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Post by Rainstorm Aria on Oct 16, 2007 14:13:31 GMT -5
Annikka exited the office of the high priestess of the Great Mother Goddess, feeling quite pleased with herself. The Palace's healers and the healers employed by the priestesses and healer-sisters who ran the free hospital funded by the temple in question had long had an association of benefit to both parties; sometimes a healer would be sent to help at the Great Mother Goddess Free Hospital, a few particularly talented and practical students in need of practical experience lent for a week or so, chemist-healers who dealt with medicines and herbals and other items of that sort pooling resources in times of difficulty and other arrangements.
On this particular visit she'd arranged for a group of the chemist-healers, half from the palace and half from the temple's healer-sisters, to work specifically on large batches of cold and influenza medicines to cope with the cold weather and resulting illnesses, to be pooled between the two concerns. Mages had predicted a long, cold winter with a damp early spring, and although Annikka was too aware of the vagaries of both the weather and weather predictions to completely trust in either, she thought she was justified in making the arrangements.
She managed to find her way out of the temple's administration quarter and into the part that most people saw, where incense was burned, offerings made and prayers cast into the spring the temple was built around. This reminded her to burn some incense, which she tried to do at least once every two months because if she had a personal dedication to any god, it was to this one. Most healers seemed to have a particular god they prayed to; Annikka burnt incense for the Goddess and, less frequently, the Black God.
That's not unusual for healers, Annikka thought to herself as she made her way to a small booth selling incense. I wonder if the general population have gods they pray to more often than most? It could be an effect of being in such close contact with both death and life on a daily basis...
She bought incense from the vendor after a slight hiccup involving the vendor's assumption that nobles had no idea what was a reasonable price for incense and that nobles didn't have ears to hear previous cheaper transactions and Annikka's firm belief in not being taken for a fool, and moved on towards the great doors into the shrine you burnt incense at.
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Post by alannatheknightess on Nov 4, 2007 16:50:27 GMT -5
Hinna was looking around the temple. It wasn't an unusal sight to see Dogs around the temples-- streetrats would hide inbetween the statues and steal small offerings. Maybe they just weren't afraid of the gods, or they really, really needed food. Either way, it was Hinna's job to get them out.
She techincally wasn't on duty-- her shift didn't start until dusk. She came to the temples to try and give the streetrats actual food-- Hinna feared the gods, and she knew that if people took their offerings, they were as good as dead. So with a basket of covered rolls on her hip, she was going to try and feed a few people, just so they wouldn't get struck down. Birdie probably wouldn't approve-- that girl was so mean sometimes.
The only streetrat she saw there was a regular, Poppy, and she gave the girl four rolls. She was just skin and bones, honestly, and every day less and less skin was there. Poppy was nice though-- she was unable to leave the temple, even if she wanted to. Poor thing, Hinna thought. It's not her fault she was born legless.
She went to the next temple, and the smell of insense overcame her. Hinna sneezed-- the gods couldn't really like that hidous smell, could they? If they liked the overpowering, bitter smells, they would of made things like flowers and candy smell overpowering and bitter. But they didn't-- they were light in their smells, and fresh. So whoever decided that the gods wanted insence that would give them a cough was mistaken, obviously. But then again, the person who made the insence probably didn't think so many people would burn it. Even the nicest smells could turn sour with the amount.
Hinna saw the woman walking towards the great doors. She was a Dog, after all-- it was in her training to notice everything. She took a quiet step to the side and moved the bread off the side of her hip, making sure it was still covered-- she knew many a noble or merchant who would steal things that they could easily afford, and Hinna wasn't in her uniform. She gave a smile at the woman as she walked by. No harm in being polite.
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Post by Rainstorm Aria on Nov 6, 2007 15:50:05 GMT -5
A fairly small woman with reddish hair smiled at Annikka as she walked past. Instinctively, Annikka smiled back, and then noticed the covered basket on the other woman's hip; the woman seemed to be selling whatever was in it. Rolls, by the smell, fresh ones. She realised exactly how long it had been since the apple she had seized and eaten on the way down here for breakfast. It took a long time to walk down here from the Palace, and that page had knocked out a tooth practising early this morning so she'd stopped and helped, and she'd been closeted with the high priestess for the past hour./.. Annikka opened her firmly closed bag, pulled out her purse from where it had migrated to the bottom of the bag and checked the contents. Yes, she had plenty of change.
She looked up and smiled again at the woman. "How much are the rolls?"
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Post by alannatheknightess on Nov 12, 2007 5:38:29 GMT -5
Hinna had never encountered this problem before. How could she refuse? The lady seemed very nice, bt she didn't know if she would need a roll... oh, this could be a problem. But one roll missing couldn't be too bad, could it? Of course, Hinna couldn't charge her for it, that'd be silly; to charge a woman something that she gave out for free.
Hinna shifted her weight and said, "Well, they aren't exactly for sale. See, I give 'em out-- you know how the childre' hide in the temples? Well, some are desperate for food, enough that they'd steal the gods offerin's. And I'm sure that there are some gods who understan', but others who'd be mad. And I don't wan' some child, for lack of a better word, struck down, because they couldn' feed themselves and stole some offerin'." Hinna paused, and then relised that the woman might take that the wrong way. "But, I'll give you on, sure! It just wouldn' feel right, you know, to make you pay."
There. Hinna thought she handled the situation nicely.
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Post by Rainstorm Aria on Nov 12, 2007 16:21:39 GMT -5
"Well, they aren't exactly for sale. See, I give 'em out-- you know how the childre' hide in the temples? Well, some are desperate for food, enough that they'd steal the gods offerin's. And I'm sure that there are some gods who understan', but others who'd be mad. And I don't wan' some child, for lack of a better word, struck down, because they couldn' feed themselves and stole some offerin'. But, I'll give you on, sure! It just wouldn' feel right, you know, to make you pay."
Annikka blinked, taken aback at the outpouring of words, and then smiled. She put the change back in her purse, but kept her purse out. "That's very good of you. I can think of a lot of people who wouldn't do as much for street children they pass every day, let alone ones who just appear. In that case, yes, can I please have one." She paused briefly. It really was an act very much out of the ordinary in the city, where benevolence often seemed to be in short supply, and she wanted to do something for this woman and her charity. "Er, please don't take this the wrong way... but I'd like to give you something anyway. The price of the roll, or whatever. Because, I mean, this is the first time I've seen anything done of the sort, and..." She gestured at the girl with seriously foreshortened legs whom she'd given a coin when she'd first arrived. "That child, for example. If she was a well-off merchant's daughter, I don't doubt she'd be cossetted and given all the medicine money could buy, and maybe it would have gone some way to making her condition better, but as it is, she's starving, and everyone can see it. Yet you're the only one who's given her food or indeed anything at all."
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Post by alannatheknightess on Nov 24, 2007 18:33:20 GMT -5
Hinna smiled and took a roll out of the basket and handed it to the woman. "I don't think they're warm 'nymore," she said sorrowfully. "But if you'd still like one, here ya go."
Hinna mulled over what the woman said for a moment, and then automatically thought she had to fix what the woman thought about her. Hinna wasn't special or more careing-- she just didn't want some child to die. "It isn't that big a deal," Hinna said. "I mean, my little sistah makes rolls all t'e time, so I jus' ask her to make a little extra sometimes. It's just... bein' human, ya know? You can't let childr'n die, and even though a roll ain't gonna do a lot, it might keep them just that bit farther from temptin' the Black God."
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Post by Rainstorm Aria on Nov 25, 2007 8:42:21 GMT -5
"I don't think they're warm 'nymore," she said sorrowfully. "But if you'd still like one, here ya go."
"Thanks," Annikka said gratefully, accepting the roll, and starting to eat it. It really was very good.
"It isn't that big a deal," Hinna said. "I mean, my little sistah makes rolls all t'e time, so I jus' ask her to make a little extra sometimes. It's just... bein' human, ya know? You can't let childr'n die, and even though a roll ain't gonna do a lot, it might keep them just that bit farther from temptin' the Black God."
Annikka swallowed her latest mouthful and smiled. "Maybe it is just being human, but it's surprising how many people don't seem to see the street-children, let alone do anything for them. It's a really good idea, your rolls." She glanced at her incense sticks, and mentally weighed up when she should be back in the Palace and how much longer she could procrastinate. "Do you know if there's anything useful that a healer can do for any of these children quite quickly? Heal a cut, or clean one that'll fester otherwise, or something? Because I'm just going to burn these, but I may as well do something useful afterwards before going back to paperwork."
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Post by alannatheknightess on Dec 2, 2007 8:45:15 GMT -5
Oh, well, this wasn't right. The woman seemed to be under the impresson that Hinna did it only for the children. Well, she did, sort of, but it was only because she didn't want the Gods to get angry! "Miss," she said a little hesitantly, "It's not just the goodness of my hear'-- I don't want the gods angry with the po'r thin's."
Hinna was pleased, internally, however, at the fact that this stranger thought she was a good person. But she just didn't want the woman to get the wrong impression-- Hinna didn't want her to think she was looking for positive attention for doing this.
Hinna chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. "They get sick quite easily, ya know," she said. "They can' afford clean wat'r or medic'ne or nothin' like that. Doin' little stuff like healin' sniffles would work wond'rs, because on the streets, somethin' little like the sniffles can turn inta something life threatening."
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Post by Rainstorm Aria on Dec 2, 2007 17:07:00 GMT -5
"Miss," she said a little hesitantly, "It's not just the goodness of my hear'-- I don't want the gods angry with the po'r thin's."
Annikka smiled. Would this woman ever take credit for her kindness? "I don't see anyone else doing anything at all, though," she pointed out quietly. "Even though they must know that too. So maybe it's not just the goodness of your heart, but that's part of it. It all counts."
Annikka waited patiently while the woman considered. She would certainly know best what was needed, being there so often, and sure enough- "They get sick quite easily, ya know," she said. "They can' afford clean wat'r or medic'ne or nothin' like that. Doin' little stuff like healin' sniffles would work wond'rs, because on the streets, somethin' little like the sniffles can turn inta something life threatening."
"I can manage that easily," Annikka said confidently, putting her incense sticks away. Surely prayers could wait a few moments, and the Goddess would understand, children being her care. "I'll do it now. I don't know who needs help most, though... Will you help me?"
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Post by alannatheknightess on Dec 14, 2007 19:52:25 GMT -5
"I don't know who needs help most, though... Will you help me?"
"Sure!" agreed Hinna quickly. If it made the woman happy to do charity work, that didn't hurt anyone. A smile, almost bitter in a way, spread across her face. " I actually know jus' the person."
She lead the woman through a few shrines and towards the very back, that couldn't even be considered a shrine anymore. It was just a dusty old corner-- the statue that used to be there had been moved long ago. That's where Ula lived. Or slept, or whatever the appropriate term would be. It was Ula and her brother that actually got Hinna intrested in the children in the temples, and she explained that to the woman as she walked. "And this is Ula," she said, getting to the huddle on the floor at the same time as her story ended, which was a nice little effect.
The lump moved, and became a girl, about 14, sitting up and glaring at Hinna. The glare turned into a sneeze. "You too' my bro'er in," the girl said accusingly. "Then I got some pers'n comin' 'round hurr and tryin'ta shoo me out. It's yer fault."
Hinna ignored that and said lightly, "Well, if he wasn't stealin' on my shift, I wouldnta had to take him in." She took out a roll and ripped it into small pieces so it would be easier for Ula to eat, then handed it to her. "'Sides, he'll be out tonight."
Ula refused the food. ""m not hungrah."
"She's got a bad sniffle," Hinna said to the healer woman. She never did get her name... "I'm Hinna, by the by. And Ula's jus' gettin' worse by the day. She's all white and hot like a fever a lot of the time."
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Post by Rainstorm Aria on Dec 19, 2007 8:06:47 GMT -5
The woman finally agreed, and led her past shrines and into a dusty, forgotten corner where a small bundle of rags Annikka at first thought could never be a human being lay.
"And this is Ula," she finished, having told Annikka about the girl Ula and her brother and how they had first got her interested in the welfare of the temple children.
Ula was about fourteen, Annikka thought, but malnourished and small. She had a poisonous glare to her, anyway, even if it did become a sneeze. "You too' my bro'er in," Ula told the woman standing beside Annikka angrily. "Then I got some pers'n comin' 'round hurr and tryin'ta shoo me out. It's yer fault."
Annikka said nothing, kneeling down to the girl's level and waiting for the woman, who still held her basket, to answer the accusation, which she did. "Well, if he wasn't stealin' on my shift, I wouldnta had to take him in. 'Sides, he'll be out tonight." She watched as the woman passed over a roll, torn into small pieces, and Ula refused it. "Save it until after I've healed your sneezes," Annikka advised. "'Cause that'll make you hungry, even if you aren't now. They're good rolls. I just had one."
"She's got a bad sniffle," Hinna said to the healer woman. She never did get her name... "I'm Hinna, by the by. And Ula's jus' gettin' worse by the day. She's all white and hot like a fever a lot of the time."
Annikka glanced back up at Hinna, and smiled. "I'm Annikka. Yes, I can see..." She turned back to the girl, hoping she could manage not to upset or offend her. "Ula, I think you have influenza. Like a really, really bad cold that can lead to worse, but treatable. Do you have joint aches, cough a lot? I can hear you wheeze when you talk. Do you feel tired and cold all the time?" She was pretty sure she didn't have the specific cough syrup she'd prefer to use to treat this in her bag, but she could deal with most of it at once and arrange matters so that the girl got her cough syrup, a blanket, and something to eat for long enough to get over the disease. Probably should be enough to share with her brother, Annikka thought, factoring the unknown brother into her machinations. She has headlice, too, she realised, seeing the girl scratch.
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Post by alannatheknightess on Dec 23, 2007 21:31:00 GMT -5
Ula looked at Annika mistrustingly. "Who're you?" she asked, and Neena hurried to rush in. It would do no good for Ula if she wasn't going to take it.
"She's a healer, Ula. She can help."
Ula sniffed, almost like she wasn't sure, and examinied Annika. Apparently she passed the test, because after a few moments, she responded with, "My kneebones hurt so'times. I sneeze 'nou'. Bro'ers fine though; he ain't gots it. I'z col', but who ain't th's tima year?" Ula sneezed again, which was slightly
Hinna was slightly anxious as she watched Ula and Annikka. Her hands fluttered at her sides-- she wasn't used to not being able to do anything. She watched, hoping that Ula would be fixed, and soon. Hinna was used to being around healers, however, so she knew it might take a while.
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Post by Rainstorm Aria on Dec 29, 2007 9:02:54 GMT -5
"Who're you?"
"She's a healer, Ula. She can help."
"I'm Annikka," Annikka repeated after Hinna had said her piece. "A healer, like Hinna said." She waited patiently while the street-kid looked her up and down, measuring her up. Annikka really hoped she passed the test, or she wouldn't be able to help the girl- Ula simply wouldn't let her.
"My kneebones hurt so'times. I sneeze 'nou'. Bro'ers fine though; he ain't gots it. I'z col', but who ain't th's tima year?" Ula sneezed.
Annikka nodded. Ula had confirmed her diagnosis, but now came the difficult part- persuading her to accept treatment. "Yes, most likely influenza, then. That's easy enough to heal, but it can get much worse very quickly in this cold weather and your brother might catch it from you. I can heal the disease outright, and I can certainly get enough cold medicine and free meals for you from the priestesses here to make sure it stays away. Do you want me to do that?" Annikka held her breath. It was up to Ula, now, to decide if she wanted help. It would not be easy to force her to take a healing.
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