Of the Fells

[heartofcourage]

"No, Papa. It's serious." She said softly, helping him move onto his side as she leaned down and pressed a kiss against his cheek. "And I'm not going to let you die. It took you all this time to come to me and Ma. She would never forgive me if I let you slip away."

She thought about all of her training in this situation. She had seen her father operate on a few men that had the same condition. She knew what needed to be done, but her hands shook as she thought about doing it on the man that she loved above all else.

"Papa...I need to relieve the blood on your lungs." She murmured softly.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Do what you have to, cara mia..." Vincenzo rasped. "Get my tools..."

The other healer returned with the herbs and a mortar and pestle and the third looked to Valentina for direction.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Get my father's tool bag." She said to the one healer, turning to look at the other as he was mashing up the herbs. "I will need fresh yarrow to help with his bleeding as well. As soon as you are finished mashing up those, go and retrieve some."

 

[KieranSoares]

Valentina had everything she needed within minutes. The other two healers weren't quite sure what she was planning and they looked to her for direction. "Just tell us what you need us to do," one murmured as he laid Vincenzo's bag at her side.

 

[heartofcourage]

Valentina took a deep breath as she thought about what she needed to do. She had never actually done this before, but she had seen him perform the surgery twice before. She looked down at her father and leaned in to speak to him.

"Papa...I'm going to do my best to help you." She whispered in his ear. "Ti amo, Papa."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Ti amo, bambina..." he murmured in return, trying to relax himself and close his eyes to steel himself against the pain he'd soon be enduring. "You'll do just fine..." he added softly. "I trust you..."

 

[heartofcourage]

Valentina nodded and then turned, reaching for her father's bag and pulled out his instruments. By the time that she had made the first cut in his skin, she had steeled herself and tried to think about her patient as anyone else but her father.

 

[KieranSoares]

Vincenzo didn't make a sound as she worked, even though she could see him tense now and then at something particularly painful. The other two healers helped to hold him still and keep him awake. When Vincenzo finally gave a pained grunt, he tried to get hold of himself with a quiet sigh of releasing tension, but breathing hurt more than anything.

 

[heartofcourage]

Val worked methodically, only pausing as she thought through what she was doing. She cut into her father's chest, working quickly as she sought to stem the bleeding from his lung. She inserted a hollow reed into the wound, helping the blood that had been pooling to leave her father's body.

"Meglio, Papa?" Val asked him, wanting to know if what she was doing was even helping. "Riesci a respirare?"

 

[KieranSoares]

"Sì, cara mia... molto meglio..." Even though he still struggled to breathe through pain, she didn't hear the rattle of the blood in his breathing anymore. He was pale as could be, and trembling terribly, but at the very least, he wasn't going to drown in his own blood. By this point, she found that the internal wound had begun to clot by itself. Soon, no blood could be drawn out at all. Thankfully, Vincenzo was a very healthy man. One of the healers helped him to drink a watered-down mash of the herbs while the rest of the paste was left for Valentina to use. It'd make doubly sure that the internal bleeding didn't start again.

 

[heartofcourage]

Valentina was pleased to hear that he was doing better even though he struggled to breathe still. There was a chance that she might help him pull out of this. She worked to pack his wound with the healing herbs to stop the bleeding from starting again. Then she started to close his wounds, applying layers of the herb to his skin to help him heal faster.

 

[KieranSoares]

Vincenzo let out a shaky sigh, "Grazie, bella..."

The other healers helped Valentina to move Vincenzo to a tent, where he was laid carefully on a cot and covered up with a warm blanket before he drifted off to sleep. One came to her while the other went to tend to the warriors who'd remained. "Miss Ambrose? Do you need anything else?"

 

[heartofcourage]

"No. Thank you." Val said as she sat at her father's side. She knew that the moment Brogan and Boar came back, she would be set back to Inverness. She wanted to be with him as long as she possibly could before that moment happened.

"You know Ma will be angry when she hears about your wounds." Val whispered to her father, just wishing that she could make him laugh.

 

[KieranSoares]

Vincenzo didn't answer her, too tired and too weak to stay awake. It was several hours later as the sun began to rise that Brogan and Ashien returned from the field. Ashien looked exhausted but was thus far hale and whole, whereas Brogan's lack of rest made his wounds terribly painful for him. When Brogan entered and saw Valentina, he sighed heavily. "Val... Y'were supposed t'go home, dammit..."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I know what your wishes were, but my duty as a healer means that I had to stay to help Papa." Val said simply as she looked over at her brother. "And you know I'm too stubborn to just go back to Inverness while you stay out here to fight."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I don't care 'ow stubborn y'are. Yer goin' back an' I'm sendin' Durban with ya. We've got plenty o' healers here t'look after us..." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I know y'want t'stay with yer father, love... an' I know even if 'e wasn't hurt, ye'd want t'stay with us. But things aren't goin' well, and there are men at 'ome tha' need you t'help 'em, not t'mention all the civilians left behind tha' need a proper healer, an' someone t'help lead 'em if they need t'evacuate."

 

[heartofcourage]

Valentina was quiet for a long moment as he told her that. She knew that she would be going the next morning with the wounded. Still, her wounded pride and stubbornness made her turn and face her brother.

"There will come a day very soon that you cannot tell me what I will and won't do." She said, letting him see all of her hurt and anger at the situation.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I know," Brogan answered softly. "But I ain' tellin' ya as yer brother. I'm tellin' ya as yer King." In all her life, Valentina had only heard Brogan directly invoke his power as a Clan King one other time. That had been when she was fairly little and Brogan's men Ciaran and Cole had been fighting at the head of his army even though they were wounded and surely killing themselves with exhaustion. Brogan forced them back home and made them rest and heal. Once he let them back out, Inverness triumphed in the battle against O'Hennessey.

 

[heartofcourage]

Val was quiet for a long moment as she stared at her brother. She knew that he was right but she didn't want to admit it. She suddenly felt like a child again, nothing more than a trembling ten year old.

"I swear, Brogan, if you let anything happen to Papa..." She said, unable to continue those words.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Nothin's gonna happen to 'im while I'm still breathin', Val," Brogan's tone softened. "I love 'im too, an' I'd do anythin' t'see 'im home safe again beside Ma. But you need t'go an' 'e can't survive a move. We'll keep 'im safe at all costs."

 

[heartofcourage]

Val was never a woman that let people see her emotions. Standing there in front of her brother, knowing that she might well leave them all to their deaths, she cried. The emotion bubbled in her features and she was soon sobbing in his arms at the injustice of everything.

 

[KieranSoares]

Brogan hugged Valentina close and pressed a kiss to her forehead as she finally broke from the stress and fear of it all, holding her like he had when she was small. "It'll all work out, Val... We'll win this in the end and be home in time for th'spring festival." He looked down at her with clear heartbreak and sympathy, but also fear of his own. "We've both got plenty t'make it 'ome for. I've got my family an' you've got a future t'shape. I swear t'the Gods we'll make it."

 

[heartofcourage]

"You don't have to lie to me, Brogan. I'm not a little girl any more." She murmured, sniffling as she tried to gain control over her emotions again. "I know how bad things are out there."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Things might be worse than they've ever been... But I swear we're gonna win in the end... Somehow." As she began to get hold of her emotions again, Brogan heard men calling for him and he sighed. "Stay strong, little sister... I love ya." He kissed her cheek before he finally had to leave her side.

 

[heartofcourage]

That evening, Val slept by her father, his hand clasped tightly in her own as if she were afraid he might slip away in the night. Her sleep was plague with nightmares and she woke every few hours, checking to make sure that he was still alive. She was exhausted when Boar came for her and after a tearful goodbye to her still sleeping father, she went with her brother to help prepare for the journey home.