had to look for a place where she could work properly on a permanent basis. In this respect, her old contacts in the area were extremely helpful.

It's not uncommon for Rhea and Tarek to spend Sunday mornings at one of the tables in the pub, which is always mostly empty at this time of day, sorting materials and anything else that needs to be done to keep the business running. She has always got on well with Lucia, and secretly the hard-boiled barmaid appreciates a bit of company from someone who isn't drunk once in a while, even if she likes to hide her softer side behind a hard shell.

This is probably a characteristic that comes with her job, because her husband also makes a rather grim impression on those who don't know him. He inspires respect even from a distance with his cold blue eyes. He usually ties his shoulder-length, greying hair halfway back, which used to be a rich blonde a few years ago, just like his beard. Boreas, even if everyone actually just calls him Baz, certainly lives up to his name. When he first stares at you with his icy gaze, you can feel the north wind blowing against you. He is not a man of many words either, preferring to observe quietly from his spot behind the bar.