Psychicians

by Laurence Dahners

  The woman smiled, “Yes, thanks.” A few moments later she was asleep.

  Movement from across the room drew Kazy’s attention. The husband was standing up and peering at Harriet. Fear trembling in his voice, he asked, “Is she dead?”

  Kazy shook her head and answered quietly, “She’s just resting.” For now, Kazy thought, hopefully not forever.

  ~~~

  When Daussie arrived, she woke Kazy up. Muzzily shaking her head, she said, “Sorry, I must’ve dozed off.”

  Daussie grinned and patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. I know how having someone’s life depend on you can make you tired. Pretty stressful huh?” She squatted at the bedside for a moment, then said, “Her pressure’s low. I assume that’s why you wanted me to bring some saline, right?

  “Yeah,” Kazy said. “I made her drink a bunch of water and it’s better than it was. But I’m pretty sure the ancients would have given her a few liters of IV saline.”

  Daussie nodded and lifted a big bottle of saline onto the bed by Harriet’s hip. Moments later, the level of fluid in the bottle started dropping as Daussie ported the saline into Harriet’s femoral vein.

  ~~~

  With two liters of additional fluid in her veins, the pressure in Harriet’s arteries felt much better. Daussie put a hand on Kazy’s shoulder and said, “I think you’ve done great work here. If it’s okay with you, I’ll take the bottles home to get them filled and resterilized.” She cocked her head and looked Kazy in the eye, “Or, I could stay here with your patient. From what her son told me of the dynamic here in the house though, I think you’re the best person to manage things.”

  Kazy nodded. As much as she felt like caring for Harriet was too much for her, if it was too much for her, it was probably too much for anyone. After all, Daussie was only a little bit older than Kazy was. She looked up at Daussie, “Can you come back and check on me in a few hours? Bring some more saline in case she needs it?”

  “No problem,” Daussie said with a smile. “And if you need me sooner, just send that young man. I think he’d do anything for you.” With a grin she leaned closer, “You should have heard the way he was talking about you on our way back here.” Daussie winked, “I was thinking that you must have grown a couple of feet since I last saw you.”

  Kazy snorted, “I think I’ve shrunk.”

  Daussie wrinkled her nose, “Only a little. As I leave, I’m going to tell the family they can come back inside, okay?”

  Kazy nodded, Daussie went out and the family came back in.

  The midwife was with them. The family was understandably upset about Harriet’s potential prognosis. But to Kazy the midwife’s dismay radiated off her in waves. From the flavor of her thoughts, she really was a good person and—though she wouldn’t admit it to anyone else—she knew that a high proportion of the mothers she cared for were getting childbed fever.

  She just didn’t understand why.

  After a few moments, Kazy contrived to stand next to the woman. First, she calmed the midwife’s thoughts, then made her receptive to suggestions from Kazy. Turning to the woman, she spoke quietly, talking to her about germ theory, handwashing, cleanliness, and sterilizing her midwifery kit as much as possible with boiling etcetera. And, if one of her patients did get fevers, calling the Hyllises as soon as possible.

  When Kazy looked away, she saw Harriet’s husband staring at the two of them. “What’re you two yammering on about?” he asked suspiciously.

  Kazy gave him a gentle smile, “We’re just talking about how dangerous childbirth can be.”

  ~~~

  Kazy stayed with Harriet that night. Daussie came and checked on her twice which she surely appreciated. In the morning, Harriet’s pressure was much better and she was able to sit up on the side of the bed. Kazy’s ghirit showed her the woman’s uterus was significantly less inflamed.

  Kazy gave them instructions on how to administer Harriet’s sulfa every few hours. She did this while giving Harriet her next dose, coincidentally checking to be sure Harriet still loved the taste of sulfa.

  This done, Kazy wearily headed to Geller’s. She’d promised to come back and check on Harriet later in the afternoon but didn’t want to forget to advance the Gellers that gold Eva gave her. Running out of sulfa would be a disaster she didn’t want to contemplate.

  People were starting to get used to being healed when they had infections… Which means they’ll start expecting to be healed, instead of being happy when it happens.

  As she walked, she worried about whether the changes she’d made in the people in that house, temporary though they might be, broke with her pledge not to change people without a consensus from others that it needed to be done.

  She decided that calming people so she could go about the work of saving their loved one, that was probably okay.

  But what about making the midwife, whose name she hadn’t even learned, receptive to learning about germ theory? In this case it might be justified on the basis of all the mothers whose lives might be saved by the midwife’s cleanliness…

  But what if someday she used her talent to teach someone something she thought was right… when in fact she was wrong?

  Kazy’s head ached…

  ***

  When Kazy stepped back into Harriet’s room late the next morning, she was greeted by the stink of vomit. To her dismay, she saw Harriet leaning off the side of her bed, retching into the chamber pot.

  Rushing to Harriet’s side, Kazy asked Harriet’s strained looking daughter, “How long’s she been sick?!”

  The daughter said, “About an hour. This morning, she seemed much better than she was last night. We were so happy we even gave her an extra dose of your medicine so she could get better faster.” The daughter shook her head unhappily, “But then she got sick again. She’s been throwing up. When she’s not throwing up she seems exhausted.”

  Kazy put a couple of fingers on her own forehead, just above her nose, and pushed, hoping to ward off the headache she felt coming. “Just a minute,” she said, bending down near Harriet and sending in her ghirit. To her relief, Harriet’s uterus was much less inflamed. Her stomach, on the other hand, was markedly irritated. She looked up at the daughter, “Have you been giving her a full mug of water with the medicine and another one to follow it?”

  The girl shook her head unhappily, “She didn’t like drinking so much.”

  While getting up to get Harriet another mug of water, Kazy said, “Gather your family.”

  When the girl’s eyes flew wide and she clapped a hand to her mouth, then rushed from the room with a pitiful squeak, Kazy realized the girl’d interpreted “gather your family” as a prelude to her telling them Harriet was about to die. For an instant, she considered pursuing the girl, but then decided they could use a little shock to make them pay attention.

  In three or four minutes, the family was gathering apprehensively, all with horrified looks of dismay. The father demanded to know what was going on. When Kazy told him to wait until everyone was there, he tried some bluster. He settled down after Kazy’d given him a withering glance.

  Once the aunt and both children were there, along with a brother who hadn’t been there yesterday, Kazy said, “If Harriet had been dying of thirst and I had prescribed that you give her a certain amount of water, you probably would have understood that she wouldn’t get better faster if you submerged her in the baths, correct?”

  They glanced at one another, puzzled. Then the aunt said, “Of course not. She’d drown.”

  Kazy held up one of the packets of sulfa. “We have much the same situation here with this medicine. I prescribed a certain amount of it. That amount should kill the germs which were making her sick. However, larger doses of the medicine can kill the patient.” At their panicked looks, she said, “No, no. You didn’t give her a large enough dose to endanger her life. You just gave her a big enough dose to really irritate her stomach. Something like feeding someone an entire handful of c
hili peppers. A little chili adds flavor. A lot causes agony. Also, if the medicine isn’t diluted by having her drink fairly large quantities of water it’s more irritating to the stomach because it’s concentrated.” Realizing from the frowns in her audience that they didn’t understand “concentrated,” she said, “‘Concentrated’ is like what happens if you put too much salt in your soup. A little bit of salt makes it taste good. A lot of salt makes it awful. You can rescue the soup by adding more water so the salt isn’t so concentrated.”

  Her audience nodded understanding at this analogy. They looked ashamed of themselves. From the fact that none of them was accusing another of giving Harriet the extra sulfa, Kazy thought they’d probably come up with the brilliant idea to give her even more medicine after a group discussion. Kazy said, “Now, I’ve already given Harriet an extra mug of water. I’d suggest one of you find her some milk to drink. It might coat the inside of her stomach and soothe it somewhat. And,” Kazy rolled her eyes, “I’d urge you to give her the amount of medicine I told you and no more.” Now she looked at them hard, “And, try to get her to drink as much water as you can, right?”

  Once they’d all nodded, Kazy turned to look down at the exhausted looking Harriet. “Harriet, you heard all that, right?”

  Harriet gave her a weak looking nod.

  “And you’re going to do your best to drink the water they bring you, right?”

  Harriet nodded again. “And I won’t ask for extra ‘sweet water.’”

  Kazy closed her eyes as she realized that making the medicine taste good had been part of the problem. In the future, I should just make its flavor neutral. And when my intuition tells me something might be a problem, I should pay attention!

  Their lessons and her own driven home, Kazy told them that Harriet’s uterus seemed much better. “I think she’s going to be well in a few more days. I’ll come back to check on her tomorrow but if something goes wrong, you’ll send someone to get me, right?”

  She got another set of nods.

  As she walked back to the tavern, she wondered whether she could justify using her talent to make people pay better attention to her instructions…

  ~~~

  Kazy arrived back at the clinic to find a little celebration in progress. A strange woman, Eva, Daussie, and Vyrda were all hugging one another and wiping away tears. For a moment Kazy thought something terrible had happened, but the waves of joy radiating out of them and into her ghirit told her the occasion was joyful. “What’s happened?” she asked hoping to join in the excitement.

  Eva turned and gave Kazy a brilliant smile. She leaned close and spoke quietly, “About seven weeks ago this lady,” Eva indicated the strange woman, “came to see Daussie because she hadn’t been able to get pregnant. The problem turned out to be scarring of her fallopian tubes. She was ovulating so Daussie ported that egg past the scarring and into the uterus.” Eva turned to throw her arms around the woman while grinning back at Kazy, “Now she’s come to see us because she’s missed a couple of periods. She’s pregnant!” Eva reached out with a hand. “Come see!”

  When Kazy approached, Eva took her by the wrist and laid her palm on the woman’s lower abdomen. Knowing what Eva wanted, Kazy sent her ghirit into the woman’s uterus. Sure enough, there was an embryo present. She looked up at her cousin.

  Daussie’s triumphant smile was a thing of beauty…

  ***

  Kazy and Grace had the morning off. They’d decided to check out the new caravan that’d arrived the evening before. It wasn’t a particularly large caravan so Kazy thought they might be disappointed by its offerings.

  However, a little excitement had to be better than no excitement at all.

  Grace turned toward her, “Have you heard anything about this caravan?”

  Kazy shook her head. Her eyes were focused on a group of young people who, surprisingly, looked like they were leaving the caravan and heading toward the town. Usually, the first day in a new town everyone in a caravan was busy getting set up. You didn’t get time to go check out the town for yourself until the morning of the second day. Or, perhaps if things were slow, you might be able to go into town the afternoon of the first day. Not the morning of the first day.

  She’d just turned her attention back to the caravan, curiosity unsatisfied, when one of the little group started angling toward her and Kazy. Maybe they need directions? she wondered. It could be they have to find certain supplies in order to finish setting up? Or, perhaps they’re merchants who sell a bulk product to stores in town and they’re going in to find stores that want to buy it. But then, why so many of them? And all so young? And not carrying samples? Maybe they buy a bulk product in Clancy Vail and they’re all going to be needed to carry it back? But don’t they have a mule or horse?

  Now the entire group was heading to intersect with Grace and Kazy, suggesting they were sticking together. That might be because they were all needed to carry back whatever they were after. Or, it might just be that it made good sense to stay together in a strange town. She decided she wasn’t going to be able to figure out what they were doing until she talked to them

  As they approached, Kazy took a moment to check their attitudes with her ghirit. They weren’t hostile. They seemed to be more of the excited and friendly persuasion. Perhaps a bit naïve about the world. Kazy and Grace slowed. “Hello?” Kazy said, both a greeting and an interrogative about what the people wanted.

  The young man in front, who looked to be about twenty, said, “Do you know if healer Eva Hyllis lives here? We’ve traveled with two different caravans trying to find her. The latest word we’ve gotten is that she lives here in Clancy Vail.”

  Kazy blinked in surprise, surveying them quickly with her eyes. They all looked healthy. Three women and one other man. The young man in front and one of the women seemed strangely familiar, though Kazy would’ve sworn she hadn’t actually seen any of them before. She guessed that the ages of the five people ranged from seventeen to twenty-five. Her eyes narrowed and she asked, “Who’s sick?”

  The young man looked startled, then grinned. “Oh, we’re all fine. We want to become healers ourselves. Even as far away as we live, we’ve heard stories about Ms. Hyllis. People say she cures things no one else can.” He leaned a little closer and spoke as if revealing a secret, “I mean, really heals people. She doesn’t just tell people she can heal them, charge them a lot of money, shake her rattle and send them on their way.” He shook his head, “In fact, we’ve been told if a patient doesn’t get better she doesn’t charge them at all!”

  A blonde woman gave a little laugh and said, “Come on now Hareh, she’s not a saint! No one could live up to the image you’ve built in your mind.”

  Kazy glanced at the woman, then curiously at Grace, wondering how she was taking this. Grace looked amused. Kazy turned back to Hareh. “And… what exactly are you wanting from Eva?”

  “Oh!” one of the women said with a little gasp. “You know her?”

  Kazy nodded slowly, wondering why she felt reluctant to answer their questions. They were much closer now so she quickly scanned them again with her ghirit. The impression she got was overwhelmingly positive, though she thought one of them might have less than noble purposes. She couldn’t tell that for sure without focusing on them one at a time, an endeavor that would bring the conversation to a standstill. Instead, rather than answering their question, she waited for them to answer hers.

  Hareh said, “We want to… apprentice ourselves to her if she’ll have us. Learn what we can of her methods and take them back to the people of our hometowns. Spread her techniques. Do you know if she takes apprentices?”

  Kazy nodded again, feeling Grace’s curious eyes on her. Grace probably wondered why she was so reticent. Feeling like she was forcing the words out, Kazy said, “She does.” When they weren’t immediately forthcoming with another question, she studied the man called Hareh, “You’re right. She doesn’t charge people who don’t get better. And,” she looke
d the blond woman in the eye and spoke with a voice that crackled with emotion, “you’re wrong. She is a saint.” Turning without waiting to see their reaction, Kazy said, “I’ll take you to her.”

  Grace laughed, “What about our ‘morning off’ to see the caravan?”

  Without turning, Kazy waved at the caravan grounds, “Go on without me. Come back and tell me what I missed. This’ll be important to Eva… so it’s important to me.”

  As Kazy led them toward the tavern, Hareh looked surprised, “Where’re we going?”

  Kazy pointed, “The tavern there. That’s where we live.”

  “I thought she lived in Clancy Vail?” Hareh asked suspiciously.

  “She did,” Kazy answered. “We moved recently for… various reasons.”

  “She lives outside the wall?” one of the women asked as if horrified by such a situation.

  “We do,” Kazy said, not explaining further.

  “You keep saying, ‘we,’” Hareh said, walking beside her. “Are you her daughter?

  “Cousin,” Kazy said. She put out a hand, “Kazy Hyllis.” As they shook hands, she took advantage of his proximity to skim his thoughts. She didn’t want to be invasive, but she didn’t want Eva to get blindsided by someone trying to cheat her either. Oh, he’s nice, she thought with some surprise. He’s someone who really does want to help others. She thought to herself that the flavor of his mind seemed much like Eva’s. Masculine, but somehow similar in other ways. Maybe because of the way they both so badly want to help others?

  “Oh,” Hareh said, sounding apprehensive. “Are you already apprenticed to her then?”

  Kazy could feel the weight of his fear that Eva already had enough apprentices and wouldn’t need any more. She nodded and grinned. “She has four apprentices so far…” Kazy let the silence stretch to the breaking point before shrugging and flashing him a smile, “But she’d like to have a lot more.” She turned so her voice would carry to the others, “Eva’s dream is to start a medical school where people can come from all over to learn about medicine. Perhaps you’ll be her first students.”