Completed Treating The Watch [Job Thread]

[Pearl]

13 Summer, 515 AV
8th Bell, Morning

The doe eyed seven year old refused to look to Pearl but instead looked at her mother, her bottom lip quivering. She was being a rather brave young one though and hadn't shed a tear since she had been brought in to The River Flower for treatment. Pearl couldn't blame the young girl for not wanting to look at her, for she had only a few chimes ago finished setting the little girl's fractured forearm back into proper position. She was busy now fashioning a splint to hold it in place by twisting the small straight boards into the cloth and wrapping and tying them with bandages to keep them in place against the little girl's arm.

"Nova," Pearl spoke in that gentle tone of hers while she continued to work and fashion the sling from the cloth, looping it around Nova's neck and then securing it in a knot so that it held Nova's arm securely to her chest and kept it elevated, "I need you to do something for me." Pearl smiled to her mother before she continued. "I need you to go to creek, two to three times a day for the next three days and soak your arm, bandages and all, in the coldest part of the creek that you can find. And do that for twenty chimes each time." Pearl stopped and sat down beside her then. "Leave the splints on your arm until you come back, but you can take this part off," she showed her the sling, sliding her fingers down it and showing her how it slipped off easily, making sure that Nova's mother was paying attention as well, "it slips off over your head easily, and then back on again when you are finished." Nova nodded her head, as did her mother.

Star peeked her head in to the examination area where Pearl was with Nova and her mother. "Pearl, forgive me please, but Bayon has asked that you come to the gates as quickly as you are able. Says there are some injuries that he needs you to take a look at. He said nothing serious or he would have had the men sent to you here." Pearl nodded, smiling. "Yes, of course, Star. Would you please see that the necessary supplies are packed into Knox's saddle bags? I'll leave as soon as I am finished here.” Star looked apologetic for interrupting but quite pleased that she’d been given such an important task as to be sure that Pearl had everything she needed to be able to treat the injured Watch members.



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[Pearl]

“Now,” Pearl continued, “I want you to come back and see me in ten days. We’ll change your bandages and the splint and take a look at how things are healing then.” Pearl stood and reached for Nova’s hand to help her stand. “I know trees are very fun to climb, but please promise me that you’ll stay on the ground until I see you again, okay, lovely?” Nova giggled, a sound that Pearl was so very relieved to hear. “Don’t forget to soak your arm three times a day for three days.” Nova’s mother was given a small paper with some licorice root in it. “If it hurts too much, then you can chew on a small piece of this just until the pain starts to subside, not too much, and only if the pain is super horrible, okay?” Pearl smiled to Nova as she talked. “Otherwise, soak in the creek more often, if you want, to help the pain go away.”

Pearl spoke quietly to Nova’s mother as she walked with them both to the front of The River Flower, “If the pain gets too terrible, then come back and we’ll see about adding some Fennel tea so she can rest more easily. It’s best if she can simply keep her mind off the pain and keep busy with her regular routine, just being careful of her splints to be sure they stay in place. If you need anything, please do come back in and see me, or call for me and I’ll be happy to come by and see you at your pavilion.” Nova held tightly to her mother’s arm as they left The River Flower; Pearl watched them go, smiling and waving to them.

Knox stood waiting outside at his usual spot. Star had his bags packed with all the essentials she would need, bandages, sutures, herbs and tinctures for cleansing and even a couple of sets of splints for arms and fingers. Pearl couldn’t help but to smile when she saw the look on Knox’s face. “Mhmm, yes, I know. I was thinking the same thing. It is a nice day for a ride. Maybe we can get away after we check in with Bayon and treat our patients.” Knox swished his tail around, chasing off flies as he nickered his agreement.


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[Pearl]

“Hello!” Bayon greeted Pearl as she arrived at the gates on Knox. “I hadn’t meant to alarm you and have you drop everything just to rush out here.” Though he was quick to come to her side and help her dismount. “A few of the members have some bumps and bruises. Maybe a few scratches.” Pearl smiled, even chuckled as he helped her settle to her feet. She knew Bayon’s definition of bumps and bruises and a few scratches could mean anything from a concussion to a six inch gash that needed stitching, though she didn’t say as much. “Training again? Or something a bit more this time?” she asked, trying to get a feel for what she was going to be treating as she turned to remove the saddle bags from Knox’s back.
“Training. Here, let me,” Bayon said as he reached for the saddle bags over Pearl and removed them from Knox’s back easily; tossing them over his shoulder while he led her to where he had gathered the members that needed treating. Pearl let him do so without a fuss; knowing that Bayon was much like her father when it came to chivalry. “They are here, in the shade. I had a table and chair brought over for you.”
“Thank you. That was very considerate of you,” she said as she walked along with him until they reached the area where he had set up her make shift treatment room. Knox was left to graze in the area with the other horses near the gates and under the watchful eye of The Watch. He put her bags on the ground next to the chair, so she could easily get to them and the supplies within.
Bayon nodded. “I’ll send them over one at a time to see you.” Before Pearl could answer, Bayon was walking away. She chuckled again and shook her head a little before she began to retrieve the supplies from her saddle bags and set them on the table.
“I’ll see you and that hand of yours last,” Pearl called out to his back, having noticed the unnatural twist in the smallest finger of his left hand.
Bayon grunted, but never looked back.

The first to arrive was a young man that couldn’t have been more than sixteen with a jagged gash that ran across his forehead diagonally over his right eye. The blood had been wiped away and the yellow, fatty tissue was exposed. He sat perfectly still in the chair while Pearl cleaned the wound with a diluted tincture solution of rosemary followed with a chamomile solution. The needle and sutures were set to soak in an alcohol solution while she made sure the wound was thoroughly cleaned. “You’ve been with The Watch long?”
He started to shake his head, but with a gentle resistance from Pearl where she held him by the chin, he stopped quickly and answered. “No Ma’am. Just a few weeks now. Got this training with Trail this morning,” he said proudly.
Pearl smiled and continued her work. “I thought that looked like father’s handy work.”
“Trail is your father?” he gasped.
“Mhmm. Now hold still, this is going to sting while I sew this up. Would you like something to bite down on?” she asked him.
“No. You do what you got to do. I can take it.”

The men and women of The Watch never ceased to amaze Pearl with how tough and dedicated they were to their cause of keeping them all safe; regardless of their age. “Very well then,” she said as she picked up the needle and sutures and began to tie in the necessary knots to sew the wound closed. When she was finished she covered it with a bandage, winding the material around his head and tying it off. “Please leave that on for at least twenty-four bells,” she instructed. “Come see me in seven days, or have Bayon call for me if you aren’t able to get away to come in to The River Flower, and I’ll take a look and see if we can remove the sutures then, or if we need to wait a few more days.” Pearl hoped he would listen to her and not try and remove the sutures early on his own. She knew scars didn’t mean much to the men and women that worked in The Watch, but she liked to know that when she treated someone that she did it with her best efforts to minimize any scarring, when she was able.
“All finished with me?” he asked, looking up at her from where he sat in the chair.
“Yes, for now. Let Bayon know he can send over the next?”



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[Pearl]

Amethyst was leaning against Trail while he guided her over to the table Bayon had set up for Pearl. “I can walk on my own,” Amethyst fussed.
“Sure you can,” Trail said as he let go and watched Amethyst take two wobbly steps before catching her up beneath the arm and guiding her once again.
“Didn’t say it would be in a straight line,” she quipped back at him.

Pearl found it difficult to not smile as Trail helped Amethyst into the chair. Her smile quickly faded though as she saw the goose egg on the side of Amethyst’s head, slightly above and just a little bit behind her temple. At least the girl had turned her head in time so as not to lose an eye with that blow. An inch or so forward and that blow could have resulted in massive damage to her eye, up to and including the loss of it.

“Tell me what happened,” Pearl stated to Amethyst, wanting to see what all Amethyst could remember on her own, thus checking for a concussion. A cautious look was given to her father, before he tried to interject and relay the story to Pearl himself.

“Bayon was teaching me how to defend myself with my, with my.” Amethyst began to look rather confused as she looked up at Pearl, as if trying to remember what it was that she was going to say. The confusion was soon followed by a look of frustration as she poked her little finger into her right ear and wiggled it around some.
“Something wrong?” Pearl asked.
“Blasted ringing in my ears won’t stop,” Amethyst said. “Anyway, spear, yeah, speak, we were working out and then I don’t remember much of anything else except that when I woke up I threw up, on him,” she jerked her thumb in the general direction of Trail who was leaning up against a nearby tree trunk, watching picking his fingernails with the edge of his knife.
“Go on,” urged Pearl.
Amethyst looked at Pearl for several ticks before she finally answered, “Yeah, well, I think I would feel better if I could just lay down and rest.”
“All you’ve been doing is sitting on your ass for the past two bells,” interjected Trail.

Pearl shot him a look that told him he was not being helpful. Amethyst pushed up from the chair, moving too quickly in her haste to go after Trail for taking a verbal jab at her, and doubled over clutching her midsection with one arm, the other hand pressed up against her mouth. Pearl was quick to step in and help the young woman sit back down in the chair, leaning her forward and holding her there with her head between knees for a chime or two to help the nausea settle.



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[Pearl]

Once Amethyst looked like she was no longer going to vomit, or pass out, Pearl helped her sit back upright in the chair. “Alright. You’re not going to like me very much for this one, but you’re off duty with The Watch for the next seventy-two bells. That means no training with weapons, no running, no exerting yourself. You are to take it easy and rest with very simple duties until the end of that seventy-two bells.” Both Trail and Amethyst started to argue, but they were met with silence and a look from Pearl that clearly spoke volumes. There would be no arguing this point. “Seventy-two bells and not a tick sooner,” she repeated after they were both looking at her and quiet.

“Trail,” Pearl looked to her father as she spoke again. “I need you to take Amethyst directly to The River Flower. Find Star and tell her that Amethyst needs a bed for the next twenty-four bells and that she is not to sleep soundly for more than thirty chimes at a time. Make sure Star understands that Amethyst is being treated for concussion and that she should follow through with the necessary treatment and protocol for such until I return later this evening to check in on her myself.”

Without another word, she turned and reached into her saddle bags and took out a small folded piece of paper, opening it carefully. With her forefinger and thumb she took a small bit of ground up power and held it between the pads of her fingers, then looked at Amethyst. “This will help with the headache. Lift your tongue and I’ll place a small bit there. Let it dissolve completely before you drink anything.” Pearl waited for Amethyst to open her mouth and then administered the tiny pinch of Acklar powder. “Only small amounts of food and water to be sure how you hold it on your stomach until I see you again back at The River Flower this evening.”

Trail sheathed his knife with a rather sour look on his face, which mirrored the one on Amethyst’s. Pearl was completely unaffected by either. “You’re going to want a cold compress on that as well. Star will get you one when you arrive,” she said as she put the small paper packet back into the saddle bags for safe keeping. She was getting low on Acklar bark powder and she didn’t want it to be knocked over on accident and lost completely. Trail and Amethyst left the area without another word to Pearl, both deciding that it wouldn’t do well to continue to try and argue. Pearl wasn’t often difficult or obstinate, but when it came to her patients and their treatment, she could be quite demanding, insisting on the best care for them and their injuries, and protecting them, even from themselves, if she must.


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[Pearl]

As the day went on Pearl saw several more patients. Most of the remaining injuries were quite minor when compared to the concussion and suturing that she had started off with that morning. Pearl reached up and wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand and forearm while looking up to the sun’s placement in the sky and judging it to be a little past the 14th bell of the day. It wasn’t a sweltering hot day and the heat of it had likely gotten to its height for the day. She wondered how many more Bayon had for her to see as her stomach growled.

Bayon stepped up to the table. Pearl turned to look at him, a faint smile upon her face. She wasn’t met with such from Bayon this time. “You put one of my members on bed rest for seventy-two bells?”
“No. I put her on work restriction for seventy-two bells. After twenty-four bells she can return to regular activities during the day, but no working out, no training, no missions, until she is cleared by me at the end of that time.”
“She’s got to be able to train or she’ll not be able to go on the mission later this week.”
“Perhaps you should have thought of that before you whacked her upside of her head and caused a concussion.”
“A single Glassbeak will do far worse to her if she doesn’t learn to use her weapon properly.”
“And the most important weapon she has is her brain. If she doesn’t have that, she won’t be able to even pick up a spear, much less wield one in defence or offence.”
“She has to toughen up.”
“She will, after seventy-two bells.”

Bayon grunted again. Pearl was used to his grunts. Each time she stood up to him, each time she had a difference of opinion with him, especially over one of his member of The Watch, she was met with that same grunt. It had been that way for all for the years she had known him. Bayon was adamant about his duties, as was Pearl about hers. Neither gave in easily.

Pearl broke the silence. “Let me see your hand.”
Bayon looked at her. “It’s nothing.”
“Then let me see it.”
“I said it’s nothing.”
“I heard you.” She met his stare head on for several ticks before speaking again. “You’re going to need both hands working well for the mission. Don’t be so stubborn.”
“You going to fill in for the members you send off on sick leave?”
“If I must. Now let me set your finger so it will heal properly and not give you any problems while you are so gallantly defending Endrykas, and all of us.” Pearl’s tone was much softer when she spoke those last few words. She was grateful for The Watch and every member of it and had spent countless hours treating their wounds and helping them ready for their missions whenever she was called to do so, and often when she was not.

Bayon grunted again. Pearl smiled and held out her hand. Bayon finally put his hand in hers, the twisted smallest finger of his left hand protruding out to the side of it unnaturally. Pearl was quite now as she examined his finger and the bruising that surrounded his second and third knuckles. “Not broken as I had thought. Dislocated and strained no less due to not being set properly after such an injury.” Pearl moved his finger to the right some, turning the joint so that it faced her. “Watch closely how I do this, and you can do it yourself should it happen again. You’ll get better relief and healing if the dislocation is set quickly,” she said as she slowly bent the joint back until it popped back into place. “There. Better,” she didn’t form the word as a question, as she knew she would only be met with another of his grunts.

Reaching for a small strip of bandages, she wound them around his smallest finger and the one next to it, stabilizing the smallest finger in against its companion and tied the bandage off. “Leave that on,” she sighed and smiled up to him, “for as long as you will, please?” The important part had been to have the dislocation set so, she knew Bayon would push his body well past its limits, just as he always did.

Pearl knew Bayon well enough to know that he would not have come to see her had he any other patients for her to tend to either and so she began to pick up her things, returning them to the saddle bags. “If that is all for today, then I’ve an errand to attend to. Shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours. Could you tell father when he returns?”
“What sort of an errand?” he questioned her, knowing that she had sent her father to take Amethyst to The River Flower.
“We are low on Acklar bark, and I noticed a young Skele…..”
Bayon spoke over her last forming words, “You’re not going out there alone.”
“Then come with me,” she said flatly.
“Fine.”


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[Tribal]

G R A D E S

Pearl

Experience

• Medicine: 5
• Socialisation: 5
• Rhetoric: 4
• Childcare: 1
• Herbalism: 2
• Observation: 3
• Organisation: 1
• Riding, Horse: 1
• Logic: 2
• Sewing: 1
• Knot Tying: 2
• Intimidation: 1
• Leadership: 2
• Endurance: 1
• Persuasion: 1

Lore

• Medicine: Making a splint
• Knot Tying: Basic knots
• Logic: Trees are fun to climb until someone gets hurt
• Herbalism: Licorice root for the pain
• Herbalism: Fennel tea for rest
• Bayon: A man of The Watch
• Bayon and the art of chivalry
• Medicine: treating a gash to the head
• Medicine: The importance of cleaning equipment
• Medicine: Stitching up a head wound
• The Watch: An organisation of brave men and women
• Sewing: Using a needle and thread
• Medicine: Symptoms of a concussion
• Medicine: How to cure nausea
• Herbalism: Acklar powder
• A cold compress to ease mild concussion
• Bayon: A stubborn man

Notes

Great thread, Pearl, you’re improving and really getting the hang of how this all works. If you want more points in observation, make sure you make a point of Pearl ‘looking’ at or ‘listening’ to things, perhaps even studying them a little like the wounds she is seeing. Don’t just feed the reader facts but tell them what Pearl sees with her own eyes. A pleasure to grade! Enjoy the rewards.