Completed Frost Hawks and Spiritism

[Una Tanta]

2nd Day of Winter, 513 AV, Noon Body lathered in sweat Una wrapped her hands around the hind legs of the frozen rabbits dropping them into the leather sack. Hours earlier the thunk of their bodies hitting each other had made her puke several times against the wall. By Noon she was now immune. The fall had been spent in the study with Jack learning to write or nose deep in the bindings of books. As the Sun crept into the sky on the first day of winter and the townsfolk set about clearing the animals who had thrown themselves to death against the wall. Having spent the majority of the fall holed up Una felt the need for sunshine and escape so she she joined in. To her surprise she enjoyed the dutiful activity despite the rampant death. She felt a duty to Avanthal and since meeting Jack she had ignored it. As she raised her eyes, bracing her hand against her forehead to assess the field she saw him, Jack, equally laden in sweat heaving the corpses into the bags to be brought to the Frostfawn hold. At her behest he had joined in as well. Swallowing painfully she turned back to the corpses laden on each other. She had come to Avanthal to be close to Cy and yet had hidden from him all Fall in the safety of the library. It was time she fulfilled her duty to him. She had been purposeless for almost a year now and she knew as she stared at the wide lifeless eyes of the dead rabbits that, in death she would find her life's purpose. The image of her mothers lifeless eyes imposed themselves on the rabbits faces. As she lifted the bag over her shoulder the weight made her sink knee deep into the snow. She trudged toward the FrostFawn hold slowly in deference to the head on her back. Death had touched her life so numerously she felt comforted by its permanence, it's promise that one day it would claim her as well. She had made many trips to the hold already this morning so when the unusual man stepped in among the corpses and began to glow she felt no guilt at stopping to watch. She couldn't see much from the distance she was at and carefully dropped the bag to tread closer. Between his hands was a gently glowing ball, slowly as if the air suckled upon it it slid into the air vanishing. This happened more quickly with time, entranced Una didn't notice the Vantha scurrying away. Spiritism was a respected but ill-sought after magic and most chose to avoid those who practiced it entirely. Vanishing from the area spooked. Una remained, unaware and awed as the air filled the small forms. The shapes of hares, and badgers, and birds became evident and then slowly, their heads folding into their backs vanished. Dropping his hands the spiritist left without a word Una's gaze riveted and perplexed. As he left the others slid back in acting as if nothing had happened they resumed their work. Sidling up to someone at work and dropping extra rabbits in her bag careless of how much heavier it was growing Una queried, "Who was that? What was he doing?" The Vantha whom had overheard moved away from her quickly leaving the one closest to her glaring at them hatefully. "That's the Spiritist, Jared. He was freeing the animals ghosts so they don't haunt the city." Her response was curt and she quickly left. Her answer only brought Una more questions. Lifting the bag Una almost toppled over, she had been collecting rabbits as an excuse to stay and ask questions but now the bundle was so heavy she was forced to drag it across the snow. Butt outstretched backwards as a counter balance Una tugged and pulled with all her might. Groaning she opened the bag to remove some of the carcasses when she felt Jacks arms encircle her waist. Turning in his arms she laughed, "you saw that?" "Ohhhh yes, and consider myself lucky to! Here.." He handed her his bag, much lighter than her own and took hers. Having spent the fall together they were amicable and Una no longer felt the twinge of guilt when she was emotionally intimate with Jack. He was a physically intimate person, constantly touching everyone. It was his way of communicating she had learned, and while his touches made her blush at times when they echoed Cy's, she knew they meant nothing beyond friendship. As they marched through the snow Una peppered him with questions about the Spiritist; who he was, his role in the city, why everyone had reacted as they had. "You wouldn't understand," Jack explained, "You have a unique relationship with death Una. "His name is Jared, he has been Avanthals spiritist for as long as I can remember. Few people talk to him." "What does a spiritist do?" "They protect a city from ghosts." Una hadn't encountered ghosts before and she stared at Jack confused, "Ghosts are the Djed of people that haven't been able to move on, they wander the world discontent and alone. Some are simply melancholic, which case a spiritist helps them complete their life so they can move on. Some are evil, in which case a spiritist forces them to complete the life cycle to save living individuals." "Could Cy be a ghost?" Una queried elation bringing pink to her cheeks. "...Theoretically I suppose..." Jack replied warily, "But you nee-" Una tuned out daydreaming about reuniting with her lover and making a mental note to look up ghosts in the library and meet with Jared. Death surrounded her, if she learned spiritism she could have Cy back and have purpose, helping ghosts find and hold on to their lovers. Ghosts shouldn't move on if they wanted to be alive that badly, maybe there was someone still living that depended on them. If ghosts were allowed to exist by the ghosts at all then they shouldn't be chased down by humans who thought they knew better Una thought vindictively. "On a more lively note I have a proposition for you." Jack grinned. Shaking her head slightly Una was brought back to the path they walked, "oh?" "Well you are in the library as much as I am, and if you spend more time practicing your calligraphy instead of reading you could be almost as good as me." "So?" "You should talk to Felix about being a librarian with me!" Jack suggested. Usually quiet he shed his shy exterior around Una and eyes shining she swore he would have started jumping up and down if he had been just a little bit less overburdened. Una's eyes widened with glee, "I-I...I'm honoured Jack. When can I start?" "Well you would need to talk to Felix but I'm sure he wouldn't hesitate to hire you. You already know where all the books go having to replace all the ones you mess up everyday!" "Only cause someone wont do their job and put them away for me!" Una retorted gently punching his shoulder, Jack laughed and shook his head, "cleaning up after you would be a full time job!" Una laughed in mock horror and wheeled on him. Bags disregarded as they tussled in the snow Una eventually got the upper hand. Moving in the snow was similar to water and she had a few experiences wrestling so kept her balance better. As she pinned him down to the snow grinning she scolded, "we are supposed to be helping the city not tussling like newborn bears." Shoving her off gently Jack fetched his sack, "well let's get back to work then books." He had begun calling her books halfway through last season. She had hated it at first, preferring to be called by her actual name but when he had explained what a nickname was, a foreign concept to Charoda whose names are already short and easily pronounced, she had delighted in it.

[Una Tanta]

Dropping the bag into the towering pile at Frostfawn hold she nodded to the women taking tally of the death, "7 rabbits." She reported before trudging back toward the gate with Jack. The snow was deep everywhere else but the constant treading from the hold to the gate had cleared an easy path. However, the constant treading had warmed the surface and a slick of ice lay across it threatening to slide the workers into the deeper snow. Una stumbled arms partially outstretched to keep her balance. Jack walked behind her both moving out of the way several times as other laden workers past them. Returning to the gates the Iceguards nodded at them silently thanking them for their effort. Loving the Dire bears Una had befriended any that would speak to her. Scratching their muzzles gently they didn't move, proudly unmoving on duty but Una recognized the little involuntary snuffle and glance that meant they were enjoying the attention. Separating ways Una waved at Jack before she bent over heaving rabbits into her bag again. Beneath the rabbits was a badger. Goosebumps rose along Una's skin; the gleaming teeth and large claws caused her to instinctively move away. "Help over here!" She called waving a hand in the air. There were many large beasts among the large cemetery and some took more than one or two people to move. Two Vantha, muscles gleaming attractively. Few ever saw the Vantha body uncovered outdoors but the heavy lifting had so warmed the committee that steam rose, making the air thick and many had removed their layers as their muscles began to seize. Lifting the badger and heaving them onto their shoulders the Vantha men, staring at Una and stumbled away with the Badger. "Wait!" Una cried as a little body that had lain beneath the Badger began to wiggle and thrash. It was an Ice Hawk, one of the many that had been a nuisance the past fall. Wing damaged and bent backwards and beak half broken off it screamed so shrilly Una felt it rip through her ears painfully. The guards dropped the Badger in surprise and turned to her moving toward the creature that thrashed harder as they approached. "Don't!" Una commanded, too many people were approaching. In its terror it was bound to hurt itself. It was white and massive like all Frost Hawks, it black beak and talons sharply contrasting the snow. Besides the blood it blended so well into the snow the snow itself appeared to be what was thrashing out at her. Quickly removing her red coat Una grimaced with pain as the bird lashed out towards the movement beak connecting with her leg. Even through the heavy leather boots and a weakened beak it's bite was powerful. Throwing the jacket over the form she bundled it tight to her chest repeating over and over in her mind, "Please please please don't wiggle free. please please please don't wiggle free." "I'm going to take it to the Frostfawn hold," She narrated to the onlookers as she moved as quickly and smoothly as possible back down the path she had come leaving her bag of corpses behind her. As she stumbled onto the front porch of the hold she banged hard on the door with the end of her boot. She didn't know how hurt the creature was but she could feel it's talons freeing themselves from their wrapping. If they got a hold of her she'd be torn. The creature could barely be contained in it's arms, large enough to take off with life stock it took all her will and adrenaline to keep it under control. "Help!" She called, her voice resounding back against her as it hit the heavy door, she kicked harder.

[Spirit Frostfawn]

OOCYou might want to change it from 'Solo' to 'Closed' XD

Spirit had been walking out from her Arvinta room going Morwen-knew-where when she heard the call. Help! Someone had cried for help! She wondered what the reason for this was, though… were they hurt? Did a freak snowstorm start and they needed to be let in? The calling was coupled with a few bangs, probably the person kicking one of the building’s doors. Frowning, she quickened her pace until she found the entrance where the noise was closest. Quickly, she swung open the door…

And gulped.

The sight was a strange one indeed. The person had a large Frosthawk wrapped in their arms, with the creature thrashing like mad. It did not look happy. She stared at it for a few moments, wondering what had gotten into this person’s mind to grab one of the giant birds in the first place. How had they managed it anyways? And that wasn’t how you were supposed to carry birds, if she knew anything… which was very little, technically. She couldn’t see much of the Frosthawk’s body, as it was covered, so it might have been hurt for all she knew. That would make sense though…

However, the strangest image of all was the person… thing… whatever he, she, it was. They were not Vantha, and they were certainly not human. She’d seen a beluga whale once, after a visit to the Coolwater hold when she was younger. It had smooth skin with a funny texture, sort of white-ish grey-ish. The person before her looked like a humanoid beluga whale, in her opinion. They certainly had the skin. Their eyes were barely noticeable, just off-colored indents where eyes should be. Their nose was flat, barely slits, and… they didn’t have any hair. She couldn’t see the back of their head, but it looked funny. The person was also wearing… were those shells? Yes, shells on their ears. It looked like an underwater hat, really.

“Uhh” she stuttered, bewildered to no end. Her jaw dropped, wondering what in the world this creature was. Was it sentient? Probably, since it hadn’t exactly been the hawk calling ‘Help’, had it? Animals didn’t talk, in her experience. Maybe some odd race that she’d never met… the Jamoura, who weren’t too uncommon in Avanthal, were certainly funny looking. This walking-whale-person was really confusing.

After stuttering for a few more moments, she shook her head quickly and remembered why she was there. “Help! Right, you called help!” she exclaimed, almost to herself. “What can I do for you? And… why in Morwen’s name do you have a Frosthawk…” When she mentioned the bird, the Frostfawn glared at it accusingly, honestly wondering if it had called out. Whales didn’t talk, birds didn’t talk. She didn’t really understand this at all. Why had she opened the door? Couldn’t someone who knew more about birds and whale-people have opened it? She wondered how Kaden would react to something like this… he might have tried to eat them, knowing him. The cat was a little unpredictable, especially after he’d left a deer in her room the day before. That had been a surprise to walk into.

[Una Tanta]

Even the shock on the woman's face was languid instead of startling. Her wavy hair framed her face making small o's with its curls. In the darkness of the arvinta her hair blended with the shadows. She was a classic Vantha, so Una burst past her into the warmer interior. The Vantha were normally welcoming people and she hoped the woman would understand. "Quick! Grab him!" Una squealed as she lost hold of the frost hawk and propelled herself backwards, hard into the door to cut off his escape. Unable to fly the white bird threw himself around the room viciously searching for an escape. "I found him, he was underneath a badger by the wall. I was helping to clean and he was just there...disoriented and wiggling...so I immediately brought him here..." Her voice was disrupted by heavy gasps for breath. The creature was extremely heavy and his strength while struggling had pushed Una to her limit. The creature was magnificent even damaged. "Can you fix him?" Una looked at the woman imploringly. It would be a shame for something so magnificent to be flightless. The hawk moved away from them huddled in a corner and began to keen painfully. Another woman appeared from behind a door, the hawks call arousing more and more people till every door in the hall was open to stare at the noisy creature. "Spirit! Get rid of that thing! It's rousing up the dogs!" One older woman shouted trying to hold back a growling dog. Slowly his chorus was picked up by the other creatures in the hold until the hawks shrieks were drowned out by the caterwauling of furious dogs. OOCSorry for the slow response, I wanted to give you more than this but it's such a rapid exchange between them this is the most I could come up with without taking over events. Thought Spirit could get Lusina to help, she helped with Spirit when Wind was sick as a puppy so thought it might be a nice flashback moment for Spirit too.

[Spirit Frostfawn]

Spirit took a few startled steps back as the whale-person barged in, talking about the bird in a panicked voice… explaining its condition. With the quick movement, the animal scrambled out of its binds, flapping awkwardly to the ground. A Frosthawk – even a flightless one – would be a menace in a Frostfawn Arivinta… too many prone animals. Quickly realizing the potential disaster, the groom grabbed for the bird, falling over and wrapping her arms around it in the process. It hurt, the falling and the talons, but her own arms wrapped the huge creature in a tight grasp.

Another woman whose voice she recognized called out something and ran forward with a blanket, easing it out of Spirit’s arms and into the thick covering quickly but carefully. The Frosthawk shrieked indignantly, floundering in its new prison. “Why is there a Frosthawk in here?” Lusina scolded, setting her bundle on the floor. “Err, why are you here?” the girl replied in confusion. Wasn’t her boss supposed to be healing other animals, in the stables? “Long story” was the only reply – something very odd for a Vantha to say. “Right…”

“Frosthawk.”

“Ooh, yes. Err, you. Uh… where did you get it again?” She turned to the odd-looking whale-person, a frown on her features. If the woman (her voice sounded feminine) had explained anything earlier, she hadn’t been listening… obviously another explanation was required. “Why a Frosthawk of all things” Lusina grumbled, reminding Spirit of the situation. “Come here… help me pin it” the woman called, pointing to the half unwrapped, wriggling bundle. “Right” Spirit repeated, forgetting the odd-skinned person and dashing over to help the bird. Together the two of them slowly pried off the blanket, one pinning down the raptor while the other took away the covering.

The bird’s right wing was at an odd angle, and covered in blood, staining the beautiful white feathers. Spirit happened to be the one holding this, and had to place her hands far from the Frosthawk’s remarkably flexible head and feet… her hands were still covered with light scratches anyways. “Wing…” Lusina muttered to herself , lifting a careful hand to poke the bird’s talons. Other than being reddish at the tips – probably their own blood – they seemed fine… wait, the right had a gash where it met the body. “Minor cut. Nothing else other than possibly shock and broken pride.” The horsemistress snorted at her own joke, but took the thick blanket and re-wrapped it around the bird’s good side, leaving the cut for the time being. Both knew the wing was more important… though the younger had no clue how they were going to deal with this.

“I need a splint” Lusina finally announced, before looking up at the whale-woman without any form of surprise. “You. Hold this while I get some supplies. You better have a good reason for bringing such a troublesome creature. At least I wasn’t in the stables… you two would probably have killed yourselves with this.” The woman allowed the white skinned person to take her place before marching off down some hallway. Spirit sat awkwardly for a moment, before asking the question that had been on her mind since the door had first opened.

“Uh… if you don’t mind me asking, but… what are you?”

[Una Tanta]

Una gasped when the Vantha launched herself toward the hawk as the caterwauling of the dogs reached it's pinnacle. Silence spread as a formidable woman entered the hall looking none too happy. She encircled the bird in a blanket larger and thicker than Una's own coat which was now torn and damaged by the bird. Gazing at the coat forlornly she sighed unhappily, she loved that coat. Maybe she could find someone to sew up the tears. “Why is there a Frosthawk in here?” The formidable woman growled at the younger. “Err, why are you here?” the girl carried on the question to Una. Blushing Una wondered why they were both reacting so harshly. They were supposed to care for animals weren't they? "I was helping clear the dead animals from the walls and I found it there...aren't you all supposed to be good with animals? Just help the poor dear instead of questioning me!" She hadn't meant to scold back but Una felt they were wasting precious time. It wouldn't take the creature long to tear up that blanket as well. The two muttered among themselves again ignoring Una's reply. “Ooh, yes. Err, you. Uh… where did you get it again?” The girl frowned at Una making Una glare back. She hated wasting words, especially when a creature was in pain. "If you had been listening the first time, I was helping clear the dead animals from the walls and the frosthawk was under a badger..." “Why a Frosthawk of all things” The older woman mumbled as she began to give directions ignoring Una's barbed comments. “Come here… help me pin it” The older woman directed. Slowly they pinned the wings and legs as they removed the cloth. Creeping forward Una peered worriedly, like a doting mother, over the creature. Would it live? Was it in danger? She knew nothing about healing or the wings but it certainly seemed pretty damaged. The blood covering the white bird made Una nauseous and she looked away for a moment to get control of her stomach. Dead things were emotionally and spiritually traumatizing but this...this macabre...was beyond her physical ability. Una snorted at the older woman, her sense of humour was inappropriate. But she also couldn't help but tilt her head in admiration for the woman who so adeptly commanded the younger girl. Suddenly those commanding eyes were directed at her own and Una snapped to attention. “You. Hold this while I get some supplies. You better have a good reason for bringing such a troublesome creature. At least I wasn’t in the stables… you two would probably have killed yourselves with this.” As Una took the position the woman was leaving she gulped. Killed ourselves? Was this creature that dangerous? Certainly it's wing length almost blocked the entire corridor so Una was almost a Vantha height away from the other girl and the beak was nearly as long as her hand but she doubted the fragile creature would turn and attack them...more likely it would run away. Right? The other girl stared down at the bird and Una slipped into her own trance, taking all the effort she had to control her stomach and shift her strength as the bird wailed on them with every talon it could use. “Uh… if you don’t mind me asking, but… what are you?” Una glanced up almost coming unbalanced as the bird took the opportunity to try and stand. "I don't. Everyone asks." Una replied curtly biting her lip as the stench of blood made her hands shake. "Oh no..." She muttered as the bile rose in her throat and her head began to feel dizzy. Closing her eyes tight she managed to stay upright. "I'm sorry...blood..." She gestured with her chin. The blood now covered her arms and decorated her headdress and tentacles as the bird thrashed more blood pouring out. Didn't creatures clot like humans? Una wondered anxiously not knowing that birds, like Charoda themselves, had trouble clotting. Though birds held a special place in her heart because of Cy, she understood waterfowl far more than these foreign creatures. They certainly were the humans of the bird world, as much as swans were the Charoda of the bird world. "I'm a Charoda." Una murmured distracting herself with the small talk she usually avoided. When she was rewarded with a blank stare she continued, "We are amphibians that live in the ocean. In Charbosi, on the other side of Miz. Most of us anyway." She stopped talking to focus on getting her hands out of the way of the beak and talons while still restraining the bird. Staring at the end of the hallway she willed the woman to come back soon. "You are?" She asked glancing at the pretty Vantha girl.

[Spirit Frostfawn]

The whale-woman seemed remarkably unlucky when it came to blood. The bird's thrashing of it's legs had managed to spray quite a bit of blood in her direction... the leg cut was bleeding more than it should have, from that depth. Spirit frowned, at both the woman's reaction - though she couldn't be blamed - and the cut, leaning over carefully to stare at the latter. The only reason she could think of a small cut to be bleeding so much was... an artery was cut? Did birds have arteries there? Did they even have arteries? She was useless with them.

She'd luckily been slowly building up her resistance against seeing blood over the few times she'd trained her medical skills. Blood itself wasn't too much of a problem... it was where it came from that made her feel sick. Cleaning open wounds was not fun... she'd had to do something like that the day before.

The whale-person quickly explained themselves, and their race... something called a Charoda from Charbosi. The names sounded similar, the way Vantha and Avanthal did. She always found the name of their city a little funny... 'A Vantha l'. The last was probably just to make it sound nice. But... that wasn't on topic. She winced as the bird managed to catch her arm with it's beak and shifted away, though still leaning her weight on its wing.

"I am...?" she repeated, vaguely confused. If they were talking about race, wasn't hers obvious? "Oh, Spirit... err... Frostfawn" she blurted quickly, remembering that her name was a possibility. "Though the last is kind of obvious." She gave a weak smile, still feeling a little off guard about this. Charoda... Charoda. She was talking to a Charoda! It sounded quite cool, though she didn't entirely understand it. But amphibians were pretty awesome, though finding one in such a cold place as Avanthal was a rarity.

"Soo..." she muttered, looking up to see if Lusina was coming back. The woman had been busy all day and the day before that with animals, healing them and such, and the stables were a mess. A complete and utter mess. "You're a bird person, I guess? I'm more of a dog person myself, though I like horses and... er... cats." It was a basic generalization, but the groom liked it anyways. The last animal was a little iffy though... her 'cat' was also a human, and a lot bigger than the usual pet cat. And a lot more dangerous.

[Una Tanta]

Una smiled politely when the girl introduced herself. Spirit? Even for the Vantha that was a unique name. "You're a bird person, I guess? I'm more of a dog person myself, though I like horses and... er... cats." Una tilted her head in response. What a useless statement. "Uh...huh..." She responded quietly, "Because I brought a broken bird you assume I like them? I would have brought any broken animal here..." She muttered under her breath. The older woman scuttled down the hallway with a splint and bandages in her hands. "Stay there." She directed Una. Una smiled at the woman, she liked the woman's curt nature. Moving to the side with the broken wing she moved Spirit out of the way with her body, "Birds don't clot well, grab the leg and apply pressure to stop the bleeding." The people around them appeared to respect this woman tremendously as they stayed far out of reach and distraction of their emergency. "This wing has broken in more than one place" The Vantha murmured, seemingly more to herself than to the other two. "We need to immobilize the fracture but unlike dogs and cats if we immobilize it too much they can become depressed and stop eating, like horses." This she directed at Spirit but Una listened intently. "You see how she broke it above and below this joint, we want to stabilize above and below each break. In domesticated birds we would bind this to the body as well as this would cause the best healing but with a wild bird this amount of immobilization will kill them." The woman moved her thumb and forefinger over each bone adjusting gently to see exactly where both of the breaks were. "You remember how we use woven gauze on dogs and cats Spirit? We absolutely do not want to use that on birds, they'll pick at it until it becomes too lose." The bird beneath them had calmed somewhat and had stopped gasping to Una, and the older woman's relief. Birds could die from stress, Una knew this much at least. The older woman moved efficiently and quickly about the bird, placing padding against both of the breaks before putting a thin brace against them both. Underneath against the concave portion of the wing she placed a flat board to brace it against. "We don't want to damage the camber of the wing, so we want to be gentle but firm in binding it to this or the bird wont be able to fly." She explained, gesturing to the curve in the wing as she said camber. "This break has a poor prognosis." She said raising her eyes to Una's. "Sometimes in these cases the ulna and radius will bind together and the wing will be permanently bound together. Not being able to fly is no life for a bird...it could still heal but it will be a long journey...It might be best to euthanize before continuing..." The older woman gazed at Una firmly waiting for her reply. Una stared down at the bird shutting out the tears that trickled down her cheeks at the thought of killing the beautiful bird. She didn't cry because she knew the bird, or even because of the pain the bird must be enduring but for the thought of death. Death was the most painful and sad thing Una knew and she couldn't willingly allow that to happen to anyone...or anything...that was Dira's domain. "No. We should try." Una replied bleakly and Lusina continued mouth set in a grim line.

[Spirit Frostfawn]

Spirit blushed at the Charoda's tart response, ducking her head to hide her embarrassment. She'd really just been trying to keep the conversation going, though that had probably been a stupid was to do it. However, she did manage to snatch a worthy excuse. "Well, Frosthawks are really dangerous, and often attack smaller animals... one nearly got one of my puppies once. They get small animals, sometimes bigger animals... they're so huge, they can do a lot of damage. Lets just say the Frostfawn hold is not a fan of them, as much as they are birds." Though the next piece of logic wasn't entirely what she'd had in mind at the time, it did work as an explanation anyways.

"So for someone to bring one here... even if it was injured... means they really like birds, I guess. Some might even say it's safer for all if we didn't help it... though I'm not one of them. I like all animals, though as I mentioned... dogs are my preferred specialty. I have six in my room..." She winced at the number, remembering once again how crazy her Arvinta room could get. Wind, Apple, Fog, Icicle, Orange, and Ticker... plus Kaden and herself. Luckily Silver didn't live in her room... that would be disastrous.

Before she could continue, however, Lusina returned with a pile of things in her arms. She was pushed over closer to the talons, and handed a few supplies... a bandage, a cloth, and disinfectant. Great... more wound cleaning. But it had to happen every time... so she couldn't complain. Infection was not good. She was interested to hear that birds didn't clot well... it was a new fact, and she was tempted to ask why... but didn't want to waste the time. "Stop the bleeding first" Lusina added, before returning to talk to herself.

Slowly and carefully, Spirit reached over the Frosthawks' legs with bandage in hand. If she grabbed both, she could probably stop the creature from scratching her too much. Taking a deep breath, she darted forward, wrapping her hands around the bird's legs and pinning them down. Her right hand held a bandage, so she was able to cover the bird's leg with that... though it would have been better to wrap it a few times. That done, she listened intently to Lusina's explanations. Some of the words were a little too confusing, namely 'prognosis', 'ulna' and 'radius'.

The suggestion of euthanization came, to the Charoda, and the two Vantha went silent for a while. The younger Frostfawn knew quite well that sometimes it was the only option, as sad as it was. Vaguely she considered if she'd ever have to make that kind of decision for Wind... then shoved it out of her mind. She didn't want to think of depressing things like that... not about Wind, or about Kaden, or any of her other friends and dogs. It was surprising to hear the whale-woman decide not to, and she couldn't help but grin widely. This would be very interesting, then....

[Una Tanta]

Una's eyes widened when Spirit mentioned she had six dogs. Avanthal was full of heavily furred sled dogs and Una had had more than one sniff at her or bark at her. They were like livestock to the people used for transport on the open wastes as well as other duties within the city so Una eventually ignored them much like one did the caribou and horses. Lusina continued the binding of the wing in grim silence while Una watched in fascination. Collecting the bodies out by the wall and seeing the spiritist had convinced her that she could see Cy again if she dedicated herself to death despite her distaste for it. Watching the woman heal the bird she was reminded of the way the Charoda grew and manipulated coral. It was much the same, there was a type of magic involved, the magic of knowledge and life intertwining to create something both real and ephemeral. As Una watched Lusina create a stiffened structure for the bone to grow over the bone turned to coral in her eyes and stiffened structure a mental construction. Slowly she imagined the coral growing over the structure as it would naturally and frowned. "How does the bone know what shape to grow in if you just create a flat surface? Coral would grow out like this." Una gestured towards the width of the board." Lusina muttered under her breath as she worked not stalling to address the question, "It's a break, which means there is only a thin gap to grow across." "Oh," Una murmured back imagining it again. This time it made sense. Like when you grew coral over a crack in the sea floor. It didn't make sense to her still but the coral also seemed to intuitively grow together when ends were connected. It still amazed her that the bone could regrow in such a defined shape. As the Vantha healer began to readjust the break together the bird began to gasp and shake again. "Get the chloroform." Lusina instructed Spirit. When Spirit returned with a rag dampened in the chemical Lusina gently draped it over the birds beak. Within seconds the bird was completely still allowing Lusina to finish replacing the bone. "We need to give fluids to keep the bird alive through the chloroform." She once again rose and left returning only a few moments later with the supplies. Lusina looked haggard, the stress making the lines deepen across her face. Una frowned in response. What was worrying Lusina so? "This is a goose bladder," Her voice was quiet as she concentrated, "we fix it to a feather quill, which is hollow and we can inject liquids into the vein, or space beneath the skin." She punctured the bottom of the bladder with the quill and tied off any tears that had formed since it had been stored. "We find the area between the legs were we can pull the skin away, this is very dangerous as pushing too far in can mean we put liquid in the lungs." She found the spot carefully and inserted the tip of the quill. "Then we pour warm salt water into the body. The salt helps the body uptake the water for use more quickly." She spoke as she poured the water she had brought into the bird. To Una it looked like very little water but as it poured into the bird she saw a lump forming were the needle sat. Removing the needle Lusina gently kneaded the area until the lump was dispersed over a larger area. Sighing she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. "On three we'll all lift the bird, except the broken wing. We'll take it to our cages. One...two...three..." Una strained against the weight of the bird. Dead weight sprawled across the floor it seemed much heavier than before and Una was relieved to have Spirit and Lusina's help. As they moved across the floor Una stepped carefully focusing solely on the task at hand. Though she had a tendency to daydream she knew that daydreaming now would mean tripping over her feet and damaging the bird. As they settled the bird into it's cage Lusina removed the chloroform cloth. "You two. Watch it. Call me when it wakes up." Lusina muttered. The vibrant woman Una had met at the beginning of all this seemed to fade leaving an old worn shell. "I'm going to go and explain this to the rest of the hold..." She muttered as she disappeared into the hold. The room was an infirmary room and was extremely warm compared to any other place where everyone was simply expected to wear more layers if they got cold. The cage was large Una marveled, about three times the size of the Frosthawk. Not big enough to fly in Una wondered whether that was because they didn't have a cage large enough or didn't want the beast flying. "Thanks for your help." She murmured to Spirit not looking at her, she gazed at the unmoving hawk helplessly, "Do you think he'll get better?"