Noli Short Story

The following short story takes place about 10 years before the events of Glass Kanin. I hope you enjoy!

* * * 

Patty skidded around the corner, catching the doorframe to swing to a stop. “Rezira, come quick! We need you in the trauma ward.”

Rezira paused, bandage mid-way tied around her patient’s arm. “Now?”

“It’s the trauma ward.” Patty’s ears went flat, her cat-like tail flicking agitatedly from side to side. “Yes, now!”

With an apologetic look to her patient, Rezira hurriedly finished the make-shift knot and jumped to her feet, following Patty out the door. The felis didn’t wait for her to catch up.

“What’s the matter?” Rezira asked, jogging to keep pace with her superior. The floor shook with each lumbering step, but there wasn’t much Rezira could do about that, what with being an orc. She already got plenty of comments about her stature as it was: Don’t healers need dexterous hands? As if her healing magic didn’t do most of the work.

But if she was being called in to work a trauma case, maybe her skills were finally being recognized after all.

“There’s a patient—poisoned, we think,” Patty said. “But we can’t figure out the cause. Language barrier. You studied with the lamia, right?”

Rezira’s heart sank. Of course they only needed her for her language skills, not for the healing abilities she was actually here to develop. “My Signs are a little rusty.”

“Well, that will have to be good enough,” Patty said, although her tone betrayed her skepticism.

Rezira made a face behind her back.

When they made it to the room, it was swarming with healers and alchemists. The loud clamor of mages arguing with each other over the appropriate antivenom or healing spell was not uncommon for the trauma bay, though even this was excessive compared to what Rezira typically saw. Patty shouldered her way to the bed, and Rezira quickly shadowed her step. The patient was an elf.

The woman’s ochre skin was covered in hundreds of cuts, still bleeding despite the healer’s glowing hands which were running repeatedly and desperately over the wounds. She must have been infected or cursed with some sort of magic blocker. That coupled with not knowing the cause—no wonder the ward was in a panic.

The elf, meanwhile, hardly seemed bothered by the imminent threat of bleeding out, her green eyes bright and smiling.

“Hello,” Rezira awkwardly signed, kneeling down beside the bed. Even then she was still a head taller. “Do you speak Common Sign?”

The elf’s eyes lit up at Rezira’s hand-signs. “Oh!” she signed with an excited flourish. “It’s about time! And I thought the northern cities were supposed to be educated. Does no one here really speak Sign?”

As the elf eagerly dove into conversation, her healer flinched back, dodging the enthusiastic signs while simultaneously trying to dart back in to attend to her duties. Rezira chuckled, gesturing the healer away. The magic was futile anyway.

“Well, I know it, at least,” Rezira replied, already warming to the signs despite being out of practice. “Sorry if it’s rough.”

“Not at all!” the elf signed brightly. “Maybe a bit of an accent, but—”

“Look, sorry,” Rezira cut in. “We can chat later, but right now we need to know what happened to you. We’re having trouble healing your wounds, and I’d rather you not die mid-conversation.”

The elf laughed. “I suppose that makes two of us! Oh, but it’s really such a silly thing. I just got into a spot of trouble with some rather ornery nettlehawks—”

Rezira turned to Patty. “It’s nettle toxin.”

“Lorata’s Light, finally.” The healer snapped a finger at one of the alchemists. “You hear that? Get some nettle antidote brewed, now!”

“My, she seems a bit animated,” the elf noted.

Rezira barked out a laugh before stopping herself. “She’s my boss. Animated is one way to put it.”

The elf’s eyes danced with knowing amusement. “Do I get to learn the name of my savior?”

Rezira glanced to the poor girl who’d given up on the elf’s wounds and was standing dejectedly nearby. “That’s Dezidya, I think.”

“No!” The elf shook her head. “I meant you, silly!”

“Oh.” An embarrassed heat crept up the back of Rezira’s neck. “I haven’t done anything to help, though. I’m not even an official healer, yet.”

“You told them what medicine I needed, didn’t you?” the elf pointed out.

“I suppose so.”

“Then that counts.” The elf tipped her head expectantly. “Well? Do I get your name?”

“Rezira,” she signed, spelling it out and then, after a brief hesitation, giving her name sign: The letter R which turned into the word for health.

“Rezira. That’s a lovely name.” The elf beamed. “I’m Noli!”

#

Rezira stayed as Noli’s interpreter for the rest of the day as more healers came by to ask questions and ensure their patient wasn’t about to keel over. Once the antitoxin was brewed, the healing magic began to take hold.

“What were you even doing to get into such a state?” Rezira asked as Dezidya worked her healing magic. Even with Rezira right at Noli’s side, already talking to her, Patty had a ‘more experienced’ healer performing the magic. Rezira tried to ignore the obviously intentional slight, instead focusing on the cuts in Noli’s skin as they slowly stitched themselves back together. All that mattered was that the patient was getting the help she needed. That it wasn’t coming from her was irrelevant.

Even though she was just as capable. More capable.

“I was fighting nettlehawks,” Noli signed. “Didn’t I already say that? Oh, sorry!”

“You did,” Rezira said. “But why? Surely that wasn’t intentional?” Nettlehawks were nasty, territorial birds. Rezira had only ever seen them from afar, and that was plenty close enough for her.

“Oh, quite intentional!” Noli signed brightly. “I was hunting them. Didn’t end up so much in my favor, did it?” She laughed.

Rezira stared at her, dumbfounded. “Hunting them? Intentionally?”

“I admit I was rather underprepared,” Noli signed. “Next time I’ll use better arrows. And, hey! Now we know what antidote to use.”

“Next time?” Rezira repeated. This woman was mad.

Dezidya lowered her hands. “Alright. That should do it. She’s all healed up now.”

Noli glanced Dezidya’s way. “What did she say? I missed most of that. Goodness, it’s so refreshing finding some I can speak with out here. Lip reading can just be totally exhausting!”

“She said you’re free to go,” Rezira translated. “All your injuries should be healed.”

“Oh! Splendid.” Noli sat up, tossing the blanket aside. Like her previously shredded skin, her dress was likewise covered in mud, blood, and countless gashes. She didn’t seem to find any of this to be an issue.

“What’s your favorite place to eat around here?” Noli asked, pulling some thorns out of her slacks. “What time is your shift done?”

“I’m not sure,” Rezira admitted. “About the places to eat, I mean. I only moved here a few months ago to study at the Healer’s Hall.”

“In that case, I’ll have to show you to a good food spot!” Noli declared.

Rezira blinked. “Why would—”

“Dezidya. Rezira!” Patty appeared in the door. “Are you finished? Come on, we’ve other patients for you to attend to.”

“Sorry,” Rezira apologized to Noli as Dezidya hurried past her. “The boss says I have to go.”

Noli waved her on. “Don’t worry about me! Duty calls.”

Rezira hesitated in the doorframe for a moment, then hurried after the head healer. Patty kept her busy for the next few hours working on herb sorting and inventorying their healing potion collection. By the time she had a few minutes to pull herself away and check back in on Noli’s room, the elf was long gone.

#

She only managed to stay away for a day.

“Rezira!” her boss shouted, causing the orc to jump. “That deaf elf is back. General Intake, Bay Two.”

Rezira leapt at the opportunity to abandon her bandage sewing duties, hurrying to the healing ward. Sure enough, Noli was once again back in a bed, hundreds of cuts and plant-like barbs decorating her skin. The healer was already applying the nettlehawk antidote by the time Rezira arrived.

“Hello!” Noli signed brightly when she caught sight of Rezira. “It’s great to see you again!”

“It would be better if it were under different circumstances,” Rezira replied, pulling up a chair at her bedside. “Dare I ask how this happened again?”

“Oh, well, pretty much the same as the first time,” Noli said. “I thought I had more arrows. Oops!”

Rezira shook her head. “But why? It sounds like you’re looking for trouble.”

Noli shrugged. “Seemed like the right thing to do. It had been posted to the job board for weeks by the time I came across it. I couldn’t just let that family down!” She paused a beat. “Also, I am completely out of money.”

“You’re part of the Guild?” Rezira asked, surprised. The slender elf looked frail enough to be snapped in half like a toothpick. Not exactly the standard adventuring type.

“I suppose so,” Noli signed. “I mean, yes. I’m registered. It’s not exactly my calling, though. More joined out of convenience. I suppose you could say I have a wanderlust; still just trying to find myself. But taking jobs that can help people in each new city I visit is a great way to go about it, don’t you think?”

Rezira didn’t know what to think. Was this woman for real? People didn’t just join the Adventurer Guild on a whim. Certainly not to go soul searching. “I think you need to pick a new job.”

Noli’s hands fluttered to her mouth in horror. “Oh, no, I couldn’t do that! I’d be letting those poor people down.”

“What poor people?” Rezira raised a skeptical brow.

“The ones who put up the notice,” Noli explained. “It was posted by a family—a generational family, great grandparents and grandparents, and parents, and kids, and great grandkids, and—”

“Yes, there’s a lot of them,” Rezira interrupted. “I’m getting the picture.”

“Yes, well, they’re just outside the city,” Noli continued. “The flock of nettlehawks settled in their farmlands nearly two months ago, and have been terrorizing them and their livestock ever since.”

Rezira grunted. “Sounds inconvenient.”

“It’s disastrous!” Noli exclaimed. “If those pests aren’t dealt with soon, they’ll miss the window to finish seeding the fields. Which means no crops—no food or money. They’d be ruined, and they’re depending on me.” Noli leaned forward. “Rezira, think of the children!”

A laugh burst from her. No one was this earnest, were they?

But the pleading, desperate look in Noli’s eyes said otherwise.

Rezira sighed. “Just, please try not to get yourself killed on this mission.”

“Absolutely not!” Noli beamed. “I’ve still got that restaurant I need to take you to.”

Rezira laughed again, this time a little awkward. “I thought you were out of money.”

“Yes, well. I’ll have plenty once I finish this job.” Noli gave her a wink.

Rezira pointedly ignored the heat creeping into her cheeks.

#

The third time, Rezira was expecting it.

“Surprise! I’m back!” Noli happily announced, eye swollen shut, a dozen finger-long spines sticking out of her shoulder as she waved from her bed. Several healers swarmed around her, preparing the now-rote antidote while others plucked the barbs from her skin.

“I’m starting to think this is on purpose,” Rezira signed.

“Next time I’ll beat them for sure.” Noli slammed a fist into an open palm, then winced.

“I believe it,” Rezira agreed. “Because I’m coming with you.”

Noli tipped her head. “What? You are?”

“Yes, I am.” Rezira snagged a spare antidote from one of the trays another healer was working from, slipping the potion into her pocket. “You’re going to drive this establishment out of business if you keep showing up here like this.” If she didn’t die first. Truth be told, Rezira had spent the last day more worried by the possibility that Noli wouldn’t come back.

Noli peered at her curiously. “Do you know how to fight?”

Rezira snorted. “Gods, no. I’m just the support. And if I do my job properly and keep you alive, I won’t have to do any fighting.”

Noli’s eyes lit up. “You’d really do that?”

“Yep.” Rezira grabbed some tweezers from another tray and also pocketed them. What else would she need? Given Noli’s apparent disregard for her own health and safety, Rezira snagged a whole med kit, just in case.

“Hey,” one of the healers said, finally noticing. “You can’t take that.”

“I’ll bring it back,” Rezira lied. “It’s preventative. Unless you want to see this elf in here again?”

The healer eyed Rezira dubiously, then threw up his hands in defeat. “Bah! You be the one to tell Patty, then.”

“Will do,” Rezira said, having no intention of doing so. In fact, she was starting to think she was done with this place altogether. She turned back to Noli. “There’s just a few more things I should grab before we head out.” Like all her earthly belongings.

“Is that allowed?” Noli asked.

“No.” Rezira grinned. “But that won’t be my problem.”

“Oooh! How exciting! Going rogue. Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Then she winced as another spine was plucked from her arm. “In another minute. Or two.”

Rezira sighed. There was no denying the elf was cute. And she was certainly endearing, in a naive disaster-child sort of way.

Rezira just really hoped all of that wasn’t overly clouding her judgment on this. Because if her behavior here was a foreshadowing of the battle to come, there was a non-trivial chance this woman was going to be the death of her.

#

This woman was definitely going to be the death of her.

“You said there’d be a couple of nettlehawks!” Rezira cried, diving behind a tree as the sky seethed with dozens of deadly birds. “This is more than a couple!”

The trunk thumped with the impact of dozens of spines stabbing into the bark. Rezira darted out from behind the tree and ran to the one Noli was hiding behind as another nettlehawk screeched, circling around Rezira’s old hiding spot. The birds were nearly as tall as a person, and their wingspans twice as wide. Plant-like splinters ran down their backs in wicked rows, fanning out along their tail-feathers. Just one sting from any of the nettles would poison them, blocking her healing magic, but Rezira was more concerned about taking a finger-sized spine to the eye.

“No, I said there was a flock of nettlehawks,” Noli replied, signing one-handed, given her bow was in the other. “See?” she asked, making the sign for nettlehawk and then adding two fingers after it. “That’s a couple.” She switched it to three fingers. “That’s a flock. Big difference!”

“That’s not a big difference!” Rezira ducked as a tail came swinging around the tree and stabbed into the trunk where her head had been.

Noli also dove away, seamlessly turning the dive into a roll. She popped back up to her feet, nocked an arrow, and loosed it at the nearest nettlehawk. The bird screeched as it took the shot to the wing, spiraling into the canopy and out of view. Four more hawks shot forward to take its place.

“Sorry, you’re right,” Noli signed. “It’s my fault for being unclear. I forgot Signs are your second language. Next time I’ll—”

“Just shoot them!” Rezira interrupted. “Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!”

And Noli did. She was a blur of motion, grabbing and firing off arrows almost faster than Rezira could see. Three found their targets, the birds crying out with each hit. A fourth dove in, making straight for Noli.

Without taking the moment Rezira probably needed to realize how unwise this action would be, she leapt from her crouch, crashing into the bird midflight. The two of them went sprawling across the clearing, and Rezira heard bones crunch beneath her. She also felt many sharp things lance into her side.

“Shit.” Rezira rolled off the bird, wincing as half a dozen spines stayed stuck just beneath her ribs. Red began to stain her shirt. She grabbed the handful of spines and yanked them from her skin with a pained grunt. White flashed over her vision—then it was done. She summoned magic to her palms and pressed them to her side. Immediately a soothing warmth spilled over her—but the wounds didn’t heal. Crap, that’s right. She had to take the antidote first. But if she did that, she risked not having enough left for Noli.

“Are you alright?” Noli asked, stepping up beside her to put a final arrow through the skull of the screeching, injured nettlehawk on the ground.

“Fine,” Rezira signed shortly. “Let’s finish this already.” Not that she felt like her help was really needed; Noli was agile and quick, and she also seemed to have impeccable aim. How on earth had she struggled so much with these birds before?

“I completely agree,” Noli signed. “However, there’s one slight problem. The same problem I keep running into, actually.” She made a grabbing motion over her quiver: It was empty.

“Seriously?” Rezira grimaced. “Why don’t you have enough arrows?”

“It’s not a matter of not having enough.” Noli waggled a finger, like a teacher telling off a student. “You can only practically hold so many arrows in a quiver! This one, for instance—”

“I’ll get the stupid arrows,” Rezira growled, jumping to her feet. The wounds in her side burned with the movement, but they were only superficial. She’d just have to be quick.

If Noli tried to stop her, Rezira wasn’t watching. Four downed birds lay before them, arrows sprouting from their corpses like a bouquet of flowers. Rezira plowed ahead as more hawks dove toward her. She tucked her head down and weathered the blows as more spiked tails crashed into her shoulder. Ignoring the attacks, she skidded up to the nearest bird and grabbed the arrows sticking from its chest. Yanking them out, she turned to dash back to Noli—but a hand on her back stopped her. Noli was already there, half a step behind. Wordlessly, Rezira spun the arrows toward her. Noli grabbed one, nocked, loosed—grabbed, nocked, loosed, grabbed, nocked, loosed—and in a handful of seconds, each arrow had already found a new target. Rezira grinned, dashing toward the next arrow.

When the nettlehawks dove in for an attack, Rezira took the hits. When Noli was reaching for an arrow, Rezira planted herself between the elf and the birds. Her arms and shoulders were riddled with quills, sprouting from her clothes like the spiney crystals on a pebbleback, but by now the area was numb and she hardly felt any new blows. There was quite a bit of blood running down her arms, but knowing that she could heal herself up once the fight was done kept her going. Right now, she just had to be Noli’s shield.

Gradually, eventually, the skies cleared. What birds Noli hadn’t felled had long-since fled, and the ground was littered with the feathers and thorns. Rezira stood panting, every limb aching and on fire.

“Oh goodness!” Noli appeared in front of her, face pinched with concern. “You look like death!”

Rezira chuckled weakly. “Can’t be worse than what you looked like showing up in the ward each day.”

“No, I’m pretty sure this is worse,” Noli signed.

“I’ll be alright. You weren’t stung, were you?” Rezira asked.

“No, thanks to you,” Noli signed. “But really, I don’t think I’m the one you need to be worrying about.”

“Just wanted to be sure, first.” Wincing, Rezira pulled her med bag around and went digging for the antidote. She found the bottle, uncapped the top, and downed the brew. It tasted bitter and green.

She sighed with relief as some of the burning sensation vanished from the hundreds of puncture wounds in her arms and torso. Now came the fun part.

“I’ll need your help to remove the thorns.” She handed over the tweezers. “I can heal myself once they’re out, but I can’t reach some spots on my back. Think you’ve got it?”

“Of course!” Noli cried. “It’s the least I can do. Now, stay still!”

Rezira grunted, tenderly lowering herself to the ground as Noli circled around behind her to start plucking the spines in her back. Meanwhile, Rezira began pulling at the ones on her shoulder and arm. There were a lot of thorns.

It took nearly a half hour to get them all out and for Rezira to start applying healing magic to all the wounds. She wasn’t a strategist, and she couldn’t say this was one of her better strategies. But hey, at least the elf wouldn’t keep showing back up in the healing ward anymore.

“Thank you,” Noli signed when they were done. “I wouldn’t have been able to clear the forest without you deciding to become a living pincushion.”

Rezira snorted. “It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I first volunteered to help.”

“Let me make it up to you?” Noli asked. “After all this I’ll definitely have enough coin to pay for a meal or two.”

“Or ten.” Rezira smiled, tipping her head. “You know if you were trying to ask me to dinner, there were much easier ways.”

“Oh, thank the gods!” Noli cried. “I didn’t think you were picking up on the signals! You know I tried asking you out back in the healing ward. This all could have been avoided days ago.”

Rezira laughed. “So it was a ploy to get me to go to dinner.”

Noli’s eyes danced with amusement. “Is that a no?”

“It’s a yes.” Rezira stood, dusting herself off—and paused as she noticed her tattered, blood-stained clothes. “Ah, maybe I should find a change of clothes, first.”

“I know just the place!” Noli declared. “This nice little tailor in town got me patched up after the first run-in with the nettlehawks.” She began walking around the clearing, picking up arrows and dragging the dead birds into a consolidated pile. “And the second time. And the third time.”

“What are you doing with the birds?” Rezira asked, following Noli’s lead and beginning to carefully gather everything up. Those spines still posed a threat, even if the hawks were dead.

“We can sell them back in town,” Noli signed. “And I’ll need to bring back proof that we finished the job.”

We finished the job. Rezira liked the sound of that.

In the end, the pile of birds was nearly as tall as Noli. Rezira whistled. “I can’t believe you killed all of these by yourself. Nettlehawks should fear you.”

“Bane of the nettles,” Noli added, giggling. “Sounds a bit dramatic, don’t you think?”

“It’s got a nice flair.” Rezira tipped her head back toward town. “Well? Should we be on our way? I’m exhausted, and I was promised a free meal.”

“Is that all I’m good for?” Noli teased, offering her arm.

Rezira took it; her hand felt so small and dainty in her grasp. But there was a subtle power there, too, as taut as Noli’s bowstring. “Maybe not all,” she replied.

Noli’s laughter tinkled like windchimes.

* * * 

After Story Note: Noli and Rezira’s last name is Nettlebane. They picked it out together.