Zywie was working fastidiously in the storeroom of the clinic. If someone had been observing from the doorway, they might think that her quick and sharp movements were supported by a well-loved and practiced habit; in actuality, she was working through a mix of anger and confusion. She knew her parents weren't trying to punish her, but they needed to get her away from the front of the clinic. They needed to keep her away from the patients.

For some reason, only a few weeks prior, several of the patients seen at the clinic started to show signs of lost motivation for their work, lethargy, and in a few extreme cases a complete lack of purpose for even the basic activities of daily living. They essentially stopped going through the motions of life, some refusing to even eat or drink without assistance and/or force-feeding. The Taborys worked tirelessly in an attempt to figure out the cause of this new affliction but to no avail. For a time.

Then a pattern was uncovered: all of the village folk suffering from mild to severe symptoms had all been seen by the youngest healer, Zywie. Try as they might, her parents could find no other common link. None had fever, visible wounds, or come into contact with any mind altering substances. Zywie had argued with her parents earlier this day before she was relegated to storage duty. She still didn't believe that it could be her doing; why--how could she even think about let alone [i]doing[/i] such a thing? It didn't make sense and it defied all logic. What irritated her most of all was the mystery of how 'she' had yet to place this affliction upon her own parents seeing as the three of them worked in close proximity most if not all day. More importantly, how come they didn't believe her when she denied the accusation?

Arriving at this point of thought, Z collapsed to the ground of the storeroom, head in her hands as her body shook from the quiet sobbing. That is what hurt the most, feeling like her parents were against her. The idea had surfaced a week or so before, and she had been wracking her mind over it ever since. It didn't matter how many times she went around in circles, looking at all the data collected; she'd only gained a tenacious migraine and zero other answers in the process. Deep down, she knew something was wrong. She wept until she lost the rest of her senses, drifting into sleep.

[i]She was walking through the woods to her hidden garden, but she couldn't quite remember how she got here. She could follow the winding path with her eyes closed if she willed it and sometimes she did, but this time she kept her eyes wide open on the owl. It seemed to be flying in front of her but in slow motion. She willed her feet to go faster to keep up, but when she looked down, even she was moving in slow motion. Refocusing on the great bird, Zywie followed her to the end.

As she stepped from the woods into the clearing, she seemed to pause mid-step as she took in the scene. Instead of her garden, she saw a marbled white dais encircled with ionic columns. In the middle of the dais, a single tree stood firm as if it had been there for a century or more. Timed seemed to turn back on and she finished the last step from the path to the new scene. She was inexplicably drawn to it, and before she knew it, the cold marble was tickling the soles of her feet and she was reaching out to touch the tree. She noticed small fruits hanging from the branches--some green, black, or a mix of both.

If she stood on the tips of her toes, she thought she might be able to reach one. She stretched her body as far as she could, and just as it seemed she was about to take hold of the strange fruit, the back of her head was assaulted by something sharp. Immediately recoiling, she protected her head with her arms but it was already pounding with sharp twinges of pain. The assault continued for what felt like forever; for some reason, this felt very familiar to Z and she knew it wouldn't stop until the creature retreated.

Finally, a moment of respite, she risked a glance at her attacker to see the owl perched on top of the closest column. The two locked eyes and a moment passed. Then another. Who would move first? Again, it seemed everything had frozen; she couldn't even tell if the owl was breathing, and Zywie herself couldn't feel the warm blood running down her arms that she knew should be there. She finally pulled her eyes away to examine her injuries only to find her arms untouched. She didn't understand. The pain had been nearly unbearable by the end. She quickly flicked her eyes back up to the owl in time to see it open its beak let out a mind-piercing scream.[/i]

Zywie jolted from her position on the floor, her spine and bottom aching in addition to the continued migraine pounding out a pulse in her head. It was dark out now and it took several moments for her eyes and brain to catch up. [color=orangered][b]"Oh, arse it,"[/b][/color] she managed to spit out before slowly standing to straighten her spine. As she did so, she nearly knocked all her hard work down as she spotted another winged creature in the open window just by her head. She instinctively covered her face, the dream still fresh in her mind, but the claws never came. Instead, the bird--which she now recognized as a raven--gave her a side-long glance before dropping off a rolled up piece of something. It let loose a cry as it took off from the window, and Z just had a moment to notice what she thought was a second slip of paper in it's grasp.

When she was sure the creature was gone, she stepped quickly to the window to grab the slip. She unrolled it, learning towards the window for some light. It took a few moments and did nothing for the state of her head, but she was able to successfully read the writing on the paper. What was going on in her life right now? Could this really be happening or was she still sleeping? She didn't think she was sleeping, and after giving herself a good stomp on her own foot, she decided she wasn't. She knew what she had to do and rushed home.

That night, she showed her parents the message; she had to. She required their good opinion and sound minds to confirm to her that she wasn't going crazy. She hadn't decided to go yet, but she did resolve to tell them everyone she had been thinking and feeling. The Taborys prided themselves on being logical and grounded thinkers, so they all took the conversation very seriously. It was decided that they would wait a while longer and Z would became a new patient, kept separate from the townsfolk and studied by her own parents. It was mutually agreed upon.

It was a few days before she heard the news that Ariella had fled the castle, whence no one knew. Z didn't have too long to think about her old friend's troubles as hers continuously rose to the forefront of her daily life. Before too long, the evidence was too hard to argue with, and the three decided it was best for Z to follow the notes directions. Her family made preparations for her to travel a week and a half's time before the intended date of arrival to account for difficulties traveling. However, her parents couldn't go with her. As much as they wanted to, the village stilled needed them, now more than ever with so many still recovering from... whatever it was that had happened to them. Besides, they were getting too old for the nomadic life. Zywie wanted to travel one day, but this isn't how she imagined it would be.

The day came and the warm but teary goodbyes were made. They made sure that she was well-supplied for the journey with dried foods and her own medical kit. Z wouldn't find her new mender's tunic in her bag until she stopped for the first night, prompting a whole new set of tears; she was so grateful for everything they had given her and she hoped she would make it back to them one day to return the favor wild tales and adventures. Well, at least one adventure to the tavern and back, anyways.

[hr][h3][color=orangered]15th of May[/color][/h3]
The carriage trip across the border from Adlan to Eredel was honestly not what she imagined when she had first envisioned traveling on her own, but there wasn't really enough time to go wandering the countryside on foot as her parents had claimed to do. Nevertheless, many of the sights had been awe-inspiring thus far. Even after arriving in Eredel--the country she held a bit of bias towards due to their taking of most of her village's crops--Zywie had to admit that much of the construction had a certain beauteous art form to it that she had to admire.

Being packed in with so many people, however, was not on the list of things she was enjoying about the trip. Perhaps it was something one could become used to, but she wasn't quite there yet. Her profession often being one of intimate physical contact, she found herself more than a bit anxious by the number of arms and shoulders that had brushed against her on the walk over to the designated tavern. She was more than a bit exasperated, having gone first to the wrong tavern before finally receiving the correct directions, but she was relieved now when she saw the sign.

Her appearance a bit disheveled, she took a moment to comb her fingers through her short messy hair and attempted to flatten some of the wrinkles in her tunic before making her way inside the establishment. She was immediately saturated in its many sounds, sights, and smells; she hadn't decided yet if this whole trip had been a good or bad idea, and even though she was leaning towards bad right at this particular moment, she was already here. At first, she thought to just stand just inside the doorway, that way she could make a hasty retreat if the scene got to be too much or looked like trouble, but that soon proved to be a mistake as she was nearly vomited on by an exiting customer.

The bar was relatively close to the exit and she didn't want to take up a whole table by herself, so she slid in to a seat as close as possible to the exit, bright green eyes scanning the staff the other bar-goers briefly. She wondered how she was supposed to know who to look for, but it dawned on her that if whoever it was knew her name, location, and what she had been experiencing, then it wasn't too big a leap to think that they would be familiar with her appearance. When prompted by the barkeeper for a drink, she simply replied [color=orangered][b]"Just a water for right now, thanks."[/b][/color] She didn't intend to imbibe at all at until she knew figured how this was going to progress, but she wasn't going to tell the bartender that. Besides, her family didn't have a lot of coin to provide her with as they mostly traded their services for food. It would be smart all around to keep her head and money for the time being.