Entry the second.
Before aught else I must apologize for my shameful display. I did not expect my emotions to get so far out of hand, and I am vastly embarrassed. It must have been a mortification for you to watch as well, and I am very sorry. I felt your patience and compassion and am truly appreciative. May you not have to offer them again!
[A filigree is drawn as a divider.]
I assisted with the treatment of a Man called Rue, although I did not do much more than provide reassurance and distraction while Master Dimheim prepared the sleeping draught. You asked how I "knew" to calm the patient in that situation, and I answered truthfully that in my opinion, I did not — I had and have no special knowledge. I am not experienced in treating disturbed minds, and I would not say I have any unusual insight.
However, I have always found it useful, when dealing with all sorts of people, to first approach with an open ear and open heart. By understanding where they stand, you can build a bridge to join them where they are. It is respectful, communicates good intentions, and puts future negotiations on solid ground. In the case of our patient, I simply attempted to take the facts reported of Rue's world seriously, even if they did not match the facts of yours and mine, and acted as though those fears and dangers were legitimate. I am not sure if that would be considered patronizing; in truth I feel it would be unkind to act otherwise, for I am sure the experiences feel just as real as ours, and so the distress must cut just as sharp.
I know very little of the causes of derangement among Men, but I imagine that a profoundly distressing experience or perhaps the weight of crushing stress or obsession could well be causes. However, I would like to tentatively suggest that this patient's distress may not be wholly irrational. There are fell powers in the world, and the weight of the Shadow is felt in all corners. "She" who listens and watches through the eyes of birds and dreams could be our poor Rue's deluded imaginings, but perhaps there is a grain of the real in it. If your draught does its work and the sleep is dreamless, you will have delivered on your promise and may be able to buy a little trust with that, perhaps tease out the story of what happened.
[Another filigree is drawn as a divider.]
As there have not yet been substantial developments in the cases of Miss Silver and Miss Jackilyn, I will devote the rest of this entry to the training you provided me and I woefully fumbled.
[The consistency of the ink is subtly different on the next line, as if perhaps the writer stepped away for a time before taking up the quill again.]
The technique of cutting the bone shorter than the flesh — I do not know if it is called by a particular name in Westron but it translates to something like "two stage circle cut". If I remember correctly, it was chosen by the barber working the valley that day because it is quick but protects the wound well from corruptions and requires less cautery. But I have only heard the story of it, never seen it performed, and I do not know if its victims truly fare better than those of other techniques. My father has suffered grievously from the complications over the many decades. Yet he did heal and produced many great works since.
It was odd to hear Miss Silver and Miss Jackilyn speaking of wheelbarrows so soon after you and I had discussed him. My father detests litters and so designed a half-dozen different sorts of seats with wheels he could turn himself, and is to this day still called by some of his friends a pun on the word "wheelbarrow". Unfortunately, carpentry is not my craft, so I am not sure I could reproduce them from memory. Miss Silver's best plan may be to hire a muscular fellow to port her about after all. I am sure she will see that he is also handsome.
It is still my intention to attempt the other three limbs, and soon, before it begins to stink up the Soothery. I admit that the business disquiets me, even if dead Men need not their bodies; and my heart aches for him, even if he can feel no ache himself. But it is my earnest wish to learn, so I will try. If I someday find there is no other way for my friend to be saved from orc-poison I dearly hope it will not be my first time hacking. I do, however, suspect that if a case is carried in to the Soothery while I am your assistant, it will be firmly my job to hold him down while you cut.
My courage is too little, and my heart is too tender, for me to be good for anything but that.
