Tei'serin rushed out to see how badly Sorin was injured for herself. Her two half sisters were hot on her heels. As the other students made way for her, Tei'serin knelt beside the injured boy. He was indeed unconscious, and a rather large bump on his head told her the cause of his current state. There was a gash on his back where the snowball had hit him. It was bleeding steadily enough that Tei'serin realized that it needed stitches. Unfortunately, she didn't know how to stitch up a wound, and even if she did, she didn't have any of the supplies needed for such a task. Nor would her herbs be enough to help Sorin. Not on their own, at least.
Tei'serin's mind raced, but she continued to force herself to remain outwardly calm. The last thing she needed right now was for her students to panic. Treth did have a doctor, of course. But he was currently recovering from a fever. And although he was on the mend, he was in no condition to help Sorin now. So that left her. She did have the ability to heal, but it only worked on minor injuries. Or...at least that had been the case. She had felt herself grow stronger when she met Moseke earlier in the season. Could that added strength have strengthened her ability to heal? It was worth a try.
The first thing to do was to get Sorin out of the cold. So she picked him up and carried him into the school house. When she saw that the other students had followed her, she asked Hardin to build up the fire. She could see by the stricken look in his eyes that he had never meant to hurt his friend. Giving the boy something constructive to do would serve to both distract him from the obvious guilt that tormented him, and make him useful. The older students took it upon themselves to take the younger ones aside and keep them quiet and calm while she worked. Keiaris and Meiarin hovered at their older brother's side, but they stayed out of the way, and were quiet, so Tei'serin allowed it. She could understand their need to be at their brother's side.
Tei'serin needed Sorin to be as comfortable as possible while she worked. To this end, she asked several of her students to fetch blankets from the supply closet. These were carefully tucked around Sorin in a way that did not cover his injuries. By the time this was done, Hardin was finished with the fire, so Tei'serin asked him to run and get the Gardeners. Her own home was too far from the village to send one of the children, so she would have to tell her mother about what had happened later.
Only after all of that was done did Tei'serin begin her attempt. She cautioned the children to be quiet so that she could concentrate. Then she cupped her hands gently around the bleeding gash. A pale yellowish green light rose from her hands like a mist. Tei'serin closed her eyes, and breathed deeply for a few trills. Her entire focus was on believing that this would work; that the strength Moseke had given her the last time she saw her would have strengthened her ability to heal enough that it would work on Sorin's bleeding gash. When she believed that it would work with all of her being, she directed the energy she had gathered into Sorin's injury.
And it did work. Ever so slowly, the bleeding began to slow. Then the light faded. It had not healed the wound, but there was marked improvement. And that gave Tei'serin renewed hope. She tried again. This time, the bleeding stopped completely before the energy faded away. It took her several more attempts to heal the wound completely, but it had healed.
Her head pounded in time with her pulse, and she felt very tired. But it was the kind of tired she would feel after a long, exhausting trial. She didn't feel drained, or weakened the way she thought she might have after healing a wound like this.
Thank you for this ability, Moseke. With it, I am able to heal even when my herbs cannot.
Sorin stared up at her in awe. He must have woken up when she had been so focused on directing the healing energy that she hadn't noticed.
"How do you feel, Sorin?"
Sorin winced at the sound.
"My head hurts, and my eyes don't work right. They're all blurry."
[Definitely a concussion, then.[/i] she told herself silently.
Tei'serin checked Sorin's pupils, and from what she could tell, his concussion was fairly mild. Would the ability Moseke had given her work on Sorin's concussion now that it was stronger?
"May I try something, Sorin? You have a concussion, and I would like to try to heal it the same way that I healed the gash on your shoulder."
Sorin nodded. Then he winced, and moaned softly, clearly regretting it. Tei'serin carefully placed her hands over the painful looking lump on his head. But when she began to direct the healing energy once more, she felt something different. It felt...wrong somehow. So she stopped, and examined the bump. It hadn't shrunk in the slightest. The attempt had failed, and Tei'serin could only assume that it was because a concussion was too severe an injury for her ability to heal.
"Well, that didn't work, but I have some willow bark tea that will help take the edge off of the pain, at least." she said softly.
She couldn't give him too much, though. Until she was certain that his concussion was gone, it was important that she didn't let Sorin go to sleep. By the time that she had finished making the tea. Hardin had returned with the Gardeners. She told them what had happened, then stood back to let them visit with the boy they loved like a son.
Tei'serin watched them for a few trills, wishing that her own relationship with her half brother was as uncomplicated as the Gardeners' was. But she felt like she was intruding on a private moment, so she turned away. Knowing that Hardin's part in all of this still had to be addressed, she pulled Sorin's friend aside.
"I really am sorry, Ms. Njiryn. I never meant to hurt Sorin. I wouldn't! He's my best friend!"
Tei'serin nodded. She knew that...and that only made what she had to do harder. Whether Hardin had meant to hurt anyone or not, he had. And as their teacher, Tei'serin couldn't let that slide. If she did, other children who did mean to hurt someone they were teasing might think that they could get away with it, too.
"I know you didn't, Hardin. Accidents happen. But when they do, the people who caused them have to take accountability for them. Do you understand?"
Hardin's eyes showed confusion as he tried to figure out what accountability meant, so Tei'serin tried to explain it to him in another way. This time, he stared at his feet glumly and nodded.
"You aren't in trouble for the accident, Hardin. But when you were caught up in the excitement of the snowball fight, you let it make you careless. And your carelessness led to the accident where Sorin got hurt. Do you understand what I am saying?"
It was a very fine line that Tei'serin was walking, and she knew it. She didn't want Hardin to think that he was being punished for hurting his friend. That had been an accident, and she didn't feel that people should be punished for accidents. But unlike a situation that had been completely out of his control, the accident had been caused by Hardin's carelessness. All of this could have been prevented if Hardin had simply took a few trills to make certain that his snowball didn't have any rocks in it before throwing it. Tei'serin wanted to teach him to be more careful when it came to things like that, so it was his carelessness that was going to earn him a punishment.
When Hardin nodded, she continued.
"You will stay with me after class the next trial. During your detention, I want you to think about the accident, and write two paragraphs about things you could have done differently to prevent something like this from happening. When you are finished with that, we will talk about it. Does that sound fair?"
Hardin nodded.
"I'll see you in our next class, then."
Tei'serin dismissed the rest of the students as well, after promising that Sorin would be fine in a trial or two. Once the Gardeners had finished visiting with Sorin, it was time to get her own family home. She invited Mr. and Mrs. Gardener to come with her and help her watch over Sorin until they were certain his concussion had healed. They were quick to agree, and since Sorin was unable to ride, they offered the use of their wagon. Tei'serin was happy to accept. Then she began the task of getting everyone loaded up onto the wagon so they could go home.
He got off easy! Anyway, as far as job threads go, this was pretty good. Enjoy the rewards!