Injuried Wher; Healer Needed [Open]

[Avu]

Meira stumbled as she ascended what seemed to be the umpteenth sent of stairs, automatically shifting Meisk to her left arm and thrusting out her right hand to catch her fall. As she caught the stone railing, a stab of pain jolted through her arm and Meira sucked in her breath against the hiss of pain. She’d forgotten in her urgency that she’d cut her own palm open to help Meisk Blood. The blue wher whimpered in her arms as the sharp movement shifted his obviously broken wing. “I’m sorry!” Meira cried, although her teeth were still gritted against the pain in her palm; she readjusted Meisk’s position. “I’m so sorry. Just wait…”

The infirmary loomed ahead, and gratefully, Meira ran towards it, striving to make each stride as smooth as possible. Meisk didn’t whimper again, so Meira assumed her task had been successful as she shifted Meisk to her right arm and awkwardly rapped on the door with her left hand, probably bruising her knuckles against the hard wood. Well, the Dragonhealer could hardly fail to hear that!

Even if by chance the Dragonhealer refused to heal the tiny blue wher, Meira thought she could, maybe, set the bone in the right position to heal. As it was, the break was obvious and it shouldn’t take much to set it. Except the mental agony, of course—Meira groaned under her breath and realized she probably looked like she was crazy, with her hair wild, her right hand wrapped tightly in a cloth belt to stop the bleeding, her Candidates’ robes askew, and her expression anxious, but there was no help for that. Her palm throbbed and Meira wished she had thought to put some numbweed on that, but it was too late.

It seemed, too, she had inadvertently sliced it deeper than she’d meant to in her haste—probably grazing the bone. The pain had been enough—Meira had never quite known that the cold knife’s edge could inflict such agony, slicing through each nerve and sending alarm bells ringing all through her body. Meisk, dear…are you feeling all right? she thought anxiously at Meisk, who had reclined in his former position, head resting on his forepaws and on her arm, his eyes half-closed with shades of grey, only the slightest shade of triumph at his Bondage visible. What color had entered his eyes when she’d let him Blood had now faded.

He whined, his voice grating in his throat, and sent Meira a wave of dull pain. Numbed, mostly, by the generously applied medicine, but still the pain was present. A corrosive hatred towards Derrisk rose in Meira, so hot that she was alarmed and struggled to repress the feeling.

How was this fair? Meisk was now in danger of being forever crippled, just because Derrisk had decided he was Hatching too slowly. “Oh, darling,” she murmured to the wher, pressing her lips against his head. “Please, please don’t leave me.”

[Tashe]

Ever since he had expressed his want to continue his studies on Dragonhealing, that Sharding Weyrlingmaster he had to report to had overridden the watch schedule and replaced two of his shifts with infirmary duty. Although it wasn't that bad he supposed, as long as none of the Healers touched him, he was surprisingly okay with it. Despite his indifferent exterior, E'rro had a soft spot for healing, it was something he actually enjoyed doing. /You should stock the shelves now, the Healer is at large and roaming./ Where is she now? /She's exiting the door, but I wouldn't count on her being gone for long, she's annoyingly persistent in her presence here./ You're right. On both accounts. Sharing a mental chuckle with his Brown, the young rider lifted a vile of Redwort from the basket at his hip and placed it in its correct spot. He had been wrapping bandages for almost an hour before, but had decided to quit that venture for now, the only thing that had been left to do was restock the shelves.

A loud knocking broke his rhythmic concentration, forcing him to stop and look at the door with a raised eyebrow. Setting down the basket, twitching slightly as the contents of the back clattered on the floor, E'rro wove his way around the multiple tables. The door shouldn't have been closed in the first place, he didn't know who had closed it, but whoever had was certainly getting a rather intimidating talking to. Pressing down on the doorhandles latch, the Brownrider pulled the door open and was taken aback at the sight that met him, although it habitually didn't register on his face. "Come in. Place your Wher on the table and you sit down on a table yourself." He didn't need an explanation as to why the pair were here, the BlueWher was in obvious pain and the girl was bleeding on his newly cleaned floor. "Quickly, you're bloodying my floor." Blunt but commanding, thats how he was, although the little softness in him flared quietly. The Baby Wher looked as though he was in a lot of pain, and as for the girl... well he could really care less, but he was obliged to bandage her up all the same.

[Avu]

Meira had just lowered her head to check the colors in Meisk’s eyes, which were a faded gray, when the door was pulled open and she found herself facing, unexpectedly, a man. She had thought the Weyr’s dragonhealer was female. Oh, well. Once upon a time, she would have been startled and a bit nervous at the idea of going into a room with only a male, but right now she didn’t really concentrate on that. Who would, with Meisk in pain as he was? She opened her mouth to explain, but before a word could emerge she was beckoned hurriedly inside. Uh, well, sure. That was fine, too.

Entering, she found an empty table and shifted Meisk onto it, careful not to touch his wing. He whimpered anxiously, and one claw snagged at her arm in a feeble attempt to cling to her. Don’t worry, he’s going to help, Meira told Meisk mentally. Actually, she didn’t know if he could understand her or not, as he could verbally communicate back, but it was the thought that counted. The wher let her go and Meira slid away from him, pulling herself onto a table as well, and tearing her eyes away from Meisk to check on her own wound.

Well, ouch. The blood had obviously not been much hampered by the cloth she’d wound around it and now a steady drip was leaking onto her robes. Great. It hurt, too—not just a little sting. It throbbed. If only, she thought grimly again, she’d had the sense to add some numbweed to her own hand before she’d bolted from the Wherhandler’s Apartments. Grimacing, she peeled the cloth off and glanced nervously at E’rro. He didn’t seem very happy, did he? Not that he should be, with Meisk injured, but at the very least he could seem a bit more anxious. He just seemed kind of bored. Not to mention concerned about the quality of his floor.

“Um, you wouldn’t happen to have any numbweed on hand, would you?” she asked quietly. It was obvious the answer to that was ‘yes,’ but it seemed politer to ask this way. “I mean…for my hand…?”

[Tashe]

Making a 'tching' sound as he quickly, yet gently, immobilized the young Wherling. Grabbing a vile of Redwort and Oil, the Brownrider moved over to the washing basin and scrubbed his hands vigorously, making sure the Redwort disinfected his hands. Toweling them off, E'rro doused them in oil before returning to the injured pair, nabbing the closest instrument tray and bringing it with him. From first glance the girl looked disheveled, but upon closer inspection, the Rider saw she was in her Candidate robes. He should have guessed that the Wher was just a hatching, the size of it was enough to tell him, but he hadn't expected it to be right out of the egg. Time was a precious thing in this instance, and he had to work fast to stop the ichoring. Placing the tray on the table he had hooked over with his boot, E'rro inspected the open break with gentle hands, stopping for a moment to address the new Handler. "Talk to your Wher, it's going into shock and you need to keep him awake. And yes we have numbweed, but right now, I need your attention focused on your Blue." Twisting around slightly to hand the girl some bandages, the Brownrider took only a moment to explain she needed to stop the bleeding at least a little before the numbweed would stick securely to her skin anyways.

Whispering silently to the Blue as he applied the Numbweed salve to the wound, E'rro used his fingers to separate the splice in the hide, unhappy with what he had found. "Greenstick. Should have known." Wrapping his fingers around one of the joints in the Wher's wing, the Brownrider slowly elevated the wing before applying pressure to the ichoring with a pressure bandage. "Your Wher has a Greenstick fracture, he'll be okay, I'm currently reducing the Ichoring and will be washing it with Redwort soon. He'll be alright, just keep talking to him." E'rro knew that most humans felt better when they knew what was going on. With one hand, E'rro tipped the vile of Redwort in into the bowl of water, and let it dilute before dipping a sponge in it. "How did this injury happen? I can surmise that he got hurt in Hatching, but the circumstances can be endless."

[Avu]

Meira swallowed silently, her pale eyes fixing themselves on Meisk as she watched the Rider get to work quickly. The dull waves of pain were still coming; she bit her lip hard. The pain in her own hand was comparatively just a twinge. As E’rro began to talk, she made herself listen rather than slip into a daze, as her sleep-deprivation and the pain was starting to send her into. She nodded, still not saying anything, and accepted the cloth, blotting away the blood while she began a restless, mindless chattering of anything that came to mind with Meisk. Meisk, can you please stay awake for us? I know it hurts, dear. But you’ve got to try. You have to stay awake…and then afterwards, we can go get you some food for you—you are hungry, aren’t you dear? I mean, dragons usually are when they Hatch and I assume whers are too…you can’t imagine how glad I am that you Chose me, I didn’t know if I was really going to Bond or not…you’ve never seen outside, though, have you? It’s lovely, I mean there’s rivers and trees and… Her rant paused; Meira was aware she was swinging wildly from one topic to another. But at least Meisk was trying to follow along, his dull eyes fixing themselves upon her. An occasional whimper broke forth when E’rro touched a particularly painful region. Um, if I can send you images…hang on a minute, okay dear? Let me try. Don’t go to sleep.

She tried to picture a sunny day outside, sunlight glittering off of the water, trees scraping against the sky, tried to project it to Meisk. Did you see that, dear? That’s outside. Just outside. When you get better, I’ll take you to see. Just don’t go to sleep, all right? Is that fair, dear? So intent was she on her rambling that Meira had stopped trying to cleanse the blood off of her own hand; she had begun to absently twist the cloth in her hands. The edge scraped her wound and Meira looked down sharply, startled. Oh, right…she focused dazedly on E’rro as he spoke again, nodded and went back to her rant. Um, so. Outside…yes, there are fish and fire lizards and ‘mandyrs—there are lots of things outside this place. But you can’t see them unless you stay awake, dear. Please, please stay awake. For me. You’ll feel better after this, you can sleep after this… The blue wher sighed, his eyes flickering to E’rro warily, and then back to Meira.

She hadn’t quite been paying attention to E’rro when he addressed her again, and while she absently went on about something, Meira raised her eyes from Meisk and stared, blankly, for an instant. “Um…” She paused, trying to keep from broadcasting anything that would remind Meisk of his pain to the wher, while still trying to talk to him. “He was force-Hatched,” Meira finally said, blinking sleepiness from her eyes and wincing as Meisk stirred slightly at her words, a pitiful whimper rising from him again. “Another blue—Derrisk—he hit Meisk’s egg and it burst and cut him…” Derrisk. As if she had said the magic word, color flashed into the wher’s eyes—not happy colors. Frightened colors that faded a minute later. Meisk moved spasmodically, and Meira automatically said, “Don’t move, dear. Stay still.” The blue subsided, and again his eyes swiveled suspiciously to E’rro. Meira felt a nervousness that was not her own; she assured Meisk quickly and kept her stare firmly on the wher, willing him to stay awake.

[Tashe]

"I should have guessed. Only a fight or a force hatch could do this much damage." Although he was speaking more to himself than the girl, E'rro began washing the wound out, brows knitting together as a small shard of bone attached itself to the sponge. Holding the wing still as he maneuvered the shard out of the wound with tweezers, the Brownrider frowned as he applied pressure to the wound once more. It was not uncommon to have to remove fragments from a break, it was the fact that the bone had come out so easily that forced an edge of wariness onto his face. Usually the shards only came out after minutes of convincing, while this one took less than a third of the time it normally would, leading the apprentice to believe that the Greenstick fracture had sliced a good amount of muscle. "This will hurt. I have applied Numbweed, but that will only take the edge off of this." Giving the girl a grace period of a few moments to warn the Wher, E'rro then proceeded to pull the Blue's wing straight, aligning the bones of the wing in a fluid pull. Restraining the wing from bending with the small block and tackle apparatus that was attached to the wall, the ex-Benden Rider quickly searched for the splints he would use to bind the break. "Shard it all."

Taking his leave of the situation for a minute, E'rro rummaged around the storage closet for a splint small enough for the baby Wher. Locating one, the young man returned to the table and gently took hold of the wing while he lay the fixings of the splint on the table. Looking at the cut, and running his fingers cautiously over the area, E'rro was internally glad he didn't have to remove more shards. Picking up the suture thread and a Hide needle, the Brownrider turned to the Girl, often people became distressed when a needle went through hide. "I'm closing the wound, if you are afraid of suturing, I would suggest you do not watch." Turning back to the Wher with a quiet murmur, pushing the needle through the blue's hide, E'rro quickly tied off the top part before starting down the opening. Leaving a small gap at the bottom of the opening, the Brownrider deftly tied the stitching off and snipped the thread.

Splinting the wing took very little time and, after he was sure it was tight enough to pass inspection from Kalierre, E'rro moved away from the Wherling and took off the various restraints, except for one that would keep him on the table. "He's done, his wing will heal in two months, but you'll need to come back here in seven days for his sutures to come out. If you see any infection in the wound, if it becomes hot to the touch, even more swollen, pus appears or there are faint vein tracks you need to come back as soon as you notice. If not, then come every two weeks for inspection. I shall write this done for you, because it's most likely you'll forget... because of shock. And now for you." Dumping the dirtied supplies into a pan, E'rro wheeled his chair around to face the girl, pulling a new instrument tray to him, he placed his hand before him. "Give me your hand."

[Avu]

Meira nodded meekly, biting her lip as she watched E’rro work. His comment seemed to be aimed not at her, but to himself…which would make answering rather redundant. She concentrated instead on Meisk, who was quietly submitting to E’rro’s treatment. She suspected that the lack of struggle was due mostly to shock, though, and not because he felt like being particularly friendly. Rubbing her palm absently, she sent a feeling of love to him, along with a continuation of the mindless rant. So, um, darling? You’re doing an excellent job, just don’t struggle or move, all right dear? You’ll be fine…the pain will go away, but it’ll be faster if you’re quiet. When this is over, I’ll get you some food—you are hungry aren’t you?—and…and things like that… She had a feeling she was repeating herself, but that wasn’t to be helped.

She started slightly as E’rro addressed her again, and then nodded nervously. Suturing…that was fine. She’d had to do that before at Benden Weyr…Meira fumbled for a second before addressing Meisk. He’s going to close the wound, all right? It’ll hurt…but it’ll be over very quickly, I promise. Just don’t move. Obediently, the blue wher didn’t move, his shifting eyes closing as a plaintive whimper came from his mouth. It hurt. I’m sorry it has to hurt, dear, but please just don’t move…? Meira begged silently of him, although she had a feeling that she would be crying in a second herself to watch Meisk like this and be completely helpless…that was no fun.

Luckily, it was finished in a minute, and she nodded numbly as Meisk shifted experimentally, his eyes opening again and then closing as he stopped moving with a sigh. He still hurt—not as much as before, obviously, but a dull kind of ache. Meira, meanwhile, was listening silently to E’rro as he spoke. Take the sutures out…? She could do that herself…Meira glanced at Meisk. She was quite sure she could; it wouldn’t be too difficult. At least, she could do it perfectly well on a person…but she wasn’t quite confident enough to risk Meisk on a thought like that. See, darling? she asked absently, as E’rro paused in his talking. You do feel better, don’t you? A sigh was the only response she received.

“Give me your hand.”

Meira raised her eyes, surprised, at the words, automatically saying, “My—?” Then she remembered that she’d cut her hand in order to blood Meisk, and bit her lip. She could probably take care of it herself, but seeing as it was her right hand, it would be awkward. The girl raised her hand and hesitantly placed it in E’rro’s, biting her lip again. Meisk chirped plaintively from his sprawled position, sensing her slight unease, rolled his eyes, and sighed.

[Tashe]

Uncontrollably twitching his eye as her skin contacted his, E'rro felt the hair at the nape of his neck raise and his arm tense for a moment before he forced himself to deal with it. Removing the bloody cloth from around the wound, the Brownrider concentrated on the bleeding wound, rather than on the girl herself. He hated touching other humans, but oddly enough, the familiar sight of blood lessoned his reaction to the touching of their skins. He had seen blood so often in his life, that it had become a regular sight to the Brownrider, not bothering him in the least anymore. The tray he had brought over had been cleaned and organized, although it took him a moment to realize he had been the one to fix up the trays, the placement of the surgery knife was the tell tale sign.

Giving his head a small shake as he picked up a cloth and dipped it in a diluted Redwort mixture, letting it soak lightly before dabbing at the dried blood around her wound, and once that was mostly gone, E'rro tackled sterilizing the wound itself. The Brownrider let the Blood dampened cloth drop into the dirty materials bucket so he could replace it with a swab coated with numbweed, gently applying it with well practiced strokes. "You cut deeply into your hand. You must have been in a hurry, normally the Infirmary workers have to bandage ones smaller and less substantial than this." Normally he would have used the familiar 'we' instead of a generalized name, but E'rro had been a little on edge about whether or not he'd be allowed to stay and help. "From eying this, I believe you might need two or three stitches. But I would feel more comfortable if one of the senior healers stitched it... so I will wrap it up with a pressure bandage until Kalierre comes back, or you feel comfortable to go to the Human Infirmary." Giving a small nod as he pressed a wad of bandage to the cut, E'rro began wrapping her hand with a roll of white linen. Twining it round her hand so it wrapped around her fingers and around her palm, the Brownrider secured it before cutting off the rest.

Sliding the chair back after quickly removing his hand, E'rro silently made his way to the wash bin and scrubbed his hands viciously with the redwort mixture. It wasn't because there was blood on his hands, it was his way of trying to get rid of the sensation of her skin on his, it was just conveniently hidden by the more likely option. The towel he grabbed was soft and blue, it felt so much better against his scrubbed raw hands than the towel he had used before. Slinging it over his shoulder with a sigh, the Brownrider placed the tray he had used on Meira on the one he used on the Wher, while kicking the used cloth's bucket along with him. Dumping the used instruments into a redwort bath (not the diluted solution where he washed his hands), E'rro finished tidying his work station before spinning the chair to face the newly bonded pair, placing the paper and quill he had grabbed on his lap.

"Alright. Here's the deal. Your Blue has to stay in the infirmary tonight, and I don't expect that you'll want to be separated from him." Pausing to look down at his scroll, the apprentice healer began to scratch down instructions for the Wher's welfare, so the woman could keep a copy with her. "I will get permission from Kalierre to allow you to stay with him tonight, if you so wish to. Hopefully she'll be back soon to look at your hand, and help me move your Blue to the overnight wing." A moment of silence passed before E'rro looked up from his instructions, tipping his head to the side, his face blank as ever. "Would you like some Klah and chocolate? It helps... a lot."

[Avu]

Meira was determinedly looking at her hand, so, perhaps luckily for E’rro, she didn’t notice as he…twitched. Had she noticed, she probably would have put it down to the cut or something of the sort. How do you feel, dear? she added softly to Meisk. The blue wher sighed, whimpering slightly. Be brave, darling. All right? It’ll be okay… She was just talking randomly now to take her own attention away from the pangs in her hand. Ouch…um… “In a hurry? Well, yes…” She paused uncertainly. “I thought I’d better blood him before I came down here, so…” She shrugged, a rather hard task while keeping her hand stationary. “Yeah…I’ll do that.” Going to the infirmary…it wasn’t a bad idea, really. She might ask about dragonhealing while she was there, no?

She stayed silent as he cleaned up, although she was slightly startled by his vicious scrubbing. Did he really hate blood that much? Meira bit her lip anxiously as she checked her own bandage. It still hurt, but it was better. At least it wasn’t gaping anymore, yes? Hidden to the dirt and other things? It would have to do until she could talk to Kalierre or another healer, as E’rro had said. All right. She would be fine. And so would Meisk. Everyone would be fine. Or so she was telling herself, as the pain didn’t exactly assure her.

Wait, pause. Meisk had to stay? The blue wher chirped in alarm as doubt shot through Meira. He was already rather clingy…a night alone wouldn’t help that much. “I’d like to stay,” she agreed nervously, her eyes scanning the piece of hide upside down. She didn’t think she would forget about anything, but it seemed much safer to be sure. Since he wasn’t looking at her as he wrote, Meira didn’t nod or say anything, as “All right” sounded rather stupid in her opinion. She settled for biting her lip again, a nervous habit. When he glanced up at her, Meira automatically raised her eyes to meet his. His question was…

Well. Klah and chocolate? She considered, and then shook her head. “I think I’ll be all right…but, please—if Meisk can eat? I didn’t have time to get him any food before we came here,” she explained apologetically. Was she supposed to have fed him quickly? She hadn’t wanted him to choke in haste or anything, and she also didn’t want to rush him. He hadn’t blooded much; she’d assumed he just was too hurt to be hungry.