On the Properties of a Healing Society (Attn: Jaren Marle)

[Daniel]

Nyaine It was with some hesitation that Nyaine entered the infirmary. It had been a long day already after teaching a beginner’s lesson for novices in the morning, receiving some instruction herself during the day and overseeing a group of learning ranks working on the garden paths. Though there was the hope that it should be relatively quiet in the infirmary, that would by no means have to equate to Nyaine having less work. Yet none of that was the real reason for her hesitation.

Looking at the slip of paper in her hand, Nyaine approached a novice that was doing some chore. “Where is the full-rank in charge?”, she asked.

The white-clad girl looked up from her work and pointed her in a direction. “The Asha’man is over there, Accepted.”
Nyaine proceeded into the direction the novice had indicated, avoiding looking at any of the sickbeds, but she might as well have tried not to think of a blue rabbit. The memories came back as quickly and as unbidden as it usually did. The girl lying motionless on the floor, the impression of the delving flows in front of her, the feeling of emptiness afterwards, the outrage over the inaction, the fear of retaliation the next morning. She took a deep breath and determinedly pushed the memories into the back corner of her mind where they had come from and ran a novice exercise to focus her thoughts.

She was being stupid anyway, she told herself. There was no reason to fear or deny herself the use of something that she had an aptitude for. Her Testing had firmed what she had known before, she wanted to help people and this was one of the best ways of directly doing so. Looking ahead, the uniform clearly identified the male channeller that she was looking for.

“Asha’man, Accepted Nyaine, I am assigned to the evening shift”, she said after smoothing her white skirts and folding her hands in her lap.

[Elan]

Jaren

It was one of those rare nights that Jaren was glad for the late shift in the infirmary. Jaryd was away on Red Ajah business, and… well. It was better to keep himself busy than sit around in the empty apartment pretending he wasn’t worried. (Mael had told him Marten had gone with Jaryd, and Jaren hoped that wasn’t an additional reason to worry. If Jaryd trusted the new Red’s competence, Jaren would try to do the same, but it was difficult not to remember the human disaster Marten had been back when they’d been roommates.)

He smiled at a Dedicated who had been brought in earlier with bad burns from an accident in the Channelling Yards. The young man was recovering well enough but Jaren had chosen to keep him in the infirmary overnight to make sure he was alright mentally as well as physically; with all the Healing in the world, that kind of thing could leave other, less visible scars if the person was just told to go about their life as though nothing had happened.

As he turned away from the patient, Jaren came face to face with an Accepted. “Ah, yes,” he replied after a moment’s mental scrambling to remember that he had, in fact, seen her name in the roster when he came in. “My name is Jaren.” He smiled warmly. “It’s quiet right now and I was just checking up on the patients. Most of whom,” he added, a touch wryly, “would rather that we just let them take advantage of the unscheduled break from their duties and left them alone.” He heard the Dedicated chuckle at that, though the young man quickly smoothed his expression when Jaren glanced at him. “Anyway,” he looked back to Nyaine, “walk with me as I finish my round.”

It didn’t take long, and soon enough they were walking back to where the Yellow’s offices were. Jaren glanced at the Accepted by his side; he didn’t know her, but something about her demeanour didn’t seem quite right. Perhaps she was anxious about the infirmary duty? “Is this your first time assisting in the infirmary?” he asked.

[Daniel]

Nyaine Following Asha'man Jaren as he finished his round checking on the patients currently in the infirmary, Nyaine couldn't help but be glad that it was indeed as quiet as he had indicated it was. The comment regarding the patients shirking their chores had been amusing. She could easily imagine taking advantage of such a situation herself.

But then, Jaren caught her off guard with his question. It wasn't really her first time assisting in the infirmary. Even though it had been quite some time ago, she still clearly remembered coming here to Heal someone in the course of her Healing class. Why the question, though? Had he picked up on her insecurity or was it just small talk?

“No, Asha'man”, she finally replied weakly, after the question had hung in the air too long for just that little bit. She took a deep breath and then continued more firmly: “No, it is not my first time, but it has been a while since I have been assigned to assist here. Even so, I still remember what I have been taught about the infirmary, so there shouldn't be any issue caused by my ignorance due to my long absence from this place.”

[Elan]

Jaren

The drawn-out pause seemed to confirm that something was going on beneath the surface, but the Accepted recovered quickly, and Jaren didn’t want to pry, not unless it seemed that whatever it was was causing the girl serious distress. Maybe there had been an incident the last time she’d been here — that sometimes happened — and the place brought back memories. If that was the case, the best thing to do right now would be to just keep an eye on her and let her get used to the infirmary routines again in peace, and to be available if she wanted to talk.

Jaren smiled gently. “I’m sure you’ll do fine,” he said. He looked around to assess what needed to be done this evening. There weren’t a whole lot of urgent tasks right now, a pair of Novices had just swept the floors and taken used sheets to the laundry room and an inventory of the supply storage had been done just yesterday— though actually, on second thought…

“How’s your handwriting?” he asked; she looked like someone with a legible hand, but appearances could be misleading. “The Dedicated helping us with the inventory yesterday had a horrid chicken scrawl and Janelle Sedai didn’t think to look at his writing until they were almost done, and so the lists are barely readable.” He went to the desk to pick up the sheets of paper. “I was going to have to rewrite all this in whatever downtime we have tonight, but it’ll go faster if you take half, no?” He smiled again. “It’s not the most exciting task, I’ll grant, but alas, it must be done.”

He split the stack of papers and gestured at the desk and the writing appliances there, pulling up another chair for himself, and began copying the list of items.

[Daniel]

Nyaine Copying inventory lists was decidedly not what Nyaine had expected when she had come here, but now that she thought about it, she could see how keeping stock of the infirmary's supplies was a necessity so that whatever was needed to cure or comfort the sick would be at hand when it was needed.

“I have never been told that my hand is illegible, so it should suffice,” she replied while sitting down at the desk. “I imagine the elegance of it will largely depend on the speed at which I will write.” She inspected the writing equipment on the desk, then picked up the first sheet to be copied, frowning at the sloppy writing full of inkblots. She probably would have had to ask Jaren about some of the items, but for now, she put down the sheet and began copying what could be safely deciphered, putting ink to paper with the confident, efficient strokes of someone who had been writing for a large part of her life.

The copying turned out to be a rather mindless task, not requiring too much of her concentration, although she did wonder why some of the items on the list were needed in an infirmary. It occurred to Nyaine that it was just the opportunity she had hoped she would get by requesting assignment to the infirmary. “I am sure you get these all the time from Accepted and the like, but would you mind terribly if I were to ask some questions about the Yellow Ajah, Asha'man?” she asked, glancing at Jaren before continuing her writing. “I am told I have some talent with the Healing weaves, but I've been wondering whether that it is all there is to the Ajah.”

[Elan]

Jaren

For a while there was little sound besides that of pens scratching on paper, and Jaren couldn’t help but let his mind wander. He wondered how Jaryd’s mission was going; all the Red had told him was that they were going to Illian after some information that might have to do with the White Tower’s fall. He hoped everything was going at least somewhat according to plan; that was probably the best anyone could hope for in the Red Ajah business. He tried not to worry, he really did, but it wasn’t always so simple as that.

So when Nyaine spoke up, it was a welcome distraction. As she asked if he could answer some questions about the Ajah, he just smiled and gestured for her to continue; that was part of the job, after all, and helping a student to find their place in the Tower, even if they didn’t choose the Yellow in the end, was always rewarding.

“No, you’re right,” he replied, “there’s more to being a Yellow than that.” He glanced down at the sheep of paper he’d been working on, then set it and the pen aside to give the Accepted his full attention. “Healing with the Power is just one part of what we do. The most obvious part, sure, and an important one, but still just a part. There are issues that the Power can’t touch— emotional trauma, anxieties… all kinds of things— and we do our best to help with those, too. Some of us specialise in that, actually, like Zarayne Sedai.”