by Glenn » Sun Nov 30, 2014 6:34 am
He had a particular smile for her as she entered. He'd yet to take his shirt off or anything like that; it seemed overly formal in a land where one did not see a physician without a damn good reason. He'd seen hints of other places and heard even more from Savoy years and years ago now. So damn long. An innocence regained and lost again. And then so much more.
No, today he had arrived with all the politeness and respect of someone who admired her and her profession, or, of course, of someone who wanted something. In Myrken Wood, it was far more often the latter than the former.
"Looks can be deceiving, Miss Tirel, but Egris keeps me up to appearance's sake at least," which frankly wasn't how that phrase ought to be used, but that didn't seem to be stopping him. "so I'll take that as a compliment and be glad for it." There was that polite, distanced smile again. One could write a book with all that he didn't know about her, and that chafed; two years ago, he'd never be in a situation like this so undereducated.
"Last year at this time, I was recovering from a month's starvation and if my poor sparring record against Egris is any sign of it, I fear I'll never fully recover. It came in the midst of a second trauma, a more emotional one, a mental one, and I hope to recount these to you and then for you to decide whether or not I am truly recovered; I'll be brief," a necessary addition if she had ever heard anything about him.
After some hesitation, presumably one where she could sneak an answer in, he'd add, looking away. "All of this led to another change in me, one that would be more suited for a priest maybe, but if there are any physical signs of it, you'd be able to spot them better than I." If this WAS some sort of subterfuge, then it was certainly hidden behind a wall of past medical issues. There was a reason why he knew most of the older staff by both name and temperament.