Defying The Rules

Going to the Healer

The group of teens finally went home. Thalos really was looking forward for some sleep. He was tried, sore, and in pain. He decided, that in the morning, he would go to Gothi's hut-on-a-hill and get his arm and burns checked out.

He walked through the dark village towards his hut. He walked inside and looked around. Perhaps he ought to take a bath first? No one on Berk took baths that often, accept for many Fishlegs, but he hadn't taken one in a few weeks, so he figured it was about time. At least he wasn't Gobber, who took a bath only when people forced him to. He was often quite ripe to the nose.

He grabbed some buckets and filled them up with the well water. He made several trips in and out of his hut, gathering water and dumping the water into a large bowl or bucket.

Luckily, his hut was fairly close to the well, so it only took him about ten minutes to finish filling his bath bucket up. Even more exhausted than before, he walked into his hut, stripped himself, and got into the bath tub. He dunked himself in the water, making sure to get his hair good and wet.

He grabbed an old bar of soap and cleaned himself up. He didn't take very long in the bath. He mainly just wanted to get in bed. The water was cold, which was unpleasant, but it did feel good on his burned back. It felt quite good, actually. He just had to make sure he didn't lean on his back, otherwise the burns would rub up against the wooden bucket he was in and cause him pain.

He finished around five to ten minutes later and got out. He quickly dried himself off and ran a cloth over his hair. When he finished, his black hair was a mess, but that was the least of his priorities.

Once he was mostly dry, he got dressed and put the, now wet, cloth he used away. He, for the most part, used the same towel for every bath. It wasn't a big deal, because he only took baths every few weeks.

He grabbed the bucket he bathed in and started dragging it towards the back door. The bucket was much to heavy to lift up, and he didn't have his dad to help him carry it since he was on the search party for the dragons' nest with most everyone else in the village. Some people were still here, like some of the women, the children, and even some of the men, just incase there was some kind of attack.

Nonatheless, dragging the bucket was the best option, so that's what he did. Once he got it to the door and outside, he pushed on it until the bucket tipped, and the water came pouring out. He waited until all the water was out of it before putting it back down.

Now, he could carry it. It would be a bit awkward because of the size, but he could manage. He brought it back inside and out it away. He took a few breaths and started heading up stairs to his room. He wanted to sleep more than anything right now.

He climbed in to his wooden bed, cringing as his back hit the frame. "Thor.." he mumbled, turning to his side in hopes of relieving the pain. That was when more pain surged up his body from his hurt arm. "For the love of Thor!" He shrieked, turning and laying on the side opposite his injured arm.

He rubbed his arm for a minute before closing his eyes. Aside from pain, it didn't take him to horribly long to actually fall asleep.

..oOo..

He woke up the next morning, wishing he could sleep longer, as usual. He really never was an early riser. He loved sleeping. It was a time of silence, solitary, peacefulness, and rest. Who wouldn't like that?

He groaned and sat up. He stretched, but grunted and cringed at the sudden pain in his arm. Yeah, he really needed it checked out. He got out of bed and started getting dressed. Thalos reached his hand back and touched his burns. His back itself felt pretty normal, but when he put pressure on it, it hurt. He definetly got singed. There was no doubt about it.

He got dressed and ate breakfast. He tried to move quickly so he could get going Gothi's hut done with. He walked outside and started the trek. For some odd reason, some genius Viking put the ancient lady's hut up on a massive, steep, hill. Someone clearly had never thought this through. How the old woman got up and down there every day, Thalos didn't know.

He came up to the hill her hut was on and groaned. After a minute or so of pondering about whether or not he actually wanted to go up, he started walking.

He climbed up the steps that circled the hill. The hill was small in diameter, but tall in height. The stairs were at least nicely laid out, so that did make his life easier. Once he actually managed to get to the top, he knocked on Gothi's hut door.

At least a minute passed before she opened the door. The old woman was short and hunched with long, thick gray hair that was done into two braids over her shoulder. She held her staff with a thin arm and looked up at Thalos.

Gothi didn't always look like the happiest Viking in the village. She always looked grump, at least, she did in Thalos's opinion.

"Hey.." Thalos said. "I was wondering if you could take a look at my right arm and any burns on my back." He said, doing his best to seem respectful and not demanding.

The woman nodded and gestured for Thalos to come inside. One thing about the old lady was that, infact, she was a mute. She couldn't speak. No one knew why she couldn't speak-if she was born that way or if it was an accident. To communicate, she drew unique pictures and lettering in the sand with her staff. Only Hiccup and Gobber could understand her. Thalos was learning it, but he wasn't quite fluent in "Gothi-eese" yet. The only bad thing about this was, if someone translated what she said wrong, she would smack them on the head to tell them that. Thalos got that pretty frequently.

So she could communicate in her hut, there were patches of sand on the ground. This would let her draw the pictures she needed to. Thalos hoped she could just communicate with hand gestures, that way he wouldn't have to translate her pictures.

She pulled out a chair and gestured to it, silently telling Thalos to sit down. He abliged and did so. She tugged at his tunic and slightly lifted it up, trying to tell him to take it off. Thalos did this and put it off to the side.

Gothi walked behind him and looked at his back. She stroked her wrinkled chin with a bony finger. She then touched his back. This made Thalos flinch and pull away.

The old woman made a motion with her hand and walked to a wooden box full of bottles. Thalos turned and watched her. She rummaged through the box until she found what she was looking for.

She walked over to him and popped open the bottle. She swatted at Thalos's head, telling him to look forward. He didn't hesitate to do just that. The woman poured some of the liquid on her hand and quickly put that on Thalos's back, spreading it around and rubbing it in.

"Great Odin's Ghost!" He shrieked, immediately flinching and pulling away from the massive amounts of burning pain now coursing through his back.

Gothi however, anticipating this, bonked him on the head with her staff, grabbed his shoulder, and pulled him back down to his seat. It was amazing the old woman was even able to move as quickly as she did, much less pull Thalos down. Sure, she had hit him with the stick, and that disoriented him a little, but still.

She kept her wrinckled, bony hand on his shoulder as she spread the liquid on the burns covering his back. Thalos was shrieking bloody murder the entire time. The liquid made his back feel like it was on fire. Plus, she was also putting a fairly good amount of pressure on it. Those two componants mixed made for it insanely painful for Thalos.