Starring:
Date: April 6, 2011
Summary:
Sadako visits the daughter of one of the Koumorite Elders to investigate the daughter's injury. She comes away with a better understanding of the Koumorite Clan's medical knowledge as a result.
"The Bat Hand - Broken Wings"
Koumorite Village - Land of Water
It was already late when the team departed the meeting hall of the elders of Koumorite Village. By the time that Sadako is led to the home of the daughter of one of those elders, the sun is almost completely vanished below the horizon. The chittering of bats is a frequent noise, and most visitors to the village have retreated to one or the other of the two inns that are present in the relatively small settlement. As the light continues to die, huge clouds of bats come swarming out of the caves up on the cliffs. They are out on their nightly hunts.
The home that Sadako was led to is rather modest. It is a single-story structure with a long hallway leading into a series of rooms. The bedroom appears to be the third room, all the way at the back, with the first room being a living room, and the second room being a kitchen/food storage room. Overall, it has the same sort of feel as a cave with its own sub-caves within the overall cavern.
The guide remains outside, and Sadako is greeted and led to the bedroom by a girl around the Genin's own age — or perhaps slightly older — who is dressed in the same manner as the others of the village. She has elongated ears, with indications of being pointed, as well as long, luxurious, dark-colored hair. Some of it is tied off in braids using brightly-colored string, but most of it hangs loose and free. By contrast, all the men that have been seen so far have had shaved heads or else just been completely bald. The girl introduces herself as 'Yoku'. She is markedly different from the adults that have been seen — and one may note that no children have been seen prior to this moment — in that she seems energetic, cheerful, and interested to meet an 'outsider' like Sadako.
"It is encouraging to see that our neighboring communities care about our well-being," she offers formally while bowing to Sadako. The lower half of her face is concealed by a scarf, just as the rest of her Clan are prone to doing, but she still gives the impression of smiling. "Thank you for agreeing to help my mother. We are at a loss as to what her ailment is. This injury should have healed a long time ago, and yet it remains and pains her constantly," Yoku explains as she slides open the door into the kitchen. When the two arrive at the bedroom, she kneels down on the ground and raps lightly on the frame with her knuckles. "A healer has come to see you, mother," Yoku says quietly. A high-pitched voice responds raspily, "He may enter." Yoku does not bother to correct the assumption of gender, determining that this will be cleared up as soon as Sadako makes her appearance. Instead, she bows her head to the Genin and pulls open the door, revealing a darkened room, with a woman sitting up against the rear wall, wrapped in blankets. Her eyes, thankfully, do not glow red like the elders' did.
Sadako keeps her pack at her hip rather than on her back while walking along with Yoku. She doesn't look down while rummaging through it though; both because it's not polite when talking with someone, and because she just needs to feel through things to do a last-moment inventory check, "The Mist knows the importance of allies. Next to sharing secrets, sharing help is one of the quickest ways to make friends." Her nose crinkles up a bit, making her eyeglasses bob up too, when she pauses with a last glance at Yoku, "I'm not the most experienced of our healers, but I'll do my absolute best. I promise." With that she steps into the room with another chance to rapidly blink her eyes to help them adjust to the gloominess, "Evening… I'm from Kirigakure, along with the rest of my team, to do what we can to help." Her smile is still intact but at the low-wattage 'standby' expression for her as her eyes sharpen up as she comes closer, "Could you start, please, by telling me about what's ailing you? If there are any open lesions, feelings of pain or numbness, and where?"
Yoku nods in agreement — or perhaps she is just eager to please this stranger who has come into her home. She seems to be disappointed when she has to leave Sadako's company, even if only by a dozen feet or so. It could be that she doesn't get out much… Either way, Yoku's mother looks up at Sadako with her slit-like eyes and says, "A female healer. Surprising." Then she continues on a moment later in her guttural voice, to answer the questions posed. "A pit-trap for catching wild beasts was ill-placed. I did not detect it and fell within. My left leg was injured during the fall. It has not healed properly. There is pain throughout the leg, centered on the ankle and shin. I am unable to support my weight on it."
The woman draws the blankets about her left leg aside, revealing it is twisted at a rather unnatural angle. There is bruising about the ankle, but no signs of bleeding.
Sadako nods thoughtfully as she comes closer, and when standing where the woman is she kneels down, with a perfunctory tug at her coat to make it easier to hold that position. She leans in when the blankets are pulled back and, before touching anything, reaches into her satchel; her glasses are replaced with a headband and reflective disc, and out comes a small candle as well, "I'll need to light this," is all the warning she gives before bringing it up and snapping a spark off to light the thing. Then, setting it aside, she gets to work, "There. Now, let me see…" All business, with her expression mostly showing curiosity for the problem rather than the patient. Reaching out, she does look briefly up to those oddly slitted though thankfully not glowing eyes before reaching out to lift the woman's leg and go through the motions; feel for protuberances under the skin, minutely turn this way and that while listening for broken bones, and then just careful palpation, "Has the large hema-.. sorry." Her smile perks up a bit at the corners of her mouth, "The bruise, has it gotten larger or smaller from the time of the accident, ma'am?"
The woman has a thick mane of hair, not unlike her daughter, though it is much heavier on the braids than Yoku's is. This is revealed in the light of the candle, as is her apparent dislike for said light. One hand is raised to shield her eyes slightly, but she does not seem to be blinded any more than another person would be when exposed to light after remaining in the dark for too long. She makes noises of pain, however, when her leg is moved. Even the slightest movement illicits a hissing noise.
A glance up might reveal that the woman appears to have rather sharp teeth… Filed? The incisors appear to be longer than usual as well. She answers relatively calmly, given that she must be in a lot of pain to respond so quickly to such light movements. "It has grown larger. I thought it was a stretch mark…" How could she confuse a huge bruise for a stretch mark!? The fact that a broken ankle — and it >is< clearly broken, based on Sadako's cursory examination — has gone untended to for this long says a lot about the lack of medical knowledge that the Koumorite seem to have.
"Our healer said the pain would pass eventually. He helped me through the birth of my daughter and the recovery that followed. The medicine he gave me has been less effective than previously, however…" She looks towards a wooden bowl with the remnants of some sort of dried pasty material inside of it. If that is some sort of pain-killer, then it would probably not fix anything, just conceal the problem.
Sadako does adjust the lantern, screwing down the shutters on it to focus more light and helpfully keep it out of the Kumou woman's eyes, "There's a break, possibly also torn muscle or splints further along…" Her hands move from ankle to shin, and she presses a lot more delicately now that the main problem is identified, "..yep. Let me see what I can do, but I have two options; a splint for your ankle and shin, which you'll need to let recover, or a larger cast that will allow you place some - /some!/ - strain on the area for a more mobile recovery." Bringing up one hand though and briefly wetting her fingertips, she glances between the woman and the injured area with a faint smile.
"If you'd like, I can look at your healer's medicine; I'd want to know his reccomendations before I suggest any stronger treatments of my own." Then Sadako starts to hum to help her concentration, fingers spreading and starting to coalesece a bluish light around them as she reaches down, "I also need you to give me a number between one and five thousand." While the woman is thinking about that she goes for the quick realignment of the bones to avoid having to draw it out later.
The Koumorite woman lowers her hand when the lamp is toned down a bit, and answers, "It would be best if I could continue to work during my recovery. A… 'cast' sounds adequate." She also turns her attention back to the bowl when the subject is brought up again. "You may. The medicine is no great secret, though I am not permitted to know its ingredients. I am not a healer. >You< are one. There should be no conflict."
When the request for thinking of a number is given, she is so busy staring in confusion and wonder at the glowing Chakra that she only gets out, "I can not count that hig—" before the bones are realigned swiftly. She grunts and tries to brace herself against the ground with her hands, but it is already over. She shudders a few times as she regains control of herself. When she settles again, it is apparent that she handled that a lot better than some others might have. She didn't scream or swear or do much of anything. Even after-the-fact, she just watches Sadako cautiously but respectfully, regardless of the agony she is no doubt feeling.
"…I have had worse," she explains calmly and levelly, without being asked for such an explanation. Perhaps the appearance of being tough and fierce is important to this Clan.
Sadako isn't the best healer - yet, muahaha - but setting a fracture, even around an ankle joint, is something she's confident about with the help of her jutsu to close the bleeding inside the skin. "Better a large pain now than lots of small ones later," she murmurs with a chipper upbeat to her tone; a good bedside manner includes a bit of bolstering the patient's self-image with her. While talking, she takes out a stoppered vial and pad of cloth from her pack. Dousing one with the other involves a pungent but medicinal reek as she lightly cleans the area to be extra-cautious. It is a diplomatic mission, afterall, not patching up her fellow students, "Be careful about taxing yourself; this cast /will/ itch, and you must /not/ scratch it. It can be very distracting, and…" She shrugs, while dousing her little lantern. No need stating the obvious there.
Getting to her feet though, she picks up the bowl of the village healer's concoction and takes a perfunctory sniff of it first before nodding, "I'll need to get some water for the mixture. Can your daughter assist me with that?" She also picks up a bit of the mixture to rub between her fingers in order to guesstimate what the hell it is or might be made of, "It'll only take a moment to mix and apply, and maybe an hour to dry."
Yoku pipes up almost immediately, making it clear she was listening in on the conversation. "I can assist you! I know where the water is, as well as the healer's home!" The mother lets out a rattling breath after the cast is applied and says, "Stay out of sight of the outsiders, Yoku. This healer is an exception. Others should be avoided."
Yoku agrees nearly instantly, and with great enthusiasm. Apparently going outdoors is not a common occurrence for her! "Come on, healer-san! Let's go!" She rushes to the front door rather childishly, despite her age. Hopefully this will be an uneventful mission… But somehow… Somehow, it doesn't seem like it will be.
Sadako nods to the mother with a brief, short bow on the way out too, "Remember, as careful as you can be. And no scratching." Then she goes to tag along with Yoku, just with a quick correction, "Sadako. Please; healer-san is… ..hmmn, a bit much." And while she doesn't go skipping along she is more than happy to follow along with Yoku and volley in her own questions between the ones the Kumourite girl is likely to have: mostly about different flowers, grasses, and evening cooking scents picked up along the way. Fun stuff like that to skirt between her own interests and a businesslike curiosity about a potential allied village.
