Is There A Doctor In The House? (36 Summer, ORION)

[Eachann Marshall]

It was a matter of some miles back to Syliras from the spot in the Bronze Woods where Eachann had made his 'camp' for the wounded Kelvic woman. The realization that he had never thought to get the woman's name was abrupt and caused the squire to draw up from the jog which had been carrying him along. Immediately on the heels of that thought however came another, the idea that societal propriety did not apply when one was dealing with a naked mage-bred with such injuries. This got him moving again and goaded him to increase his pace as well. His own first aid skills were none existent, and he was certain to receive an upbraiding from the doctor when he found one, but better to leave care to a specialist than to risk exacerbating the situation with amateurish prodding.

The trip was not especially difficult if you were reasonably healthy, but Eachann had recently had his hip torn open by an angry mountain lion, and he had a number of scratches on his head and neck as well, which stung mercilessly from the sweat of his exertion. He did his best to ignore the discomfort however, aware that the girl he had left behind was far worse off. That she was delirious with fear over having been left in Hafiz care seemed a result of blood loss to him, but the dog had been the one to savage her. Still, he had a hard time imagining why everyone was so afraid of the Akinva. Before he had time to consider it, he came upon the tent city which had sprung up outside the walls of the city in the wake of the Djed storms of Spring, refugees had flooded to the capital, seeking if nothing else, food.

He paused there, heedless of the stares his own appearance drew as he asked after a doctor. Many of those he asked assumed it was intended for himself, and tried to force him to sit, to drink some water and wait. But while the squire could have used a healer himself, but he assured all concerned parties he was fine and continued onto the city gates, hoping that the Knights on gate duty would be better informed, and less nosy. He had also hoped to run into the pair he had met upon arriving himself, Alistair and Borenz, but neither man was in evidence today, and much to his chagrin, the proved even more insistent that he seek medical aid than the refugees had been. But again, claiming to be on Business for the Order, Eachann managed to extricate himself and secure the most likely location for a healer to be found, the Soothing Waters bathhouse.

~*~*~*~*~

By the time that Eachann Marshall staggered into the Soothing Waters, he looked like he needed the doctor he had come to find. His hair was matted to his head with a combination of sweat and blood, and his trousers clung to his hip by a thread, blood soaked to below his knee from a seeping wound that he kept opening. His shirt and armor were splattered with blood, and his weapons also bore sanguine decoration, dried by now to nearly black. In short, he looked a mess, and after crossing nearly three miles in the past hour and a half, he was wearing down having not eaten yet today and not had a drink since before the puma attacked him. He was swaying slightly on his feet as he asked,

“Is there a doctor in the house?”

[Orion Michaels]

Orion, Day of Summer 36, 512 AV It had been a rather dull day for Orion. Not too much call for a doctor, and he'd not progressed enough as a masseuse to earn himself any time working there. Time was passed watching the water drop, pacing the bathhouse property, and getting trouble for sneaking peaks at the bath. Needless to say, Orion was a bored man, so when a doctor was called for, the young man was first to reply. "Got it!" he yelled, rushing from the back. The doctor froze in his tracks when he saw the man, drenched in blood, exhausted to the core with a gaping wound on his hip. "Someone help that man in here! By the gods, hurry your petching asses up," he turned on a dime, rushing back to his work area. "And find out if he wants a healer or a doctor for his wound. I'd recommend a healer, but he if can't afford it, I'll do my best!" The doctor disappeared back from behind the door as an attendent addressed the wounded man, trying to help take the weight off his injured side. "Sir," she asked, "Which will it be?" Orion frantically began going through his supplies. Let's see. First thing I need to do is get that bleeding stopped. He looks like he's been through hell. The doctor opened his surgeon's and healer's kit and began rummaging through it. Bandages, gauze, and cloth were set on the table. From his healer's kit he pulled a small glass container marked 'ginger oil.', followed by an empty one he set beside it. "Alright, I'm ready." He crossed his arms, waiting on the man's choice. The healer would do a better job than he could ever hope to, but he was cheaper, so it came down to cost. If time was a factor as well, the healer had him beat, too. ...Seems kinda like cheating, the doctor mused.

[Eachann Marshall]

For Eachann, the choice had long been made. He would be lucky to afford the Healer for himself much less for both the Kelvic woman and himself. So it would have to be the doctor for the both, but the man could see to him after they got back to the wounded woman, who was by the in worse shape. The squire accepted the attendants help only as much as he had to, his drykas pride forcing him to refrain from leaning on the shoulder and resting his throbbing limb. He couldn't rest, not yet, as tempting as the hot water baths seemed at the moment. How did that poem go?

"But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep?" Truer words. The exiled drykas thought as the attendant lead him into the doctors space. Truer words and literal miles. Upon entering, Eachann set to studying the man who had answered the call for a doctor, properly for the first time. The man was of a like height as himself, with hair a shade darker, and a thin though full beard. He was also, by the youth's judgment near a decade older. With a little effort (and a few swallowed profanities) the squire found his way onto the doctors exam table.

"I'm not here for myself." He explained to the doctor as he allowed him to begin his examination. "There is someone else I need your help for. In the Bronze Woods."

[Orion Michaels]

Orion, Day of Summer 36, 512 AV The Bronze Woods? It hadn't even be a week since he was last out there. An evening spent caught in a fiery redhead's trap had slightly soured the place. The trap wasn't meant for him, but over 12 bells spent hung upside down could do that to anyone. A small smirk crossed the doctor's lips as he spoke to the young man. "Is that so? Well tell me about this person who needs my help. While I tend you. Unless you mean to travel on this again?" He emphasized the 'this' with a gentle pat near the deep gash. "I really don't think that's an option." He began cutting the fabric away from around the cut. He needed a better look at what he was dealing with. Fairly deep, but it didn't get the artery, so that's good. "So what happened to you? And stay still, damn it. If you want me finish you up quickly so i can help this other, then you'll need to cooperate." Orion stepped away for a moment to fill a basin with warm water, listening to the man's story as he worked. The young doctor had seen something like this before, but this one was different. The cut wasn't like a sharp blade, but not quite as ragged as hitting the edge of something, either. Just can't quite place this one, Orion thought to himself. Beginning to work, he first poured warm water over the wound, to help flush out any foreign objects in the injury to ensure there was no infection. The fluids helped to clean it out, washing away the dried blood in a river of pink liquid. The doctor examined the opening afterwards to make sure there was nothing left in it. After a few moments, he was satisfied. Seemed like there had only been dirt, so he should be fine. "You're a lucky man. It's gonna hurt for awhile, but I'm gonna need to suture this." He gave the young adult a half smile before continuing. "Yet I have the feeling you're not gonna make this easy on me." The boy was insistent about this other, wasn't he? Orion began mixing a solution using the ginger oil. Four parts water, one part ginger. It was a good powerful antiseptic to help with healing and preventing infection, but almost as good as that, it was cheap and easy to make. When it was ready, Orion would apply it to the wound to aid in it's healing. If he ever got to that point with the young Drykas.

[Eachann Marshall]

"We all do what we must doctor." He said grudgingly as the man cut away even more of his trousers and underwear than the kelvic had already managed with her claws. At this rate he'd be walking back naked. "If you're as quick it shouldn't be too much longer, and it's not as if she could get much worse off than being naked in the woods and covered in you're own blood." His tone was droll, though the joke was certainly a poor one.

"I was attacked by a Kelvic while hunting." He began, doing his best not to wince or to pull away as the man prodded at his wounded him. "She was a Puma, and scored on my hip when she knocked me off the carcass." He paused, trying to recall exactly the sequence. "On impulse I hit her in the nose with my buckler, and then we spent several moments traded scratches and nicks until I overbalanced and she got on my back. I'd be dead now if my hound hadn't come back from driving the stag i'd killed. She tackled the Kelvic off me and they fought briefly before Hafiz got the upper hand and went for the cat's throat. In defense she shifted and I pulled Hafiz off, but not before she savaged the woman's arm and gave her several other nasty bites. Her nose I think is broken, along with her short ribs on the one side, and her left arm is a god awful mess. Thats why I came here, cause she needs a doctor. The hip would have kept." He paused, feeling ungrateful.

"Still doctor, thank you."

[Orion Michaels]

Orion, Day of Summer 82, 512 AV As Eachann recounted the story of his injuries and the Kelvic woman's own misfortunes, Orion was hard at work. He would deal with the smaller cuts on their own time, but for now, that large gash needed treatment. After finishing mixing the fluid up, he carried it over to the wounded man. "This is going to sting," he said as he poured some of the liquid onto the wound, taking a cloth to dab around it and keep it clean. You had me at naked, the doctor thought to himself. It was horrible, really. An injured man before him, a likely dead Kelvic woman in the woods, and that's what was on his mind? "Well, since she sounds like she's in some dire straits, I'll get you stitched up as quickly as I can. I have this not so strange feeling that these stitches aren't going to stay, though. Only way you're gonna stop this bloodloss and allow the healing to actually start is to stay off your feet and let this wound heal." Orion pulled a spool of thread and a needle from his tool kit, and with his tongue sticking from his mouth, began trying to push the thread through the eye of the needle. "Sounds like quite a battle, but I must ask, why exactly are you trying to save this person who attacked you? If you say it's because she's a naked woman, I might have to hug you right here, as you're a kindred spirit." He gave the young man a grin as he finished preparing his equipment for stitching. "It shouldn't hurt too much. It's going to take a little longer than you'd like because I have to do a little sturdier type of a suture to give your leg a chance at healing." After kneeling down at Eachann's side, Orion let out a small sigh and began working the wound. It was a simple enough process. The needled would be placed against the skin, pressing against it at a right angle until it punctured and went all the way through, then through the connecting piece of skin to pull the two together, finishing with a knot. The placement of the knot would be just off to the side of the wound. Placement on the wound would only agitate and invite infection. After the knot was tied, he would take and cut the thread and begin anew slightly further down the gash. Over and over and over. The benefit of this time consuming stitching was it's strength. If the active young man should happen to break a suture or two, it wouldn't cause the entire job to fail. A bell and a half and 30 stitches later, Orion finished up. He again rinsed the area with the ginger-water mixture, and dabbed it clean of blood. "I won't even bother to tell you to take it easy. Just..." He shook his head. "You're gonna have a wicked scar, I'll tell you that much. Let's just go." Orion grinned. Some people.

[Eachann Marshall]

“Because Doctor,” Eachann answered the man's question shortly, wincing as the man sutured his wounded hip. “I am a Squire of the Syliran Knights, and it would not be right to let her die, when I can only imagine it was desperation which lead her to such rash action. She is half starved even before my dog had at her, and those aren't the first wounds she's seen either.” He fell silent after that, for lack of anything better to say as the doctor worked on closing up the damage that the unnamed woman had done.

He chuckled to himself at the thought that he still had not managed to ascertain the name of the woman who had opened his hip. He supposed idly that there was a time and a place for everything, and when one was bleeding out in the dirt was neither of those things when it came to introductions. The doctor was right at least in that it took longer than Eachann would have liked for him to be stitched up, but once his work was done the Doctor deftly moved onto his next patient, though he had yet to meet her.

Climbing off the table, Eachann prepared to lead the man back into the Bronze Wood, heedless of any argument that he stay behind. He had made the woman a promise, and he felt honor bound to fulfill it. On the subject of the scar that would result from his wound, the youth mustered all the bravado of his age and deadpanned a laconic reply.

“If it doesn't kill me, i'll live.”

oocWell Orion, do you think there is any more mileage on this thread or aught we just to wrap it and continue with the "The Kindness of Strangers"?

[Accolade]

Eachann Marshall

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Running	+ 1 XP
Land Navigation	+ 1 XP
Storytelling	+ 1 XP

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Mercy on a wounded kelvic
•	Making a chioce- the doctor or the healer
•	The honor of a Squire

Notes :

Eachann I could not award Wilderness Survival because you didn't show the skill being used. An example would be finding and using water, or finding something to eat, or shelter. There was mention of the camp, but I would have liked to see it built.

Orion Michaels

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+ 1 XP
Medicine	+ 2 XP

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	A doctor's work is never done
•	Eachann Marshall is reckless
•	Stitching up a wounded Drykas

Notes :

Orion if you could add earth to your Reimancy skill, that would be great.That would help other STs to see what element you know.

The Sylir has spoken

Good thread guys, and a fun read. I hope you link me the other threads to read!

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.