Vermilion ~ Twenty-Seven: Healer

[annarti.livejournal.com]

The healer had just finished his dinner and was contemplating getting ready for bed when one of the castle messengers thumped on his front door.

‘One of the guests is choking,’ she blurted.

The girl could tell him little else about what was going on at the castle, only that she had run here as soon as one of the wait staff had told her to, and so the healer grabbed everything he might need for such a situation, picking a handful of herbs in the dark as the messenger hovered anxiously beside him.

‘I can’t very well help the woman if I haven’t the right tools,’ he reminded the messenger.

The messenger forced herself a calming breath. ‘Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.’ She was still bouncing on her toes in her hurry to get back to the castle, though.

It wasn’t long before the healer had all the herbs he might need, for anything from a simple piece of food going down the wrong way to a dangerous allergic reaction, and raced up the hill behind the messenger.

The guards had the castle gates open already, and a small crowd of messengers awaited them at the front door. The healer followed the quicker service corridors to the grand dining hall. Outside the grand doors, wait staff and nobility alike crowded around a chaise longue by the wall.

‘Step back, please, ladies and gentlemen,’ the healer said, panting as he tried to catch his breath. ‘One thing I’m sure the lady needs is air. Please, return to your seats and your duties. I can handle things from here.’

The crowd parted and reluctantly filed back into the dining hall, all except for the host, Master Vermilion. He healer chose to ignore him rather than to shoo him away. He was, at least, standing well back from the victim.

However she had been reacting before to incite such panic in the messenger, she seemed to have calmed down now. She sat on the edge of the chaise longue, gripping at the mattress with white knuckles and concentrating hard on taking deep, loudly wheezing breaths.

The healer knelt down in front of her to catch her eyes, though she barely registered his presence.

‘My lady,’ he said in a voice as soothing as mint. ‘I’m a healer. I’m here to help you. I’ll need to unlace your bodice to allow you to breath better. Did you choke on your food?’ Already, though, he could see the red blotchiness of her skin that suggested something more serious.

‘No,’ the woman gasped, and the healer barely heard her word behind her wheezing. She transferred her white-knuckled grip to his wrist when he reached behind her for the laces to her corsetry. ‘Not… while he’s… here.’ She broke into a fit of coughs, and the healer glanced up at the young master.

His arms were folded and his face concerned. ‘She choked on a mushroom,’ he told the healer. ‘But I’m concerned that it may have been more than that, that something else may have caused her to choke.’

The healer nodded. ‘Thank you, Master Candlewood. In the interests of the lady’s comfort, please, I must ask you to attend to your other guests.’

The master nodded once, looked with concern back at his patient, and strode back into the grand dining hall, closing the door behind him.

The healer pulled the top laces from the lady’s corset, enough to allow her to take deeper breaths. Immediately her condition improved. Though she still wheezed, the tight redness in her face subsided and her breathing was less chaotic.

The healer wrapped a handful of three different herbs in a cloth, crushed them to release the oils and scents in the leaves, and passed the packet to her. ‘Here, my lady. Breathe this in deeply through your nose. It should clear your sinuses so you can breathe more easily.’

She took the bundle and held it under her nose, breathing as deeply as her constricted airways allowed her. A small smile spread over her lips as her breathing evened further.

This improvement told the healer all he needed to know. He nodded to himself and gathered together another, smaller bundle of leaves, these for her to eat and soothe her throat. ‘You’ve had an allergic reaction, my lady,’ he told her. ‘Do you know what may have set it off?’

She shook her head as she munched on the bitter herbs. ‘No,’ she said, her voice still weak and raspy. ‘I’ve never had—‘ She broke off and started coughing again.

The healer sat back to allow her more air, and quietly hushed her. ‘Don’t speak if you can’t manage it yet, just nod or shake your head. Master Candlewood mentioned mushrooms. You’ve never been allergic to mushrooms before?’

She shook her head. ‘Mushroom sauce,’ she whispered to keep the strain off her voice.

‘Mushroom sauce,’ the healer repeated. He turned to the messenger standing by the doors. ‘Please fetch Master Candlewood for me, I need to—’

‘No,’ the patient gasped again. ‘Not him.’

The healer sighed. ‘Very well, one of the wait staff, then. One who would know what was in the sauce.’

The messenger bowed and disappeared inside the dining hall, emerging a few moments later with one of the waitresses. She gave him a deep bow, her face concerned as she looked on the lady.

‘Do you know the ingredients of the mushroom sauce, my dear?’ the healer asked.

The waitress nodded. ‘Eight varieties of wild mushrooms from around Candlewood, all of them perfectly safe, the cook knows what is safe to eat around here and she would never poison one of the guests.’

‘Poison?’ the healer’s eyebrows shot up. ‘No, no, my dear, nothing of the sort. What else was in the sauce?’

‘Goat’s cream, brandy from the vintner across the hill, truffle oil, garlic, cow’s butter and hot mustard.’

The healer watched the woman for any reaction to any of those ingredients, but she was calming as she sniffed her herbs.

‘You have eaten all these before?’

‘Five of the mushrooms are only grown around Candlewood,’ the waitress added. ‘Might it be a reaction to one of those, if my lady has never encountered them before?’

The lady looked a little panicked by her suggestion, but the healer shook his head. ‘If she’s allergic to one, she’ll be allergic to them all. My lady, have you recently experienced any reactions to mushrooms, any at all? An upset stomach for a while after eating them, perhaps, itch skin, even a sniffle or a headache?’

She was about to shake her head, but instead frowned at the last. ‘Headaches, yes. Do you—‘

The healer interrupted to keep her from speaking. ‘I think you may have developed an unfortunate reaction to mushrooms, my lady. I have seen this in one case before, and heard of it in two more cases since, of people who have loved and eaten mushrooms all their lives, and then, very suddenly, start to have more and more severe reactions. From now on, my lady, stay away from mushrooms. Ensure that no kitchen that prepares your food even has mushrooms in it, as the spores of the fungus can carry in the air.’

Her eyes widened as she took this in. ‘Will it ever go away?’ she asked.

The healer shrugged and shook his head. ‘I can’t say, my lady, though I haven’t heard of it. We know so precious little about allergies, what causes them and what can prevent them. You were very lucky this time, my lady, but I can’t say you would be quite so lucky if there were to be a repeat.’

The lady nodded her acknowledgement, if not her full understanding, and the healer chose not to burden her with undue stress until she had fully recovered, just in case the knowledge of how close she had come to death set her off again.

He pushed himself to his feet and turned once more to the waitress and the messenger. ‘Can you stay with her, my dear?’ he asked of the waitress, who bowed her acceptance. ‘Fetch me if there is the slightest step backwards in her condition. Is there somewhere I might speak with Master Candlewood? He should at least know the situation so he might pass this onto his kitchen.’

The messenger nodded and gestured down the corridor. ‘He can meet you in the afters room, the next door on your right.’

‘Thank you.’ He bowed and followed her direction to the room next to the grand dining room. In it, a fire was ready and roaring and castle servants were working to ready the room for those members of the party who wished to stay up a little later. Bottles of fortified wine and brandy were lined up against the back wall, and servants were lining up balloon-shaped glasses for the guests.

Master Vermilion appeared through the door that led straight to the grand dining room.

‘How is she faring?’ he asked, even before he had closed the door behind him.

The healer nodded. ‘Well enough,’ he said. ‘It appears she has indeed developed a reaction to mushrooms, only recently, and never so bad as the symptoms she has displayed this evening.’

Vermilion frowned and folded his arms. He had forgone his traditional long red coat for the evening, instead opting for a set of tails in the same vibrant colour. ‘How is that possible?’ he asked.

The healer displayed his hands helplessly and shook his head in apology. ‘We don’t know,’ he said. ‘Allergies are a mystery, why most have no trouble at all with such things as milk and nuts and others can die from ingesting them.’

‘Die?’ the master spurted. ‘Did she come so close?’

The healer nodded. ‘She did, and if she were to be exposed to mushrooms again, I fear it would be her end.’

‘Goodness,’ Vermilion murmured, sagging a little against the door.

‘I must ask that you eliminate all mushroom from your kitchen for the week she is staying here,’ the healer advised. ‘Even the spores may float through the air, and any further exposure to them will probably kill her.’

Vermilion nodded emphatically. ‘Of course. I’ll go down there right away. Thank you eternally for your services, my good man.’

The healer bowed politely in deference. ‘I’ll stay with her for the evening, just to be sure, but you and your guests can relax now, sir.’

The young master nodded again, and rubbed at the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger. ‘Here I thought she was just drawing more attention to herself. Thank you, good healer, you may go.’

The healer bowed once again and quietly let himself out.

Comments

[ladylight.livejournal.com]

Hmm, for a moment there I suspected a poisoning, though I don't know who would have poisoned the lady (the cobbler?). Still, always jump to the worst conclusion, then amend your reaction appropriately!

I did wonder a bit about the healer stopping for herb-picking, since if it's an airway problem he's only got a couple minutes until she blacks out, then another couple until her brain dies, after which all the medicine in the world won't help ... maybe if the messenger told him that she was 'having trouble breathing properly' rather than 'choking'?

[annarti.livejournal.com]

If it was an airway problem she'd've probably been stuffed before he got back anyway. But yes. 'Trouble breathing' is probably more helpful than 'choking', thankee m'dear :D

(Hugh Laurie has the best put-upon expressions. Just sayin')