Needle in a Haystack

[Noelie de Maignard (H)]

The bookstore had been unable to replace my soaked copy of Ch'n medicine, and the dealer had recommended that I try my luck at the Marketplace. Oftimes goods came through there that did not pass into the more traditional venues.

So the morning found me, early before the stalls became crowded, browsing through boxes and stacks of books in a small stall hidden away within the Marketplace. Stacks and stacks of romantic idiocies, treatises on war and quite a few copies of Tres Milles Joies.

I sighed, wondering if I should ever again find the book I sought, or at least one like it.

[Faisan nó Balm]

Just a quick trip, in and out. But going down to the Marketplace still had a chill running up my spine.

I would be quick. I needed something, anything, other than parchment to draw my notes. Another journal would be perfect. I needed dyes and inks. This was not a trip for herbs or phials. Just a very quick errand. Very quick. Elua grant it didn't become anything else.

I made my way to the same small stall from which I generally bought such things, asking the stall-keeper if he had, perhaps, a nice collection of clean vellum, or even paper. Anything but smelly, unwieldy, horrible parchment. And, should he have them, I was willing to look at anything on herbalism and botanics he might have found on his troves.

For once, the man's attention wasn't entirely on me. He had another costumer, a lovely woman unfamiliar to me. Briefly I wondered what she might be searching for as the stall-keeper moved to see what he might find for me.

[Noelie de Maignard (H)]

I sighed, the shopkeeper had not bothered to organize his wares very well, so I was left to sift through the books on my own as he left to help another customer. I did find a book on surgical procedures that must have come all the way from Tiberium and I held onto that while I continued to hunt through the stacks.

I glanced up at some point to see that I was standing nearer to the other customer. I smiled at him and decided that it wouldn't hurt me to attempt conversation, as I was making an effort to get out of my shell a bit, and it had turned out quite well with Guy, hadn't it?

"Good morning," I said, then laughed a little, "or should I say afternoon? I'm afraid I've been hunting through the stacks so long that time is passing without my notice."

[Faisan nó Balm]

For just a moment, being engaged in casual, friendly conversation caught me wholly off-guard. I blinked, but then my training kicked in, and I gave her a smile. Perhaps guarded, or solemn, as I was so often accused of being, but at least I hoped it carried some warmth.

"Too late for breakfast, not late enough for lunch", I replied, considering the time at which I'd left Balm and made my way to the Market. "Perhaps I could help you find what you seek? It's not the first time I've had to negotiate the..." I looked around, seeking a word that was both polite and apt. ".. abundance of books to be found here."

[Noelie de Maignard (H)]

I laughed lightly at his assessment, nodding in agreement. "True," I said, "though I did not bother to eat breakfast in my haste, and probably will not find time for lunch either."

At his offer, I gave him an apologetic smile, "Well, I do hate to impose, but perhaps there is a small chance that you know the whereabouts of a book on the medicinal herbs and healing practices of Ch'n?" I knew the odds were low, but one could hope.

[Faisan nó Balm]

I dipped my head slightly, letting my mind try and recall the titles I'd seen, the subject matters I'd skimmed over. The stall had added to its wares since the last time I'd been there with time to spare, of course, but the piles had not diminished at all, and I didn't think medical books were all that commonly requested.

It had surprised me, that the young woman would be looking not just for a medical treatise, but one that promised to be relatively esoteric. She looked terribly young to be a full-fledged physician.

I moved to the very back of the stall, checking one dust-covered heap to confirm it was some sort of elaborate essay on ancient engineering; having gotten my bearings, I moved to the spot I remembered. "I know I've seen a small Ch'n primer on using needles for healing somewhere around here... Eisheth knows how. Can you read the Ch'n language? It's something I can only wish I did, probably the only reason I didn't buy that book back then."

[Noelie de Maignard (H)]

I followed him, pleased that I had happened upon someone who seemed to frequent these stacks. At his question, I smiled and answered, "Not well, but I am slowly learning to translate the books. I have one that has been translated, so I use that, but I admit it is slow going. I'm taking a class at the Academy to better my language skills, but Ch'n is much different than of the other languages I've studied, so it's been rather difficult."

I moved a few books aside, blowing the dust from their covers to see if any of them were in Ch'n. "I had the best book on Ch'n herbs and I went and got it soaking wet," I said with a mournful sigh. I smiled then, looking up at him as I dug through the stacks. "If you're interested in this sort of thing, I would be happy to share it with you, or give you a translation once I complete one." He'd said he might have bought it, so that led me to believe that perhaps he was interested in Ch'n medicine, as I was?

[Faisan nó Balm]

I nodded to her, though focused on the stacks of books. There had been additions done on my time away, but they were just as dusty as the original residents had been to begin with.

I found it much easier to speak of medicine, and to someone who seemed to know what they were talking about. I tried to recall what little I'd ever heard of the language of Ch'n. "I always found it a musical tongue... but a harried one. Like a piece of music played at double speed."

Soaked! Now that had to be a loss. I knew a few of the herbs I used came from Ch'n, so I could only guess that their wisdom, too, had come from those distant lands. "Soaked, how did that happen? And I hope you'll have some stern words for the party responsible, barring it were the gods and the weather. Here's the needle primer."

It was a slender tome, wrapped in a dusty, stiff red envelope; inside, I knew, were writings and diagrams on the odd, exotically delicate Ch'n paper, bound in wood rather than leather. I blew the dust off it and offered it. "If there's a book in herbal remedies, it will be around here, and it will be in Ch'n." I smiled at her. "Or I would have bought it by now. Though if you were to share your knowledge with me, I would be indebted indeed."

[Noelie de Maignard (H)]

I smiled at his simile regarding the Ch'n tongue - I found it similar though I had not so poetic a way of expressing it. "I agree, it is rather different than our own language, enough so that it has been rather difficult to learn even in pieces."

His question made me sigh heavily. "Unfortunately, it was my own fault. I was reading at Elua's Fountain and some children jostled me and I dropped the book into the water. I should have thought the better of reading in such a spot, but of course I was only thinking that it was a rather nice day out, especially for winter, and it seemed like a nice place to read. I rather have a fondness for being out of doors."

And then he was handing me a treasure: a book on using needles for healing - with pictures, thank Eisheth - and bound so beautifully in wood. "Oh, thank you!" I exclaimed, taking it from him and opening it gently, already devouring the diagrams and the odd words that I could pick out and translate off the top of my head. "This is amazing..." I forced myself to stop reading it standing here in the shop.

"Of course, I should love to share knowledge. You are interested in the healing arts too, then?" I asked, closing the book and tucking under one arm. I continued to poke about the stacks for more such treasures.

[Faisan nó Balm]

"I don't quite think I would find many of my patrons and patients willing to be treated with needles, no matter how I spoke of Ch'n techniques, I'm afraid." I could just see the expression in some of the older gentry ladies if I'd dared suggest such a thing, and it made me smile a little. "But if you would share, I would love the knowledge for knowledge's sake. And I would endeavor to share whatever I might of my own knowledge in exchange."

I bowed lightly. "Faisan no Balm, at the lady's service. Eisheth's own as much as I am Namaah's."

[Noelie de Maignard (H)]

"Ah, a Balm adept, I should have guessed!" I said, smiling. "I have visited Balm on occasion to compare some of your techniques with those I've learned at Eisheth's Temple, and with the physician I've been studying under."

I found a book that had some herbal remedies, though not Ch'n, and after flipping through a few pages, I set it back, considering it to be too rudimentary for my needs. "You should visit the temple, if you haven't, it's very interesting to see the differences, and the similarities too of course." I smiled at him and shook my head slightly.

"Oh, listen to me, I can't even introduce myself properly. Noelie de Maignard, would-be physician."

[Faisan nó Balm]

"I haven't been to Eisheth's temple in a very long time", was all I'd admit to, keeping my tone light. "My own loss, I know. It's still a pleasure to meet a fellow physician."

I smiled, brushing dust off my hands before offering one. "Training is one of those things one never does seem to be done with, no? If it's not indiscreet, may I ask what fields you're training in?"

[Noelie de Maignard (H)]

"Would-be physician, at any rate. I often wonder if I shall ever know enough to be trusted with patients of my own." I took his hand and smiled in genuine pleasure at meeting a fellow Healer. I found Balm adepts fascinating, actually, because the juxtaposition of healing and sex was intriguing.

"Well, I have yet to choose one field in particular, I find everything so interesting. One of my teachers has suggested surgery, for I have a fine hand, but that would require quite a few years more of study. And you, do adepts specialize in anything in particular?"

[Faisan nó Balm]

"Ah, a teacher rarely trusts his students unless he absolutely has to." I smiled, remembering my own training, always under the eagle's eye of a more veteran Adept. "Your time will come if you have the patience for it."

I nodded to her question. "Most do, though their specializations acknowledge the double blessing of Namaah and Eisheth. I'm a fair hand with herbs and infusions, and just a tiiiiny touch of chirurgia as well. It's a difficult skill to master. Have you your own set of tools?"

Even as I spoke, I went back to my search for the tome she'd mentioned, as well as anything that might be of interest to either of us in the piles of dusty books.

[Noelie de Maignard (H)]

I nodded, following his example and continuing to browse the stacks. There were more insipid books on romance than I had imagined existed and I wondered just who liked to read those types of things.

"I do have my own set, though I have yet to get much use from it. I have assisted in some minor procedures though. It's fascinating, truth told... the human body is a most amazing thing; the more I learn, the more curious I become."

Suddenly I pulled out a book and held it up. "This looks promising, it's some sort of anatomy text..." I flipped it open and leafed through a few pages. "Oh, massage techniques and pressure points." I held it out to him for his inspection. "What do you think?"

[Faisan nó Balm]

Massage was one of those fields where even Balm acolytes were expected to be skilled. "Thank you." I nodded politely as I took the book and leafed through it, carefully, examining the diagrams and skimming through the writing. "Hm... It almost seems like a translation, not an original work. The general theory seems sound, though. A good intermediate guide."

I passed it back to her, and smiled a bit "Of course, I'd never tell the shopkeep that. Gods know how much he'd ask for it otherwise. Dusty, moldy, and only barely of interest at all, no?"

[Noelie de Maignard (H)]

I laughed, setting the book back in the stack, not thinking it was really something that I needed. "Those do seem to be the criteria for a 'rare' book, do they not? The more obscure the text, the higher the price tag, even if the information is of no-"

I trailed off as I found a book, low and buried, missing it's cover, but ... "This is it!" I exclaimed, astonished to have actually found another copy. "Thank Eisheth, this is it!" Excited, I brushed the dust from it and flipped through the pages, making certain. "It is, I can't believe it!" I held it out to him to look at, as if it were made of gold.

[Faisan nó Balm]

Noelie's happiness made me smile, and I took the book with great care, treating it like the treasure it seemed to be to her. It had the delicate, precise drawings I'd come to associate with herbalist manuscripts, their quality good enough that I could recognize a few of the specimens.

"Eisheth must be smiling wide on you today. Either that, or you've used up all your luck and will be left with nothing but hard work and discipline for the rest of your training." I smiled at her. As if a healer, and particularly a chirurgion, ever knew anything but!

"I have this one... And this, back in my quarters. So difficult to come by this late in the season." Mentally shaking myself out of my fascination, I offered the book back.

[Noelie de Maignard (H)]

I laughed, shaking my head, "Oh no, hard work and discipline? Perish the thought!" I hugged the book to my chest when he gave it back, smiling widely. "This was truly fortunate, though, what are the odds of finding this book twice in the City?" As I smiled, a faraway look came over me as I imagined actually going to Ch'n to talk to their healers.

"Someday," I said wistfully, "I shall travel everywhere, and learn about healing from as many cultures as possible. Imagine what you could do with all of that knowledge together!" I made a little face and laughed, shaking myself out of my reverie.

"I'm sorry, I'm a little too passionate on the subject, aren't I?"

[Faisan nó Balm]

"Passion is the best motivation for a healer of any kind." What else brings a healer to the sick, the wounded, those who might be cast away by other forces because there's no profit in helping them, or those whose illness might strike their healers without a cure?

"I will envy you such travels, and the wisdom you'll gain from them." I smiled, to put the jest into my words, even though I meant it. I couldn't think of any reason why I would ever leave Balm House for such grand adventures as a trip beyond the borders of Terre d' Ange. "Unless, of course, you choose to write them down that I might find the book in a store such as this!"

[Noelie de Maignard (H)]

I laughed but then reflected, "I may, just in case I come across anything that would be helpful to others. I've always wanted to be published," I confided with a slight smile. "It's a conceit, really, but I'd love to know that I contributed something that might help future generations of healers. Maybe one day I'll come back from my adventures and have students of my own." I chuckled and shook my head, "But I am getting way ahead of myself, aren't I?"

[Faisan nó Balm]

"The lady has a vision!" I smiled, putting a teasing tone to my words before becoming serious again.

"In truth, I think the conceit is in finding any of those secrets, and hoarding them away rather than trying to share them with fellow healers. So I would wish you every success in being published in the future. And certainly I'd be one of those looking to buy your works."

[Noelie de Maignard (H)]

I laughed and shook my head, "Oh no, I shall send you a free copy," I promised, "for all of your help today. Honestly, for someone who specializes in such a demanding discipline, I can be quite scatterbrained in other areas. I suppose that's what happens when one focuses so much of one's energy on one thing."

[Faisan nó Balm]

I had never heard it put better than she had, and smiled a bit at it. "All too true. It's easy to forget healing isn't all there is to the world, and to be caught flat-footed by the rest of it. But I would never say no to a free medical tome! Perhaps a trade? I could make you a copy of my medical journal, if there's anything in it your education hasn't covered yet."