A Few Questions for Madison
Location: Dawn Forest Clan in Mossflower Woods
Characters: Madison, Treesong, Aurora
Eastern Outpost: Infirmary - Recovery
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Madison's eyelids flutter now and then, the squirrel's body alternating between stillness and sudden but brief periods of shivering. Her skin is still largely cold to the touch, despite the covers.
Creaking quietly, the ropes that disappear through the floor start moving, until finally a platform rises to floor level, bumping into bumpers (duh) placed seemingly for just this purpose. On the elevator are two squirrels, the one pulling the rope steps off to secure it to a peg on the tree wall, then turns to offer her arm to the older one. Grey fur aside, they look similar. "You should still be in bed," the younger argues quietly, though not with much energy. The older doesn't bother to reply as she starts moving slowly along the beds, checking a dibbun's forehead before coming along to Madison.
Madison seems to pick up on the activity. Never a heavy sleeper at the best of times, her eyelids flutter again, before drifting half-open at the speech. The world, at the moment, is hazy and blurred, though she sees a shape moving in her field of vision.
Treesong hovers at her mother's side, trying not to keep an arm around her. Aurora, on the other hand, doesn't act like she needs any assistance. She bends a little over Madison. "Good morning, dear. Are you awake?" Though she has one paw on the edge of the cot, it's mostly to steady herself, and it's very hard to find this little old lady squirrel at all threatening. Even the tone of voice screams 'little old kindly grandma'.
Madison is brought under the full assault of grandma-ness, but appears to resist the power of homemade cookies and knitting. :D Her sight currently does little to correct its focus, though her hoarse voice is heard, lips barely moving. "...Where'm I?"
"This is our infirmary," Grandma replies, then Treesong continues. "Lark found you out in the woods yesterday, half-frozen, and brought you back to warm up before you froze to death. You're safe here, and among friends. Part of my squirrel clan lives here, and you are welcome to stay." Aurora does lean in further, peering at Madison's half-open eyes.
Madison, well, it isn't clear if she's taken all of that in. After a pause, however, the squirrel replies, "An' here I was thinking y'didn' want me here. That so-called Abbot'd a change'v heart?"
Treesong moves to the other side of the cot. "You're not at the abbey anymore. You are in Mossflower Woods," she tells the squirrel as clearly as she can, looking at her mother, who just shakes her head. "What's your name, dear?" the elderly squirrel asks, gently reaching to turn the squirrel's head to look at her. "You're not fully awake."
Madison is silent again for a moment, then another, before, "If I was fully awake, I'd be a lot more difficult." At least she's honest.
"You didn't actually tell me your name," Aurora points out. "Can you sit up and look at me? I want to see how much damage that cocktail of yours did." She's not stern, she just states a fact, then moves on. "You left the Abbey, I take it? You can stay here, like my daughter said."
Madison either ignores or doesn't take in most of those words. "The 'cocktails', as you say, didn't do any more damage than usual." she says this in a matter of fact manner, as though it's customary for certain things to do /some/ damage. "I know what I'm doing. The deathly cold, that's more important." she shivers again almost on cue.
Aurora takes this in stride, laying a paw gently on Madison's forehead for a brief moment. "You're doing better, though I wouldn't suggest wandering out in the snow immediately." She looks up at her daughter, then turns to make her slow way across the room to a cabinet, which opens to reveal stacks of sheets, blankets and pillows.
Treesong looks down at Madison. "Your name, miss. Guests are welcome to stay at my camp, but I don't have unknown visitors. I'm not that foolish." She looks over at her mother, then back at Madison, just waiting for an answer.
Madison winces a little as her eyes open a little wider, even low light aggravating her vision. "Madison. That's all any creature knows me by." is her reply. She's hardly the most appreciative squirrel ever. Finally moving, her paw reaches to the side, and after a moment of fumbling, "... I had a pack with me. Did you find it?"
"We did." Not exactly an informative reply, but then, it's about as helpful as Madison's reply. "And I have some questions regarding its contents. Call me a liar, but deadly nightshade isn't easy to find in winter. Certainly not in the amount you had with you. And the others..."
"I'm not a poisoner." she replies immediately, as though she's had to use that reply several times. "It's medicinal. Mostly. I need the pack."
Aurora makes her way back to Madison's cot with a blanket in her arms, unfolding it partway and placing it on the foot of the cot so the edge is in reach. "Of course you're not," she tells Madison, giving her daughter a little glare. "But healers who would carry a supply like that don't abuse their medicines as you were doing yesterday."
"I wasn't abusing it," Madison insists, and now the possibility, however slight, that access might be denied to her precious pack causes the squirrel to try and sit up, with moderate success. "I /need/ my pack." her voice edges less away from unapproachable, more toward vulnerable.
Aurora gives her daughter a look, which apparently is interpreted, as Song reaches to help Madison sit up, if the squirrel will accept the help. "That cocktail you were drinking counts as abuse, my dear. If you want to explain to me what conditions you have that require deadly nightshade in such an amount, plus other strong /poisons/ in dangerous amounts, I will advise my daughter to return your pack to you."
Madison is sat up, with the help of the aiding squirrel. Her gaze, still rather blurry, is cast down. "You've probably seen my leg. It hurts unimaginably in the winter..." the perfect little victim.
Aurora nods neutrally. "I've seen such things before, though I'm sorry to see it on one so young. Though there are often aches for seasons in most cases, using a cane or staff to take weight off it will oft' take a good deal of the pain away." Not a dumb old grandma, it seems. "May I?" she reaches a paw towards the younger squirrel's leg, but doesn't touch her leg without permission.
Madison pouts then. There's genuine sadness as she explains, "I lost my cane... I liked that cane." it's like she's heard an old friend has died, though more subdued. She shrugs to the request, "Go ahead." is her only response.
Aurora is very gentle as she runs her paws along Madison's leg. "If you dropped it where Lark found you, I'm sure she'd be happy to show you where that was," the healer says quietly, her focus much more on the muscle under her sensitive paws. "This is actually not that bad, dear. If you did some stretching and muscle exercises, you'd have better control of this. Better range of motion, and less pain."
Treesong says, "Lark went back out after she brought you in. But when she gets back, I'm sure she could show you the spot."
Madison just pouts again. "I did. I could walk properly for a while. It left." she's getting much more 'difficult', as she previously said. "I need my painkillers." she insists, beginning to look around the room.
Unfortunately, the pack is not in sight. "There is some consistency required, Madison," Aurora tells the squirrel, sounding like any dibbun's schoolteacher. "Deadly nightshade is not a drug to be used over a long period of time, as you have no doubt been doing. I had some trouble identifying the others in your mix, given how many you brewed into one drink." Now she's the disapproving schoolteacher. "Those I did identify are probably doing you more damage than you are aware. Your control over your leg, for one."
Madison flops back onto the bed. Irritation is beginning to visibly cloud her features as her need for the pack shakes her rationality. "Why is every creature so /nice/ all of a sudden? What happened to the robber gangs and murderous hordes?" Then, as an afterthought, "They'd feed me all I wanted just for a laugh."
"They generally don't like the forest so much, and they head south a lot in winter," Treesong says matter-of-factly. "And there aren't any vermin in this neck of the woods. Just us, and we'll feed you for free, Madison. We don't drug our guests, but then, you won't leave here with any more scars, either."
Madison shrugs, "Sounds fantastic. Let's combine that with what I'll do myself, personally, and I'm sure we'll all get along famously." she folds her paws, which still shiver intermittently.
Treesong asks, "In that case, if you don't mind answering a few more questions, I'll consider giving you back your pack." Aurora glares at her daughter, but wanders off to see to the dibbun (the only other occupant of the room) who started coughing in his sleep. "What might the situation be that you left the Abbey?"
Madison nods to the first statement, "Of course I'll answer your questions." she says with suspicious ease. The first, she replies in poker-faced fashion, "I struck and provoked a vermin who just happened to be a novice."
Treesong nods. "Interesting that the Abbot would kick you out for such. Most times an event like that could be discussed without necessarily kicking out the instigator. I heard your comment about the 'so-called' Abbot. Please explain." The casual pose leaning against the next cot isn't exactly covering the fact that Song is clearly very intelligent, and has most likely done this before.
Madison's manner isn't so unintelligent either, simply dependent and uncaring. "I disagree with his methods. I think he's unqualified, unknowing and plain unfit."
Treesong nods slowly. "You're entitled to your opinion, though he reached the rank somehow. He didn't just walk in one day." She looks over the other squirrel, eyes pausing on the knee her mother had examined. "Where did you gather your herbs?"
Madison heh's, in a half-hearted way. "I heard he almost /did/ just walk in one day... just one of many rumors." the next question is then answered, "I always keep a handy amount of herbs on my person. I arrived at the abbey with a similar amount."
Treesong raises her brows. "That wasn't actually an answer to my question. I'm curious about these in particular, given the quantity and it being wintertime. If you've been gathering them all season, we need to know where they came from. Our stores run low by the end of the winter." Every word that leaves Song's mouth is true, a born liar.
Madison shrugs, "I got them from the Abbey, of course." she says, attempting to sound carefree, but her voice gains... an edge.
Treesong continues her eye-sweep of the squirrel, not showing surprise in the least - for in fact, that much had been deduced already. "I'll have to tell Lark that she should ask for some on her next Abbey trip. I think we're low on some of the winter essentials, and our extra stores are getting too old to be of much use if we need them." This is spoken in a slightly quieter voice, as if mostly to herself.
Madison is scanned by the other squirrel easily enough. She settles back, hoping that the following reply will work in her favor, "Feel free to take some of mine - I've got more than enough for myself. Happy to help."
Treesong nods, and offers Madison a smile. "Thank you. I'll let mother and Elspeth know you offered, in case they need them. But I think it's some of the more mundane things we're going to need in quantity. You'd be amazed at how many minor cuts and bruises come in a day in a clan of squirrels. If the Abbey can spare some, we should be fine."
Madison nods in return. Phew. "I do have quite the excess of camomile too. Should help in the winter nights." she's growing more at ease. Everythings turning her way again.
Song's smile widens. "Thanks. I'm sure it will. I'll call Lark in, and ask her to head out before it gets much later. She can let them know you're safe here. No doubt they're worried about you out in the cold by yourself. And I'll have to give her the list of what you have, so she knows what to ask for."
Madison nods. "Okay." aside from the shivering, she's beginning to feel quite snug. And it only just dawns on her that she's up a tree. For the first time in seasons. Wow. "If... If you're going to report my wellbeing to the abbey, I'd advise to do so only to a bat named Gwennythe. I'm not exactly the most well-liked creature they've ever known."
"Gwennythe. I'll tell Lark, but she may recite your list from memory when she gets to the infirmary... it's easier for her than reading. Your name might come up." Song turns away from the cot with a polite nod, heading for her mother and the dibbun who's now awake and trying to cough out something resembling words.
