Emergency Services (4/4)

Writers: Aaron, Estelle
Date Posted: 30th March 2019

Characters: K'don, Urlene, Lorican, Corley
Description: K'don arrives at the Weyr with Lorican, and Urlene and Corley treat his head injury
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 21 of Turn 9

K'don

Urlene

***

Like many children - and adults - Lorican had imagined what it would be
like to ride on a dragon. He'd thought it would be exhilarating, like
racing a runner, only better, but it didn't turn out that way. It was a
smooth flight, and he was sure Maciath was doing his best, but there was
no avoiding the gentle rising and falling motion caused by the brown's
wingbeats. The smith spent most of the journey with his eyes tightly
closed, concentrating on keeping down the growing sensations of nausea
and headache, and hoping that the flight would be over soon.

Eventually, Maciath touched down on the ground as close to the weyr
infirmary as he could manage.

"We're here. Still doing OK?" asked K'don as he slid down. A couple of
healer apprentices came out to meet him and help get Lorican safely down
from his perch atop the brown.

"I feel a bit..." His stomach heaved and he looked down at the ground
below, which seemed to blur and sway with the pounding in his head. He
could not be sick now. It might be a mortal insult to the dragon who'd
come to help him. Carefully, he released himself from the riding straps
and descended, grateful to feel solid earth under his feet once more.

K'don heaved a sigh of relief when the man made it to the ground having
neither lost consciousness nor vomited.

"We've got him now, Ked," said one of the boys as he and the other each
pulled one of Lorican's arms around their necks.

"Thanks, Cor," K'don answered. "You're in good hands now, Journeyman
Lorican," he said to the smith. "I think probably someone's going to
want to come talk to you about what happened at some point. Just so you
aren't surprised to see them."

"All right. Don't know if I'll be any help..." Lorican said faintly. He
made an effort to stand straighter. "Thank you, brownrider K'don, and
Maciath. I wish...I'd been in better shape...to appreciate the flight."

"We should get you to the infirmary, Journeyman," the other apprentice
said, not liking the man's greenish look. "This way."

"Good luck!" K'don called after them as they took Lorican inside.

The apprentices moved him as quickly as they could without getting too
rough. The one K'don had known, Corley, was suddenly regretting the
decision not to simply use a stretcher. It's not that far, he had
thought. He supposed he was lucky it was not.

"Here we are, sir," he said as the two lowered him onto a bed and then
stepped aside for a journeyman to examine him.

"You both should know well enough by now that someone with a head
injury that bad should have their heads immobilized." A sharp scold
was heard as quick footsteps approached. "Get me cold packs, right
now." Urlene directed one apprentice with a dark frown. "And then both
of you are going to spend the afternoon writing down the step-by-step
procedures for treating head injuries. I want them written ten time a
piece by this evening." She looked down at the injured man and
carefully peeled back his eyelids to check his pupils. "Hello, I'm
Urlene, Senior Journeywoman. "What happened to you?"

Corley blushed hotly, instantly regretting his decision to place haste
before proper procedure. He offered his quiet, embarrassed, 'Yes,
ma'am,' and then dashed off to retrieve the cold packs.

"I'm not sure." Lorican gulped and put his uninjured hand to his
mouth, fighting a wave of nausea. "I'm sorry... I think I'm going
to..."

Urlene quickly reached under the cot and brought out a bucket, then
helped him roll to use it. "Just do what you have to. We'll get you
settled."

He bent over the bucket and retched, his shoulders shaking. "I'm sorry."
At least he'd made it to the infirmary before throwing up, but that
didn't make much difference to his misery. "It's not the boys' fault. I
was brought in on dragonback and they probably thought..."

"They know better." And who ever had put him on dragonback also should
have, especially if they'd had any Healercraft training. "Don't worry.
We keep the buckets for just this reason." Her mind was already
working, taking in his injuries and the symptoms accompanying them.
"Let me know when you're done and I'll help you roll back to your
back."

The sickness gradually passed, leaving Lorican feeling so drained and
empty that he didn't object to being helped to lie back. He knew he
ought to say something to explain himself, but he was so exhausted and
his head ached so badly that it was tempting to drift off, just for a
few moments. He closed his eyes.

"No, I need you to open your eyes." Urlene lightly patted his arms. "I
know you're tired, but you need to stay awake for us." She looked up
at the arriving apprentice and took the cooling pads. "Keep these
applied to him. And he needs to stay awake for at least a candlemark.
Don't let him go to sleep. Do you understand?"

Corley nodded. He wanted to protest that of course, he knew. But he had,
of course, also just made the call that moving the man would be quick
enough that it would be fine if they did not mobilize his head. Beyond
having gotten his fellow apprentice extra duty, he may have also caused
the man further injury.

So he kept silent at being reminded that the victim of a head injury
could not be allowed to go to sleep.

"Yes, ma'am," he said with a nod. "I won't leave his side."

The injured man sighed in relief as the cold pads were pressed to the
bruised and swollen half of his face. He reluctantly half-opened his
eyes. Now that he was safe, he wanted very much to sleep, but the people
around him kept distracting him so that he couldn't, and if the healers
said it, it must be important.

"Will you talk to me?" he asked the apprentice. "Keep me awake?"

"Of course, sir," said Corley, though he expected it would be easier to
do if he could keep Lorican talking instead. It was easy enough to fall
asleep with someone talking to you, and Corley owed it to Lorican, to
Urlene, to his colleague, and himself not to mess up again.

"Tell me about where you grew up," he said. "Where's home?"

"The Smith Hall, at Garnet Valley. Though I've not been back for Turns,
since I was posted," Lorican said, remembering. "It's not like here,
where it's so warm and lush. It's rocky and barren. A little like the
Weyr, I suppose, with all the caves. But when you get to know it, you
can see where the life is, the insects and the small flowers..." The
drowsiness faded a little as he began to reminisce about his home.

"I bet you had a special place, like a little secret base only you
knew about, right?" asked Corley. "Or maybe you and your friends?" He
had a place like that himself. It might not have been as truly secret
as he had thought as a young kid, but it was there.

Urlene watched them for a moment before nodding in approval. "Summon
me if he worsens. Just keep talking to him." She kept her voice low,
then walked away towards the next cubicle.

"Yes, ma'am," Corley answered, keeping his attention mainly on Lorican,
however.

"Oh, yes, the place is full of caves where children can hide out," the
smith went on, smiling at the memories. "My friends and I used to
pretend we were explorers from the olden days, founding a new hold. We
brought in glows and rugs and snacks and spent all our time there,
making plans for the future." He'd never imagined, back then, that his
path would lead to the Weyr, so far from where he'd grown up. "And we
used to tell stories. I can still remember them..."

Last updated on the April 4th 2019

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Emergency Services (4/4)