“Where have you been all your life?” demanded Mirrim, exasperated.
“In Half-Circle Sea Hold,” Menolly replied meekly because she didn’t wish to offend the girl.
Mirrim stared at her.
“Haven’t you ever heard of it?” It was Menolly*s turn to be condescending. “We have the biggest dock cavern on Pern.”
Mirrim caught her eye, and then both girls began to laugh, the moment in which their friendship began.
123
“Look, let me help you to the necessary, you must be bursting …” and Mirrim bristly threw back the sleeping fur. “You just lean on me.”
Menolly had to because her feet were incredibly sore, even with Minim supporting most of her weight Fortunately the necessary was no more than a iew steps beyond the sleeping cubicle. By the time Menolly crawled back into her bed, she was shaking all over.
“Stay on your stomach, Menolly; it’ll be easier to change your bandages,” Mirrim said. “I haven’t had to do many feet, if s true; but if you don’t have to see whafs going on, that makes it easier. Everyone at Southern said my hands are gentle, and I’ll drown your feet in numbweed. Or would you want some more fellis juice? Manora said you could,”
Menolly shook her head.
“Brekke …” and here Minim’s voice faltered briefly, “Brekke taught me how to change sticky bandages because I… Oh, dearie me, your feet look just like raw meat Ooops, that’s not the right thing to say, but they do. TTiey wzS be all right, Manora said,” and there was such confidence in that statement that Menolly preferred to believe it, too. “Now Threadscore … thaf s nasty. You’ve just lost all the skin on your feet, thaf s aH, but I expect you feel thaf s quite enough. Sony. Caught you there. Anyway, you’ll not even have scars once the new skin grows, and if s really amazing how quickly skin does grow. Or so I’ve observed. Now Tnreadscore, thafs nasty for healing. Never quite fades. Lucky for you Tgran’s Branth spotted you running. Dragons are very longsighted, you know. There, now, this should help…”
Menolly gasped involuntarily as Mirrim slathered cool numbweed on her right foot. She’d been biting her lips against the pain while Mirrim, with very gentle hands indeed, had removed the blood-caked bandages but the relief from pain was almost a shock. If she’d only lost the skin from her feet, why did they hurt so much more than her hand had?
124
“Now, we’ve only the left foot to go. The numbweed does help, doesn’t it? Did you ever have to bofl it?” Mirrim asked with a groan and, as usual, didn’t wait for an answer. ‘Tor three days I just grit my teeth and dose my nose and firmly remind myself that it would be so much worse if we didn’t have numbweed. I suppose thafs the bad with the good Manora’s always saying we have to have. But you’ll be relieved to know that there’s no sign of infection…”
“Infection?” Menolly jerked herself up on her elbows, craning her head about
“Will you keep still?” Mirrim glared so authoritatively that Menolly forced herself to relax. All she could see of her feet were salve-smeared heels. “And you’re very, very lucky there isn’t any infection. After all, you’d been running shoeless over sand, dirt and goodness knows what It took us forever to wash the grit off.” Minim made a sympathetic sound. “Just as well we’d dosed you good.”
“You’re sure there’s no infection this time?”
“This time? You haven’t done this before, have you?” Minim’s voice was shocked.
“No, not my feet My hand,” and Menolly turned on her side, holding out her scarred hand. She was considerably gratified by the concerned pity in Minim’s face as she examined the wound.
‘However did you do that?”
“I was gutting packtafl, and the knife slipped.”
“You were lucky to miss the tendons.”
“Miss?”
“Well, you are using those fingers. A bit drawn that scar, though,” Minim clucked her tongue with professional dismay. “Don’t think much of your Hold’s nursing if thafs any sample.”
“Packtafl slime is difficulty as bad as Threadscore in its own way,” Menolly muttered, perversely defending her Hold.