Deep rumbles rolled through the lab station, but paying the occassional roars no heed, Dr. Lake sat back in her seat in exhaustion. She removed her glasses and leaned back in the desk chair, putting a forearm over her weary grey eyes.
Lena Marowyn, a local young woman dedicated to serving the Laurel Guide Hall as Zane�s Knight Champion, was working to tie a hotwater bottle around her numb, unnaturally pale right arm. She was silent in her efforts, awkwardly tying the sling one-handedly. Dr. Lake remained silent as Lena worked, knowing she would turn down any offers of assistance.
�Can you still feel your fingers?� the doctor asked quietly, her throat sore from yelling instructions over an enraged and rather uncooperative bayyo.
Lena nodded, her brown bangs falling into her face as she looked down at her wrapped hand. �Tingles�� she responded.
��I�d� hoped� that that dosage wouldn�t wear off so soon� that much tranquilizer would have killed any other creature�� and Dr. Lake reluctantly sat up to look over Lena�s dressing job. Distantly, she nodded. �That�s good. Take it easy on that arm and keep it warm� put more of the salve on it when you change the bandages. Should be fine by tomorrow��
Lena nodded, taking a seat on a spare chair and staring over at the door. She trusted Dr. Lake�s medicines; there was a magic in them that soothed pain and stimulated the body to repair itself. She used them rather frequently, given her line of work, and so was actually rather unconcerned about her own frost-bitten arm. She was quiet, her thoughts elsewhere.
��Thank you, for helping me back there�� Dr. Lake said softly, closing her eyes again. She was still breathing twice her normal rate as the adrenaline circled her system, and her throat was dry and scratchy from stress and yelling, and she knew she was going to be sore tomorrow in more places than her throat once the adrenaline settled into her muscles.
Lena nodded, brushing her long bangs from her face and brown eyes. �I did what I could��
�And saved us both,� Dr. Lake said sternly, sensing the younger woman�s guilt. �Almach will live� he was brave to take that blast. It shows just how loyal he is, and how good a friend you are to him for him to care about you that much.�
The tears that had been hiding behind Lena�s chocolate eyes were now shimmering forward to flow slowly down her face; a drop splashed down to leave a wet streak on the warm sling. She wiped her eyes with her free hand. �I� I didn�t want him to be in there� he�s Edaphic, he had no b-business taking on ice magic��
Dr. Lake watched her sympathetically, then stood, crossing the office to put a motherly hand on Lena�s shoulder. �It was his choice to push you out of the way. It is not your fault. He will be well in a few days� time� no lasting injuries.�
�Scars�?� Lena asked with a small smile, imagining Almach�s ego showing off his battle scars to other maow.
Dr. Lake thought for a moment, assessing. �On a fully Edaphic maow? Maybe� but I doubt it. Almach�s taken worse, hasn�t he? Kuuzin are a durable species��
Lena sniffed, then nodded with a small, small, smile.
Dr. Lake looked out of the window at the setting sun, the early evening coloring the mountains purple; beneath the sun, the shadows darkened under the Everwhite�s cloud-cover. �I hope the ice in the containment room will melt enough that we can at least look in on the bayyo through the observation window by tomorrow evening. We have a long day tomorrow anyway� I just hope the ventilation shaft wasn�t covered over with ice. Won�t help anyone if he suffocates��
�Could� could we gas him again?�
The doctor shook her head, her long silver ponytail swaying against the back of her lab coat. �No� it takes too much to drug him, and I don�t want to risk killing him� getting that much purified and contained gas is expensive, too. We don�t exactly have the most flexible budget.�
Lena nodded, wiping her eyes again and steadying herself with a long sigh. Her left hand too, was paler than usual, though only from the fright she�d received. Seeing her dearest companion trapped and unmoving beneath an inch-thick mask of ice that wrapped his entire upper body was a sight that would haunt her dreams for years to come. How two teen-age Rangers managed to dodge the brunt of that feline monster�s wrath she would never comprehend; her respect for Zane�s skills, no matter his young age, were ever-intensifying. The young Guide was a truly precocious Ranger; why Sadira, dragon-guardian of the Laurel territory, had chosen to ward him over any other Laurel Ranger was obvious.
She was jealous sometimes, thinking of Zane�s early rise to glory as only a result of his birth as an Edaph-Gifted and his half-Sylvan heritage, but she knew the boy�s heart and courage were his true strength. It had taken Lena a long time to finally realize she had no reason to feel demeaned by being under his command; she was proud to serve as the young Guide�s Knight Champion.
And now, as she sat injured and crying, she found herself feeling inadequate to that station. She was ten years older than the Guide, and there she was crying over a caged bayyo�s blind, anticipated attack. But she and Dr. Lake had managed to pull Almach out of the room and lock down the door before the bayyo tore free of its chain harnesses; she and Almach had prevented the bayyo from harming the doctor and possibly escaping to wreak havoc on the town it was her duty and honor to protect. She steadied herself with a long breath. �So� what do we do now�?�
Dr. Lake gazed unfocusedly out at the setting sun. �We wait, and we don�t go near it unless we have to.�
Lena nodded, setting her jaw.
* * * * *
Zane looked down the long expanse of the Feast Hall, steadying himself with a sigh and looking out over the crowd. Nearly every resident of the town was present, crowding around tables and chatting lightly as they waited for the coming feast. The young Guide pushed back his red and black cape and swept through the room towards the far end, where a band was striking up a merry tune; he wove his way through the stone columns and crowded tables, nodding pleasantly at all who greeted him. The tall windows lining the east wall were alight with the glow of afternoon, the stained-glass designs filtering the light into an array of colored beams. Banners were hung from the rafters, red and yellow and black. Tapestries, some bright, some fading, covered the grey stone of the walls; the glass-shrouded lanterns along the columns were unlit, waiting for the sun to wane beyond the clouds of the west before adding their firey flicker to the room�s atmosphere.
The band was playing on drums and flutes and strings on a slightly raised dais against the far wall, and people danced in the clearing before the stage, weaving an intricate and lively pattern across the flagstone. Younger children wove an inner circle, more chaotic and awkward, but they were having fun nonetheless as they trotted about together with joined hands, their voices raised in song.
(con'td)
(Picture needed!)
