Thread: The Witch and the Alchemist (closed)

Letting out a relieved breath when she sat up and started talking, Landon felt himself relax a bit. She was finally coming back to herself. After 5 long days of infection induced fever and delirium, she was lucid and the fever was gone, her wounds closed up and starting to heal properly. It had been a hectic past few days as he and Abigail had tended to the girl. Both were tired and a little on edge. After he'd left that afternoon 5 days ago, he'd gone home to his bed gladly and slept for four hours straight--the body can only take so many nights sleeping sitting up. Having escorted him home, Abigail had gone and made the girl up some breakfast and had attempted to feed her, despite Dorelia's fatigue. It wasn't until Lan came back in the afternoon, in fresh clothes and feeling much better than before, that they'd discovered anything was wrong. He remembered clearly how it had been when he'd walked into the room cheerful and coming to check up on her only to find the girl pased out and sweating heavily. Abigail had been with him when he'd hurried to her bedside and pressed a hand to her forehead almost recoiling right away from how hot she was. Abigail! he'd said turning to the older woman frantically. Go get some rags and a large bucket of ice cold water and hurry! He had to get the girl's fever down or else she might die. As Abigail rushed off, he turned back to the girl and saw she was looking at him. You've got an intense fever, Dorelia. I think it might be the wounds on your back. Don't worry, we'll bring it down. And she merely asked him in a weary voice why he'd yelled at the head nurse, obviously not having heard a word he'd said. More quietly, and caressing the side of her face, he said, I'm going to take care of you. Just hold on. Then Abigail was back with bundles of clean rags and carrying a nice sized bucket full of water and with a haphazardly cut block of ice in it--probably from someone's cellar, where ice was normally stored. Then she quickly set it down and dunked a rag into it before wringing it and handing it to him. The rag, still dripping with cold water, he placed on Dorelia's forehead and the girl struggled against it forcing him to restrain her as Abigail stepped forward and held the rag in place. The tone of voice she used as she fought him, berating him like a child, she almost sounded like a child herself and normally he would have found such endearing. But it only made him worry more with how fast she was slipping. The fever stayed with them for the week, the infection continuing it's assault on her body. Both Abigail and Landon watched over her, day and night, feeding her and giving her water to drink, switching out the rags on her forehead for freshly dipped ones and putting clean bandages on her back. Abigail was the one who mostly fed her, because whenever she wasn't by the bedside she was out gathering supplies. After the trial that first afternoon lots of the women were eager to see the girl and Abigail had told them about her condition. There was an overflowing of sympathy and fear for Dorelia and the women provided her with all they could to help the poor girl. Then that night when they went home, they told their husbands and the men talked to each other and provided things as well. The evening of the first day, Abigail sat by the bedside, feeding the girl soup and talking to her cheerfully. This was made by Jeneane, she said putting a warm spoonful into the girl's mouth. The crapenter's wife. She made it especially for you. There has been such a flood of love and support for you in this town. I wish you could see it. They're all acting like concerned parents and as if you were their daughter. She got a fond look in her eyes as she gave her another spoonful. It really warmed her heart to see the people turn so completely around after the trial. It was like they'd become completely different people. But she remembered how things had been before Father Justin and it was like they were returning to their old selves before the priest had come. When Father Justin heard about her sickness, he preached in morning Mass every day about how this was a sign of the girl's evil. The Lord is trying to exact justice upon her, because earthly justice failed! But really, he didn't convince anyone with his words, just made them all uncomfortable. There had been a trial and the decision was made. He was basically beating a dead horse. When he realized that he was losing people from one morning to the next, he quickly quieted about the evil and started preaching that they should pray for Dorelia to get better. Sometimes, Dorelia said things in her delirium that confused both Lan and Abigail. They'd had to change her clothes once, because they'd been so drenched with sweat and it would have been poor, hygienically to leave them on her. And as they'd undressed her together, the girl had struggled and voiced denials. At first it sounded like she might be reliving the rape and torture, but then she said something about a Monster. When Abigail looked at Lan, concerned, he merely shook his head. She's just hallucinating. It's alright. It was enough to set his mind at ease about it but still Abigail worried about it. And Abigail's concern for her only grew, especially when the girl mentioned her mother. It broke her heart to hear her talk like that and she wondered about what an awful experience it must be to have a mother like that. someone so cruel and driven by paranoia and superstition to try and kill their own child. she could not imagine it, especially when she felt like a mother herself towards Dorelia. When the girl whimpered to her, lost in waking dreams about her mother, Abigail just wanted to scoop her up into her arms and take that hurt and pain away. You are loved, she would say at those times, even though the girl could probably not hear her. While bigail took care of feeding the girl and running errands, Lan spent most of his time by the girl's side, constantly fussing over her and making sure she was okay. A few times, he'd even fallen asleep in the chair by the bed and had to be shooed home by Abigail. But every chnce he got, he was there, watching over her. He'd tried a few times to find solice in his lab, but he just couldn't concentrate and had finally given up. They could wait, at least until the girl was better. One thing that happened that caused a bit of concern was Abigail's growing concern over the baby the girl might be carrying. When she told Lan of her suspicions, he'd of course been skeptical but had done some tests anyways. It would be important for her and for them to know if she was with child. It was still pretty early but the results howed that she was indeed pregnant. As soon as that came out, there had been a slight increase in distress over her current condition. But now, she was awake and talking, back to normal. It was time to tell her and both he and Abigail were hesitant to do so. But Landon knew she needed to know. But instead of saying that, he said, It's good to see you're finally back with us. He glanced at bigail and they hared a look. Not yet is what it said. Abigail stepped forward with a small smile. Alright, a bath most definitely. She looked at Lan pointedly and he started to leave to go fetch what they'd need.