Taking Responsibility (Solo)

[L'orlei]

Taking Responsibility Timestamp: 15th of Spring, 512 AV Location: The Opal Temple Thomas Wickenburg. Ariana. Marian Kessler. Trey Silverleaf. Lucy. Mina. Always the names chimed in L'orlei's head, but she was used to them by now. The Konti walked through the wrought iron gates of the Opal Temple, open as always to any who sought entry. She wasn't there for healing as many who entered it's halls, but instead L'orlei had come to learn. Since her mother left Mura, L'orlei had been managing to get by selling meager healing supplies to the sailors just arriving or leaving the harbor, but after the events that happened on the first, the konti realized she could do more. She needed to do more with her life. Perhaps it was the calling, or maybe she'd finally found her sense of duty, but Rak'keli had given her a gift and it was time to learn how to use it. The Opal Temple offered classes, training in the various healing arts. She might also find opportunity to practice with her gnosis as well. As a child L'orlei had often envisioned herself joining the Opal Order, running around in white robes and traveling all of Mizahar. She would stay in the finest inns and meet the finest people, and she would offer them all her healing touch. It was a child's fancy, something she realized shortly after her mother had left. She had to work to eat, and she didn't have the time to go study at the temple. At least, that's what she thought. But after the storm L'orlei realized she'd only been fooling herself. She needed to learn, she needed to live out that childhood dream. Why else would Rak'keli have marked her, if not to use it?

[L'orlei]

Merida Zuval L'orlei knew the receptionist's name instantly as she walked up, as she did everyone else she had ever met. She smiled to the lady, though a moment later she recalled that the woman was blind. Merida heard her approach though and offered a smile in return, or maybe she was just doing it because it was part of her job. L'orlei couldn't be sure, she had never met the woman before. Well.. she'd seen her in passing, perhaps, but she had never really bothered to speak to her much. She just never had a reason before. But this time she did have a reason. "Welcome to the Opal Temple. How can we help you?" "Um, hello. I uh.. I wanted to apply for one of the classes. The one on medicine. I um.. I have Rak'keli's mark, but I hope to one day be part of the Opal Order so.. I know I need to study more. Right?" Merida nodded and began shuffling through the paperwork on her desk. L'orlei was in awe at the fact that she could find anything there, but like most blind people, she had worked out a system for finding things. A thought occured to L'orlei. Why had Merida never had her blindness cured? Surely one of the many healers in the order could have done it for her. Why would she keep such an ailment, when the cure was just a favor away? Would it be rude to ask such a question? "Here you are, just fill this out and we'll get you signed up." As L'orlei began to fill out the enrollment papers she continued to wonder, why would someone, especially a Konti, choose to live without sight? Was she doing it because she thought that was what her goddess wanted from her? Maybe. Yeah, that was probably it. L'orlei wondered if she could live in such a way, if she could give up being able to see in service of her goddess. Hopefully she would never have to find out. "Okay, I'm all done," L'orlei said as she handed back the papers.

[L'orlei]

16th of Spring, 512 AV L'orlei was signed up for classes, and was set to begin right away. Her term ended at the beginning of the next season, and it was already on the 16th day, so she would need to do some catching up. Luckily L'orlei was not completely inexperienced when it came to the medicinal arts, so she was fairly certain she wouldn't fall too far behind. The healer to be made her way to the classroom where her teacher, Kanis Obvala, would be holding class. She had come early, wanting to make sure she was on time since she was joining the class late, and was one of the first to arrive. The teacher wasn't even there yet, which gave L'orlei some time to get situated. Setting her stuff on her desk, she pulled out a paper and quill in case she needed to take notes, then settled in and waited for class to begin. Fifteen minutes later she was surrounded by other aspiring medical students and class was ready to begin. "Today we're going to learn how to properly dress a wound. The most important part about dressing a wound is cleaning it first, and that requires clean water. If you don't have clean water on hand, it might be best to boil some first, to ensure the wound doesn't get infected. At the clinic we always keep clean water on hand, so we don't have to waste time with boiling." Though the stuff they were learning was stuff L'orlei already knew, the konti listened to everything the woman had to say as if it were the first time she was hearing it. They covered all the basics, from cleaning the wound to learning how to stop bleeding in the case of more serious cuts and punctures. The next day they were going to go down to the clinic for some actual hands-on demonstration, and maybe even get to practice on some of the less major wounds. L'orlei couldn't wait. In her line of work she rarely actually got to deal with real wounds, she mostly sold preventative stuff, so she knew it would be a good learning experience for her.

[L'orlei]

17th of Spring, 512 AV The following morning L'orlei was back at class, excited and ready to learn. So soon after the djed storm, there was still much to do at the clinic. There were the more severe cases, but L'orlei only got to see small glimpses of those patients. They had been there since the first, and still had not been released. But with all the repairs going on, there were plenty of accidents happening, and there was more than enough for the class to learn with. According to the teacher, they usually did not get to work with real patients. Mura was usually a pretty safe place, and major injuries were rare. They might call it lucky.. but nothing about the djed storm had been lucky. Each student was given a patient to work with. L'orlei's patient, a konti who went by the name of Elna, had a nasty scrape on her arm that tore off some of her scales and into her skin. As soon as L'orlei saw the wound she had the urge to use her gnosis on it, but she remembered the words of her instructor and resisted. "I know a lot of you are blessed by Rak'keli. I am too, but for the purpose of education, try to resist using your marks today. You need to learn the basics, because your mark isn't always enough." Basics. She had to keep it basic. She remembered the lesson from the day before, that the first step was to clean the wound. L'orlei took a cloth and come clean water and began to gently dab at the area around the outside of the wound. "Sorry.. this may sting a bit," she whispered as she moved the cloth over the scrape itself. Elna winced each time L'orlei dabbed the wound, and winced some more when L'orlei poured the fresh water directly on it. Still, they were not done, and the next step was disinfecting the wound. For that, L'orlei would need alcohol.

[L'orlei]

Luckily, there was plenty of alcohol readily available for her to use. It wasn't the kind you would want to drink, though drinking alcohol could be used in a pinch, but the stuff she had to use was much stronger. Drinking it could actually make a person sick, but for sterilizing a wound it worked wonderfully. "Hold still, and I'll try to make this as quick as possible." L'orlei held the konti's arm and poured the alcohol directly on it. The other woman hissed in pain as the liquid burned into her wound, but they both knew it was necessary. L'orlei poured a bit more on the wound, and noted that it seemed to hurt the woman less, or maybe she was just prepared for the pain that time. "I don't think it's infected or anything," L'orlei commented as she poured a bit more on, "But it's always best to be careful." With the wound thoroughly cleaned, L'orlei was almost done with her patient. It wasn't as if she were performing surgery, but she was excited that things were going so smoothly. She couldn't wait to work on more serious cases.

[L'orlei]

"Okay. All we have to do now is wrap you up, and then you'll be done. Make sure to keep the wound clean, that way it doesn't get infected. If it looks like its getting worse, come back and see us right away." L'orlei set aside the alcohol and looked around for some bandages. It only took her a moment to find the linens, and when she returned she took hold of the woman's arm again. Carefully, she wrapped the bandages around the konti's arm, making sure not to make them so tight as to cut off circulation, but also being sure to cover the scrape completely. "Once the skin heals you should be able to take the bandage off, but be careful with it. Your scales will take longer to grow back." L'orlei finished applying the bandage and then called over her instructor to check her work. The woman looked over everything carefully, and when she was done with her inspection, she nodded to the woman and told her she could go. "Good job, L'orlei. Everything looked good. I think you might be a natural at this." L'orlei hoped she was a natural. Rak'keli had chosen her for a reason, and if she was a terrible healer, it would have been a waste in her mind. She was still years away from becoming anywhere near as skilled as the members of the Opal Order, but L'orlei was glad that she was finally on her way. She still had years of training to go, but finally she had begun. ~End

[Traverse]

The First Steps

Lor'lei :

Experience:
Medicine 3
Observation 1
Planning 1

Lore:
Chasing Childhood Dreams
Sterilizing a Wound
Learning Without One's Gnosis

Additional Notes :

A nice simple thread that doesn't stretch belief and gets some well needed medicine skills in there. Almost to competent level! Can't wait to see what you have in store for that particular skill landmark.

Questions? Concerns? PM me and we'll get to the bottom of it. Safe Travels!