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Tangled Skein: A Fushigi Yuugi Story; Not looking for replies
Topic Started: Dec 5 2016, 11:34 AM (9 Views)
Leila
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The Gamemistress
[ *  *  * ]
Tamahome had left the evening before, and Kang-Lian was up to her elbows in soap. She had shooed Mang-Chen and Jie-Lian outside to play. Zhong-Rong was in the fields, and Yu-Lun clumsily swept the floor. She was putting aside a newly cleaned rice bowl when someone knocked at the door. Kang-Lian straightened up, swiping her wet wrist across her forehead, as the most handsome stranger she had ever seen stepped into the room the second Yu-Lun pulled the door open. He looked around the room and then said,

"I was told th' village healer lived here?"

Hurriedly, Kang-Lian wiped her hands on a towel, bowing. "I am she. Won't you sit down?"

He blinked at her in some surprise, and walked in rather awkwardly, dropping into a chair. She quickly put on some tea to brew, then turned back to the table. "Can I get you something to eat?"

"Nah, I'm fine," He said, even as his stomach gurgled audibly. She ducked her head, a slight flush creeping across her cheeks. She quickly spooned some rice into a bowl and set a larger bowl of apples on the table. He had devoured the rice before she could fetch a paring knife, and she silently refilled the bowl. She almost jumped when the teapot whistled and quickly filled two cups, setting them on the table. Yu-Lun watched the two of them wide-eyed.

She waited until he had taken a sip of tea, and then said, "You seem to be in perfect health. Who is injured?"

"M'boss." He answered, and leaned forward across the table. "Y'see, he's awful sick an' I've come lookin' fer an herb t' cure 'im."

"Sick?" She asked calmly. "What are the symptoms?"

"Well, he was coughin' an' blood came up. An' then he collapsed. Now he can't get outta bed, an' th' coughin's worse."

"Fever?"

"Dunno."

"How long has he been coughing?"

"Dunno."

"Has he been in the cold or wet?"

"Well, 's been hot all summer, hasn' it?"

Kang-Lian closed her eyes for a moment and prayed to Guanyin for patience. "Is his family known to be sickly?"

"He doesn' really talk abou' his family much."

She set down her tea cup, both hands wrapped around it. "I need more details. 'Coughing up blood and too weak to get out of bed' could be anything from pneumonia to consumption." She said.

"Yer th' doctor!" He snarled. "You figure it out!"

She gave in to the temptation to sigh. "Where is the patient? If I can observe his symptoms for myself, then perhaps there is something I could do. Right now, I don't have enough information to work with."

"Up th' mountain." He said, gesturing towards the door.

Kang-Lian began to have a sinking feeling. "How far up the mountain?" She asked.

"Well. Umm... I went to th' Eastern Capital an' I stopped at a couple more villages b'fore I got to this one."

She blinked. "And none of the other doctors you've spoken to have been able to help?"

"Ain't none been willin' t' go up th' mountain."

"I see." She drank deeply from her cooling tea. "Yu-Lun. Go get Zhong-Rong. Tell him to hurry."

A thought was forming in her mind, a wild, crazy idea that would most likely ruin her reputation forever. She pushed back from the table and fetched her herb pouch, fastening it in her belt. She double-checked to make sure her papers were inside, and then fastened her knives in her wrist sheaths, making sure he saw, and also slipped one into the small of her back, her hair, and her belt at her waist. "How long is the fastest, most direct way up the mountain?"

"By th' roads er my way?" He asked, a little wild eyed.

"What do you mean, 'my way'?" She paused midway through looking for her shoes.

"I, uh, don' tend t' use roads when I travel. Only slows me down. Especially, y'know, magistrates wantin' t' see travel papers all th' time."

"I see." She said again. "Excuse me for a moment."

She took the dishwater to the door and threw it out along the side of the house. Coming back in, she refilled his bowl, and while he was eating (Third bowl of rice? He must have been starving!), she began to throw together a pot of soup and to refill another pot with more rice. Zhong-Rong clattered into the room, and stopped when he saw the stranger sitting at the table.

"This man says there's a very sick person who needs my help up the mountain." Kang-Lian said. "I'm going with him. If I'm not back in two days..." She let her voice trail off. Without turning, she felt the indignation and bewilderment radiating from the stranger, and the narrow-eyed hostility of her younger brother.

"If you're not back in two days, I tell the magistrates and send word to Tamahome." Zhong-Rong said. "And then Tamahome and I come looking for you."

"Exactly." She told her little brother. She finished up, brushed her hands off on the side of her skirt and turned to the handsome stranger. "Lead the way."

Radiating hurt pride, he stood up. "Well, if yer gonna be that way abou' it..."

"If you're telling the truth, then I'm sorry and I want only to help your sick...boss. If you're lying, then I'm justified, aren't I?" She said calmly. "If no other doctor will come, right now, I'm your only choice."

Scowling, he stepped out into the morning sunlight.

"I don't like this, Kang-Lian," Her father said weakly from the bed.

"I know, father. But if he's telling the truth..."

"Then you won't rest knowing you could be saving a life." He sighed and coughed weakly. She covered him gently, then said, "Zhong-Rong, you're in charge until Tamahome or I come back."

Then she followed the stranger out the door, throwing away the last scrap of reputation she had left...
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