There's Always Hope

Writers: Emma, Suzee
Date Posted: 5th February 2011

Characters: Y'gel, M'van
Description: Dragonhealers react to an incident during a Fall
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 13, day 17 of Turn 5

Y'gel

}:One comes:{ was all the warning he got before Aug launched into the
sky to catch a falling green and her rider. He ran for the cavern
entrance along with his pack of assistants. "You" he bellowed at one
of the taller boys, "Get her rider off." Then he watched as the boy
scrambled up first Aughashyth then the injured green.

"We're going to help" he reassured the young woman. **Try and calm her
if you can my dear.** he asked his lifemate.

Y'gel trotted around the wing to take a first pass, and what he saw
relieved him slightly. He turned to his Senior Journeyman. "What do
you think?" he asked.

"She'll fly again," M'van said after a second or two. "Not for a long while,
but she'll take to the skies."

"I agree," he said to M'van. The rider finally was pulled from the
green's back and appeared dazed. "Give her spirits," he told the two
boys that supported her. Another pair came running with buckets of
redwort and numbweed. Y'gel had already changed his shirt for short
sleeves and wore a leather vest over it. An apron covered that.

He plunged his arms elbow deep into the redwart automatically making
sure to cover every surface thoroughly. More assistants had pulled
tables near. "Well?" he grinned at the younger man. "Let's to it."

M'van was similarly engaged in making sure that his hands were clean,
scrubbing them thoroughly with soap sand, then applying a salve to prevent
the redwort from staining his skin before he dipped his arms into the
solution that would make sure that he didn't transfer an infection to the
green.

"I'll hold her wing steady," he offered. It would be a tricky job to sew the
rent, plus someone needed to apply some numbweed, and clean away the ichor
that was slowly oozing from the wound.

"Is she calm? May we approach?" he asked the rider. It was never a
good idea to approach a frantic dragon without assurance that she was
willing to accept their help. Big dragon in pain could cause a great
deal of injury to those trying to help. At her nod he gestured to
M'van to take hold and spread the wing across the tables for support.

The green's rider nodded, and M'van took his place, gently easing the wing
into position.

The ichoring was a slow ooze rather than a pumping and his initial
examination didn't reveal any bone but he needed to check more
closely. He applied a light coating of numbweed to deal with the pain
and slow down the ichor. Once he could tell the medication was taking
effect he manipulated the bone in the area and found no break or
fragmentation.

"No break" he said reassuringly to the green rider. She sat there
mutely rocking so he added "She's going to be fine, you both are."

He cleaned the debris from the wound with redwort and then slathered
it with numbweed to get the last of the rubble from the dragon's hide.
"What did you do?" he asked with a chuckle. "Slide down the
mountain?" his hands felt some other foreign objects but he couldn't
grasp them properly. "Forceps!" he called.

Almost before the word was out of the Master's mouth, M'van was reaching
for the instruments kept in a dilute redwort solution and passing them up.

Y'gel felt the instrument slap into his outstretched hand and didn't
even look at the source. His team was well oiled and he worked
diligently to keep it that way. Manipulating the wound to get the
rocks out with the forceps caused the ichor to start flowing again
though sluggishly. He judged more numbweed would take care of it and
slathered it over the wound again.

He looked at his journeyman again. He could go either way on sutures
she would need only a few if any for the deepest part of the wound. It
was mostly superficial. "Want to do the sutures?" he asked. He would
willingly trade places and observe.

"If you're sure?"

He was confident in the younger man's abilities and nodded stepping
back to allow M'van to move into place. "I'm sure." he smiled.

M'van stepped into place, and picked up the suturing needle, threading it
quickly. He spoke to the green's still slightly dazed rider. "Tell her she
may feel a little pulling, but no pain. I'll be as quick as I can."

A senior apprentice had stepped up to hold the wing in M'van's place
so rather than switch places he stood and observed.

M'van made sure he was quick, and yet careful to make sure that the wing
would be whole again, and that the hide would have the best chance to knit
together so that the dragon would fly again. It felt like forever, but it
was over soon.

Y'gel bent over to look at the suturing and was pleased. "Good job" he
said softly as he stood.

"Thank you," M'van replied equally softly as he stood back to allow the
green's rider to come close and comfort her. "Hopefully we won't see another
like that today."

He chuckled. "There's always hope!"

Last updated on the February 25th 2011

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There's Always Hope