Xanadu Weyr – Infirmary
The infirmary here is intended for human care. It is spotless and smells of disinfectant, cots are lined up against one wall, a curtain can be pulled to give some privacy to the occupants of the cots if they so desire. A cabinet stands off against another wall, instruments and medications stored against when they will be needed. A couple of curtained off beds are used for examinations of patients and the treatment of minor injuries which won't require long term care. A desk with chair is just off of the doorway for the healer to sit and catch up on record keeping after a long days work.
The On Duty is *not* happy. Promises were made, and apparently not kept. She sits at her desk with a surly expression on her face, scribbling at reports and trying to stay as quiet as possible. The reason? Usurped authority, of course. The hunched form of Master Fraille stands near the read of the Infirmary, putting various items into a sturdy-looking satchel and muttering to herself. Flop dozes on one of the shelves, belly up and wings spread.
Tenebrous says, "It's around noon when Tenebrous is brought in and around two hours later when Fraille arrives. It's quite possible that Thea would have heard, especially if Seryth kept in touch with Tenebrous' mind."
Thea steps into the Infirmary, gloves stripped off and tucked hastily in pockets, flight jacket unbuttoned, shrugged out of, and draped over an arm as she strides towards the desk. Her eyes are doing a quick sweep of the room, noting how many of the cots are occupied and who is in them, her eyes seeking for a particular inpatient. It isn't until she's almost to the desk that her eyes focus on it, taking in the expression of the On Duty and the form of Master Fraille. Not here for pleasant chit chat, she gets right to the point, "What happened?" It's telling of her relationship with the old woman that she address the question to Master Fraille rather than the On Duty, who might as well not even be there, for all the junior cares.
The On Duty's eyebrows raise a little when Thea marches in, and a smile tugs at her lips. Clearly, she's expecting the wrath of Fraille for being addressed so. But her face falls in disappointment when Fraille merely turns and nods to the Weyrwoman. "The last few days finally caught up with him, Rider. Nothing more, nothing less." She looks back to her work and then stops, looking back at Thea. "I take that back. The last few days and a few idiot healers." At this, the On Duty's mouth falls open.
"How is he?" Thea's voice loses some of the tension at the seeming unconcern in the Master's voice. She's turning towards that cots as she speaks, clearly intending to go see for herself, an ever-so-brief and expressionless glance towards the On Duty before pale eyes return to Master Fraille. In a rare nervous gesture, one hand lifts to tuck a strand of hair behind an ear a she waits.
Fraille shrugs once. "Most of his upper body is a bruise, he has a fairly unpleasant patch of abraded flesh on his right thigh, and several of his ribs are bruised. Most of that came from the … swim he took the other day." Then her brow darkens. "The rest of it was exacerbated when the On Duty refused to let him leave this morning. Some damn fool dragonhealer insisted on trying to follow him home through the woods, and things went sideways…"
"The… swim." Thea's voice borders on caustic. "He nearly caused my death with that plunge." She's flickering another glance towards the On Duty, this one is withering and she's finally addressed, "Write an order, please, for Journeyman Tenebrous." Her stress on the word 'journeyman' deliberate. "Anytime he's in here in the future, he's free to leave as he wishes. If I need to, I will take it to the Weyrwoman." Her hand reaches for a pen, tapping it as she awaits the document to sign. "Dragonhealer?" She frowns in thought. "Now why would one of them pursue him?"
First an order that she doesn't understand, and then a question finally causes the On Duty to speak up. "Because he was trying to walk out of here with a semi-open wound and a set of bruised ribs without any treatment at all. "The On Duty's scribbling is fast as she writes up Thea's orders. "Because his neck looks like he hasn't taken the necessary precautions to allow it to heal properly." She finishes with the note, underlining the bottom in irritation and then spins it around for Thea. "Because we're *healers* and we're supposed to heal!" So. Guess she was one of the 'idiot' healers.
Fraille's eyebrows raise slowly as the Healer talks, one corner of her mouth turning up with the beginnings of a mirthless smile. When the On Duty sees this, she shrinks a little and adds, "Ma'am." Fraille merely gestures at Thea. "Did you…want to, or can I?" Her eyes jerk towards the On Duty.
Thea leans down to sign, her answer to the healer clipped, "Basic human rights, Healer, include the right to refuse treatment. You -may- heal. You may -not- force it upon anyone. Got that?" And yes, that would indeed, in Thea's mind make her one of the idiot healers. "Adults can either live with their decisions or whine they made the wrong one." She shrugs indifferently to that. Master Fraille's offer has her sliding that order her way to sign, "You first and I will sign under yours." She waits, sings when the document is back to her, then considers. "I think we should have a general one drawn up to include all patients here, what do you think Master Fraille? Could have the Weyrwoman review the policies down here." That comment finds her pivoting on one foot, "Now I want to see him."
Fraille grunts once, signing the paper in her blocky script before jerking her chin at one of the beds near the rear of the room. It's curtained off for privacy, but a chair sits nearby, for visitors. "If I ever find out who that dragonhealer was," she mutters darkly, "We will have words." She straightens with a grimace after signing and offers, "He was sleeping when I got here, so…" she shrugs again.
Thea steps towards the curtained area, pausing to look back at Master Fraille, partly to wait for her to catch up if she's going to. "I'll be satisfied with his hide. Might allow him to keep some. Might not." Cool eyes flick towards the On Duty, "Is there any note on who went after him?" Her tone is honeyed sweetness itself as she asks the question. "Stupid, sharding making injuries worse chasing them about the woods..!" It's a growled mutter. "Would think a dragonhealer would know this." She's listening for that answer as she turns back and strides to the screen before once again pausing, taking a deep breath and quietly calls, "Tenebrous?"
The On Duty shakes her head rapidly, offering, "I didn't get a name. He dropped off more samples from the numbweed harvest and the two of them talked by the door while I was indexing it in the rear. The only reason I know it was a dragonhealer was because the Journeyman spoke up about it." From that curtained bed, Tenebrous stirs slightly and then groans. "I think I ate a bug," he rasps.
Thea's lips quirk in amusement at those words and she steps inside that screen with a quiet chuckle. "Hey you. I could have brought you something from the kitchens if I'd known you were getting that desperate." She lowers herself gracefully into the chair, "How is it every time I see you, you're either about to, or just have tried to kill yourself?" She winces as soon as the words leave her lips.
Tenebrous slowly opens his eyes, letting them light on Thea's face. "First time I woke up," he whispers, "I was looking at Fraille." A little smile plays across his face. "You're prettier than she is." Then he closes his eyes again. "Smell better, too…" Fraille growls, "I heard that." But there's no menace in her voice, and she staves herself to another chair across the room to give the rider and the healer a bit of privacy.
"Thanks for that." Thea's voice is dry, her eyes with a keen on his as she tries to discern his mood. "You'd be saying that if I was a wher." She's chuckling at Master Fraille's growl, then asks, "How are you… besides in pain?" Because that goes without saying. Before he can answer she blurts, "I wish you would stop running!" Yes, that is distress in her tone.
Tenebrous looks up at Thea for another moment longer before he closes his eyes. "Yeah," he rumbles, his voice neutral. "Under the circumstances, running through the woods at dawn is definitely something I should stop…" And he knows good and well that's not what Thea's talking about. Whatever thread of a smile that was on hips lips ghosts away with that statement. "I'll walk next time."
Thea is all too aware he knows as well, a wry note to the words, "Might wanna do that, yeah." More seriously she adds, "You are an adult, it's not like they can force you to do anything you don't want to, right?" She sighs then adding, "I'm sorry I couldn't come back to visit sooner, but we had some things happen here and the work load has shifted a bit." She pauses for a beat, "Seryth's outside."
Tenebrous smiles slightly at the mention of Seryth. "You have other duties to attend to that don't include running home for me," he murmurs, opening those eyes again. "I just…wanted to go home." he exhales quietly, his eyes drifting to the ceiling. "It's quiet…and comfortable, and out of the way." He's still for a few heartbeats before whispering, "The grapplers don't ask stupid questions…"
Thea snorts, "Like I said, would have been here sooner… so didn't run back. Infirmary's on the way to the office." She shrugs to his next with some sympathy in her tone, "Yeah, home. I understand, but lately it seems like you're aiming is off. You keep landing here instead of the woods." She sighs with weary patience, "Just… take it slower getting there, hmm?" She blinks for a moment in confusion, "Grapplers? What're they? Before you tell me though, can I move this screen so you're not shut away in a box?"
Tenebrous murmurs, "I have a better idea." Very slowly, he begins to elbow himself up, grimacing in discomfort. "Damn numbweed." He glances over in the direction of the ancient master healer, griping, "I can't feel my behind, Master. I ask you, what about bruised ribs led you down there?" He coughs once and then turns to look at Thea. "You want me out of this box? I can live with that." He continues to struggle to sit up. "Take me home," he says through gritted teeth.
He's not done with work for the day, but Satoris has a break in things. Or demanded a break. Well, okay, being the Journeyman, he probably just took one. But the daddy-to-be can't handle being away from his weyrmate for so long, so into the Infirmary he comes, aiming for where Zevida is supposed to be resting.
"Whoa ho ho there!" Thea's half-rising from her chair and looking like she's going to flee herself, palms out to fend off the idea. "I said you could leave of your own free will but I meant of you could walk." She backs up a step. "Doesn't look to me like you can. You can barely sit up! And who's gonna bring food? Help you walk to go relieve yourself?" The one step back has her just outside that screen and she is able to see Satoris enter the room, "Satoris, Afternoon. Zevi okay?" It's somewhat of a hurried greeting before she's hissing back at Tenebrous, "For Faranth's sake, don't make them call the mindhealers, please!" Her eyes rolls towards Master Fraille in mute appeal.
Master Fraille simply sits across the room, smiling like a crocodile at Thea's predicament. "You were the one who wanted to foster his mind and will. Turns out, both are pretty strong at the end of the day. " She stands slowly, grimacing as her knees pop, and slowly staves her way over to the screened in bed. Said screen is pulled aside with one swipe of that staff, and then she promptly pokes Tenebrous in the crotch. "Lay down," she barks, and then just stands there, staff hovering over his body.
"She needs to work less," Satoris states, dryly, in response to Thea. He's fairly unshaven and looks, well, terrible. About as bad as when he and Zevida were fighting. But there's no scent of alcohol around him and he hasn't been seen in the Tavern. Either he's drinking in private or… well, not drinking, surprising as that may be. He flinches, in severe sympathy, as Tenebrous' crotch is targeted.
In mid-protest, Tenebrous gets the love tap and promptly collapses back onto the bed with a squeak. he takes a few deep breaths, his face red, and then rasps, "Would you…close the screen please? I'd like to cry in private…"
Thea winces at the poke Master Fraille gives Tenebrous. Strong willed? "That he is, but I never thought he was anything but smart. What happened to that?" While Master and Journeyman butt heads over the screen, she turns her head towards Satoris and just blinks at his disheveled appearance. "You… look like… something the wher dragged in, then refused to eat." Her eyes slide towards Zevida cot. "Does she? The office work too much for her?" Go figure. Sitting in a chair… "With all the other juniors we have now, there's no reason why her stuff can't be divvied between us." Back to Tenebrous, "When you can move enough to take care of your basic needs, I'll have Seryth fly you to your spot, I promise."
A slight snort. "You know Zevida," Satoris states gruffly, scratching at his chin. "She works long hours and doesn't eat or sleep enough." He glances towards the screened-in area she's in. "Isn't good for her or the baby." A glance to Tenebrous and an eyebrow arches.
And if one were to look under her pillow, they would most likely find hidden paperwork…
Fraille grunts once when Tenebrous relents, letting her staff fall back to the ground with a *thunk*. She turns to watch Thea and the other youngsters, punctuating her observance with a Humph. "I'm going back to the Hall," she rumbles to Thea as she passes. "There's a line between keeping him here to heal and keeping him *there* to heal. You know where it is." It's not a question. But she does stop in front of Satoris on her way out, fixing him with a dark eye. "You've got a baby on the way and you look like something a dragon spat. Shape up!" Then she continues towards the door, grumbling, "Youth…"
"Thanks for…closing the screen," Tenebrous breaths in annoyance. With no help in sight, he suffices himself with pulling his covers up over his head.
Thea actually snaps a salute to the Master as she passes, she's that pleased. With pretty much everything the old woman has just done. She flashes an impudent grin at Satoris as she steps back beside Tenebrous' cot and reseats herself on her vacated chair, murmuring to that lump under the covers. "You, ah… want some numbweed for that? We have plenty." Oh, yes. There's some amusement in the words.
Satoris casts near a glare after the Master. Yeah, a baby if nothing goes wrong. The person he cares about most and their child are held up in bed. He has to go back to the weyr to sleep alone and somehow manage to work. Of course he's not sleeping well. "Hmph," he grumbles and begins to meander nearer to where Zevida lies. Hopefully sleeping.
Tenebrous slowly pulls those covers down to eye Thea with more than a little incredulity. "You are very pretty," he mutters. "But off of your nut if you think numbweed is going anywhere near…well…mine." The covers are slowly lowered to his shoulders again. "In retrospect though, I did slap that dragonhealer's face with my runner bag pretty good. That was…suspiciously gratifying.”
Zevida is not sleeping, nope. The woman isn't stealthy as she's got papers under her blankets, in which her attention lies. The papers prop up the blankets and she's staring at them intently, even her weyrmate and the others in the infirmary are completely drowned out.
Thea's lips quirk at Satoris, "How'd you get her to let you drag her here anyway without getting a black eye in the process?" There's nothing but awe (feigned of course) in her tone as she asks that. Tenebrous has her smirking and answering sweetly, "I'm not the one fleeing for the backwoods and off cliffs." So who is off their nut here now? She points out helpfully, "Could always have some fellis-draught instead. Helps pass the time…" Unfortunately, she cannot see past that screen around Zevida's cot, but this junior wouldn't be calling her on her clandestine working, no. She does indeed know Zevida. And that would be wasting her breath.
Satoris grunts slightly and pauses before ducking behind Zevida's screen. "I didn't give her a choice. She couldn't ride Avaeth here and I didn't want her walking." And then he's around the screen and just stops and stares at Zevida, working.
Tenebrous eyes Thea for a long moment before murmuring, "I wonder where I could get some potent Fellis Tea from." He smiles wryly and holds up a finger. "The run to the woods and the waterfall both served a purpose. Hardly …" his voice trails off, and he swallows. "Crazy," he finishes softly. Very slowly, he lays back down, that smile gone again.
Thea answers Tenebrous absently while her eyes are on Satoris' back as he steps round that screen and she's bracing for… something. Yes, she knows Zevida well enough that she's likely got a fairly good idea of what Satoris is finding there. "Won't need to find it, they've plenty here…" She finishes as her eyes slide back towards Tenebrous, "Shall I have them mix some for you?" As he speaks again, she merely raises an eyebrow slightly. Her question is a skeptical, "No? And what purpose was that?"
Zevida doesn't look up from her reading, blissfully unawares of her weyrmate moving behind the screen and staring at her. Papers are shifted and reordered and there's a very soft swear as she has nothing to write with. And then, she looks up and spots Satoris. Uh-oh.
When Zevida looks up and meets his eyes, Satoris breathes in a long sigh, running a hand through mussed hair. "Zevi," he murmurs, voice pitched low for her. He moves nearer, to settle in a chair he'd procured to be able to post by her bed. "Have you at least been trying to rest? Or eating?"
Tenebrous looks up at Thea for a long moment before closing his eyes. "We bleed to know we're alive," he quotes quietly. Very slowly, he begins turning onto his side, steadying his breathing. "I needed to know." Then he's still, listening to the room around him.
Thea mutters, "At the rate you're going you'll be dead before you figure it out." Exasperation laces her words, "Y'know there's a lot more to life than beating your body into a bloody pulp." Grump. "Here's a better way to tell…" And a hand darts forward to his arm, pinches. Hard.
Zevida gives him a sad little look, "Sat." She returns, though she doesn't lower her voice. There's a sigh as she puts the papers aside and leans back into her cot. "I /have/ been resting. And eating. They bring me food who knows how many times." Yes, Zevida is whining and she's not even trying to stop it. "It's horribly boring in here." And she can't even see anyone else, not really, so no cheap entertainment in watching others suffer.
Surely she can hear Tenebrous' suffering. Satoris slumps in the chair and watches Zevida. "Just.. try to avoid anything that might stress you out. It's not good for the baby." He leans back, trying to catch a glance at Thea and Mr. Crazypants.
Tenebrous yelps loudly when Thea's hand streaks in, jumping like a speared sturgeon. The jolt makes him jerk backwards, a stunned expression on his face, and it's because of his focus that he completely missed how close he's come to the edge of the exam bed… "Have you completely lost your …" He shakes his head. "I was safer on the damn trail with that dragonhealer," he mutters, rolling over…and off of the edge. There's a large clatter as he hits the floor, blankets, pillows and his dignity falling down around him. He even manages to catch the screen on his way down, and with a snap, the whole assembly on that side comes flopping down. There's a stunned silence from the floor, and then a very quiet Tenebrous, growling, "There is, literally, no one in this world that I do not hate. Right now…"
Thea simply sits and waits for the clatter to die down before standing up, walking around the cot and peering down at the floor. Her eyes are opened wide in feigned innocence as she looks down at him, "Oh ya felt that did you? Good! Then you're alive, see? No need to take a tumble down a cliff or off the top of the falls to know that." Yes, she's clearly missing his reasoning. "Look, if you want wild terror to feel alive, I'll have D'had take you up on Siebith. That's a rare taste of the wild side and I promise he won't let you return with a scratch on you."
Zevida shifts to reach for Satoris' hand, giving him a loving smile. "I'm just reading over reports, signing them off. That's all. I won't do anything else." Like run her own errands, chase down people, or fetch a whole box of work. "I'm keeping the baby safe. I promise. I'm eating lots." The ruckus behind the screen earns a laugh.
Even Satoris smirks at the behavior of Tenebrous and Thea. He leans in nearer to Zevida to place a kiss on her cheek, squeezing her hand gently. "Good. After the child is born, you can run around however much you feel like. Promise." Then, in a lower voice: "Now I have something to get Thea with." Ahem.
Slowly, one of Tenebrous' hands crawls out from under the wreckage that so aptly mirrors his life right now. It pats around until it finds a stray pillow, and then, like some forest predator, slowly pulls it back under the wreckage.. "You can leave now," he mumbles. "Your point has been made."
Thea chuckles and simply grasps the blanket, whisking it off, bending to snag pillows, nudging that collapsed screen away with a foot. "Not gonna leave with you on the floor." She dumps the lot on the bed, "Come on, before the On Duty decides to sedate you and put you out of her misery." She offers a hand, "I'll help you get back in bed, at least." If she can catch the miner's face, she simply rolls her eyes.
Zevida smiles at the kiss, closing her eyes as she relaxes now that Satoris is here and the paperwork is forgotten. "Sat, don't tease Thea." The smile lingers as her hand tightens on his. "Why would you want to, anyway?"
Tenebrous is eventually unearthed, his features even, but his eyes narrowed. "You…don't think you've done enough?" He reaches out and grabs one of the supports to the bed, and slowly begins pulling himself upright. "Ask around," he grates, his breath hissing when he bums that wounded leg. "I think you'll find you have."
"Because she always does it to me," Satoris mutters, in an almost sour tone. He shrugs and scoots his chair closer to Zevida. "I miss you. I can't sleep."
Thea simply tsks at Tenebrous, "That's enough of that." If he's going to overreact like a child, she's going to treat him like one. Her hand offers support if he'll have it, for that leg as he's getting back into bed. She leans in with fire flashing in the ice green of her eyes to explain quietly but crisply, "Listen. These… upsets need to stop. These… near-death experiences. You need to think about others once in awhile you know? If you don't care that you upset and frighten me, at least think about Seryth. We're your friends, but you really aren't giving us much consideration at all. You're being… selfish."
"She does?" There's a soft giggle and Zevida tugs at his hand. "Then you should sleep here. I miss you, too." There's a sleepy smile now, and then, she drifts off. Her hand doesn't release her weyrmate's, clinging just a bit more tightly.
Tenebrous ignores that hand completely, clawing his way into a kneeling position after a few long moments, and then adjusting himself for the hard road towards standing. "Selfish?" He all but spits the word, bare anger in his eyes, fueling that grueling ascent onto one foot and then the other. At last he stands, bracing himself on the bed, face red from exertion. Slowly, he turns and eyes the rider next to him. "You've come a long way since that night in the woods," he manages.
"I'm not sure they'd let me stay here," Satoris muses, quietly. Perhaps trying to separate things from the other two, now. It's getting fairly.. strange on the other side of that screen. "The one Master doesn't… seem nice at all."
"Yes I suppose I have," Thea replies with a sigh for his stubbornness. "But so have you, Tenebrous. Do you really want me to baby you forever?" She plumps the pillows behind him, gathers the blanket so things are ready for him once he's back in the cot. "I'm sorry I pinched you, but really Master Fraille did worse and you're not as mad at her. Might want to ask yourself why." She peeks towards the screen around the other goldrider's cot at the mutter over there, smirks and calls softly towards it, "Don't ask them." She looks back to Tenebrous with shadowed eyes, shakes that blanket out, waiting for him to lie down. "Time to grow up. It's not easy, I know."
Tenebrous takes a few moments to catch his breath as he stands there before he slowly straightens up. "It's been two months," he breaths. "Less than that since…" his words trail off for a moment, and he shakes his head. "I'm doing this the only way I know how. I'm … growing up as quickly as I can." Slowly, he begins testing that leg of his, bending it at the knee and then letting it fall. "I didn't ask for this. Not quickly enough though." He bends that leg again, keeping his face straight.
Thea sighs, "Neither did I Tenebrous. Think about that for one minute, can you?" Her voice is near-pleading. "I've never had to deal with the things I've had to with you before, no training, no one to ask for advice on how to help. I'm… I'm just me." She finishes humbly. Her eyes are full of kindness and… weary uncertainty. "Your… reaction on Seryth's back after we went *Between*, your disappearance, that plunge from the falls, your fall from the cliff? I'm just asking you to think about other people and what you're single-minded desire for 'home' and 'feeling alive' is doing." She waits patiently as he shifts into the cot. "I'm trying to help you still. You think I enjoy saying you're selfish? Telling you to grow up? I hate it." And she's looking mighty unhappy right about now.
Tenebrous continues moving that leg as the two of them fore back and forth, and eventually, he plants it firmly, clenching his jaw in the process. "My single-minded…" He stands straight then, his eyes hard, and closes his mouth, eyes scanning around the room. "Forget it." He gives that injured leg another good stomp, gritting his teeth, and pushes away from the bed itself. "She took the damn jacket," he mutters. "Forget it," he says again, slowly turning on his feet.
Thea scans his face, the hardness of his expression is not lost on her. She places the blanket on the cot. "As you wish," she says quietly. "But you should know that understanding works both ways. Or it should. I've really tried. I'm sorry I failed." She turns away and walks from the room without looking back.