Sequel

Spent all of yesterday in bed and today the only reason I'm up is because I had to work. But as I have to stay up to a certain hour so I can be awake for a shift tomorrow... I figured I might as well write. So it's not very good and there may be an issue.

As in, I was having concentration issues due to the fact that someone keeps making sounds and noises and I can't exactly write... at the moment... when they do that.

Geh.

Read, Review and Enjoy.




“That’s… weird,” Rel muttered.

Palt snorted and gave Mm’s palm a pat, “it’s a bit odd, considering the fact that Essuan’s the only healer we know of and she can’t heal herself like this. So. No frowning, no glaring, just in case. Nice stuff. Oh,” the doctor reached into his case and withdrew several leaves, one he handed to Rel, the other he held out to Mm, “its harmless. Some kind of sweet treat.”

Rel bit a piece off the leaf and chewed thoughtfully. All he tasted was green. Fresh and full of life and likely good stuff and just a hint of sweet. Right at the end as he swallowed.

“Wow, that is a treat. How can anything taste so … clean?”

“Essuan grew it from seeds,” Palt glanced at Mm expectantly.

The Sidhe sighed out and popped the leaf in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. The shock on the creature’s face was priceless. From considerately eating something was offered to him to shock, to confusion and finally to an almost childish delight. Mm chewed for what seemed an extremely long amount of time before he swallowed.

“I thought you might like that. All Sidhe love that. No. For you, some bandages will be on the next cart as well as disinfectant. Change the bandage often and clean it all out.”

“I know how to care for a wound, thank you,” Rel murmured in response.

“Why don’t you pull his attention to the food? Tomorrow morning see if you can get him to open his mouth for you, see if there are any new teeth coming in.”

“Even if he’s growing teeth back again, that’s way too early. To build bone takes months, not hours.”

“And healing a badly cut hand takes weeks, not minutes,” Past murmured, closing his case and clicking it shut, “take him over to the food.”

Rel sighed and stood, he walked to the cart and uncovered. A stew. The smell of it made his mouth water. Early in the morning for stew, but he wasn’t about to argue all that meat floating in all that thicken gravy and the bread to dunk into it.

“Mm, come over here, they’ve made us a good stew for breakfast.”

The Sidhe turned to the cart and reluctantly joined Rel there. He made a point of sniffing the air above the bowl, then shrugged.

“Well. There’s nothing wrong with that,” Rel muttered, breaking off a piece of bread and dunking it in the bowl that had been sent along. He popped the bread into his mouth and chewed, “mmm.”

“The stew’s for you, Rel, the other one is for him.” Past called out as he stepped out the door.

Mm looked over the cart and plucked up the covering of the other bowl. A vegetable stir fry with several leaves stuck into it at odd angles as garnishes. Garnishes that didn’t look edible, let alone pretty. A stick was standing up out one side. Rel looked at Mm’s bowl and then back at his own and shrugged.

“Mine’s better.”

Mm shrugged and grumbled a sound that seemed to say, “whatever.”

Rel at his bowl and Mm ate his own. Once Mm was done the bowl, the Sidhe went to the bed and pulled out some vegetables from under it. He offered Rel a carrot and Rel declined. The Sidhe ate all that he pulled out and then some more.

Another tooth dropped from Mm’s mouth, this one the poor Sidhe crunched on for a while, along with his apple, before he fished it out of his mouth. There was blood in Mm’s mouth as he presented the tooth to Rel ever so gently. As Mm didn’t seem worried, Rel was not worried and simply pretended he hadn’t seen that.

The tooth was a molar, a pretty big thing that had signs of filing across the top and down the side. As if whoever had filed the teeth hadn’t cared how it was filed, just so long as there were no sharp edges left. Turning it this way and that way, Rel could see hairline cracks down the tooth and into the root. Hard foods, likely some kind of grain that wasn’t well sifted. Could rocks crack a Sidhe’s teeth? Or would it have been worse, would it have to be metal filings in the food, meant to wear down the teeth and slowly kill the Sidhe, weaken them from the inside out?

Metal would eventually flush out of the system, but the sharp edges of the metal could become lodged in the intestines and that was bad. Of course. If they were lodged, Mm would complain about belly problems. Unless Mm already had belly problems. Rel looked at the Sidhe and wondered how a real, healthy Sidhe was supposed to move. Was Mm favouring his stomach in some way?

Rel stood and moved to Mm, the Sidhe stopped eating and looked at Rel, slightly abashed. Rel held the tooth out and motioned to the marks on the tooth.

“Filings. The cracks seem to indicate that you ate whatever filed down your teeth, or better, what you ate had something in it that filed down your teeth.”

Mm grimaced at the tooth and the markings, then shrugged.

“If you swallowed the stuff that made these marks…” Rel mimed pain in his stomach. Mm shrugged once more, “does your stomach hurt?” as Rel spoke, he reached out and gently touched Mm’s stomach.

The Sidhe growled and pulled away, pain flashing for a moment over his features. Of course Mm wouldn’t want anyone to know he was in pain.

Rel reached out and took Mm’s hand, something the Sidhe seemed content with permitting the man to do. He pressed the hand against his own stomach, putting pressure on it as he looked Mm in the eye. The Sidhe seemed confused.

“It’s not supposed to hurt, Mm, they might have to … put you to sleep and take the bits out. So that you can live without pain.”

Mm frowned and looked at Rel’s stomach as he reached with his other hand and pressed on his own stomach. The amount of pressure that Rel had placed on Mm’s hand, and thus Rel’s stomach, made Mm bend over in pain.

“Shh, it’s okay, Mm, come on, into the bed, come on. Easy now.”


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