Scarlet Jay rushed up from the birthing shed, which was now more of a puppies' play-pen, with the remains of near-mortal embarrassment only now leaving her appearance, with her complexion finally no longer out-shining her russet locks. She dashed her way up the small rise to what was left of the healers' tent – by now, mostly a fabric roof on poles and the marks of where pallets had been, plus a few shelves for supplies.
She pulled up short at the entrance – which was now really only the widest space in the remaining poles, but it had been the place with the open flaps and where the stretchers had come in. She walked a bit more sedately, catching her breath as she came in, looking past the shelves for the elven healer she'd seen enter.
Arastal glanced up as the woman entered the tent. "Hello," she murmured, turning aside from her work as she saw she was wanted.
The scout smiled to her. "Good evening, ma'am. I, umm, first, I wanted to say thank you for taking care of my friend, Tree-Walker. She maybe isn't the easiest patient, but I know she needed it."
The healer smiled slightly, folding her hands loosely in front of her. "No thanks are needed, it pleased me to help. I’ve not seen her since. I hope she does well?"
Scarlet Jay nodded, smiling again. The dark blush she'd arrived with had mostly faded. "She does! Well, for someone who feels as much as she does. She, umm, is too used to pain, and doesn't show it much, but she feels it."
She sighed, but even that didn't leave much pause. "Anyway, umm, I wasn't sure if you knew... and maybe it's not really your concern, and I've no right to ask such things, but, did you know that River-Wader is going back? I know you saw that Leohna is injured herself, though not too badly."
She finally slowed the pace of her speech, but somehow still seemed to be managing it without pausing for breath. "Umm, I'm not doing very well at this, but, could we possibly get you to stay for a while?" She fidgeted nervously as she looked to the other for her reply.
The elf watched Scarlet-Jay calmly, raising an eyebrow at the news about River-Wader. She didn’t move for a moment, then slowly released a breath that she’d been holding. "I noticed the injury, yes. I did not realize that her assistant would be returning, however; I thought he had come to apprentice." She took a step toward the door and bent down to retrieve the sack that she had earlier deposited upon the ground. "Will there be no others trained in healing left, then?" She raised her brow again, skeptically this time.
The redhead nodded. "That's the case, ma'am. All of it. River-Wader is the apprentice to the aging healer back in the Vales, and, well, there may not be time to train another there. And here, umm, it was all up to who volunteered. And it seems even having Leohna here is a stroke of luck. Or, maybe helpful fate. I know at least one here is willing to learn, but right now, she's the only one."
Arastal turned toward a nearby table and set the bag down, using her elbow to clear a bit of space for it first. "I see," she said as she loosened the drawstring. "Do you speak the clan’s mind, or only your own, in inviting me to stay awhile?" She did not look up as she spoke, reaching instead into the now-open sack to begin the process of carefully emptying it of its contents.
The woman flushed a bit even as she nodded. "I, umm, am pretty sure it's on a lot of people's minds. But I only know for sure of mine, Leohna's, and Hound-Friend's. We all would love it if you would stay, at least long enough for someone to learn."
The elf nodded a few times, almost to herself, as she gently transferred jars from sack to table, sorting them into groups. "I see," she said again, her brow furrowing ever-so-slightly for the barest of moments. She was not facing Scarlet-Jay directly, so the woman didn't get a clear view of that.
Scarlet Jay sighed, not sure what to read into the little she did see. "I'm sorry that I'm, umm, asking what might be rather a lot. You were so good with Tree-Walker, though, and I, umm. I'm sorry. I know we could probably get some lesser-skilled healer from one of the towns, but I worry how well they'd handle my friend."
Arastal turned back to the woman, a small jar cradled in her long-fingered hands. "I will stay," she said simply, nodding. "It is good that you asked," she smiled. "I would not have known there to be use for me, if you had not."
The woman breathed a huge sigh of relief, and flushed at how that probably seemed. "Oh, thank you!" She smiled warmly. "I was so worried that just asking would be insulting. I, umm, well, I scout. I don't do much with people. And it probably shows."
The elf shook her head slightly. "It is no insult," she reassured the woman. "And I’ve not noticed anything untoward in your behaviour." She continued watching the woman quietly with a gentle smile, jar balanced between her fingers.
That brought a further look of relief, along with another smile. "I'm glad! Um, if I might ask, what's in that jar?"
Arastal glanced down at the small earthenware jar in her hands, then offered it to the woman in case she was curious for a closer look. "It is a poultice. One that helps with swelling, specifically." There was a label inked in Sindarin fixed to the lid. "I thought to leave behind a supply of salves and the like, before I left," she continued, gesturing briefly toward the table behind her.
Scarlet Jay blinked, then smiled warmly, nodding, but didn't take it. She couldn't even tell what language the label was in, barely figuring out that it might be one. "Oh! That's wonderful!"
The elf smiled and set the jar aside on the table instead. "You came recently from the Vales but are a friend of Tree-Walker’s…" she began, folding her hands loosely in front of her again. "Do you intend to stay, or will you leave on the morrow?"
The scout flushed more. "I, umm, had second thoughts from the time they left. When we got this call to come help, I took it as my chance to make up for my earlier mistake. I'm staying. And not just for Tree-Walker, though I was so glad to see her again. But because of the task the wizard had asked us to help."
Arastal paused a moment, pursing her lips slightly. "Task?" she asked. "Aiwendil spoke only of the orc threat in his letter; no more. I had wondered why the Woodmen had come so far west."
Scarlet Jay blinked in surprise. "Oh." She looked about, then shrugged when she saw no one about who shouldn't hear. "Well, it wasn't something we had a lot of details about. But he asked us to accompany him to do something. I'm not sure anyone even knows what. But he got caught up with a suspicious people along the way, and sent the clan here to await his availability. Which, now, gives me the chance to be here to help when the time comes."
The healer nodded. "Ah," she murmured. "Well. It is good that you are here; else who’d have asked me to stay?" She smiled, turning back to the task of emptying the bag of salves. "You say you are a scout?"
A nod came in response. "I am. Well, for us." She looked a bit abashed. "I mean, I'm sure almost any elf is better at it. But I've done all right for what we've had to face back at the Vales, and so far here."
Arastal glanced toward the woman, smiling slightly. "Perhaps," she said, "but not all of us have the disposition for it, and your people seem quite skilled." She finally finished emptying the bag and gathered some of the jars up into her arms, making her way around the tent to place them in their proper places. "My mother is a scout," she commented.
Scarlet Jay nodded slowly, then smiled warmly. "Oh! Well, I'm sure I'd never even see her, then. But thank you for your kind words. I, umm, was supposed to teach Tree-Walker when she came to us. But she only needed to learn how to deal with a clan that would accept her. I learned much from her, instead."
The elf turned at the woman’s choice of words, the movement a little abrupt compared to her normally smooth movements. "Accept her?" she asked, her brows pulling together briefly. "Did another clan reject her?"
The scout nodded. "Two did. She, well, wasn't easy to talk to at first." She chuckled. "I suppose some still have trouble with that. But I've learned to understand her."
Arastal said, "I… Noticed. It was challenging at times to follow her words, and to determine the precise nature of her injury. I feared I might have been hurting her more than necessary as a result."
Scarlet Jay shook her head. "Fang – her hound – would have objected. With pain, and her, it's best to watch him. She won't show it much, but he knows."
She nodded. "If he had not reacted the way he did, I might not have known to look for such an injury in the first place." She regarded the woman quietly for a moment. "What happens when someone is ‘rejected’ from a clan?" she finally asked.
The scout sighed heavily. "Well, the second didn't so much reject her as, umm, well, they both mistreated her badly. Somehow, just because she's different, they didn't want to deal with her. Maybe didn't see her as a person. The first, where she grew up, called her 'the girl' and 'idiot' far more often than her name. The second, umm, wanted her for her womb, and nothing else."
Arastal stared for a moment, unblinking and with a relatively flat expression on her face. Then she turned away, releasing a pent-up breath as she continued putting jars into their proper places. "That is unacceptable," she said, her normally soft voice a little clipped.
Scarlet Jay nodded, running her fingers through her hair. "Yes. It is. If she'd told me where they were – but she didn't. So I didn't go do something stupid and possibly fatal. But we gained her because of their, umm, foolishness is too weak a word. But we appreciate her."
The elf returned to the table to gather up more of the little pots, balancing them a little precariously upon her arm. "How long has she been with your clan, now?"
The woman pondered. "It's been, hmm. Ten winters now? I think? Fang is, umm, yes, he's seven. So that would be right."
Arastal blinked at the pots arrayed on her arm. "So short a time," she murmured, almost to herself. Then she paused, glanced toward the woman, and cracked a smile. "Ah… Perhaps that is not so short a time, after all. You seem to be quite fond of her."
She nodded emphatically. "I am! She's a very good friend! I don't know how people could have been so bad to her. Sure, she's different, but she, umm, well, she's so nice. She doesn't always know what to do or say, even now, it's true. But she's awfully clever in a lot of ways, too."
The healer turned away again to put away the rest of the earthen jars. "Much trust was placed in her during the battle," she nodded. "It is good that she has found people that appreciate her."
Scarlet Jay nodded again with a smile. Her hair was probably audible, at least, despite otherwise wasting the effort at a back. "She figured out how to trick them and help keep them confused and occupied until we all got here, too."
The elf looked back with a smile. "Clever, indeed," she said, putting away the last of the jars, "and skilled." She returned to her former position by the table and took up the now empty sack, folding it carefully as she watched Scarlet-Jay quietly. "I should return to the camp. Síloriel and Ialloron will want to know that I am staying."
The redhead nodded with another smile. "Of course! And thank you so much, ma'am! I, umm, I know I've about talked your ear off and all, and just asking you to stay was a lot, but, umm, if you could talk to Tree-Walker some, even once, I'd really appreciate it. They, umm, her first clan, well, she thinks she's not important enough for an elf. But that's, well, don't let me keep you longer." She moved out of the entranceway as she spoke.
Arastal nodded. "Certainly. If it will not discomfort her, I would be happy to," she said, ducking out of the tent. She paused, and turned back. "Your company was most welcome; and would be welcomed again in the future, if it pleased you."
Scarlet Jay smiled warmly to her, and gave her a woodman salute, with the closed hands over her chest. "Thank you, ma'am. That's most kind of you!"
The healer bowed her head slightly. "May the stars shine brightly upon you," she smiled, then turned and made her quiet way back to the Silvan camp.
The scout nodded and headed over to the pups to retrieve her hound. "Come, Thyra! Let Song rest now!" They made their way back to her little spot of camp in the yard for the last night before she'd get to move into the lodge.
