The Doctor and The Apprentice

The town where they lived was called Mesudon which was located at the Southern boundary of the Central Kingdom reigned by the rulers of the earth. Mesudon seemed almost abandoned by the kingdom as it was situated at the far end and also the kingdom was declining due to internal disputes. The town was peaceful and most of the time managed to run by itself.

Mesudon was situated on the lands of today's Southwest Asia. After the fall of the Central kingdom, thousands of years later, these lands came under the rule of the Persian Empire. By the time when Orleam and Thysmin were living, Mesudon was the main center for trade and transport between the kingdoms. Therefore, many merchants and travelers came every day to pass through Mesudon.

As we saw earlier, Thysmin arranged all the equipment and medicine that were required for the starting day. When the right time came, Orleam opened the front door for the patients to come. Usually, Orleam was the one who treated the patients and Thysmyn prepared the required medicine for him. When Orleam was not around, he allowed Thysmin to check on patients. On busy days, they both treated patients and Salura who was Orleam's daughter helped them in preparing medicine.

A few years before, a disease began to spread through a part of Mesudon. People were getting ill and they suffered from vomiting and rashes all over the skin. First, there were two patients in the evening. The next morning, many dozens came with the same symptoms. Two people could not handle the situation as many more came in the evening. Both Orleam and Thysmin worked hard with the help of Salura who prepared the medicine.

Neighbors were afraid to come and help as they thought they would get infected with the disease. After the third day, Orleam concluded that the disease did not spread from one person to another and the carrier is something different. He observed that the symptoms are similar to a food allergy but the patients were not from the same place. After some observation, he found that although the patients were not from the same place, they were from a particular area. The next day he handed over the patients to Thysmin and went to observe the area. He finally found out that the people who consumed water from the same source were getting ill. So, he advised them not to use water from the nearby stream for any purpose until it was tested for safety to use.

Then the number of new patients became very low and after two days new patients hardly came. Orleam was highly appreciated by people for treating the patients as well as for finding the cause of the disease.

Thysmin was a talented and clever apprentice who was very faithful to his teacher. It was Orleam who taught Thysmin to read and write when he was eight years old. That was because of Thysmin's curiosity about people falling ill and how medicines can cure them. When he was young, he had very few things to wonder about. Unlike other children of his age, he used to think about things that caught his attention. He found that every profession he saw was not interesting as something was missing from them. Since he was young, he saw that his mother used to sew and knit clothes to sell. He watched her for hours and finally he was bored because she repeated a few patterns again and again.

He did not underestimate any of the professions, he was just not interested in them because he thought they missed some magic that he wanted. When he saw Orleam check him and prescribe medicine according to the symptoms, he thought this profession was interesting because he felt that it was like magic to cure illnesses with medicine. He was already curious about diseases and he wanted to learn medicine since the day he met Orleam. That was how Thysmin had ended up as an apprentice to Orleam.

A few days after Orleam started teaching, he saw that Thysmin was a clever student as he learned very fast. Orleam taught both Thysmin and Salura together but Thysmin was far ahead of Salura in studies. After he learned how to read and write, Orleam started to teach him medicine. As expected, he was excellent at it and studied fast. Orleam taught him for free and Thysmin helped him in his dispensary. He completed his studies three years ago but still worked there out of gratefulness to Orleam.

"Good morning gentlemen! How is the work today?" A cheerful voice of a young lady came from the back of the dispensary. She was Salura, a pleasant and friendly young lady of twenty-one years. Every morning, she came to the dispensary and went back home in a while to prepare the lunch for three of them.

"Well, not too bad" answered Orleam with a smile using the same words as every other day. "It's still the morning and how many patients did you already treat for free?" she asked in a teasing way from her father while rushing to Thysmin. It was her habit to use this type of sarcastic humor for everyone. Orleam and Thysmin had already gotten used to that.

Seeing her going to Thysmin, Orleam said, "don't pester him today. Save your nonstop babbling for another day. He is not feeling well".

"Oh, what happened? Are you sick? Do you want me to prepare something for you to drink?" she asked without a pause looking into Thysmin's dark eyes that could not be read by anyone. His eyes did not reflect what was in his mind and everyone only knew what he said out loud with his words.

"Ah no, I'm just tired. I'll be fine" he replied taking his eyes off the list of running-out medicines he was preparing. "Hmm, as always you don't need anything. But I'll prepare you some hot herbal tea. That would take your tiredness away" she said turning away towards the door even without waiting for his answer because she knew it was the same as earlier.

"Make it two then. This old man here is tired as well but nobody cares" said Orleam with chuckles in a cheerful tone. "Then no tea for anyone. I don't care for both of you", her slightly annoyed voice came from the door.

Both men smiled hearing her words. One of them loved her as she was his own daughter and the other one cared for her as his own sister. For her, Orleam was always her beloved father but Thysmin had never been her beloved brother or friend. Also, she knew that Thysmin would never think of her, in the way she thought of him.

Thysmin knew her feelings a long time ago as he was a good observer although a less speaker. He or she didn't ever talk on this matter with themselves and continued to remain the same as they both knew their feelings about each other very well. They both grew up together and they knew each other very well, at least everything regarding this topic.

Orleam knew all these as well. He saw them grow up together as a father not only to Salura but also to Thysmin. He could not be any happier if they were together but he knew Thysmin's feelings as well. So, he chose to act as if he was ignorant of the whole situation and not to bother. He had understood well that anyone's destiny could not be controlled even though he was the father. They build up their own future and they would be able to follow their dreams if destiny permits.

After a few minutes, Salura came with two cups of herbal tea and placed the tray on the table. First, she carried the tea to his father and then to Thysmin. Although Thysmin said "no", when she asked if he wanted anything to drink, she knew that he would drink if she prepared. As expected, he sipped the hot tea slowly and it could not be denied that her tea helped him to be relieved from the tiredness.

Salura went to prepare the lunch and Thysmin went to order the running-out medicines that he was checking earlier. The merchant who supplied the medicine to their dispensary was at the end of the few shops on the same street. Thysmin was handling all the transactions with this merchant and he paid all the bills regularly. So, all the deals were neat and clean and they received the medicine on time.

A few patients came with common ailments to get treated and Orleam took care of them. After lunch, they received one of their previous orders of medicine and Thysmin took the trouble to put them in separate containers and labeled them. Salura offered him her help as always, sitting near him not missing the chance to see him closely and talk to him.

She loved stealing secret glances at his deep black eyes, tightly closed beautiful lips, and strong neck and shoulder muscles that came out of his shirt. She liked the feel of his fingers that accidentally touched hers while working. Every glance she stole and every touch she felt gave her shivers all over her body. She liked to sit near him and feel his warmth which melted her heart making her fall for him over and over again. These were her innocent desires that she expected from the man she loved but it was a pity that she had to steal for them without his permission.

She had wondered countless times during long sleepless nights why she could not change Thysmin's feelings for her. One of the reasons she imagined was that she was not pretty enough for him. But anyone with eyes could have seen many reasons not to believe this imagination. Although she did not have very fair skin, she had bright eyes that shone every time she smiled and a long cascade of thick black hair that touched her waist. Her eyebrows were two fine lines drawn by a skilled artist and her rosy lips and cheeks added liveliness to her light charisma. Her slender body with narrow waist complemented her beauty making her an equal to any other recognized beauty.

She was making these kinds of irrational imaginations as she was too young and was not experienced enough to realize that love occurred unconditionally and anyone could not choose the one to fall in love with. Every time she was thinking about him, she could not stop tears from falling down her rosy cheeks.

It was a normal day at the dispensary and Orleam had treated a few patients and had earned a little money as always. The time came for them to close and end the work for the day. They arranged the equipment and medicine inside and cleaned the floor. Orleam locked the front door and came out of the backdoor where the other two were waiting and locked the door from outside.

The sun was sinking in the western sky showering the whole town with its final golden rays before hiding completely in the horizon. They parted ways there as their homes were in opposite directions. The oldest had parted with empty thoughts, just with the contentment of the ending day. The 'he' among the younger ones parted with indifferent feelings thinking of his evening job while the 'she' left there looking forward to the next day to see the most welcomed intruder in her every dream at night.