Logs:Changes and Choices
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| RL Date: 22 April, 2008 |
| Who: Desdinova, Madilla |
| Involves: Healer Hall, Igen Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Madilla is sent to Igen Weyr to broaden her experience. While there, she re-bandages Desdinova's burnt arm, and learns a little about Weyr life. |
| Where: Infirmary, Igen Weyr |
| When: Day 16, Month 2, Turn 16 (Interval 10) |
| Igen Weyr Infirmary The scent of numbweed permeates the Weyr's infirmary, a remarkable cavern with room for both dragon and human patients. This large cavern has been split into two parts. The outer part is set up for the dragons, complete with a stone couch and tub of water. Cots have been set up near the dragon area for injured riders, with curtains drawn around each for privacy. Movable walls section this off from the human-only side of the infirmary, where the more numerous cots have thick screens to grant a little more privacy. The eastern wall is half-filled with six-foot tall shelves, containing scrolls, herbs, concoctions, and various useful equipment. Filling the other half of the wall is a lockable cabinet, beside which at least one healer sits on duty all the time, to ensure proper use of the more dangerous items. A long desk sits next to the southern opening which leads to the Weyr's living caverns. The breeze from the west keeps the air here fresh most of the time. People are always mopping the floor or scrubbing the equipment with astringent, working hard to keep the infirmary clean. The dinner rush is in full swing at the desert Weyr, which leaves the infirmary relatively quiet. It's into this peace that a newcomer to Igen comes, Desdinova making her way across the cavern with a focused expression. As she doesn't find what, or more likely whom, she is looking for she stops, looking disconcerted and a bit lost. Though definitely quiet, the infirmary is not empty, either. Aside from a few patients, there's also the healer rostered to monitor the controlled substances cabinet - which, at this time of the day, with evening medications still a few hours off, and afternoons all done, is a singularly boring task. On this particular evening, there is a second person settled there, and it's she who, after a short, quiet few words with the older healer, gets up off her seat, and approaches Desdinova. "Can I help you?" asks the girl - Madilla, a girl in her early teens - in a deliberately soft voice. Desdinova focuses on the healer, and offers a polite smile. "Healer. I was hoping to find Iesia, actually. She's been looking after a burn I aquired, and told me to come back and see her if I ran out of clean bandages. Weyr life being, well, dirty..." She shrugs, and lifts her bandaged arm, the cloth showing scuffs and smudges from the day's tasks. "But I can't seem to see her. Bad timing on my part, I suppose." Madilla holds her hands behind her back, timidly, and hesitates before answering. "I haven't met Iesia," she tells the other woman, "But they were showing me the roster, earlier, and I think it said she was on the early shift. So she's not here." Obviously. After another moment of hesitation, she adds, "But I bet they wouldn't mind me finding you some more. How'd you get the burn?" Her eyes afix themselves upon the arm in question, curiously, though until this point she has been looking at Desdinova's face. "Clumsiness." Desdinova replies, self-depricatingly. her smile has a brief edge to it, almost sarcastic, but she carefully schools it back to politeness. "I was helping in the kitchens, but being new, wasn't really... In the rythm of the new kitchen. MOved at the wrong time, and ended up with half a pot of hot stew on my arm." She sighs, then shrugs. "Not my best moment, but life goes on. I would appreciate any help you can give, really." "Ah," says Madilla, in a tone that holds not even the faintest trace of deprication - she's honestly understanding. "I can see how that would happen. You're new to Igen, then?" She lifts her gaze, turning so as to glance at the healer by the cabinets, who gives her a nod. Having secured this permission, she waves her hand to indicate that Desdinova should follow, and heads to one of the examination tables. "I'll find some bandages. Does it still hurt?" Desdinova follows along behind the apprentice, and gives her head a little shake. "Not unless I bump it or scrape it. Though I do that a lot. Iesia said that's normal, though." As they arrive at the exam table, she settles into the appropriate place for a patient, offering out her arm. "And yes, only been here... About two weeks now. So, at the moment, it's all most of the kitchen people remember. 'Oh, her? She's that clumsy one who got burnt'." Madilla fetches a clean roll of bandages, smiling across the table at her 'patient'. "I know the feeling. Only been at the Hall for - two months? Just less, I think. But," she adds quickly, "I do know enough to bandage things, I promise. Have you been putting aloe on it, to keep the skin moist?" She reaches out, unrolling the bandage with nimble, gentle fingers. Desdinova nods. "Yes'm, and I trust you. You wouldn't be here and allowed to work unsupervised if you weren't capable of doing so, and it's just a bandage, after all." A faint flush and a quick shake of her head. "Not to belittle your work, mind you, since Faranth knows you know far more than I ever will. What made you join the Hall?" Madilla looks both pleased and relieved at this, and gives the other woman a quick, but honest smile. "I doubt that," she says, with a bob of her head, as she pulls the bandage away. "People know different kinds of things. I joined the Hall because my family decided it was a worthwhile occupation, because it looked like I might be good at it. I'm pleased. I like helping people. What made you come to Igen?" She adds, after a moment, as she gives the burn a quick inspection, "I'm Madilla, by the way." "Desdinova." Des replies, "A pleasure, circumstances aside. And, well. I'm from a tiny hold with too many kids and no future, and with the Thred of the last few turns, decided it was time to seek my own path elsewhere. and I won't say I don't know a lot, but it's not nearly so focused as yours is. I know a bit about cooking, bit about sewing, bit about animals and crops... Though the last won't do my much good here." She winces a little as the bandage is drawn off, though doesn't complain. "My family isn't thrilled I came. But they are coping. Not disowning me like some would, I think they can see the logic behind it." "And likewise," says Madilla, smiling across the table again. "Like me, then, sort of. A couple of my brothers did sort of what you did. Only they didn't come to a Weyr, so far as I know." There's, if not an actual reverence, a note of something in her voice as she says 'weyr', as though it's still something entirely out of her frame of reference. "Apparently it took a long time to convince my Uncle I should go to Healer, too. He had a husband picked out for me. But he decided it was better this way, eventually. Want me to put some aloe on it now, or just bandage it up for you?" "Some aloe would be nice." Desdinova replies, almost absently - it's clear where her attention is. "You didn't like who he chose? There weren't many choices where we were. It's really remote, and my options were all... Old. I'd thought about going to a bigger hold, but a sweeprider came through, agreed to give me a ride, so... Here I am. Why is this a better option than marriage?" She says, asking the question a different way as if oblivious to the duality. Madilla nods, fetching the little pot of aloe, and scooping some out onto her fingers, to rub onto the burn, gently. "Oh, I didn't mind," says the girl, with a grin. "Not too much older than me, seemed okay, as far as I could tell. Maybe I'll regret this all in a few turns, when I end up with someone less appealing! But," she shrugs, smoothing the aloe with her fingertips, "I like the idea of being useful. As more than wife and mother - though I want that, too. I like all the learning, in the meantime. It'll be useful, to have a proper healer around our hold." "I was in no hurry to be either of those. I don't relish the thought of being a prize for someone, and children and I have an uneasy truce. They stay away from me, I stay away from them. The world is better that way." Desdinova grins a moment, then looks down at her arm to watch the healer apply the lotion. "Still, you will have the chance, as a crafter, to choose for yourself, or choose noone. I can't imagine that could be /worse/" "I'm looking forward to both," says Madilla, simply, with a faint blush coming to her cheeks. "But not for a couple more turns. So I have time to learn, first." She reaches for the bandages, now, and begins, with hands as careful as ever, to re-bandage Desdinova's arm. "I may," she adds, thoughtful. "Depends if I get sent for, from home. I might make a bad choice, if I make it for myself. But there is more choice, at the Hall. We'll see." This last is said placidly, as if it really makes no difference. "I heard... that they don't get married, at Weyrs." Pink cheeks, again. "Some do. Riders don't." Des replies, eyes kept firmly on the bandaging. "I'm not an expert, mind you, having only been here a short while. But some things are obvious, and others... Well, I had a long talk with someone I met, explained many things to me. It was... Illuminating." She glances up, smiling a little. "I've nothing against marriage, mind you, and maybe kids someday, just... Not yet, even remotely." Madilla nods, very slowly, as if trying very hard to comprehend this very foreign concept. "Today's the first time I've been at a weyr - first time I rode a dragon, too. It's-- very strange. I think I prefer the Hall. Which is also strange; the Craftmaster /and/ Craftsecond are both women. Women don't do things like that, at home." She secures the end of the bandage, then sets her hands back, nodding, apparently satisfied. "There is.. A lot women don't do at home that they do here. I saw a couple the other day, riders both, that were... Well. A couple. Strange, indeed." Des says, with an uncomfortable laugh. "But, really, it doesn't seem like here, or even in the crafts I have seen here, that they treat men and women very differently. That was surprising. But I like it. There's a baker craftsecond here who is a womn. I've been trying to meet her, but..." She wiggles her fingers. "Iesia suggested maybe meeting her with a stew-burnt arm was... Imprudent." Madilla's eyes become very wide at mention of this couple, her lips drawing apart slightly, then snapping shut again. Struggling for words, she finally seems to settle on more comfortable ground, noting, "Iesia might be right. Though I bet bakers have all done that kind of thing, too. Are you considering apprenticing? Since you have no immediate plans for a family?" "I've considered it, but I guess I feel a little too old for it." Des replies, shrugging. "I think it's more likely I will settle into some job here, or move on to a hold and do similar. Even with evidence to the contrary, I am decent with a skillet, and with a needle, like I said. The kitchens... Well, I like them most, but after this, there's a chance they won't have me back." "There's a couple older apprentices at Healer," offers Madilla, though she's nodding in understanding even as she says it. "But most are closer to my age when they start, I guess." Smiling, she adds, "Nothing wrong with just a job here, anyway. Or anywhere. Every job is important, right? I bet they will have you back, though, anyway. I think you have to do a lot to get sent away from anything, if you can prove you're not useless generally." This is said with feeling. "We'll see. They have a Craftsecond here, so there isn't as much a lack of hands as other places." Des grins and shrugs. "But, I guess if all else fails, I could take Iesia up on her suggestion I help out here. Don't have to be a healer to do things like wash bandages, feed patients, or stock shelves." Madilla gets up to wash her hands in a basin nearby, thoroughly removing all traces of aloe from her fingers. "Sounds like you have plenty of options, then," she agrees, turning her head so as to look at Desdinova as she scrubs. "The infirmary isn't a bad place to work. And it's solid work. Decent." "I'm not ruling it out." Des replies, standing up from the table. "I think I will try a few things, see what works, then decide. I am sure that as long as I am pulling my weight, noone will complain." She offers Madilla a genuine smile. "And thank you very much, both for the bandage and the chatting. It's always nice to get outside input." Madilla grins, drying her hands carefully on a clean towel. "I think that makes perfect sense, Desdinova. And you're welcome - as I see it, the chatting is as important to my work as the bandage. Got to make sure people feel comfortable, right?" "It certainly helps." Desdinova replies, offering a slight curtsey to the healer. "Enjoy your time here, it's... A very interesting place. I hope to run into you again before you leave, in a less... Well, painful, situation. Clear skies, Madilla." "And likewise, Desdinova," says Madilla, bobbing into something resembling a curtsey of her own. "Have a nice evening." Desdinova strides out to the Bowl.
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