Xanadu Weyr - DragonHealer's Annex
An entrance way which would allow admittance to even the greatest of Queen Dragons leads into a chamber which would house half-a-dozen of the same size. To one side is a shallow pool which constantly clears itself of grime and is used is washing wounds. Nearby is a shelf with a generous supply of clean bandages and clean sheets upon stone shelves. The other side of the chamber is taken up by an alcove with multiple banks of computers to house medical records and help to diagnose illness and injury in the Dragons who come for aid. Within this alcove is a small medical laboratory where medicines and herbs can be prepared and experiments can take place. The far wall houses two dozen Dragon couches, each separated above by a rail which supports a thick curtain allowing the patients an option of privacy as they rest and recover.
From the alcove comes a steady tick-tick-ticking. Pause. Tick-tick-a-tack. Tick. Sigh. Stretching long arms over his head, Sigam halts in today's record entries. 'Dragon = Phaselith; Color = Green; Rider = Balana; Injury = Abrasion; Status = Stable, Mild; Treatment…' The words trailed on and on, paining the Dragonhealer's eyes. "I definitely need a break," he mutters darkly, shoving back his chair and stepping out into the Annex proper. "They so don't pay me enough, Cal," Sigam quips to the little blue firelizard curled up on a nearby counter before eyeing the time piece on the wall of the room. "Shards. Nearly seven. No wonder this place is a ghosttown, they've all gone for food." Scooping the flit into his hands, Sigam wanders the empty room, occasionally straightening a tool or two before his daunting paperwork is eyed again. "I'm almost envious of Ista. At least they're busy. But no news is good new, right?" Maybe not. I mean. He's talking to his /firelizard/. Something definitely needs to happen around here.
Despite the emptiness of the annex, Liya stands alone, as usual. She is situated in the center of the annex proper, near the bandages. She seems to be sorting, and cutting, sorting, cutting, organizing…Busy work. Occasionally there's a grumble from a brown firelizard on the counter, or a scroon from the green at her shoulder. But Liya seems content with her work, and really seems to be thinking of something completely different. She doesn't seem to have noticed that everyone has left, nor does she seem like she would care if she did.
Pause. Glance. Pause. Glance. "Oi, you!" Though the greeting is indistinct, there couldn't possibly be anyone else Sigam is talking to besides Liya. As if to settle this fact into stone, the man sidles closer to the girl and her work, dark eyes peering at her intently over a… bandage? Yes. The piece of cloth is similar to his skin color, but it is there, bracing the man's nose in place. Up close, the apparent bags under his eyes seem to be bruises, dark purple leaking in patches on his cheekbones. Someone has a broken nose! "Sigam," he greets, hand extending outwards towards the girl, an impish smile rising up onto his face. "Wanna see something cool?"
Liya jumps in obvious surprise as Sigam speaks…she apparently didn't even notice him until then. She blinks down at his hand for a moment before something seems to click in her mind, "Ah…Liya. Hi." She lightly grips the hand, shaking it gently. She seems a little dazed, her eyebrows furrowed at their middle as her pale eyes search this new figure's face, more than a hint of confusion lining her face. "Ok, sure..?" she says, more of a question than a statement.
Liya's surprise obviously amuses Sigam, for his grin deepens even as he returns the shake. "Hello, Liya. Nice to meet you." His eyes quickly scan her work, faint approval shining in them for a moment before he tilts his head in the direction of the incubation unit. "I won't keep you long, but… Well, you'll see." Then he's off, long legs carrying him faster than usual. Sigh, boys and their toys. Once in front of the unit, the man flicks a switch on one of the tube-shaped light units, which quickly sputters and glows to add fake light to the corner of the room. In the incubator itself sits four tiny eggs - one blue, one red, one yellow, and one of a strange brown color. The one Sigam selects is the red, pausing for a second to regard the golden comet-streak across its shell before setting it atop the light. Instantly, the light diffuses to fill the egg, and the forming hatchling inside becomes apparent as a curled lump within. "I found these eggs a couple weeks ago. They're already forming into little babies. Come see!" It's not as exciting as looking at dragon's eggs through the light tubes, but he seems to think it's pretty darn fascinating.
Liya stands for a moment, her gaze following Sigam with mild interest. As the light shines, and Sigam motions to her, Liya strides over to the corner. As she nears, and sees the egg and light shining through, she lifts her brows, pale eyes widening. "Oh, wow!" she exclaims, more enthusiasm than she ever really has with anything other than dragons. "Shards, it's…wow!" She leans forward over the apparatus, extending a hand towards the egg before pausing "Can I…can I touch it? This is so neat!"
There's no other word for it - Sigam beams. "Isn't it fantastic?" He skitters to the other side of the light, so that she can have a view and he can still point things out. "This lump's obviously the head, but those little nubs are its legs! The wings are curled around this one, we think. It might hatch awkwardly if they don't move, and- Hm?" Her question sinks in a bit belatedly, but Sigam is all smiles and eager nodding in response to the girl's own enthusiasm. "Of course, help yourself. You can even put one of the others on, if you'd like. Just be careful." A needless caution, surely, but Sigam is a protective surrogate clutchdaddy. Even Calelir is cautious as he flits into the open incubator and prowls around the eggs.
Liya seems almost just as excited as Sigam, lightly stroking a finger down one side of the egg on the light. "When do you think they'll hatch?" She slowly wraps fingers around the current egg, then sets it aside, very gently collecting another to place on the light. "Wow…it's so amazing!" She shakes her head, almost in disbelief, firelizards croon from their perches on her shoulders, peering down with equally interested eyes.
Sigam's lips purse as he considers her question, eyes raking over the surface of the red egg. "Well, that one seems to be the furthest along development-wise. The others - like that one," he nods at the next egg she puts up, his fingers brushing over the green slice on the blue egg. "They seem to be a little behind, or maybe that's just me. And the brown egg, well…" His face registers a bit of sadness for the first time. "It stopped developing six days ago. We're going to give it another couple of days out of hope, but the way we figure it, it's a dud." The man remains visibly morose for another moment before a smile is slapped back on his bandaged face. "But that'll definitely go a ways towards helping us study embryos."
Liya presses her lips together as she examines the next egg set on the light. "Maybe…that one's just bigger. A bronze or something." She then takes the egg down, and sets the brown up next, her excitement seeming to wane a small amount as she sets it down. "Are you sure?" She says pleadingly. She seems very concerned with it, lightly stroking along the side as she watches it, looking for any hint of movement. "You don't think maybe…it's just going to take longer?"
Sigam blinks at Liya, seeming almost surprised before his mouth spreads wide in a grin. "You know, I never thought of that. Good job! The egg is so much smaller than the others, but the hatchling is big. I think this was a green's clutch, judging by its size, so it couldn't be a bronze, but brown is definitely an option." And one he will consider carefully, even as he eyes the significantly smaller blob of half-formed firelizard in the brown egg. "I'm sure," is his eventual reply, face showing that he's gone through the same pleading, the same sense of denial. "Not at this point. The shell isn't even completely hardened here, see?" He twists the egg atop the light and points to a place where coarse shell gives way to a patch that is more membraneous than the rest. "The others only have another couple of weeks before they go - maybe two or three - so the fact that it's so far behind…" He shrugs and looks as if he's about to continue to speak, but hesitates. "Uhm. Would you… /want/ to know if we do a dissection?" The question's a little awkward - the girl is obviously bothered by the idea of the flit not hatching - but not everything is sacred in the face of science.
Liya continues to slowly stroke the egg, gently fingering the softer portion. She seems to consider, her lips twisting in a thoughtful frown. "If it didn't hatch, I would like to. It'd be really interesting to see…" She tilts her head before setting the egg aside as she sets up another, "It's sad…but if it doesn't hatch, it doesn't hatch…might as well learn from it. Do they have a lot of duds?" She leans in, examining the next egg with renewed interest. "Maybe if they do…we could compare them…use it to maybe see what goes on with the dragons." She seems thoughtful, and excited.
"My thoughts exactly," Sigam says with a nod, regarding the next egg up on the block. It isn't the loudest of the four - the original red takes the cake there - but this one seems to have the most demanding presence, with its yellow shell wrapped in bands of white. The wee babe inside is the smallest of the three live eggs, but of all of them, it is the one whose stubby legs are uncurled enough to show dim reflections of a little heart pumping within its lit up body. "I honestly don't know their mortality rate, but you're correct. Considering dragons are the decendants of firelizards, they could explain quite a lot. Unfortunately, the duds are harder to find in the wild. If they don't hatch, it's a fair bet to say they'll be eaten." Sigam makes a face, but shrugs. "It might be worth our time to watch over a few clutches anyways." A warning cheep from Calelir catches Sigam's attention as voices draw near to the otherwise silent Annex. "Better put these away, then. They're technically mine, but the lights are the weyr's. No sense getting us in trouble, eh?" The man winks at Liya before reaching over and gingerly setting the egg back into the incubator. Cal flits out and curls around his neck, the picture of innocence as Sig flicks off the light and steps away. "I'll drop you a line if we get to examine it, yeah?" It seems more of a statement than a real question as he moves out to greet their visitors at the door of the annex, pure business overriding pleasure in his tones.
Liya glances back over her shoulder as she voices rise, as well. A frown clouding her features. She was obviously enjoying this…and didn't want to be interrupted. She sighs heavily, focused on the incoming traffic, and then realizes that Sigam is packing everything away. She moves with a start, sending firelizards squawking. She steps into movement with hurried steps, catching up to Sigam just before he reaches the others. "Hey…uh…when they hatch…would you mind if I was there? I mean…if you're not going to keep them…" she says somewhat nervously, obviously not used to actually asking for anything. She worries on her bottom lip for a moment, shifting her weight from foot to foot, and the brown flit at her shoulder grumbles in irritation, but that seems to be his nature. "It's just that…with the hatching and all…I could really use..someo-..um…something to keep my mind off of everything." She seems to focus her gaze between Sigam's face and the eggs he carries, not seeming to be able to choose between which one is more interesting. It's not everyday she meets someone that goes as crazy over science and dragons as her…
Though he's been hailed by the man who's just walked in the doors - a trader with his son in tow if the clothing is any indication - Sigam raises an index finger at them in indication that he needs a minute. Turning back to Liya, he hears her out with a smile that slips past his adopted professional facade. Not that his broken nose made it all that professional in the first place. "Of course I don't mind. In fact, keep an eye out for this blue mug." He points towards Calelir, whose eyes whirl with sudden intrigue. "I can send him to fetch you when the time is right." He pauses, as if considering the wiseness of adding anything further, and then says in a voice pitched a bit lower for privacy's sake, "Don't worry, I understand. Hang around, we'll keep ya busy." One hand reaches out to give the girl a friendly clap on the shoulder and then he's back in motion, heading for the trader with a smile on his face. "How can I help you, sir?"
Liya parts her lips in a broad smile again with Sigam's answer and it takes a minute for her to even begin moving again. She exhales a sigh, looking back to the green flit on her shoulder. "We'll watch, hm?" She continues to smile for a few more moments, but the smile is replaced with a slight frown as the annex begins to fill again. She shuffles off after a glance to the clock, definitely time to get some rest…She's been at it all day. She snatches a final glimpse of Sigam before scooting out the door.