Matalina

Posted: Wed May 16, 2007

 

Learning to be a soldier was hard work and Corlinny was glad to spend some time in the infirmary tending to those who had been injured. She never asked what happened or why they had been hurt. There were even a few sick in the ranks of beds in the room she was in.

 

Corlinny was soon to be caring for a man who'd been nearly gutted. He was healing nicely but it was time to change the bandages. Unlike many others this man already held scars and Corlinny wondered what had happened to make such gruesome ones, but she never asked as she tended him choosing only to make small talk. Being part of the army was one thing, but she hoped she never actually had to see what caused their injuries. Corlinny hoped never to have to tend the field.

 

The man lay in his cot with his eyes closed, he had grey eyes that Corlinny found fascinating. It was such a rare eye colour. They were nice eyes. Corlinny smiled as she touched Carnhain's hand. "How are you today, Carnhain? I need to tend your bandages and check your wound."

 

 

Estel

Posted: Fri May 18, 2007

 

It was the touch on the head and the voice that woke him.  Unfortunately for Carnhain, he had been in the middle of lovely dream taking him all the way back to age three and living the carefree life of a Tinker.  Not that he actually remembered anything from living with his Tuatha’an parents, but his mind had turned the nomadic people’s way of life into a sort of utopia.  Unfortunately for Corlinny, Carnhain did not enjoy being awoken from such a peaceful dream.

 

Any “great hero” of the stories would have played the charming rogue; flirted with her, bought her lunch, saved her life by supper and have added a new lady to his harem by nightfall.  Or at least, that was the blonde man’s view of chivalry and those “knights in shining armour”.  Mind you, he had grown up in a tavern so of course his view were a little off-centre.  While Carnhain didn’t exactly qualify for hero status, he was the Captain General of the best corps in the best army in the world- which was supposed to put him somewhere up there, right?

 

Anyways, qualifications or not, rather than play the romanticized soldier, the mighty warrior groaned incoherently and rolled over to fall promptly back to sleep.  Again unfortunately for Corlinny, they had scheduled Carnhain’s appointment for before ten o’clock which was the usually time he woke up.

 

 

Matalina

Posted: Mon May 21, 2007

 

Corlinny smiled, he was grumpy and she hoped the smile would ease his mood. "I'm sorry to have woken you, but you are in the infirmary and we need to check your wounds." Her smile widened, "Unless you'd like to die of infection." She poked him in the ribs where he wasn't hurt to indicate she was only joking.

 

"I have to lift your shirt now." She didn't wait for permission as she pulled it over the bandage. It was slightly soaked in blood and Corlinny wasn't sure if it was new or old. "I think we need to change this."

 

Tape was one of the worse things in the world, and Corlinny hated taking it off of patients, but it was necessary. She tugged quickly and ignored his grimace as the last of it finally pulled off.

 

The wound was healing well and Corlinny applied a fresh application of salve and then started re-bandaging Carnhain. "You are looking much better."

 

 

Estel

Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007

 

It wasn’t until he actually rubbed the sleep from his eyes that Carnhain noticed his nurse one of the few women so employed.  After a minute of wracking his generally inadequate brain for the source of her familiarity before recalling the horsemanship class he had taught her in the Officer Training School program a while back.  Her name did not come to mind but she appeared to know him, not exactly a surprise given his position, but her lack of deference evoked an immediate sense of familiarity.  A poke and the ribs and the sleeping bear was suddenly grinning.

 

…Until the part about the shirt.  His blush really didn’t make sense correlated with his bronzed shoulders and arms.  In front of a crowd of men and women he had no fear- and little shame.  Get him alone with a woman though and suddenly his cheeks would turn the colour of the healing scar she was to check.  He laughed nervously in a failed attempt to hide his awkwardness as she lifted the shirt herself.

 

He grunted to her "I think we need to change this", not realising it was a warning.

 

At the sudden ripping off of the tape, Carnhain yelp loudly, setting a number of patients, most of those that were able-bodied enough to laugh, off laughing.  Rubbing the red blotch the tape left in its wake he gave another embarrassed grin.  The next time, he bit his lip, restraining himself to a wince.

 

With the bandages gone, Carnhain grimaced at the red scar across his belly.  It crossed the long-healed one already running from neck to groin at an almost perpendicular angle.  The marks Blademasters left for his folly.

 

“It’s been a long time…” he said as she worked at his scar.  “Sorry, I can’t remember your name.”

 

 

Matalina

Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007

 

Corlinny smiled. "It's Corlinny." She wasn't sure if she should say sir or not, he was after all out-ranking her, but he was in her infirmary. She really hated all the protocols, it made life so much harder yet so much more organized she supposed.

 

"It's looking much better today. But I think we need to keep it bandaged." Corlinny reached to the bed stand and took the salve that had been placed there. She twisted off the cap and ran two fingers through the cool cream. She spread a generous amount of it over the wound.

 

She looked up at her patient when she was done. "Are you purposely trying to leave a sign that says, 'Here is my stomach, stab me here." She ran her fingers over the criss-crossing scars. "Or are you the treasure on some map." She grinned at him as she held the gauze over his wound and started to secure it.

 

 

Estel

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007

 

Carnhain blushed furiously at her last comment.  Rather than looking sheepish or embarrassed though, his mischievous grin and withheld laughter made him look guilty.  Combining the grin and her fingers, he was fairly certain she was implying the conclusions his mind jumped to.  Already, a number of responses were on the tip of his tongue- Light, Jatasha was a bad influence!  Luckily for both of them, he maintained a scrap of modesty, or perhaps better phrased as innocence, and he didn’t blurt out the any of the one-liners he had come up with.  Instead, he let his laughter speak his mind, though less crudely.

 

“They are a testimony to the fact that one should never challenge those beyond one’s skill with a sharp piece of metal… actually, any piece of metal- this last one was made with a blunt sword.”

 

 

Matalina

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007

 

Corlinny smiled and then shook her head. "Boys and their toys. You need to be more careful, you were lucky this time." She looked the old scar over. "And last time it looks."

 

She finished the last piece of tape and patted his side. She pulled his shirt back down. "I think you need to get up and see that those muscles get some mild exercise. Perhaps a walk around the Citadel will do you so good."

 

Corlinny took his hand and pulled him up slowly, it wouldn't work too well if he hadn't been helping a little. "Does that hurt?"

 

 

Estel

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007

 

“Boy and their toys?” Carnhain laughed.  “It was a matter of deepest honour!  Of which women will never understand because they have none!”  His feigned offence was often interrupted by large bouts of laughter which were in turn interrupted by whines of pain.

 

Finally she was done.  "Does that hurt?" she asked concernedly as he regained his feet.  “Only because you had me laughing so hard.”  Winking at Corlinny he stretched his torso, wincing occasionally as he twisted too far.  “If I’m walking around the Citadel, I’m not going to go alone.  Care to accompany me?  Make sure I don’t end up in another sword fight?”

 

 

Matalina

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007

 

Corlinny smiled. "I would be honoured to join you and keep you from hurting yourself further."

 

Corlinny offered Carnhain a hand out of bed, he took it but only because he lost his balance. It was a natural reflex to grab for something when you are about to fall. She smiled at him. "Carefully, we don't want you to be back in bed with another injury."

 

Corlinny figured a short walk at first and then if he felt strong enough they could move farther into the compound. The walk out of the infirmary was slow, not her patient’s fault, there were many people walking the aisles today, apparently something had happened and someone popular was in the infirmary. You'd think it was the commander the way people fawned over the patient. Corlinny didn't bother looking to see who it was, she had her own patient to attend to.

 

"There it's a bit more open here. How are you feeling?"

 

 

Estel

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007

 

"Carefully, we don't want you to be back in bed with another injury."

 

Carnhain couldn’t help but snicker at the double meaning.  Honestly, he never would have thought those things- well, that was a lie, but his face would have certainly gone bright red- before befriending, in a manner of speaking, Jatasha.

 

As they walked, the young man noticed the now-familiar twinges of pain in his belly as he moved.  This pain had become so much a part of him that it was subconscious until brought to the forefront of his simple mind by either a blow in that area or these sorts of check-ups which also served to aggravate the healing wound.  Not to mention it began to itch.  So Carnhain would have to circumspectly scratch at the bandages, which caused a particularly fierce jolt of pain, which in turn began to give him a headache.

 

When Corlinny asked him how he was, he had to rein in his irritation at the bloody hole in his stomach and bit back a number of curses directed at Mehrin.  “I could use a bloody flaming drink.” he muttered rather harshly.

 

 

Matalina

Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007

 

Corlinny smiled, what was it about men and their drinks, they always wanted one when they couldn't have one. Corlinny lead her patient to the canteen and offered him a glass of spiced juice. "I'm sorry but this is all you really should have until you are fully healed. Anything stronger might inhibit your body’s natural healing abilities." She leaned in closer, "and not to mention the strange interactions your pain relievers will have with a stronger drink." It wasn't a good idea to drink alcohol while taking some of the herbs Carnhain was on. And she didn't want to be responsible for any ill things that could happen to him. "Perhpas you'd like to eat while we are here, I'm sure the food here is much better than that in the infirmary."

Carnhain groaned.  “No alcohol?” he whined.  “What do you think I am, a child?”  All the same, he followed her meekly, if dejectedly, towards the nearest mess hall.  Being an officer had certain perks, mainly better pay, and being able to afford to do so, he normally avoided the long lines and bland food of the mess halls.  However, any tavern would tempt him into buying an ale to wash down his meal and even if he had no intention of staying completely sober while on his medication, he wasn’t so rude as to flaunt it to the medic’s face.

 

Joining the line of noisy, sweaty men, and a few women besides Corlinny, Carnhain soon grew bored with the silence and began the generic small talk he always had with those he was unfamiliar with.  “So how’d you end up here, Corlinny?”