Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards

[Katya]

---

It was far too late in the evening for a drink, Katya knew…but she was going to have one anyway. For once, no patients were staying in the hospital overnight. She wandered down the cold stone hallways of the massive Abbey, massaging her tired hands as she walked. Few understood it, but healing was exhausting work. Just as difficult was trying to answer the questions her patients put to her about the future of Yew.

As she neared the Abbey’s entrance, she noticed candlelight still streaming out from beneath the Captain’s office door. She paused, wondering if she should say goodnight, when she heard voices from within the room. Arlin’s, and…Katya listened more closely for a minute…Arcana’s. Ah. Smiling slightly, Katya walked quickly by the closed door. The Captain’s lady was good for him, Katya had decided. She seemed to smooth out some of his all-too-rough edges.

The smell of the swamp surrounded her as she stepped outside, but she took a deep breath of it, smiling all the while. Perhaps that’s why Katya had come to love Yew so quickly: it smelled like Papua’s own swamps, like home. A soldier at the door…a new one she didn’t recognize…saluted politely at her. She tossed him a sloppy, tired salute in return and headed straight for the Olde Winery.

The barkeeper knew her by now, she was somewhat embarrassed to note. She liked him. He asked her no questions, and kept her glass full. It pleased her, too, that the other soldiers didn’t come here often. Though she knew it was her right path, she still felt guilty for exchanging her katana for her first, best calling -- the healer’s trade. When the others bragged about this battle, or that duel…well, she’d rather not hear it. She knew she was lonely, but the patients kept her so busy she rarely noticed her chosen solitude.

A group of rough-looking men…hunters, by the look of them…suddenly burst through the double doors and called for drinks. One noticed her standing there...a woman, small, alone...and called over to her rudely. Others followed his example, looking her over and making obscene comments to each other. One said something she couldn’t hear, and the others nodded, tossing back their drinks.

Katya immediately slipped the barkeeper a few coins and walked as fast as she could back to the Abbey. It wasn’t that she couldn’t protect herself against a bunch of drunken louts, but…tensions and tempers were high already. Through the hospital, she spoke to more of the Yew citizens than any of the other soldiers, by far. Everyone talked to a healer, and the people knew their city was hotly contested. Katya herself trusted Arlin’s intentions completely – after all, hadn’t he immediately granted her the hospital and equipment? Wasn’t he looking into her recommendation for an Army chaplain? -- but it was hard for the people to see him as his loyal soldiers did.

The light still burned under the Captain’s door, though the voices within had ceased. I don’t envy you, Captain, Katya thought as she walked back to her tiny hospital cot. I don’t envy you at all. Her own mission was easy: keep the people healthy. She curled up on her cot alone and fell into a fitful sleep, wondering what the next day in the City of Justice might bring.