{ORP}Infirmary Stint

[magnadearel]

The new Turn had started well. The festivities hadn't been too crazy. So four days after, M'li had only been slightly concerned yesterday when her young green Starelth complained of stomach discomfort. She'd thought the young dragon may have slightly stuffed herself too much although they hadn't had problems with that before. The teen had sent her dragon to her wallow to rest for the rest of the day.

The next morning though things were not better. In fact they were worst. M'li jumped out of bed the next morning to the distressed call of her dragon. She did what she could to comfort the young green as she vomited. That day Starelth didn't want to eat and that's when she went for the dragonhealers. They quickly moved the young dragon into the infirmary under their watchful eye.

M'li kept a pail of cool fresh water close at hand and tried to coax Starelth to drink every hour. She tried to interest the dragon in food, going so far as to even cut it up into tiny bites as she had when Starelth was fresh hatched. Deep inside she was worried her dragon was coming down with the plague that had killed her parent's dragons and Starelth's mother. Was she going to loose her dragon before she was even a Turn old?

Her firelizards were of great help and comfort. They went out to fetch or catch tasty morsels to tempt Starelth to eat. When they weren't doing that they were cuddling up and comforting Starelth or herself.

 

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

The black tunic hung loosely around her thin frame as she walked into the infirmary. Rarely was she seen around the Weyr these days. It was hard to tell whether the shocked expressions and hastily averted gazes were because of her being there, or her vastly altered appearance. It was hard to believe that she was virtually the same age as the woman she was travelling to meet. The silver that laced her hair, the lines and shadows on her face, all made the young woman look so much older than she was. A young blue firelizard was wrapped around her neck, trembling body pressed close to her skin, while bright eyes took in the busy surroundings that were so unfamiliar to him.

The young woman swiftly made her way through the infirmary. The familiar path leading her to her destination. The wallow of a green that held great importance to her. As the young dragon came into view she felt a tightening in her chest that threatened to still the air in her lungs. Still she pressed on. Dragging her gaze away from the dragon to the young woman at her side. It had been a long time since she had tried to smile for someone else's benefit, and the expression felt foreign. It never reached her eyes as she looked at the Weyrling.

"Hello, M'li," Kesarin spoke softly to the rider of her dragon's daughter.  

[magnadearel]

M'li had coaxed one of the riders to catch a fresh wild wherry for her. She'd carefully chopped and cubed white breast meat and juicy dark thigh meat into very small pieces. She hoped that by being so tiny it would be easier to coax her dragon to eat them. The teen stood beside her dragon's head rubbing her eyeridges soothingly. The full bowl close at hand in case she could tempt her to eat a bit. M'li was grateful her firelizards were behaving and not trying to devour the bowl.

You need to eat Starelth. If you don't, then you'll get weak and fall behind your clutchmates. It was hard to focus on that thought and not that Starelth might be dying. M'li was determined not to think about that just yet if she could help it. The healers weren't too concerned yet, the teen reminded herself. I do not want to eat M'li. My stomach troubles me. What I eat comes back up. The green rolled her body gingerly with the ache in her belly, but didn't move her head from where it rested beside her rider. Her eyes yellow with worry and discomfort.

A soft cheep in her ear from Loceev on her shoulder drew her attention to an unexpected visitor to her corner of the infirmary. It had been so long, that she was surprised to see the former gold rider. M'li stared for several moments, wondering why she was here. Awkwardly she bobbed a greeting, "hello." Starelth turned her head to look at the unfamiliar person speaking to her rider.

The_Muffin_Puppy

 

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

magnadearel

Jitter was not enjoying this. The blue was usually relaxed, but only in his familiar environment. That environment was extremely limited. He had never been in the infirmary before and he didn't like it. He didn't like the smells. He didn't like the unfamiliar bronze over there. He didn't like how high the ceilings were. He didn't like all the noises being made by all the people he didn't like. And he certainly didn't like the giant green over there that was looking at them! The blue firelizard pushed his body flatter to Kesarin's shoulder. Her hair was behind her in a long braid. Jitter wished she had left it down. Then he could hide in it. Why did she have to put it up when they left? He didn't like it.

Still looking at M'li, the former rider reached up a hand across her chest to lay long fingers on the near vibrating blue. Jitter quickly pushed his head into her fingers, obscuring his view of all the new eyes, that he didn't like, which were looking at him.

Kesarin watched as the girl bobbed. Idly she wondered why. Did M'li think she needed to still show respect to her? She didn't, obviously. Kesarin wasn't K'rin anymore. Her gaze slid to the green that had turned toward her. They were so different, but at the same time they weren't. Looking at Starelth she could see Malsalth in there. A line of her face or the tilt of her head. She doubted anyone else did and really, was it even there at all? Or was it just another way for her broken heart to taunt her? "How is she doing?" she asked, eyes shifting back to M'li. Some considered it rude to talk about dragons, rather than to them, but Kesarin didn't want to invite the green to answer her. Honestly she didn't know whether Starelth would speak to her, but the less provocation of that the better.  

[magnadearel]

She smiled gently as Kesarin gently calmed her timid blue. Her boys didn't have restraints that she knew of. "A little shy is he? What's his name?" It never hurt to ask for a firelizard's name. Plus it gave her something to say instead if standing there awkwardly. Loceev tilted his head this way and that as the blue hid his face. The bronze gave a croon to reassure the blue. There was nice people here.

M'li gave a slight grimace as the green repeated what she'd been saying. If only they knew why her stomach hurt and her food came back up. They hadn't been able to figure anything out yet. She gently rubbed the dull eyeridge and set the food aside for now. She'd give it another try in a bit after their guest had left. The teen gave a shrug. "The healers aren't too worried yet. Her stomach hurts and she vomits up her food. I wouldn't be too worried, except she's still growing."

Starelth was only 7 months. She only ate every two or three days anyhow. M'li also knew though that she was still growing and she needed what she ate. She glanced under her lashes at the other girl. "So what brings you down here?" She hoped it wasn't the presence of doom and gloom.

The_Muffin_Puppy

 

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

"Jitter." For obvious reasons. Jitter seemed unconvinced with Loceev's reassurance. The young blue was fairly set in his view. Why else would Kesarin stay away if people were nice? Even now he could feel her hurting. Just being around these people hurt her. That wasn't nice. That was the opposite of nice. Jitter pressed himself as close as he could get to Kesarin's neck as she lowered her hand. Every now and then a tremor ran through him, but for the most part he was still as he warily eyed the strangers.

Kesarin nodded as M'li relayed the situation. The healers weren't worried then. That was good. It sounded like this wasn't something to do with the plague. That hadn't involved vomiting. M'li hadn't mentioned anything about Starelth’s chest and that was where the plague focused. Kesarin felt some of the tightness in her chest loosen. There was still time for Starelth and her siblings to be afflicted,but it seemed that it was at least not happening now.

A human escaped the young woman's throat at M'li's question. It sounded something like a laugh, but there was no humour in it. How would she phrase this? "The, uh, the healers. They want me to spend more time out in the Weyr." Looked like her period of being allowed to shut herself in her quarters was at an end.  

[magnadearel]

"It suits him." Obviously, or she wouldn't have named him that. M'li patted Loceev reassuringly. She turned her attention from the firelizard to spare him any further discomfort on her part. They were as varied as any dragons. There just wasn't much to do here. It was quiet as an infirmary should be for those invalids, but it sometimes left M'li bored and feeling quite lonely. Completely cut off from her fellow weyrlings. She wasn't entirely surprised none of them had visited her. They probably didn't want to chance their dragons becoming sick like hers. It seemed like the best she was going to get was the former weyrwoman's company.

Despite the healers not being worried, she was worrying enough for everyone. What else could she do? She'd been doing her best to get the green to eat and drink. Even if it was just tiny handfuls to her. M'li glanced at Kesarin. "Do you have any suggestions? On coaxing her to eat? You don't have to answer if you don't want to." As sad as it was, she probably had a lot of experience from trying to get her gold to eat in those declining days. Maybe something would be useful to M'li.

She blinked embarrassed. "Oh." The teen flushed slightly with embarrassment of her uncharitable thoughts. It was only because her dragon was sick and she was worried. To make up for it, she could be a suitable hostess. "Would you care to have a seat? I can get you a cup of water." Both were close by. As much as she respected their former leader, M'li wasn't willing to leave her dragon alone. Starelth closed her eyes and rested beneath the soothing caresses of her rider.

The_Muffin_Puppy

 

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

The young woman hummed thoughtfully for a moment. "Little and often usually worked the best." It was as though you were trying to sneak it past the dragon's system that they were eating at all. "Bland meats as well. Avoiding the richer parts. Wherry breast always seemed to go down quite well." It wasn't the most flavourful, but it didn't tend to upset their digestion as much. It was difficult with dragons eating only meat to handle digestive issues. "There are some herbs she could take as well that might settle her stomach." A flush crept into Kesarin's face quickly. "I mean, I'm sure the healers have already given her them. Sorry." She'd gotten ahead of herself. Flashing back to her days in the infirmary.

Once again Kesarin smiled. This one wasn't forced, but it was still sad. "I'd love to sit with you. I'll be alright as I am though." Kesarin glanced at M'li's hands on her dragon. The idea of ever making someone spend a moment away from their dragon seem abhorrent to her now.carefully Kesarin sat in the visitor chair nearby. "So, how has Weyrlinghood been going? Before this obviously."  

[magnadearel]

The advised turned out pretty much as M'li had expected and been doing. Just getting it into the dragon's mouth was the hardest part. Starelth usually swallowed once it was in. Maybe she could distract her and get it in that way. She shifted it to the back of her mind to work on plans. Of course if Starelth looked she'd be able to see the plans, but M'li didn't think she'd be trying right now. She nodded as Kesarin suggested only the bland meats. "Thank you." That was a good suggestion. She hadn't thought about that and had been using parts from all over. It'd only take a moment to pull out the other meats.

M'li frowned slightly in thought. "I can't remember if they have or haven't. But I will ask them next time one checks in on us." It would be easy enough to find out. She returned a faint smile to the sad one Kesarin gave her. "Thank you. It's been a bit lonely without my fellow weyrlings. I know there aren't many of use, but it can still feel like a crowd. Particularly with V' around!" She laughed softly, thinking of the strong headed woman who didn't mince words.

The teen considered the question about weyrlinghood. "It was going well. I got along with the others fairly well, and I was learning a lot. About my dragon and what being a rider meant. I had a lot of fun with the rodeo too." She thought back to that day, not so long ago. They had both definitely gotten muddy, but she'd been so surprised to be the last one standing. Or sitting rather. She sighed, thinking of the dress she'd requested from Sh'shi. Would she ever get a chance to wear it?

The_Muffin_Puppy

 

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

magnadearel

"I know what you mean. There were thirteen of us to begin with, but the barracks never seemed big enough." They had bickered something awful at the start. Kesarin had no idea how classes as large as thirty ever managed to live in the barracks together. "It was... certainly something to adjust to." A smile ghosted across the woman's features as she remembered how much the lack of privacy had bothered her. Then clutchmates had sickened. Then the barracks had seemed big enough after all. When they meant looking across at empty wallows and abandoned bunks. Kesarin shook her head to shoo the ghosts away, she wanted to reassure the weyrling before her. Not bring up what had happened to her own class.

The rodeo! That was a brighter topic. "Ah, yes. I heard that you were the winner in that." Kesarin hadn't attended herself. Too many people tended to gather around. She had been invited to other functions that the weyrlings would go through. It wasn't just Kesarin that hoped she would one day be able to see all the hatchlings in one place without crumbling. For now though, one was hard enough. "I was one of the first to fall off in my class. Leatherwork was never a strength of mine." Being the spoilt creature she was before impressing likely hadn't helped. She'd never had to check leather over in her life before then. Actually, checking anything had been a novel experience for her. "I didn't notice wear to the main safety strap. One good buck and I went flying. Ours was in summer, so when I hit the ground it hurt. A lot." She'd had bruises all down one side from hitting the sunbaked dirt. It had been a fond memory at the time. Even though she had lost, there had been friends to laugh it off with, and... Now those memories were sad. Because a big dragon-shaped hole wasn't there to share them.  

[magnadearel]

M'li nodded in agreement. Even after living in the candidate barracks, it was still an adjustment to be had. There was something.... special, about being in the weyrling barracks. Being part of a group where you belonged. A part of her almost wanted to call it.... family but it a much broader sense. She kind of wondered how it would be with the barracks full? She felt like they rattled around in them.

The teen flushed at the mention of the rodeo and her unexpected win. "Starelth still managed to dump me soundly into the mud though. I fully expected V' to take it." Someone must have told Kesarin what had happened at the rodeo for she didn't remember seeing the ex-rider there. Of course she might have been, as M'li had been occupied with remaining on her dragon's back. She sighed. If only she had that worry now.

She blinked in surprise when Kesarin admitted to falling off so easily. M'li would bet Sh'shi would take the hide of anyone who couldn't check their straps. "I had one of mine loosen a bit which accounted for my fall." The teen offered her own misfortune. In truth she had to admit she hadn't done too badly. Gently she stroked Starelth's neck. "Ouch. That sounds like it really hurt. I don't know if that would have been better or not. At least I wouldn't have been covered in mud! I think it took three scrubs and two firelizards to get her and me clean."

The_Muffin_Puppy