"Another creature? Can you look at it more closely? Can you tell what it is?"

"It's an enormous snake thing. I haven't seen anything like it before. Here—" Kanuwa casts Telepathy and relays the image to Feya and Marina.

"Sorry, I don't recognize it either. What do we do?"

The road they're traveling on is flanked on both sides by forest — their four wagons would not be able to pass through.

"Shit. Shit. It's coming closer, really fast!"

There is now an enormous snakelike creature barrelling towards the caravan.

Feya goes to fetch the Clear Bell from the inside of the wagon, but stumbles.

The Clear Bell clatters to the floor. Without being imbued energy, its clear ringing sound is simply a clear ringing sound.

The snake opens its jaw — way too wide for any normal snake — and swallows the wagon whole. And then the other three wagons too.

They find themselves on a remarkably similar road, through a remarkably similar forest.

The trees are deciduous, and grow in a natural tangle that shows few signs of forestry. Despite that, the narrow road has been recently cleared of downed branches, and there are two parallel grooves made by the passage of many cart wheels.

The weather is gloomy and overcast, making determining the exact time of day a bit difficult. Water drips from the trees, suggesting that it has recently stopped raining. Hills rise to either side of the road, mostly obscured by the trees.

...this is not where they were.

Never mind that — they got ?eaten? by a gigantic snake.

"Status check!" he yells.

Each member of the caravan shouts their name in turn. No one is injured. The wagons and their oxen are also untouched.

"Marina, do you have any epistemic location workings? What about you, Kanuwa? How much energy do you have? Do you think you can cast Greater Ping?"

"I do, but I only know The Walls have Mouths. It won't work here in the forest."

"I can do that. What range do you want?"

"I think...could you spend half your remaining energy for it? What range could you get then?"

"About two kilometers radius, as a spell. You do want it as a spell?"

"How long would the ritual version take?"

"Waving Hand would take ten minutes, by the formulation I know.

So, I really advise against having me cast that, given that, while it would tell us if anything was here, it would also tell them that we are here. And I don't want anything like what just came after us coming after us again."

"Valid. Alright. Let's...continue traveling. There's a road here. I would assume it would lead us somewhere. Can you maintain lookout?"

Feya gives the order to move forward, but at a slow pace.

"Can do."

Kanuwa and Marina are practitioners of the Way of the Open Door and the Way of Flowers, respectively, both being blessed with better senses. But only Kanuwa has the ability to see behind obstacles, as though having light bend around it. Only to a certain degree, but it will mean that he would be able to spot someone down the road even if there was a sharp turn.

Then Kanuwa will be the first to spot a young woman resting on a rock by the side of the road. She has a shapeless cloth sack by her feet, made of the same material as her skirt and breastband, although the latter is decorated with some simple embroidery. She is sitting under the boughs of a large tree, in a relatively dry location. She is holding her nose with a tired expression, staring silently out into the forest.

"Someone on the road. Young woman, unarmed, uninjured." He will do the same protocol of Telepathy sending a snapshot of his sight to the others. Engage?"

While Kanuwa can see her, can she see him? Assuming she has normal human vision.

Even if she were looking in their direction — which she isn't; the road bends a bit around the foot of the hill, and she is just beyond the bend — it seems unlikely. The undergrowth is not too thick, but there's a good number of trees between her and the caravan.

"She currently can't see us."

Hm. So on the one hand, even to someone who is accustomed to Telepathy, it would be very alarming to have someone talk to you with it when you can't see them. But on the other hand, this is a person who is presumably in the...giant snake stomach world...so who knows whether they're even like. Human.

"I want to try talking to her and asking about this place. Does anyone want to come with me?" He makes it clear that he's not giving an order as caravan master.

"I'll do it. She might not speak our language, so you'll need someone who can cast Telepathy."

"Nope, way too cowardly. I'll observe you two from a distance, though."

"Let's go." Before he leaves, he sets the Clear Bell back in its case. It's undamaged — though he's not surprised that it isn't, given the level of artificing it has.

Marina and Feya will walk, slowly and carefully, around the bend until they can see Đani, but not move any closer. Does she notice them?

Marina is wearing a simple dark green dress with a thin woven cord strap around the waist, and a white wide brimmed hat, with a green cloth ribbon trim dye stamped with a pattern of yellow flowers.

Feya is wearing a close-fitting white long-sleeved linen tunic and pants, also of linen, with both of them having vertical pinstripes.

She doesn't notice them for a moment after they enter her field of view, and then startles and turns to face them head-on.

She calls to them in a foreign language, her voice sounding urgent, and makes a gesture towards them. The language seems to have a relevantly simple sound to it, although they should not read too much into the lack of nasals, because she's still holding her nose with her other hand.

Feya looks at Marina.

"No, I don't understand her either. Shall I?"

"Yes."

Marina casts Telepathy.

Establishing the link doesn't feel like anything, not if one doesn't have honed ecclesiastical senses, but the feeling is unmistakable once a message is sent.

:Hello.:

The link remains open, and the spell will pick up what Đani desires to convey.

:Startlement!: Đani exclaims, falling off the rock. She winces and picks herself back up. She tentatively lets go of her nose, and then rubs a finger gently across the bottom of her nostrils, before inspecting it.

:I'm sick; you shouldn't get near me,: she informs them. :Also maybe hallucinating, because it feels like you're talking to me but I can't hear you.: The thought is accompanied by confusion and concern.

She repeats the thought about maybe being hallucinating out loud, in the same unfamiliar language.

Okay! So at least them getting eaten by the snake monster was good, because now they can treat all the sick people inside the snake monster. Or rather, Feya's caravan will do that, and she will stand there being Flowery at things.

:Don't worry, it's how Telepathy works. I'm using this because I don't know your language.:

She'll summarize what Đani says verbally to Feya, and send what Feya intends to say to Đani to her.

:I am Feya Pio Meyangchan Nuaiheya, Master of the Eleventh Caravan of the Society of Solace. Marina Hiupio Inse Suimche is casting Telepathy on my behalf. Greetings.:

Marina's Telepathy makes it clear that these are supposed to be Feya's words, transmitted to Đani through Marina. It also makes it clear that normally, they are just referred to by Feya and Marina.

:That is too many names,: Đani objects. :Uh, sorry. I am Đani, daughter of Genilha, of the Southern Fishing Village.:

She fidgets for a moment, trying to think.

:I have never heard of Telepathy, or the Society of Solace. So that doesn't make me feel less likely to be seeing fever-dreams. But if you're a trade caravan, you should set up outside the village, so you don't get sick. I can ... show you there, and get Penþa, for negotiations.:

She pushes herself to her feet, looking tired but determined, and slings her sack over her shoulder.

Feya and Marina's language lack /ð/, but Telepathy doesn't require phonemes!

:We are not a trade caravan. The Society of Solace runs healing caravans that treat people in outlying villages. We were not planning on coming here, but circumstances were such that we were brought here.

Please don't exert yourself. If you give us directions, we can go there.:

:Try thinking the directions at us. Then we'll know where to go.:

:I have to get back,: Đani says. :The village is just down the road,: she continues, including with it a sort of ground-level appreciation of the path the road takes. It's not a complicated explanation — just ignore the one turnoff between here and there. :But I have to bring the willow-bark,: she explains, patting her sack. :We would be going to run out*, and something has to keep the kid's fevers down.: 

She starts walking down the road, giving the impression that she's kind of forgotten that she was in the middle of a conversation.

* This thought comes through more compactly in her thoughts; her native language has an appropriate irrealis mood.

:I can carry it. Don't worry about me catching a disease — I have a blessing that protects me from them. I and my caravan can also treat you and the other people in the village.

Sorry, I assume that everyone I meet is familiar with our Society, but I should explain. Our Society is dedicated to the alleviation of pain, and in furtherance of this goal, want to give treatment to the sick and injured. We do this for free — we rely on donations to sustain our Society.: Which may not be forthcoming, if the people here don't know of them. Hopefully other places would have, though. Or that they could contact another caravan or base of the Society and ask for funds.

:Well, as long as our supplies last. If we run out and cannot resupply, then we would have to have you bring supplies for us to use in treatment.:

Feya will walk closer to Đani and make a motion of carrying, but he'll stop approaching if Đani looks suspicious or scared of him.

Marina does not have such a blessing and so will not approach. She'll switch to using Telepathy for relaying to Feya too. It's far enough that she would have to raise her voice, but not far enough that it would be too expensive for her Telepathy.

Đani pauses, processing the claim that Feya is protected from disease.

:Are you sure?: she asks. :I don't think we know of any protections that work, other than keeping your distance.:

:Then again, I didn't think we had Telepathy either.:

She lets him take the sack, not showing any particularly fearful reaction. If he gets close, and has acute enough senses, he might notice that she is running a fever.

:Just having some people to help who can't fall sick would be a huge boon.:

:Yes, I'm sure. More specifically, I'm protected from infectious disease. Which is not every disease. Marina doesn't have it, so she'll stay back.:

Feya cannot sensorily tell that Đani has a fever, though he would expect it. He will take the sack and walk with her.

:What is the willow-bark for? I am unfamiliar with it.:

Marina will walk at the same pace, keeping the same distance.

:What do we do with the caravan?: Marina asks Feya.

:Have them keep pace with us. Also, have everyone wear the masks and gloves. You can go and pause to do that, if you want.:

:Eeeh, it would be awkward to do it now, so I'll wait until there's a better moment. I've relayed your order, though.:

:Suit yourself.:

And then, back to Đani, :If you haven't heard of the Society of Solace, have you heard of any other Societies?: Marina's Telepathy has enough bandwidth to carry the implication that these are capital-S Societies that have people who have similar powers like incorruptibility from infectious disease, or speaking directly to minds.

Đani is internally dubious of a healer who hasn't heard of willow-bark. But there's clearly something weird going on, so she'll reserve judgement.

:The willow-bark is a fever-reducer,: she explains. :Also an analgesic. And no, I've never heard of a Society with powers like that.:

She isn't moving at a terribly fast pace, so the caravan will have no trouble following. She appreciates not having to carry the pack, though.

:What a wonderful plant! Typically we use spells to do those. If you are sick, I can cast Normalize Body Temperature and Nullify Pain on you, but it won't do anything for your disease specifically. It will only treat the symptoms. Would you or the other sick villagers want this? If there are many sick, then I would be very pleased to help them. Preferably to try to treat it directly, but otherwise, just ease their pain.:

He feels...weird...needing to signal his benevolent intentions. Typically people are overjoyed to see Society of Solace caravans arrive at their town. But it's an understandable reaction if this place really hasn't seen any Societies before. Are there also no practitioners here? What kind of place is this???

Anyway, metaphysical speculation can occur after the sick people have been treated. He pushes away that thread of speculation.

Đani thinks about it.

:Is Normalize Body Temperature a limited resource?: she asks. :Because if so, you should save it for the children, and the people who are worst off. Children are pretty resilient, but if their fevers get too bad, it changes them.: 

She would not normally include the last bit of information — she actually only learned it from her father herself a few days ago — but maybe if they have a spell that handles temperatures, they never let fevers get bad enough to notice things like that.

:No, I'm practiced enough at it that it's cheap and quick for me. But it only lasts a few hours with my spell formulation, so it's a limited resource in the sense that my time and presence is a limited resource. About how many people do you think are sick?: If there are too many, they'll have to triage. Collectively, they have four wagons of supplies and ten caravan members, plus Marina and Kanuwa, not counted since they're not part of the Society.

Feya does know that very high fever can cause brain damage! He is invested in having the children not suffer brain damage!

Đani counts on her fingers.

:There are four thirty-sixes of people in the village in total, I think. That's counting outlying farmers. About half the people in the village are showing symptoms, some pretty mild like mine, or I wouldn't have been sent on an errand. The other half are making sure there's enough food and so on. It was only about a third of people with symptoms six days ago,: she explains. :So ... maybe two thirty-sixes showing any signs at all, one and a half thirty-sixes of which have been ill for more than six days. But I don't know what's going on with some of the farming families.:

She rubs her face with her hand.

:Not everyone has the same symptoms. About two sixes people have gotten nosebleeds. Many people have fevers. Many people are constipated, but two have gotten diarrhea. Some people are seeing things, but it's hard to tell how many.:

She walks in silence for a moment. :Oh, and of course there are six and three sick children. That's not in addition to the others, just broken out.:

Fortunately, Telepathy seamlessly converts Đani's senary numbers to Feya's duodecimal!

Ugh, it sounds like it's spreading throughout the whole village. How viable would it be to quarantine half the village?

Nosebleeds, fevers, constipation, but some diarrhea, and some hallucinations. People having nosebleeds is unusual, but otherwise it's too nonspecific to try to figure out what disease it is.

:I want to try to see if I can figure out what the disease is — it would be better than just treating the symptoms. Have the sick people been quarantined from the healthy people? Do you have a system for it?:

He pauses. :I don't want to push you if you don't want it, but my offer of casting the spells on you is still open. It won't trade off on me casting it on the children.:

:Then yes, please,: Đani says. Her last word, as transmitted by Telepathy, conveys not just politeness, but a fervent and eager request.

:The sick are quarantined from the healthy, yes,: she continues. :We've set up a sickbed in one of the barns, and then expanded to some houses when the numbers grew. The healthy are sleeping separately, with the people doing the nursing separate from people doing the harvesting and cooking.:

She shivers.

:I don't know what it is — there are diseases like it in the records, but who knows whether it's the same thing?:

:I will need to touch you briefly for the spells. Any part of the body will do. Is this okay with you?:

That seems like a good system!

:It would be good for me to be able to examine the sick people when we arrive — I can also look into the references we brought in our wagons if the disease is on it.:

Đani sticks out her arm.

:I don't see why you wouldn't be able to examine them; you can talk to Penþa about it,: she agrees.

The clouds choose that moment to open up a very light drizzle, almost unnoticeable against the dripping of the trees. Đani sighs.

:It's important to ask. Some people don't want to be examined.:

Feya touches her arm and casts Nullify Pain. There's a sensation of fast rushing wind that abruptly stops — any pain that she might have had from her muscles or joints or nose or feet, anywhere, is gone, though she can still feel normally in those places.

He touches it again and casts Normalize Body Temperature. Now, there's a mildly uncomfortable sensation of being really hot and really cold at the same time — it would seem that Nullify Pain doesn't operate on mere discomfort — but afterward, her fever should have dissipated.

The spells won't do anything about any nosebleeding or fatigue or constipation or any other issue, though.

:Penþa is the leader of your village?:

Đani sways on her feet at the unexpected sensation, but then stands straighter and takes a deep breath.

She experimentally rolls her neck.

:That feels so weird. I think I had a headache. Thank you!: she says, smiling. :And ... Penþa is more of a leader than anyone else is? But we're a democracy,: she explains. The concept comes with an impression of something more consensus-based and less direct-vote based than the word might otherwise imply, and with a faint sense of pity for people who has to put up with a different system of government.

Feya smiles. :You're very welcome. I am glad to have brought solace to you.

What I mean to ask is...who typically handles logistics and dispute resolution and management of collective projects? Does Penþa do that? Also, is there someone appointed to manage the disease outbreak?:

She nods.

:Yes, Penþa is the organizer. Their job is to do exactly those things, on behalf of the village,: she agrees.

She picks her way around a mud puddle. :And if by 'manage', you mean make sure everyone knows where the sick are and assign jobs to people and so on, that's nominally Penþa again. Although they've delegated keeping track of nursing to Gornet, I think.:

:Thank you. When we reach the village, I want to talk to them to see how we can help. Were you also planning on giving the willow-bark to them?:

She nods again. :Well, I would have told Penþa, but given the willow to whoever was free in the sickhouse, because they would want to make some tea with it. That's how you prepare it — you can technically chew it as well, but it tastes kinda awful, and tea works better. They've been making a lot of willow and pine-needle tea, to keep everyone's fevers down. The pine-needles sometimes help, but we don't know if they help with this disease or not.:

:I know balsam fir tea cures scurvy, but I don't know about pine needles. Do you know if they've been giving the sick any other medicine? Or administering any treatment?:

Feya would have offered to have Kanuwa reach out with his Telepathy to pre-emptively inform Penþa of their arrival — Open Telepathy is much more efficient at range than Flowering Telepathy — but he thinks Penþa would not understand what was happening and that it would be worse than useless, if there really are no practitioners in the village.

Luckily, they are now not far away. Đani leads them around another bend, and they emerge into an area where the forest has been cleared back. A neat grid of thatched huts sits between them and a large lake that stretches away into the distance. Between them and the houses is an awkwardly-shaped grassy area in which a few goats are grazing.

:I don't know exactly what they've been given,: Đani apologizes. :I think you should really talk to Gornet.:

She points at a large building on the edge of the village. :That's the temporary sick-hall.: Then she points to a slightly larger house, next to a central square. :That's Penþa's house. If they're not there, there will be some sign of where they've gone.:

:Thank you very much for your help, Đani. I will talk to Gornet and Penþa.:

If Đani doesn't appear to have anything else to add, then Feya and Marina will go back to the caravan, with the both of them putting on thin white leather gloves and thin cloth mouth and nose coverings. They are treated with the same artifice as the Society of Solace pinstripe tunics — Perfect effects to repel fluid and dirt. Feya instructs the caravan to stay near the outskirts of the village, but not to set up camp yet. He wants to clear that first with Penþa. He's assuming that it will be Penþa that they would need to talk to.

Marina and Kanuwa will additionally wear aprons with the same Perfect effect, although it doesn't have the pinstripe pattern, or the True mark on it. The Society of Solace is very careful about not letting nonmembers wear clothing that represents the Society.

Feya and Marina return, Kanuwa re-establishing remote observation of them, and go to Penþa's house. Is there a door or an opening? They won't enter, even if the door is open. Are they there, or was a sign left of where they went?

Someone is there, at least. There's a tired-looking person sitting on a bench by the open door of the house, holding a net of knotted string in their lap. The eaves are wide enough that their bench is perfectly dry. They run their fingers over the net, mumbling to themselves. They're wearing the same outfit Đani was, although they have added a shawl made from coarse grey yarn to it.

They are just going to start out with Telepathy. Actually, it was bad for them to let Đani leave immediately after reaching the village: it would have been good to have her introduce them to, well, she's assuming this is Penþa. Although they wouldn't have wanted to do that if Đani's house was far away.

:Hello, are you Penþa? Đani led us here and said that we could help treat your sick. Feya* is here with a Society of Solace caravan – I, Marina, am interpreting for them. The Society of Solace organizes medical caravans that go on circuits and heal people. Southern Fishing Village wasn't on our route, but circumstances were such that we had to come here.:

* The Telepathy includes context such that it would be clear who is being referred to.

(Đani has gone to the sick hall to help. She didn't feel bad this morning, but she was feeling pretty bad before Feya's "spell", so she figures she probably needs to be looked at anyway. And if she's fine, then that means she can help.)

Penþa is just as startled by telepathy as Đani was.

:Yes, that's me,: they reply after a moment. They carefully re-fold their net and set it aside. :I haven't heard of your Society, but we could certainly do with your help. I assume Đani told you about the illness that's bothering us?:

Marina is so fascinated by the web! Weaving and knotting are very common ritual implements and artifice implementations for the Way of Flowers, given that they have to do with connecting and linking together, but she cannot detect any energy from Penþa or the web they were handling!

She stops her magical speculation to interpret for Feya.

:Yes. We are willing to help however we can, both medically, and mundanely, like cooking food. Don't worry about having to feed us, though, we brought our own food.

We have currently stopped our caravan at the outskirts of the village: and here Marina will send a mental map of the location :and seek permission to set up our tents and equipment there.

We also seek permission to seek the permission of the sick people in the barn to examine them, so that we might find out what the disease is and cure it. Additionally, we seek permission to seek the permission of the sick people in the barn to have our workings cast on them. Such workings can help divine what the disease is, or meliorate symptoms, or cure it if we know that the disease is and we have an appropriate working available. 

We plan on talking to Gornet afterwards.:

:The grassy area there is where caravans usually set up, so you're certainly welcome to put up tents there,: Penþa agrees. :As for examining people or casting "workings" on them — the law is that if they are sensate and awake, they may agree to let you examine them or cast workings. You are required to explain any possible side-effects or costs of the workings to them before doing so, and get their consent. If they demand you stop, you must do so if you are safely able. If they ask to be left alone, you must leave them. If someone is not sensate or awake, there will be others who can give consent on their behalf. That's all assuming that a "working" is at all like medicine — those are the laws for general medical care, but I don't think we have workings.:

The thoughts come crisply and confidently, as though Penþa spends a lot of time explaining laws.

:If that suffices, please don't let me delay you. But if you can explain how you would examine them, how your workings work, what they do, and so on, I may be able to give you better information. Although perhaps Gornet should hear that contemporaneously. And in any case, we should talk about what kind of account you want with the village, and how much credit you're willing to extend to us.:

How far away is the barn from Penþa's house? If it's close enough, she might be able to act as relay for all three. She doesn't mind spending a lot of her energy just acting as relay, since only she and Kanuwa have Telepathy. None of the other Flowers practitioners in the caravan know it, and Kanuwa is the only Open practitioner.

The barn is perhaps 250 meters from Penþa's house — from the center of the village to the outskirts.

:Would it trouble you to come with us and move nearer to the barn? The range of my Telepathy can't extend all the way out to there, but it's big enough that you would be standing well away from it.: She sends a mental sense of her having about thirty meters radius in range.

:I could include Gornet, you, and Feya in my Telepathy in that way.:

The energy cost of Flowering Telepathy rises exponentially with the distance, but logarithmically with the number of simultaneous connections, whereas Open Telepathy has linear growth for both. She predicts she'll spend most of her energy for the day just on Telepathy interpretation.

:That makes sense. How is power of attorney for medical procedures assigned? Also, what if the situation is emergent? Our Way is that we treat people who are too sick or injured to be in a state to consider what is happening, but if this is not the Way of your village, we will not do this to your people. We have no intention of treating those who do not consent to our treatment, and we will explain what we plan to do to the best of our ability.: He would normally also say that he's willing to swear to this under a truth effect, but that might require. Even more explanation. If they really haven't seen any practitioners before.

:The Society of Solace is a charitable Society, and we sustain ourselves through donations. Our help is given for free — there is no obligation for you to pay. Although if we do run out of supplies before we have an opportunity to resupply, we will have to have you give us supplies to treat you, although we would not charge for labor.: He's hoping that there's some sort of city nearby that has at least heard of the Society of Solace that they could fundraise in, or an Openet office that will let them contact other places.

He also tells Kanuwa through the link to have the caravan start setting up at the field.

:Oh, also, is it okay for our oxen to graze on the grassy field?:

:Yes, I can walk with you,: Penþa says to Marina.

:And it's good to hear that you respect local laws. If someone is in imminent danger of death, and you have no means to check whether they've given permission — if you met a stranger drowning in a stream, for example — you are allowed to assume that they would want to be saved, as long as you check that with them when you are able,: Penþa explains. :As for how permission to consent on another's behalf is assigned; I am the organizer for the village. People just come to me and let me know, and I write it down and tell people who need to know, or apply default rules if people have not said anything. Parents are assumed to be able to give permission for their children unless the child has reached six winters and come to me to register some other preference, for example.:

Penþa leads them in the direction of the converted barn. At one point they pause well back to let a group of people cross in front of them carrying some buckets.

:I'm not sure I understand how your society is funded, then,: they remark. :You say it isn't obligatory* to pay you; is it obligatory**?: they ask, using two related concepts. Loosely, the first might mean "legally required" and the second might mean "required by the rules of politeness". :Oh! Or do you sell post-emptive insurance?:

In that case, Marina and Feya will start walking towards the barn with Penþa. They'll follow their lead and stop when they stop to let the bucketed people pass.

:Yes, it's very important for us to follow local laws, or people will stop letting us into their lands.: It's less of a problem now, with the Federation imposing its own laws everywhere in the continent, but the Society saw no reason to change it, and Feya has no objection to it.

:Thank you for telling me. We will tell you if we seek someone's permission to do something when they are unable to give permission.:

:No, and no. We are funded by other people giving us money because they feel altruism or benevolence, or they feel that we make the world better by their values and seek to give us resources to do that. We are also funded by the Federal government, though that's kind of a complicated situation. We are also funded by people who have been treated who feel debt or urge to reciprocate, such that they want to pay us market price for our treatment, although we make it very clear that we would not stop visiting a village or refuse to treat someone or treat them badly because they don't pay us, or pay us only a little. 

I mean, we can and do do all of these things, but never for the reason of them not giving money. Locally, I mean. Globally, if the Society didn't receive enough money, then we would have to scale back operations.

I don't know what post-emptive insurance is, but I do know what insurance is.:

:... huh.: Penþa thinks for a moment about that explanation.

:Post-emptive as opposed to pre-emptive,: they explain. :It's not really a thing, I was just inventing things that could make sense. It would mean treating people before they start making insurance payments, instead of afterward.:

They stop ten meters or so away from the barn, under the eaves of a house to keep dry and out of the way.

:I think,: they say carefully. :That by our customs it is required by politeness, if not law, to pay you. Since if people didn't do that, you wouldn't be here. But that is something to be worked out afterwards — for now, we should certainly focus on the sick.:

:Yes, I agree. Treating the sick is more urgent.:

Feya will go ahead and walk towards the barn entrance. Is it open?

He doesn't mind the rain ­— he has since pulled up the hood of his robe, and water seems to bead up and roll off of his clothes. And neither does mud or dirt stick to it or his shoes. The white fabric remains pristine.

Marina thinks post-emptive insurance doesn't make any sense. Wouldn't that just be like, regular debt? She's not going to broach the topic, though.

The door is open — to try and get some fresh air through the place, and to make it easier for people to come and go as needed. The lintel is hung with bundles of herbs, though, presumably as a ward against disease.

Inside, there are sick people in various states. Many are sleeping, wrapped in blankets and sleeping on beds of straw. Some are awake, and are being coaxed to drink mugs of tea and eat some plain bread by a few helpers. Đani is quietly distracting a group of children by telling them a story as an older man takes her pulse.

He has a neatly trimmed beard, and a small bag slung across his back. He counts under his breath for a moment, before relinquishing Đani's arm and murmuring something to her.

Oop, he doesn't actually know which of the people inside the barn (who aren't Đani) are Gornet.

Feya interprets the herbs merely as warding against bad smells, which, well, infirmaries and hospitals tend to smell really bad.

:Penþa, could you introduce us to Gornet? I don't know which of the people there he is. You can think at us what he looks like.:

:Oh, of course. Gornet looks like this,: Penþa replies. :And knows all the medical permission information that I do, actually. I updated him when things started to get serious.:

:Thank you!: 

Marina will bring Gornet into the Telepathy link, and summarize what they've talked about so far, and what the Society of Solace is about.

It's a lot faster doing it by Telepathy, but she's going to go slower than what's possible, because this is going to be his first time experiencing it.

:We would like to know what is currently being done, and what procedures have been set up to manage the sick, so that we can work in harmony with it.: Normally, Feya would just commandeer all the medical personnel at a place and have them do everything the Society's way, but that seems counterproductive here. Especially since it already seems very established. He has to keep reminding himself that the Society's reputation doesn't hold sway here.

Gornet has been briefed on the telepathy, so he takes it a bit better, but still finds it very strange.

:Well, the main thing is keeping the healthy and the sick separated,: he explains. :Not that it seems to be helping much. This barn, and those four houses there, are all reserved for the sick. Đani says you've got some kind of protection for yourself, but I still must insist that, since you're going to be in close contact with the sick, that you avoid the healthy. That means not visiting the other end of the village, warning people away, and so on.:

:As for other measures — we're using willow bark and meadowsweet to keep fevers down, where we can. Some people have spots on their chest, and we're making camphor compresses to help with that. People who are just starting to feel sick come to me and help nurse the others while they can. The few who have recovered are doing the same. We're trying to spread the work around so that nobody becomes over-tired. I myself have, luckily, no sign of the fever yet.:

:The first signs are malaise, fever, and weakness. That's when people come over from the healthy area. Then people begin developing constipation, nosebleeds, coughs, or spots, extending into high fever or delirium.:

:If you have no more specific medical knowledge, I think we could best use help keeping fever from hurting anyone, helping people to the chamberpots, and making sure everyone stays warm and hydrated.:

:Yes, I will follow quarantine protocol.

I am unfamiliar with meadowsweet, but I am familiar with camphor.: He doesn't know if camphor does anything for cutaneous conditions. :Is it possible for me to examine the spots on someone? Where on the body do the spots arise?

I and the other Tranquil practitioners in my caravan will cast Nullify Pain and Normalize Body Temperature on the ones with high fever every four hours, and every six hours for those with moderate or mild fever.

How have you been keeping track of the state of each sick person?: He's expecting some sort of charting system.

:Also, we have gloves, aprons, and face coverings that are Perfectly artificed so as to repel fluids and dirt. We can lend them to everyone who has been. Our theories of illness suggest that touching a sick person's fluids or body, or breathing in the air they exhale, or touching what they have touched, can spread disease. Diseases spread in different ways, but it seems prudent to use all three if we don't know what it is. The face coverings are intended to purify the air that is breathed in.: People are divided on how effective the face coverings are, but they do exist, he's going to use them.

:Altogether, we have ten people in the caravan who can help with treatment — Marina, and another person not with me, Kanuwa, are merely traveling with us. The others are currently setting up our tents and such, but I can have them come here soon, along with the protective garments and other stuff.:

:Yes, you can examine the spots,: he agrees. :Meadowsweet also lowers fever, although not as well as willow.:

Having a charting system probably requires the people using it to be literate; Gornet and the other helpers just remember what's going on with people, although the barn is roughly sorted by age and severity. :I'm keeping things organized,: he explains. He scans the patients, identifies someone who is awake and has spots, has a short conversation with them, and then beckons Feya over.

:You can examine Durþan,: he says. :And I don't understand how your magic works, but I don't see how cloth could hurt, so we would be happy to use your clothes.:

Okay but like, how. Where are the charts. How do you handle shift change without charts. The thought that the people in the village aren't literate has not crossed Feya's mind.

:I will tell the other people who are coming here to bring slate tablets and chalk. That way, each patient can have their status be tracked. And yes, I will have them bring the clothes — though the gloves are thin leather, not cloth.:

Feya will ask Marina to bring Durþan into the link as well. It's good that Flowering Telepathy's energy cost rises logarithmically by the number of people connected, rather than linear growth for Open Telepathy.

:Hello, Durþan. Has Gornet explained the situation to you? Is it okay for me to examine you? I will describe what I am planning to do before I do them, so you can say no at any point in the process. Right now, I just want to ask you some questions.:

Gornet is silently baffled at why they need slates and chalks, but they're the ones with magic powers, so he's not inclined to protest.

Durþan coughs. Their breathing sounds a bit labored.

:Yes, that's fine,: they agree.

Coughing, labored breathing. What is the characteristic of the cough? Is it dry or wet?

Are Durþan's sclerae discolored?

:Gornet has told me about the symptoms exhibited by the others, though I also want to ask people individually. Aside from malaise, is there any specific area for you that hurts? The extremities, the stomach, the throat...?: Flowering Telepathy has enough bandwidth and would let Durþan transmit sensations of the body, not just verbal thoughts. Marina tries to make this clear in interpreting.

The cough sounds fairly dry. When Durþan breathes, there is a kind of rumbling quality to it. Their sclerae are not noticeably discolored, although the quality of light in the barn is not great — it's mostly provided by a large fire and some lamps.

:My stomach,: they supply. Durþan shares the sensation — the pain is localized on the lower right quadrant of their abdomen, although they also have a pervasive ache all over.

:Could you open your mouth for me? And stick out your tongue. I want to see if there are any sores or discoloration in the mouth, tongue, or throat.: Are there any?

:I also want to ask where on the body the spots have been appearing. Is it okay if I look at that?: What is the shape, size, and pattern of the spots?

Durþan obediently opens their mouth and sticks out their tongue. Their mouth, tongue, and throat look pretty normal.

:Sure,: Durþan agrees. They pull open their blanket, revealing that their stomach and lower chest are covered by a camphor compound. :It's this area,: they explain. :They started a bit lower, but then spread.: They shiver.

:When you urinate, does it hurt? What about your stool? Do you have trouble passing it?:

And then, to both Durþan and Gornet, :How much have they been urinating? What's the frequency and amount? And the frequency of bowel movements?:

:I've been urinating plenty. They keep giving me tea,: Durþan insists. :But it has been harder to defecate. Difficult to get anything to pass, and a little painful. But better than just letting my stomach get worse.:

:I think Durþan's been getting up to pee twice in a sixth of a day, when they're awake,: Gornet elaborates. :And defecating perhaps a third as often. Does that sound right?:

:Yeah, that's about right. Although maybe a bit more yesterday — I haven't eaten as much today, because ...: they send the general feeling of not wanting to eat as much.

To Gornet, :What do you put in the tea, aside from willow-bark or pine needles?:

And then, to both of them, :What do you feed the sick? What do healthy people here normally eat, at this season?: What season is it, actually? It feels a little cold. Back home, it was monsoon season.

:Are you eating different food this season than what you would normally eat?:

:Willow-bark for fever, pine needles for health and flavor, chamomile to soothe and for scent, rose-hips for taste,: Gornet rattles off. :We have the cook hall making simple sweet-bread*, because people keep it down better when sick. But there's vegetable meal in it, so it's filling. I've warned people off of cheese, in case it makes the constipation worse.

* Translator's note: actual bread that is sweet, not pancreas. It's made with honey.

:It's summer,: Durþan contributes. :But it's been a weirdly rainy summer, so it's a bit colder than usual. The gardens are doing fine, though, so I don't think we're eating very differently. Before the illness came, we had salads, cheese breads, fish soup, fruit, sometimes eggs.:

Seems fine. Hm.

Actually, he wants to take a step back. Gornet said earlier that they've been doing quarantine, but that it hasn't meaningfully stopped the spread of the disease. So there are several possible hypotheses.

1. They were infected a while back, and the disease has a long incubation period.
2. Someone or some people are breaking quarantine protocol.
3. The disease is not transmitted via contact with the diseased, and has some other vector.

To Durþan, :The cook hall, does everyone eat there? Do people cook their food separately or together? Are there any people who don't eat from there?:

:Well, everyone eats there during the summer, yeah,: Durþan agrees. :During the winter, families eat alone. And of course the outlying farmers mostly don't come to the village for meals, unless they have an errand.:

:Only one of the farmers has come down with anything,: Gornet adds. :But we've naturally instructed the others to stay away.:

Partial evidence for the tainted food hypothesis. Either the disease vector was the food itself, tainted with poison or parasites, or one of the cooks got sick and spread it to everyone through the food.

To Gornet only, :How have you been preventing the healthy people from entering or the sick from leaving? Is there a watch rota to watch over the sick houses?:

He blinks.

:... we just warned people?: he responds. :Why would you need a watch? Nobody wants to get sick or get others sick. And of course if anyone were sneaking out, or anything like that, they'd have to pay a fine.:

:I just wanted to make sure. In other places you have situations where say, the lover of a patient really wants to see them, or a parent their child, or something like that. Or someone who insists they're 'just fine' and that it's minor, and so gets out. I'm glad that isn't the case here.: He's still kind of suspicious though. In any case, it's already policy to have someone always keep watch through the night, in case one of the patients takes a turn for the worse.

He wants to do a more thorough examination, but that can wait until the others arrive with the equipment and supplies.

:I think we can stop the examination for now. Do you want me to cast Nullify Pain and Normalize Body Temperature on you? I can cast them separately. It only lasts a few hours, so I or someone from my caravan will have to recast it. It doesn't cost anything. Both in terms of money, and in terms of — if you get it, it won't mean someone else has to go without. You can have them separately, and you can ask us not to do the next casting even if you agree now, and it's possible to start again even after you've told us not to cast it anymore.: He's well practiced with being Very Explicit and being patient and laying everything out for people when it comes to situations like this.

Hm. They do have an Open practitioner with them now. So...

No, it doesn't seem worth it to pay or persuade Kanuwa to take on the risk of being with sick people, and to have him cast Open Orifice or Smooth Passage to relieve constipation. If he even knows the workings.

Durþan thinks for a moment. Probably a bit longer than they normally would, now that they're being asked to make a non-obvious decision, instead of just go along with things.

:Could you start with Normalize Body Temperature?: they request. :I don't like being feverish. But I'm kinda worried that if I couldn't feel pain, I'd hurt myself and not know.:

:I can do that. I will have to touch you briefly to do it. Any part of the body will do. Is this okay?

My formulation of Nullify Pain turns pain into discomfort. So if something became too uncomfortable, then you know that would have been painful, were the effect not on you. In my experience, I haven't had my patients hurt themselves because they couldn't feel pain. Oh, it also doesn't deaden sensation, I'm Controlling enough for that. It is always possible to request it later, if you want to wait for how other people here take it.: Telepathic context implies that a lot of other casters of it nullify sensation more broadly, not just pain, and that it's typically too strong such that discomfort also can't be felt.

Durþan gives Feya their hand. The idea of magic that is non-exact, and possible to screw up, is both reassuringly realistic for what Gornet assured them was not a fever dream, and makes them more wary of having it used to take away one of their more important senses.

:I ... will hold off on Nullify Pain for now, thank you.:

:Of course.: Understanding and warmth are evident in Feya's mindvoice. :I'll stop asking, since it can be annoying, but do remember that you can always ask for it.:

Feya will touch Durþan's hand for a moment, and they'll experience the same hot-and-cold sensation that Đani felt.

They give a full-body shiver, and unwrap their blanket a bit. :Thanks,: they say.

They put a hand on Gornet's elbow, and say something without bothering to telepathize it.

:Of course.: 

Gornet helps them up — they seem a bit unsteady — and walks them over to one corner of the barn where there's a partially filled chamberpot.

:I am glad to have provided solace to you.: Feya is Very Proud. :I, or someone from my caravan, will come back to cast the same spell in six hours. If you are sleeping, do you want us to just cast it on you without waking you up, or to wake you up for it?:

To Gornet, :How many people are sick in total, and how many does each house have?: He's planning on delegating many of the repetitive castings.

Actually, while Nullify Pain might be problematic, Normalize Body Temperature doesn't seem so. With this many people sick, it might be more efficient for him to try to create a ritual formulation to target everyone in the house at once. He'll have to look through the ritual books if something like this has been done before.

Speaking of which, :Marina, is it possible for you to cast Great Minds Think Together? Do you know it?:

:Yeah, with ritual assistants. I can cover the four houses and the barn, though after that, you might have to have Kanuwa do Telepathy interpretation for a day while I recover my energy.

The issue is that...Great Minds Think Together links everyone completely. As in, a complete graph of connections.:

Ah. He would not want the sick people transmitting pain and discomfort to each other and amplifying it. It sounds like a nightmare.

:I'm just worried about the fact that communication will be difficult. Do you think you can try teaching Telepathy to...Sene? He has good Control, I think he could pick it up. I promise to pay you once we're reconnected with the rest of the Society.:

:No need, I'll do it for free. I do donate to your Society — have I told you that? So consider this my donation.: She smiles.

Durþan, oblivious to the side-talk, gives their permission to have Normalize Body Temperature cast on them in their sleep. Gornet makes a mental note of the fact.

One of the sick kids — although he doesn't look very sick, compared to some of the others — is staring in fascination at Feya and Marina. At the way their faces change expression without any talking, their strange clothing, and now that Durþan has gotten up, at their apparent healing.

He stands and carefully picks his way over, stepping around sleeping people, and stepping aside to let someone pass with a bucket of water.

He stands a few feet away from Feya, wrapped in a blanket like a cloak, and says something incomprehensible.

Feya smiles back. :Thank you. Really, you're already donating a lot simply by being here casting Telepathy for me. You already paid to travel with us.:

He notices Daskal approaching and asks Marina to Telepathy link him.

:Sorry, we don't speak your language. Was there something that you needed?: she sends to him.

:How do you do that?: he asks in wonder. :The talking without words, I mean. Is it something anyone can learn?:

And then he realizes that he's interrupting magic people with healing powers, when they could be helping, and tacks on :If you're not too busy, that is. I can wait. But being sick is really boring.: 

:No, we're waiting for other people from our caravan to arrive with equipment. I'll be busy when they arrive, but not now.

This spell is called Telepathy. It allows people to communicate with each other directly. And not just with words.: She sends the sensation of her hand touching the fabric of her dress, as well as the shop where she bought it from — and the knowledge that that was the shop she bought it from.

They really don't seem to have any practitioners, huh.

:You need to awaken and become a practitioner for it. There are six Ways you can awaken in: the Way of Flowers, the Way of the Open Door, the Way of Fire, the Way of Tranquility, the Way of the True Self, and the Way of the Perfect Self. Telepathy can be learned by a Flowering or Open practitioner. Feya here is Tranquil, so he can't learn it. I'm a Flower.

She sends to Feya that she's teaching the boy about practice, but she's not bothering to relay the conversation. Feya doesn't ask to be relayed, either.

Daskal blinks at the sensation of the shop.

:Is that what it's like in the city?: he asks. :They must do so much weaving ...:

Then he shakes his head. :No, no, no, I can hear about the city later, but I've never heard of Ways. What makes the Ways different? How do you awaken in them? Why can Flowers or Opens have Telepathy but not the others?:

He tucks himself on top of a bale to be out of the way.

:I can't explain the all the differences in the Ways — they're very complex and multifaceted. You can think of each Way as representing...a certain way of relating to the world, of thinking about things, of a set of aesthetics and patterns of behavior. Something like that.

Some people awaken by apprenticing to another and following in their Way, or the Way of their Society. Feya is one of them. They are called Scholars. However, some people awaken spontaneously in them, typically through life-changing events. These people are called Geniuses. I'm one of them. Since none of you have met with any Societies before, I'm not surprised you don't have Scholars, though I'm shocked that you don't have any Geniuses. It's really unusual.

In a place with two gross people, I'd expect about a dozen to be Geniuses.:

She draws a sharp intake of breath. :Sorry, I should get to your actual question. So, the Way of Flowers and the Way of the Open Door are concerned with connection, communication, linking, and senses. Each Way can only enable the effects that are consonant with it, that are pointing in its direction. So the Way of Tranquility, for example, is connected with incorruptibility, unaffectedness, hence, also the deadening of senses. This is why it would be practically impossible to cast Telepathy, that is concerned with senses, with Tranquil energy, and likewise, practically impossible for me and my Flower energy to cast Nullify Pain. Flowers is associated with depth and intensity of sensation. It could only heighten pain, not reduce it.:

Daskal wiggles his nose in thought.

:Two sixes out of two and six six-sixes ... that's one in four sixes,: he calculates. :... yeah, that's really weird. That's more common than being a prophet, I think, and we have plenty of those. And I haven't heard any stories about Ways. Where are you from? And how can you tell if someone's a Genius?:

This last thought comes tinged with a feeling of wanting-to-be-special that he does not fully manage to filter out.

:What's a prophet? Like, a diviner?: The sense coming from it is a practitioner that specializes in scrying or detection or illusion dispelling.

:I'm from...: and she sends a mental map with pictures of her home and city in Sarana Province. She lives in one of the quarters of a two story courtyard house, alongside four other families living in the other rooms (in total, there are a dozen and three other people living in the building with her). The sensation she sends suggests that it's a warmer place than here. :I actually don't know where we are right now. We weren't planning on coming here. We had...an accident...and got transported here.:

:It's possible to tell if someone is a practitioner by seeing how much energy* they have. Practitioners have a lot more of it. I regret to inform you that you're not one, though, you shouldn't be so upset about it. Often, you can tell which people are Geniuses, because they're very traumatized.: She purses her lips. :Awakening as a Scholar is much less mentally and emotionally taxing.:

* Here it's clear that Marina is referring to ecclesiastical energy, not secular energy.

Daskal slumps.

:Oh,: he replies. :Maybe I can be a scholar, though? Or do you have to have some energy for that too?:

And then he remembers that he was asked a question, and that if he's helpful the magic people are more likely to teach him.

:Prophets are people who get visitors from the other place,: he explains. :Sometimes they're unhappy, but sometimes they just happen, and either way the fair folk come and live in their body with them and help with things, like chores or languages or remembering stories. Mama's fishing-partner's mothers are a prophet,: he continues, pointing at one of the sleeping figures. :And one of them is a really good storyteller; he leads the singing at the festivals sometimes.:

Oh my stars, they have people getting literally possessed. Or something. She initially thought it was Greater Marriage, but it doesn't sound that way. Or maybe they keep it from him because he's a child? Greater Marriage does require the participants to have sex. Wow. Okay. Um.

She tries to school her expression back into something neutral.

She's not very good at it.

Daskal peers at her when she doesn't respond, but he's feverish, she's foreign, and the barn lighting hasn't improved, so he doesn't come to any particular conclusions.

:... so is it possible for me to learn to be a Scholar?: he prods, after a moment.

She is going to talk about this with Feya later. She's not about to deprive the curious child of his precious magical exposition.

:...yes. If you're a good fit in a Way, it's possible to awaken in it as a Scholar. It typically requires several niyang* of preparations to awaken as a Scholar. Although see, while nonpractitioners cannot lead in casting, they can help in casting. Indirectly by getting and setting up props and ingredients, but also in participating in it themselves. When I cast Golden Fields of Grain, a plant growth boosting ritual, I do it along with all the farmers, which makes it stronger. I wouldn't have enough energy otherwise.:

She sends a vision of the ritual, her and seven other people dancing in a circle in the middle of a field that has just been sown. She includes her magical senses in the vision — although it's not exactly comparable to normal vision — of how the Flower energy moves and flows across the air and into the soil and seeds, and how she has to control the energy not to go into their bodies, and to minimize the amount that would go to weeds or random animals in the soil, and hence be wasted.

* 432 days

He makes a face at the idea of it taking several years to awaken. But he also drinks in the description of how the magic works.

:What is it like for the farmers, when you do the ritual?: he asks. :Do they see stuff like that too? Or ... only because you share it with them? Or does it feel like anything?:

:If one does it correctly, it doesn't feel like anything for the assistants. And they don't sense anything like that, at least, not to the degree I do. I don't share my energy senses with them, since it's difficult to focus on more than one thing at a time. Every caster, including the assistant, has to keep in their mind certain thoughts to make sure the ritual goes as planned. This is called the prompt. The prompt is one of the components of the formulation, which is everything that has to be done for the ritual. Props, method, ingredients, incantations. That kind of thing.:

Marina will share the prompt for the spell: abundance — overflowing bounty of the earth — a full field and a full storehouse — want for nothing — joy and anticipation for the harvest — every plant growing as big as it can — exponential growth — love for one's crops like love for one's children

Daskal thinks about that description for a while, turning it over in his head.

:Does every ritual have a prompt? Or props or incantations?: he asks. :What happens if someone doesn't think through it right?:

:Yes, no, no. If someone doesn't think it through right, then the ritual can fail and cause side effects. Like cancer.: She returns to her earlier thought, of her concern that the energy not enter their bodies, and then to another thought, explaining cancer as a disease characterized by tumors or growth around the body that can obstruct organs and vessels. There's a brief thought that gives context: the Way of Flowers is the Way of growth, so improperly applied, it will cause growths on the body.

:Sorry, the other people with the supplies are about to arrive. I'll be busy for...I'm not sure how long this will take. But it will probably be several hours. I recommend you go back and rest.:

Marina has resigned herself to her fate as Telepathy node operator, and is willing to sacrifice herself upon this altar for the good of Southern Fishing Village.

Two pairs will arrive carrying large boxes of supplies and medical paraphernalia, which they'll put on an open spot near the door.

They start taking out large slates with holes in the corners, through which rope has been threaded through. They start putting them beside each person, or hanging them on a bedpost, if the patient is on a raised bed.

Feya turns to Gornet. :This is going to be a little awkward because we don't share a language. But our practice is to record information about each patient so nothing gets forgotten. Could you help me with filling them out? My aim is to have someone with Telepathy available here at all times, so that both your team and mine can update and query each record.:

He uses the old logographs in charting — they are traditional, and also shorter. He'll ask about age, diet, last meal, last urination and defecation, and amount and quality of both, symptoms, pain areas, pulse, medications and when they were administered (which also includes ecclesiastic effects), and time since admission. He'll record the current ones and ask Gornet of his memory about the past information, if he can remember it. 

The slates have already been scored with lines so that recording is easier. Feya fills out the column titles with the speed of long practice.

Gornet blinks.

:I ... suppose it frees me up from having to tell everyone things repeatedly,: he allows. :Is it really worth teaching everyone to read, just for that?:

He recites vital facts and figures for the various patients, incidentally demonstrating a grasp on mnemonics most people only develop in a society where only a handful of people can take notes.

:Do most people in the village not know how to read?: He thought that like, Gornet had dyslexia or something. :Does your spoken language have a written version?:

:We used to use mnemonics too, along with memory boosting workings, in the past. But now they've been supplanted with writing.:

Feya will record the vital facts and figures! He writes small enough and with enough logographic abbreviation that it manages to fit on the slates. It would be better to use paper and clipboards, but it would get expensive to use paper constantly for this purpose.

:No, of course not. Penþa does, and a few others in case something happens to them,: Gornet explains. :But it's generally not worth the time to have everyone learn. Penþa handles all the outside correspondence and so on anyhow.:

It doesn't particularly occur to Gornet to note that their language has both a written-on-paper and a written-with-knots form, and that more people can read and write the latter than the former.

:I'm surprised this is the case. Writing is really useful.: The Archival Society would definitely want to organize literacy programs for this place, and others like it. :Anyway, this is not very relevant to our Society's mission.:

He will coordinate with the other Tranquil practitioners that have arrived to cast Normalize Body Temperature and Nullify Pain on everyone for whom it's indicated, asking for consent for each one, then recording which people have received it (or were offered and declined, if any).

:Do you want me to teach you the logographs we use for charting, or do you prefer to just tell one of us when something happens so we can record it?:

Gornet considers for a moment, stroking his beard.

:I don't object to learning the logographs,: he replies. :Is it likely to take much time and attention away from our patients?:

:No, I have a reference booklet for the ones we use...which are written in phonetic script. I can have Sene copy them out and draw pictures for each one. He's good at drawing. Will that work for you?:

:Certainly,: he agrees. :I'm well accustomed to working from pictures, for herbological purposes.:

One of the patients towards the far end of the barn gives a terrible hacking cough.

In that case, Sene will take out paper and charcoal from the box and start doing that. He's memorized the symbols already, so there's no need to consult the booklet. He's wearing the same striped robes as Feya and the other people who are formally part of the caravan.

There's about six dozen symbols there, some of which combine. The parts of the body are easiest to draw, and he can just draw a body and annotate them. The less concrete symbols, like "too high", are...harder to draw...and instead he draws a figure of a person trying to reach something on a shelf too high up before giving up.

"I don't know how well this will work."

Sorry Sene, Feya is now going to attend to Terrible Hacking Cough Person. Language barrier crossing medical picture charades can wait.

He's glad they've put on the enchanted masks.

:There's a spell I can cast to suppress coughing, but recent studies suggest that that isn't better for patient outcomes. It does reduce pain and discomfort, though. What do you think?: he asks Gornet.

Then, to Bardamma, :Can you tell me how long the coughing has been ongoing? Has it gotten worse, better, or about the same over time?: He'll also listen as to whether the cough is wet or dry. If wet, he'll ask Bardamma to cough on a rag to see the color of the sputum.

:Well, I have hardly had the chance to study the effects of magically suppressing coughing,: Gornet points out dryly. :But only a handful of the sick have had coughs; usually the older people.:

:We began coughing ... about three days ago,: Bardamma explains. Her mental voice is tired, with long pauses between concepts. :A little before the ... headache.:

She starts coughing again. From close-up, it's clear that her neck is stiff, and she's having trouble turning her head to cough. The cough is fairly dry.

Huh. 'We'. He can sense the plurality in the meaning Bardamma is sending. So Marina might be right, but also, it's not really relevant to the question of whether or not to treat them.

Coughing isn't a main symptom then. 

To Gornet, :That makes sense. And the studies I've read only talk about wet coughs. I'll ask them if they want me to cast Nullify Coughing.:

Feya will ask so.

She is tired and sick and now people are asking her to consent to some strange magic — the kind she hasn't seen since arriving from the other place. Maybe she's already dead, and this is how she finds out that she's gone back. Maybe they sent the sickness, so that they could profit from stopping it. Maybe this is cover for some other work of magic. She wasn't expecting magic, and doesn't know what it can do. Maybe they're genuinely helping. Maybe they're only asking for consent because the magic requires it somehow.

She would quite like the coughing to stop. It makes everything hurt worse, and her head is pounding.

The others are asleep.

:Only if you could ... cast it on me without consent, would I like you to,: she replies. :But if you could, please do.:

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To Gornet, :She's saying that she only wants me to cast the spell on her if I can do it without her consent. Which...I theoretically could, but like. What does this mean.:

Gornet gains a look of fond exasperation.

:Bardamma led a rough life, before she came to us. I suspect she doesn't trust you, and wants to avoid agreeing to anything. But if you could overpower her, there's nothing she could do about it in her current state, so she might as well have it,: he explains. :You get used to her, after a while. Oskeli would really make a better first impression, but I don't think I've seen him or Lhatis for ... probably six days or so.:

Why is Gornet talking about these other people? How is this relevant.

Ah. It has to do with being Married, right. He's not going to inquire further about that.

:So I can overpower her, but we aren't in the business of forcefully providing medical care to people. We don't want to do things which are contrary to people's stated desires. But if this is a...cultural thing...if I choose to cast Nullify Coughing on her without her explicitly agreeing, would this upset people? Would it be illegal?: Is this some sort of modesty norm? But like, why would they have modesty norms about workings if they didn't have workings in the past.

:Uh. It depends on what she said.:

Gornet exchanges a few words with her, and then signals one of his helpers to bring a cup of tea when she has trouble speaking in anything but a rasp.

:No, it would not upset anyone. I don't think it would be illegal either, although you could check with Penþa to be sure — she gave you conditional permission. It's like if I said "You may cast it on me if that pot is full". If you could hypothetically cast it without her consent, then you have it. It doesn't matter whether you actually do cast it without her consent or not. Does that make sense?:

Feya has to think about the logic of it for several moments before agreeing.

:Alright. I'm going to cast Nullify Coughing on you now.: He briefly touches their throat, and now the urge to cough is almost completely gone.

He updates the chart to make note of it, and also puts down two symbols marking the effect to be refreshed every 6 hours. He asks Sene to record it on another slate that has been hung up near the door, which has all of the recurrent actions listed and when they're due, along with the patient number — each slate attached to each person having one.

He'll also have the other people go around and cast the same spell on the other coughing people if they want it.

To Gornet, :I'm thinking about the possibility of quarantining the people who are coughing. They might have a different illness from the rest. Is there space for that?:

Gornet does a quick tally.

:... yes, we could. The house across the street is in use for sickbeds as well, and should be the right size to hold everyone who has a cough,: he agrees. :But the ones with coughs are the least able to move, so it will take a little bit to reorganize everyone.:

He calls to one of the people brewing tea to go and let the people in the house know.

He and the other three people that arrived with him can help with that! Marina will not be helping because all her energy (secular and ecclesiastic) is being spent interpreting for everyone.

They have simple two-pole stretchers in the bag which can be carried by two people. That way, the patients can simply be put on them and carried, rather than having them walk to the house. 

That does make things run more smoothly. They can have the patients reshuffled in short order, although the drizzle makes the process more tedious than it has to be, and the street is churned to mud.

Tragically they do not have spells to hand for that. The enchanted clothes will remain pristine even in the muddy and rainy conditions though!

The rain likewise makes it hard to see the time, but the shifting brightness in the clouds seems to indicate it might now be just past noon.

Gornet, now that there are more people helping (and with magic, at that), takes a short break and has a cup of tea himself — his normal flower blend, since he doesn't need fever-reduction himself.

It's rude to interrupt someone who is working, so he doesn't offer any to the visitors; just makes sure that the mugs and his tea-jar are visible by the fire.

Feya and the others are going to fail to pick up on the signal of the mugs and tea jar, because they don't expect to be offered food and drink at all. They have their own supplies. Partly because many of the places they help are already in a state of crisis or poverty such that they would not want to receive food from them, and also because diseases can be transmitted through them. It's the Society's policy to refuse food given.

What flowers are in the tea, though? Are they ones he recognizes?

The caravan typically has breakfast and dinner while traveling, but haphazard, staggered mealtimes when operating somewhere so that there are always people on duty. Ria and Mani, the two Flowers practitioners of the caravan, are going to step out of the barn to have their break.

The other caravan members which remained with the wagons and oxen will set bowls of soup and water for them on trays near the sick house for the two Flowers practitioners to pick up.

Rose hips and petals, clover flowers, and some less easily identified herbs.

Many of the sick don't feel particularly hungry, but there's still the supply of honey-sweetened bread for those of them that do to eat.

It smells really good! He's pleased by it — he typically reflexively ignores his sense of smell because there are a lot of bad smells in his profession.

:After the two finish eating, we're going to take our break too, including Marina. So we won't be able to talk to each other. Is there anything you anticipate needing from us? Ria and Mani will finish their break before we go for ours, although if there's anything you need help with then, we'd need to talk about it beforehand.:

He thinks about it for a moment.

:No, I don't think so. I think, with more helpers, that we have things well in hand. And nobody has been degrading very fast. Have a restful break.:

In that case, he will eat! He won't talk to anyone during his break, because Marina and Sene will be busy practicing Telepathy. The goal being for him to pick it up off of Marina before she runs out of energy. He doesn't anticipate him to get it before that happens, though he does expect him to pick it up in a few days.

He comes back twenty minutes later.

:I think I want to learn some words from your language, so at least we have something in case something goes wrong with our Telepathy. What languages are spoken here?:

:We speak Reformed North-Eastern Marnesi Trade Language,: Gornet responds. :Everywhere in the region. It's not a difficult language to pick up, but some people from the south or east have trouble with a few of the sounds. Oh — some people who used to be traders or similar also speak Southern Cold Ocean Language.: