RVA: Shadow of Doubt, Reconciliation
May. 4th, 2016 02:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalSalli slept badly through the night, dreams of Ali lying bleeding on the floor of her bathroom repeatedly waking her. She gave up trying to get back to sleep an hour before dawn, putting on the plain green town dress and shawl Nari had fabricated for her, then heading down to the night kitchen to grab a biscuit for her herself to take with her morning medication. When she emerged again from her room, she found Zaker waiting for her.
“Heard you moving about,” the bodyguard said by way of explanation. “Do you need me for anything?”
“Are my parents awake?” she asked, too muzzy headed still to wonder at Zaker’s near supernatural sense of timing.
“Your father is still asleep. I believe your mother in the gardens near the holy arbor. Do you want me to get her for you?”
“Absolutely not. Bring the skimmer around. I want to go the hospital.” Salli knew she was going to have to confront her mother about Ali’s situation eventually, but she saw no need to hurry to it.
“Yes, milady.” Zaker touched her forehead in salute and headed off.
Though it was well before visiting hours, Salli pulled rank on the poor clerk in the front lobby and headed up to the intensive care ward. There she found Ali in a private room, laying naked save for a hospital gown and a blanket covering her. Her mauled arm was still sticking out at an angle, encased from wrist to elbow in a sealed plastic tube filled with an amber oxygenated fluid to keep her muscles alive since her veins were destroyed. Dr. Coldwater had spoken of removing veins from her legs and implanting them in her arm to serve as replacements, but hadn’t sounded too hopeful about the possibility, given the level of damage.
Amber displays on the monitor beside the bed tracked her breathing, heart rate, brain activity, and other vitals. The breathing and heart rate seemed fine, until one realized both were courtesy of the machines she was hooked up to. Brain activity was minimal, barely a blip on the continuously scrolling line. Had the poison reached up that far? she wondered. If Ali did awaken, would it be to discover her mind had been irreparably damaged as well? Would she be able to even comprehend what had happened to her?
Mother Goddess preserve Your child, Salli prayed silently, with a fervor she had not felt since her husband had first beaten her. Mother Goddess show Your mercy and waken Alinadar. Lend her Your strength to heal. Let her live. Let her possess the happiness that has been denied her for so very long. Please Blessed Mother. Please.
She leaned over the bed, kissing Ali’s forehead gently. But the younger vixen’s eyes did not open. She remained as she was, kept alive only by the machinery surrounding her.
No, in truth they were not keeping her alive, Salli thought with despair, merely holding off the inevitable. And soon she, or more likely Lu, Ali’s closest surviving relative, would have to make the decision to turn them off, and let her pass into the Mother’s arms. What a decision to have to place on the young man, who had spent so longer searching for his lost sister.
Salli wrapped her shawl around her and stepped out into the hallway. At the far end, near the doors leading to the stairs, was a large icon of the Mother Goddess, Her image rendered as an abstract line drawing marked in gold. It sat on a wide, waist high shelf. Offerings of fresh flowers in pots, or children’s handmade cards, sat on the shelf, prayers to the Mother Goddess for relatives or friends also in the ICU, speaking of tragedy and desperate hope, in dramas separate from the one Alinadar and Salli shared now.
Kneeling before the icon was an older vixen in formal dress, her back to Salli, paws clasped tightly in silent prayer. Beside her a plain clay pot sat, fresh flowers planted in it. Not wishing to disturb her, Salli waited as the vixen finished praying, then picked up the pot, rising with an effort to place it on the shelf. Then the vixen turned towards her, and with a start Salli realized it was her mother, and that the flowers had to have been freshly pulled from their own garden.
Mother looked back at her, nodding briefly in acknowledgement, before approaching and saying softly, “Good morning, Sallivera. Is there any change in Miss Blacksailor’s condition?”
“None,” Salli told her in equally quiet tones. “She’s still unconscious.” She walked beside her mother as the baroness approached Ali’s room, stopping in the open doorway to look in on the wounded vixen. Her mother’s expression turned grim, but she said nothing.
After a moment of silence, Salli blurted out, “Why are you here?”
“Am I not permitted to offer comfort to a Commoner of my domain?” Mother asked mildly.
“You’ve made no secret of your dislike towards Alinadar, Mother,” Salli replied.
“Truth,” she said. “I do not love her, Sallivera. I regard your infatuation for her as foolish at best, doomed to tragedy at worst. But this.” She gestured sharply towards Ali’s broken body lying in the bed, her voice rising in anger. “This is an affront to our House. This is wrong. A Noble’s manor is supposed to a place of safety and shelter for their Commoners. For this attack to occur under the roof of my home is a sin against the Mother Goddess that cannot be forgiven.”
“Thank you for that, Mother,” Salli said evenly. “So what are you going to do?”
Her mother’s expression turned grim. “Even if we had the financial resources to provide the level of aid she requires, I can’t justify spending credits that could help tens of thousands of our subjects for the sake of just one.”
Salli nodded reluctantly. “I can’t... disagree with you. I want to, but I honestly can’t. Not if I want to remain the sort of Heir that deserves to watch over all of our district’s population.”
Mother nodded, apparently ready to accept the concession without demanding enthusiasm. “That said,” she continued, “whoever did this must be found without delay. If they were willing to harm Miss Blacksailor so cruelly, then they may attack someone else under our roof. I think you are the next logical target.”
Salli let out a snort of black humor. “That’s a state I’m certainly used to. Fortunately, thanks to Ali’s training, I’m not completely unable to defend myself. May I assume Zaker is also to remain glued to my side?”
“You may. Keep her near, and use whatever House resources you require to find this person. Civil Protection has no clear leads, but they do not know our House as well as we do. Keeps your ears pricked and your nose clear, Sallivera.”
“You can count on it.”
“And Sallivera?”
“Yes, Mother?”
Her mother hesitated briefly, then said, “I’m sorry. This should not have happened. Our House failed you. Failed both of you.”
Salli nodded. “Thank you. Now if you will, I must attend to the duty you have given me.”
“And I will attend to mine. Stay safe, Sallivera.”
“Heard you moving about,” the bodyguard said by way of explanation. “Do you need me for anything?”
“Are my parents awake?” she asked, too muzzy headed still to wonder at Zaker’s near supernatural sense of timing.
“Your father is still asleep. I believe your mother in the gardens near the holy arbor. Do you want me to get her for you?”
“Absolutely not. Bring the skimmer around. I want to go the hospital.” Salli knew she was going to have to confront her mother about Ali’s situation eventually, but she saw no need to hurry to it.
“Yes, milady.” Zaker touched her forehead in salute and headed off.
Though it was well before visiting hours, Salli pulled rank on the poor clerk in the front lobby and headed up to the intensive care ward. There she found Ali in a private room, laying naked save for a hospital gown and a blanket covering her. Her mauled arm was still sticking out at an angle, encased from wrist to elbow in a sealed plastic tube filled with an amber oxygenated fluid to keep her muscles alive since her veins were destroyed. Dr. Coldwater had spoken of removing veins from her legs and implanting them in her arm to serve as replacements, but hadn’t sounded too hopeful about the possibility, given the level of damage.
Amber displays on the monitor beside the bed tracked her breathing, heart rate, brain activity, and other vitals. The breathing and heart rate seemed fine, until one realized both were courtesy of the machines she was hooked up to. Brain activity was minimal, barely a blip on the continuously scrolling line. Had the poison reached up that far? she wondered. If Ali did awaken, would it be to discover her mind had been irreparably damaged as well? Would she be able to even comprehend what had happened to her?
Mother Goddess preserve Your child, Salli prayed silently, with a fervor she had not felt since her husband had first beaten her. Mother Goddess show Your mercy and waken Alinadar. Lend her Your strength to heal. Let her live. Let her possess the happiness that has been denied her for so very long. Please Blessed Mother. Please.
She leaned over the bed, kissing Ali’s forehead gently. But the younger vixen’s eyes did not open. She remained as she was, kept alive only by the machinery surrounding her.
No, in truth they were not keeping her alive, Salli thought with despair, merely holding off the inevitable. And soon she, or more likely Lu, Ali’s closest surviving relative, would have to make the decision to turn them off, and let her pass into the Mother’s arms. What a decision to have to place on the young man, who had spent so longer searching for his lost sister.
Salli wrapped her shawl around her and stepped out into the hallway. At the far end, near the doors leading to the stairs, was a large icon of the Mother Goddess, Her image rendered as an abstract line drawing marked in gold. It sat on a wide, waist high shelf. Offerings of fresh flowers in pots, or children’s handmade cards, sat on the shelf, prayers to the Mother Goddess for relatives or friends also in the ICU, speaking of tragedy and desperate hope, in dramas separate from the one Alinadar and Salli shared now.
Kneeling before the icon was an older vixen in formal dress, her back to Salli, paws clasped tightly in silent prayer. Beside her a plain clay pot sat, fresh flowers planted in it. Not wishing to disturb her, Salli waited as the vixen finished praying, then picked up the pot, rising with an effort to place it on the shelf. Then the vixen turned towards her, and with a start Salli realized it was her mother, and that the flowers had to have been freshly pulled from their own garden.
Mother looked back at her, nodding briefly in acknowledgement, before approaching and saying softly, “Good morning, Sallivera. Is there any change in Miss Blacksailor’s condition?”
“None,” Salli told her in equally quiet tones. “She’s still unconscious.” She walked beside her mother as the baroness approached Ali’s room, stopping in the open doorway to look in on the wounded vixen. Her mother’s expression turned grim, but she said nothing.
After a moment of silence, Salli blurted out, “Why are you here?”
“Am I not permitted to offer comfort to a Commoner of my domain?” Mother asked mildly.
“You’ve made no secret of your dislike towards Alinadar, Mother,” Salli replied.
“Truth,” she said. “I do not love her, Sallivera. I regard your infatuation for her as foolish at best, doomed to tragedy at worst. But this.” She gestured sharply towards Ali’s broken body lying in the bed, her voice rising in anger. “This is an affront to our House. This is wrong. A Noble’s manor is supposed to a place of safety and shelter for their Commoners. For this attack to occur under the roof of my home is a sin against the Mother Goddess that cannot be forgiven.”
“Thank you for that, Mother,” Salli said evenly. “So what are you going to do?”
Her mother’s expression turned grim. “Even if we had the financial resources to provide the level of aid she requires, I can’t justify spending credits that could help tens of thousands of our subjects for the sake of just one.”
Salli nodded reluctantly. “I can’t... disagree with you. I want to, but I honestly can’t. Not if I want to remain the sort of Heir that deserves to watch over all of our district’s population.”
Mother nodded, apparently ready to accept the concession without demanding enthusiasm. “That said,” she continued, “whoever did this must be found without delay. If they were willing to harm Miss Blacksailor so cruelly, then they may attack someone else under our roof. I think you are the next logical target.”
Salli let out a snort of black humor. “That’s a state I’m certainly used to. Fortunately, thanks to Ali’s training, I’m not completely unable to defend myself. May I assume Zaker is also to remain glued to my side?”
“You may. Keep her near, and use whatever House resources you require to find this person. Civil Protection has no clear leads, but they do not know our House as well as we do. Keeps your ears pricked and your nose clear, Sallivera.”
“You can count on it.”
“And Sallivera?”
“Yes, Mother?”
Her mother hesitated briefly, then said, “I’m sorry. This should not have happened. Our House failed you. Failed both of you.”
Salli nodded. “Thank you. Now if you will, I must attend to the duty you have given me.”
“And I will attend to mine. Stay safe, Sallivera.”
