Placeholder Caring for a Frosthawk

[Una Tanta]

Winter 4th 513 AV

Last nights dream had been delightful and as she awoke, Cy's visage peeling off in Syna's light Una felt warm and tingly inside. Rising and stretching she grinned as Sizzle looked up at her and whimpered. He hated being woken in the morning, but he thoroughly enjoyed waking her up all night. Una giggled and threw a pillow gently at the puppy. "Don't be so grumpy, you were the one that decided to stay up all night." Una lectured.

Una found the smell of meat revolting so on their walks to the Frostfawn hold they often stopped to buy some since Una wouldn't keep it in the Warren much to Sizzle's annoyance. Taking out the red leather leash Una reached out slipping the holed end through the clip in Sizzle's colar and sliding the other end through the hole. Pulling it tight so it encircled the collar Una smiled. Metal clips were expensive in Avanthal since metal wasn't found in Avanthal and had to be shipped in so she had had to find a clever way of attaching the leash. Tying it had led to more than one instance of the slippery leather coming undone and left the extra lengths to pounce in Sizzle's face annoyingly.

She had been down at the docks one night and a sailor had showed her the clever trick. She had never been more impressed with the Coolwater hold than she was in that moment. Yawning and placing his chin on his paws the pup struggled to get back to sleep as Una moved about the room struggling into her clothes. It was her first day of work and she still had to stop by to see the Frosthawk this morning.

As she slipped out the door hobbling on one foot as she tried to tie the other the smell of the sea brushed her nose and she bit her lip turning away from it forcibly. She missed the water desperately and felt unsteady and empty without it. But the need to be near Cy steadied her.

The snow crunched a million different sounds with each step. Sizzle snuffled through the snow ignoring Una. They had a working compromise between them. She fed him, walked him, picked up after him....and he tolerated her in return.

Una had been working on teaching him to sit on command like Coren had taught her. When Una knocked on the Red Diamonds door the familiar jolly waitress poked her head out, "Hi Sizzle, Hi Una." She welcomed, "I'll go grab your usual." Disappearing behind the doors Una raised her eyebrows at Sizzle, "Looking a bit dishevelled wasn't she?" She giggled coyly.

"Now SIT Sizzle." Una orded awkwardly. When Sizzle gazed at her, tongue tilting out the side of his mouth, and unmoving she reached out and pushed on his butt until he sat. "Good boy!" She praised. Just in time the waitress appeared and closed the door swiftly after handing Una the bag of last nights leftovers.

"Guess I'll pay tonight?" Una asked the door chuckling to herself. Often she would talk to the waitress for hours but she had been in a rush of late and always appeared at the door flushed and half dressed. Una hardly had to guess what was going on behind the partially opened door. Dropping a chunk of the meat into the patient puppy maw they carried on.

Reaching the Frostfawn Hold took a while as Sizzle begged constantly at her heels for more food. They headed in a side door without pause and were met by the angry screeches out the Bird. Una had dubbed him Veek. It had started out as an imitation of his own screeches. He had responded with silence and a curious tilt of his head...at least at first. The copycat game had soon bored him and only food in his gob would stop the gabbing.

Unending the bag of meat into a spare bowl Sizzle launched himself at it with vigour. Veek was less than impressed and puffed out his feathers pecking at the cage as the smell of blood wafted over to him. "No no not for you mister. Strictly fish right now." She teased as she opened a small trap to shove the full fish inside.

She had cut it up the first day but been quickly lectured that once he was awake he should go back to tearing up his own food and using his body as much as possible. Launching himself at it Veek spread his wings covetously around the food yanking and dragging it around the long cage making Una laugh.

Once he had eaten enough he was no longer as greedily vicious Una had been told to fetch Lusina. She would help the amphibian redress the found. Una herself, smelled like fish and even when the bird tolerated the touch of Lusina while he scarfed down more food he was prone to launching himself at her. More Food. Una didn't hold it against Veek. She wasn't looking for a pet, she had sizzle. Nor was she looking to tame something so glorious. So she respectfully moved out of the way while Lusina worked.

x

[Una Tanta]

Winter 4th 513 AV

As if Una's thoughts had summoned her, Lusina appeared at the doorway rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "You look just like Sizzle does when I wake HIM up too early." Una teased gently but got no response from the half-comatose woman. Still dressed in a nightgown the woman handed Una the thick gloves and a thick long sleeved shirt and pants Una hadn't seen her carrying till now.

"What's this for?" "This is too early for me. Get dressed and I'll show you how to care for him. Then I can check his wing at a decent hour." Una chuckled as she pulled off her red coat and other outdoor layers. About to place them in a dusty cubbyhole Una frowned and tried to clean it out as best she could with her bare arm before placing them inside. They were the first clothes with any substance she had ever bought herself and she treasured them dearly.

The clothes she put on were heavily patched and made of old leather. There were worn creases slightly above and below her actual joints, seeing as her body had odd proportions compared to a human while the rest was stiff making moving difficult. "Why do I have to wear this silly thing?" "Mostly? Keeps that fishy smell in. If it doesn't do that well...at least you have a layer between him and you hm?"

Frowning anxiously while the woman walked into the cage Una stayed at the edge ready to pull her out should he attack. It was the first time he had been fully awake after the injury and knowing swan behaviour was not the same as knowing bird of prey behaviour. Carefully placing the heavy blanket over the bird and trapping his wings against his body the woman removed him from the cage.

Peering at them from under the towel he screamed shrilly but didn't resist. "We don't want him to get used to us Una. So we are going to knock him out a bit for this." She explained as she placed the cloth with chloroform from her pocket gently over his beak. As soon as he buckled in her arms she snatched it away. "We don't want him completely out of it. He needs to be able to stand and react to pain as we replace the bandage.

The splint was long-term but he had shredded the bandage wrapped around his other wounds. Placing him on the table Lusina carefully unwound them. Una peered in curiously but was driven away by the vile scent of rotting meat. "Oh dear...." She murmured, "Is that bad?", "Mhm..." was all she got for a reply so she quietly quieted and watched the woman work.

She pealed off the bandages rapidly tearing at his feathers and making Una wince. "Why so rough?" "The adhesive is made from sap and is really strong. His feathers will grow back but we can't let his wounds get infected. Give me the ointment." Una handed her the ointment they had used a couple days ago. It smelled of mint primarily and was exceptionally pleasant. Spreading it thoroughly on the wound the woman handed it back to Una who replaced it in the cubby.

"Glue?" "Glue." Una replied handing her the other vial. This one was wider and shallower with a painted blue rim around the edge. Taking out a flattened and smooth piece of wood the woman gestured Una closer. "We spread this around the outside of the bandages, where the wound wont be. Then press it firmly...not hard...firmly against the wound." She explained as she demonstrated. Una nodded in response.

The woman moved mechanically not offering Una the chance to try while she supervised. Doubtless, because of the time, Una reasoned. A bell ticked by before the bird was placed back in the pen and Una had fallen asleep on her feet with boredom. "Your turn next time..." The woman replied over her shoulder mid-yawn as she retreated from the room.

Una gulped, she should have paid more attention she admonished herself. "Bath time for you I guess Puppy" Una murmured. She might as well take advantage of the wash station while she was allowed here. Water was easy to acquire in Avanthal, it only involved melting some snow and straining out the twigs.

Fortunately for Una someone hadn't drained the tub of water before and it was filled with a thick layer of ice. "No toting snow today." Una informed the disinterested Sizzle who upon finishing his food had wandered around looking for bugs to hunt. There was always a constant fire burning under the tub that had kept it from freezing all the way through and Una delicately added logs to it as she had seen others do in the taverns and rooms.

She didn't know what order to add them, or that logs too large could stifle a fire but it seemed to catch awkwardly onto the smaller twigs she had thrown in and quickly began to melt the ice in the ceramic bowl. Fetching Sizzle while it melted Una glanced around before slipping the thick uncomfortable layers off. Placing them in a cubby for tomorrow she body shivered slightly as she bent over placing the squirming dog in the water.

"YIKES!" Una yelped as the puppy thrashed trying to get away from the cold water. Losing her grip on him he bolted out of her arms leaving deep scratches and a wide eyed Charoda in it's place. "Oh...." Una murmured. Just cause she loved cold water, doesn't mean the hot-blooded red ball would. Lowering herself into the tub she sighed happily and slipped down submerging herself for a moment and blowing delighted bubbled toward the surface while Sizzle indignantly pulled her clothes down off the cubby to dry himself.

Not knowing what Sizzle was getting up to Una relaxed, thoroughly enjoying the missed sensation of being fully and truly submerged.

x

[Traverse]

Una

Skill	XP Earned
Animal Husbandry	3 XP
Knot Tying	1 XP
Medicine	1 XP
Observation	2 XP
Socialization	1 XP

•	Lores Earned
•	Learning Knots from Coolwater
•	Better to Keep Wild Animals from Bonding with People
•	Sticky Sap Glue Helps Keep Bandages On
•	Care is Needed Around Birds of Prey
•	Cleaning and Dressing a Wound

Yes, I Bite.

Additional Notes :

So before I comment on the thread I just had one technical thing that needed sorting out. In your CS you mention buying Sizzle for 7 GM, but I couldn't find his breed or any other information about him in there. Was there a reason you got him for cheaper than any dog on the Price list?

The thread was nice, though I was a little confused about a few things, like why Lusina is tending to a bird when she works with elk, reindeer, and horses, where exactly the frosthawk was being kept as a lot of the details were vague, and what exactly does Una do? (that last one I'm sure is something I could figure out if I read more threads) I'm sure there is a thread preceding this that explains some of it, but I found myself a little lost.

I hope the lores are to your liking and I awarded an extra XP point in Animal Husbandry due to all of the input Una was receiving in this thread.

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