Name: Zerynkel
Gender: Male
Age: 20
Height: 6'4"
Skin Tone: Fair
Build: Really Skinny
Eyes: Blue
Hair Color: Dark Brown
Hair Length: Cropped and Messy
Occupation: Apprentice Healer
Siblings: None
Parents: Widowed Mother
Origin: Small Hold
Pets: None
Zerynkel carefully ran a hand through his messy dark brown hair as he walked into the dining hall. He spotted a familiar face and joined it at a table. “Mind if I have a seat?”
“Not at all,” the older man replied coming out of his thoughts. He spotted a bandage on Zerynkel’s head. “Oh man, what happened to you?”
“Nothing much, Jeyentai,” Zerynkel replied waving it off as he sat down. “I just hit my head, nothing too bad.”
“If you keep it up, you may not live long enough to make journeyman,” Jeyentai said with a shake of his head. “Elmia bandage you up?”
“Yeah,” Zerynkel replied as he tried to keep a sigh from escaping. He knew he was accident prone, but did the whole hall really think that he wasn’t going to live long enough to walk the tables? That was a pretty mortifying thought, not to mention the fact that it seemed he was involving Elmia in his bad rumors.
“Aw, come on, Zer, why the long face,” Jeyentai asked as he smacked the younger man on the arm. “Having a cute girl attend to your wounds regularly can’t be that bad, right? Besides, you’re better off with Elmia than her sister. Elsidra would probably tell you to patch yourself up since you were dumb enough to get injured in the first place.”
“Ugh,” Zerynkel groaned as he put his head in his hands. “That’s pretty much exactly what she said. It was something along the lines of ‘If you’re going to continually injure yourself, you should learn to take care of your injuries yourself and stop bothering other people.’”
“You mean you actually asked her for help,” Jeyentai asked with raised eyebrows. “That was rather bold of you.”
“I mistook her for Elmia once and only once. I couldn’t see clearly at the time. After that, I always double check their hair length before I address one or the other. Thank goodness for that, or I’m sure I would never be able to tell them apart until it was too late,” Zerynkel stated as he picked up his fork and began to poke at his food.
“You should eat, Zerynkel,” Jeyentai said in a rather older brother tone. “You know what they say. A sick healer can’t heal the sick. Besides, you’ll get better with time. You haven’t been here all that long. You can’t measure yourself by other people’s progress, so just do your best. You’ll get there,” he finished as he stood up.
“Thanks, Jeyentai,” Zerynkel said sincerely as he gave the older man a genuine smile. “It’s nice to know that not everyone has given up on me yet.”
“People are only going to give up on you if you give up first,” Jeyentai stated seriously before departing. “See you around!”
Zerynkel sat in thought for a moment before turning his attention back to his plate. Jeyentai was completely right. He needed to have a little more confidence. He might make mistakes, but everyone did. If he let it get to him, then he would be letting down those people that still believed in him. He nodded to himself as he cleaned the rest of his plate. He was just finishing when a fellow apprenctice summoned him to one of the masters’ offices.
Zerynkel knocked tentatively on the door and entered when he was told to come in. “You summoned me, sir,” he asked as he stepped inside and stood in front of the older gentleman.
“Yes, I did,” the older man replied as he glanced at the bandage on Zerynkel’s head. “I trust that’s not too serious?”
“It’s just a superficial wound, nothing too bad at all. Thank you, sir,” Zerynkel replied quickly with a shake of his head.
The master looked at him carefully for a moment before continuing. “Very well. I wanted to speak to you about a possible assignment.”
“An assignment,” Zerynkel burst out in surprise before remembering where he was. “I apologize, sir. Please continue.”
The older man frowned at him sternly but went on. “I wanted to speak to you about a possible assignment,” he repeated before going on. “Aneris Hold is in need of healers, so I am putting together a group of journeymen and apprentices to accompany me there. This is a good opportunity for some hands on learning, but I want to make myself clear on a few points first. You would not be dealing with patients directly. You would merely be assisting, so don’t get your hopes up about anything. I also hope that by getting you out of the hall we can keep your own health in check. You seem to be constantly injurning yourself ever since you came here. Perhaps a different atmosphere will be better for you. We will be leaving in three days. I trust you will be up for the journey by then.”
“Yes, sir,” Zerynkel replied happily. “I’m sure I’ll be perfectly fine, and I look forward to working with you and the others!”
“Then you are dismissed,” the master said with a wave of his hand.
Zerynkel bowed before leaving the room in a hurry to head to his own room. He was going on an assignment! It was such a wonderful opportunity to prove himself. He wouldn’t miss it for the world!
