Chapter 16: Mariah is reminded of her place
Present day
As Mariah showed a slave boy -- man, Gabriel corrected himself, he was a man -- how to prepare a mustard wrap for his mistress, Gabriel peered out into the waiting room. Two left. A human (man, Gabriel reminded himself, just a man), standing and swaying in obvious discomfort, and a . . . a slave, sitting quietly, marked, but apparently neither seriously hurt nor ill.
The woman he had just diagnosed with bronchitis walked out, holding the arm of her slave. The man in the waiting room said harshly to Gabriel, "I've been here long enough, and drunk all that foul liquid. You will see me now?"
"Liquid?" Gabriel said blankly.
"The stuff you gave your ugly-assed rag to give me to drink," the man said impatiently, and then grabbed his middle and groaned.
Gabriel looked at Mariah, who shrugged. "Master Kirk has kidney stones," she said. "I gave him a glass of water."
Gabriel grabbed Mariah's elbow and, over the man's protest, pulled her into the treatment room and closed the door. "What made you think it was kidney stones?" he asked calmly.
"There have been two others," Mariah said. "No one else sways like that." She met his eye, defiant.
Gabriel said carefully, "Thinking you know more than you do is a dangerous thing, Mariah. There are some injuries where water can kill a man."
Mariah colored and scowled. She started to say something, but stopped. Gabriel let the silence hang, before he said, "You're almost certainly right." Mariah breathed out. "But I want you to check with me between diagnosis and treatment, okay?"
"Yes, master," Mariah muttered, her face burning.
Gabriel opened the door to the waiting room and beckoned Kirk to come in. As Mariah slid past him Gabriel called after her. "Please stay," he said. He purposefully kept his voice bland. He caught Mariah rolling her eyes at the slave in the waiting room, but she turned back to Gabriel and Kirk.
Gabriel took his time examining the man. He explained each step to Mariah and had her place her hands on Kirk's abdomen. When Kirk sputtered and complained Gabriel ignored him. Gabriel asked him seemingly endless questions about his symptoms, his diet, his previous ailments. With each answer Gabriel told Mariah what he was eliminating -- ulcer, food poisoning, appendicitis . . . . At last Kirk stood up, red-faced, while Gabriel was in the middle of a sentence. "What is this?" he demanded. "I'm in pain and you're using me as entertainment for your rag? What's the matter with you?" He gasped and grabbed his abdomen. "What's the matter with me?" he ended on a croak.
"My . . . rag . . . told you before," Gabriel said shortly. "Kidney stones."
"And what do I do about it?" he moaned.
"Drink two quarts of water a day," Gabriel said. "I'll give you a mild sedative that will lessen the pain. If you haven't passed them in a week, we'll try something else."
"Passed them?" Kirk said. "What do you mean?"
"You have sharp little rocks in you that need to come out through your penis when you pee," Mariah said in a completely bland tone.
"You speak to me?" Kirk said. He fumbled for his whip but was interrupted by a spasm of pain. Gabriel hustled Mariah to the storage room and told her what herbs he would require. When she returned with the jars Gabriel had requested, he opened, smelled and tasted each one in turn before blending them. At last he handed a packet to Kirk and said, "I've written down the instructions. Steep a tablespoon of this mixture in a cup of hot water every four hours when you're awake. Stay in front of the pain or it will get worse. Come back in a week either way, or if you develop a fever."
When Kirk left Gabriel turned to Mariah. She met his eye innocently. He shook his head. "Your bedside manner could use some improvement." His lips quirked up despite himself.
Mariah shrugged as she looked at the slaveboy in the waiting room. "One more."
The slave looked familiar. Older, heavyset, strong. Angry, fresh welts crossed his chest.
"Turbo?" Gabriel asked uncertainly.
"Yes, master," Turbo responded. He stood up. Gabriel automatically started to hold up his hands, to ward off Turbo falling to his knees in obeisance, but Turbo merely stood respectfully.
"What can I do for you?" Gabriel asked.
Turbo started to answer, as if reciting from rote, "My mistress, Diana, who as you know is the Bearer's daughter, sent me to say . . ." He broke off, and began again. "Master, these marks aren't her doing, I swear it. She's been real good to me for weeks. I got these from some people having sport, in the corridor. My mistress was so upset she practically cried." He stopped and bit his lip.
"Go on," Gabriel said.
Turbo took a deep breath and looked at the ceiling, going back to his script. "Master, everyone knows you've come hundreds of miles to treat her. And she wants to get better, she does, and she wanted to show you by treating me right, and then just when she was thinking it had been long enough I come home looking like this, and then she didn't want to try to see you, but I begged her and said you seem like a good, fair human and maybe you'd let me explain it to you." He started to fall to his knees but stopped himself. "She told me not to beg, you're an outlander who doesn't hold with that." He looked at Gabriel. "But I don't know what else to do, except beg. She's out in the hallway, waiting so patiently you'd think she's . . . someone else altogether."
"She's here?" Gabriel said in surprise. "Please, tell her to come in."
"You'll see her then, Master?" Turbo said eagerly. He didn't wait for Gabriel's "of course" before he practically ran out to the corridor. A moment later he returned carrying Diana, and placed her gently on the examination bench in Gabriel's treatment room.
Diana was paler than when Gabriel had last seen her, her white face contrasting sharply with her dark hair bound back in a braid. He regarded her. "It's nice to see you, Diana," he said.
Diana didn't respond, or meet his eye. She played with the fabric of her skirt.
