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+--- Thread: [G] [P] 739.06.09 | My Home is Yours (/showthread.php?tid=4142)
739.06.09 | My Home is Yours - Dessa - 05.Jul.18
They’d arrived at Telgar late the previous evening, very late. Dessa had pushed the poor nag pulling the cart, rather than set up camp like she would have if she’d continued to eb by herself. She didn’t want Onari out and upsetting her injury for any longer than was absolutely required and if that meant pushing the poor horse to get them to Telgar late into the evening, than Dessa was willing to do that. So, she had.
The Healer she’d fetched along the way hadn’t been particularly happy about the ten-pm interruption, but Dessa had been stubborn and made arrangements for the man to stop by her home within the hour, while she continued the last leg of the journey with her companions. Leaving them in the cart for the moment, Dessa had settled the horse in his temporary stall (he’d be returned to the man she’d borrowed him from later) and then went to rouse the mother and daughter, fi they weren’t already awake.
In the end, she’d gotten them into her home and settled in the spare room just before the Healer had shown up; he had tended to Onari and Dessa had promised they would take his instructions very seriously and she would contact him if there were any other issues. After a last check to make sure her visitors were comfortable, Dessa had left them to find sleep, promising to show them around her home during the daylight hours and that they should sleep as late as their bodies desired.
Dessa, for her part, had risen at her usual time of far-too-early (somewhere around 7am) and made her way quietly but cheerfully down to her store, putting on a kettle for tea or klah as she passed the stove. Leaving it for the moment, Dessa poked around her shop for a few hours, returning to make her cup of tea, and fix herself a small plate of breakfast, before returning to her store. She didn’t have assistants, so the store was in need of some small-time housekeeping after being left alone for so many days while Dessa was visiting her daughter, so Dessa had opted not to open the store that morning.
Hearing the sound of footsteps on the stairs leading down from her home, Dessa turned, smiling warmly. “Good morning, dear.”
RE: 739.06.09 | My Home is Yours - Onari - 12.Jul.18
You wouldn't think it, but it was odd to be so thoroughly taken care of.
Okay, the Healer visit hadn't been a breeze. Deep wounds like that had their consequences. It wasn't as if the Healer was all that happy to be stitching together her flesh at an ungodly hour of the night. And perhaps the lack of numbing agent came off as a bit vindictive, but what room did Onari have to complain? She would be put back together, she would be well looked after, and all through the benevolence of a single stranger.
The Healer had been clear. She'd walk with assistance -- a cane, a ragged old thing whittled from a branch, by the look of it -- and she couldn't exert. For the most part, she had to rest. No heavy lifting. If her wound reopened, she'd have to be seen immediately. There were herbs she'd have to eat with her meals in order to avoid infection. Everything was laid out. Precise. And Dessa agreed to it all, as if she hadn't minded the responsibility. Came with the territory, didn't it?
Rest. She had to rest. And yet?
She didn't sleep a wink. She refused to complain about it, either. Not when Nlani had found herself sleeping soundly, and with a full stomach, no less. A mother couldn't ask for more, right?
Of course not. Even as the morning drug itself sluggishly through the window, with that child still sleeping soundly, perhaps more soundly than she ever had in her entire life, she refused to complain. The soreness in her leg made it difficult to pull herself from bed, but she managed. It hadn't been a thought in her head to wake Nlani up. Let the girl sleep in. She'd had a long day. A long night. A long everything, really.
Onari's cane announced her arrival downstairs before her voice ever could. That, or her heavy foot thuds down the steps. It wasn't a graceful trip. But all the same, Dessa's voice floated toward her, familiar. Good morning, dear, as Onari had come down these steps a million times before. As if this were routine.
"Something like that," Onari grunted, her free arm grasping the wall as she stared out into the room. "I hope you weren't up too late. I didn't expect the Healer having to stay that long."
RE: 739.06.09 | My Home is Yours - Dessa - 21.Jul.18
“Not at all,” Dessa smiled gently, moving around the bench to put a mug of warmed soup on the table, and waving Onari to seat herself. “Early mornings and late nights are nothing new,” she said in amusement. First motherhood, and then plants were surprisingly demanding! Especially with winter frosts and summer heat! Though Dessa had found early that she enjoyed looking after the little plants, finding them peaceful and relaxing. It was kind of like motherhood, but without the tantrums… or at least, not the same types, anyway.
“How are you feeling?” A concerned frown drew Dessa’s eyebrows together as she studied Onari, watching the young woman move and studying her face for signs that completely belied whatever her answer might be; pain was hard to hide and it would be easy enough to see through any bravado where that was concerned, at least. “Did you sleep alright?” As she babbled her questions, glancing at Onari several times, Dessa bustled about the kitchen, shipping out plates of breakfast foods; sliced fruits, meats, cheeses and bread for the most part to supplement the warmed soup.
Once everything was on the table, Dessa smiled invitingly at Onari and helped herself to some fruit, even as she put a thick slice of cheese on some bread and took a bite of that, too.