By Your Side

Not much has changed in the last few days, although the Elunan healers immediately concurred with Zeke on the matter of Seldan not having visitors, and have been thoroughly diligent and aggressive about enforcing it. The result has been peace, for the most part, and Zeke having plenty of time to keep himself rested. It is worth noting that they watch him as well, and will send him away if he is there for too long at a stretch, to see it that the sith-makar rests as well.

The paladin has been cooperative, although that largely seems to be because he isn't up for not being so. He does appear to be in significant pain, in addition to the fever and vomiting, and is definitely clear on preferring dim light where he is, but is mostly coherent. That is, so long as the healers are careful to ensure that the cool compresses do not dry out. The few times that they have done so, the fever does tend to get out of land, leaving him mildly delirious.

That has happened on this particular afternoon, and the room is dark, silent, and unoccupied other than Seldan himself, where a low murmuring comes from the cot.

Zeke is like most healers perhaps not terribly apt at caring for himself, but he does acknowledge that one can not care for others if they are sick themselves. So for the sake of those he cares for, he does his best to ensure that he receives the rest he needs. As well as food, and drink.

Today then, he is well fed, well rested, and in fine spirits as he enters Seldan's room. At least until he draws abreast the bed that the man is lying in and notes that the cooling cloths are long gone dry and that Seldan is murmuring softly to himself. These signs of ill care mean that Zeke will certainly be speaking to /someone/ soon enough. But firstly...

"Peasssce on your nesst..." He murmurs quietly to the other man, wishing him well before he sets to his tasks. Zeke putters around the room, checking the water in the basin for temperature and finding it too warm, which necessitates that he replace it with fresh. Then, he places new towels in the water, rings them out, and heads back to Seldan's bedside. All this done at a moderate pace to ensure that he does each task properly.

The ice-blue eyes open, but the recognition in them is - not right. Incomplete, perhaps. "Mother, I do not wish to return home. Is Father very angry?"

The words make Zeke hesitate initially, but he realizes quickly that Seldan is not actually talking to /him/. Gently he lifts Seldan's head. Moving the cloth under his head and replacing it with a cool one. "All isss well Sseldan." Correcting those who are delirious or not quite cognizant can have mixed results Zeke knows. Best to allow Seldan to come to the realization that Zeke is not his mother in his own time. He feels Seldan's brow with his crystal claw, trying to estimate how bad the fever is.

The fever is bad enough, and Seldan is dehydrated, but not so bad that it cannot be brought down with some prompt attention and willow bark tea. It's the claw, though, that seems to get his attention, make him jump, even. "But Father did not wish me to go. Is he yet angry?" His voice is more childlike in timbre, despite the grown voice, and there is fear in it. "He made it clear that I am to remember my duties to the Draco Solis."

It is perhaps, worse than Zeke initially anticipated, the warmth on Seldan's head is worrying, but more so his dehydration is an issue with a fever. It was no wonder then that the man was delirious. "No one isss angry." He reassures Seldan in the calmest tone he can manage, replacing his claw with the other damp cloth. He needs the tea, but is loathe to leave Seldan alone in his current condition. Awake he might try to get up out of bed or something else which would only bring himself harm. So Zeke makes his way to the door and quietly gets the attention of a passing messenger to bring him the proper medicinal tea. Then makes his own way back to Seldan's side.

It had never made sense to Zeke, who... is after all not human, how Seldan's nest-father could after all this time continue to disapprove of Seldan's choice to follow another deity. Nor, how with all of his accomplishments, Seldan could continue to wonder at his own worth because of it.

Seldan shivers convulsively at the second cool touch on his skin, and absently plucks at the blanket, reaching to pull it up closer. "Then he has not been told. Did he not return from Sendor?" Alarm suddenly blooms across the pale features. "Someone must carry on the tradition!"

Zeke gently lays his claw - carefully so that if Seldan moves he will not hurt himself - on Seldan's shoulder. Worried that the alarm might make Seldan think he can sit up. He is thinking furiously, trying to remember the things that Seldan has said about himself. "Your... kin. They will carry on." Yes, Seldan had said that someone else would bear the responsibility of the family. "You mussst ressst. Your father isss not here. Ressst."

Confusion replaces the alarm, but Seldan does relax back into the pillows at the gentle pressure from that claw. "I ... are you certain?" It's hard to say what exactly does make him relax, but he does so. "I - do not wish to conceal from him the truth, and yet do I tell him, he will not permit it."

A glance toward the door tells Zeke that the tea has arrived, and he motions with his free hand for the bearer of the tea tray to bring it to the bedside. He whispers a word or two to the other healer and they leave quickly enough. Leaving Zeke to pat Seldan comfortingly on the shoulder and pour him some tea. Zeke keeps an eye on Seldan as he does this to make sure the man is not getting any ideas about moving. "Thiss one isss certain Sseldan."

With the tea poured Zeke murmurs quietly to Seldan, knowing that the words might well not be remembered later, but needing to reassure his kin. "If thisss ssservant of the Dragonfather, were to ever meet your nessst-father... Thisss one would try to make him sssee through one old member of the Peopless eyesss. The man that you are."

Something about that statement seems to make Seldan's brain - scramble. Maybe it's the cooling effect of the compresses. "But I am not yet a man," he protests. "Or so says Professor Zorkhin. Or - am I to stay here, then?" Hope leaps in the childlike voice, then fades, leaving him to blink at Zeke confusedly. "Or - am I dreaming?" Slowly, he reaches out to take the tea with both hands, shivering as he does so.

"You can ssstay here." It is an easy enough statement to make. And Zeke swishes his tail lightly behind him. Softly amused at the thought of a young Seldan. The fact that Seldan thought himself a youngster boded ill for his fever though, and so Zeke was glad to see him take the tea so easily. Zeke was careful though, helping to support the cup in case Seldan made a mistake in holding it. "That isss good. Drink the tea."

"Yay! Thank you, Mother!" Relief floods the childlike Seldan's tones, and he obediently sips at the tea. After a moment, though, he makes a face. "Mother, was this not sweetened?" he asks, staring down into the depths of the cup and shivering again. "It tastes like something Grandmother made when I was ill." Definitely a complaint.

Zeke's tail swishes in amusement, and he shakes his head gently. "Drink it all Ssseldan." He speaks gently, but urges the cup to Seldan's lips. "You will feel better if you drink it, even if it doesss tasste like mediscine." As odd as it might seem to an outsider, it is not the first time that Zeke has been mistaken by a patient for someone else. Even a nest-mother. If it brings Seldan comfort, he can imagine Zeke as that for now. He hums low in his throat for his kin. A comforting low sound. Trying in his way to lull the other man back to sleep.

Seldan grimaces, a much more open expression of disgust than the adult paladin would ever have allowed himself, but sits up a little, and does as he is told, slamming it as quickly as he can and starting to cough in the process. Not horribly, and it soon subsides, but when it is gone, he lowers the cup. "I am ill, aren't I? That's why you're letting me stay." He blinks. "My head hurts, and I am sleepy." A yawn punctuates that, the low humming noise a soothing one, even if he does not realize its source. "And I'm cold."

To this, Zeke has no such comforting reply, but he does undercut his humming with a few quite words. "Thisss one will get you another blanket." This is after all easily enough done. Zeke retrieves a blanket from the cupboard near at hand and lays it over Seldan, bringing it all the way up to his chin. He soothes the blanket in a few places and sits down on the stool at Seldan's bedside. "Thisss one will be right here, ssshould you have need Sseldan." To make sure that the fever went down, and that the sleep was a restful one.

It doesn't take long. The tea they'd brought wasn't just willow bark, from the smell of it, but had something else as well to induce sleep. The fever is already going down as Seldan snuggles under the extra blankets and closes his eyes. "Thank you ... I think that I will go back to sleep now. I'm glad I get to stay a little longer." The last is sleepily murmured, and he's out before long, allowing the tea to do its job of bringing the fever back under control.

-End