PM to join A Dynast to Break It, A Dynast to Fix It (Verena Lorak)

[Harkon]

Timestamp: Fall 30, 514 AV Location: The Mortal Solace Time of Day: 12th bell, Midday Harkon was not thrilled with his current situation. He was meant to be inspecting the Morealis fence line for any damages, for the slaves had reported a wild animal of some sort on the property. But instead of doing just that, he was on glorified babysitting duty for one of the many Morealis "men". This one's name was Gerard or Gerald or something, a young lad with a lot more enthusiasm than sense. And he just wouldn't shut up. Harkon was grateful for the patience instilled in him by his father, and the obedience expected from the Freeborn toward the Dynasts, because every time he tightened his grip on his axe, he wondered, 'Maybe I can get away with it.' But he wouldn't attack a young boy like this for young reason, especially one who probably hadn't even bedded his first lass yet. That and the world of trouble it might bring. The lad kept prattling on, talking about how his father won't let him go hunting in the swamp, how he got a shiny new gold sword, and how he'd heard that Lorak women's lady parts go sideways. Utter nonsense, especially that last bit, but Harkon nodded and agreed, like a good Freeborn employee. His eyes were trailing the fence, when he saw the very clear signs that something had dug and forced its way beneath the fence line. Walking over to it, he crouched down, gesturing to the boy to join him. The half tunnel was quite wide, indicating a wide animal of sorts, maybe two feet across. There deep grooves in the dirt and small indentations in the wood. Harkon couldn't figure out what in the world had broken in. Then he heard the snort from behind the nearby apple tree. And that is when he knew. Petch. "Don't move. Don't look at it." He knew without looking that it was a boar, and he guessed the grooves were tusk marks. Still crouched down, not wishing to antagonize the pig, he saw tracks in the mud, oval with a slit in the middle, with two smaller divots at the back. If they survived, he would remember these tracks. His eyes glanced over, without moving his head. The boar was there, stamping a foot, trying to intimidate them. It wasn't an especially large boar, its tusks at the height of his knees, but he knew it would still be incredibly dangerous. They could cripple you, gore you, and if they got you on the ground, break your neck. Harkon relaxed the grip on his axe, prepping for the impending attack. Thankfully, the weapon he had with him would do well against a stout creature such as this. Then the idiot boy's enthusiasm took over. "Look! A boar! I've never seen one alive before!" Double petch. The boy had inadvertently accepted the boar's challenge. The boar bellowed and charged toward him, Harkon immediately standing and turning. Then the boy made his worst mistake yet. He ran away from Harkon, separating them. The boy ran, and the boar gave chase, catching up quickly. The idiot wasn't even running for a tree, just more open space. Harkon chased after the pair, arms pumping fiercely, his long legs working to cover the distance as quickly as he could. The boar had caught up to the boy, and was running parallel to him, when he snapped his head to the left, slapping his tusks hard into the boy's thigh. Even from several feet away, Harkon heard the crack of bone, the boy screaming in agony as he fell face first. The boar kept going, then turning to finish the boy off, just as Harkon reached the injured lad. He'd seen how the boar attacked, and assumed it would do the same again. It charged at Harkon now, who had placed himself between it and the boy. Harkon waited, muscles coiling, preparing to move as the distance between them closed. The boar began veering to the side for another tusk slap, when Harkon pivoted away on the foot away from the boar, and swung his axe down hard. Shunk. His axe embedded itself between the ribs of the boar deeply, and the critter fell to the ground, right next to the crying boy. The creature was wheezing, for Harkon assumed he'd hit a lung. He dislodged his axe, and chopped once more, this time at the neck, putting the creature out of its misery. The screams of the boy had attracted a few slaves and their overseeing mercenary. Harkon barked out orders, "Get the doctor, he's been injured!" The mercenary shook his head, "Doc is sick, never came to the plantation today. You'll have to take him into town." Harkon swore up and down in his native Shiber, before crouching down by the young man. He could see the man's thigh bone was at an unnatural angle, and there was a deep groove from the tusk cutting the flesh as well. "Make sure there's a ferry ready. I'll take him myself." Then turning to the slaves, "Take this pig to the main house and have it prepared for dinner tonight. This lad will want to eat when he returns." The mercenary and slaves began fulfilling his orders as he removed his white work shirt. He knew nothing about fixing the kid up, but he could slow the bleeding. "Look at me Gerard. I'm tying my shirt around your leg. It will hurt, terribly. But you suck it up. This was your first, successful hunt, so be proud of your war wound." The tearful boy nodded as Harkon slipped his shirt beneath the leg, and ignored the boys cries as he tied and tightened it. One shirt ruined wasn't so bad if the boy lived, though he didn't expect him to die. He then slipped an arm beneath the boys knees, and another behind his shoulder blades. Exhaling as he hefted, he picked the boy up, and began walking southbound toward the Kenash River. He made his way to the ferry, where the boys parents met them, the mother in hysterics, the father surprisingly proud. "Son, I hear you bagged a boar. Well done!" He handed Harkon a bag of coins to take with him to the clinic to pay the doctor whatever was needed, deciding to stay behind themselves. The mother wasn't happy about it, but the father said his son needed to preserve his honor and dignity, and insisted that Harkon take him. A long ferry ride and another back breaking carrying of the boy later, and he found himself standing in front of the closed glass doors. He asked Gerard to open it, and the boy weak from pain, managed. Carrying him inside, "We need a doctor, fast. He was attacked by a boar." Harkon knew to keep his voice calm for the young lad, to not further scare him.

[Verena Lorak]

“Good day,” Verena greeted the two Dynasty women entering her office stiffly. It was an automated response, not carrying any particular friendliness. She had heard over and over again regarding how a doctor should be empathic and compassionate – or at least looked like she was – and she knew all the theories, but she could not quite execute such things effortlessly. If there was another well-known clinic, the Lorak’s patient probably would have abandoned her. “How can I help?”

As her patients sat down, the healer pulled out a rather thick book. Her records.

Both women were about the healer’s age, clad in elaborate looking dresses that seemed entirely impractical. Their hairs were curled into perfection and their faces were finely powdered Admittedly, it looked beautiful, but not very functional. The Lorak was drab with her messily braided hair and cotton dress in comparison.

Scarves were wrapped around their necks and when they took it off, she realized why. On both of their necks were inflamed patches of skin – rashes.

“I need you to make this . . . this thing,” the first woman started, gesturing at her neck, “disappear. I am planning for a party soon and I cannot simply show up looking like this. It’s awful! The powders won’t cover it! Same goes to my friend here.” She continued on her rambling, apparently not finished. “I’m Gloriana Ackina. I can pay whatever you want. I just want it to be gone by today!”

If Verena was anyone else, she might be annoyed by the young woman’s haughty tone. But instead, the Lorak simply nodded along the way, jotting down notes on her record book. She was not sensitive in social situations. “How long has the rash lasted? Is it sudden?”

Gloriana blinked slowly, taken aback by the healer’s reaction. She had expected the doctor to start reassuring that she would get what she wanted. Still, she would not lash out. The Loraks were in charge of Kenash this season and she had heard the doctor in this clinic was the Magistrate’s sister. “About a week. It was just red at first, then it started getting itchy and peeling.”

“Does it hurt?”

“No, just itching.”

The healer nodded as he leaned in front to take a closer look. The patch of skin definitely looked dry and scaly. “Are there anymore rashes anywhere else?”

Gloriana shook her head.

It might have been an allergic reaction, Verena started deducting, since the rash is localized. The dry and scaly skin was mostly likely caused by a constant exposure. No swelling, so the reaction was not too severe. “Does anything make it better or worse?”

“Well, I don’t know!” Gloriana replied sharply. “You’re the doctor. Can you just get on with it and heal me?”

“I need to make sure the cause of the rash first,” Verena explained rather patiently. “Simply to make sure it won’t appear again in the future after the treatment.” Her reply seemed to make the Ackina close her mouth. After some more scribbling, she asked, “Has your neck been exposed to something new lately? Something it was not used to maybe?”

Gloriana pursed her lips in an effort to thing, tapping her fingers impatiently on Verena’s table. Before she could reply, her friend spoke up. “We just bought a new perfume last week! It smelled wonderful!”

“Both of you have never used it before? And when you do, the rash started?” They nodded.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and all the women’s head turned. Hallan bowed in front of the Dynasts before going to his mistress’s side. “Master Paille has come.”

“Tell him to wait,” the healer replied dismissively. The slave bowed once and left quietly. Verena turned back to the patients who had been watching Hallan go with interested eyes. “I recommend getting an aloe vera salve to relieve the itching. It should heal in two to four weeks. If it hasn’t healed by then, you can come back. Just make sure you do not use any more of that . . . fragrance.”

“But I need it to be healed now! It’s annoying! Scratching all –” Gloriana’s request was cut short as there was the sound of the door opening harshly.

“We need a doctor, fast. He was attacked by a boar,” a voice suddenly cut through the conversation, coming from the waiting room.

“Who was that?” Gloriana asked sharply, standing up in surprise.

“Stay here,” Verena ordered as she slipped outside of her office. Animal attacks were a priority compared to itching rashes.

The Ackina scowled at the doctor, insulted that the healer had easily turned her attention to something else. Whatever it was, her problem was more dire. She could not possibly show up on her party with this awful redness on her neck. What would people say? No men would want to be seen with her. How can the doctor do not understand? She was a woman too, surely she should know how Gloriana felt.

Verena exited her office, only to be introduced by the sight of a man with a bloody young boy in his arms. The boy seemed conscious, though extremely pale. She could not help but wonder how had the child been bleeding. He must have lost quite a lot. Taloe, her Konti slave, was there too, already placing her hand on top of the child in an effort to slow the bleeding. Cassius Paille was somewhat frozen in a stance, unsure of what he should do. When he laid his eyes on his betrothed, he seemed to relax slightly. “I suppose this means you will not be available for lunch?”

The healer ignored the question as she walked up to the injured boy. “Bring him to the Healing Room,” she said, pointing to the open door where most of her patients are treated.

Unfortunately, Gloriana Ackina – like most Dynasts – don’t follow orders well. She came out of the doctor’s office, her friend scurrying behind. “My goodness!” the Ackina woman screamed as she laid eyes on the blood-covered boy, her face paling. Unsurprisingly, her eyes rolled back into her head and she went limp. Cas moved nimbly, catching Gloriana in his arms. He nodded at Verena before carrying the woman into the healer’s office. The other woman also turned white, but at least she was smart enough to follow the Paille.

“This attack,” she said to the man escorting the Dynasty boy, “how long ago was it?”

[Verena Lorak]

OOCBecause of Harkon’s retirement, I decided to solo this thread out.

When the man didn’t reply soon enough, probably still in shock of some kind, Verena gestured for Hallan to take the child from the man. Carrying him that way was not helping his injuries at all. She quickly spotted the bent angle of the boy’s leg. The healer felt the blood draining from her face, though her features were as serene as always. A major blood vessel was located in the thigh and if it had ruptured, there was no chance for the boy to survive. However, so far, the boy was still somewhat conscious and the blood gushing out was not as much as she would have expected, If they were lucky, it meant that the blood vessel was intact. If not, well, it meant the boy was bleeding internally – and that was something Verena wasn’t sure she could handle.

Gently, Hallan carried the boy to the healing room, the doctor following quickly behind him. Her other slave, Bella, would ask the man to stay in the waiting room so that he would not get in the way. Those who carried their injured loved ones always ended up as nuisances with all their fussing and panicking. Verena had learned early in her career to make they would not interfere.

As soon as he was laid on the bed, Verena went to his side. Her fingers sought for the blood vessel somewhere beneath the side of his jaw, searching for his weakened, but elevated heartbeat. The Lorak noticed that his skin was cool to the touch. This gave her a slight clue of how much he had lost. To make sure, she reached for his small hand and what she saw validated her suspicions. His nail beds were starting to turn blue. His blood loss was not fatal just yet, but close, very close. The boy was barely making a sound now, edging to unconsciousness.

“Taloe!” she called out to the Konti. They would have to make sure that the bone at least settled to an appropriate straight line and no further “Make a splint, now!”

Verena rushed to the other end of the room where she had stored her surgical tools. Typically, Verena would keep open surgeries to a bare minimum, but she saw no other way this time. She had to make sure how much damage the fracture had caused and there was no way to do it without opening the kid up. “Hallan, give him the tranquil.” The tranquil was what Verena had called her own recipe of a powerful sedative containing opium, hemlock, and monkshood. She did not use it often – for it was safer to use wine, but on several occasions, like this, she would like to make sure that her patient was entirely sedated and will feel as little pain as possible.

Her hands were steady as she brought over her scalpel and scissors. Verena’s mind was whirling with possibilities, mentally listing all the possible complications on each step of the surgery. By the time she was back at the side of boy’s bed, two wooden planks had been secured on the side of his leg, immobilizing it. The boy’s pale face was now eased of the pain he had been experiencing, seemingly asleep.

“Let’s begin.”

[Verena Lorak]

The first thing she needed to do was to take into account everything she knew about the injury again.

Taloe had readied a basin of water and a piece of clean cloth next to the bed. Carefully, Verena used the cloth to clean away the blood. The boy seemed to wince slightly at her touch, but that was his only reaction. As the blood was wiped away, Verena took note of the lengthy wound across the boy’s thigh. As horrible as it looked, it was relieved the healer. It meant the fracturing of his bone did not break his flesh.

She would deal with the fracture first, then.

Verena ran her fingers across the odd angle his thigh was bent into. The spot was starting to swell as it should. It was pointed outward so there was a reduced risk of severing the main artery there. Fortunately, the angling of his bone was not extreme. It was still possible for her to set it into place without a surgery. Besides, a surgery is always the last option. The boy would have more chance to survive if she just set the bone in place right now, rather than opening him to do so.

Mentally, the healer took a deep breath. She imagined the proper alignment of the boy’s leg in her mind again and again. Setting bones sometimes have unpredictable outcomes. She placed her hand on the angle and prayed to Rak’keli. No, the goddess had not granted her the power to heal such a complicated injury, but Verena wanted as much of her blessing as she could possibly get.

Predicting what their master was about to do, Taloe and Hallan took their places to hold the boy down – in preparation if he could still feel it. Hallan gave her a small nod of encouragement. The healer held her breath as she forced down the fracture.

It did not take much to push the bone into place. Verena could imagine the bone clicking into place. With the sedation, the Radacke boy felt nothing, staying asleep. Once the boy’s thigh was straightened, Verena had no way of knowing if there might some damage caused by it until the Radacke came back to his senses.

Unfortunately, her job still was not finished.

[Verena Lorak]

As she scrubbed her hand clean, Verena asked her assistant, “Are his vitals still good?”

“Yes, my lady,” the Konti replied

Then, the healer reached for a clean cloth, folding it in her hands before dousing it with alcohol. Sometimes she wished somebody had come up with better ideas for sterilization. Verena knew her uncle was always experimenting with medicine, but he had been even more secluded these days, refusing to see even her. It worried her since she always needed him for advices.

Gently, she started cleaning it from the center, making a circular pattern outwards. It was one of the basic things Verena was taught during her time as an assistant. The motion would make sure that any dirt was pushed out, instead of bringing it in. She dug into the wound, making sure there was nothing inside. Fortunately, there was not too much filth present besides a bit of mud. Just to make sure it was really clean, Verena let her gnosis power flow to the boy through her fingers. The healer could fix such a deep wound with it, but at least Rak’keli’s gift could help her sterilize.

Soon, Taloe handed her a heated needle. They didn’t even bother to ask whether the child should have his wound cauterized or sutured. In all her years, no Dynast would choose a method that could scar pretty badly. Usually, cauterizing the wound would take less time, but she appreciated the chance to practice her skills. Verena had gotten better at suturing lately, though she still needed to work on her knots.

Once the needle found its way through the flesh, Verena slipped into her own world, blocking everything else. Instinctively, she fell into a familiar motion of weaving and pulling. She had found that it was easier if she didn’t think too hard on it, letting her hand move in practiced gestures. The wound was lengthy, but not too wide. Its edges were slightly jagged, which means it would form a mild scar when healed.

Before she knew it, the Lorak was tying down the last knot. It was perhaps one of her more flawless works.

As she stepped back, Taloe took her place to clean it one last time, while Hallan stood ready with a bandage. Verena let herself stare as she washed her hands. This place, all this was her whole life. She knew nothing else but the slow pace of waiting for patients, the rushing beat in a critical. Yet, the Lorak couldn’t help but feel something was missing, that maybe there was a chance that she could do something greater.

She shook the thought away and headed back to her office.

[Dravite]

Verena Lorak

XP Award:

• Logic: 1
• Observation: 3
• Rhetoric: 3
• Diplomacy: 1
• Medicine: 3
• Socialisation: 1
• Intelligence: 1

Lore:

• Rhetoric: Asking the right questions
• Diplomacy: Dealing with difficult customers
• Medicine: Using blood loss to help determine the severity of an injury
• Medicine: How to set a fractured bone
• Medicine: cleaning a wound

Penalties:
None.

Loot:
None.

Notes: Beautifully written and a pleasure to grade. Let me know if you think I have missed anything here and be sure to edit your grading request!

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