This building wasn't designed as a sanitarium; Osaon is too small to have one or need one, except after they've been attacked by Yemenos raiders. Instead, it's a small ordinary house whose inhabitants were killed during the raid, and the village has turned it over to housing the injured.
It's been several days since the attack, and Ython is still convalescing. He's lying on his side on his pallet, playing mifitha, the plates-and-baubles game, with Lauryn. He doesn't look at all well: his fur is dull and shedding in uneven patches. An attendant comes to change the dressing on his side every two hours; an hour later, it's already stained with weeping pus. He grimaces and grits his teeth against the pain frequently, but he's lucid and begged Lauryn for the distraction, so she's here to keep him company.
Lauryn has never really been around so many injured people. The mentally unfit, certainly, but not the physically injured -- and certainly not from war. It's all very gloomy for Lauryn, and she's used to a certain level of gloom in her life. Talking to Ython helps him and helps her; she doesn't wnat time enough to start inadvertantly mentally comparing the makeshift care ward to the asylum of Rephidim.
That brings her to her first top: demon gods. "Rio Ython, if you would, I would like to learn more about the deity associated with isityros. The battle marked the first positive use of my power, and before it I can to wonder if there must be such as god, and there is, but I know little," she inquires, then moves her pieces.
"That's Usulos." Ython takes his moves, and captures one of Lauryn's tokens. "Why did you want to know about him? He's not one of the Five."
"Consider it personal education for a stupid proditos," Lauryn replies, trying her best to look quite straight-faced as she says it. To her, Ython is a strange sort of Laosian -- the kind she doesn't mind offering a joke to, or teasing. While the Archon is certainly her dearest ally here, Ython offers his own special brand of comraderie. She hopes he doesn't die.
"Prodotis," Ython corrects absently. He flicks the captured token between his fingers, and grimaces, lips pulling back from his muzzle in pain. "Usulos is a bad god, that's why he's not one of the Five any more. He used to be, a couple of centuries ago. Before the Theons came. Usulos was the god of vetyros then. Of ... unseen forces, hidden powers. All of them. Then tyr Theon Patrides came to Apagorevo. Tyr Patrides denied Usulos's domain. Usulos tried to assert his control by taking the tyr's powers away from him, but he could not. So Usulos was forced out of the Five. Amesasos took his place among the Five, and Litonos took the domain of vetyros into his own. Usulos was left with isityros and thirys, though, because Litonos had no use for those and Usulos is still a god."
"That is a very interesting history. I suppose to garners Ria Lauryn no love to be interested in such a god, but Ria Lauryn can sympathize with the outcast and unwanted -- and Ria Lauryn is much about isityros and thirys herself, as you well know, Rio Ython." It doens't bother Lauryn Ython corrected her. In fact, she thinks it might actually make him feel better, and he's so fussy it's amusing to her. While all Laosians seem to be fussy, Ython seems to do it with a youthful, especially prissy indignant edge that she's learned to like. Or, at least he did, before he became so injured. She really hopes he doens't die.
"It is all right to be interested. I guess." Ython grits his teeth, and lays his head down on the pillow. His tone doesn't make it sound like it's all right, but maybe that's just the pain. "You can't worship Usulos, though. Or ptay to him or anything like that. That'd be wrong. He's of the Nineteen now, so he won't answer your prayers."
Lauryn smiles a little, nodding. "That is fine; Ria Lauryn knows about prayers being unanswered, as well." Her smile fades a little at Ython's discomfort, though. "Are you recovering, Rio Ython? What exactly happened to you, to give you such a wound?" She tilts her head, in exageratted curisosity. "Did you fight off the entire western half of the Yemenos prodotis yourself?"
"No, no, you don't understand. You mustn't pray to Usulos. He's of the Nineteen, he'll get mad at you if you pray to him." Ython sounds agitated now, and then makes a face at her over the latter comment. "There were Yemenos coming up a ladder on the southwest wall, and I didn't get it pushed off in time. One of them came up and swiped my side with his axe. And my leg, too. The surgeon said I was lucky not to lose it." The leg wound, indeed, doesn't look bad. It's neatly dressed and they don't change that one nearly as ofen.
"Don't you worry, Rio Ython, Ria Lauryn will not pray to him as if customary for the Five and the Ninteen. Ria Lauryn was merely being droll," assures the Gallah woman. She glances at the man's wounds, then nods. "Prodotis axes are still sharp, are they not? Even if their minds are not." She grins a little, and resists the urge to pat Ython's leg wound. "Ria Lauryn has thought much on the battle herself, and has come to conclusions about Ria Lauryn's powers that will better serve the Tyr." Not that she's ever met the Tyr, or even is certain he's a real man and not a mythical figure. For all Lauryn knows, the Tyr may be a statue -- he sounds very exagerated.
At least a statue would not mock or belittle me, thinks Lauryn. She then pauses, making a face. No, I'm sure it'd find a way. A Laosian statue is sure to be severe and disapproving.
"Oh?" Ython shakes his head, sending a scattering of shed fur drifting over the pallet. He glances down at the plates that form the mifitha 'board' and realizes it's his turn, so he makes his moves. "How're you going to do that? Go live with his enemies so they'll have to deal with your thirys and not us?" He grins at her.
"Careful Rio Ython, you are not well, and my axe remain sharp," Lauryn mock-warns. She even moves to pat his leg wound, but stops short, grinning back. Leaning back, she eyes the bored, moves her pieces, and explains. "No, Ria Lauryn has watched prodotis and Laosian fight, and has come to see there are many ways to use one's abilities. The Yemenos, they are big, with big axes, big swings, and big obviousness. The Archon is small, but precise and measured, overcoming size with precision and intelligence. So too is Ria Lauryn's isityros this way. Until now, Ria Lauryn has called upon isityros like a big Yemenos axe, but Ria Lauryn thinks there would also be great merit in calling upon isityros like an Archon's sword."
"The archon is not small!" Ython protests, making another face at her. Skotonys is about average in size for the typical Laosian fox, in fact: taller than Lauryn and the average female human, shorter than the average male human. The Yemenos raiders might have been bigger; they certainly looked bigger, with their tall crested helmets and bulky chitin armor. "Has he had any luck in teaching you how to use the isityros? I thought you used them like ... oh ... like drowning man uses the sea -- he might be able to get his enemy to drown with him, if he pulls him in fast enough." Ython smirks.
At that, Lauryn has to laugh -- a real, genuine laugh. It's funny because it's true. So very, very true. Or at leats, it was, she thinks. "Archon Skotonys is big in the best of ways, Rio Ython, but not necessarily in size compared to other peoples Ria Lauryn knows of." She smiles, trying to console the man, and goes on. "Ria Lauryn has made great progress with the use of her isityros, with no small part played by the Archon. It was Ria Lauryn who presented our group the distraction that we might enter the atikos, and Ria Lauryn who routed the Yemenos at the gate. Archon Skotonys says he will report Ria Lauryn's contribution to the Tyr himself."
Ython looks skeptical at she enumerates her accomplishments, then wide-eyed at her final declaration. "Archon Skotonys is not. Archon Skotonys is? The archon is commending Ria Lauryn to the dynatos tyr of Notios?" He's somewhere between awed and disbelieving, and not sure where to fall.
"Rio Ython knows Ria Lauryn has the upmost respect and dedication to Archon Skotonys, and would be quite offended if Rio Ython suggested Ria Lauryn was lying about his words," the Gallah says. She does her best to look disapproving and offended, as befitting a prospective Laosian.
The injured vulpine tips over into 'impressed', splaying his ears. "Osos!" he says, which is a Laosian expression of amazement. "Ria Lauryn is greatly honored. Isn't Ria Lauryn scared?"
Lauryn allows her expression to return to calmly amused, and nods. "Yes, Ria Lauryn is greatly honored. It is a great personal triumph, in many ways, crowned by recognition and honor. As for scared ... " the woman tilts her head, looking skyward, " ... Ria Lauryn is used to fear. Isityros are not reassuring companions, filled with joy and comfort." Her gaze flickers back to Ython. "But Ria Lauryn knows so little about the Tyr; does Rio Ython think Ria Lauryn to be in danger? Is a mention before the Tyr so great a worry?"
Ython sits up a little, trying to lean forward, then sinks back down against the pallet. "No, not like that. But ... what if you are unworthy? What if dynatos tyr calls upon you to perform such service again, and you cannot?"
"Then Ria Lauryn will suffer, perhaps die," the woman replies with grim certainy.
The fox considers this answer for a moment, then nods a little. "A noble death overcomes dishonor." It sounds like a proverb. He closes his eyes. One of the villagers tending to the injured passes by looks and in on them. He bows to Lauryn. "Perhaps the ria should let the patient rest now."
Though not what she had meant, Ython's proverb seems just as good. Lauryn nods to the attendant and rises. "Ria Lauryn hopes the patient does not decide to seek honor by death any day soon," she tells Ython, smiling at him. She then bows to them both, and departs.
Later that day, Lauryn is sitting quietly near Skotonys as he handles some paperwork in his makeshift office at the Astikan. A breathless messenger delivers a message tube with some urgency; after Skotonys reads it, he beckons to Lauryn to rise. "We will return to Theolisis now. Dynatos tyr summons us."
Lauryn's ears shoot up; she hadn't expected the Tyr to move so soon! Indeed, she hadn't expected him to move much at all, simply to review her footnote in the battle's report and dismiss her as all Laosians do. That the Archon says 'us' and not 'me' shows different. "Ria Lauryn is prepared to leave at any time," she tells the Archon, after a moment to gather herself.
"Good."
The archon wasn't exaggerating: they leave Osaon within the hour, gathering up Rio Kathiko and a few belongings. Anything not already packed, or that Skotonys still needed to deal with here, he orders be forwarded to his sister's house in Theolisis.
For all the haste of their departure, they do not ride at the trot they took in coming to Osaon. The drokars are kept to a brisk but steady walk. Misilos, the archon's drokar, seems glad to be back on the road and moves spritely. Kathiko's mount is less enthusiastic, and the fox himself holds the reins one-handed, his left arm still in a sling. They won't make Theolisis before nightfall, so they'll be camping at one of the road-shelters later on. About an hour out, Skotonys speaks. "There has been a riot in Theolisis, among the emene."
Lauryn thinks a moment on the news, picking of the pieces of politics she's learned in Laos and fitting them together. "A distraction, Archon, or was the attack on the town the true distraction, to allow the emene a chance to riot? Or perhaps it is all the sign of a larger motion, Archon?" She watches with her ears perked, greatly interested. If the Archon summons them both, then this situation is vital for her to know, for she suspects she and it may be related.
Kathiko gives her a sharp look. Skotonys answers with his usual equanamity. "I do not yet know. I suspect the last, but would not choose to act on such suspicions. The riot was not well-timed for either of the former; Theolisis's garrison had time to return before it began."
Kathiko pauses a moment, then asks, "Does the archon have word of Imasys, by chance? Or Nothonys?"
"A sign of Yemenos weakness in planning, perhaps, or a greater worry? Archon Skotonys has said they are a state, and of peaceful coexistance, at least until recently. It is an interesting puzzle, and worrisome, at least to this Ria's ears. And, this Ria does not mena to suggest any of what she said is the case, but to inquire, and to wonder aloud." She glances at Kathiko, one ear rotating to listen to him. "These are other towns, Rio Kathiko?"
"Not of Imasys; I am sorry." Archon Skotonys doesn't look at them. "Nothonys was not attacked, but Archon-ren Durios and Kyrio Nothonys came to the aid of Halis and were injured in the fighting. Ren Durios is expected to make a full recovery."
"They are noble houses in Theolisis, Ria," Skotonys adds to her. "Nothonys is the house of my brother-in-law.. Kathiko's father serves Imasys."
Lauryn nods to this; she is familiar with the complexities of noble houses, having been born to one. "Then the riots had no specific intent, Archon Skotonys?" She then frowns a little, and adds, "I am glad Ren Durios will be fine, I had not known he was injured and am sad that I could not be there to be of use."
"The intent of the riots is not known to me. There is a reason for them; these things do not happen without cause." As they ride, he and Kathiko talk a little more about the problems the emene cause. Apparently, they don't worship the Five gods. Their own religion is barbaric and practice of it forbidden in Notios, though not throughout Laos Enosi. Sometimes that's cause for trouble.
Lauryn listens as they ride, intent on absorbing as much about the situation as possible. While recognizing her limited status, she intends to make the best of what she has and manuver to be as invaluable as possible. Situations such as these are a chance to improve her lot, and she isn't about to let them pass by. Though uncertain of her chances for any success, she knows they little chance is perhaps the best she can hope for, and certainly better than none at all.