“But one very, very important person.”
Anna snuggled up close to him, and for once, he didn't feel embarrassed to put an arm around her.
20
“Mr. Foxdale, Mr. Foxdale!” bellowed a young girl of around eight as she ran up to the open front door of the house.
“Hi, little Bridget! What's the problem?” asked Aidden with a fresh smile as he quickly stepped away from lunch with the family.
Bridget fought to catch her breath, “My Mothers need you... there was an accident... Mr. Winterdale had his leg horribly smashed!”
Suddenly serious, Aidden nodded, “I'll head there right now! You take a rest and get yourself something to drink before you head back out.” Aidden made quick kissing noises toward the rest of the family before bolting.
Fiona looked across the tables to the others with some concern, “It must have been pretty bad if they needed Aidden, too!”
Emily just frowned nervously.
“So, did you want to see emergency medicine, Highland style?” asked Theodore to Anna.
“Would I?” her eyes went wide.
Fiona nodded to the pair, “Go ahead and take her. We'll put your food in the warmer. Just one requirement: do not describe what happened when you get back!”
The others at the table nodded squeamishly.
Theodore grinned and kissed his mothers on the forehead as he took Anna's hand and the pair of them bolted after his father and into town. They soon caught up with Aidden who added a simple “What kept you?” laugh to the pair.
In a matter of minutes they were back to the short broad house that was the Firemeadow's residence. Carl Firemeadow, father of the house, met them at the door and immediately Aidden looked worried.
“I figured they called me because there were multiple injuries and you'd be handling the other. Tarl Winterdale die?”
Carl shook his head, “No, just the one, and Tarl is still breathing fine. His leg, wow! I took one look at that and knew I was going to need a second or someone to play primary and I play second. It's going to take a few hours easily!”
Aidden mewed softly, “What happened?”
“He and Gretchen were dropping a few trees to take over to the mill. Halfway through a cut, the tree popped and caught him in the leg. A half second later the rest of the tree came down on the same leg. It looks like sausage...”
The four of them quickly entered a back room and found Tarl on an elevated bed with Siân and Mary Firemeadow standing by waiting. The pair of ladies flashed Anna a quick smile and directed her over to the side for a better view while Aidden approached Tarl apprehensively.
“You know what to expect, right?” asked Aidden softly to Tarl.
He softly nodded, “Just get on with it...”
Aidden invoked his Live Steel and produced three small knives in rapid succession leaving them on the edge of the bed in front of the ladies.
“They’re going to cut open his leg while he is still awake?” whispered Anna to Theodore more than a little nervous at the show in front of her.
Theodore shook his head softly, “No. They'll put him into stasis and then address the leg. Stasis from a Live Steel weapon is kinda like a practice blade, but it pushes the person over into the half realm as well. It doesn't hurt, but it is incredibly unpleasant none the less. Mr. Winterdale will probably spend at least half hour after this is over just throwing up...”
Anna cocked an eyebrow nervously and then bit her lip with fright as she watched Aidden in action. He moved to the far end of the table, and invoked a Live Steel sword. With a quick nod from Siân, he thrust the blade into the top of Tarl's head.
Theodore felt Anna flinch horribly, almost crushing his hand. But he understood, it was a bizarre and scary sight to behold. If he had more time he might have been able to prepare her better.
Tarl Winterdale's entire body suddenly took on a dusty blue glow. Not the sparkling glow like a Live Steel blade coming and going, just a solid steady hue. Siân picked up one of the blades that Aidden had previously produced and quickly started to investigate the leg injury.
Anna's face went from scared and confused to utter shock and amazement in one breath. As the small blade intersected the glowing body, the cross section of the inside of Tarl's leg could be seen as a reflection on the blade. Siân expertly looked up and down the leg, inspecting the shattered bones as well as ruptured blood vessels.
“Real time viewing...” gasped Anna.
“Just wait, it's getting ready to get really wild.”
Anna started to turn and ask what he meant by that, but Siân and Mary were already in motion: Mary brought a second small blade into play and suddenly they had a projection that spanned from one blade to the other. There floating in space was the grisly shattered inside of Tarl's leg. The pair worked together flawlessly; Mothers of the same House, that was obvious. By twisting and arcing one blade relative to the other they were able to deftly control how deep inside or which sections they were looking at. The pair of ladies nodded to each other and then to Aidden. Aidden looked like he was under a lot of stress as he stood there but he nodded sharply to the ladies and they began the real work.
Siân brought the third small blade out to play and soon she was using its tip to move things inside the leg. Carefully and delicately moving the bones back to their proper place. She frowned a few times and moved tiny slivers of bone, too small to play well in the healing process, off to the side until they exited the glowing form of Tarl. Once outside the stasis zone, the tiny slivers solidified and fell to the sheets on the table. Over and over again the practiced team sorted out the wreck that was Tarl's leg.
“Okay, a cut is a cut is a cut... but that is just fantastic,” murmured Anna with eyes still wide. “Can they do soft tissue, blood vessels, or just bones?”
“It is harder and slower but they can do it... fuse them too...”
Three long and tense hours later, they were done for the day. There would be follow ups the next day for certain, but things had settled to a more traditional arena: applying a temporary cast and helping Tarl deal with the extreme nausea from the ordeal.
Theodore sat in the front room with wide eyed Anna as smiling Bridget brought them something to drink. Moments later, Aidden joined them and all but melted into a chair. Exhaustion on his part was complete.
“Carl, that was monstrous!” gasped Aidden as Carl entered with a large drink for Aidden.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “Sorry about that. But that is why I wanted you. If I had done it, I would have had to have broken that into three or four sessions at least, and poor Tarl... oh, it would not have been good on him.”
Aidden just sat in the chair trying to enjoy the provided drink. He was both physically and mentally drained.
Carl turned and grinned to Anna, “I'm Carl, by the way. Mary has spoken well of you! Did you like our little display of backwater surgery?”
Anna laughed, “That was amazing! On all levels! I take it that stasis thing is hard to maintain?”
Carl grinned and nodded, “You can drop someone into what we call 'spot stasis' and that is hard, but not that big of a deal. A person in spot stasis will stay that way for about a day and a half unless pulled out earlier. Good if someone is bleeding really bad and you need to get them to some proper help. Active stasis is what poor Aidden was doing in there. That is both mentally and physically draining. The difference of course was obvious, you can go in and fix things. Each blade in the system makes it that much harder. You saw them working three blades, anything more than that becomes an exercise in immediate exhaustion. Of course, three hours is no picnic either, eh? Aidden?”
Aidden just let out a soft meow and worked more on his drink.
Carl let out a short laugh, “What he said! The next closest person with his skill level is six plus hours and four gates away, round trip... if we are lucky. Aidden is pretty darn impressive.”
“It would be better for all of us,” began Aidden weakly, “if y
ou would practice your Live Steel more...”
Carl nodded politely, “Point taken. I really should...”
Siân came in and fluffed her luxurious jaguar like coat before sitting next to her husband. She grinned to Anna, “Next time, if it is something more sane like a clean break, would you like to try?”
Christmas in July for Anna: “Would I? That would be beyond fantastic! It was so amazing to watch. The first thing that struck me, outside of the patient not feeling a thing, was there was basically no pathway for infection. That is... wow! Let's just go with 'wow!'”
Siân laughed, “Well, the patient makes up for it later. But at least it isn't three hours of pain or weird drugs that a person or species may or may not be allergic to. And on bad breaks like that, you can't be too careful about infections! That much skin and fur, that brutally damaged, things can sneak by.”
“What do you use for infections?” asked Anna with continued curiosity.
Siân laughed, “On Taiks, good old fashion penicillin, actually. We have an extremely high tolerance to it and various parties have developed an insanely clever method of producing it.”
“It's a slightly different strain than you are probably used to,” commented Theodore. “And they are able to grow it on left over beer mash.”
“Beer mash?” grinned Anna.
“Yes,” laughed Siân back. “We apothecaries get along splendidly with brewers over that!”
“You consider yourself an apothecary rather than a doctor?” asked Anna.
Siân pondered her words carefully, “No. I'm a physician first. I guess it is just that we cover so much under our one roof... never really thought about that.”
“I'm new to your language, so it may be something I'm missing,” offered Anna.
Siân brightened, “And you are doing a marvelous job, dear! Well! If you all will pardon me, I'm going to go relieve Mary and then go take a nap.” She smiled broadly as she exited the room.
“This was all so cool!” beamed Anna.
“And remember when we get back to the house, don't say a word,” grinned Theodore.
“Yeah, it was kinda intense...”
“And gross...”
It was another two hours yet before Aidden was feeling well enough to travel home. Anna filled the time easily enough asking a million questions of the ladies of the house. Nora, Fourth Mother to the house, was the actual apothecary as it were and had great fun pointing out the vast array of derived medications rather than synthetically manufactured ones. Theodore followed along offering help with translations as needed. By the time they headed out it was thoroughly obvious that Anna would easily be welcomed as an apprentice at any station in the house.
Anna was still beaming from the day's events as they helped Theodore's father home, “Um, can I ask a question?”
Theodore laughed, “As if you hadn't been asking questions all day... sure! What's up?”
“I've read that many times the next mother of the house enters as an apprentice and then stays on as it were. Um, is that the norm?”
Theodore grinned, “It is common, but not the norm. Probably only one in five or less ends up marrying in. So you don't have to worry about Carl hitting on you.”
“Whoever said I wanted to apprentice there?” grinned Anna. “Besides, I'm still trying to get you to hit on me...”
Theodore didn't want his fur to lay flat... no... not at all...
21
Anna was soon spending mornings at the Firemeadow's residence, learning the local tricks of the trade. But Emily insisted Anna work half days at most, there were too many cultural things that she felt Anna needed to be exposed to. Much to Theodore's chagrin, that meant two more trips to Rebecca Silverfox's place for afternoons of dance. Actually, Theodore was enjoying it in spite of himself as he too came along for practice. It had been easily a year since his last formal practice, and he had forgotten many things.
As the week pressed to a close, Anna was caught with the one thing she had promised her parents that she hadn't done: write home.
Rose had great fun at Anna's expense as Anna kept rewriting the same letter over and over, trying to get it mistake free.
“I have become so thoroughly spoiled by computers,” laughed Anna. “Between typing and handwriting recognition, I've not done a pen and paper letter since I was Rose's age!”
Rose just laughed as Anna beeped her on the nose.
“This, little one, is why you are supposed to practice. That way when you are my age and trying to write a letter you don't get your whiskers in a knot!” lectured Anna.
“But you don't have whiskers...” replied little Rose.
“Good thing too! At this point they'd be a horrible mess!”
Rose just laughed as Anna tried once more on the pages at hand. After several tries Anna relented and finished off the letter, mistakes and all. “How expensive and how long does it take to post?” Anna asked as she sealed it into a envelope that Emily provided.
“Cost is only two talirs for private post. But it will take close to a week to get there,” replied Emily with a warm smile.
“Cheaper and faster than I feared!”
“If you want to make a day of it and hand carry it to Leicester, that will knock two days off.”
Theodore read Anna's confused look, “Leicester is that first town we went through after being dropped off, as it were.”
“Uh, round trip that's easily eight hours at least of walking... No, I can think of better ways to spend the day!” laughed Anna.
Emily smiled, “Fair enough, we can drop the letter off when we head into town this afternoon.”
“I can just drop it off,” offered Theodore.
Emily grinned mischievously, “That won't do. We have to get Anna back to the seamstress.”
“Um, I've already picked up all the dresses I fit for,” blurted Anna.
Emily's smile broadened, “That doesn't mean there isn't another one waiting. Come on, let's go get you up a proper dancing dress!”
Anna just blushed, “Um, thank you...”
“Well then, let's go,” grinned Emily. “Do you want to carry little Abby again?”
“Yes, please!”
Theodore planned on spending a pleasant few minutes at the store while Anna had her final fitting, but no, that wasn't part of Emily's plan. Instead he found himself in a stall with a posh set of new clothes of his own to try on. He didn't know if he was supposed to be embarrassed or thoroughly flattered by the effort Second Mother was putting into making him look good for the dance. Making them look good for the dance! Theodore stepped out for inspection, as it were, and was flabbergasted as he caught sight of Anna's new outfit: it was a gorgeous flowing brilliant blue dress with a flattering bodice and a... clever neckline.
“Don't drool on your nice new outfit,” admonished Emily playfully.
“Second Mother! Her outfit...”
“Fits quite well, doesn't it. She fills it out quite nicely too. They do such an excellent job at this shop. I fancied myself pretty good with a needle at one point. Couldn't last a day in this shop; they'd be ripping out all my work. I'll stick with repairs.”
“But mother... and the cost!”
Emily straightened Theodore's collar and started to square up his shirt and vest, “How much do we spend on clothes as a family? Not much! More on Rose and Father last year than the rest of us. The girls just like simple things when they paint... While we aren't rolling in silver or anything, we are actually doing quite well. Third mother is due late Fall and we can actually pay someone to put an addition onto the house for a change. If you aren't careful, next time Anna comes to visit she'll have a real room rather than the attic! The family, not just I, wanted to splurge a little for you two, so let us have our little fun.”
Theodore just gave up and hugged Emily tight.
“Oh! That's much better,” she grinned.
“I think after the paintings, Anna would still prefer the attic.”
E
mily nodded, “They did do good work up there. That has been a nice thing with you home, they've all really been happy. And when those girls are happy they do nice work. Both quality and speed! They've finished all their commissions and are working on decorative things again. Need to get people to sit for them again...”
“Would they be happier if I didn't go back to the university?”
Emily looked shocked, “Oh heavens, no! They are proud of you, proud of your scholarship! The only reason they'd want you to stay and not go back is all about safety. But the good folks back there are working hard on that already. They are happy when you are happy. And we've seen more smiles from you this last week than all last summer! Come on, enough of that! Let's make sure this fits properly! I noticed that you didn't comment that your and Anna's outfits coordinate...”
“After the whole bodice... thing... I thought the fact that we matched was kinda moot.”
Anna smiled and quickly came bouncing, er... bounding over to Theodore and did a quick spin in the dress, “It's gorgeous, isn't it!”
“Yes. It is quite lovely,” Theodore sheepishly offered.
“You think maybe it should go a little lower in the front...”
Theodore's ears throbbed painfully and his fur spiked on end launching Anna and Emily both into a laughing fit.
22
The entire family turned out for the dance. Theodore knew that First Mother wasn't much for dancing herself, but all the others definitely were! Theodore seemed somewhat self-conscious that his and Anna's outfits drastically outshone the rest of the family's. That wasn't entirely true: Rose's outfit was quite festive as well!
The entire area along the market square in front of the town hall had been festively decorated for the evening. A mix of artificial and torch lights surrounded the square while great displays of food and drink were spread out on long tables all along the wings. Aidden carried two large baskets of finger food as the family's contribution and soon people were looking to the stage for the start of the evening.
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