Deepwater's Daughter

Chapter 8

"Sara?" Plec's voice roused her from a dream of a bottomless hamper of dirty laundry.

"Ow!" Ysara groaned as the feeling returned to her bandaged arm.

"We would have given you something for the pain," Geffen said as he knelt beside Ysara's bed with Plec at his shoulder, "but I was afraid to. I didn't know how it would affect a naga." The satyr looked almost as miserable as Ysara felt.

"Give it to me anyway," Ysara sighed.

Geffen hurried to a nearby cabinet and began digging through its contents.

Rasha leaned against the sick bay wall and watched Geffen with ill-disguised contempt. She turned her eyes on Ysara again and said, "We were afraid we'd lost you."

"You being the only doctor and all," Plec said, "We kinda had to muddle through as best we could."

"Who treated me?" Ysara asked, admiring the weave of the bandages covering her arms.

"I got the bleeding stopped," Plec said proudly.

Ysara glanced at the mouse girl's uncovered hands and frowned at the blisters still evident there.

"Well I couldn't tie a tourniquet with my hands all wrapped up!" Plec said defensively.

Ysara sighed and nodded. "I'll treat them again as soon as I'm able," she said, "... and, thank you."

Plec grinned.

"Where'd you learn to treat wounds like this?" Ysara asked, wincing as she tried to scratch an itch beneath the bandages of her left elbow.

"You wanna work with powder, you better learn how to tie off a stump or two!" Plec laughed.

Ysara quickly lifted her blanket to see if her tail was still attached.

"I don't mean you!" Plec assured, "I just meant hypothetical stumps!"

Ysara's eyes went wide to realize that, though she was still intact, she wore nothing but bandages beneath the blanket. She snatched the covers back up to her chin as Geffen returned with a small silver canister in hand.

"Stay still!" he protested, "Don't hurt yourself." He pulled the cap from the metal tube and plucked what appeared to be a piece of dried fruit from within.

"What's that?" Ysara asked.

"Bloodpalm date," he said putting the fruit to her lips, "Just chew it. Don't swallow."

Ysara thanked Geffen with her eyes as he slipped the date between her lips. She bit down, filling her mouth with a sweet, slightly metallic taste. A warm, tingling sensation trickled down her throat as she sank back into her pillow again.

"Rasha," she called out through her clenched teeth.

The fox mage lifted her ears.

"Thank you," Ysara said.

Rasha gave her a little smile in return.

Ysara looked at Geffen again who had resumed his vigil on his knees at her bedside.

"What was that thing?" she asked.

Geffen's eyes fell. "I don't know," he said.

"The captain knew," Plec spoke up, "She called it all sorts of names when she saw it!"

"She did seem rather... unsurprised," Rasha added.

Geffen said nothing, but his eyes confirmed the girls' suspicions.

"You weren't with the crew when they first visited the island, were you, Geffen?" Rasha asked.

The satyr's eyes lifted in surprise, then he shook his head.