He searched for anyone he might know. There were no master physickers making rounds this morning, so there were no students, either. There were a few junior physickers weaving through, stopping at each cot, and making a few notes in the patient’s records.
Alec stayed away from them. He had the feeling that most of the junior physickers were frustrated with him. Mostly that came from the fact that he had been promoted straight to full physicker. Many of the junior physickers toiled for years at this level, and testing to be promoted from junior physicker to full physicker would be difficult, and some would never reach that level. It wasn’t a guarantee a junior physicker was promoted.
As he stopped at one of the cots, this one holding a middle-aged man with long, flowing brown hair, one of the junior physickers approached. “Physicker Stross. I haven’t seen you today. We thought perhaps you might not come.”
Alec took a deep breath. This was the reason he had needed to come. There was now a certain expectation that he would visit daily. It was his own fault. He had started it by coming as often as he did to the hospital ward. But now, he had other things he needed to investigate, things that would make it difficult to keep up his daily visits.
“Has anything interesting come in today?”
“We have it covered,” the junior physicker said.
Alec looked over at Darren. He was a weaselly-looking man, with eyes set too close together, and a peaked hairline. He kept his hair short, which only accentuated the sharp hairline.
“I’m sure that you have it covered, junior physicker,” Alec said. He made a point of emphasizing the title. If they were going to push back on his promotion, he would use the only thing he had at his disposal, and that was his seniority. “I’m only asking if anything interesting has come in today.”
Then again, asking what was interesting would be variable. What was interesting to Alec might not be interesting to the junior physickers. One of the many things he had learned in his time at the university was that the level of knowledge of the junior physickers was lacking compared to what Alec had once assumed. It wasn’t the case with the master physickers. They were incredibly bright, and they were quite talented, but even they had limitations.
Alec wasn’t sure why he would have once thought otherwise. Why should the master physickers be any more talented than his father? They might have access to resources his father didn’t, but his father had a great analytical mind, and that was what he had tried to instill in Alec. It was the recognition of patterns and putting them together so he could make a diagnosis. Once he had that diagnosis, then it was understanding the treatments, but even that—at least at the university—wasn’t quite as important, especially since the librarians could search through the various records and help come up with previous diagnoses that had worked.
“There have been a few things that have come in,” Darren said. He wrinkled his nose and pointed to the man in front of Alec. “This one. He came in this morning. He smelled awful. We had several of the senior students clean him up.”
Darren seemed particularly pleased with himself about that, though Alec couldn’t blame him. There were times when patients did smell terrible when they arrived. He had cleaned many patients for his father, though his father had never shied away from doing the work himself, either. It wasn’t that he avoided it. Not the way Darren seemed to.
“There are times when you can learn more about the patient by doing such things yourself,” Alec said.
“And there are times when I can better use my expertise helping patients who need it,” Darren replied.
“And what has your expertise told you about this patient?”
“He was dropped off at the university. We wouldn’t have taken him in, normally, but…”
Alec looked over at him. “But what?”
“But the master physickers have been encouraging us to take on more hopeless cases. The masters know there isn’t anything that can be done for most of them. Gods, most of the time, we don’t even know what’s wrong with them. How can we, especially with someone like this, who comes to the university unable to speak?”
There had been others who had come recently come unable to speak. One of them had been his father. What would have happened had some junior physicker abandoned his father? What would’ve happened to Cara, or even to Beckah, had no one been willing to work with them?
“Just because they can’t speak doesn’t mean there isn’t anything they can tell you,” Alec said as he began his assessment.
It happened naturally. He started by looking over the man, surveying to see if there was anything that was obviously wrong. Often times, a simple survey would tell him all he needed. He knew the man had come in filthy and stinking, which meant he likely came from one of the outer sections. A lowborn. It pleased Alec to have lowborns coming here, especially now, and especially since Sam was so adamant that they devote time to working with them.
The survey didn’t reveal anything. Maybe it would have were he to have seen the man before he was cleaned up, but now, there wasn’t anything easily identifiable.
Alec rolled him, looking at his back, searching for any signs of injury. There was no bruising, and there was no evidence of a rash. He looked much like his father had looked when he had come in.
Could someone have been exposed to eel venom again?
Alec didn’t think it was likely, though maybe it was. Maybe his father had been involved in spreading more of the eel venom than he had realized.
There was nothing external he was able to easily ascertain. He leaned down and listened to the man’s heart rate. It was fast, much more rapid than he would’ve expected. He listened for long moments, trying to determine if there was any irregularity to it. There was none. It was nothing more than a fast heartbeat.
He shifted, listening to his lungs. The breathing was regular, though somewhat raspy. When he listened to the man’s belly, he didn’t hear anything unusual there.
“See? There’s nothing you can determine.”
Alec ignored him and pulled open the man’s eyelids. Everything seemed normal there. He moved on, prying open his mouth to look inside. When he did, he resisted the urge to point. “What do you see, junior physicker?”
The other man blinked. “In his mouth? There’s nothing there.”
“There is. Take a look at his palate.”
The junior physicker leaned in. Alec kept the man’s chin pried down, holding his mouth open. The lighting in the hospital ward was generally good, but it would be difficult to see easily into his mouth, without shoving his face down as the junior physicker did. He needed some reflected light. Alec decided to help him and grabbed a silver reflector and placed it in front of the patient’s mouth.
“Oh.”
Alec nodded. “You didn’t see that before?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then you weren’t looking. A thorough examination—especially when someone comes in like this, dirty and unable to speak, with a heart rate twice normal—would easily identify the bluish blush on the palate that would indicate harbom mushrooms.”
Alec had seen it before, though it was fairly infrequent. Mushrooms like that could be intoxicating, an effect that would eventually wear off, though there was a counter for it. “Are you familiar with this intoxication?”
The junior physicker shook his head.
“The mushrooms grow in only certain places, typically muddy places, likely along the edge of the swamp.” Which explained why the man had come in filthy and stinking. “And taking them can lead to several side effects. One is that, in specific concentrations, people can become obtunded. The effect will wear off, but it’s possible he would stop breathing. That alone is reason to counter the effect.”
“What is used to counter it?”
“Chollin seeds.”
The junior physicker nodded quickly. “I will administer them immediately. What is the necessary dose?”
“Do you need me to look that up for you?” A
lec asked.
He could have simply told the man. He had it memorized, his father making certain he knew the adequate dose, but he decided this man needed a little bit of humility.
“No. Of course not. I’m sure the library would have records of it.”
“I’m sure they do. I have seen it there myself.”
Darren nodded his head quickly. He hurried off and left Alec standing by himself. He hated that it had come to that, but he hated almost as much the fact there were junior physickers who thought he was promoted and didn’t deserve it.
“You didn’t need to be quite so harsh with him.”
Alec turned and saw Master Harrison standing behind him. He was a thin man and had a scruff of a beard growing today. He had four students behind him, each watching Alec with wide eyes. They were all junior-level students, most of who had probably only recently gained entry to the university.
Alec flushed. “I was only trying to make a point.”
“And it was a necessary one.” Master Harrison turned back to the students. “What you have just seen Physicker Stross demonstrate is that even patients who cannot speak often have a story to tell. If you don’t take your time and perform a thorough evaluation, you might miss that story. You might miss your opportunity to help them. Now, in the case of this patient, if it is harbom mushrooms, then the effect will wear off naturally. It will take time, and since he’s at the university already, it’s unlikely he will suffer any long-term consequences, especially as the treatment is fairly straightforward. But there are other illnesses that you might encounter that a cursory evaluation would overlook, and could produce dire consequences. That is what you must focus on.”
Master Harrison winked at him as he walked past.
Alec shook his head. “You could show them the blush. It’s not something they will often see, but once they do, it will be impossible to overlook in the future.”
“An excellent point, Physicker Stross.”
Master Harrison stopped next to the man and pulled down his chin. He held the reflective mirror in place, and one by one, each student leaned down to see it. It was a distinctive bluish discoloration of the palate, one that none of these students would overlook in the future.
And maybe Alec had been too hard on Darren. It was possible that he had never seen the blush of the mushroom intoxication. It wasn’t so common it could be easily identified, especially if all of their training came at the university. How many people with money—the kind who typically came here—would have been exposed to mushrooms like that? Such intoxication was more common in the outer sections, and more common where his father might have seen it.
It was even more reason for patients to be allowed entry to the university, regardless of their ability to pay.
“Harbom mushrooms are sought-after in some of the outer sections,” Alec started while the students continued to examine the patient. “They are thought to have many benefits. Sometimes, they can be desired for their intoxication, but in low doses, many people believe they can make a person more appealing.”
One of the students, a younger woman with mousy brown hair, screwed her nose up. “More appealing? Why would the lowborns think something like that?”
Alec had made a point of not using the term lowborn, but his reference to the outer sections had been enough. “There are many people who believe many different things. If you take the time to understand them, you can help them. It’s best not to judge a person before you get to know them.”
Master Harrison watched Alec. After moment, he nodded. “Excellent diagnosis, Physicker Stross.” He guided the students off, leaving Alec with the patient.
If nothing else, he had done some good. He had helped this man. There was no question that the man would have recovered on his own, but without Alec here, he might not have recovered quite as quickly. And, regardless of what Master Harrison said, it was possible he could asphyxiate. It was not unusual for someone who was intoxicated, even with mushrooms, to asphyxiate. Considering the size of the university, and the number of junior physickers who were here, it wouldn’t be typical for that to happen, but it wouldn’t be unheard of for someone to die while under the direct supervision of the physickers.
Maybe his father was right. Maybe there was more for him to do here than what he could do if he were to go with Sam. He didn’t like the idea of letting her go into the Theln lands on her own, but if he wasn’t here, would everyone be as motivated as Alec to help? Would all of the work that he had put in, attempting to coax the master physickers to help more people than they were inclined to, be lost?
Maybe he needed to focus his attention here a little longer.
He looked around the hospital ward. Not only did he need to focus his attention here a little longer, but he needed to take his own advice. He needed to continue to listen rather than to judge.
When Darren returned, Alec greeted him with a smile. “Junior physicker, I might have been a bit harsh with you. It has occurred to me that you might not have seen this intoxication before. May I show you the findings?”
Darren watched him for a long moment before nodding. “I would like that, Physicker Stross.”
6
A Mother’s Gift
Alec sat at his desk, the book flipped open in front of him. So far, he had not discovered any way of translating it. There were diagrams within the book, and that was what he suspected his father had used to help him ascertain that this was a book on papermaking, but the language was nothing familiar to him. His attempts to find a reference to that language in the library had been unsuccessful. Either the library kept it restricted in the masters’ section, or there simply wasn’t anything.
It made him feel even more confident this was a book from the Theln lands. If that was the case, and if it was a book on Theln papermaking, Alec was even more interested in knowing what secrets might be held within it.
There was a knock at his door, and he looked up. “Come in.”
The door opened, and Beckah poked her head in. Alec didn’t see her nearly as often as he once had. Ever since his promotion, it had been difficult for the two of them to spend as much time together. He suspected Sam would be pleased by that, especially given that she had a strange sort of jealousy about Beckah, but Alec missed his friend.
“You are here,” she said, stepping inside and closing the door behind her. She took a seat on the edge of his bed and looked over at him. “I haven’t been able to find you. I thought I could catch you in the ward, but you haven’t been coming at the same time as you used to.”
There was a hint of accusation in her tone. “I’ve been a little distracted. I’ve been trying to understand the easar paper and seeing if there’s any way that I can re-create it, but I haven’t been able to determine anything.”
“Even with the eel venom?”
“Even with the eel venom,” Alec said. “Master Helen and I have tried various techniques to apply the venom to paper, but nothing has been particularly successful.”
“Then maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with the eel venom,” Beckah said.
“I don’t know. It’s possible, but I’ve begun to wonder if it has to do with the way the eel venom is integrated into the papermaking process.”
She started to smile and looked down at the book he had flipped open. She stood and looked over his shoulder, studying the page. “So now you’ve decided to become a paper maker?”
“I’ve not decided anything,” Alec said, laughing. He considered telling her about his mother but decided against it. He wasn’t sure what he thought about it, not yet, and since he couldn’t interpret the writing in the book, he wasn’t even certain that this was a Theln book. Maybe he was wrong about it. “I just want to understand everything I can about what they might have done to create the paper.”
“If anyone is able to figure it out, it will be you.”
She took a seat and began to fidget with her hands. Alec turned and looked at her. “What is it?”
“It’s… I’ve been put up for promotion to junior physicker.”
Alec turned his attention away from the book and smiled at her. “That’s wonderful.”
“Is it? I know you’re planning on doing something. You don’t have to tell me, and I understand that for some reason, you don’t think you can tell me everything, but if you leave, who will help ensure I’m promoted?”
Alec laughed. “I’m pretty sure I’m not the person you want involved in that discussion. Most of the junior physickers seem offended by the fact that I am a full physicker. The other full physickers seem to feel like I took a shortcut. And the master physickers…”
“You wouldn’t have been promoted without the master physickers.”
That was true, but it didn’t change their opinion of him, for better or worse.
“Why do I get the sense you’re nervous?”
“It’s not that I’m nervous. I just… I just don’t know what to expect.”
“I can tell you about my testing,” he said.
“That’s just it. The way you were tested is different from how I will be tested. You went in and demanded testing,” she said.
“It’s not so much that I demanded testing…” Alec said. He had twisted in his chair so that he could sit closer to her. “And you know the reason I did it. We needed to find Jessup.” Then again, that was before they knew that Jessup was the one who was Marin’s Scribe. Even now that they had found him, and he had been captured, Alec wasn’t sure why Master Jessup had remained hidden in the university. Why would he have stayed here?
Then again, where else would he have gone? Marin had remained in the city, and she had some other way of using her abilities, some way that Sam still didn’t entirely know. It was different from the way Sam used her abilities.
“I understand why you did it, and I understand it was necessary at the time. I’m just saying I wish there was a better way for me to know what I’m going to be tested on.”
Amnesia: The Book of Maladies Page 5
