[The Sanctuary] Are you sure you want THIS job?

[Kavala]

Timestamp: 57th of Fall, 511 AV
Location: The Sanctuary
Purpose: K'Sabe wants a job.
Status: Open to Sanc Folks


Kavala was bloody. This wasn't an unusual thing, but what was unusual was the birth that had just taken place in the exam room emergency style because an Akalak had failed to bring his pet in until it was almost too late. When the door chimes sounded as a Konti slipped through and called out that she was seeking employment, Kavala grinned.

"Thank you Rak'keli!" Kavala whispered then popped her head out of the exam room door and beckoned with a bloody hand.

"Wash up. Get in here. I need a hand. Keep your dog out in the reception!" She said, pointing to the sink to one side just past the reception desk. It had a nice well-head with a handpump on it that allowed the healers to clean their hands before and between patients. "Got a Kiparon in here that might not make it. And there's nine or more puppies that need attention immediately. With just me here today its either her or them. Your hands can make all the difference. Get over to that basket, tell me what you see, and tell me what needs to be done." Kavala said, her hands back inside the dog's open stomach, pulling free yet another puppy. She cleaned out its eyes, and used a sort of seaweed bulb to suction out its nose and mouth. Then she set it in the basket with the rest of the squirming bloody puppies.

Turning back to the bitch, Kavala went back to work on her. Various bloody tools lay beside the dog in a clean tray and the dog herself looked as if she were drugged within an inch of her life.

[K'Sabe]

Sabe was taken aback at the sight of the bloody Konti who waved her inside another room but quickly gained her wits again. "Eira, stay." Sabe said, putting up her hand as a stop sign, the large Imperial Watcher slumped down on the floor with a sigh, looking at the Konti with those sad brown eyes only dogs could muster. Quickly Sabe dropped her bag by her dog's side, pulled her long hair into a bun with a small woven band and pulled up her long sleeves, arranging them so they'd stay up before washing her hands up to her elbows as the other Konti had said before hurrying inside to see what seemed to be an acute abdominal delivery. A dog lay on a table, stomach open, apparently heavily drugged as it was not aware of anything and in a basket nearby a lay a heap of puppies, the blood and slime didn't bother Sabe as she had helped with birth's before but she worried over the dog, hoping it would survive the operation and could care for her pups. Doing as she was told Sabe hurried over to the pups, scanning over them. "They seem fine by a first glance but I will need several dry rags or towels to dry and clean them so they don't risk getting sick or too cold. I will also need warm quilts or covers put in another basket so that they can be kept warm." The bundle of pups tried to crawl around, giving off thin whimpers every now and then, searching for warmth and food, a sight that could melt even the coldest of hearts. "Also depending on how the bitch is drugged we need some milk replacement so that the puppies doesn't risk getting affected by it through her milk. That's all I can say for now, when they are dry and warm I can tell further by how they breath and move if they are healthy." Sabe "Also, how close is it to the expected due date, do you know that?" Sabe asked finally, she was not so accustomed to Kiparon's and so she wasn't exactly sure how the puppies should be sized at birth.

[Kavala]

Kavala kept a sharp eye on the konti, even though she was busy keeping the big fuzzy female dog alive. The girls assessment was to be expected, but Kavala could tell she had very little formal healer training just by the way she gave her opinion before she'd really picked up any of the pups. "To answer your question, she was past due, the pups were too large, and she was unable to birth them normally. Their size and development should indicate this to you if you are familiar with the breed." Kavala said, then moved on. "Always physically handle your charges before you give an assessment. Assessments are important. Start with the ABC's." Kavala said, pausing while she gently pulled forth yet another placenta and what appeared to be a stillborn pup. She cut the cord, set the placenta aside, and handed the still and bloody pup to the strange Konti wrapped in a small washcloth sized towel.

"A is for Airway. Make sure their airways are clear. If they are not, remove any obstruction from their airways and try to see if that will get them breathing. If it does not, puff gently... very gently into their closed nose/mouth and see if you can't stimulate breathing. We have ten pups now. If you can't get that one breathing, move on, there's nine other lives to save already. B is for Breathing of course." Kavala said as she stuck her hands into the abdominal cavity of the bitch once more and a glowing intertwined winged serpent sign on her leg glowed to life. Sterilized, the Konti began to close the layers of tissue, certain now all the pups were born.

When she got a minute, she continued on with the lesson. "C is for circulation. Check their pulse... make sure you have a heartbeat and you can hear blood moving around in their veins. If you cannot, at this stage there is no hope. They should have strong heartbeats. Set aside any that do not." Kavala said firmly, working on the dog's abdominal muscles now where she'd made the incision. "Once you get that done, you need to do as you suggested then and only then.. get them all warm and dry. But while you are doing that, its important that you rub them all over, get their blood flowing, stimulate their brains to start working. You need to be their mother and lick at them with towels. Without the licking, some of them will either become listless or remain listless and that does none of them any good." Kavala said firmly, finally on the last layer of the dog's skin. She had the incision from the birth completely closed with only a shaved portion of the mother's belly showing any sign a wound had been there. Kavala then moved to the head of the dog, stroked her a moment, then peered into each eye and checked her gums, squeezing them until they turned white and then watching them go pink again.

"I think mamma is going to be just fine." Kavala said, turning to slip by K'Sabe and wash the blood off her hands. She was back in a moment, picking up a towel from the pile beside the table and getting to work on a puppy that hadn't yet been dealt with. "Tell me your name and experience. I have no idea what sort of job you are even looking for, you know? Everyone is gone today and this emergency came in... ten pups and a mother on the Virge of hemorrhaging to death is a lot to handle for one person." Kavala said, working on one of the more listless puppies, checking airways, breathing and circulation before rubbing it vigorously. She was far more rough than one might have expected, but the little creature seemed to react to the vigorous workout they got under her hands.

Once they were squirming, dry, and relatively warm, Kavala fetched yet another basket to deposit the surviving puppies in and snuggled them in a bottle of hot water wrapped in a towel to keep them warm.

[K'Sabe]

Sabe felt so inexperienced when she realized how her dislike of studying had gotten her to ignore full healing lessons, instead she had relied on her gnosis mark of healing, now some real training could have been valuable. Putting the information about Kiparon in the back of her mind she took the puppy the other Konti gave her wrapped in a towel, it wasn't moving and was completely slack in her hands. Neither hearing anything or feeling any movement from the puppy Sabe placed the puppy in her hands with its head and shoulders held safely with one hand and the lower body with the other hand she swung the pup from above Sabe's head in a smooth downwards motion, being very careful to keep the puppy steady. This would force any fluids out of the puppy's lungs and hopefully get it to breath, Sabe repeated the motion a few times before listening for any signs of breathing. Placing her ear against its chest she listened for any sign of a breath. Nothing. As a last try she blew carefully into the pup's mouth as the other Konti had instructed, wanting desperatly for the puppy to survive, but she had to accept that she couldn't save this life. "This one didn't make it," Sabe said in defeat to the Konti working on the Kiparon after checking for a pulse and finding none. Setting the puppy down on a desk Sabe concentrated on the remaining puppies instead, grabbing a towel she picked up one of the bloody puppies. Rubbing it all over Sabe took notice on how actively the pup tried to resist her grip on it, how strong its cries were and when she had dried it off Sabe listened to make sure the breathing was smooth and even so that it had no fluid in its lungs. The little boy, as she had noticed, was healthy and strong willed when it had been dried and as she put it down and picked up one of its siblings the little guy searched blindly for its mother and the milk that would come with that. While rubbing the next pup, a small but healthy girl, Sabe looked on as the experienced Konti finished up on the bitch, feeling through the dogs's abdomen to feel for anymore pups before she started working on closing the incision. Going through the same proceedure as with the male Sabe made sure the girl was breathing okay and was active in all her movements. When she was rubbing the third puppy clean and dry the other Konti finished with the mother, announcing the dog would recover, and went past her to wash off the blood. As she took up a fourth puppy the Konti came back and took care for one of the remaining five and started rubbing it while inquiring about Sabe. "My name's K'Sabe, but just Sabe is fine," she answered while finishing rubbing and went over the little pup to check it's health. "This is certainly too much for just one person, even at a whelping that seemingly works out just fine it is always a good idea to be two, or have easy access to another set of hands." Picking up a fifth puppy Sabe started relaxing a bit, the atmosphere had settled as the worry about the dog went down and the remaining puppies all seemed fine so far. "I'm looking for any job with dogs, I have a gnosis mark from Rak'keli but practically no training, mostly my own fault though. So I'm content starting with just handling the dogs, I'm used to dogs, though mostly with Ivaski and Imperial Watchers but I learn fast and so far I have a good hand with the dogs I've handled. I've been part of several whelpings and have experience with both young and old dogs and their behaviour and needs." She said, treating the puppy in her hands a bit roughly to gain a stronger reaction, the boy was smaller than his siblings but he was breathing and had a strong pulse so his sluggishness was probably just that he was hungry and a bit cold so she kept him a while longer to get his body warmth up. "I have tried to be around the Ivaski at the Opal Temple as much as I could and whenever a trader stopped in Mura I helped caring for the dogs if he had some. Now I also have Eira, my Imperial Watcher, with me so I constanly learn from her too, she can be a handful sometimes." Sabe finished with a smile, her beloved dog was not always the royal and calm dog that the breed was said to be.

[Kavala]

Kavala nodded. She was sad that two pups didn't make it, but eight living ones was a great number especially when the owner was expecting a dead bitch and the loss of the entire liter. "All in all a good day, don't you think, if we saved mom and eight of her pups? It was close. It could have been all of them. They waited almost too long to bring their dog in. I wish I could get the Akalaks to take more proactive approaches on their pets. Had she been brought here to welp out, she might have had an easier time. But she went overly long on her term and they are just too big for her birth canal." Kavala said, nodding thoughtfully.

"It's good you want to work with dogs. We need more help with them. The Sanctuary just had a kennels put on recently and I just hired a Kennels Master, but there's an above apartment for a groom and handler, plus if you went into training to be a dog healer, then that helps a lot too. I can offer you a position for 6 GM a day. It's not a position where you get many vacation days or time off. They animals always need fed, washed, cared for, even just companionship. So it is an all day every day thing. But we'll teach you a great deal of skills and we'll give you time off as you need it." Kavala said. "You'll have to get along with the Kennel Master and both his personalities as well. He's an Akalak." Kavala was up front about that. "You'll be sharing quarters as well. He lives downstairs, but there's a loft up above the kennels you can take for housing if you need it." Kavala said, smiling. "And of course, we dont' mind if you have your own dogs and horses here. There's room." She added.

"We can go see it as soon as we get Mom and pups settled. I have some recovery kennels downstairs.. .shall we carry mom down and then return for the basket in a minute?" Kavala said, gathering up two corners of the blanket the black dog was sleeping on and lifting them like a stretcher. "Grab the other two corners... we'll carry her down like this." Kavala said, leading K'Sabe through the clinic, into the philtering lab and down the steps to the lower levels. They placed the female dog in a large kennel on a soft pile of blankets. Then Kavala went and fetched the pups, butting the basket on the floor on a blanket in the neighboring enclosure. It was warm in the basement, though dimly list. "Now... why aren't we giving her food or water... nor the pups... and why aren't we putting them together quite yet?" Kavala asked, curious as to how clever the girl was.

When K'Sabe was ready and had answered the question, Kavala would go ahead and show her the new kennel.

[K'Sabe]

Sabe nodded in agreement with Kavala on that. Dogs usually whelped exactly on their due date, between the 62 and 64 day depending on the breed, if they didn't whelp on the date they were supposed to then that was most likely a miscount on which day the bitch became pregnant. So it really wasn't safe to let a dog go with pups that are starting to get obviously over due, it was just unnecessary to put both the mother and the pups at risk. But as the Konti had said, the remaining eight lived and that in itself was a wonderful thing but the loss of a pup you've never even seen alive is harder than one may think. "That's great," Sabe said, a slight surprise in her tone. She had not really expected much of a payment from the start. "I like being around dogs and animals in general so little spare time will not really be a problem, working with animals is not just a job to me but also a commitment where the fun outweighs the hard work, like these when you have a litter of pups that you get to see grow." Sabe said, her warm sea green eyes wandering to the mother and her pups. "I'd really appreciate the loft, it would be much easier than to live somewhere in Riverfall. And I think we'll get along fine," Sabe said smiling looking back up at Kavala. "Though I have never actually met an Akalak before," she said as an afterthought. She had of course heard of the Akalak's and their two personalities but her only interaction with one was to ask directions to the Sanctuary. Grabbing on to the corners of the blanket securely Sabe helped carry the dog through a lab of some sort and then down a stairs to a basement that was pleasantly warm with a faint light giving it a cosy feel to it. After they placed the black Kiparon on some more blankets Sabe sat down on her knees beside the black dog, gently stroking her black fur as Kavala went up again to bring the pups. When the Konti came back, putting the puppies in a different stall Sabe rose up and left the dog to rest and recover her strength. "Well, if there were to be any complications on the mother it would hinder the operation if she had her stomach full of food and water. Besides she can probably feel a bit nauseous when she wakes up, and if she eats and throws up that isn't good for the stitches." Sabe said, she had not been involved with any major operations like these but she had picked up a thing or two still. "The puppies should get their first meal from their mother as her milk is important to them, and milk supplement should be given when that first time is not going to happen. Also as this wasn't a normal whelping the mother will most likely not recognize the puppies as hers and can get confused, depending on her psyche even aggressive, and even if she handles it okay she could hurt them unintentionally as she will feel pretty bad herself. So when she wakes up we should introduce the puppies to her and let them suckle and get her to lick them, often that will awaken her motherly instincts, those instincts should have kicked in during her whelping but as she wasn't able to do that this can be a bit more tricky, though mostly the dog will accept her puppies after awhile." Sabe finished up hoping she'd covered it all.

[Kadrath Onktaka]

The stench of blood rolled over his senses and made his eyes flare icy green. Uruk signaled swiftly to Fidens to a place by the door. With large strides, the enormous indigo man moved rapidly to the water and scrubbed to the elbows. "Stinks like blood in here Uruk! And not healthy wounded blood either." "Don't be stupid Rath, it's birthing smells is all. Raiha said to hurry and I don't have time to chat." Rath felt like he was being smothered beneath his brother's vibrant presence, a wet, sodden blanket between them. He shoved back hard, knowing that he couldn't possibly unleash Uruk alone with Kavala. Separately, they were average men driven to an extreme; together they were an exceptionally intelligent and efficient team. Hands and arms clean, Kadrath walked briskly down the hall and stood at the door. His seven foot frame didn't just fill the doorway, his body blocked it completely. The man's square jaw and heavily muscled build, gave evidence of the hard, uncompromising nature beneath his looks. Stormy green eyes briefly assessed the strange woman and just as quickly, dismissed her as insignificant. He nodded acknowledgment to Kavala, but kept his sharp fierce gaze locked on the bitch and her puppies as he spoke. The large man asked with the peculiar echo of two voices speaking simultaneously. "What's the situation here?" OOC : Sorry it's so short, but once Kadrath is filled in, I can post more.

[Kavala]

Kavala smiled at the Akalak’s appearance. “I know upstairs in the clinic looks a mess but we’ll clean it up as soon as these lovelies are settled.” Kavala was down in the kennels with K’Sabe and the recovering mother and her babies. “A townfolk brought a Kiperon in who was extremely past her due date and the pups were too large. I had to take them with a knife. She’s going to be fine and eight of the ten puppies survived. I think the first suffocated in the birth canal and the other was stillborn already. I have the mother all healed up and recovering and we are just waiting for her to come around a bit. The pups are in the next kennel over.” Kavala said, nodding to Rath.

“Rath, this is K’Sabe. She wants to hire on as a groom and a medical student with the dogs. I’ve promised her the apartment above the kennels if you two get along. She’s more interested in breeding and training, but here we can’t help but emphasize the medical as well. She stepped in to help when I needed a second pair of hands a half candlemark ago. She was a big help.” Kavala said, smiling at the other Konti. The healer could tell the girl was older than she was, which didn’t surprise Kavala. What surprised her was that she left Mura at all. It was so rare to see another Konti in Riverfall. For some reason, her sisters tended to avoid the Akalak capital as if it were plagued.

“What you said, K’Sabe, is right. Absolutely right. The other thing is we want food and water in here with the mother… especially water. We can’t have any water bowls down where we have pups. Its too easy for them to wander into them and drown. So that’s a precaution we need to always be aware of. And later, when mom is up and feeling better, we’ll introduce her to the pups and make sure she’s going to accept them. Until then I have milk we can feed them. I had Aweston go out and get it.. he’s a helper here at Sanctaury. There’s other nursing mothers in the kennels, so we can get the pups fed immediately. Want to help Rath?” Kavala said, rising and going to the end of the clinics kennel recovery row where she had a small wood stove burning and some baby bottles with dogs milk in them warming. “Maybe you can take the opportunity to ask K’Sabe a few things. I never remember to ask the important stuff until its too late.” Kavala admitted.

[Kadrath Onktaka]

Bluish green eyes watched Kavala's smile and he flashed his teeth in the briefest returning smile. "Do you want me to check over the pups or the mother?" He listened intently to the woman as she spoke, his eyes constantly shifting from blue to green and back again. "Yes, the room closest to the kennels in case of emergency. I'll help, if that's what you wish Madame." The man's eyes became a crystal clear shade of blue and his face became an impassive mask with no expression.

OOC :

Is this a better response or should I just delete it? It was rude of me to post out of turn anyway. Please just let me know either way, Kavala.

[K'Sabe]

The large Akalak was a bit intimidating and Sabe for once really felt her small stature standing near an Akalak, but the atmosphere all over the Sanctuary, as ell as here in the kennels, gave her a feeling of safety and familarity that she enjoyed to be around. Returning Kavala's smile Sabe listened to her answer and would do as instructed whether it be with the mother or the puppies. Now when things had calmed she sent an apologetic thought to Eira who was still alone up in the reception room, hoping someone not used to large dogs walked in on her.