Springtime at the Druthers is an impatient thing — buds emerging from bare branches before the chill of winter is entirely past, children scrambling into the brook and screaming as they still find it just shy of frozen. Theo is still clinging to his long wool coat, determined to continue wearing it until the summer forced him into something lighter.
When Dianne arrives, he's sitting at one of the outdoor tables, distracted as he listens to a local bard perform some Gridanian love song with a vaguely judgmental expression on his face.
Dianne jogs up to the table, minutes past their intended meeting time. She stops to catch her breath for a moment, then shoves the last chunk of a bread roll in her mouth and bows to Theo. "Shorry I'm late, Mishter Thfeodule." She says through a mouthful of bread.
"No apologies needed." He's trying not to laugh. "I was just enjoying the morning air and... the music." Bards these days needed to learn one could not just wail out a Beauvoix classic to make a successful performance, one needed to learn delivery. "Would you like a moment to sit and rest? Or shall we continue to Gévaudan?"
Dianne takes a seat and swallows the last bits of her breakfast, breathing still a bit laboured from her impromptu morning exercise. "Maybe just... stick around for a tick? I'm... really bad at waking up early. Were you... waiting long?"
"No." Theo seems fine with waiting, finishing his own small mug of coffee — plain and black, of course — before setting it aside. "And I keep irregular hours. Some days I stay up until the wee hours of the morning and sleep while the sun is up, others I wake at midnight and go about my business. I do not get to schedule when children decide to be born."
He nods at the papers in front of him. "I am fine with the hours you set for yourself, as long as the work gets done. If I'm able, I'll try to be around as much as possible while you work, should you have questions."
"Oh, good. I guess that makes sense, injuries and children don't exactly happen on a normal schedule." She briefly gets deja vu from being told a similar thing by Pye about setting your own hours. "I'll try to pick it up quickly so you won't need to watch over me too much. The contract said it was mostly writing things down and organizing what's written, right? Oh, and telling you to take a nap!"
"...that was Pascal's addition while he was watching me pen the contract at the kitchen table. It is more jest than obligation." He pushes a piece of paper across the table to her — a schedule. "As I said, the hours I keep are irregular. However, these are the times I am generally working at home and available when I am not being called away on a case. Find some times which work for you, and for the first week at least, I'll ask my mother or a colleague to cover any non-urgent cases that come up during that time."
Most of his availability seems to be between the tenth and eighteenth bell, after which he tends to take his meals. Notably, there are no days off for weekends. "While my mother and I share the practice, she is getting on in age, and as such only takes the small handful of patients within Gelmorra and a few old friends among the Keepers and Sylphs. Those among the Redbellies, the rural settlements, and the Ala Mhigans fall under my jurisdiction."
Dianne nods along to his explanation and takes the schedule, looking over it. "...Do I also have to work eight days a week, or is that just a you thing?"
Theo answers this question completely seriously. "No. I am looking for, at most, about fifteen hours a week as you can spare the time, preferably spread out over two or three days."
Dianne immediately looks SO relieved. "Oh, okay! I can do that, no problem. Let's see..." She takes a pen from her bag and circles Watersday, Windsday, and Iceday on the calender. "Is that alright?"
"That would work perfectly." Theo takes a look at the times she's indicated, writes them down in his journal, and then hands the schedule back to her. "You've brought the letter of employment I sent you, yes? I'll need to sign it before we show it to the gate guards. Entry into Gévaudan should not be an issue once your face is known to them, but considering your earlier troubles with gaining access, I would like to leave you with some documentation to fall back on should you need to enter the town when I am not with you."
"Yep! Got it on me, just a second!" She takes off her bag and places it on the tabletop, retrieving a folder holding the contents of the envelope Theo sent her. She slides the schedule page into the folder and pulls out the letter, which has been signed at the bottom with her name in dark purple ink, passing it across the table. "Here you go!"
"Thank you." Theo gets out his own pen, a plain-bodied steel barrel with a functional nib, and signs his own name at the bottom with the current date. "Just a moment."
A small block of colored wax emerges from his stationary supplies, held over one of the Druther table lanterns until he's able to drip some onto the paper. It's followed by a small brass ring which is used to stamp the wax with what is by now a familiar crest. "For extra security," he explains, putting wax, signet ring, pen, and papers away in his carry case. "If for whatever reason it becomes lost or damaged over the next three weeks, let me know and I will write up a new one. Now, shall we be off?"
Dianne packs her stuff back up and slings her bag over her shoulder. "Lead the way, boss!"
"Simply my name will do, Dianne." Theo leaves a coin on the table — gil, this time, because he was coming into more of it these days after wandering so far afield — and picks up his cane and carry case before leading the way to the lower paths. "Let me know if you'd like me to slow down."
"Right, just Theodule. Got it." She follows along, Theo's walking-stick pace being reasonable for her to keep up with, even with her shorter stature.
Issom-Har was, by the account of local adventurers and the Hearers of Quarrymill, an open pit cavern that lay a perilously short walk south of the Druthers, ready to break the legs of any poor soul who wandered too close to the edge in he dark. Theo bypasses these ruins entirely and leads the way up to the abandoned cottage often frequented by Redbelly youths. Three young men lounge on the steps playing cards — Theo gives them a nod, and is answered by a lazy two-fingered salute, a tacit agreement between the two settlements. No warning cry is called, no alert sounded so that those further underground may bar the gates.
She nervously keeps her distance as they walk by the Issom-Har pit, letting out a breath she was unconsciously holding when Theodule leads them around a different direction. I guess Mr. Theodule knows them... Does anyone actually live at this old house?
Past the cottage ruins, up towards the bluffs lining the western edge of the Shroud, lies a narrow ravine. From the ground and from the sky, it looks to be an overgrown thicket of kudzu vine smothering any path forward. There's the muffled sound of running water as he stops and leans down.
"Watch your step," he murmurs. He uses his cane to pull aside the branches of a thorn shrub, steps forward, and to all intents and purposes, looks as if he disappears into the ground.
She continues following, trying to take mental notes of their path so she can follow it later without needing an escort. It's definitely pretty far from the beaten path, but I suppose that's probably the point... She blinks as Theo seems to slip through the shrubbery and out of existence. "Eh? Where did you go?"
"Down here." Theo's cane pokes out from below as he pushes the curtain of shrubbery aside — he's standing on a low path below her, hidden by the mat of greenery covering it like a canopy. "Take care, the rocks are wet." He holds out his hand for Dianne to take, if she needs it.
"Oh! I see, neat trick!" She takes his hand and climbs through the shrub cover, getting some branches in her face. "Ack- phbblt!" She makes it to the lower level, though the greenery has claimed her hat.
Theo leans over and attempts to fish it out of the vines for her, trying to use his cane to hook it and drag it back down. "Ah-" It's a little worse for wear when he hands it over. "There we go. Do you have your footing?"
When Dianne is able to take in her surroundings, she can see a small footpath that hugs the edge of the ravine, the open facing portions of the trail canopied by greenery, and then quickly disappearing underground. In the middle of the ravine proper is a small creek that is fed by an underground spring.
"A popular fishing spot," Theo comments as he leads the way. "Pascal and I used to go eel trapping here, when there was a cavern overhead before the Calamity." The overgrown vines were a new addition, apparently.
Dianne takes her hat and wipes off any leaves that ended up on it. She frowns at the small tears in the fabric, making a mental note to ask her mother for a mending later. "All good, thanks Theodule." She pops the hat back on and has a look around, walking alongside Theo. "Ooh, this is a nice little grotto! So you and Pascal have known each other a while, then?"
"We grew up together." His cane taps along the gravel, though he doesn't seem to need the help finding his footing. "His mother helped mine, so he was often over. I suppose you could call him my first friend, outside of-" He hesitates. "Family members." He recovers quickly. "For all that we bicker, the respect we have for each other is a longstanding and mutual one."
The quaint path soon turns from woodland trail into disorienting underground passage, illuminated only by the occasional beam of sunlight coming through a crack in the stone, and soon, not even that. Theo pauses at a bend in the path. "Would you like me to light a lantern?"
"Oh, so you do have friends!" She laughs. "Sorry, that was a bit rude. But that explains why you let him move in. What about Felix, dyou have history with him too?"
She easily navigates the stonewrought passageways, their structure feeling strangely familiar, even with 20 years of absence from them. "No need, I can see fine!"
Theo snorts at the well-meaning faux-pas. "Yes, yes, even I am capable of having friends, though if I'm to be honest, in this case it is because Pascal puts in most of the work." He forgoes the hidden lantern cached within the tunnel wall and continues to lead the way onward. "As for Felix, his mother is one of my patients," he explains. "So I was familiar with his family, even if I did not know him terribly well when he was a child. Has he told you much of his upbringing?"
Dianne shrugs. "Not really, no. Picked up a couple vague facts, but we haven't really talked much about that. I know his papa was an arsehole. And that he's kinda like me, but in the other direction."
It takes a moment for Theo to catch on. "Ah, yes. That is one of the things I was wondering if you two knew about each other." It's hard to make his expression out, but he sounds happy, though his version of happy sounded somewhere between 'mildly inconvenienced' and 'good humored indulgence.'
"I will not disclose anything he has not seen fit to share, then, but yes — his father was, as you put it, an arsehole. For all his dramatics, Felix is already growing into someone better than the roots which bore him." His steps slow as a faint light can be seen ahead — the guarded gate. "A burden which, thankfully, I do not think you share. Percevain and Marionne have always been good people."
"Only know as of last night, actually." She nods. "And I've heard that a lot... I'm lucky Mama and Papa are so nice, but it sucks that good parents are apparently so rare..."
"I will let you form your own opinions on my mother," Theo says dryly. "But hopefully she will not be unpleasant company. Good evening!" He knocks his fist against the wood and iron door. "It's Molisouix!"
There's a long moment, then a creak as someone yanks the peephole open. "Doctor? What's- oh." An older gentleman squints at Dianne. "Who's this?"
"Percevain and Marionne's daughter, Dianne Lundevidenoir." Theo speaks smoothly, as if there was no reason to doubt his word despite the fact that Dianne looked very much like a lalafell at the moment. "She's to be my new medical assistant."
"That so?" Rheumy eyes peer at at her. "From Alder Springs?"
"Limsa, Master Cherriot. The Lundevidenoirs moved to Limsa." Theo glances over at Dianne. "I have her papers of writ, if you require them. She's in my employ." The old man waves him off before turning to Dianne.
"Percevain, Percevain... right, right, it's been a few turns." More than just a few, but who was counting. "How is your father, child?"
Theo glances over at Dianne, ready to step in if she wants him to.
Dianne nods and 'mhm's alongside Theo's explanations, unsure if she should explain the lalafell thing or just not mention it. Wait, Alder Springs? We've never lived in Alder Springs... he's probably just misremembering, or he misheard.
"Papa's doing well, he's got a good-paying job on one of those ships that patrol around the seas." She wonders if these people even know what a 'ship' or 'sea' is. "Mama's also doing well, she's a seamstress."
"A seamstress!" The old man claps his hands. "My daughter used to be a seamstress! Made a clever bit of quilting back when—"
"Master Cherriot, the door?"
"Right, right." With a creak and a squeal the gate swings open. "Come, come, I'll tell the lads to let you in." He's still chuckling. "Seams and seas, seams and seas. Hah!" Theo helps brace the door, waiting for Dianne to enter first before following.
"Thank you, Master Cherriot," he says politely once the door swings closed behind him. "Until next time." Before they can be caught in further small-talk he gives a polite bow of his head, then ushers Dianne along. It's not until they are out of earshot that he relaxes.
"He means well," he murmurs. "His mind is just scattered."
Dianne awkwardly smiles and nods as she passes through the opened gate. "I figured as much, given he thought I was from Alder Springs of all places..." She shrugs. "As long as he remembers me enough to open the gate in the future, then I don't have any issues... So, how far are we from your place? And hey, won't it get kinda crowded with both of us there, plus your mother and Pascal and Felix?" She's assuming he has like, a normal-sized house for a small family of a mother and son.
"Felix and Pascal have their own suite with separate entrances to the street," he says, like this is a totally normal thing for a home to have. "It adjoins the quarters my mother and I live in — you'll be working mostly in the parlor and my study. While we have no proper clinic, the front half of our home suffices as a receiving area for patients and consultations." Unspoken, of course, is that only Gelmorrans would have the ability to reach it. "Should you encounter any trouble at the gate, tell them to send a runner to the Molisouix household and either my mother or myself will vouch for you in person."
"Wait, so they're in like a smaller house connected to your house?" Dianne tries to envision what he's describing, but can't get a good mental image. "I guess I'll see when we get there." She shrugs. "Hopefully there's not too much gate trouble, but I'll keep that in mind just in case!"
The streets of Gévaudan, once they get past the entrance to the village, quickly take on a homey, run-down atmosphere, with painted shutters in the windows and pyre-pods making a brave effort at sprucing up the tiny yards. Lanterns stagger drunkenly down the little residential paths, only half of them properly lit. The Molisouix home is not very far at all, tucked into a cul-de-sac at the end of Spinners Street.
As they walk through Gevaudan she gets the same weird sort of nostalgia that she had when she visited Milli's workshop a moon ago. "I wonder which one of these houses was ours... I only vaguely remember all of this." She takes small breaks between looking around to scribble down the directions.
"Felix and Pascal's apartments," Theo says, pointing out two white-washed doors next to each other. "Former in-law quarters now converted into guest housing. And my home." He points to the solid oak door at the very end of the lane, lanterns etched with Nophica's sigil hanging on either side. "It is unlocked during business hours. I'll have a key made for you, in the event you need to enter when neither my mother nor I are home."
"Oh, so they do have their own doors. But it's still the same house on the inside? ...I don't really get it."
"Yes," Theo says, which explains very little. "There is a common area further in which connects the different branches of the house, though it sees very little use these days." He opens the door and shows Dianne into the parlor, hanging his coat up by the door. He really is very stick shaped underneath all that fabric.
"Ohh, so it's like, split into different branches? And each branch is a house but they combine into a mega-house..." She enters the parlor of the Molisouix home, having a look about while listening to Theo's explanations. Seeing Theo remove his coat, she does the same, as well as removing her hat since it's not needed and placing it on a nearby rack. Now we both look off, hehe.
"This is a reception area for receiving patients and visitors." Dianne might recognize some of the decor style from her parents' home — somewhat shabby but well cared upholstery dotted with throw pillows embroidered with Gelmorran motifs, a shelf full of knickknacks and books. There's a writing desk in the corner with the top rolled down.
"While your primary responsibilities do not involve playing the part of a receptionist, I might occasionally request that you work here so that, should someone come to the door while I'm away, you're able to greet them."
"Seems like a pretty nice place! How many visitors do you usually get in on an average day?"
"It depends upon the day," he says unhelpfully. "When they are able, most schedule appointments. But it's not uncommon for a runner to arrive and demand my presence, and then have another come to the house a half-bell after I've left." Frankly the fact that he'd not bothered with a linkpearl before, or even a basic pager system, was absurd. "When unexpected emergencies are not popping up, though, we usually only see Marielle delivering the post, and Avenrhi coming over with grocery deliveries."
He unlocks the writing desk as he talks, unrolling the wood top to reveal a desk absolutely covered in various folios, journals, and loose notes. "I apologize for the disorganization. I haven't had a chance to collate my notes since last week." There's a calendar taking up one side of the desk, outlining different benchmarks and expected timelines for a few dozen patients - Theo has circled scheduled check-ups in red.
"Oh, Avenrhi does direct deliveries? Didn't know that. Marielle makes sense, though." She follows him to the writing desk, watching in horror as he rolls back the cover and reveals a desk that looks like a bird was trying to make a nest in it. "Looks like I've got my work cut out for me, ehehe..." She glances at the calender, still sort of in disbelief at just how much this guy is constantly on the clock.
Theo gives her an apologetic look. "Avenrhi does not usually do direct delivery, but as my mother has gotten older and myself busier, she's made an exception to help us." He looks down at the desk.
"Sheesh, too busy to go grocery shopping? (No wonder you eat out so often...)" She clears her throat. "Well, it's very nice of her to help out like that!"
"Frankly, asking for some help with paperwork is overdue," he admits. "When it was two hundred or so young families in Gelmorra, having two chirurgeons who specialized in family planning and medicine was more than enough. But now Gelmorra empties, families move towards the surface, and are scattered more broadly throughout the Shroud and surrounding area. It takes more time to travel to each household, and more and more are added to their number every year as news of my services spreads through word of mouth." Theo was very, very bad at turning families with young children down.
"I will admit my... resources as stretched thin. Since the Calamity, my case load has tripled."
While Theo explains himself, Dianne wonders if her own information is somewhere in this pile. "Well, I can get started on some organizing now! Any specific way you want it done?"
Theo nods, and shows her — the filing cabinet with folders organized by family name, how delivery date estimates were calculated and added to the calendar, the way notes were formatted for each house call he made. Three hundred or so families scattered throughout the Shroud in all, some clearly surface-Gelmorran, some Keeper clans, others with Gyr Abanian names that tripped off the tongue.
He holds up a worn leather folio. "For these families, I split the care with another physician. I'll handle the paperwork for them myself — my colleague is particular about how things are tracked, and it would take longer to train you on it than to do it myself." Theo gives her a small smile. "If I can find a way to keep you on for longer, then perhaps I'll show you then." Dianne, you would not recognize Haerzhal's maker's mark embossed onto the front, but it is there regardless — a small sigil with a conjurer's cane, next to the Molisouix crest.
"I know it is a lot of work, with many moving parts. Do you have any questions on what was covered?"
Dianne takes out her pocket notebook and starts scribbling down notes while Theo shows her the ropes, already hypothesizing ways to potentially organize the large array of various families served by the Molisouixes.
"I think I've got it mostly down, yeah. The delivery stuff might take me a bit to really nail down, but I'm not sure if explaining it more would really help, I think I'm just going to have to do it a few times until I figure it out. While I'm asking questions though, do you think it would be prudent to organize the families by location? I know you said all your clients used to be from Gelmorra, but when you're running across the whole forest on the daily I think it'd speed things up if you knew 'oh this client is in the North Shroud, I only have to check this section of names'."
"I don't record location data in my files." When she looks over at him, he shrugs. "I know where the homes are. This not the Lavender Beds, where each plot is neatly demarcated and given an orderly number. Some of these families live in the back country where not even a road leads to their home. Others travel seasonally, or move every few turns to avoid the eyes of those who would call them poachers." He looks at the file cabinet. "If, for whatever reason, my documentation should be compromised, I would not like to leave a paper trail leading straight to the doors of the Shroud's most vulnerable."
"You just remember where every single person written down here is??"
Theo gives her a mild look. "Yes. I make house calls. The beginning of each new intake appointment involves a walk to someone's home." The corner of his lip twitches. "While I struggled with navigating the surface at first, I've grown much better over the years with practice. Doing Avenrhi proud, hopefully, though she can still navigate circles around me if pressed."
Dianne looks genuinely surprised. "Impressive! Well, I guess I can ignore that idea... so dyou just want them done alphabetical, then? Arranged by date, maybe?"
"Alphabetically, please, by family or clan name. I used to have them sorted by community, but there has been so much movement among communities after the Calamity that it became a bit of a moot point. Ah." He remembers something, and fetches a folder lying on top of the shelf. "I thought you might like to practice with this." *Lundevidenoir*. Patient notes for Dianne, her parents, and distant relatives in the North Shroud, more than twenty years old now.
"I did a rotation with a midwife in Alder Springs when I was a young man," he explains. Six months avoiding Pascal, and returning to find him a soon-to-be father. "When I remembered you were coming today, I thought to dig up any patient notes I had on those who bore your family name."
Dianne takes the folder in hand and reads the name on it. Well, guess that answers my earlier question... She flips through the pages within the folder, taking a bit to decrypt Theo's writing. "Huh, so this is Papa's family... he never really spoke much about them. You said you found them in Alder Springs? Is that why Mr. Cherriot thought I was from there?"
"I...yes. There's a branch of the Lundevidenoirs up near Gelmorra proper, the great city from which all else branched out from." Theo hesitates as he realizes this is news to Dianne. "Did you father truly not say anything of them to you?"
Dianne shakes her head. "Not really, no. Obviously we had to have had older relatives, but he never brought them up... well, besides the one time he mentioned his grandmother who was from the Nightingale family, and some general things like that the family used to be very magically inclined." She shrugs. "I've never met any of my older relatives, so it wasn't really important to know ever."
Well, Percevain forgive him, in that case. "Would you like to know?" he asks frankly. "If you would rather hear it straight from your father, then I can give you a different file to work with. However, you are a woman grown. If you desire to learn more of your father's side of the family, I think that is well within your right."
Dianne shakes her head. "I'm kinda curious, but like I said, it's not really important. Even if they're family, I don't think I should be snooping in your files if I don't need to be. I'll sort them out like any other patient."
"...Your parents are fortunate to have a daughter of such integrity. I think you'll do quite well here, Dianne."
Dianne bows. "I'll try not to let you down!" She takes the folder and heads to the writing desk to begin her job proper.