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Guen Sil Yeong

by Okensha

“Oh, he’s a good man, our doctor! Never seen him turn anyone away for treatin’, not even the lowliest wretch who it’s obvious couldn’t pay. But he must be awful lonely, e’en with the apprentices, you know, so I brings over a hot meal now and then and have a little chat if he’s not busy.”

- Kerra Swingstram, proprietress of The Willful Goat

“Look! I have five fingers! I cut off two accidentally but the doctor sewed ‘em back on, and he gave me a candy and told be to be carefuller around glass.”

- Silken Onion, 8, showing off her ‘battle scars’

It is said to be possible for a man to spend his entire life in the underground neighbourhoods of Nexus without ever having to go up into the sun. Those who choose to live this way are often referred to as the “sunless folk”, and one of their number is the renowned doctor, Guen Sil Yeong.

Guen Sil Yeong dwells along the tunnel-street called the Prince’s Night Run. His home is quite large, at least two stories deep, with many rooms. He uses roughly half the space for medical research and general living, and the other half for the walk-in ‘clinic’ he runs. The place is cool and dimly lit; the non-public rooms abound with glass containers of phosphorescent lichen and fungi, bowls of glowfish, dim glowstones – no fire, except in carefully controlled circumstances such as for boiling water, sterilizing instruments, and making potions. Yeong has a flame phobia, and will often leave any tasks that involve fire to his apprentices or assistants if he can possibly do so.

Medical services are provided to residents of the community for whatever they can pay; sometimes merely carrying a message to someone, sweeping the floor, etc, is all that’s required. Payment might take the form of a meal, a story, a song, an errand, some information, a pot of hot tea, or accompanying him or one of his apprentices to visit another patient. Children are treated for free and the doctor encourages parents to bring them in for frequent check-ups… leading to unpleasant speculation about his sexual preferences. All those who have brought up this concern have been brusquely invited to observe the entire procedure; in the case of surgery, some parents haven’t been able to stick it out. In any case, most children take a fast liking to the doctor and are unafraid of him.

Guen Sil Yeong is a medical genius. He treats wounds and injuries, rashes, infections, the most minor diseases to the most life-threatening; performs surgeries, including amputations, but not including piercings or other vanity modifications, with the exception of reconstructive measures; and produces and sells (or gives away) minor health talismans. His neighbours still speak of the time he saved a man who had been thought drowned in one of the occasional tunnel floods, forcing air into his lungs with his own breath and pounding his chest until his heart beat again.

It is because of medical marvels like this that his patients trust him to be able to fix anything, and it wounds him deeply when he cannot. He takes the death of a patient very hard, seeing it as a personal failure. If someone dies in his care, he will arrange for a proper funeral, or, if the family prefers, he will contribute to their arrangement. He asks no payment for people he “couldn’t help”.

Occasionally, someone from the surface will try to get him to see a patient above ground. In cases of life-threatening illness or injury, he may consent, but he refuses to go in the sunlight for obvious reasons, and he will not stay aboveground.

Guen Sil Yeong is an albino. He is a small man, barely five feet tall, with a very slight build. His facial features are delicate and pretty, and curiously unlined for all that he’s in his 40s; he could be mistaken for a man half his age. He rarely smiles, frowns, or raises his soft voice, and perhaps that is the reason for his dearth of telltale wrinkles. He moves with an economy of motion, and his hands especially betray many years of necessary steadiness and precision.

Yeong typically wears close-cut clothing in green, dark purple, or blue, favouring long-sleeved tunics, trousers, and sturdy leather shoes. He keeps himself meticulously clean, and keeps his white hair shorn where it meets his shoulders. When working on a patient, he ties his sleeves up above his elbows, twists back his hair, and secures it with a comb. He is never seen without an intricately carved and gilded wooden torque that signifies that he is engaged. He was wearing it when he first moved here more than a decade ago; by now, almost all of the gilt has rubbed off, and the inner carvings are becoming worn. No one has ever met his betrothed, and he will not speak of it.

Yeong had four apprentices until it was recently discovered that one boy was pilfering medicines for resale as recreational drugs. The apprentice’s dismissal was cold and to the point, and, unfortunately, public enough that repetitions of what was said are becoming widely known. The three remaining apprentices are walking on eggshells as their master recovers from the betrayal.

Rumours

• The root of Guen Sil Yeong’s fear of fire lies with The Great Nexus Fire. Indeed, he was the only one from his academy to survive. (Never mind that he isn’t really old enough for this to be true, unless he was attending school as a toddler.)
• A particular wealthy Dragon-Blooded merchant is courting Guen Sil Yeong - to come be his personal physician, or maybe more…

Secret

The apprentices have heard Guen Sil Yeong talking to someone by the name of Heun Ye Gae, usually when he thinks he’s alone or when they should be sleeping. It’s always a one-sided conversation, and occasionally Yeong breaks down into weeping. None of them have ever seen who he’s talking to, and they are beginning to suspect their master is haunted – though whether by an actual ghost, or a memory, they are uncertain.

Comments

This needs a non-phantom linkback.
~ Shataina

Not anymore, since someone went and filled out the Great Nexus Fire! <3 Thanks for pointing it out, though, I'll try not to forget in future. -Okensha