Logs:Healers At Work
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| RL Date: 8 July, 2011 |
| Who: Hypatia, Lirienne, Madilla |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Healers work in the Greenhouse. |
| Where: Greenhouse, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 1, Month 3, Turn 26 (Interval 10) |
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| Greenhouse, High Reaches Weyr A rustic and unadorned vestibule leads in from hewn spiral steps to a refitted ledge, enclosed by limestone pillars. Sturdy wooden framework captures elongated glass panes, tilted to absorb the most light during the day. The wash of heat from within, lush and humid, persists even into the dead of winter; the air is heady with the scent of fresh-turned soil and various flora. Long, deep troughs of soil line the inner stone wall, planted with an assortment of broad, leafy tropicals - practical and decorative alike. Fruit and vegetable baskets hang from rafters, optimizing space, tempting in reach with a perpetually ripening harvest. A series of stone shelving is devoted to flourishing, aromatic herbs and new green shoots; even the softest touch releases a burst of savory scent from tender leaves. Amidst the greenery, a handful of wooden benches have been scattered, making this a temptingly warm and secluded spot to sit. Shuttered vents serve to regulate humidity and heat given off from a small hot spring recessed into an alcove at the back; a secondary pool with cooler waters siphons off to provide a constant, fresh supply for irrigation. A small potting station nearby is cluttered with watering cans and gardening tools of various uses, with a wooden bin for composting materials tucked underneath. The greenhouse is warm, in vast comparison to outside; that doesn't stop Hypatia from continuing to wear her extremely notable winter hat. It's a fuzzy hat with a very long tail that falls about to her waist, with one of those winter-hat puffballs on the end. Considering the rest of her wear is appropriate for the greenhouse's warmth, having shed probably four layers once coming inside, she looks ridiculous as a result. Does she care? No. She doesn't even seem to notice as she idly checks on and prunes some of the Healer plants, humming to herself a little. Given the torrents of rain currently washing the glass windows of the greenhouse, perhaps it's no surprise that more than one healer has ventured this far. Madilla's footsteps sound on the stairs before she's visible, a basket slung over one arm. Her sigh, as she ventures into the glass-enclosed room, is an utterly contented one. Without paying much attention to who else might be at work here, she carefully strips off her outer clothes, rolling up the sleeves of her blouse and even - with a wiggle of pleasure - pulling off boots and socks. It is, perhaps, no surprise that another healer follows in after the Journeywoman, if without tools to work with. Fingers making quick work of the shawl's knot, the garment is laid aside as the heat lays like a rather warm damp blanket, driving away the weather's chill. That done, Lirienne steps towards some of the stone shelving, a faint smile growing as she takes in all the ways the plants are grown in the greenhouse. "Oh, we can be barefoot?" Spotting Madilla, Hypatia lights up. In this case, not just because it's Madilla, who she likes, but also -- barefoot?! "Or is that a Journeyman's privilege and I need to keep my boots on?" She's grinning, hopefully. "It's beautiful in here, in winter," says Madilla, who is evidently talking to Lirienne, all friendly warmth. "Not quite so pleasant in summer, of course, but it's not as though High Reaches has a surfeit of /that/." This far north, summers are not as long as they could be. Hypatia's question draws her attention, gaze narrowing in upon the other healer: she, too, gets a bright smile. "Oh, take them off! It seems as though we have few enough chances to, in winter. What-- is that hat?" That, at least, doesn't sound like censure: she seems genuinely interested. Lirienne reaches out to brush fingers against a dark, lush leaf - leaning forward to take in the scent released. "Too hot during summer?" hesitating a moment before asking, then turning to look at the younger apprentice. Eyes widen a bit at the sight of the hat, and the question asked - gaze darting down to Madilla's wiggly toes and back again. Hypatia seems confused by the question. Or confused by both questions, though she's trying to slide out of her boots without sitting down and that's taking a lot of her focus. She does, in the end, manage -- and she wasn't wearing socks in them anyway. The advantage of fur-lined boots. "It's likely the /same/ during summer," she tells Lirienne, with a tiny shrug, "but because of how hot it is outside it feels worse. It's, um. A hat. I made it! Did you want one too?" Madilla's toes keep wiggling, sinking in to the dirt as she inspects some of the smaller plants with a careful eye, and cuts off a few sprigs of one of them to drop into her basket. "Hypatia's got the right of it," she admits. "It just /feels/ too hot in here, in summer. If it /was/ that hot, really, most of the plants would probably end up dying." Picking a sprig of mint to sniff, she adds: "It's adorable." The hat, presumably. "I don't suppose... it's my little girl's turnday soon." Her cheeks have gone faintly pink. Lirienne ahs, as the confusion is explained away. She stays there a moment, watching the other two talk about hats, before making her way over to one of the empty benches. Then, layers are removed - at least, off of the feet. Boots, then socks, until toes can wiggle on top of the ground. A slight grin appears, ducked out of view when Liri bends to tuck up her pants a bit. Then everything tucked under the bench, she's standing again and heading back to the plants. "Can you measure her head?" Hypatia asks, as she accidentally removes a bud from one of the plants instead of a dead leaf and shoves it to the side hoping Madilla doesn't see its death. "That's -- really all I need, except for what color you want it to be, and how long the tail if you want one. Most people don't want it like mine." It's kind of counter-productive to things like sitting, but that clearly doesn't bother Hypatia any. "My mum's a weaver, so the supplies are there when I want them." Gaze following Lirienne, Madilla seems pleased, lifting her voice to suggest, "Could you cut me some chamomile, please, Lirienne? We're running short. There's a knife here--" She's now bunching up sprigs of mint with her twine, too busy (thankfully) to notice Hypatia's mistake. "I could do that, I'm sure. You wouldn't mind? I can pay. I don't expect you to do it for free. She likes green-- and I think she'd love a long tail like yours." "Buds or leaves?" Lirienne asks as she steps carefully over to where the knife is, before making her way over to the often-calming herbs, interjecting her words before they run over one of the other ladies. Hypatia has made it up to the plant, however, as she's also removing dead flowers and other such things that /inhibit/ growth. Over her shoulder, she says, "You are paying me -- you're training me." This is stated in a tone that says there is nothing more obvious in the world, but managing not to be condescending about it. "I don't need anything else. She's adorable. I don't have little sisters and my brothers haven't got daughters, who else am I going to make cute hats for?" "Buds, please, Lirienne," says Madilla, firmly. "A few leaves, too, but mostly it's the buds we need at the moment. Thank you." There's a pinkness in her cheeks as she responds to Hypatia, her gaze ducking back towards her work rather than meeting the apprentice's eyes. "Well - thank you. I appreciate it. And I know Lily will, too, when she gets it. What about you, Lirienne? Siblings, nieces and nephews? I don't think I've asked you that, yet." "An older sister, and a younger brother," Liri admits easily enough, even if her voice barely raises, as she starts to carefully snip buds off the chamomile plant, choosing a couple of the middle sized leaves to go with her small posset of buds. "I believe they both have children, but I have not seen them more than a handful of times since I joined the Craft." Hypatia stops messing with her plant long enough to actually listen to the conversation around her properly, now -- it's getting to know you time and she's fine with that. "My older brother isn't much older -- and you can't be much older than me," she adds, "how is it your younger brother has children? How much younger?" Madilla's gaze lingers on Lirienne, her expression fond but containing something more - something unreadable. Perhaps it's visible in her faint nod, too, as though she understands entirely. Perhaps she does. "It's hard, leaving family behind to join the Craft," she remarks, evenly, albeit in a soft voice. "If I'd stayed at home, I would have been married at sixteen - I'd probably have dozens of children by now." Lirienne pauses a moment, and tilts her head to one side. "Well, child. Mikalin is two, almost three turns younger than I. Mikaeli is 6 turns older, however. Last count, she had three, but I haven't seen her in a while." There is a pause, as she brings over the small gathering of buds and leaves to Madilla, "Why? How old do you think I am?" she asks of Hypatia, a bit of a grin lurking just within sight. "Twenty?" Hypatia guesses; twenty isn't that much older than sixteen, is it? "Maybe? I'm not actually that wonderful at determining, so if I just offended you, preliminary apologies." Madilla's confession gets a wince. "My parents," she explains, "hover. They are extremely overprotective. They wouldn't let a man touch me even if I wanted it." "I'm sure we could get a rider to take you home for a visit at some point," Madilla offers to Lirienne, accepting the buds and leaves with a grateful nod before she carefully stows them in her basket. "Maybe some garlic, please?" She's weeding, now, pulling out the unwanted plants with a practiced hand. "It must be nice for you to be out of their grip," she adds, to Hypatia, sympathetically. "There's certainly more freedom, here. At the weyr." "I am not sure what you mean, Hypatia - that is not so far off," Liri offers, before nodding to Madilla. Knife still in hand, she starts to search for the garlic plants, even though those are more bulbs than something desperately needed to trim. "I wouldn't want to put anyone out." There's an odd hesitation, before she admits to the found plants, "I have almost spent more time at the Crafthall than at the cothold." Hypatia is back to smiling somewhat effusively, now. "You have /no/ idea. Unless, actually, you might -- they're kind of smothering, since my brother died. Which I barely remember, so they've been kind of smothering approximately forever, if you ask me. Did you want help with the chamomile? I'm done with these." "Could you dig me up some ginger, please, Hypatia? I think we're good for chamomile, now." Having said that, Madilla turns her attention back to her work, digging in the soil with what must be absolute contentment. "It wouldn't be putting anyone out, Lirienne, I'm sure of that. That's what riders do - and most of them are more than willing to help out a /healer/." There's sympathy in her expression as she glances back at Hypatia, nodding, her nose faintly wrinkled. "It must be awful to lose a child, but... G'brion's mother is like that, too. Mine--" She hesitates. "Were never that focused." "Maybe then. If it will not be a bother," Lirienne agrees after a pause, the discomfort of the idea shown to the bulbs. A couple end up bringing a little more green than she means, and slender fingers start to bread the stems together, a fibrious rope to hold the bulbs together. "A change of place may help with that then. They are not here, correct?" Obtaining clippers, Hypatia sets her focus to the ginger with the sort of excited hyperfocus that obscures the conversation for a moment. It's only after she's cut a bit and safely stored it in a basket that she speaks again. "Making your living children miserable enough they want to run away isn't the best way to deal with that grief." "It wouldn't be," says Madilla, firmly. "We'll work something out." Her attention shifts between the two apprentices, largely unreadable despite her usual smile being in place. "I can't imagine how I'd feel if Lily died," she admits, quietly. "Perhaps it would make me overprotective, too. I don't know. Making children miserable is not the answer, though, no. Are your brothers still living with your parents, Hypatia? At-- High Reaches Hold, wans't it?" Lirienne tilts her head at the rope of garlic, then turns slightly so that her little braid can be seen. "I failed to ask. Bulbs, yes? A handful enough?" Hypatia gets a bit of a wince, and a nod. "It is good to have a break then. Definately. Or... are you assigned here now?" "Me? I'm staying here forever," Hypatia tells Lirienne, first, with a sort of light tone indicating that anyone who tells her otherwise is insane. She is staying here forever. "Weyrs always need healers. The Hold doesn't need more. It is High Reaches Hold, yes. My younger brother does, though I think he's hoping to come here as a candidate. I doubt he'll be needed, what with the exiles." Firmly; "Bulbs, yes. Thank you, Lirienne. A handful is fine." Madilla works free a particularly recalcitrant weed, tossing it into her pile with apparent pleasure. "It's my intention not to lose any of you lovely apprentices: I'll keep you all forever." Beat. "We will, I mean. I don't know if they intend to formally search outside the weyr, Hypatia, but-- I can't imagine the weyr wants /only/ exiles on this clutch. It's much better if there's a real mix of people, I should think." "It will probably help them get to know more people if there is a mix. And.. do the dragons know the difference? Or the eggs, at least?" Lirienne asks, a bit curious, before ducking her head down as a flood of red sweeps up her neck and face, "Ah, I've gone ahead and braided them. In case they need to dry a bit." A shrug, from Hypatia. "I wouldn't know. I don't know a thing about it. I like what I do." She is battling the ginger root with a spade. The root is winning. "But I wouldn't leave here for anything, really. I already love it." Madilla admits, with a low laugh, "From what I understand, the dragons will choose who they choose - all the weyr can do is provide them enough choices that they can find one they want." She turns over some soil between her hands, pausing, now, to enjoy the sensations without hurrying on to more work. "Braiding is fine, Lirienne - thank you. Things always get interesting, when there's a clutch on the sands. More work for us, sometimes." "Besides the Islanders?" Lirienne has to ask, pausing so far as to turn and look over at the oldest of the trio. "I thought things were so busy because of them," she admits, having been one of the latecomers from the Hall to help deal with the influx of refugees. "From what I hear it just makes everything busy -- and the Weyrwoman's had a baby on top of that so she's not doing as much of her work. Not that I'm entirely sure what a Weyrwoman's work actually /is/," Hypatia is willing to admit, "but that must make it even worse. I haven't been here for one before but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the chaos was at least kind of normal." Madilla ticks it all off on her fingers: "The islanders, who need processing and continued care and all of it, plus the Weyrwoman and her baby, plus normal infirmary work, and if there are candidates from outside the weyr - with a queen egg, there may be? I'm not sure - they'll need physicals and processing, too." She shakes her head, giving a rueful little smile to the pair of them. "There's all kinds of busy. Plus, we'll move in to spring, and then there will be spring colds, too. Be ready for a busy few months, I think." "Oh." There's a pause, before Lirienne nods once, and steps away from the bed with the garlic. "That makes sense - and it is good to keep busy, as long as no one is hurt. Will we be able to see the Hatching then?" she asks, a hint of curiousity - from a purely observational standpoint of course - evident. "We'll have to," Hypatia points out evenly, "because there might be maulings." She looks excited about this, actually. "Weyrlingmasters aren't going to stitch people back together! But I just ... did ... all the physicals," she adds, face falling a little in Madilla's direction. "On all the islanders. Another onslaught might kill me and I would never do another physical again." "There aren't /often/ maulings," puts in Madilla, firmly, as though she faintly disapproves of excitement about the matter. On the other hand, "Even if we weren't needed, duty-wise, everyone in the weyr is welcome to watch - you'll get your chance, Lirienne." Sympathy, then, for Hypatia: "We'll divide them up between us, I promise. None of us are too good to do physicals, when it comes down to it. Besides, I don't think there will be too many." "I'll help," Lirienne is almost eager to throw in, before she stops and looks at Madilla, "I wouldn't mind seeing a hatching," she admits, pale skin easily showing color at high hide, "With or without maulings," gets tacked on, before she moves over towards some of the other beds, touching the soil to check dampness - outside of what is provided by air, that is. Hypatia looks disappointed, clearly. "I saw one once when I was much younger, but I don't really remember anything about it." She is still fighting with that root and it is still winning. Under her breath, she swears at it. Madilla's mouth draws into a rueful little smile. "If there are any maulings," she tells the pair of them, with a note of affection, "I'll make sure you're around to help. Regardless, you can definitely watch the hatching. I missed the first one I was here for; I was back at the Hall for exams. I regretted that. We may be healers, but we're still part of this weyr: we should participate." The soft-spoken healer seems pretty firm about this. "How's that root going, Hypatia?" "I meant the physicals," Liri admits, "But the maulings too. That is much more important than watching." "It's -- evil --" is Hypatia's frustrated mutter as she gives up on the spade and just pulls on the root. Finally it comes out of the soil, exactly the size she wanted it to be. The apprentice stares at the root in her hand, incredulous, and almost whispers, "Hadn't expected that to work." Madila's blush darkens her cheeks visibly at Lirienne's explanation. "Oh - of course. Those, too, then, definitely." She's interrupted from saying more on that subject by Hypatia's success: her eyes go quite wide, impressed. "I wouldn't have thought it would, either. Goodness. That's probably plenty... no need to battle with any more." Lirienne raises up a hand as a bright smile appears - hiding the giggle that escapes too. "You showed it, Hypatia - congratulations!" There's a pause, as laughter tries to hide behind her words, "You didn't pull anything else, right?" Hypatia walks backward over to a bench and sits down, once she's collected her ginger basket. Which is getting stared at. In horror. "I guess so," she breathes. "And -- I hope not. Except maybe my back, I may have pulled my back, come to think of it." Madilla rises from her kneeling position in order to turn a concerned glance on to Hypatia. "Are you all right?" she wants to know, wiping her hands off on her apron before she takes a few steps closer. Lirienne winces, the amusement extinguished as her hand drops. "Seriously?" worry following her steps as she too makes her way over. "You should bend your knees when pulling. Or is that lifting?" "That's lifting," Hypatia replies first, not seeming to even be concerned for herself so much as the answer to the question, "but it could probably apply to pulling too. I hadn't meant to tug so hard -- I think I'm all right, yeah, just a twang in my back. No big deal, really." "In general, being careful is a good idea," puts in Madilla, but it's vague: she's clearly concerned, despite Hypatia's reassurance. "Keep an eye on it, Hypatia. If it keeps hurting, or if it gets worse-- I'm sure I don't really need to tell you that, right?" She gives her basket a reluctant glance, then adds, "I'd better take all of this down to the workroom. You'll be all right up here, both of you?" "I think we'll be fine. I was actually thinking of checking about a meal. Do you need help getting somewhere, Hypatia?" Liri asks the younger apprentice, eyes dark with concern. Shaking her head, Hypatia says, "I'll be all right walking, but I wouldn't mind company if you want to go eat." She's entirely calm about the whole pulled-too-hard thing; it seems to have only been a blip on her radar. "I could go eat too -- thank you, ma'am, for the concern. You too, Liri," she adds, with hints of smiles for both. Collecting up her things, Madilla hesitates, but finally nods. "All right," she says. "Look after yourselves, both of you. I'm sure I'll see you later." Then, of course, she has to put back on her shoes and socks, and her outer clothing, before she can finally make her way down the circular staircase to the complex below. |
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