Roderick and Gorlana Pt. 05

"You're ill."

Granny closed her eyes tightly and a small tear started to zigzag through her wrinkles, "I know," she rasped. "I've barely been able to cook the simplest things for myself but I haven't had any taste for food anyway, but I'm becoming so weak, things my body should be able to do, I just can't. But, if there's nothing to be done about it, I'd rather spend my last days here."

Gorlana put her arm around her, "I think I can see you're a brave woman, but I think you're also a reasonable one," she said carefully. "The way I see it is... perhaps it's something like a cancer and nothing can be done, so you'll get worse and need more help whether you want it or not. Your family loves you too much, they're not gonna let you starve in your own filth."

She scoffed a hoarse laugh and nodded in reluctant agreement with Gorlana.

"Or... perhaps it IS something that can be treated. There are infections that are slower but if they get out of control can cause similar symptoms. The medicines take longer to work but they usually do. If so, you can come back here after you get well in Fortspring. Either way. You should go there. At least for now."

Her old half-orc face that Gorlana could see Roderick's resemblance in now, seemed to study her for a long moment, then finally gave a conciliatory nod and she whispered, "Okay."

Gorlana gave a supportive smile and helped her into her creaky bed. The old woman began to hum a song softly to herself as she drew up the covers. Gorlana suddenly froze, an old memory lifted out of the depths of her mind. Almost on instinct, as granny paused, Gorlana finished the melody. She felt the woman's hand grasp hers softly.

"How do you know that song?" Gorlana asked, studying the woman with a new sudden interest.

"I was about to ask you the same thing. My mother would always sing it to me," she replied.

"Do you know where your mother was from?" Gorlana asked.

She shook her head, "No. She said she was orphaned. Didn't talk much about her life before moving here either."

"Did she know what her clan was?"

Granny shrugged, "If so, she never told me."

"That melody. It's an old orcish warsong. A sad one. Of a clan that was high in honour, but lost, their stronghold broken and they were scattered throughout the realm."

"Hmm. She'd usually hum it, but sometimes she'd sing the old-orthalian words, but I never understood them."

Gorlana paused a long moment, studying the woman's features with a new interest, "I think... It's possible you might be descended from the Vauroq. I met one once, when I was young. My mother made sure I knew to hold her in high esteem, not just because she was a wise-woman but because she was of that lost clan. I remember after we shared our meal with her she sang that song. It is their most sacred war-song."

Granny gave her a grateful smile, "Well I appreciate the bedtime story. I thought that type of thing didn't matter though?" she said with a croaking giggle.

Gorlana gave a sour smirk, "It shouldn't. At least, not to anyone but you."

"Didn't you just finish convincing me to accept that things were the way they were, and not the way we wanted them to be?"

Gorlana giggled back, "Yes, I suppose I of all people should know better."

Granny eyed her for a long moment and then said, "You're the bloody Orcish Queen aren't you?"

Gorlana blushed and finally nodded, "I am, but please, just... for tonight at least, I'm just Gorlana."

She nodded with an understanding smile, "I can tell that's who you are to him, so that's who you'll be to me."

Gorlana gave an appreciative nod, then frowned as the old woman started coughing again but then it turned into a heavy laughter.

"What is it?" Gorlana finally asked.

"Oh, just remembering something Roderick said the last time he visited me. I don't think he'd been serious, but now I'm wondering if he was right. The boy could always do anything he set his stubborn mind to, so why not soothsayin'. Time will tell I suppose. Thank you Gorlana. You're a wonderful woman. I'm glad he has you around."

Gorlana gently held her blunt-clawed hand one last time and then left the room. In the hallway, Roderick's face was stricken with worry, but she told him that she had convinced her to come to Fortspring. Roderick closed his eyes with a relieved nod, squeezing her arm back, and whispering an intensely grateful, "Thank you."

Gorlana bit her lip in sympathy as he slipped into the room. She sat at the table hearing the din of their quiet conversation, wondering if she should leave, but deciding to stay and say goodnight at least.

When Roderick came out again after a few minutes, his pale face was stained with quickly wiped-away tears but looking more optimistic, he gulped and smiled, asking, "You trained as a healer?"

She looked away in slight embarrassment, "I shadowed under one as part of my training in Orthanhall. I'm no wise-woman but I know enough to have some ideas of what might be going on."

"She seemed to be doing so well when I saw her last year," he said, shaking his head in frustration.

"Anything can happen at her age, unfortunately,"

"Do you really think she can be treated? Healed?" he asked.

She paused and sighed, "I won't lie to you Roderick the odds are almost certainly against her, but it's possible, though at her age... What I know is she should at least be somewhere she can get more help. I could likely find some herbs near here that might help temper the symptoms in the meantime, but that's it."

His face lit up, "Please. Whatever you can do."

She nodded with a sympathetic smile, hating to see him so distraught but cherishing the closeness she felt; the walls he'd been stripped of. Then, suddenly he was hugging her. She paused for only a moment and then squeezed him back. Not as a lover, but simply wanting to be there for a good man who deserved support. She closed her eyes and held him strongly, marvelling at how close she felt to him, even nose-blind to his feelings as she was.

She offered to leave but he told her she could stay if she wished, and she used the only half-empty mead bottles as an excuse. They sat and had a gradually more comfortable conversation. She told him he might be of the Vauroq clan and blushed heavily when he asked her to sing the song, but he was able to coax her into it. Her heart was beating fast when she finished, wishing she could smell the feelings behind his captivated eyes and wanting to clarify if his response of 'beautiful' was for the song itself or her voice. Instead she explained the meaning. The story and history of their once great clan high in the North Ramparts near the northern screes where there likely still lay the ruin of their stronghold, their territory once spreading south from there nearly to Roancliff itself.

They decided that they would keep his Granny's connection to him a secret, in order not to have rumours of his orcish blood make their way into validity in the higher circles. She would simply be a long-lost Vauroq woman that Gorlana had met by chance, and taken under her wing to help travel to Fortspring, in her struggling health. Enough of it was true to prevent the lie from stinking too strongly on her breath in front of the others, she hoped.

Even as the conversation died to a comfortable silence they stayed seated on the couch, leaning close. They both knew she should head back to the camp, and just when she thought she should speak up and begrudgingly stand up, he asked her to tell him some more about the medicinal plants she had seen so far in Fringeland.

She smiled and leaned closer starting by explaining what she might gather for his grandmother. She already knew where to harvest some amazingly ripe and hardy stamelin husks she had seen. So few medicines had evidently been harvested from these forests that there was a veritable bounty to be had. His sleepy nods and grunts of interest started to soften. Just as she was starting to explain why it might be risky to give a certain mushroom concentrate that would help in the case of a cancer, since it might worsen a possible infection, her breath caught.

His head had nuzzled into her shoulder. She turned, shivers spreading from her shoulder across her body, baffled why he would suddenly be so boldly affectionate. She whispered his name tracing her hand nervously to his, but he didn't take it.

Suddenly he let out a loud horking snore. He was asleep, she realized. A second of surprised offence that her words had bored him to sleep, quickly turned to giggling to herself at the sound of his snoring, and at how startled she'd been.

She sighed, telling herself to get up and leave, but his peaceful sleeping body leaned against her on the couch felt so good, she quickly rationalized that it was late. Late enough it would be better to walk back in the morning. She closed her eyes and breathed through the top of his hair, wishing she could smell him now. She opened her eyes, pretending this was their cabin, peaceful together in the woods; a life free from all else.

She still wanted him, she couldn't deny. It was simply different now. A similar desire to be with him, stay with him, like before, only stripped of that dizzying lust. A different flavour of it was still there, perhaps with an insidious type of strength. It was less though. She closed her eyes, and as she slowly drifted to sleep, she thought, perhaps a quarter as strong...

...

4 days later,

"I'm not angry with ya Mum, I'm just glad you're here now," Roderick's father said with a bothered irritation, clearly stifling his concern at seeing his mother bed-bound in the Fortspring hospital.

Roderick's mother put a hand on his fathers shoulder and with a softer voice said, "We're glad Roddy convinced you to come, and was able to get you here at least."

"T'wasn't Roddy really, it was mostly his lady friend," Granny rasped. "Gorlana. Where is she? I made her promise to stick around and I know she's a woman of her word."

Roderick turned and gestured for Gorlana to come closer from her polite distance across the room. When they had initially arrived, the Physicker-Sage had unsurprisingly addressed Roderick first, with an instant respect knowing who he was. He had been able to surreptitiously hand the reigns of conversation to Gorlana though, and was relieved and impressed to see the Sage's initial derisive skepticism gradually fade as he appreciated Gorlana's knowledge. Even her leftover herb-elixir she had been treating his granny with was accepted with a hesitant sniff but pocketed with a nod of thanks and respect in the end. His granny had watched the whole encounter from her wheeled cot, and nudged her with a wink, whispering 'atta girl' with a proud smile, before Roderick left Gorlana with her, to hurry to his parents' house.

Now, the orcish queen humbly approached the side of the bed again, and put her hand on the old woman's foot with a gentle smile, "I simply helped you go willingly. I think Roderick would have thrown you over his shoulder if he had to."

His parents chuckled, and sniffled, smiling at her gratefully.

"Nonsense," Granny insisted, "I've been more than well looked after thanks to her on the way here. She's treated me with... highest honour," she said with a weak smile at her last two words.

There was a clearing of a throat and they turned to see the Physicker-Sage step around the curtain, "My apologies to intrude again. Are you two the next of kin then?" the sage asked with an inquisitive squint.

Roderick's father shook the old man's hand, "Um, yes. How is she? Er, have you been able to tell what's wrong?"

"Not with precision, but there are several possibilities we can treat for. We have not been able to find evidence of a cancerous tumour on a thorough examination."

"Certainly was thorough at that..." granny commented, raising a wrinkled eyebrow.

"But that doesn't rule it out. Particularly one in the lung. Yet we will hope instead, for perhaps a bullous or cavitating infection of the lung which might cause similar symptoms but would have higher odds of being successfully treated, though the regime is quite prolonged."

Granny frowned, "Gorlana is he tellin' the truth?"

Roderick's parents turned with surprise at her trusting question.

Gorlana seemed to resist taking a half step back, and nodded, "I would agree with the Sage, yes. They have different methods than the wise-women I know, but in the end it all comes down to the same things, from what I can see."

The Sage's frown of stifled offence at Granny's question had turned into a pensive appreciative nod to Gorlana, and he turned back to Roderick's parents. He explained which medicines they would give and that they would not see immediate results, likely following her for several weeks, but he agreed that she could be transferred to their home after a few days as long as she didn't get any worse.

As they finally said their goodbyes his parents both gave Gorlana long grateful hugs with words of deep thanks, realizing how much she had done to help. Roderick felt a warm pride seeing it, and the embarrassed but appreciative flush to Gorlana's face.

As they left the hospital Roderick seemed to suddenly realize they were alone together, walking as if any other mixed race couple on the street, of which they were notably not the only ones. Fortspring had looked much more green over the past year, that was for certain. What wasn't for certain was how much was from emigration from Southern Orthalia and how much from those native to Fringeland choosing to no longer hide their mixed-blood features.

"I almost don't feel out of place here," Gorlana commented, seeming to read his mind.

"I'm glad to hear that. Plus it's nice to almost feel anonymous," he said with a smile, walking close to her.

She giggled, "It is a nice change. Maybe only for me though," she added as a passerby nodded deeply in acknowledgement to Roderick. "You seem as much a hero here as in Highquarry." When he simply shrugged she continued, "Oh don't be modest, I could see from the minute we arrived how much the Mayor respected you. I expected to have to camp outside the cities but his generosity with getting us all rooms at the inns was a nice surprise. I still feel like I have you to thank for that."

"No, he'd have done it anyway. Korboq's contingent from Southern Orthalia beat us here by a week already and he housed them there too. Though it sounds like they've earned their room and board already working on the construction projects with the soldiers I had left here on my way to the mountains."

"Another wise choice, by the way," she said, "Did Valessa really think you needed a hundred soldiers to escort me?"

"It... wasn't just her," Roderick said lamely. "Old habits die hard with everyone, the higher ups in Andrapolis included."

"Well I'm glad so far the mayor and the others here seem cut from a different cloth."

"He's a good man. Does his best." Roderick said honestly.

She smiled at him endearingly, "And that there is why they love you here. It's not a deferential respect, it's a brotherly one. I've been frustrated with trying to achieve as much in Orthanhall."

Roderick nodded with a smile of understanding, "It's nice to have someone appreciate that. Valessa..." he stopped himself feeling like he didn't want to bring her up, "... it's not the same in the palace, for what it's worth. It's taken effort even as 'just a Duke', and it might not be possible as a full-out prince."

"Still, I need people I can be myself around, and not just a queen," she said, looking at him fondly.

"Absolutely," Roderick said with an agreeing smile, meeting her eyes with a comforting friendly familiarity that had been growing daily on their journey.

"What's are these?" Gorlana said, turning to a market stall next to them.

"Oh..." Roderick hesitated, "I'd wait-"

"Pickled carrots for the lovely orc-maiden?" the merchant woman said, seeing her attention.

"Yes, I'd love to try," Gorlana said excitedly.

"Oh! You're Duke Roderick! My apologies, you must be with the orc queen's lot then."

"This is the orc queen. May I introduce Queen Gorlana," Roderick said.

Gorlana elbowed him in annoyance, "Please don't make a fuss about me, but I'll take two of your largest carrots, one for me and one for the Duke."

"Certainly, and don't you worry about payin' your highness."

"Nonsense, I'll pay double for your honour, and for you to not shout out who I am to the others on the street," Gorlana said, pulling out several coins, and glancing at Roderick, who cleared his throat realizing his mistake.

"You're too kind, thank you your majesty, I'll sing your praises... after you've safely disappeared," she said with a wink.

Roderick looked down at the unappealing carrot as they walked away, "There are so many better market stalls I was going to take you to rather than the first pickle stand in the slab streets.

Gorlana frowned "Is... this not a good part of town?"

Rodrick shrugged, "It's fine, though I wouldn't wander through at night, and it's not exactly known for it's food. I wanted to take you to a bakery shop."

She shrugged, "You still can." then bit into her carrot and closed her eyes.

The moan that rumbled through her chest made Roderick's body stir in a way that reminded him of the deeper layers of familiarity he had been trying to forget over the past few days, and that his lack of scent in no way made him entirely immune to it. He took a bite himself and chewed, with an unimpressed expression at the carrot.

"These are amazing!" she exclaimed.

"If you say so," he chuckled.

She scoffed and gave him a playful swat, "You're spoiled."

When they finally arrived at the inn, Gorlana was finishing off both of their carrots and Roderick had eaten both of the sugared buns after she had taken one bite. Their good-natured argument over food had waned into talking of architecture and construction of the buildings around them. Gorlana was keenly interested and even openly awed at some of the buildings that Roderick wouldn't have thought to look at twice. He told her what he knew of the small city's history and her eager attention made him feel like the proudest ambassador Fortspring ever had.

Roderick stopped in front of the door and turned to her, unsure of when he'd get to speak to her alone again, and said, "Gorlana. Thank you. Really, it's meant so much to me how you helped with my grandmother, getting her here anonymously, and tending to her. It's more than I could ever ask of any friend."

She seemed to fight off a blush and looked askance, then regarded him with a nervous dimple, "Of course. I was more than happy to help. She's a wonderful woman."

"I... hope it wasn't too awkward meeting my parents. I-"

"No not at all," she giggled at his uncertainty, "They're wonderful people too, though I'm not surprised. And, your mother's right you should visit them more." She met his eyes in a familiar admiring way that almost sucked him in, before she seemed to catch herself, and said, "But you're welcome, and I sincerely hope she can improve," then turned away quickly to the door.

They entered the common room full of their human and orc soldiers. Faringoll immediately came up to Gorlana with an intensely serious face that made Roderick worried.

She spoke in low urgency to her queen, "Gorlana... They have... pickled... BEANS!"

Roderick stifled his laughter, but Gorlana didn't, and let out a loud smiling gasp and a hearty laugh, sharing Faringoll's excitement as she led her away. Gorlana looked back with a smile, flashing her fangs with glee at Roderick, who watched her walk away with a wistful sigh.

He felt a tingling excitement that he knew wasn't necessarily a good thing. He wasn't really lusting after her like he had in the past though. It was less... or, more? Day by day on their journey, their scentless conversations had seemed to gradually let them see around the wall the scentsfoil had created, or perhaps see through it with a different light. What distance there had been between them at first had seemed to be connecting now through an altogether different path. A more human one. Almost as if they were getting to know each other for the first time all over again.