Dizzy And Overwhelmed

Writers: AL, Kastaka
Date Posted: 2nd June 2008

Characters: Vasha, D'son
Description: Vasha has trouble concentrating on her duties during Threadfall
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 10, day 5 of Turn 4

Thread was falling, and the dragonhealers were as busy as ever. Vasha had thrown herself straight back into life, dragonhealing classes and observing checkups and holding fire-lizards and washing dragons, but there was something about every dragon that came stumbling out of /between/, something that reminded her of the hatchlings as they came stumbling out of their eggs. There was plenty to keep her busy, but she kept watching the dragons, gazing at their faceted eyes as they whirled in pain and confusion. Right at that moment she was meant to be washing equipment, making ready for the next suturing operation, but instead she stood there swaying gently, holding an implement slightly above the redwort tub, watching a green dragon who had just fallen out of /between/.

"Vasha!" A sharp voice intruded on the young woman's daze and a rather short face accompanied it. D'son shoved his face into the girl's, eyes flashing with annoyance. It would not do to have an apprentice daydreaming, not on his shift. "Snap out of it and get over here and help me wash these instruments!"

"What? Huh?" said Vasha, shaking her head slightly as she snapped out of her dragon-viewing trance. "Oh, um, right," she continued, looking dopily at the surgical instruments in her hands. "Can I finish these ones first?" she asked, oblivious to the fact that they were now sparkling clean after she had absent-mindedly been dipping them in and out of the tub for some time.

"I would say those are clean considering how long you've been working on them!" D'son snapped, his face tightening. Was this girl a dunce?
Perhaps she would better serve as a kitchen drudge rather than a dragonhealer!

"Oh, um," said Vasha, looking at the instruments she was holding as if she'd only just seen them. She dropped them in the cloth bundle that would be picked up by some other apprentice on the way to an injured dragon, picked up the basin of redwort, and practically jogged over to where D'son was indicating another sad little pile of ichor-stained implements.

"Hurry up." D'son snapped again. Threadfall days were always insane and he didn't have time for wherries of apprentices who couldn't get their act together. It was then that someone ran up to D'son, gesturing wildly and stuttering about an incoming injury. D'son turned back to Vasha for just a moment, pointing to the instruments.
"Get those sterilized quickly!" Then he turned again and hurried off.

Vasha bent back to her task, but there was something about the colour of the ichor that mesmerised her as she gently liberated it from the blades and tongs. Her hands continued to go about the motions which were becoming familiar, but probably at less speed than D'son would prefer, as her mind was drifting - wondering how long it would be until she was the one using them on an injured dragon, her life-mate keeping the struggling creature calm...

A few moments later, D'son stomped back. He stood there for a moment, watching Vasha wash the same blade over and over and over again.
He came up beside her, growling. "Should I send you to the kitchens where dragon's lives are not at stake?"

Vasha leapt up in a startled manner at the sound of D'son's voice, the blade clattering from her fingers and leaving a small nick as it did so. "Argh, no, it's okay, it's almost done," she stuttered, trying to hide the stinging cut from the journeyman, hoping he'd just go away and let her get on with it.

"It's been done. Get on with it or I'll have you cleaning up dragon dung." Dragons usually went /between/ for such a thing, but those that were grounded, well...someone had to clean up after them.

Vasha obediently pulled a face at the mention of dragon dung, although actually she didn't mind the duty in the slightest. If that was the worst threat the journeyman was going to muster, however, she'd got off lightly. She carefully put the blade down on some cloth as she picked up another implement, trying to focus on safe things like the redwort and her hands...

**...her hand, released from Serta's grasp, falling limply to her side as she watched the other girl Impress...**

...she shook her head to clear it, the pain as the redwort cleaned the wound in her finger helping her focus but at the same time making her clumsy. After stabbing herself several times with various other implements, fortunately none as sharp as the first blade, she finally managed to assemble a full bundle of clean tools from the pile of dirty ones.

D'son didn't give her a chance to rest. With thread falling and more injuries coming in, there was no time to breathe. "Vasha!" His voice pierced through the air, assaulting her ears. "Get some numbweed and bring it outside. Sharp, girl, sharp!"

Vasha abandoned the redwort basin and tools, shaking the residue off her hands, and headed over to the piles of numbweed containers.
Picking one up, she had a sudden thought and 'accidentally' let the lid slip off, sneakily applying just a little numbweed to her stinging hand before putting the container back together and heading out. The soothing balm of numbweed put her in a much better mood and she was smiling in a quite inappropriately sunny manner when she delivered the numbweed to the journeyman waiting impatiently beside a badly scored dragon, another dragonhealer using the last of the previous batch on the dragon's immense wounded area.

Without a word of thanks, D'son snatched up the numbweed, shoved it into the hands of the dragonhealer next to him, then began barking orders. "Get that poultice over here now, you, there's another incoming, go now!" He turned back to Vasha. "Inside, bring out two more jars, now."

Vasha immediately scuttled back inside, scooping up two more jars from the storeroom, and hurrying back out (...almost skipping down the corridor, she hurried to the Hatching Grounds...) trying not to look at anything too hard on the way. She proudly presented them to D'son, only to have one jar slip from her numb fingers and break itself quite impressively at the journeyman's feet.

"Shaffit, girl can you do nothing right?" D'son snapped after jumping back. He growled and pointed back to the infirmary. "Get another jar quickly, then clean this up!"

Vasha put the other jar down carefully and returned to the storeroom, but looking at the pile of numbweed jars, which appeared to be towering insurmountably over her despite only being piled up to about her waist, she suddenly felt dizzy and overwhelmed, and sat down heavily on the floor. She knew that she needed to get back up, to pick up more supplies, to not let down the dragonriders who were out there risking their lives for her, the dragons that were bleeding and dying for her, but somehow she just couldn't get up. Instead, she drew her knees up to her chest with her arms, put her head down on them, and wept bitterly, without being able to articulate to herself a reason for her tears.

"Hey." A soft voice cut through her tears and a gentle touch was placed upon her hand. When she looked up, it was into the gentle, smiling face of a young man, blue eyes resting upon her, a few strands of blonde hair falling into his eyes. "It's okay. Threadfall can be rather overwhelming. If you tell me what's needed, I'll help."

Vasha looked embarrassed but grateful, trying to wipe the tears off with the hand that wasn't being held. "D'son... numbweed... I dropped some..." she trailed off to try to get her breathing under control, looking up at the man in a hopeful fashion (and also glancing at his shoulders for relevant information).

"Take a deep breath, and let it out slowly." The knots told her that he seemed to be about like her, a candidate and dragonhealer - or, rather, dragonhealer in training. "Things get intense, but it doesn't last forever. Can you get up?"

"Yeah," replied Vasha, putting her hands down on the floor to push herself up, feeling even more embarrassed to see that it was another candidate who had come to pick her up. "Ugh, this is so embarrassing,"
she apologised, wiping her nose on her sleeve and trying to clear her eyes of tears, her breathing almost back to normal now.

"My first threadfall, I cried like a baby." The young man admitted, giving Vasha a lopsided smile. "Come on, let's get those numbweed jars. We may not be full healers yet, but we can still help in significant ways."

Vasha returned his smile, and headed over to the stacks of jars, trying to banish the visions of a dragon's eyes swirling happiness in the way the man seemed to be trying to convey.

Last updated on the June 7th 2008

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Dizzy And Overwhelmed