Aftermath

Incorporating names from Partners and Sequel that those of you who have read this would know is... creepily amusing. Fun. Hilarious.

And way to easy.

Wonder whatever happened to Wern...

Because I know who Cousin is, it made me laugh. Of course. Being female, this person poses no threat to me, or to the healer in the below chapter who is just a bit ... fluttery about him. It is a very sexist group, the Aniege, in the old one (which you'll learn more about reading this) and the new one. Only men can have rank and the women are talked about as if they were possessions.

Posting this for two reasons. It's an ungodly hour and I'm bored. And because I hope to encourage myself to continue writing it today, as the next chapter we get to meet Cousin. Well. You do...

And in the off chance I don't write this weekend at all, I do absolutely no work whatsoever... Monday I go on vacation YAY. Muchly needed. But it also meens that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I can't promise I will be able to get online at all. Maybe where I'm going has an internet cafe, maybe not. I will try to updated both stories Sunday night before bed. Beginnings is no probelm (it's written for about six chapters) and Aftermath... is the problem.

Read, Review and Enjoy.






He awoke, knowing it was sometime later. That days had passed. The swelling in his eye had gone down, things did not pain him as much. Did not pain him at all.

Durth glanced around the well lit, airy room where he lay. There was a row of beds against the one wall and across from him were several windows, without glass, whose shutters were thrown open. A sunny, warm day wafted in through the openings and freshened up the room. A woman stood by the door, talking to a tall, greying man quietly as she washed her hands in a ceramic bowl.

A ceramic bowl.

Past’s wife would never allow a healer to use ceramic to wash hands in, the material was too precious, no one could duplicate it, not any more.

The woman was dressed in a well patched dress. Her hair was pulled back and braided, tied at the end with a length of brown cord. It was frizzy about the top and trying to escape the braid. The man was dressed in a vest with frayed shoulders, as if the vest had once been a long sleeved shirt, and a pair of loose pants. There were dark marks across the vest, red and browns. Blood.

Three beds away from Durth was Tushin, breathing hard, face a mess and the coverings pulled up to his chin. The man was obviously seriously wounded, he had bled through the bandages and straight into the blanket. Blood speckled his lips. Tushin’s breath hitched and both the man and woman looked over. The recruiter did not breath again.

Sighing, the woman walked across the room and drew the blankets up from his chin and laid it over his head as well, covering his face. She patted the blanket to one side of Tushin’s head and looked up, instinctually, to Durth. Her eyes grew wide when she saw that he was awake.

“Nost!”

The greying man moved away from the doorway and to Durth’s bedside. Head cocked to the side, brown eyes studied Durth.

“I hope you are truly worth his life,” Nost growled, “best recruiter we had and Past found him trying to smuggle you out. Cost us ten men to get him out, another four to unbury you.”

“I… was buried?”

“Little trick we learned, make a person appear dead and they aren’t noticed as missing. Problem is, if you don’t remove the body before burial, there can be problems. Like suffocation. What’s your name?”

“Durth.”

“Where is his woman, Durth?”

“Who?”

“Neece,” the other woman said, stepping up beside Nost, “her name was Neece, she was my sister and she was Tushin’s woman. Was she with him the night he met you?”

“She gave me something to drink. And. Showed me to the door. I. I don’t know where she is. I. Where am I?”

“An Aniege outpost,” Nost muttered, “thanks to the help of a Cousin, you are fully healed. But the same medication that saved you also meant that it could not be applied to Tushin. Cold hearted bastard-”

“Calm, Nost, it is not his fault the Cousin is cold,” the woman sighed and patted Durth’s arm, “Cousin will likely place a claim on you, he’s not apprentice of his own and he did do something very expensive to save your life. Such miracles are not easy to come by.”

“He’s a cold hearted bastard,” Nost snapped, “boy would be better off returning to Past for the torture and execution he will no doubt suffer.”

“What it took to heal him was quite expensive, Nost.”

“He would have survived without it, he’s young, he’ll spring right back. Tushin… he could have used such medicine. Could have benefited from such tending, but no. Cousin allows a useful, skilful recruiter to die and saves the untried recruit.”

“Nost is only upset because Tushin recruited him. The old man was on his way out anyhow,” the woman patted Durth’s arm comfortingly.

“And has lost us your sister in the same motion of his hand,” Nost snapped back at her.

“We should get him up and out of bed, come on… er…”

“Durth.” he wondered if perhaps the woman’s memory was going.

“Durth, come off the bed and let us take a look at you.”

Leaning on her arm, he managed to stand. His legs were weak and his knees trembled terribly. He felt exhausted, hungry and had the sudden urge to piss.

“I. Uh.” Durth wasn’t entirely certain how to say such a thing in front of a woman, “need to…”

“Piss?” Nost growled, “not surprising, you’ve been out three days.”

“Oh, over in that corner then,” the woman helped him to the corner and stood by, even as Durth used the walls for leverage and tried to hide himself from her. “Ah, Nost, we have a shy one.”

“Whatever is there to be embarrassed about? We’ve seen every inch of him.”

Durth got the distinct and uncomfortable feeling that they weren’t talking about his… body, but about a particular part. He pressed his lips together and tried to ignore the awkward feeling, urged himself to do what he had to do so that he could tuck himself back away. There was a very long moment of silence before he managed to start.

Relieved, the woman helped him to a table where he sat and ate. The meal thoroughly restored his energy and the tremble of his bones went away after the second helping. He had not had so much food to eat since… since…

The world ended.

Gulping down the sweet tasting water, fresh and crisp, he listened to Nost explain about Cousin etiquette.

Always greet them and stand still until they move on or say otherwise. Never look a Cousin in the eyes, nor question them. Never speak with a Cousin familiarly in public, even if in a close, private relationship with them. Never challenge a Cousin, not if one enjoys living. And so on down the line.

“Can you do all these things?” Nost asked suddenly of Durth.

Durth, startled, nearly dumped the water on his dirtied shirt, “yes?” he asked, as he wasn’t quite certain he had heard the question, nor the full list of what had come before the questions.

“Good.” Nost snapped out, “come with me, it’s time to get you cleaned up and introduce you to the family.”


.