Chapter XI, Reading 1

For several more days Flindra rested.  Kewero wanted her to sleep until she couldn't anymore.  Only then, would the mentor be satisfied that she was truly recovered from her ordeal.  She hovered around Flindra in both her waking and sleeping hours.  Kewero loved her Princess and still was afraid she might suffer a repeat of her strange collapse.

When Flindra was starting to grow restless from her confinement, Kewero decided it would be safe for her to spend some time in the kitchen, relaxing over a cup or two of tea.  Before they went for tea, Kewero changed the dressing on Flindra's burned palm.  It was the first time Flindra had seen it.

"I've never seen such a strange burn," she remarked as she tentatively touched the scar.  There was a white patch on her palm.  The skin felt tight and it was tender to the touch.

"Does it hurt much?" Kewero queried in a gentle tone.

"I can bear it.  I've had worse hurts in my life."

"That really didn't answer my question, Flindra."

"It hurts, Kewero, but it's a pain I can endure."

"I have an ointment that might ease your pain a little.  Let me go to my bed chamber and fetch it."

"Of course."

Kewero's room wasn't far from Flindra's so it took her little time to fetch the healing ointment.  "This might feel a little cold at first," she warned as she began to apply it.

"It's making my hand numb.  What's in it?"

"I don't know really.  I buy it from a trader who passes through every spring.  It's his wife's secret formula for easing the pain of arthritis.  Sometimes my knees bother me so I've become one of his steady customers.  The cream does seem to ease the aches of old age."

"It's working on my hand, too.  Momma would be very interested in this.  She's always experimenting with things to find new and better ways to ease pain."

"Dakra is in a good position to do that.  She has access to most of the medicinal plants that grow in our world.  Her healing talents have been helped by being a woodsman's wife."

Kewero wound a gauzy bandage around Flindra's hand to keep the burn clean.  "That should do, little one.  Are you ready for some tea?"

"I'd love a cup."

"I baked a spiced tea cake for us," Kewero reported as she helped Flindra from the bed and held out her chamber robe.

"That sounds wonderful," Flindra answered as she slipped her arms into the warm robe.  She then put on a pair of slippers.

"Well let's go try some."