Ablutions

Finally, a follow up piece to the series of pictures I did for the war event for (part one, part two, part three).

Here is the story of what happens to Berra after her face gets stepped on by Val.

Annoyingly long story coming up... summary at the bottom

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Pain.

Sleep.

Waking...? Pain. No... sleep.

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This was all Berra knew for days after her ill-fated encounter with Valcaroch. She was spared the immediate aftereffects of that violent afternoon. Small blessing that it was, she had been knocked entirely unconscious when Val landed on her, and so was given the benefit of oblivion while she was transported off the field of battle. Skerry, who had been involved in the encounter, had to leave shortly after Syam and Parsa arrived, making sure that the battle was indeed over.

Meanwhile, the teams of Grandesque Dearmaad and Twistoult healers had arrived to start mopping up the injured, and it was not long before several were in attendance over Berra. There had been some confusion at first over who she was. The attending Dearmaad insisted that she was not Grandesque since she 'remembered every little ball of terror that grew up in my aery, and she is NOT one of them!'. Parsa and Syam were set to leave and continue patrolling for any lingering Skrekrill. Syam took off, but before Parsa left, he stuck his oar in, rumbling 'Skerry was defending this one, she must be one of ours.' Just then, a pressed-looking Twistoult healer shouldered through to take stock of the situation.

'Right! Get some bandages on those injuries! And where are the evac teams? Go find one and tell them to come here post haste!' He spoke to no one in particular, as he pulled out supplies from his pack. 'But she might be Skrekrill!', the stubborn Dearmaad insisted. 'I don't care if she's Skrekrill, Grandesque, or a slug,' the healer snapped, 'we Twistoult take care of any injuries.' He eyed the Dearmaad, who looked like she might continue to argue, but then Parsa stepped up behind him and she subsided with a mutter. Soon an evacuation team of uninjured Balach arrived, and they rigged up a sling system and carted Berra deep into Twistoult where the healers caves were.

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Drifting through hazy dreams and nightmares, Berra spent days under careful surveillance of the Twistoult healers. She remained comatose for three days after being transported, and the healers were beginning to wonder if she would wake up at all. On the fourth day she started moving though, and the healers immediately set about trying to get her to drink some water. Berra was still delirious though, and confused by the darkness, as her head had been bandaged due to her injuries. She started thrashing about enough that she might knock loose the bandages around her face, and injure herself even more inadvertently. So the healers burned some herbs that calmed her and put her out again. The next day she woke again, much weaker this time. The healers had burned just a bit of the sleeping herb, enough to keep her calm this time, but not put her back to sleep. They got her to drink some water, and managed to get her to answer some questions to make sure her brain had not been damaged. This little interaction left her absolutely drained however, and she passed out while they were still trying to figure out who she was.

On the sixth day she woke finally with a clear head, but a terrible weakness made all her limbs seem turned to stone. She couldn't move, or even lift her head. She could not see anything either, all of which panicked her a little. She also had a raging thirst. 'Hello,' a soft cheery voice beside her ear said, 'you're awake again, that's great!' Berra tried to lift her head again, but then a gentle paw pushed her back down. 'Hey now, rest easy! You should not try to move for a while yet, I'll get you anything you need. My name is Thanh! What's your name? We've been trying to figure out who you are, and I have a theory that you're a Skrekrill spy that's trying to...'

'Ssss, Thanh!' another quiet voice approached, 'not so much talking, she just woke up.' Berra felt a gentle claw between her ears. 'Can you drink some soup?', the second voice asked. 'Oh, I'll go get some!' The enthusiastic one, Thanh, scampered off to presumably do just that. 'You'll have to forgive Thanh, he really is a good healer. My name is Suli. Do you think you could manage some broth?' Berra's stomach felt like a hollow void, and twisted painfully as she thought about food. '... yessss...' she whispered. '... water...'. 'Yes, just open your beak a little,' Suli carefully supported Berra's jaw when she opened it, and poured in a small amount of water. Sweet, sweet liquid life. 'More please...' she whispered again. Suli laughed quietly, 'yes I'll give you as much as you need. But only in small amounts, don't want you choking! You don't have the strength to even cough right now.' Suli continued to give her small amounts of water until Thanh returned with the broth. They then carefully fed her the lukewarm soup a beakfull at a time. Feeling more comfortable with something inside her, Berra drifted off again. She woke again several times that day, and each time Suli or Thanh fed her more soup, and she fell asleep again.

She woke on the seventh day feeling much stronger, and managed to lift her head. This made eating easier, and her healers allowed her to eat some solid food. She did not fall asleep right away after eating this time either. Thanh was obviously just bursting to ask questions. Suli must have made him promise not to ask any before, because Berra had been too weak. Now though... 'So what's you name huh?' he finally asked, unable to wait any longer. 'I've been calling you sundots because you're yellow and you have spots but that's probably not your name, unless your parents happened to think along the same lines I do, and I guess that's possible but it would...' Berra cleared her throat, and Thanh stopped his monologue.

'Berra. My name is Berraluth.'

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All throughout that day she continued to eat, sleep, and listen to Thanh talk. Although she was starting to feel physically better, she still escaped into sleep as often as she could. The next day, Suli came to check on her and suggested she try sitting up. 'No... ,' Berra sighed, and put her head back down on her legs. She continued to eat what they gave her, but she just had no energy, and did not feel like moving. Suli and Thanh looked down worriedly at their charge at the end of the day. 'Well she should be strong enough now,' Thanh pattered, 'I just don't know why she won't get up.' Suli shook her head, knowing something else must be wrong.

In truth, Berra was terribly depressed. She had had a lot of time to think in the past few days, and none of it was making her very happy. She had overheard from her caretakers quiet talking that Skrekrill had won the war, and were expanding their territory. Berra did not know why, but she felt completely awful, about many things. She was ashamed to tell her caretakers that she was Skrekrill, but suspected they had figured it out. She did not know what to do. Skrekrill had tried to kill her, but she could not turn to Grandesque, most of whom now bore a strong hatred for Skrekrill. She could not turn to Twistoult either, as they were currently worried about Skrekrill taking over their lands. She did not belong anywhere. She had also been too scared to ask her caretakers why her head was so bandaged, why she could not see. She carefully avoided thinking about what was wrong with her face. But deep down she was terrified that she had lost her sight, or had been horribly scarred. All these dark thoughts swirled around in her head, and she kept it all inside, refusing to talk very much with Thanh or Suli.

Suli suspected what might be the problem however, and sent for Cotuil. Cotuil knew many secrets of the natural world for healing both the body and the mind. Suli hoped that the respected owl gryphon would be able to help their struggling patient.

The next day, Cotuil arrived, and had brought with her some supplies, including herbs, and a special stone to help focus energy. Suli met her at the entrance to the cave, mixing a poultice for Berra's injuries. Thanh meanwhile was with Berra, removing the bandage around her head. 'Now just keep still, and keep your eyes closed while I change this bandage.' He carefully unwrapped the soiled bandage from around her right eye. The cool air felt good against her skin, and for a moment, Berra just enjoyed the sensation. Then she realized Thanh was silent. With a stone heart, she managed to ask 'How bad is it?', while tears leaked unbidden past her eyelids.

'Well,' Thanh replied, 'you're healing. It could be a lot worse you know. You're lucky you woke up at all, you could have died! But look at you now, what interesting scars you'll have to tell stories with. I have a scar on my little toe that I got one time when I...' Thanh chatted on as he carefully washed her injuries. Berra just retreated back into sleep again, sick at heart.

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TL. DR. Berra is taken care of by the twistoult healers. She is depressed.

She won't stay depressed, I'll continue her story as she convalesces. If any Twistoult want to come talk to her, let me know.

Featured are the fabulous Thanh, Suli, and Cotuil!