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Ororon first noticed something was off when he heard high pitch screeching from a familiar pixel dragon as he made his way to Ifa’s saurian infirmary.
“GET BACK HERE YOU VERMIN!!”
Ororon saw a young Yumkasaur try to run out from the back, but saw a familiar green grapple come out and wrap around the saurinan's chest. Then he saw a familiar young man with platinum hair jump out and wrangle the saurian as the green grapple retracted.
“Calm down girl! You just need some medicine!”
Ororon quickly made his way over and helped calm the saurian down. The young man sliding down it's back in relief.
“Everything alright, Ifa?” Ororon asked as the man caught his breath.
“Pretty much! Thankfully Kinich was in the area and helped me with a bunch of patients today!” Ifa said.
“Just be lucky that we were here! Now compensate us for the trouble!” Ajaw shouted as his pixelated form quickly made himself known.
“We were doing deliveries, it's nothing serious.” Kinich said as he walked out, “However, that means you owe me a favor now.”
“Aha! Indeed, I'm glad you still remembered that.” Ifa mused as he and Ororon led the saurian back into the infirmary’s outside area.
“So what brings you to the Flower Feather tribe, Kinich?” Ororon asked as Ifa did a quick check over the saurian.
“I had some deliveries I had to get to Chasca. A lot of rebuilding still needs to be done, so materials and supplies are still being distributed by my tribe to all the others.” Kinich said, “All of my work had been courier based ever since the invasion.”
“I see…” Ororon murmured, “Have you been feeling well? You haven't encountered anymore abyssal energy, have you?”
“Very little, since I overdid it last time, I'm being careful in the high concentration areas.” Kinich said, “I won't get caught off guard again.”
The two remained silent for awhile as ifa continued doing his work. Ororon could feel the atmosphere becoming more awkward and he wasn’t sure how to… dissipate it? If only Granny was here… she’d be able to make conversation like it was the easiest thing in the world.
“Ugh! You’re silence is killing me!” Ajaw suddenly shouted as he appeared in the room.
“Did you take care of the small ones, Ajaw?” Kinich asked tiredly.
“Of course I did! All the puny runts settled down once I started telling them about my greatness. The very least you could do is thank me!” Ajaw said.
“You did good work, now settle down. We have another delivery to get to after we’re done here.” Kinich said, though Ororon could tell he was exactly… fully into it.
Kinich suddenly took out a small pouch, “Here, some Quenepa Berries, as a reward.”
“That's more like it!” Ajaw cackled before flying off somewhere to enjoy the food.
“Are you here to deliver some more vegetables?” Kinich asked.
“Ah, yes, a lot of the radishes and cabbages were fully grown, so I figured I'd take some here for Ifa to give to his patients.” Ororon said, “Now that you mention it, how has your farm been doing?”
“It’s been doing fine, holding up as usual.” Kinich said, “The Mooncore Flowers you gave me are growing surprisingly well, even in my area they're turning pretty vibrant.”
“That's good to hear, and actually… the Skydew flowers you showed me how to grow are also doing very well.” Ororon said, “The aphids love the nectar.”
“Heeeey! Kinich! Can I ask for some help over here?” Ifa’s voice called out. “Yuka is scared of her medicine again!”
“Coming.”
Ororon watched as Kinich quickly made his way into one of the infirmary rooms. Looks like Ifa needed some extra help. Which one was Yuka again? If he recalled correctly, that was a Yumkasaur that Ifa regularly tends to. It's rare for her to be taken to the clinic, perhaps that was another reason Kinich was here. He'll likely be making sure Yuka gets back to the Scions after her check up.
“What's this about Kinich?” Ifa asked as he took a swig of his water pouch as he sat behind his clinic.
“It's just something I was curious about,” Ororon said, “Kinich told me a lot about his occupation, I just find it surprising you two work so well together.”
“Eh, everyone thinks that.” Ifa shrugged, “A sauro-vet and a saurian hunter. Two opposites on the outside, but our goals are basically the same. It is kinda funny though, how people think we hate each other when I figured we couldn't be more chummy.”
“How so?”
“I cure and heal saurians, to the best of my abilities. Kinich makes sure saurians don't hurt people or themselves. We care about the lives of saurians and humans and don't want them to negatively affect each other.” Ifa said, “And at the extreme end of it all. Left with no other choice, the saurians have to be sent to the Night Kingdom with as much respect as possible.”
“How did you first meet him?” Ororon asked.
“Oh? We met a few times a while ago. When he was still primarily doing courier work, I would hire him to get materials I needed for medicine. After he became a hunter, our collaboration increased a bit. He asked me about what severity abyss infected saurians can be before they're lost. We had a purely professional relationship.” Ifa said, “But let's say after he took Ajaw for me to look over, we ended up on closer terms after that.”
“Ajaw is interesting, but I don't see how that furthered your relationship with Kinich.” Ororon said.
Ifa chuckled, “That one visit alone may not have, but I learned a lot afterwards. After that, Kinich started dropping by the clinic more often due to our professional means and I got to know him more gradually after that. Especially since Ajaw is scared of me, he doesn't speak too much to interrupt. Then Chasca got him to see me as a patient and things took off from there.”
“I feel like I should ask more questions, but I also feel like you won't tell me everything.” Ororon said.
“Oro! I'm hurt.” Ifa mused with fake dramatics. “There just isn't much to tell, besides, you and Kinich are getting along well, aren't you? I had a feeling you two would be friends.”
“Hmm… I suppose, I just don't know how to approach him sometimes.” Ororon said.
“Hm?”
“It's just… you're aware of his living conditions, right?”
“Of course I am, have to make visits to him when he's ill after all.” Ifa shrugged, “I don't know the full details, but I don't really need to. Elder Leik told me enough when he entrusted Kinich's health to me. Someone like Kinich just takes a bit to warm up to, and he needs to get comfortable too.”
Ifa took another drink from his water pouch, “Like I said, I have a feeling you two would get along. Besides, you like him, don't you?”
“I am curious about him as a person, and well… I do want to be his friend.” Ororon said, “I just don't know if he wants the same.”
Ifa chuckled, “He does, I can tell. He just had trouble expressing it. Speaking of which, he's going to be joining me on a commission tomorrow.”
“A commission?”
“A saurinan believed to have some mild abyssal contamination is running around the areas between here and the Masters of the Night Wind. An infected qucusaur, so it's a bit more dangerous. Kinich's skills with wrangling saurians like that will be a plus.” Ifa said, “Did you want to join us?”
“Oh, sure.”
“So what are we doing here now?” Ajaw asked as he floated near Kinich’s head.
“We’re helping Ifa with a rogue saurian, abyssal infection, but mild enough that it should be treatable.” Kinich said.
“Exactly! If we can cure the qucusaur before the infection spreads too deep, we don’t need to worry about a monster running around.” Ifa said.
“And you’re here to help too?” Ajaw asked as he turned to Ororon.
“Yes, Ifa asked if I wanted to and I agreed, besides, there is strength in numbers.” Ororon said.
“More like more risky variables.” Ajaw huffed.
Kinich only sighed and shook his head, “More hands would be useful for tracking down a qucusaur, they excel in one on one combat, but they have a harder time when faced with a group. In this case, here.”
Kinich took a bottle out of his pack and handed it to Ororon.
“What is it?”
“Sedatives.” Ifa said before Kinich could respond. “If we want to help this saurian before it hurts itself or others, we need to calm it down. There's also a slight blood thinning agent in there so when the arrow strikes, it'll leave a tiny blood trail if it tries to run.”
“Wait… aren't these what Kinich uses for hunting saurians?” Ororon asked.
“Yes, Ifa actually provides me with a lot of the medicinal agents I use for my missions.” Kinich said.
“Like I said! Our occupations benefit each other more than you’d expect!” Ifa exclaimed from the front as he looked through a pair of binoculars. “I think I see them! Just northwest!”
“In flight or on the ground?” Kinich asked.
“Landing! What’s our plan of attack?” Ifa asked as he put the binoculars away.
“For a qucusaur, we need to break it’s focus.” Kinich said, “I’ll draw it’s attention first, Ororon, dip your arrows in the sedative and fire at the qucusaur while it’s focused on me. It’ll react very quickly to your shot and once it tries to alter it’s focus, Ifa will drop in from Sora and tackle it. This sedative is quite strong so one shot should be enough.”
“And I’ll continue tiring it out.” Ifa mused, “Once that’s done and it’s sufficiently tired out, Kinich is going to use his grapple to restrain it as I perform a check up.”
“Sounds like a solid enough plan. What's our position?” Ororon asked.
“You should perch on a tree east to where the saurian is. I'll be approaching it from the south.” Kinich said as he pointed in the direction of where Ifa spotted the qucusaur. “And Ifa will be flying in from the north. Sound good?”
“Sounds good to me.” Ifa said, he took out a horn and blew into it, the low drone echoed in the forest as a familiar caw sounded out and Sora landed next to Ifa.
“Right on time, Sora.” Ifa smiled as he climbed onto the qucusaur’s back. “Let's get into position. I'll leave the rest to you, Kinich.”
“Consider it done.” Kinich said simply as Ifa waved at them before taking off into the sky.
“Ready?” Kinich asked as he held out a fist.
“O-Oh… uh, yeah, ready.” Ororon pressed his own fist against Kinich's before the duo took off in the direction of the infected qucusaur.
“Ajaw, get ready.” Kinich said as he tapped his bracelet. The pixelated dragon cackling lowly before flying off somewhere.
Ororon ran to the east side as he heard the sound of wings and bird-like clicking. He jumped into the trees and slowly made his way across the branches. He took out the vial Kinich gave him and dipped one of his arrows into it. He took a breath as he looked through the leaves as he saw the infected qucusaur.
The qucusaur's usual red and tan feathers were tinted by black energy. Purple masses blotched it's feathers and it's eyes were tired yet angry at the same time. He felt bad for the qucusaur. Hopefully Ifa could cure him from this…
Ororon saw Kinich run up, a sudden blast of energy shot at the qucusaur. The infected saurian let out a roar as it's eyes shifted to Kinich. It spread its wings and focused it's eyes on Kinich. Kinich summoned his claymore and spun it around, before raising his hand and Ajaw burst from behind the trees.
“Bow before your king!” Ajaw shouted as he stood behind Kinich. Dendro energy exploded from his form and danced around the qucusaur, who let out another roar. It's eyes were fully trained on Kinich and Ajaw now.
Ororon took a breath, he pulled the arrow back and aimed. Where was the best place for the agent to flow through the saurian's body? He knows Ifa told him about it before. He looked for a spot just under the qucusaur's wing. Once he saw an opening, he fired.
The arrow flew through the treetops before managing to strike the qucusaur right under it's wing. It let out another roar before suddenly turning it's head into Ororon's direction.
“Now!” Kinich shouted.
Ororon only looked as he saw the qucusaur focus on his hiding spot, only to hear whooping as Ifa suddenly fell from the sky and landed on the qucusaur's back. His arms wrapped around its neck.
“Settle down now!” Ifa said as the qucusaur let out a screech and started to jump around and spin, trying to get him off. Ifa let out a few shouts of surprise as he held his grip. The saurian finally started to slow down as the sedative took effect. Kinich ran up and his glowing green grapple was released from his bracelet. It wrapped around the saurian's legs and Ifa quickly jumped off and took out the arrow before Kinich wrapped his grapple around its wings.
The qucusaur was quickly restrained and it let out a weaker caw as it lied on the ground.
“Easy girl, easy…” Ifa said gently as he kneeled in front of the saurian. “Let's see now…”
Ifa took out his bag of medical supplies and examined the qucusaur's beak. Black and purple were spreading across it and he frowned.
“This might take a bit…” Ifa muttered as he pulled out another vial.
Ororon made his way over and watched as his close friend went about trying to treat the restrained qucusaur. Stones and vials were scattered across the ground and even Ifa’s Anemo vision glowed brightly as he used elemental energy to try and cull the infected parts of the qucusaur's form. To force away that ugly black mist that wafted off abyssal items like smog.
Another vial and Kinich moving his grapples in a manner to help move the qucusaur’s legs and wings as Ifa treated and took out the infected feathers. Another type of salve was applied to the wounded areas and Ifa’s vision cleared the air of that mist.
“How's her condition?” Kinich asked.
Ifa took a breath, “We got here before the worst of it. Her infection is quite serious, I might need to try and drag her back somewhere closer to the tribe so I can keep an eye on her… But I managed to remove and purify a good chunk of her infected areas. Not to mention clearing the air, the less abyssal energy around her, the better.”
“Ajaw and I can transport her.” Kinich said, “If she can be cured, then that's what we do.”
“Of course, I'll leave it to you then.” Ifa said, “Have her just outside of the main tribe, just northwest of it.”
“Got it, Ajaw.” Kinich called out as the dragon appeared again in his larger form.
“Yeah yeah… let's move her before she gets annoying.” Ajaw grumbled as he gently picked up the restrained qucusaur.
The qucusaur let out a small squeak.
“Oh calm down!” Ajaw scolded, Kinich quickly climbed onto Ajaw's back.
“I know there's a cave in the location you mentioned, I'll move her there for your check ups.” Kinich said.
“Thanks Kinich!” Ifa called out, “Have a safe flight!”
Kinich nodded before he and Ajaw took off into the skies.
“And we should get going too.” Ifa mused, he blew his horn again and Sora responded with a loud car before landing.
“Come on.” Ifa smiled as he patted Ororon's shoulder. Ororon nodded as they both climbed onto Sora's back and soon took off into the sky.
“Hey, Ifa… Ifa?” Chasca walked up to the sign in the clinic and saw it with Ifa’s cheerful note of how he was currently unavailable. She pulled up the paper and saw a second note.
You can find me in the cave system just northwest of the tribe. Tread with caution though! It's dangerous here.
- Ifa
So he was in the cave systems… so that likely means another close call with an abyssal infected saurian. Chasca sighed before she walked away to quickly make her way to that area.
The cave system near the tribe was one that unintentionally became Ifa’s go-to location for abyssal infection treatments. Now that she thinks about it, Ifa has been more swamped with work recently. Most likely because after Chuychu's… death, they were shorthanded on doctors, and despite Ifa’s occupation as a sauro-vet, he knew enough about human medicine as well to adequately treat warriors and adventurers. So he ended up helping her dad a lot in taking care of wounded tribesmen and saurians alike.
Still, he was one of the people in the tribe she was comfortable with, and he helped take care of her injuries when Chuychu wasn’t around. He still did, and now he helps makes sure Kinich gets rest too. She honestly doesn’t remember when she managed to convince Kinich to see a doctor. Much like herself, he needed help from both human and saurian medicine. While she was raised by saurians, Kinich basically raised himself in the wilds and among the saurians.
Chasca landed in front of the cave system and saw Kinich holding his green grapple as he kept a large qucusaur restrained, Ifa checking it’s beak again as he coaxed medicine into it’s mouth. Ororon sat nearby, with a healthy amount of supplies at the ready.
“An infected qucusaur today?” Chasca asked.
“Yeah, we got a commission about an oddly hostile and odd looking qucusaur earlier.” Ifa said as he checked the qucusaur’s wings again, Kinich slowly loosening the grapple as needed.
“And I take it all three of you managed to wrangle this guy?” Chasca asked with a tiny smile.
“Indeed! Kinich and Ororon were major helps, I definitely couldn’t have done it myself.” Ifa said, “And I’m glad this time, now Kinich doesn’t have to worry about someone asking him to kill this poor girl.”
“We managed to find the qucusaur before her abyssal infection became irreversible.” Kinich explained, “So now Ifa is just trying to help her slowly remove all remaining abyssal energy from her body.”
“I see, no wonder the clinic is closed today,” Chasca said, “I actually wanted to ask you something, Ifa.”
“Is it about Coya?” Ifa asked.
“No, she healed up just fine, just like you said.” Chasca said, “I just wanted to see how you were doing. I know Ororon and Kinich were helping you with the clinic yesterday, so I wanted to see what was going on.”
“Ah, they were just helping me wrangle some rogue patients.” Ifa chuckled, “So all was well.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Alright… she should be good to go in a few days, but she will need to rest here for just a bit longer.” Ifa said, “But this new medicine seems to be working wonders.”
“You developed a new medicine?”
“Not exactly developed, more like reverse engineered a unique sample.” Ifa said, “Kinich and the traveler provided me with the energy of purification as well as the unique flame that surrounded the Mountain King, I was able to look at the components and replicate a version of it using phlogistion, embercore flowers, and a few medicinal herbs and berries from the Masters of the Night Wind. It succeeded in trials, and it’s treating Kinich just fine.”
“That’s… quite a breakthrough.” Chasca said.
“Perhaps, but not really, we learned that some of the more intense infections is mostly psychological. So what the medicine does is lessen those effects, it’s not a ‘cure’ per say, but a treatement so it’s easier for the patients own mental strength to fight back against the influence.” Ifa explained, “Saurians arre unique beings, and I’m honestly glad this treatment works for them, but it takes time for them to recover.”
“Still… it’s impressive nonetheless, have you told Cuscou abou it?” Chasca asked, if Uncle Cuscou knew this new medicine was able to help with abyssal infections, perhaps it could help with the weak members of the tribe still recovering from their infections.
“I have, don’t worry.” Ifa said, “That’s actually where Kinich is coming in, he agreed to use the medicine to see how it helps him during his courier work. Considering his vision and ancient name, he’s… really the only one qualified to go into areas that have concentrated abyssal matter. So having him use the medicine is seeing how well this current formula works for humans.”
“I don’t mind being a test subject for something like this.” Kinich said, “Plus it’s something I haven’t done before.”
“You are being careful though, right?” Chasca asked, “Don’t forget what happened last time.”
“I am being careful, I just… got a little too ambitious that time, that’s all.” Kinich said, “You don’t need to worry.”
“Besides! If you don’t be careful, you’ll be stuck in the clinic again~” Ifa mused, watching how Kinich bristled up again slightly and gave him an annoyed glare. “Speaking of which, how about we all have dinner together?”
“Where, exactly?” Ororon asked.
“By the clinic of course!” Ifa said, “I had a bunch of supplies come in, and Ororon, don’t forget all the veggies you got me last week, I’ve been itching to cook up a huge batch of grilled vegetables.”
“I have no objections, I’ll be staying in the tribe anyway to keep an eye on our patient here.” Kinich said.
“And I already told Granny I’ll be here for a few days.” Ororon said.
“I suppose, I am done with work for the day, unless something comes up. So I’m ready for a meal.” Chasca said,
“Then it’s settled!”
Ifa sighed once again as he sat on the roof of his clinic with his water pouch. Dinner sure was lively, even if they considered themselves more reserved than most people. When they;re comfortable, they can get quite excited.
“There you are! Aren’t you usually asleep by now?” A higher but familiar voice echoed out in annoyance as Ifa saw a familiar small bird fly up.
“Good evening, Cacucu.” Ifa smiled as he saw the small bird with a tiny badge on his feathers fly up to him.
“Good evening to you, but you didn’t answer my question.” Cacucu said, “Shouldn’t you be sleeping bro? Humans need sleep!”
“I can’t sleep yet, still winding down from a very entertaining evening.” Ifa said, “Ororon, Kinich, and Chasca were here. You know it’s lively when they’re around.”
“Did Kinich at least lock that stupid dragon away?” Cacucu asked, “I don’t understand how someone as refined as him can stand such an immature dragon.”
“They just work well together, besides, Ajaw does help Kinich, doesn’t he?” Ifa asked.
“Only because of that contract!” Cacucu scoffed, “I still remember when you had to treat that brat! Ajaw was causing such a ruckus for no reason!”
“Ehh… he calmed down afterwards, didn’t he?”
“Only because you did your job and he started calling you a ‘quack’.” Cacucu huffed, “Does that dragon not understand medicine?”
“He just doesn’t like the idea of needles.” Ifa chuckled, “Nor the phlogistion treatment for his unique projection, I never knew projections could get scared like that. Anyway, how was your investigation?”
“Not as useful as I would hope.” Cacucu said as he landed on Ifa’s shoulder. “I looked into the guy Ororon told you about, an inazuman scholar, but while the one Ororon told us was named ‘Kokuchuu”, the only inazuma scholar I found was some weirdo named “Kumoka”. Ugh, how many inazuman scholars are running around Natlan??”
“Kokuchuu and Kumoka huh? Interesting.” Ifa hummed, “Wasn’t there also a scholar that was hanging around the Scions of the Canopy a few months ago named “Sanka”?”
“Yeah, but I haven’t seen him anywhere.” Cacucu said, “Why?”
“Nothing, just thinking out loud.” Ifa said, before letting out a yawn, “Well… now I’m sleepy, lets head to bed.”
“Finally, you have work to do tomorrow! You need sleep bro!” Cacucu said as he flew off and flew around Ifa’s head.
“I’m going, I’m going.” Ifa laughed as he slowly climbed down the side of his clinic. He needed to get his rest, tomorrow was going to be a busy day.