Your Patient is Bleeding

Writers: Halyonix
Date Posted: 11th February 2026

Characters: Laithan, Arnota
Description: Laithan discovers a problem at the Hall
Location: Healer Hall
Date: month 1, day 5 of Turn 13
Notes: Mentioned: Zathris

Notes:
~*~

"Master Laithan! Master Laithan!" a scared, and therefore, loud voice called from down the hallway. Laithan could hear the pounding run of footsteps, right before that pounding was a fist on his door, and before he could grant entry, aforementioned door was open, revealing a panting apprentice. "Master Laithan! There's a problem. On the first floor. Big problem."

Irritated at both intrusion and looming issue, Laithan scowled as he rose from his desk. "Glad that you know the word 'problem'. Now use your other words and actually describe what the problem is." Shells, his apprentices were no better than patients sometimes! 'Healer, it hurts!' Good to know, now where?

"Water. Water everywhere," the apprentice said in between recovering his breath. "I think. A pipe. Burst."

Laithan's scowl deepened. A pipe? Why would a pipe break? They were new. The whole Hall was new! And it wasn't a deep freeze anywhere except further up in the mountain ranges where it never stopped freezing.

Growling in annoyance, Laithan strode out of the room. The apprentice scrambled to keep up with the Master's haste. "I'm. I'm not sure. What happened. It just. It just," he babbled out.

"Either say something useful or save your breath," Laithan growled unhappily. The moment he reached the bottom of the stairs, he could hear something...amiss. Instead of the usual chatter of apprentices, the calls of journeymen to pay attention, or the general susurrus of patients waiting to be seen, there was a low rumble with an accompanying patter of water falling. "What the..."

"It just _burst_!" the apprentice repeated unhelpfully.

Yes, but _why_? That was the question no one had answered yet. Laithan stormed towards the sound, further irritated by the echoed words of others who were expressing their bafflement without actually trying to diagnose the problem.

They were correct in that it was a busted pipe. As Laithan neared, he could see water pooling from the break. It was seeping through a crack in the stone and the Hallmaster was certain that he was going to find water making its way into spaces it should not be soon enough.

"What do we do?" someone asked.

Laithan's charcoal eyes stared at the crack as though it threatened everything he had built so far. There had to be a defect in the pipe. Or a critter had gotten to it. But he would have to confirm that later. "We do what any good healer does," he said vaguely but sternly.

His glowering gaze turned towards the students and faculty. "The Hall is your patient and your patient is bleeding," he said. "Congratulations on figuring out that there _is_ an issue -- now what is your next step?"

The silence around him did not encourage him. He was going to have to knock a few heads around. Initiative! Where was their initiative? "Think!" he bellowed. "What do you do with a patient that has cut an artery?"

"Y-You stop the bleeding f-first," someone answered.

Pointing triumphantly at that person, Laithan said, "Points to Arnota here. The Hall is your patient and your patient is hemorrhaging. So start thinking like a healer and treat your patient!"

It took a very long time for realization to dawn on some of those faces. But it did eventually come to enough of them.

"I'll check the well valve!" someone shouted as they turned to run off. "We have to stop the water!"

"Is it between the levels of the Hall? We should check that crawlspace entrance," another one said.

"I'll get towels to mop it up!"

"Start checking the other rooms. See if there's any damage to those."

"Someone get a firelizard here so we can send a message to the Hold. We're going to need a mason to fix it."

"There we go," Laithan muttered dryly once enough people were in motion. He still didn't know why the pipe had burst but at least something was being _done_. Triage first, diagnose next, treatment third. That was the order. But whatever they found, it was definitely going to cost some marks to fix. Lord Zathris was going to love that conversation.

Last updated on the February 21st 2026

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Your Patient is Bleeding