Minor Injuries and Major Decisions (Part 1 of2)

Writers: Ambrosia, Paula
Date Posted: 11th February 2008

Characters: E'naer, Aryn
Description: A reasonable concern and E'naer's sound advice bring Aryn to a crossroads
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 8, day 3 of Turn 4

"Hello there, Aryn and Viyanth. How are the pair of you doing today?"
E'naer greeted the young greenrider-pair.

"Oh, hello, sir!" Aryn looked up from her oiling efforts with a startled smile, brought back from her ruminations by the appearance of the Werylingmaster Third. "We're doing pretty well, thanks." She hesitated. "Though... it's funny, you're just the person I should probably ask..."

"I saw you here, and thought I come by to check how her wing is doing," E'naer explained and nodded towards the green. Now that they had weyrlings again, he was not in dragoninfirmary-rotation, but he still liked to keep track of his patients. Besides, he had seen Aryn impress, has been their wingthird during their weyrling training and couldn't help feel little bit paternal towards them. He had witnessed their first flight, supervised their first /betweening/.

Not one adept at hiding her emotions, Aryn's concern was apparent.
"Actually, I've been examining it. She really should have been back to full strength by now... and I kept thinking she was. But then, every now and then, she falters in a turn." Aryn chewed her lip worriedly. "She says it feels 'not stretchy enough', and I can feel the sharp stabs sometimes when it pulls."

**Viyanth, will you reach out your wing for me?** As her dragon complied, she ran her fingers over the smooth green hide along the top of Viyanth's left wing, until she was past the finger joint. "Here, along the upper part of her spar."

"Hhmm, sometimes these things are just slow to heal, but let's check her anyway," E'naer said. E'naer run his hands along her wing until he reached the spot Aryn pointed out. "The tissue seems to be little bit swollen."

"Oh Sh--rubs, am I such a dimglow..." Aryn muttered under her breath.
A bit louder, she asked, "Um... you're right, I kind of noticed that before... but I sort of thought that maybe it was just scar tissue or something. It couldn't be signalling any type of infection, could it?" She was gripping her fingers together so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. The very thought that she had somehow neglected Viyanth was unbearable. "Is there something I can do to help her heal better?"

"Let's see. This might hurt a bit, Viyanth," E'naer warned. He dig his fingers deeper to the sore spot, trying to feel the muscles beneath.
"No, it's not an infection, I can't feel any inflammation," E'naer said assuringly after a moment. "I think it's just swollen because of tension caused by overstrain. The injury haven't been properly healed before she started to excise it. Rest, warm poultice to relax the muscles and some gentle stretching exercises."

Aryn nodded, relieved there was something she could do. "Should I put something in the poultice... like maybe, comfrey? I think I remember my mother putting comfrey on my brother's ankle when he sprained it one time."

"Any warmth will do, but you can try comfrey if you like to. Dragons don't usually react to human medications," E'naer replied. "Won't harm her either."

"How often should I apply the poultice? Every day before the stretching exercises, maybe, to warm her up? Can I still take her swimming?" Aryn paled, as a terrible thought just dawned on her.
"Oh... this doesn't mean we're grounded again, does it? Did this happen because we flew too soon?"

"You're not going to fly a Fall, that's for sure. But you're not completely grounded either. Swimming is good for her. Use poultice after exercises, so the muscles will relax. And yes, you probably did start flying too soon. These injuries take time and patience. Don't look so morbid Aryn, it's common error. Most riders are too eager to return to wings and overstrain their lifemate," E'naer replied.
"Faranth! I've done that with Eillispeth and I'm a dragonhealer!"

Aryn let her breath out slowly and gave the dragonhealer a weak smile.
"Thanks, I... I'm sorry, it's just that I, well, we love to fly, to be useful! Of course I want so much to keep Viyanth happy and feeling good, but I know how important it is to keep all our dragons in good health, so we can do the best job we can to protect our Weyr, our Holds- and Craftspeople, our resources..." She ran out of breath again and paused, shaking her head. **Why do I talk so much when I'm nervous** she asked herself.

"We learn basic care in Weyrling training... but there's still so much I don't understand! I wish I knew more."

"You can always volunteer to dragonhealing classes or help around the dragoninfirmary, if you are truly interrested," E'naer said.

"Really? I would really like that!" Aryn smiled for real now. "I think that would be fascinating... my weaving classes haven't really been very inspirational lately." She wondered briefly how she would explain her sudden absence to her weaving instructors.

"The dragoninfirmary seem to be always short of staff," E'naer grinned. "Mostly because dragonhealers have other duties too, as a wingrider or wingthird like me."

"So the Weyr could really use someone who would like to dedicate themselves to the Craft? Probably even more than they need yet another weaver?" Aryn hardly dared express the hope that rose up inside her - how wonderful it would be to completely dedicate herself to the care of dragons.

"Yes," E'naer answered and looked her curiously. "Are you considering changing craft completely?"

Oh! What did that look mean? Had she said too much, too soon? Aryn caught her breath, utterly speechless for once.

Last updated on the February 14th 2008

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Minor Injuries and Major Decisions (Part 1 of2)