[scoarta] try to fix you [valda]

Miki was down. Zhi had left the day before, having already stayed longer than his parents were likely to be happy with so he needed to leave before they sent a Howler to remind him to come home. In the end, Miki's parents had threatened to call in Miha to pry them apart, so rather than risk either of them being bruised by her rough but loving cousin, she'd said goodbye to her boyfriend for another endless length of time until the next break. She had then gone into her room and curled up into a sad little bundle, wrapped in a shirt that Zhi had left behind. It smelled like him and it made her feel better.

Her parents allowed her the rest of yesterday to mope, but in the morning, they had woken her up at the crack of dawn as usual to gather the morning dew and clip the herbs they could find this late in the season. Then it was potion brewing for those in the village who had chronic illnesses, followed by restocking the general supplies. Then house calls for those injured on the night guard, which was luckily just one of the younger villagers who had gotten spooked and run pell-mell in into a low tree branch. She teased the young man a little, which made him flustered.

Now she was back at the house, which was also the closest thing Scoarta had to a medical facility. The place was small, but clean. Bottles lined the shelves, filled with various herbs and potions, neatly labeled. Miki was doing busywork, renewing preservation spells on bottles. She was doing it wandlessly, something her father had been working on with her for years now. She could perform a number of small spells without her wand, which meant in an emergency she was just as valuable as her father. It would be a long time before she could do the major healing spells without her wand, but her father had high hopes for her. She was the strongest natural healer her family had seen in many generations. Miki was just happy to be able to contribute to the well-being of the villagers.

A knock at the door had Miki bouncing up out of her chair and over to the door. She opened the dark wooden divider, beaming brightly. "Hello!" She chirruped, her smile only getting brighter as she recognized a vaguely familiar face. "Oh! You're Gio's friend, yes? Valda? Come in! Are you hurt, ill, or in other ways injured? Do you need my father? He's out right now but if it's small I can help! I can heal, Papa says I'm very good and he trained at St. Mungo's so he should know." All of this was fired off in rapid succession with barely a breath in between, all in a bubbly voice, with expressive hand gestures.

@Valda Pavlycheva

After having confided in Gio about her mother's death and how she had gone about trying to heal her, Gio suggested she go meet with Miki, a fifth year Krov. Her family had always been the go-to healer family in Scoarta for any injuries someone obtained or medical issues one found themselves having. The orphan was in search of answers to her questions that had forever led to failure or seemed to get her somewhere, but only to end up getting stumped by it and having to go an alternate route. Perhaps, one day, her research would come in good use and be able to save a life. Just maybe, ten years of practicing and studying medicines wouldn't have been a waste of her time.

She swallowed softly as she grew closer and closer to the infirmary-home. Gio was off on rounds and Valda found it the best time to go. He had wanted to come, but that would've been too much for her for the situation she was about to put herself in. She made a mental note to tell Gio about what she learned and how the whole ordeal went. I do one thing every week that scares me. It helps me grow my confidence and step out of my comfort zone. The wise words she converted to being her life-motto echoed in her head as she stepped up to the front door.

Her hand rose to knock on the wooden door, but she couldn't do it. Physically, she felt stuck. Mentally, she could picture herself knocking and being greeted by the younger year's father or mother. Her hand would not move. Her dark chocolate brown eyes found themselves focusing on a small bump in the wood grain surface. Questions that made her worry, and she had every right to, began to make themselves known in her head. Valda was growing frustrated and quickly turned around, making her way back down the road without knocking.

What if they have the answers to my questions? What if they don't have the answers to my questions? What if we figure out what the cure? What if a cure exists and it's here? I just wasn't able to find it? What am I doing to do if they help me? What if their answers don't help? Then what am I going to do? Would all of this had been a big waste? What if it isn't? What if this could save someone else's life? Not mother's, but...someone else's mother? No one else should go through what I did.

At her last though, Valda stopped in her tracks, turned on her heels and marched right up to the door she had just run from. Before she could psyche herself out once more, she knocked. And waited. She was scared out of her mind about what she may find, though she'd never show it. It was too late now to turn back. She had already done that. Her heart pounded in her chest when she heard shuffling from within. Drat. Someone was home. Valda had secretly hoped no one would answer so she could say she tried and avoid putting herself in this uncomfortable situation. Instead, Valda found she was digging herself into a pit. It was getting deeper and deeper and she couldn't climb out.

The redhead offered a shy smile when the girl with the honey-toned hair appeared. She was definitely younger, maybe even younger than Gio! To see just how young she was made her a little more uneasy. All of this stress an anxiety was doing nothing for her nerves. Truth be told, she doubted her abilities as a healer. Valda stepped in as the girl offered, but the flood of questions and statements used as evidence to prove she was a well-practiced healer made her want to step back out through the doorway. It was odd for this girl to know who she was. Then again, Scoarta was a small town, but Valda couldn't recall every talking with her. Had she seen she and Gio out together? Was that how she knew she was his "friend"? Valda had failed to realize that Miki and Gio were in the same year together.

Her eyes adjusted to the sudden change of brightness between outside and inside the humble home. Once she could see, she dragged her gaze along the bottles, potions, herbs, and other medicinal tools and ingredients. This family knew what they were doing. "No....No... I don't need healed." At least, that's not why she had come. She was bruised and battered, and it was very visible as to where she was injured. She had a limp, her right shoulder didn't move as much as the other, her hand rested, out of habit, on her stomach where she had been scratched and had the wound reopened in a brawl with @Mihaela Lupesco. From that brawl, she had also received a small but clean cut on her head, her cheek was bruised, and there were minor scratches all over her body. The fresher wounds has most likely come from her and Miha throwing each other on the ground at the pond. The older ones were from the wolves, and were becoming fresh scars.

Though she was obviously injured, Valda had been healing well. @Gio Gambino continuously tended to her injuries and changed the dressings on them. As she had gotten hurt in Scoarta, she had gotten help right away. Valda even had her own potions and herbs, but not such a great amount as Miki had. She was a little jealous of all they had for their infirmary.

"I was hoping I could talk to your parents, but perhaps you can help." She reached into her magical bag that allowed for her to carry anything she wanted anywhere she went. From it, she revealed a heavy weighted, leather-bound notebook. Odd pieces of paper stuck out from many of the pages. THere were notes, sketches, and even recipes Valda had written herself. This notebook had been all of her research. No way would she and Miki be able to go through all the notes, but it was start they could skim. Luckily for them, Valda had memorized where many of the notes were, their location committed to memory. She had a system, a pattern, to stay somewhat organized in her frazzled-looking handiwork.

She opened the cover and removed a couple loose sheets from the front. Anything but these, Valda was willing to share. Miki may come across notes about her mother's illness, but on these papers, were the charts and graphs the orphan had kept to keep track of when the illness grew worse and when it improved. "Gio sent me here to get some help. I'm running out of options." The anxiety she had first felt upon approach and talking to Miki slowly began to fade as Valda was growing passionate about the subject. Seeing what the Albescu family had on hand to treat wounds and illnesses built her confidence that she could find answers here. What those answers were and what they potentially contained frightened her, but she wanted -needed- to know what had killed her mother. "For years, I've been studying an incurrable illness that no one can give a name to. The illness itself is a mystery too. The notes for that can be found between pages 33 and 47. I just... I know it's a lot to ask. I'll pay you for your trouble. Can you help me figure out what this illness is and what the cure is, if there is any?" She held the book out to the unknowingly advanced healer before her. The loose papers she had removed were tucked into her her deep coat pockets.

Miki frowned slightly in confusion as she looked the other girl over. She definitely seemed like she could use some healing. Miki could see a number of cuts and bruises on her body, and she looked like she was favoring her right shoulder and Miki was almost 100% sure that if she checked Valda's stomach she would find yet another injury. The girl was torn. On the one hand, you should never force magic on a person who did not want it, but on the other hand it was very dangerous to walk around Scoarta with open wounds. You never knew what could happen when there was blood on the wind. "You should really let me heal some of those injuries," she coaxed gently, using the soothing voice that generally worked with frightened children and animals. "You've been doing a fine job keeping them clean but they really should be tended."

She left it at that. Miki could wait to see if Valda changed her mind. Instead, she focused on the book, taking it carefully. This was clearly put together with a lot of love and passion. "I could hardly accept payment, seeing as I'm not really a healer yet," she murmured, intent on finding the pages that had the symptoms listed. Her eyes quickly scanned over the words on the page. "Is this the order in which symptom occured?" Miki's voice was different, now. Less bubbly, more direct and clipped. She was only like this when dealing with a healing or making clothing. Her flighty demeanor was gone. Her focus was intense when it was harnessed.

"How long between the development of new symptoms?"

Arrogance blinded Valda at the risk she put herself and those around her at with not getting the wounds properly healed. She still refused treatment, for now, with a shake of her head. Perhaps she'd allow Melita to heal her as payment. Valda came to get answers. If she got answers, she'd allow Melita to do what she wanted, and that was heal her. After being in pain and constant stiffness for almost a month, Valda was highly considering the option. Now though, her attention was focused on her research. "So, you'll help me?"

Being an impolite guest, she sat in the closest chair. Her foot was too sore to stand on it for too long. She needed to let it rest and retract some of the weight she had been putting on it. In any other circumstances, Valda would not have sat down without an invitation from the host. The novice healer had forgotten to drink her pain-numbing potion that morning due to shortness on time and decided to barrel through the day without worrying too much about it. Now, she wished she had retreated to get it.

Valda gave her a nod at her first question. "Yes. Anytime something out of the ordinary occurred, I wrote it down right away. First, it started off with dizziness and not having much of an appetite. Then it grew a little more severe to where, if they ate something," Valda was careful to use gender-neutral pronouns so that she didn't slip and reveal iwho suffered the symptoms. "they couldn't hold it down. It grew to where blood was in their vomit. Muggle hospitals and all of the wizarding texts had nothing about the illness. Muggle hospitals proved her body wasn't creating enough, if any, of the vital elements needed to fight infections, stop bleedings, and provide nutrients throughout the body. The... victim.... began to suffer from organ failure." She hesitated when she had chosen what word to use to describe her mother. "I believe, that, in the end, organ failure is what caused the death." Her stomach flipped and she immediately felt sick, but Valda bit her bottom lip and tried to hide her emotions. Her eyebrows had twitched together a couple times before she shook her head, rubbed her hand down her face, and sighed. "Gradually, all of the symptoms built up to their death. They began to happen separately, but near the end of her time," she had slipped up to reveal the gender, but didn't even notice what she had said; what little hint she just provided. "All of the symptoms occurred at once. There was nothing that could have been done to help the patient feel comfortable in their last days."

Miki blinked at Valda again, pulled briefly from her contemplation of the information in front of her to give the older girl one of her trademark innocent smiles. "Of course," she said simply. "My papa says you don't become a healer for money. You heal because that's just what you need to do." She gave a little shrug, looking back to the book. The girl bit her lip, listening to the description as she flicked carefully through the pages. Lists of treatments, muggle from the look of them, were pretty foreign to her. "Do you know what the Muggle doctors did to her?" She asked, uncertain. "I, well, I don't really know much about muggle potions and things. Since they never found a cure, so it seems like they were mostly trying to stop the symptoms?"

She gently place the book, open to the symptoms pages, on the table. Pulling a key from her pocket, she opened a large cabinet filled with books, some slim, some weighty, a few with cracked and aged spines, with the volumes nearer the bottom in much more modern-looking bindings. She quickly scanned the spines, looking for something in particular. She made a soft noise of triumph, pulling out one of the older, thicker volumes. Miki carried it reverently to the table, motioning for Valda to come and sit next to her on the bench. "Come here. This is one of our older journals, logs of illnesses and injuries in the village since it was founded. If we look back through these, there's a chance we might run into something that will have some bearing on this illness you speak of."

Something occured to Miki and she looked at Valda. "You're sure it wasn't a vampire, right? Because vampires are really prevalent here and if someone's got a weird blood sickness it might be a vampire but papa says that the strigoi aren't as widespread in most places." Miki was almost certain, from Valda's descrption, that it was a blood disease of some sort. Luckily, with their forests thick with the hungry undead, her family knew a lot about blood problems.

Coming to Scoarta, Valda had forgotten just how oblivious to the muggle world other wizards were. She had grown up in the muggle world and only one person, who thankfully was another wizard, was aware of her capabilities. When her magic first pronounced itself, he had been the one to witness it and they had bonded ever since. Daily foods, habits, vocabulary, and items used in the muggle world were a norm to the witch. The villagers of Scoarta she had come to know reminded her that not everyone experienced muggle culture. "I assume me telling you what they used wouldn't be of much help? Yes, they were trying to stop the symptoms, at least slow them down so they had time to find a cure. They had first believed she was anemic; her body couldn't produce and maintain the right amount of red blood cells to be considered healthy. Then they thought it was cancer, something within her growing and taking over her body. They tried to diagnose her with all they had, but weren't successful. For a time," now it was time for her to use some wizard-world terms that Miki would recognize so they could understand one another. "potions they had given her had helped her with the fatigue, dizziness, and nausea, but they seemed to work for a short time before she only got worse. It was almost as if her body was accepting them and then decided it didn't like the medicines and rejected them."

She continued to explain what muggle "healers" had done as she watched Miki with interest. When the cabinet of books was revealed, Valda's eyes grew wide. She loved books, especially those draped in an ageless beauty of being used over and over again for many years. At Miki's beckon, she carefully rose from her chair, and limped slightly as she made her way to where the younger healer was. When she sat, a soft grunt escaped her, but she didn't pay no mind. It was almost abnormal for her not to exclaim she was in some sort of pain when she moved over the past couple weeks.

Upon seeing the contents within the pages and hearing how it was an ancient record of illnesses, Valda was immediately intrigued by the weary old book. There just may be some hope for her after all, but she didn't want to get her hopes too high, just incase she was headed down another dead end.

"I don't think so? At least, I don't ever remember seeing any marks or sign of vampires in Eruda. We live in a pretty well populated area surrounded by muggles. Maybe she did and the bite went away, but the symptoms were there? Is that possible?" Truth be told, Valda didn't know much about vampires. Though she had studied with Gio to find answers to--who she didn't to was to help his mother at the time--had studied more about the werewolves he was reasearching while he covered the blood-drinking beasts. "What other leads do you have? I want to get a list of possibilities going."

Miki nodded along as Valda explained. "Some potions can only be taken so often," she explained. "The stronger they are, the more likely your body will stop reacting to it if you take too much." Her father had warned her of the dangers of giving anyone too much of certain potions. "Seems like maybe the patient had something similar happen with the muggle potions." At this point, Miki was leafing through the old book of cases and remedies.

She shook her head, already lost in the research. "It's a possibility, but a small one at that. With the severity of the symptoms you're describing, the bites would be almost impossible to hide without willing participation from the victim and since the patient hasn't resurrected yet, that is highly unlikely." Miki had been taught to never discount some kind of supernatural reason for any illness. Sprites, pixies, vampires; they all had ways of making a person ill. Especially if the person was unwary. And since it seemed like whoever the patient was, they were definitely a muggle, they would have no idea of the dangers until it was far too late. But, then again, based on the information, it was unlikely that any of those were responsible.

The blonde tilted her head, deep in thought. "Well, curses, of course," she began. "Those are almost to numerous to count, but if I am correct in assuming the patient was a muggle with limited contact with the wizarding world then this is not a particularly likely source." She shook her head. "It would be an incredibly dark curse, and something that potent should have left other signs." She flicked through the old book. "It is almost certainly something to do with their blood. That the muggle doctors couldn't seem to figure it out points to something magical or at least not something muggle doctors are used to looking for."

Something caught Miki's eye in the old book, and she paused, turning back a few pages. "Here!" She exclaimed, finger tracing a line of text. "In the cold months, after the blood moon, in the year 1655, young Vasile took ill. He could keep little down but cold broth and mint tea and his skin was hot to touch." Miki skimmed down a few lines, her frown increasing. "Some days later, his younger sister Ioana was taken with the same sickness. Both children are deathly pale, but a through search of their skin showed no marks of either strigoi or werewolf."

"Vomiting with blood, nausea, weakness... it progressed rapidly. It looks like the adults also came down with the illness, but for them it passed in a few days. The children, well, they died in less than a month." Miki checked the healers notes. "Any potions they gave only seemed to make the illness progress faster."

Willing participation? Resurrected? Valda had no idea that those words could even be used with the marks of a vampire. No moment during her mother's illness was she willing to participate in the pain and suffering she went through. Though she wasn't sure what Miki meant by 'resurrection', a part of her wished she could resurrect her mother. Maybe then, she could talk to her and say one last goodbye if her living again only lasted a short moment. She missed her mother dearly. Coming to the healer's daughter was hitting where it hurt, opening up old wounds, (much like Miha had done), but Valda pushed her emotions aside and focused on the facts at hand.

"Perhaps. The medicine did seem to get stronger. When the strongest wouldn't work, they prescribed her something completely different. That could be what happened to her. Her body became immune to the medicine, but not immune to the illness. It's funny how the human body reacts to different substances in it."

When 'muggle' was assumed about her mother, Valda never thought of the possibility. Yes, she agreed her mother suffered a blood disease of some sort, but she wasn't sure how she felt about her mother being a muggle. There was nothing wrong with muggles. The redhead, her entire life, lived in the muggle world with no magical substances, items, shops, or resources nearby. Slowly, pieces were starting to make sense. Her mother's body never reacted well to magical potions (or healing spells her friend @Aleksandr Kozlov had performed, though Valda was completely unaware spells had been used when Sasha attempted to heal her mother while she was away at school). This new insight began to open up a door of possibilities as to what her mother's illness was and just who Valda was in regard to her family lineage. It made her start to wonder if she was a halfblood, or even the slightest possibility that she was a mudblood who slipped under Durmstrang's radar and made it in because of her location of living? She would have to do more investigating later. Now, she was investigating her mother's mysterious illness.

Though Meilita was no Poppy Pomfrey, she was wise, knowledgeable, and studious in the arts of healing. She was quick to act, knew where to look, and had studied enough that she was aware of what she was searching for. Miki's knowledge and actions helped ease Valda's worrying that there wasn't hope. The more time the orphan spent in the humble infirmary-home, the more she felt her life's long search coming to a close.

Listening to the girl's words, Valda bit her lip and thought. Children grew incredibly sick. Their parents healed quickly. It didn't happen at once. Each person "took turns" getting sick. The symptoms matched her mother's. Rather than occurring rapidly, they happened within a decade. Perhaps, the medicines, though they may have had magical properties, had helped prolong her life in some way. But then again, just as she seemed to get better, she got worse. Her mother's illness was very similar to this ancient account. "...The..patient.. the one I've been doing this research for... she's been suffering for a decade. Was that family," she tilted her head towards the book Miki read from. "a muggle family? Or were they magical?"

Perhaps these questions would give some more insight. The recorded account had also occurred almost 300 years ago. Medical advancements of the modern age in which the girls lived in now could have been why her mother lived much longer.

"If there were no signs of bites, scratches, or anything else from beasts, then there's two possibilities. A parasite. Or a foodbourne illness.. The parasite could have easily been contracted by one of the children. Dating back to 1655, they didn't have the same health practices or medical advancements as we have today. I remember studying that children were more prone to get sick and die in those early ages. Perhaps, the parents had recovered from the parasite, having lived longer, thus, having a stronger immune system. The children, being as young as they were, didn't have the immunity built up to fight against the illness the parasite brought. OR- it could have been something in their food or water. Something wasn't cooked right or the water was polluted? If the water was polluted, there's a likely chance that the entire community would have been infected and had fallen ill. Are there more accounts, or was it singled down to just them? Food could have been stored or cleaned or treated improperly. That would have allowed for bacteria to grow and resulted in making the family sick."

Valda had to study the proper ways to handle food. At a young age, she found herself cooking and managing the kitchen while her mother was sick. If Valda didn't learn, she would have starved to death or be very near it before someone noticed and helped. She learned to cook in order to survive. Allowing for a chance for bacteria to fester and make her and her mother sick was not an option. She fed her mother to help her get stronger, and fed herself to live.

"Does the record say anything else regarding what may have caused it? Did they ever solve what had made them ill? Or what a remedy may have been for the illness?" She sat back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest, and her injured foot outstretched. It was relaxing to study medicine and not have to race about the room in a frantic panic for more answers and clues. Miki had that covered.