To make sure Emri had time to eat, Faver didn’t want to hurry on his way to fetch Acker. Besides, he was certain Rinna wanted to talk to him, and he needed to check on everyone. At least, he intended to go around to each tent that had sick people in it, make sure the helpers and relatives of the sick were tending to the illness as he’d instructed, and personally look over the people who were worst off. He wished he was capable of always checking each and every single one himself, but there were too many. If he even tried to tend to everyone personally, he’d never manage to do anything else – including sleep.
Some of the sickest people had gotten worse, but not as much as he’d expected, and others of the worst off had, marvelously, not gotten worse at all since the last time he’d checked on them. They didn’t seem to have improved – yet – but a day ago he’d had every reason to think that most of these would have died by now. The way things had been going with the progression of the illness, and the few who had died previously… it had to be on account of the new medicine that no more had died today, even if some remained on the point of it. He wasn’t sure if they’d all still be alive by the morning, but he believed their chances were far better now than they had been before.
Rinna appeared to be pleased at Faver’s assessment of things; he’d want to think it was only that she’d be as glad as him for the same reasons, but she made some comment about Emri having been walking around all the sick people earlier, that sounded like Rinna had been concerned… about what? Did she really think Emri would have… interfered with the treatment of the sick people in some negative way? She didn’t say so outright, but she certainly sounded skeptical and cautious in a way that Faver felt was unwarranted.
Faver pulled Rinna aside, just out of the tents. “You’re sounding paranoid, like Remal. What’s wrong with Emri checking up on those who are ill? She’s assisting me, and like any apprentice of mine, it’s reasonable for her to look in on my patients, especially since there are too many for me to be always checking on all of them myself. She’s helping, and I don’t see any reason why you or Remal or anyone else should think that she isn’t!”
Rinna pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest, taking up a stance that was remarkably similar to what Brylin did when she didn’t intend to give an inch of ground. The look didn’t sit as well on her, though.
“Aron told me,” she said, in a very unsympathetic tone, “that you were displeased about Remal being assigned to keep an eye on our visitor.”
Faver took up a stubborn posture as well, and adopted a lecturing tone. With some people, it was important to let them know you wouldn’t simply be walked over, even when you were cooperating with them. “You know Remal. He’s the sort of person who tends to get in the way more than help, when it comes to my sort of work – especially with the sullen way he’s been acting towards almost everyone. Emri hasn’t done anything to harm anyone, and I don’t like seeing people act antagonistic towards someone who is sincerely trying to help all of us. I don’t like for you or any of the other leaders to encourage anyone – especially Remal – to be even more suspicious in this situation. It does no good for any helper of mine to be getting intimidated and startled at every turn, who I need to be focused on the work that needs to be done. Besides, it’s no way to treat a guest, and she’s done nothing to deserve unkind treatment.”
Feeling somewhat relieved that Rinna wasn’t interrupting him, but continued listening, Faver went on. He had a right to lodge complaints and express his concerns, after all. “You know it’s not good for Remal, either, don’t you? I worry that he’s already more paranoid and negative than is good for him. The strain of it, combined with this attitude he’s had of being overprotective not only towards his own relations, but this entire camp of people? It’s too much stress for him to be taking on, and I hate to see anyone encourage it!”
Faver huffed, and Rinna raised an eyebrow with a look as though questioning whether he was finished. Having relaxed his stance somewhat while talking, Faver straightened up and fixed Rinna with one of his most serious looks, raising an eyebrow himself in what he thought was a challenging manner, daring her to refute anything he’d just said.
Rinna sighed, put a hand to the side of her head, and offered a small smile. “Encouragement? We hardly gave him any encouragement at all. We only thought that if he appeared to be wary of a stranger, it’d be useful if he were assigned to report back to us about anything he might notice or find out.”
Faver relaxed a little, but still gave Rinna a serious look. “In that case, when you ask him to report to you, would you encourage him to look on the positive side a little bit? I don’t want him making an occupation out of suspicion, paranoia, and fear. It’s one thing to gather information, and quite another to assume the worst by default and go looking for it.”
Rinna folded her arms again, but looked down this time. “I know you like to always look for the best in everyone, but… you know pretty much everyone in camp has good reason to be less trusting than they used to be. Remal’s not the only one who feels that way, although… you may be right in thinking he’s taken it farther than most. The Leaders’ Circle has… gotten a lot of complaints about him. He tries to help everyone, but is always on alert and can’t calm down, so he acts stern and impatient with everyone and gets on the nerves of a lot of people, stressing out everyone who is already on edge. Remember how he upset that whole village on their market day? All he had to do was let Hin ask if they’d accept having our camp set up nearby and trade with them, but he reacted threateningly to a routine challenge, and would have gotten into a fight if Hin hadn’t dragged him off immediately.”
Faver smiled a little, and chuckled.
“It wasn’t funny at all!” Rinna protested sternly, with a glare at Faver.
“Not that part, no, but what Jambry did to handle the situation afterwards, that was funny.”
“I shudder to think of it. That old guy is a piece of work, no doubt.”
“It was hilarious, and it worked.”
Scowling, Rinna waved a hand dismissively. “Never mind that. The point is, many of us think that Remal needs to be kept busy so that he’ll bother less people, but there’s only a handful of people who can put up with him and who he might listen to.”
“Mostly just Hin, I think. Isn’t that why Hin has been taking him on the longer, more roundabout scouting trips most of the time? So he’d be in and around camp as little as possible.”
Rinna looked back at Faver. “That may make things easier on most, but it’s not the best thing for Hin, and also… Hin has reported that it doesn’t help change anything. He says it’s because it allows Remal too much time to think on his own, and that he’s stuck thinking all the same things over and over and isn’t actually working through any of it. He thinks Remal needs something different to occupy his mind, instead of just working himself to death. Many of the Leaders, as well as Elders who’ve been consulted, think the same, and wanted to take the opportunity to give him a different sort of assignment as soon as one presented itself. Besides, it’s doubtful that Remal would simply stop acting suspicious and prickly, so we might as well put it to constructive use. I don’t think Hin is the only person Remal listens to, either. There’s also you.”
“He doesn’t listen to me. Not without arguing over it, anyway.”
“That’s better than most. Actually, I’ve realized there seems to be one person he doesn’t argue with, and that’s Nina. Now, Aron and I were thinking earlier, that Emri probably needs more time to get to know you and others, before she’d be willing to volunteer much information about subjects she’s avoided so far. She seems to respond well to Nina, though.”
“So you want to drag my daughter into this little scheme of yours?”
“I wouldn’t put it like that, but if she’s around, Remal might be less argumentative with you, and Emri might talk to her more. We want Nina and some of the other children who often help with foraging while minding the flocks, along with some of the older people who do the same and are good at teaching others, to have a lesson on identifying the new plants. You’re convinced these medicines of Emri’s are helping, so we’re going to want a lot more of those plants, which means teaching more people to recognize them.”
“So if you want me to have Nina around to work with Emri, does that mean I can send Remal off to get him out of my way?”
“How about sending him with Emri and Nina, out gathering plants.”
Faver sighed. “I suppose that might be practical… especially if an additional adult goes along.”
“Good. We’ll coordinate with you tomorrow about getting a group together for an herbs lesson. I think that tomorrow evening, after part of the camp is moved, would be a good time. Then, when the herders take the flocks across the river on the following day, they will know what to look for.”
“Alright.” Resignedly, Faver shrugged and continued on to the last tent, where he had stationed Acker. Rinna followed along. Hin was there with his boys, so Faver took the opportunity to check up on them. Hallen and Zaneth were sound asleep, so Faver inquired quietly about them. Hin said that Safia had been doing better after eating and having a bit of rest, so her mother had taken her to get cleaned up and to bed. Eloisa had briefly returned with a snack for supper and had also verified to Hin that Safia hadn’t any recent insect bites. After seeing that her sons weren’t any worse, she went back to stay with Safia.
Acker nodded to Faver and then pointed out to him where the boys had been bitten numerous times. He avoided waking them, so Faver didn’t look them over completely, instead trusting to Acker’s assessment. Faver had seen some of it earlier, but hadn’t noticed the full extent of it. He asked Hin if he’d seen it before the last trip the boys had taken.
“No.” Hin replied sadly. “After their previous trip fetching water at the old spot, I didn’t check them over myself. They said that they had hardly been bitten at all.”
“Well, they were fibbing to say so. Maybe they were just trying to be tough, and maybe they didn’t want to worry you. These bites all look like they came from that previous trip, or earlier. Since Safia didn’t get any bites on the last trip to the new location, that place should be relatively safe for others to go to.”
“I agree.” Hin said. “I believe a couple of our more experienced scouts already left earlier, so that they can bring back more water for everyone who will be staying here after the rest of the camp moves tomorrow.”
Faver nodded. “We’re going to make more of that poultice for the insect bites. We may need to prioritize applying it to people who have been bitten but haven’t gotten sick yet, but I want these two boys to be treated with it as well. I’ll probably have someone do that later tonight.” Faver then motioned for Acker to join him. “Come with me. We’re going to teach you to make the new medicines.”
As he and Acker started back to the work tent, Faver could hear Rinna whisper to Hin. She was probably going to take him aside for a private chat, too. Some people were never finished strategising.
