Off Center (The Lament) (6 page)

"Doctor!
Doctor Millis! Come, quickly! The prisoner..." She didn't have the needed words
to describe everything, not without the man being present, in which case it wouldn't
be needed. He didn't come very fast, having clearly been napping in his own room.
At least he wasn't wearing his jacket or tie, and his white hair was wisping over
to the left side, which almost never happened. He was a dapper and tidy man, normally.

"What
is it dear? I thought I heard yelling, is everything all-" He stopped in the
door, and then moved with decent speed to the bedside of his patient.

Bard
Ben moved in behind him, staring a bit.

"Infection?"

That
was what Pran would have guessed too, but the Doctor actually bothered to check,
looking at all the wounds and rousing the man enough so that he could grunt yes
or no about where it hurt. It wasn't that useful, but the old man managed to turn
it into something that made sense to his trained mind.

"I
don't think so. It seems more like food poisoning, really. I can hardly credit that.
Our cook is superb, and most cleanly. Plus, no one else has anything like it going
on. Before that, in the jail, well, I don't think he had anything to eat at all
for some time. I'll need to tend him rather closely. If he dies from the ill treatment
he received, that will open a whole new bag of rotten apples, won't it?" He
got a cool compress, wetting it using the ceramic jug next to the bed and then blinked
up at Pran, looking at her instrument. "Were you coming to play for him? That's
a most gentle thing to do. I don't know if he'd appreciate it at the moment, but
perhaps later, after the worst of this breaks?" The man liked to listen to
music himself, she knew, and didn't have a problem sharing treats, as long as he
could partake too.

She
nodded, but explained. It wouldn't do to lie after all, since she didn't need to
yet.

"I
was just fleeing from Bard Benjamin's awkward questions when I heard him, and called
for you directly. Of course I'll play for him, or you, whenever you want. We were
just practicing for a show in the village tomorrow."

He
looked at his patient and then mopped the brow again, which already had beads of
sweat reappearing, even if the ship was cool enough for comfort.

"Thank
you, dear. May I also call on your aid as a nurse? I know that it isn't the duty
of a Bard to attend the ill, but-"

She
interrupted him, "what do I need to do? For that matter how soon. I should
do some wash for Mara if I can, there's rain though."

Ben
blinked at her from the door.

"Oh,
um..." Then, without explaining he walked away.

Pran
got lessons in brow mopping, helping the man sit up and slowly giving him sips of
cool water. Not cold however. Doc Millis was most firm about that point. You never
gave a person with a fever of note anything too cold.

"The
body will fight to warm itself. To be correct, the drinking water should be no more
than room temperature, but most find it hard to drink things that are too warm,
unless they're hot. Tepid is a bit miserable for most that way." Then he went
into the six different kinds of fever.

Pran
tried to pay attention, since it was probably going to come up some time or another.
Almost everything did, eventually. Besides, even if it didn't, she learned six new
ways to describe being too hot. That could be of use to a Bard.

Ten
minutes and half of a good lesson on tending the sick later, Ben came back in with
Paul, who walked slowly still, but didn't act like he was in a lot of pain.

"We're
going aloft to try and outrun the breeze coming up. Captain Mina said that you won't
be in tomorrow if you stay on the ship. Not early. You can do laundry, if you wish?"
The way he said it was strange, because it was almost like he was asking a question
of her, rather than telling her raw fact.

Then
he walked off slowly.

Ben
however seemed pleased enough and let it show with a friendly smile.

"Captain
Mina seems to think that this won't be too bad, but it could get cold tonight. The
wind is from the North and it has clouds behind it. If it was a month or two later,
this would be a set up for a snow storm, but most likely not, this time of year.
Right now it will probably just be rain. Or we can hope so at least."

After
that, he managed to wander away, since it was clear that Pran was going to go into
medicine, and needed to study some anatomy charts. She was familiar with them too,
after a fashion, since she'd had to study the human form from the inside out, for
her stone work. People
and
animals. That was all anyone ever really wanted
in stone. Well, maybe a few relief pieces from time to time, but since most large
stone works were contracted by the High Council, they tended to stick to monuments,
she'd heard.

She
pointed at the picture, and read the words off softly.

"Ah,
so this is the bulge at the hip?"

Doctor
Millis saw where she was pointing and then nodded.

"Yes,
that's right, the Gluteus medius." Then he launched into ten more names that
all sounded suspiciously foreign in origin. That made it more interesting, but also
harder for her to hold in her head, meaning she had to repeat it a lot and a few
times even ask him to say the words again, so she could get it correct. It was embarrassing,
but when you didn't know, you just had to learn. It was easiest when you were little,
she decided. No one cared about your mistakes then. Not that the Doctor did now
either.

No,
if anything he seemed impressed that she cared enough to be trying at all. She understood
that after about forty minutes, when he looked at her funny and asked her to go
over all the main muscles on the body. She got several of them wrong, but the man
just corrected her gently and then, after she finished, sighed at her.

"If
I'd gotten to you first, we could have made a real doctor of you, perhaps a surgeon.
You have fine hands. That, a good heart and a willingness to learn... All of those
are rare gifts, young Pran." He let his face go a bit strange for a second
and then shook his head. "Forgive me, I meant to say
Bard
Pran. When
you reach my age, everyone seems suddenly young. I half expect to find Paul and
Mina running through the halls playing chase any day now."

Pran
didn't mind being called young. She didn't even mind him thinking she had a good
heart, it just wasn't true.

"Well,
two of the three? My hands and willingness aren't that bad. The other thing..."
She felt bad saying it, because she wanted him to like her, but soon enough she'd
be gone, wouldn't she? A few weeks at most.

For
one of the first times she'd ever seen, the man suddenly looked displeased and directed
a hard gaze right at her.

"Perhaps
I misspoke? A kind
demeanor
then, rather than a naturally good heart? It
doesn't matter, you know. Not over the course of a life. A person that does good
things and helps others out of responsibility is identical to one that feels those
kind impulses in their innermost self. Life is about what you
do
, nothing
else. Not what happens to you, or who you've been in the past." Then he waved
at her a bit prissily and made a funny face. "Not that you should listen to
an old man ramble on, but what else are we going to do, just sitting here?"

The
answer to that came from the door, as Mara poked her head in, speaking without bothering
to knock or announce herself.

"Just
got word that we're headed up, Pran. We have an early date in town, you and I, so
need to get shelter set up. It's going to be a cold night, so pull warm clothing
from the stores first. Sorry to interrupt, Doctor, but we have to move now. We get
forty minutes before we're outside." Then she moved, doing it suddenly, heading
down the hallway to the right, the back of the ship.

Pran
stood and looked at the old man, who seemed at least a little disappointed.

"Don't
worry, I'll get Bard Ben to come and help you with the patient. He's up half the
night anyway, most days. Duty calls and all that."

The
man gave her a tired look and nodded.

"Does
it? I can't see why you'd be needed in particular for an inventory. Not that Mara
couldn't still use another pair of eyes, but that's just a good reason for neither
of you to go, in my opinion. Which is, as I just mentioned, that of an old man.
We do like our comforts, and tend to assume everyone else does too." He reached
out to pat her hand as she passed. "Be careful. Pumpkin Hollow is a troubled
place right now. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but something isn't right
here. Beyond this man's misfortunes, I mean."

Not
that those weren't bad enough. Pran waved to the Doctor, and stuck her head in Bard
Ben's room, to find him busily putting things away. It was what you were supposed
to do when a craft was going up, even though the ride was normally very smooth.
There was a slight sway to the thing already however. That could mean something,
as far as take off went. The three she'd been there for hadn't been that hard, but
what did she know? Each one was probably a little different from the rest.

"Ben?
You're up to be nurse for the night. Mara and I are getting off, so we can be there
first thing in the morning to check on the situation in the village." It wasn't
going to be fun, she knew. It was already chilly out and being wet and cold were
two of her least favorite things to be.

With
a groan, the other Bard kept working.

"I
can't believe it. You aren't a Guardian and they keep sending you into dangerous
situations. I should protest. I'll go and talk to Clark and get them to leave you
alone."

Pran
cleared her throat, then smoothed the front of her all black, still slightly moist,
outfit.

"No.
I owe everyone too much to whine about a night of hard sleeping. Besides, Mara needs
me. I'll be fine. Wet, no doubt, but maybe there will be another song in it?"
She stopped for a second and then started to tap a steady beat with her hand on
her right thigh.

After
a second she let the words start to come.

"I
can see just where it's at, the lost and lonely drown-ed rat... Soaked to the bone,
far past the skin, somebody please, oh let me in." She could have kept going,
but left then, because the tune was actually sticking with her a little. It was
a simple thing, but lively enough that kids might like it.

She
was, in fact, still singing it lightly when she started signing out everything she
thought she might need from the stores. There was heavy, cold weather clothing,
which she decided to get some of, since she didn't really know what would happen.
It was easier to take clothing off than to create it from thin air. That meant getting
a heavy satchel pack and four pairs of socks. That and some oversized boots to go
with them, as well as two pair of heavy mittens. When Mara came in she squinted
for a bit, and then turned to the side, so that she could see what was going on.

"Not
too bad. Get three waterproofs too. For each of us. Bedding and... You know, forget
the tent. It won't hold up in the winds. We'll need knives. We can make a shelter,
if we hurry. You always wanted to cuddle up with me all night anyway, right?"
There was actually concern in her tone for some reason, and it wasn't about the
weather. It was like she was uncertain about what Pran would do if they were alone
together like that? Or, it might have been different than that. For her part, Pran
kept packing and decided that taking it as a joke was the right course of action,
no matter how it had been meant.

"Sounds
fun." She stopped suddenly and winced, thinking about it. "Actually it
sounds lumpy and uncomfortable. Neither of us exactly comes pre-padded. We'll live,
and I promise that I won't grope you in your sleep." There, it was jovial enough,
wasn't it?

Mara
chuckled.

"Good.
That always gets awkward. Especially in a storm, I mean, it's not like you can just
leave
." The way she said it made it seem like it had actually come up
for her before. More than once.

"Yeah.
Do we need rope?" Pran just signed for some anyway. Most of the trouble she'd
had in the last weeks stemmed from rope, she reflected casually, not honestly blaming
strands of fiber for her problems.

Sure,
the school council had been too hard on her, kicking her out, but that was
really
only too much because of the investment that they'd already made in her. She'd
pulled a prank with some friends of hers at school and ended up breaking Sollen's
leg. The boy was only fourteen and wouldn't even be healed yet. She
could
blame the rope, or the slope of the roof that she'd hoisted the large horse statue
up on. A lot of people would have. For that matter the knots could be faulted too.
She'd tied them, but it wasn't done correctly.

In
the end though, no matter how much she wanted to deny it now, no matter how many
people complained for her and even fought to get her position returned, the school
council hadn't really been wrong. She hadn't made some simple mistake. Pran had
nearly gotten a boy killed, doing something that she knew was wrong the whole time.
Everything past that was her fault. All of it.