OOM: Treating Sinric

[cook_the_rude]

When Sinric follows Dr. Lecter to his office upstairs, he will find it's near the library, in an area of the non-linear rooms section that feels more business-like because of that location and the presence of the indoor chapel that had been used before Javert's church was finished.

It is small but functional, with clean-lined modernist furniture made of pale wood contrasting with the 18th and 19th century prints of Istanbul cityscapes and 'Turkish' harem scenes that were quite the fashion at the rococo period in ornate frames that adorn the walls. There are two comfortable chairs with end-tables, a small book-case, and a pale leather couch. There is a small drawing table with two straight-backed chairs that, at this moment, holds nothing but a flower arrangement. There are two doors, one slightly ajar to reveal a tiny pantry kitchen, the other firmly closed, with a covered lock that clearly labels it a bathroom door, lockable from the inside.

There are two floor-length windows obscured by pale, gauzy blinds, at the bottom of which a balcony is visible, and beyond its grate, the lake area, with a view to the stables, the garden, and the forge.

Dr. Lecter puts down his bag of medical supplies and gestures towards the couch.

Comments

[thewidewideworld]

"My fellow birds? I have thought of that. I will warn them, as best I can. Any of them who trust in Leo's kindness are fools." There's a half sob that catches in his throat as he names his attacker. "I have no doubt all of them have thought about what the future will hold and are making plans of their own. All I can offer them is knowledge of when they must be ready to fly."

He nods and moves himself to a more conformable position, his back to the doctor. Closing his legs and the cool numbness where most there was pain goes a long way to calm him. "Thank you, sir."

[cook_the_rude]

"That will go a long way towards making their lives better," the doctor agrees, still busy with his tools.

"I am giving you another local anesthetic for that gash; it'll just be a little pinprick," he adds.

He swabs a bit of skin, then there is another of those cool, thin needles sliding in. Something cold seems to spread, and shortly, there is tingling and numbness again.

[thewidewideworld]

"Perhaps." He isn't so sure "Life within the golden cage is soft in some ways and hard in others. Many of the birds have few skills that will help them survive outside it."

He sits straight with his shoulders back, letting the torn skin of his back be stitched.

[cook_the_rude]

"It's still better than dying inside of it," he doctor says, working calmly on Sinric's back.

[thewidewideworld]

He shrugs minutely, trying not to disturb the doctor's sewing. "For some of them, the unknown would be worse. I will be a long way from the palace when the time comes. I cannot help them. I only hope they can act on what I know to make their own choices."

[cook_the_rude]

"That is all you can ever do," the doctor says. "At least they will know how to open their cage door."

[thewidewideworld]

"Or at least when to be ready to pick the lock." Sinric sighs. The numbness is soothing and his closes his eyes for a long moment.

"I was warned that people of a later age would not understand the ways of my time. And yet you seem to understand me well, sir. Are you a student of history?"

[cook_the_rude]

"Of history, and of art," the doctor says, "and of the human mind, in its cultural variety as well as its enduring constancy. There is nothing in human nature I can't at least reconstruct in its reasoning."

[thewidewideworld]

"You sound like a very learned man?" He asks softly.

[cook_the_rude]

"I had a good education, like to understand the cultural undercurrents of everything that is going on, and do enjoy the arts very much," the doctor says.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric glances over his shoulder, offering Dr. Lecter. "I think you and my emperor would enjoy each other's company. He would value your intelligent conversation greatly."

[cook_the_rude]

"I would be very honoured to meet a Byzantine emperor," the doctor says.

He is calmly stitching the gash on Sinric's back.

[thewidewideworld]

"I'm not certain I could arrange it but I'm sure the meeting would fascinating." He feels the skin tug and grits his teeth.

[cook_the_rude]

"No, it would be hard to explain my presence," the doctor says. "And it would bring the palace guards under suspicion for having let me slip past."

[thewidewideworld]

"Just so. And the palace guards are, for the most part, hard working and honest men. It would be unfortunate to being them trouble."

"Perhaps an introduction as a travelling scholar? Forgive me, I haven't asked what land you claim as home?"

[cook_the_rude]

"I'm originally from Lithuania, a country on the south coast of the Baltic sea," the doctor says. "I lived in America for a few years, a country in the west beyond the ocean that's not yet known in Europe in your time, and then returned to Europe; at the moment I'm living in Florence."

[thewidewideworld]

"I fear of those, I know only Florence as a centre of trade and arts. It must be a very stimulating place for a man such as yourself?"

[cook_the_rude]

The doctor finishes treating the gash on Sinric's back.

"It still is," he says, "even though the days of its greatest glory are long gone. Can you please turn around again so I can treat the remainder of your injuries?"

[thewidewideworld]

He nods and turns with care, protective of the deep bruising that marks his inner thigh in three sharp lines, bleeding under the skin.

"There is much of the Roman world I long to see. The great marvels of the Empire that was."

[cook_the_rude]

The doctor looks at those, and nods as if to himself. "Heparin gel," he murmurs. He swipes over the bruise a few times, discards the gauze.

"Now, if there are any lacerations, this will sting like nobody's business, but you can rely on it to reduce bruises and swelling very effectively."

He starts spreading a thick, very clear gel that actually smells fresh and pleasant. "Please keep your knees apart until the gel has dried. What caused those bruises?"

[thewidewideworld]

There are small circular red marks where the Viking women used leeches to reduce the swelling but they have healed well enough not to sting.

"Leo carries a mace, his staff of honour."

[cook_the_rude]

"And with that staff of honour, he meant to dishonour you by using it between your legs, before letting his men do the dirty work?" the doctor says. "His reasoning is that of a common or garden psychopath."

[thewidewideworld]

"He would not sully himself by touching me." His voice shakes and he hides his face behind the veil of his hair.

[cook_the_rude]

"So, instead he sullied the symbol of his office and power," the doctor says. "Very interesting, and very telling."

[thewidewideworld]

"I doubt he saw it that way. It is the weapon he carries in battle and has killed with it."