Stronghold of education and learning, this fortress is in one of the coldest areas of Idalos and home to many knowledge seekers in a variety of disciplines. However, unknown to most, below the city are those who suffer for the sake of science. While all are welcome, not everyone will be treated as they expect.
It had to have been five full seasons since Linika had been granted her surprising internship with the Viden Infirmary. She had behaved herself to a degree above reproach. Slowly, there had been an increase in the status of those that were brought before her for the level of attention she was allowed to extend. Primarily, this was pharmaceutical concerns, always endorsed by more trustworthy names from the higher spheres of the facility's administration.
She always tried to show just a hint of disappointment. It would not do to completely shrug off the lack of trust. She knew perfectly well that this distrust was entirely to be expected. Not so much from anything committed personally by her; but rather because of the hatred between the the matron Immortals heading the two races in question: Yvithia for the eidisi, and Audrae for the naerikk. The hostility borne by Yvithia for Linika's matron, Audrae, was not likely to soften any time soon.
It did not matter to Linika in the least. It all stemmed from Audrae's righteous crippling of the pathetic weakling, Treid. It was pointless to dwell on the justification for the strike her divine mother had taken. Strength equaled survival in this world; and at the core of what others called "betrayal" was the assurance of the strength of The Mother's children to survive. Who, that was not equally weak, would not see the inherent morality of this.
Still, deception was required. She needed to be neither openly angry, nor overly distraught over the hesitance these eidisi displayed in trusting her fully. In fact, in Linika's opinion, it was to their credit that they did not. So she defaulted to a sort of melancholy patience, tempered with a facade of hopefulness that it would eventually wane.
And not long thereafter, this trend had appeared to begin. Instead of the usual slaves or free laborers, with the passing of the Cold Cycle, some under-administrators were now out and about, and receiving light injuries or illnesses. It had not taken long for Linika to detect the jingle of keys in the pockets of these staffers and aides as they removed their cloaks and hung them on the rack. But she ignored the sound of these metaphorical open doorways, even though she'd come to realize that this was the avenue she would be likely to exploit to advance her agenda for her divine mother, Audrae.
But patience was the key. It was her own training in the arts of deception that gave her cause to assume her actions were being scrutinized. After the first few weeks of the Rebirth Cycle, she'd had moments of temptation, feeling sure that she was being overly cautious. As a test, she'd decided to set one of her most frequently used mediums on the desk near the coat rack. The next time one of these junior staffers came in with a sore throat, she deliberately set the stage for a stealthy approach toward the coat.
As she came within reach of the garment, the doors popped open suddenly, and a trio of eidisi guardsmen came in, turning immediately her way with narrowed eyes as she turned innocently, her newly retrieved vial of blending oil in hand. "Gentlemen? Is there a problem? Some procedure I can assist you with? I was just looking for this reagent for young Mr. Feseum's sore throat there." She began to head back to the cushioned bench, speaking back indirectly over her shoulder. "But there's no indication of any viral cause. No accompanying fever or congestion. So if you need me in some other room, I'm sure I can finish quickly here, or just have him wait until I can return."
Her expression was all eagerness to cooperate. But the men just stammered an apology, claiming to have come to the wrong room. They excused themselves and left. Linika smiled them on their way, keeping the cynical sneer out of her features. They didn't fool her. There was some system of observation going on, with her as the target. But again, she did not begrudge it. If anything, she'd just passed some initial test. The level of scrutiny would most likely ease up a bit.
Last edited by Linika on Mon Jun 13, 2016 12:19 am, edited 1 time in total. word count: 723
- Poison -
"Shelf Life'...What an ironically contradictory concept."
But this did not mean she should now embark on a campaign of sabotage or anything. Quite the contrary. She needed to show marked devotion to the welfare of the city and its citizens, while not being watched. It irked her to think of it, but it should probably be a good two or three arcs of kissing eidisi ass before she should begin her program of subtle disruption. It was a good thing she'd learned long ago to plaster a convincing smile across her face.
Three trials later, Linika was in one of the Glasshouse Conservatories, following through on some mundane herbalist work. Initially, she had not thought that Herbalism would be as large a part of the field of Medicine here in the frozen north as in the more lush southern regions. But it had not taken her long to realize her error. Admittedly, it was a vastly different type of flora that was used, as were the processes needed to glean their benefits. But she was learning. She'd had a course in subzero survival in the far southern mountain region of her home continent; and recognized some similar patterns. But the one she was to become familiar with today was like none she'd yet encountered.
A foursome of eidisi workers started coming into the greenhouse, two at a time, to plop some kind of frozen kelp on an empty tray slot. As usual, they treated her with contempt, finding reasons to consider her "in the way" regardless of where she positioned herself, and ordering her move. Linika did her best to avoid aggravating them, but was intrigued by the appearance of this particular plant.
She recognized it as a southern type of sea kelp. She did not know the name of it, as it had not been found to have any significant use. The owner hissed at her to keep back, so she was now doubly intrigued. What followed intrigued her even more: cupfuls of little crystals. On closer examination, she noticed what looked like the same crystals clinging to the stems of the kelp. The loose ones in the cups had apparently been dislodged from the stems. She had never seen or heard of such growths on this kind of kelp in the southern regions.
The eidisi quickly set to work dislodging the crystals, ordering Linika to assist. She did not hesitate, despite the unnecessarily harsh tone of voice with which the order was given. Nor did she complain, instead adding the insult to the litany of justifications that would encourage her true work here two or three arcs from now. And not only that she wanted to see what was to be gained from it.
When the crystals were all dislodged, the eidisi in charge of the conservatory instructed her to wait a further half a break, then take them back to the infirmary with her, since she "...should surely be done with her Conservatory work by then!" He said this should allow them to thaw enough to make a second attempt to generate crystals.
Linika asked honestly enough why they needed to be taken to the infirmary then. One of the workers nearly bit her head off, "If you would allow the ones who KNOW a thing or two to finish issuing you instructions before you start complaining, Naer, you might not have to ask foolish questions!"
Linika immediately looked down and away, as if in shame. But she just locked the incident away as another in the list of those whose tongues she would stake through their empty eye sockets when the time came. The headman went on, instructing her to cut them into short lengths that can be fit into the infirmary's pressure chamber, to bolster the effect of squeezing the fluid from the stems.
"Do I need to tell you to then place the stems outside so the extracted fluid will freeze into crystals?" he sneered. Linika just shook her head as if there was no offense taken and got back to finishing her fertilizing and trimming of dead weight from the plants. She had no doubt her techniques would be criticized and insulted as she worked, regardless of the fact that they had been working perfectly for some time now.
She was not disappointed. But after a half break, she was "allowed" to pile the kelp stems into a wheelbarrow and lug them across Viden to the infirmary.
word count: 742
- Poison -
"Shelf Life'...What an ironically contradictory concept."
By the time she even reached the infirmary, she was already shivering. But this did not make her so unobservant as to fail to notice that new crystals of ice were already forming on the stems. She sneered inwardly that somehow this would undoubtedly be something she would be in trouble for.
She decided this was fate's way of rewarding her for her patience in regard to the endless abuse she suffered at the hands of these insufferable eidisi snobs. She plucked a few each off of several stems and dropped them in a cup when she reached her work station. She set some water to heat, and as she made duty entries in her office log, the water reached boiling.
She was sick of the cold in this visually tedious ice-white city. It was not so much that she found it too unpleasant to deal with. Augiery was very nearly as far south as Viden was north; and they had mountains that were as perennially snow capped and frigid as this wretched place. And she'd endured a program of sub-zero traning in preparation for this mission. No, it was the way the eidisi kept her out in it much more often than was reasonably justifiable. She had no problem convincing herself that she was entitled to a bit of Ice Block tea. It was made from these same crystals, and she was alone.
It only took a few bits to melt and filter out the bits of stem debris, and she drank it down; enjoying the immediate warmth, as well as the assurance of continued resistance to the cold provided by the tea. The rebellious sense of satisfaction brought its own measure of warmth as well, as a hateful grin found its way to her face. She knew there was some degree of surveillance over her actions here, so she'd had regular tea out as well to allay any suspicion of what she might be helping herself to. There would be no reprimand over a pot of tea.
She went to check on the condition of the stems, to see if new crystals had formed. There were several, which was no surprise as there had already been some when she'd taken her share for the tea. And now there were more. As she picked them off, deliberately taking a leisurely pace, she noticed something... She was getting very cold again!
The surprise of this realization actually made her forget it for a moment, but it came back quickly. 'This should not be happening! I know how to make Ice Block tea. I didn't add anything I haven't added before, and there's never been any documented incident of resistance or immunity, not even a suggestion!' There was a moment's concern that if she made an entry of this contradiction, which any responsible chemist would do, she'd end up getting reprimanded, or canned, for the unapproved use of Infirmary materials. She could already envision the smug looks on their faces...'You see? A naer...a thief...some things never change...it was only a matter of time...Put her on the first boat back to whoretown.'
The anger began to warm her up inside, but there was a seed of scientific subjectivity that kept her from giving in to it entirely. There had to be a reason for this failure. She would discover what it was and take another step toward grudging acceptance in this town.
word count: 586
- Poison -
"Shelf Life'...What an ironically contradictory concept."
She needed to find out what was different, then she could at least claim she'd used Infirmary materials to run experiments. She'd still get bawled out for having not gotten approval first, but if she could offset it with a successful resolution to this seeming contradiction, it would go a long way towards avoiding a formal reprimand. It seemed like she got at least one a week, and they were keeping her from advancing to a wage would allow her to live like something above poverty level.
Linika spread out all the elements, stems, ice, crystals, tea, water, rust from the wheelbarrow, even the dirt and fibers that had clung to the stems, much of which had frozen to them. She tried several combinations of adding or filtering this item and that, in or out of the tea, pre-boiling and after, sometimes withholding the tea altogether. But nothing made any differences beyond those that should occur anyway.
One of the other interns came through with a large pail on a cart. Some samples of the kelp were sitting bulb-deep in the water, the bulbs floating on the surface as they would at sea. The agriculturalists were apparently trying to keep some alive for cuttings and farming. Linika shook her head inwardly. She did not envision much likelihood for success on that front. This species of kelp was from the south of the meridian. It was only very serious storms at sea that dredged this marine foliage up and carried this far north.
Linika imagined, with some loss of confidence, that only a very specific set of mixed circumstances would provide the exact blend of elements to allow the plant to generate the fluid that crystallized into Ice Block. Probably some as-yet-unknown soil on the southern sea bed, dredged up and carried to drift with some other regional element; perhaps petrified shells from some long dead crustacean. And only then, under a narrow range of frigid temperatures, it caused some metabolism in the stalk of the kelp resulting in a one-time production of some strange sap.
She slammed one of the stalks down in frustration, splattering some of the thawing slush water up on her face; on her lips. She wiped them absently, knowing subconsciously there would still be that unmistakable taste of seawater. The intern turned at her brief instant of release, a bit of the water sloshing over the edge of the pail onto the floor. He did not make a face or anything, but neither did he offer to clean up his spill. Linika took a deep breath and told him it was alright; that she would clean it up.
He left as though that was to be assumed, without looking back. The veiled insult took her mind off the taste of the water on her lips as she grabbed a towel and crouched to wipe up the spill. But something started to nag at her mind... Something was missing... Some detail was escaping her scrutiny... No it wasn't the seawater. She could smell that, even without getting the newly spilled stuff on her.... lips?... tasting?... it?
Her eyes widened suddenly as she licked her lips, tasting nothing. She dabbed a finger in the spilled water and tasted it... 'Yes, Definitely...This is seawater.' She jumped back to the table where she'd hit the stalk in frustration moments before, wiping up another drop and tasting it... 'Nothing...no taste at all...it's just thawed ice...not seawater. That's the missing element! The crystals now being formed are not seawater at the core. They are just plain ice from the snow on land.'
Her face broke into a brutal grin. 'Those pompous bastards! Ignorant know-it-alls! I'll show them who's "the one that knows a thing or two". I'll let them waste their time, and then show them up! The presence of salt is what they are neglecting.'
But first, as it is for ANY true chemist - as it was NOT true for those idiots in the greenhouse - she would conduct a test to verify her finding. She spent the rest of the afternoon tracking down the tank of seawater that was in this herbal wing of the Infirmary, and filling a tray with it. Then it was a simple matter of partially drying out one of the stems and setting it in the seawater to re-hydrate. Once that was done, she set it outside in the cold until it froze over, sparkling with crystals. Then she boiled up another dose of tea and drank a healthy cup.
Waiting a few bits, she stepped outside. She remained quite comfortable in the icy wind. She took her coat off. She still felt warm, though she knew this was a dicey extreme to go to. But even after ten bits, there was no evidence of any hypothermic reaction. She picked up her coat and walked confidently to the administrator's office to present her findings. Those fools in the greenhouse would be HER underlings very soon at this rate.
word count: 854
- Poison -
"Shelf Life'...What an ironically contradictory concept."
Medicine: Drying and Rehydrating to Infuse a new element
Extras
Loot & Losses
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Injuries
None
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Comments
I feel so sorry for Linika. My heart bleeds for her. Seriously. So sad. I don’t sound sad do I? Well I am! a well written tale, of course! I particularly like reading about Link’s anger when faced with unfairness. We must create more horrible situations for her!
...would you like a little something from the Glasshouses for your troubles?
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a well written tale, of course! I particularly like reading about Link’s anger when faced with unfairness. We must create more horrible situations for her!