Eight Intertwined II

216 - Sickness

Alfyn and the travelers charted a course for the storehouse at the edge of town, not wasting even a second in crossing the bridges between the cliffs. Just like before, Therion clung to the nearest person to make sure he didn't fall overboard. This time, it was Ophilia, and she wrapped an arm around his shoulders to reassure him that he was safe. Therion didn't thank her out loud, but Ophilia didn't need to hear it. She smiled a little bit brighter when he was within arm's reach though. 

Alfyn pushed open the doors to the building carefully, not wanting to disturb anyone who may have drifted off to sleep. When he was inside the room, Alfyn found that the vast majority of the patients had nodded off since he and Ogen went through to heal everyone. It was nice to see that so many of them were in a state where they felt comfortable enough to rest, and Alfyn couldn't help but smile at the sleeping patients. He would come back through and give them any extra help they needed once he had checked on Ogen. As far as he could tell, Ogen couldn't wait any longer than he already had. 

One of the patients was still awake though, and he was on Ogen's side of the room to boot. Alfyn smiled to himself but forced it back down when he thought of how poor the optics of smiling at a sick patient just before asking them a question had to be. He shook the thought off as he crouched beside the man. "Excuse me?" Alfyn whispered softly. "Sir?"

The man, who had previously been staring up at the ceiling, blinked to awareness. He was awake, but he was too distracted to notice Alfyn coming until after he was right in front of him. "What is it...?" the man asked. His voice was at least a bit stronger than it probably had been earlier in the day, and that was enough to reassure Alfyn that everything was going to be fine. The people of Orewell would recover even if Ogen had been shaky when curing them. 

"You were cured by Ogen, weren't you?" Alfyn asked. "That was the name of the apothecary in black who came through here earlier." When the man nodded, Alfyn continued with an awkward smile. "I hope you don't mind me askin' this of you, but... Did he say or do anything strange when he was treatin' you?"

The man thought about it for only a moment before he nodded. "He did... I asked him when I would feel well enough to eat, but he said that he didn't even want to hear about food. He told me to not mention it at all," the man replied, and Alfyn bit back a wince. Come to think of it, Ogen hadn't eaten anything at the tavern. Then again, Alfyn hadn't either, but he was able to go a few hours without a meal when he was anxious. Ogen, on the other hand, had clearly been sick for longer than he wanted to admit, and he was too sick to eat anything. It was a common symptom of many illnesses, but it was still something Alfyn would have to tuck into the back of his mind for future reference. 

"Thank you for tellin' me," Alfyn told the man. "If you end up needin' anythin', just holler for me. The name's Alfyn. I'll be back through to do rounds later on... But you seem to be recoverin' well already."

The man smiled in relief and nodded. "I feel much better, thank you... But if something comes up and I need extra help, I'll call for you. Thank you, kind sir." With that, he let his eyes flutter shut like he was going to actually try sleeping this time, and Alfyn took that as his cue to push himself up to his feet. Hearing that Ogen didn't want to eat was an important start, but there had to be a few other symptoms that would tell him what the other apothecary was actually sick with. Maybe he would be able to ask the other patients if Ogen had said anything around them... 

Alfyn only made it three paces away from the man he had been talking to before the patient let out a loud gasp. "Hold on... There was one more thing he said," the man said. "He kept muttering the name 'Melyssa' over and over... I don't know what it means or who that is, but... It was like he was talking to someone who wasn't there. He seemed a bit delirious, but since he seemed to know what he was doing, I didn't ask."