Alec sighed. “Father, this isn’t why I have come here.”
“It may not be why you came, but now that you’re here, I intend to give you every bit of advice that I can.”
“I think we’ve already proven that you are not fit to give advice.”
“Not fit? What kind of statement is that?”
“An appropriate one.”
His father chuckled, and they sat in silence looking at each other for a long moment. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“I don’t know quite how,” Alec said. “Something happened with Sam, but… I’m not sure what it was. I don’t know where she’s gone, or if she’s safe, which is all that really matters, but…”
“But you worry about her.”
“I worry about her,” Alec agreed.
“I imagine you also feel as if you have been left out.”
“It’s not quite like that,” he said. “I don’t mind the fact that she’s off with the princess and whoever else training to be a Kaver, but I do mind that I don’t know what she’s involved in. I know how dangerous it is.”
His father sat silently then leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table between them, steepling his fingers together. With one arm, he shifted the papers that rested on the table, nearly disrupting a vial of ink in the process. “And you would like to be a part of the danger?” his father asked.
“It’s not the danger I want to be a part of. It’s everything else. It’s what she’s going through.”
“Have you told her?”
“I’ve tried, but she—and everyone else—thinks I need to keep my focus on what I’m learning at the university.”
“I think I like this young lady more than I realized,” his father said with a smile. When Alec started to object, his father waved his hand. “I know the role you have in her life puts you in danger, and I’m not trying to keep you from helping her. In fact, I’m very proud of your efforts not only for her, but for the others you’ve helped, including the princess. I’m just saying that I appreciate that she sees the value in you continuing your studies. It’s more important than you know.”
“I’m very aware of how important my studies are, Father. I understand the necessity of continuing to train at the university, and I understand why I need to be there, and what I can learn, it’s just that…”
“It’s just that you would like to do something else, is that it? You like the thrill that these dangerous situations present?”
Alec sighed and leaned back in his chair. He thought of all the times he’d been in danger since meeting Sam, and everything they had been through, and knew that wasn’t what he wanted. He didn’t want to be the one in danger, but at the same time, he didn’t want Sam to be, either.
Before he had a chance to say something else, the door to the apothecary opened, and his father jumped to his feet, hurrying to the door. Alec stood, and clasped his hands behind his back as he often had when he was younger, prepared for whatever his father might ask for him to do.
It was a younger man who entered, escorting a woman about the same age. Dark curls framed her face, which was drawn and pale, reminding him of the woman Stefan had taken him to see at the university and the illness she had presented. Unlike that woman, if this young lady had stomach pain, it wasn’t from illness. Her large belly told Alec she was pregnant, though he couldn’t tell how far along she was. From the look on her face, she was near term, and likely had come to his father to help with the delivery. It wasn’t uncommon for people to come to his father rather than a midwife. Especially when they had nothing to offer in payment.
“Alec?” his father said.
It was all that he needed to be spurred into action. He hurried off, disappearing to the back of the shop to gather rags and a few blankets. He had been part of many births while studying with his father. It was something that even few within the university could claim. Most pregnancies were managed by a midwife, and there was little that the physickers were needed for when it came to the delivery. By the time a physicker might be necessary, it was often too late.
When Alec had all of the supplies gathered, he returned to the front of the shop. His father had positioned the woman on a cot, and she writhed as a contraction overwhelmed her. His father patted the woman’s hand, trying to soothe her while her husband looked on worriedly.
Alec hurried over and grabbed the man’s hand, guiding him away. It wouldn’t do for him to get in the way of his father as he worked. It would only delay the care she needed.
“Come on now,” Alec said, ushering the man away. “Give them some space. Let the birth happen naturally.”
“Natural?” the man said. His voice was hoarse, as if he’d been yelling. “The midwife said this was not natural.”
Alec frowned and glanced over to his father. “Why not?”
“The baby is backward,” the man explained. “The midwife said she couldn’t deliver our child.”
Alec let out a frustrated sigh. If the baby attempted to come out backward, it would be a difficult delivery. His father had been successful several times delivering a breech child, but there were just as many times when the child died.
He wasn’t sure that he wanted to be present when a young couple lost their child. He checked his pockets, searching for easar paper, but there was none. He must’ve left his supplies back at the university. That was a mistake. He should have known better than to leave them behind, but then again, how was he to know that he was going to come to his father’s apothecary and feel compelled to help a couple as they attempted to deliver their child?
He patted the man on the hand and nodded to his father. “I’m going to help. You need to stand off to the side—or sit, if that’s easier—but don’t get too close. You will hear some screaming. You will hear us reassuring her. And when you hear your child crying, then you can approach.”
The man glanced over to Alec and bobbed his head in a nod.
Alec left him and approached the woman. She was panting now, and with every contraction, she cried out, her moans filling the shop.
“The man says they went to a midwife, but she told them the baby was breech,” Alec said.
“I can feel that their child is breech. If you place your hands right here”—his father motioned for Alec to set his hands on the woman’s belly—“you can feel the positioning. Continue to move your hands around, get a good feel for which way the child lies, and once you do, you might be able to shift it.”
“You’re intending to reposition the child within her womb?” Alec asked.
“It is possible.”
“What if it’s unsuccessful?”
“If it’s unsuccessful, then there may be nothing we can do. The child will need to be delivered, but…”
“There’s another option,” he said.
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“I know what you were going to say. I know that you’ve been in the surgical suite. And this is not the right place. The apothecary is not prepared to operate on this woman.”
“If we don’t do something, the baby will likely die.”
“And I’ve told you that we won’t be performing surgery in the apothecary.”
Alec stood back and watched. His father went to the shelves and quickly began gathering supplies before returning and setting a series of jars next to the woman. He began mixing them, and it appeared that he was mostly focused on trying to make sure she was comfortable. There were a few—mostly bagil leaves—that would be necessary if she were to lose the child.
Could his father already be preparing for that possibility?
“Father—”
His father glanced over at him, and the heat in his eyes made Alec take a step back. “You are in my shop,” he whispered.
Alec nodded. If nothing else, he would see the way that his father worked up close, having now spent time with the masters at the university. It wasn’t that he didn’t know h
ow his father worked—they had spent so much time together over the years that Alec knew exactly how he worked and could anticipate his needs—but having been away for as long as he had and having spent time with the masters, it would be good for him to see the limitations of his father’s abilities.
Aelus quickly mixed a soothing concoction and spooned some into her mouth. She took it and began to relax. As she did, he worked his hands around her belly, pushing with more force than Alec would have believed necessary.
“Many at the university would have you believe that surgery is the only way to save this child,” Aelus said. The words were directed at the woman, but Alec knew who he really intended them for. “There are other ways to reposition the child within the womb, though it takes a delicate touch.”
“There’s nothing delicate about the way you’re pushing on her belly,” Alec said.
“Fine. Deft might be a better description, anyway.”
Alec stood back while his father continued to work, pressing on the woman’s belly. With each movement, he saw shifting beneath the surface of the skin, and he realized exactly what it was that his father attempted.
The woman continued to moan, but the medications that his father had administered had soothed her, easing some of the discomfort that would come from his attempt at forcing the child around. When he was done, she lay still for a moment, but only a moment.
Then another contraction came.
His father nodded to Alec. “It is time.”
Alec positioned himself so that he could assist his father, maneuvering in such a way that he was behind him and ready to help grab the child. Had he been successful? He couldn’t imagine that his father’s efforts shifting the positioning of the infant could have been completely successful. But…
She started to push.
Alec had been part of enough deliveries to know and recognize what a normal delivery was like. When she pushed, and he saw the head coming first, he knew that his father had been right. He stared for a long moment before the woman’s scream drew his attention back to the task at hand. He shook his mind free, turning back to assist his father and readying the supplies he needed.
As they completed the delivery, Alec couldn’t shake his amazement at his father. He had always known how skilled his father was, and seeing him in action again only reinforced that. Was that what he was bound to become? Was that the level of skill he was destined to attain if he remained at the university?
And what would happen if he went off with Sam on her missions and he didn’t have that opportunity? Would he always feel unfulfilled?
Those thoughts lingered as he watched his father wrap a crying baby boy in a fresh blanket and hand him to the father. The man sobbed as he stepped next to the woman, holding the child together.
9
The Scribes Converse
Alec sat at his desk and finished making his notes, detailing what his father had done. He wasn’t certain he could replicate the same maneuver, but having seen it once, he thought it was possible. It was unlikely that he would ever have the need. Why would he ever be asked to deliver a child? He wasn’t an apothecary—not anymore—and the longer he stayed at the university, the less likely it would be that he would be asked to perform a task like that.
The door to his room opened, and Beckah poked her head in, grinning at him. “You’re back.”
“I wasn’t gone that long.”
“You were gone long enough. I wasn’t sure when—or if—you were going to return.”
“That sounds like you weren’t sure if I was going to come back at all.”
“It’s true. I’m never sure, Alec,” Beckah said. She stepped inside and closed the door. She was wearing a long flowing gown that accentuated her small frame. Her hair was pulled back and tied behind her head with a length of ribbon. She looked quite lovely.
Was that for his sake? He decided it was better to ignore that thought.
“What makes you question if I will return?”
“Because of who you are. Because of what you are.”
“But you’re the same thing.”
“But I’m not. I might have that potential, but the person that I’m connected to has disappeared. Regardless of what I might want, the fact that he’s missing and I can’t find him…”
Alec looked up. “You’ve been looking for Tray?”
“Why wouldn’t I? Don’t you think I deserve to have the same opportunity as you?”
“Of course you do, it’s just that…” Alec didn’t know what to say. He agreed that she deserved the chance to understand what it meant that she had a connection to a Kaver, and that she could be a Scribe, but he wasn’t sure whether that was even safe for her. Then again, it wasn’t his place to protect her, was it? She was her own person. He had willingly exposed himself to dangers that put him at risk in his efforts to understand what it meant to be Sam’s Scribe, so he couldn’t fault her for wanting the same.
She took a seat next to him and looked over at his journal. She scanned the page—always impressing him with how fast she read and how quickly her mind worked—and looked over at him.
“You were present for a delivery?”
“I went to visit my father, and a pregnant woman and her husband came for help. And it wasn’t the first time I’ve seen a birth.”
“This one sounds like it was complicated,” she said.
“The baby was breech.”
Her eyes widened. “Most don’t survive without surgery, and most of the time, the university doesn’t get an opportunity to help because the women don’t make it to them in time.”
“I know,” he said with a smile.
“And your father managed a breech delivery without surgery?”
“I tried to convince him that we needed to perform surgery, but he was adamant that he would not.”
“Why not? I thought you said he trained at the university, in which case, wouldn’t he have some skill with surgery. Maybe not as much as you…” She added with a hint of a smile.
Alec shrugged. “I don’t know. My father has always shown a resistance to surgery, ever since I first started studying with him. I don’t understand where it came from, and whether it simply has to do with the fact that he doesn’t want to draw attention from the university masters, preferring them to see him as nothing more threatening than an apothecary, or if there is more to it.”
His father had been willing to do minor surgeries, such as cutting out infection and suturing injuries, but anything more than that, he avoided. The first time Alec had ever been allowed to participate in any sort of surgery was at the university. It appealed to him, mainly because it made him feel like he was actually doing something.
Healing by using the knowledge of medicinal herbs was rewarding in a different way. It was a challenge, and it forced him to use his mind, to think through what diagnosis he might make, and find the best way to help, but there wasn’t always the same immediacy to the reward. Maybe that was why he enjoyed using the easar paper. There was an immediate reward. He knew right away whether his treatment had been effective.
“The university already knew about him. He’d studied here. Why would he have cared about drawing their attention?”
Alec shrugged. “I don’t know. When it comes to my father, there are many things I don’t know.”
And of all the things that he had recently learned, about himself, about Sam, the Thelns… His world had been turned upside down, and what was most surprising was learning that his father had hidden secrets from him. That wasn’t the kind of thing he would have expected from his father. He thought him nothing more than a healer, and apothecary, a simple, compassionate man who served the community—the larger community than even their immediate section—never wanting anything more than what each person could pay. Discovering that there was more to his father… he still didn’t know what that meant for him.
“Why do I get the sense that you’re annoyed by that?”
He set his noteb
ook down and regarded Beckah for a long moment. “Tell me what you remember of your family?”
“Remember? My family is not gone.”
“Then tell me about your family,” he said.
“My parents are of a middle class. We have lived in the Parnum section of the city for my entire life. My father has served as a section chief, and my mother helped him. I’ve told you all of that.”
“I know you have. What of your brothers?”
“I have an older brother. He has followed after my father. He has ambition, much like my father does. If it were up to him, he would end up leading in the section, and possibly moving on to take a greater role within the city.”
“And your other brother?”
“He’s not well,” she said with a whisper.
Alec hadn’t known that. “What happened to him?”
“He’s never been well, Alec. He was born sickly. He’s younger than I am, you see, and my mother spends all of her days caring for him. I think she once had a much more prominent role in the running of our section, but when my brother was born, she had to make a decision about whether she was going to continue with her civic responsibilities or commit to taking care of my brother full time. It was an easy decision for her. She dotes on him, constantly doing everything she can to ensure that his needs are met.” She smiled almost wistfully. “He has a better connection to her than the rest of us because of his illness.” She caught herself and covered her mouth. “It’s not that I resent him. I love my brother. He’s the reason that I’m here.”
“I thought you were here for political ambition.”
“That’s what I let others think. My father having his role makes it an easier explanation. It doesn’t draw attention to my brother, but both he and my mother know the real reason I’m here. If there’s anything I can do that will help others like my brother, I want to do it. I feel that’s my calling.”
Alec studied her. They came from such different places within the city, and they had such different perspectives, but she was caring. She was the kind of person that he had hoped to find at the university but had begun to fear he wouldn’t.
Tormina: The Book of Maladies Page 8