~Chapter 5~
Two days had passed since Mae had arrived on Sah'Korhune, carried there from the Dailen Shaad on the back of a crystal brood dragon named Karanosi after she tripped through a portal, collided with an alien and survived an explosion that left her nearly dead when she landed unconscious face down in a galaxy creating river of life, or so the story went.
The explosion had left her with burns on most of the front of her body, and while daily treatments were allowing her physical injuries to heal, the emotional ones were far more challenging to deal with. Moments alone found her tearing up, as the memories and thoughts became torturous companions. And night time, when sleep should have been found, only cursed dreams and hours of restlessness existed in that room with no lights, pinned beneath a blanket the weight of a large man.
And adding to all the misery was her inability to keep much of anything down, causing what little strength she did have to wane. An oat-like grain, of little nutritional value, served to her in very small amounts, being the most she had, thus far, been able to handle. Alongside the strange creamy drink, she sucked from spongy cubes, that Ven would place in her mouth, as she was still unable to feed herself due to the constraints of her bandages and Hasvaden.
"Are you ready to get up?" Ven questioned as he came into the room, a long flowy piece of pale blue fabric draped over his arm.
"Yes. I could really use a trip to the relief room."
"You can call it a bathroom if it's easier for you," he remarked setting the fabric onto the raised platform near the head of her bed. "I brought you a clean robe."
After getting up for the first time, she discovered that on each side of her bed was a padded seat, set on top of large platforms the same height, which was why she had the impression that she'd been laying on or near the floor.
"Thank you, but even as you say that, I know I need to use the proper terms until they become second nature. Karanosi was pretty adamant that I pass as an Ech'latean, and with good reason. I can't go home if I'm captured as a rare species and put in a cage."
"Or served up as a delicacy. You never know what tender human meat will go for on the open market," Ven remarked, and despite wearing a smirk, it didn't make it any less disturbing to hear. "Oh, Mae, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make light of your worry."
"No, it's okay. That was pretty amusing," she replied despite the tears in her eyes and the worry she must have been wearing on her face.
"Still," he said, lowering his eyes, "it's good that you're taking your position seriously, and I shouldn't undermine that."
"Morning Mae," Karanosi remarked in his normal pleasant tone as he came into the room. "How did you sleep?"
"Restlessly, when I managed."
"I was worried that would be the case and have brought some herbs that may help," he said as he moved to the other side of the bed.
Repeating the process, they had perfected over the past two days and nights, Mae was once again upright and capable of walking around. However, this morning was a much-anticipated morning as it marked the end of the pungent herbal medicinal salve, constraining bandages, and that horrible hulking blanket.
After relieving herself in the aptly named relief closet, she waddled her way back to her bed, which Ven and Karanosi had finished adjusting to the position in which she would use it for the day, with the head raised at an easy reclined angle, and the small leg pillow swapped out for a larger one.
"I've prepared the bath, but we need to remove the bandages on your legs first, to make traversing the stairs easier for you," Karanosi explained as he had her sit on the side of the bed.
"I'm looking forward to both the bath and getting out of this room. It's one thing to be told this is the inside of a tree, and it's another thing to be able to see it for yourself."
"Well, after your bath, and a rest, if you feel up to it, later today we'll take you outside."
"You mean it?" she questioned feeling an ounce of excitement as Karanosi took a hold of her right ankle and lifted her foot to his knee, causing her to flop back against bed.
"I do, but more like Ven will take you outside. I'm going to head over to Sap'letor for supplies. They have a much larger market than the town below. It's only a two-hour flight with the way the wind is blowing, barely an inconvenience," he said as he carefully unwound the bandage from her leg.
"You aren't going because of me, are you?"
"Not entirely, but you need to eat more than oshal and that means going to a market where there are options. It helps that Golkic's scales fetch three times the price in Sap'letor. I could get 10 times if I was to fly all the way to Tag'thyr, but I don't wish to spend four hours in the air just to find out it is not a market day in the capital. And finding an inn with both a room available and willing to accept a dragon in Tag'thyr, well, that's an entirely different problem," he replied handing the dirty bandage to Ven before setting down her leg and picking up the other.
"Tag'thyr. That was the capital of the Thay Empire in the country of Lar'dion, which is south of Horizn's Deep," she remarked as he began to unwind the bandage from her leg.
"That's correct. You learn quickly."
"Not much else to do but listen to Ven read and learn what he's willing to teach."
"I hope that doesn't change now that you're free to move about; CAREFULLY," he stressed as he put her leg down and helped her sit up.
There was still a thick layer of congealed green salve covering her legs, but it felt good to be able to bend them without the restraint of the bandages. Taking Karanosi's offered hand, she stood from the bed and wiggled her toes against the wooden floor that was a mirror image of the ceiling.
Standing before her, Karanosi, was an intimidating presence, even as his manner remained kind and gentle, she couldn't get over his near nine feet of height that was only punctuated by having to constantly lean over to avoid scraping his horns against the ceiling, which based on the array of markings she spotted every now and again, he hadn't always been successful at doing. Picking up the robe Ven had brought for her, he carefully opened it up and helped her slip it up over her arms, before closing the front and tying the straps at the top of her right shoulder. It was a flowy, silken fabric, that was lightweight, which was of a benefit to her as it was made for a person a good foot, or more, taller than she, causing it to drag along the floor as she moved towards the door, following behind Ven.
With a gentle smile, Ven opened the door and Mae was greeted by the sight of a solid polished wood wall; a smooth, bark-less, tree trunk. To the right was a staircase that went up, and to the left, it traveled down, curving around the central tree like structure, which Ven called the core.
'As long as you don't damage the stem at the top or the core of the tree, it will keep growing.' He had explained the day before when she asked about the odd shape of her room and he went off on a tangent.
Ven seemed really proud of the home he had grown and shaped, and as he helped her navigate the stairs down to the lower floor, he told her about the rooms they passed on the way. The first and only door they walked by, while on the stairs, was the closet and dressing room, which everyone sharing a home would typically use. Once they reached the ground floor, they went by the sitting room, which was a large bulbus protrusion extending out from the narrow hall at the core of the tree. Stopping before the next door, Ven lifted the latch and pushed it open, stepping inside before turning around.
"One last step," he said as he offered out his hand to her.
Taking it, she stepped down into a damp basin. The wood floor felt strange beneath her feet, like a damp cork, and it had a slight give to it. A large window, set a little bit more than waist high, extending up to the ceiling, and was a few inches wider than she could span her arms. But like the window in her room, it had no glass, just wooden shutters that swung up and latched to the roofs overhang.
As magnificent as the view was, and delightful as the smell of flowers carried in on the warm breeze, she couldn't get comfort with the exposure the window gave to the outside world. Despite understanding the necessity, as natural light was the primary light source in the house, the alternatives being, yellow, glowing crystals, lanterns and candles, they served limited functions outside of the sitting room and relief closet, from what Ven had explained.
As was the case in her bedroom, the walls of the bathing room were coated in the same white plaster substance and before her was a large tub of the same material, which now in a dampened state, appeared to be more like clay. A wide bench, also made of this same material jutted out from beneath the window, and Ven helped her remove her robe before sitting her down on the bench. Picking up the robe, Ven hung it one of the hooks located on the interior wall behind the door above a built-in shelfing unit of cubbyholes, most of which contained bins, all made of a rich dark wood.
Mae watched as Karanosi arrived at the door, and had to duck through the doorway, shaking out his wings before setting a clean white cloth onto the side of the tub, and handing a large, what she safely assumed was a towel to Ven. The size of a small blanket, it appeared to be made of a fabric that was a cross between a thin leather and the same fabric the bandages had been made of. While Ven hung the 'towel' on the hook next to her robe, Karanosi, using his tail for support, balanced himself as he squatted down before her.
"Once Ven is finished removing the bandages, you need to soak in the basin until the salve begins to loosen. Press that cloth into the salve and peal it away very carefully. I'm certain you are smart enough to know this, but let me say it anyways, since it will make me feel better. Do not scrub. It doesn't matter if you can't get all of the salve off. You can bathe again tomorrow, or even later tonight if you feel up to it. What is far more important is that you don't tear or damage your new skin. I can't promise that you won't have scars from these burns, but I can tell you that any damage will make them far worse."
"I understand. Thank you, Karanosi."
"You are welcome. I'm going to head off now. I'll be back before nightfall," he remarked as he stood up, and pressed the back of his hand to her forehead in a strange gesture that she had yet to get used to. "Tell me, what is your favorite color, Mae?"
"Green. I like dark shades of green," she replied as he lowered his hand.
Looking up at him, he gave her a nod, before turning and leaving the bathroom. There was an elegance to the way he moved, his tail swaying beneath his robe with every step, as he walked on the balls of his feet, his heels only touching the floor when he sat, knelt, or squatted.
"This isn't what you were expecting?" Ven questioned as she looked about the room, examining the details more closely.
"It's a bit… open, for my liking, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. But I'm confused. Maybe I'm missing something, but how did you fill that tub? You didn't heat the water and carry it in with buckets, did you?"
Ven burst out laughing, "Oh, Mae, you say the most ridiculous things sometimes."
"Sorry. I know these seem like stupid questions, but if I don't ask, I'll just keep wondering."
"No, no, I'm the one that should be apologizing. I keep forgetting that you're from a world with no magic, which makes your questions quite legitimate. Magic is the answer, along with the benefits of living in a tree," he explained as he walked over to the shelves and pulled out one of the bins carrying it over to her.
Inside the bin was a collection of six colored stones and crystals.
"Each one has a purpose. And each bin on the top self, has a set. They are stored in here because the temperature and climate, is best suited to keeping them in good condition," he explained as he set the bin next to her on the bench and removed the fist-sized, dark blue stone from it.
Stepping back, he tossed the stone up before him and it hung in the air. Turning his left palm to the floor, his right to the stone, Mae watched as threads of light burst from the stone striking his hands, flowing over them, twisting and curling around his fingers. Thrusting his left palm to the floor, the light shot down into it, and no sooner had it penetrated the wood, when he jerked his hand back up, like a fisherman successfully setting a hook. With a turn of his hand, he pulled the threads up, and cast them back into the stone with a forceful swipe. Like threading a needle, he captured the castoff threads with his right hand, pulling and throwing them in one fluid motion into the tub, a solid stream of water, the color of cranberries, following the motion of the threads, flowed up from the floor, through the stone, and into the tub with a splash.
She was speechless, her eyes held wide in astonishment. This was magic, real magic. The air sparked around the stone and the water fell away as Ven grabbed a hold of it.
"It purifies the water that is drawn up by the roots from deep underground. The yellow ones in the bottom of the tub heat the water, and I keep spare heating stones in the bin, farthest to the left," he explained as he held the stone out towards her.
Holding out her hand, he set it into her palm, the layer of bandage making it impossible for her gage a texture, but it looked just like a polished stone, but was half the weight she had expected compared to its size.
"Incredible," she muttered, finding herself looking up at him, and then back down at the stone.
Hearing him speak of the magic of this world was one thing but to witness it was something else entirely, leaving her with a feeling of astonishment and awe, something she had never truly felt before.
"If you're impressed by this, just you wait," he remarked with a smirk as he took the stone from her hand and placed it back in the bin before returning it to the shelf.
She sat in silence as Ven began to slowly unravel each of her bandages. Despite having had this done three times before, a new layer of salve being added each time, providing her with a thicker, more adequate layer of coverage as it congealed into a solid green gelatinous substance, she still felt uncomfortable wearing nothing but a simple pair of that world's version of panties. Little more than an hourglass shaped piece of cloth, larger on one end over the other, loops sewn onto the corners, while strings, attached to the corners of the smaller half, were passed through the loops to be tied comfortably together in front. The undergarment was lightweight and provided coverage without the need of elastic.
"I'll have clean cloths waiting for you in your room. The silver container on the shelf behind the basin is for your hair, the block next to it is for your skin. They offer different scents but that was what I had on hand. The block is new, and won't be used by anyone else but you. The bin, second shelf down, farthest on the left, is yours. I will put the bar in it when I clean up, once we get you back up to your room to rest."
"Ven…"
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
"Of course. You live here now. Think nothing of it. Once you're finished, call for me and I'll come help you," he said as he moved towards the door. "Take as long as you want. The water won't get cold unless you pull the heat stone out of the basin. If it's not warm enough, you can add the second one I left out on the ledge for you. Enjoy your bath, Mae."
"I will. Thank you, Ven. I appreciate this more than you know."
With a nod, Ven turned and left, closing the door behind himself. Standing from the bench, she looked back, glancing out the window before moving to the tub, which was the size of a small swimming pool. Picking up the cloth Karanosi had left her, she gazed down into the water, its distinctive red hue, an unpleasant sight against her skin as she sunk her hand in to check the temperature. Drying her hand on the cloth, she untied the strings of her undergarment and pulled them off, tossing them over near the shelf by the door, before sitting on the edge of the tub. Swinging her legs over the side, she lowered them into the water. Finding it both warm and pleasant, she shifted from the side of the tub and sunk further in, slipping silently beneath the surface.