First Aid for Dragons

Characters Al'dru, Rezia, Ise, K'vyx
Synopsis Dragonhealer K'vyx gives the weyrlings first aid basics.
Out-of-Character Date January 20, 2015

Igen Weyr - South Bowl
The orange hued sandstone layers comprising the bowl walls curve gently, but ever presently in your view. Fine sand shifts underfoot, a slightly paler version of what is found upon the walls. It gives way along the eastern edge to a section of contrasting green grass where a series of cleverly engineered pipes provide water to the fenced off area of the feeding grounds, and keeps the shimmer of the shallow lake beyond from dissapearing during the dryest periods of the turn. A distinctly squared entrance farther south is the tunnel leading out to the lands beyond. Traders and tithes arrive here at regular intervals and it is not uncommon for part of the bowl to be set up with a series of tents and wagons as wares are displayed and sold. To the west, the bowl wall has been eroded by the desert winds into strange shapes. At their base are found the weyrling barracks and training fields.


Al'dru is standing in the bowl, talking with a bronzerider from a different area and gesturing madly about. Whatever has him speaking has him grinning like a loon and indicating a lot of places around Igen.

The visitor seems relaxed and quite comfortable in the weyr, not even as bothered by the heat as guests normally are. "So I dropped by to visit him but only his weyrmate was in." He glances sideways at Al'dru. "I know she's a weyrwoman but how do you put up with it?"

Al'dru merely arches an eyebrow. "I tell myself that if it wasn't her there would be someone else with that gold, and we'd all have to fear for our lives." He pauses. "At least, she's truly innocent at heart, you know? She's not likely to follow that ones schemes. Or maybe they are both fooling us and we'll wake up to our own overlords one day."

K'vyx ponders for a moment but with a nod of his head, concedes the point. "That's true. But I for one am glad that she and mom never met." A shudder runs over his body. "Well, let me get my stuff off of Xionth and you can call up the weyrling pairs. Lecture and than practice. Basic first aid, unless you have a special request?" Kev keeps an ear out for the response as he heads towards the watchful bronze to remove several packs from his back.

Al'dru waves the other rider off. "No, no. That sounds like a very good topic and exactly what these folks need." He pauses. "I think, from what folks have told me of Kathryn, we should all be glad they did not get to meet." With that, Al is turning to the weyrlings to get them off into rows and settled for this lecture.

As the weyrlings settle down, K'vyx steps forward, bracing himself in a 'parade rest' stance. "Greetings ladies and gentlemen, I am K'vyx, rider of Xionth and I am here to give you a basic background in simple first aid for your lifemates. First off, I'm going to give you a quick lesson in who and what dragonhealers are. Dragonhealing is something of a misnomer. We are trained to treat dragons, yes, but also firelizards and whers. Dragonhealers, though not a craft, do have a school , on Ierne Island, as well as a satellite facility at Xanadu for reproductive study. It requires turns of intense study and has a ranking system to determine skill level. I am a grade five healer, the equivalent of a Master. With the exception of a few turns of my own as weyrling, I have been at the Dragonhealer school in Ierne since a teenager, as well as serving as assistant to my mother here at Igen from knee-high and up."

Al'dru is near the back of the group, doling out headslaps to make some of the less well behaved pay attention to the rider talking up toward the front of the group. "Ch'lie, if I have to smack you once more, I'm sending you out of here and you'll have to count on K'vyx's good graces to come back and give you a make up lecture. Now, sit and be quiet."

"Your typical weyr dragonhealer is a grade three healer, capable of basic surgery and emergency first aid. Anything seriously invasive or beyond their skill calls for a grade four or five. Most of us live at the school and can be summoned on a moment's notice." K'vyx points to the patient bronze. "Have dragon, will travel." With a grin, he continues. "We also give lectures such as these and occasional outreach programs." He turns and gives a quick hand signal to Xionth, who stands upright, wings spread and lifted. "I'm going to assume by this point you've had basic anatomy, including the three main sections of wing and underlying musculature. I would like to remind you that dragon cells are based on boron, rather than our carbon. This is why their bones are harder than ours and why their ichor is green and thick compared to your blood. Their muscle tissue is actually white but appears greenish due to the ichor within. Any questions before we get to what you need to know?"

Al'dru is standing toward the back, keeping an eye on his rowdy folks whilst nodding along with much of what K'vyx is saying. He doesn't offer much to the conversation but he does finally ask. "About how often are you called out for emergences, as opposed to these lectures?

K'vyx's expression is wry. "More often than I'd like but less than you would think. We deal with wing tears about once a sevenday. Bone breaks more like once every four sevenday. These most often happen in those riders who do search and rescue. Very rarely we get burns from the firefighters or torn musles from careless delivery riders."

Rest assured that Rezia, despite her fidgeting, is paying attention! And then there's Pralayth, a mottled rock of a brown who is doing his level best to both pay attention and convince his restless siblings to settle in. There are, thus far, no questions from either of them - though neither of them seem terribly talkative in either case. Lesson times are serious times, after all!

He rubs his hands together. "What I'm going to teach you is what aid you can and should provide for your lifemate and how to tell when you need to call for a dragonhealer. And the first lesson is" He pauses dramatically. "How to wash your hands." K'vyx holds up one hand as if to stop a complaint. "Yes, I know. Everyone knows how to wash their hands. Except most people don't. What you actually need to do is wash with soap and warm water for a full two minutes before doing any first aid. You need to scrub front and back of you hand and wrist up to mid-forearm and include between your fingers as well. If you have a soft, stiff brush, scrub under the fingernails as well. Rinse thoroughly, and coat your hands in a redwort rinse. Always wash your hands before starting any first aid." He gives a terse nod before continuing. "There are two main types of issues you might have to deal with: feeding problems and day to day injuries."

Al'dru continues to stand back, keeping a weather eye on both Ch'lie and Ch'arm before most of his attention back to K'vyx, before he has a wide smirk on his face at the topic. "Maybe they won't look so much like mudballs, the boys, if they follow." is whispered almost to himself before he's back to watching carefully, Rezia noticed with the rest.

There's a slight furrowing of Rezia's brow at the explanation, but she says nothing; instead, her lips purse and she leans forward, elbows resting on her knees. She props one cheek up in an upturned palm, her other hand resting on a section of Pralayth's tail that's slithered under her chair. There is, at the least, a slight shake of her head at the feeding problems - and a glance about to try to spot Mokusoth, of course! - but then it's right back to listening and watching, mouth pulled thoughtfully to one side.

He gives a sympathetic grin as he starts in on feeding issues. "I'm sure you've had to deal with these already but the two most common complaints in younger dragons are stomach ache or constipation due to overeating and a bitten tongue. Even some adults still have these problems on occasion." K'vyx pulls two jars of liquid out of one of the bags. "If your lifemate overeats, they are going to complain of stomach pain or tail pain and possibly show signs of bloating of the mid-section and/or tail end. Most of the time, you're just going to have to suck it up and suffer through. It's your responsibility to protect. In the case of bloating of the tail, you'll have to administer a laxative, sometimes called a purge." He holds up one of the jars. "Rarely, with abdominal bloating you need to give an emetic. Dragons can vomit, as it's how they deal with firestone. But it's not comfortable and can be dangerous. If they are experiencing sharp, rapid pain, or the bloating is not relieved by treatment, seek help immediately."

Al'dru reaches out to give Ch'arm a friendly pat on the shoulder that turns to a squeeze as the boy starts to talk and then immediately thinks better of it. He turns right around starts paying full attention to what K'vyx is saying. "If I remember Ch'arm, you might need to hear this part. And commit it to memory."

For his part, Pralayth utters a low rumble of some sort - it's a mild thing, coupled with a telepathed reminder to his siblings to really pay attention. It's important! As for Rezia, she catches herself bouncing her feet a little while she listens and her mouth shifts to the other side for the time being. There is, for a moment or two, a bit of squinting aimed directly at K'vyx's face, but the moment passes quickly. There's yet more to learn, after all, and it's taking every ounce of her energy to pay attention.

A quick glance over the crowd before K'vyx continues. "Next are bitten tongues. Everyone does it. I'm sure you've bitten you own tongue before. It hurts and sometimes it bleeds. As long as the bleeding stops, treatment is simple. Wash with water and a redwort rinse, which they aren't going to care for. Then apply numbweed for the pain and watch for darkness, excessive swelling or discharge. By discharge I mean something colored or thicker than normal. It's a tongue, it's going to be slimy and gross. If you see any of these signs, seek help. It might be infected." He frowns, "The final feeding issue is by it's nature a medical emergency. Sometimes, dragons choke. Either a bone or something too large gets lodged on the way down. If it occurs, call for help immediately. If you can see the item and it's not gouged into the tissue you can try to fish it out while waiting for help to arrive."

Al'dru continues to grip onto Ch'arm's shoulder, standing back and making sure that the young greenrider is paying strict attention, by breathing over his head. Al is also quite attentively listening. "Never hurts to hear all of this again. I'm sure there are parts I'll forget if it's Eranzath in that situation."

The weyrling brownrider glances at Pralayth, then back to K'vyx with a couple of slow nods. Murmured: "I'm glad he's not bad about his eating, you know? He's just so good about everything." It's mostly an utterance for her sake and the sake of her lifemate, not meant to carry much further - but, of course, the oddly patterned brown puffs his chest up all the same. The girl lapses into silence afterward and shifts hands and cheeks so she can pet her lifemate's tail with the other hand this time.

After a a short pause, K'vyx moves on. "Next up are day to day injuries. These include bumps, bruises, hide damage, and pulled muscles. Basic bumps or bruises can be dealt with by applying a cold compress for swelling and numbweed for pain. Rest the injuried spot as much as possible. If it occurs due to straps or buckles, remember to adjust those as well." He shifts position. "Hide can become patchy or broken if untreated too long. Clean the offending area, scrubbing gently to remove any flakes and oil. If the hide is broken, wash and apply redwort with an oil layer over it. For pulled muscles, rest and very gentle exercise is required. Numbweed or a warm soak can be used to relief discomfort. If it persists for more than a few days, it needs to be checked."

He sighs, grinning. "Finally." And there's another pause as the weyrlings seem to brighten as the end of the lecture seems near. "Minor cuts. These are the ones most likely to trip you up. A minor cut is one that is no longer than the length of your thumb tip to the first joint and no deeper than half that distance. It stops bleeding on application of pressure or naturally with a short amount of time. If a cut is longer or deeper than this or won't stop bleeding or gushes blood, call for a dragonhealer. If the hide is pulled back or muscle or bone exposed, call for help. Otherwise the cut can be cleaned with warm water and soap, disinfected with redwort and, depending on location, covered with a soft, clean cloth or clean, sterile oil. Any injury involving the wings or broken bones must be seen by a dragonhealer." He looks around slowly and carefully at this point. "Does anyone have any questions at this point? And remember, it's better to ask for help if you are unsure."

Al'dru is also seen talking to Ise, making sure that she is paying complete and utter attention to K'vyx. "He didn't come out here for my benefit, or for his. It's for you weyrlings that he's here. So pay attention."

There's a slight shake of her head at the last. Rezia chimes in with, "It's not, um. Well, it's not all that different than human first aid, yeah yeah? If you can't fix it, leave it to an expert - that's what Daddy Lu always says." Her nose wrinkles a bit. "Even if Unca Lo always says 'if booze can't fix it, then it's too late'. Unca Lo is kind of- mm. Odd." Clearly. She gives another firm rub to Pralayth and stretches a little.

"I'm one of the best students here." Ise speaks under her breat to Al'dru, making a face at him as if she wouldn't listen to the man. "What's the best way to avoid cuts? Regular oiling? I know dragonhide is very tough, but that's a good way to keep on top of those things, right?" She calls out.

With a slightly stunned look, K'vyx nods towards Rezia. "Yes. Very like that." He shakes off the confusion and firms up voice and face, scanning over the crowd for any other questions. "That is a good question. Patchy skin does cause breaks in the hide but it's more like when your skin dries out in wind or cold and splits? Small fissions running radially out. Often lots of them. Very tiny and painful but not too dangerous unless you go between and get frostbite. Just watch and keep up with your regular oiling and spot oiling as needed. Deeper, more dangerous cuts come from running into things or snagging on objects. Sometimes faulty equipment can cause punctures or cuts as well. Use common sense and don't be afraid to ask for help." Another look around shows no more questions so he scoops up one of the other bags, pulls out a blanket which is spread on the ground and than gently spills the contents of the bag onto the blanket. Rolls of cloth, jars of numbweed and redwort and lots of soap are visible. Also are several obviously fake jars of something and even some dry, empty compress bags. "So now to practice. Here are all the possible harmless supplies. Try treat a muscle strain in the wing, a cut on the foot and some feeding disorder." He pulls out a second bag from within the first, being very careful with it. "When you're finished, those who are interested can take a look at some of my surgery tools."

Al'dru moves to start shooing weyrlings up toward the front before he's moved off to the side, to speak with K'vyx again and watch as the weyrlings move amongst the supplies. "Can't thank you enough for coming out and doing this for our weyrlings. I really appreciate it and I know that they do as well."

Ise moves up towards the supplies, and having toooottaly listened earlier in the lecture, she moves to gather up the small things. "Hmm." She looks around, trying to piece everything together in each small pile she lays at Nis' foot.

The former trader pushes off of her chair and settles into leaning against the patchwork brown next to her for a little while. The tools are laid out and Rezia watches, her expression thoughtful. "Yeah, yeah," she says after a moment. "Had to learn how to do a lot of that on the road, you know? I mean, not for dragons, but-" She gestures vaguely, fingers all a-wiggle. Then she's smiling and stepping forward - in no small part due to the nudge from her lifemate. And, with permission, she'll take up a pot of oil and another of numbweed. A roll of gauze is also set aside - and then she pauses. "Oh! Oh, for Rukbat's rays," she blurts. "Do we need to wash our hands for this practice?" Her concern is magnified by a faint rumbling from the brown that's not too far from her at any given time.

From his spot at Al'dru's side, K'vyx sends Rezia a 'got ya' kind of grin. "Of course you do. Why else would there be soap there?" Never mind the complete lack of water. Or is there with both barracks and lake front nearby. He turns back to the Weyrlingmaster. "You are more than welcome. I enjoy teaching and, well, a guy has to pay the bills somehow. These little jaunts give a bit of spending money." He glances all around the bowl. "Not to mention coming 'home' again. Even with C'vryn here, I almost never visit. I keep looking for Nylaeth." He sighs.

Al'dru ahs softly, and looks around the weyr. "I would imagine that would be very difficult. One of the reasons that I'm glad that I'm not at High Reaches anymore. Makes the pain of the place go away and you can deal just a little bit better, you know?" But then he's offering a crooked grin. "Well, I'm glad that we're helping on the road to free enterprise at the very least. "Did you ever figure out why your brother didn't become a dragonhealer as well?"

Ise tilts her head to the side at that before she moves to grab the soap and a nearby bucket so she can wash her hands first. Niskath snorts a bit at her rider and just sort of lounges, looking all beautiful and lovely in the sun. It's not long after that Ise heads back to her piles, trying to check everything over. "Hmmm.." She counts the items off on her fingers. "Yeah… yeah…"

"I knew it." There's a pause, then Rezia's aiming a playful swat at Pralayth's shoulder. "Don't you pull that 'I told you so' business with me, mister! Don't you dare!" Draconic chuffing ensues in lieu of proper laughter while the trader-girl hastens to retreat into the barracks. Her return is relatively quick, at least; two buckets of water are in hand, with a smallish basket balanced on her head. The tip of her tongue is stuck out with the effort of keeping everything balanced - and then she's able to drop off her precious cargo of water and towels for the rest of the class to put to use. Commence the hand-washing! Or, at least, she starts to, and then a name catches her askance - if just a little. "Oh! Oh, do you know C'vryn?"

With a shake of his head, K'vyx begins to answer Al'dru. "I have a theory but he's never said. I think it's mom. She had, well, you could call it gravity. He always tried to protect me a bit from it and I think it just wore him down. Couldn't be too much like Mom, and we didn't know Da very well." He seems about to go on, mouth opened when the weyrling's question draws his attention. "Well. Yes, I think you could say I know him. He's my twin. They say we're identical but everyone knows I'm the handsome one." He grins his crooked, impish grin. "And who would you and yours be?" He asks, nodding towards the brown with his chin.

Al'dru merely shakes his head at the dragonhealer. "I dunno. He's a bit more, forgiving. Or he must be since he lives with Janja all the time. Not that I don't love the lass. She's just a bit of a handful. I figured. Here I go, to Igen. Then I find out she's moving as well." He grins at both Rezia and Ise. "Seems like you're both practicing, but of what?"

"Whose moving?" Ise says, having over heard the conversation between Al'dru and K'vyx. "I'm doing my best, sir" She admits, looking over at Rezia. "I think Rez has a better knack at it than I do.." She looks at her arms and laughs. "I've never been all that good at healing or anything." She says, blushing a bit as she gives a bit of a grin.

"Oh!" Well. There goes the entire process of washing hands. Rezia squeals with delight and quickly dries her hands off before launching herself at the rather (un?)fortunate K'vyx - for a hug, that is. "Then you're another uncle!" Her excitement is a dangerous thing and even Pralayth looks a bit alarmed until the girl calms enough to answer, "Oh! Oh, I'm Rezia and that is Pralayth and oh! Oh, my, um. My father is N'vex and, oh, I should have seen the resemblance, but…" Forget the washing; let the chattering commence. Pralayth, helpfully, hooks a claw to pull the healing utensils a little closer. For safety.

Al'dru laughs and moves to step back, letting K'vyx handle that one on his own. "Well then. Looks like you're going to be all caught up, catching up for a while." He moves then to see how Ise is doing and giving a good gimlet eye on Ch'arm once more. "Well, I don't see you doing a bad job there, Ise. Looks like you've got a lot of your things set up right." He answers her softly. "Oh, I moved here from High Reaches a few turns back. I knew Janja from before as well."

K'vyx becomes a little wall-eyed at the attack of affection. "Uff." he says when tackle-hugged. "Oh, one of N'vex's? He never..well, that is." The dragonhealer clears his throat, giving the hug back somewhat awkwardly. "I'm sorry. I haven't gotten to see C'vryn yet and well, Janja is.." He trails off helplessly. "Janja?" The girl is released as K'vyx steps back for a little room. "It's nice to meet you Rezia." He bows towards the brown "Pralayth." A quick glance around to check on the weyrlings' but Al'dru has it well in hand. "So is all my family back at Igen now?"

Ise looks from Al'dru towards the hugging K'vyx and Rezia and she giggles. "Attack of the Rezia." She turns back towards Al'dru and she nods. "Gathering things I'm good at, getting them all in the right order on putting them together is another." She says, looking at the others.

"Well," Rezia reasons after releasing the hug, "That's the most likely one, C'vryn said. So- yeah, yeah. It's been weird, you know?" The girl is all smiles now, bouncing a little in place until a stiff chuffing sound from Pralayth yanks her attention back. "Well- oh! Oh, I totally understand," she chirps. "You'll see him around soon enough, I'm sure! Oh, it's lovely to meet you, too! Just lovely!" And then it's right back to work with her, with the washing of hands and oiling of fingers and preparing the numbweed to apply to one of Pralayth's forepaws. And the brown, for his part, dips his head toward K'vyx in response to that bow - and maybe a little empathy for the unexpected affection-assault.

Al'dru continues to laugh softly. "Oh my. Poor rider. Still, better him than me, wouldn't you say?" He nods to Ise once more. "Well, practice does make perfect as I'm telling you folks, so the more you try the better at it you will get. Now, will you be a dragonhealer, perhaps not. But you'll care for your own well enough."

More relaxed now, K'vyx smiles. "So you have a little first aid experience? Must run in the family." He walks over to where the brown is patiently acting as a patient with an occasional glance at the weyrlings nearest as well. "Oh, you there." He calls towards Ch'arm. "Don't stick your hand in that jar without some oil on it first. You'll go numb!"

Ise nods her head at Al'dru as she moves to work at making a small sling for Niskath's wing, despite her protests of « I'm not really hurt! » . She slowly works at it, trying to make sure it fits and its well maintained for it's quick construction.

"Mm." Rezia rolls a shoulder in a lopsided shrug. "A bit, you know? I was a trader before he came into my life," and the 'he' in question just puffs up his chest anew. "But, well, it's not like we have trained healers with us all the time. We all had to learn how to patch people up. Zalolo knows more because he has all of his firelizards to see to, but he wasn't really keen on teaching - and I really didn't need to learn." She finishes bandaging up the pretend wound and steps back to allow someone to inspect her work. "If I had a mark for every sprained ankle or sore back I had to take care of- why! I'd own Bitra!" Pralayth turns his head toward Niskath and muses, « You aren't hurt now - but you might be, some day. Wouldn't you rather she fix you if you're actually hurt? »

Al'dru merely shakes his head again and sighs after the one weyrling greenrider. "I swear." is all he says though before he moves to inspect just what it is Ch'arm thinks he might be doing. "Are you practicing or trying to get sent to the infirmary tonight? Because you're not exactly following directions are you?"

Al'dru moves to offer a handshake to K'vyx. "Thank you again so much for coming out today and offering this lecture. Igen really appreciates it."

With things going well for Rezia, K'vyx begins circling back around through the group again. A second check on everyone shows no major problems and he arrives at Al'dru's side. "You're more than welcome. The supplies are yours, part of the lecture package. Send for us if you have any follow up needed. With luck, I won't need to see any of your students again." He sends a wave out over the group. "Good day ladies and gentleman of Igen. Keep well." And with that he gathers up his own special bag of tools and heads towards the bronze waiting impatiently to go. "Easy, Xionth. We'll be in time."
K'vyx swings up onto Xionth's neck.
K'vyx has left.

« I might be, yes.. but she will know what to do » Niskath sends towards Pralayth as Ise continues to work. "Please don't move around too much please." She offers to Niskath, patting her side with an affectionate touch. "We've got to make sure that we do this correctly."

Al'dru moves to simply take a seat, his own dragon off somewhere getting a nap in the sun. "What say you folks. Did the lecture go well? Are you having fun with your practice?"

A vigorous wave is sent to K'vyx and Xionth before they depart and, then, it's off to the next project; Rezia gives Pralayth a gentle tap and he opens his maw for her to apply numbweed to his tongue. "There we go! All better, yeah yeah?" His maw remains open, his newly numbed tongue lolling out of his mouth in a doglike expression. « This is how she must learn what to do, » he explains to Niskath. « Keep up the good work. » Rezia nods to Al'dru, her smile as brilliant as ever. "Mmhm! It was wonderful - and, oh! The practice is delightful, too. But it helps that he's so still! Thank you, Al'dru!"

Al'dru moves to start getting things gathered and cleaned up. "Well, I think that's the end of it tonight. "But we'll have these for practice in the barracks, or out here in the bowl if anyone would like to later. They are not however, to be used to play tricks on your fellow weyrlings."

"Fun? Maybe, I don't know about fun.." Ise says. "It's important to make sure that we've go to do this correct so that we can make sure that our dragons will stay healthy and safe." She says, turning her attention to Niskath and nodding to her. Nis keeps quiet for now.

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