The Barber's Chair

The narrow-cut road winds gently down the canyon slopes, a lazy river of dust, sand and gravel laid upon packed earth and chiseled stone. On it, a horse drawn cart meanders at a pilgrims pace, neither slow or quick but sufficient to the task. The faded red and white pole painted on the dirty canvas of the wagon cover flaps in time to the clopping lurch of the horses gait. The clinks and clanks in iron and brass, nearly beat a rhythm in time with the driver's slurred verses. The Barber-Chirurgeon is easy to find in these mountains - just follow the trail of empty liquor bottles to the nearest brothel, where screams will point the rest of the way.
Deeper: Behold, the Barber-Chirurgeon, purveyor of tonics and elixirs, ashes, powders, oils and pomades bottled and jarred, a cure for every ailment, a libation to rouse the libido of the barren. In truth, these diluted concoctions hold little curative properties, though some may still have enough medicine in them to relieve an odd blemish. But these paltry trinkets do little to sustain the drunkard's thirst, nor do the blood-rusted implements in his leather tool roll or soiled linens draped atop the old wooden surgery trestle.
Who needs a cast when miracle workers can mend bone? What use is a tooth key when an alchemists potion can grow a new tooth to replace a rotten one? For coin, the barber's trade has sunk low, reduced to payments for discreet teas and tinctures to solve the inconvenient consequences of trysts, dalliances and entanglements of fallen women across Corrhéo. The money is good, but the work is degrading and joyless.
Joy now, is only found at his barbers chair - a richly upholstered cathedra saved from the kindling pile when priests became paupers and clerics were reviled as charlatans. A porcelain shaving mug, a sandalwood puck of soap, a basin of steaming clear water and a wet badger-bristled brush all ready at the table, laid neat with clean swaddles of quilted cloth. A matched-set of polished steel shears and a straight-razor gleams in the faintest rays of light - tools meant for steady, skilled hands put to work which nourishes the spirit.