Completed [Opal Healing Tents] Leaving Scars

Waisana treats a young girl attacked by a hunting cat

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Not found on any map, Endrykas is a large migrating tent city wherein the horseclans of Cyphrus gather to trade and exchange information. [Lore]

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[Opal Healing Tents] Leaving Scars

Postby Waisana on October 14th, 2013, 12:06 pm

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12th Fall 513AV

It was the screaming that caught her attention. The wails were high pitched and full of pain. She wasn't the only healer to gaze towards the tent flap in anticipation of what was to come. One of the older male healers, Rodrin, hurried forward to pull back the flap to reveal a terrible sight. 

A man, probably an Ankal judging by his bearing, clutched a small girl in his arms. She could have seen no more than 7 years. It was from her that the screams came and the cause was obvious, she was drenched in blood. Her clothes had probably been a dark green to begin with but were now stained a rusty red. The blood was in sharp contrast with her pale skin and her arms seemed to have been ravaged with claws and teeth. The wounds probably looked far worse than actually they were but the healers ushered them in in panic.

Waisana spotted a woman almost hidden behind the Ankal,  deathly pale and the anguish was clear on her face. She was perfectly silent, probably to shocked to say anything. She just stared wild-eyed at her mutilated child who was thrashing in her father's arms calling for her mother. The girl's hands clasped tight around his neck to stop him handing her over to the healers. Her blood was streaked down his neck and bare chest from all her flailing. The poor child was terrified. She didn't want to be handed over to these hard and practical men, all businesslike and cold.

The young healer pushed herself past the older men, forcing herself through a gap so that she was in reach of the child, close enough that she could hear her.

"Come here, child. There's nothing to fear. We're going to help you, come on. Just let go," the horse maiden told the girl, her tone reassuring and filled with kindness. She rested a hand on the girl's back, rubbing it gently as she reached up to carefully unhook her grip. She rudely elbowed the other healers out of the way which earned a lot of muttering about not respecting her elders but she didn't care, all that mattered was the girl child.

The injured girl turned tear filled eyes upon her and she seemed to register her as some sort of mother figure because she all but leapt into her arms, clutching her tightly around the neck. Waisana staggered a bit at the force that hit her and the new weight she had to bear but she managed to right herself and carry the girl over to one of the work station

"Now I'm going to have to clean you up so that I can make it stop hurting. You're going to have to let go of me and just lie down here," she murmured, loosening the girl's grip on her tunic. It was probably ruined with the amount of blood that had already soaked into it but she could worry about that later. For now she laid the girl down on one of the beds and turned to the parents who'd followed her over.

She was a little intimidated when she turned to find the man looking at her, his face contorted in disdain. He probably saw her as a mere slip of a girl but she wasn't going to let his prejudice faze her. "What happened to her?" she asked the man, meeting his gaze for a moment before looking away to busy herself getting cloths and water to clean up the wounds.

"Hunting cat went mad. It attacked her. Had to shoot it. It was a good cat," he told her gruffly, his voice seeming to suggest that he was disappointed to lose the cat. He didn't seem to care that much about the child, though the mother clearly did but she seemed still unable to speak. Or maybe she was under orders not to. Perhaps her husband didn't want her to make a scene.

"Why don't you hold her hand while I treat her? It'll help to keep her calm," she said, turning to the mother. Sure enough she looked to her husband for consent and he grunted in answer, seemingly in the affirmative because the woman came and knelt beside her child. Her cleaning supplies got together, she began her treatment of the girl.


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Last edited by Waisana on December 1st, 2013, 12:26 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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[Opal Healing Tents] Leaving Scars

Postby Waisana on November 24th, 2013, 7:07 pm

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Making the youth lie down and elevating her limbs, she indicated the girl's left arm and handing a cloth to the mother she ordered, "Put pressure on that." While the mother was doing that, Waisana's set to work on the girl's right arm. She added salt to the water that she had in a bowl, stirring it to make sure it dissolved a bit. That done she soaked a cloth in it, wrung it out and applied it to the wound, gently pressing it down to remove the blood. The girl let out a sob and squirmed under the healer's hand. She tried to hold the girl's arm steady but the child was clearly uncomfortable.

"What's your name?" she asked softly, hoping that the question would distract her a little from her discomfort. The girl gazed at her with watery eyes and sniffled. 

"L-Ludina," she sniffed. Waisana smiled at her in what she hoped was a motherly and reassuring way.

"That's a pretty name for a pretty girl. I'm sure you're brave too. You can be brave for me, can't you? You can stay still like a good girl, right Ludina, and then it'll be over before you know it. You can do that can't you?" the healer smiled, dipping the cloth back into the water and squeezing it. The water went a light brown. 

Ludina nodded in reply, a look of grim determination appearing on her face as she made an obvious effort to keep still. Satisfied that she could work properly now, Waisana continued to clean the wound. It wasn't as gruesome as she'd first thought. The cuts were deep but most of the blood came from the fact there were several wounds marring her flesh. Waisana would need to check to see if any of the structures under the skin had been damaged. If there was damage then the child might have difficulty moving her fingers or be unable to move them at all.

She paused in her work for a moment. "Ludina could you wiggle your fingers for me, please?" she asked, watching the fingers in question intently. The girl complied and everything seemed to work normally. She had the patient wiggle individual fingers, bend them and open and close her hand as quickly as she could. Everything still seemed to be functioning normally in that arm at least. 

She continued her cleaning, rinsing the cloth again and again, the water growing murkier and murkier as she cleaned blood and dirt from the wounds. She'd have to change the water again soon for the next set of lacerations but for now she'd focus on this arm.

When the wounds were cleaned, the teen took up a needle and moved to the fire. Threading it quickly with gut thread, she seared the point of the needle, flashing it through the flames until it was red hot before returning to the girl's side. The youth was watching her with frightened eyes as was her mother. Waisana would have to do something about that.

"Okay this will hurt a little but but it's better if you don't look. When you look it'll hurt more because you think it should so don't look and it'll be over before you know it," she told Ludina cheerfully. Ludina scrunched her eyes tightly closed then as the healer held her arm and held the edges of one laceration as close together as she could before poking a hole through on one side. The girl flinched but she didn't pull her arm away as Waisana drew the needle through and across into the other side, tugging it gently to pull the thread through. The skin closed. The healer moved onto the next stitch, forming a pattern of piercing and pulling until the wound was nothing more than a thin line of closures with some redness around them.

The teen moved onto the others, closing them as quickly and as neatly as she could. When her right arm was stitched she took up clean bandages and wound them tightly around the closures. Picking up the bowl of bloody water, she went to empty it and rinse it clean before making her salt and water mixture once more. Taking up a fresh clean cloth, she indicated that the mother could let go of her daughter's other arm and she began her work all over again.


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[Opal Healing Tents] Leaving Scars

Postby Waisana on November 29th, 2013, 4:39 pm

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The girl's left arm was not hurt as badly. Judging by the direction of the slashes, Waisana would guess that when the cat attacked the girl she had raised her arms to protect herself, crossing them over her face. Where the wounds on her face came for she couldn't be sure. Perhaps when the cat first attacked the girl didn't shield her face immediately being caught unawares. Yes, that seemed to make sense to the teen. It wasn't her job to speculate however but to heal so she tried to focus on the process.

Dabbing the wounds clean didn't take long and she wasn't even sure if stitches were necessary. The skin had not been pulled off entirely and the cuts weren't too deep so just a covering should be sufficient. Taking wadding she pressed it over the cut before talking to the girl again.

"Could you just hold that there while I wrap the bandage round your arm?" she asked the girl kindly, holding up the bandages in question so that she could see them. Ludina nodded, placing a finger on the material to hold it in place while Waisana busied herself with the bandages. Towards the end of the bandage she made a rip in the material. Placing it on the girl's arm, she circled it and placed the other end through the hole, closing the bandage around her arm and securing it. She proceeded to wrap the rest of it around the injury, tying it closed when she reached the end.

"Will her face be... scarred?" the girl's mother asked in a small voice. Waisana glanced up startled. She'd nearly forgotten that the woman was there being so absorbed in her work. She noticed that the woman was the only one there, the father having disappeared. The mother looked fearful. The teen bit her lip thoughtfully at the woman's question. Honestly there was no way that she could tell. She didn't know if the girl would scar or not. Looking at the wounds she could understand why the woman would be so afraid. If her daughter scarred it might put off a husband.

Scratches and cuts, either bites or claw marks, ran down the right side of her face. Her eyebrow had been cut diagonally, the wound crossing over to her nose and running in a jagged line down its side. Luckily her eye had been missed but the wound on her nose looked bad, a mess of blood and flesh. A piece might be missing but she couldn't tell until she cleaned it up. Another slash had cut into her cheek and puncture wounds on her cheek and chin suggested bites. She was going to need her face stitched.

Getting fresh water, she began to clean, taking her time to answer the question of the mother. "I don't know for sure. If the wounds don't go bad and the flesh knits right then she might not scar too noticeably. If it doesn't... well to be honest if she scars I wouldn't worry. Despite her wounds she will grow up to be a fine woman. If a man goes by beauty alone then he is a fool and not fit for a husband. If a man truly loves her then it won't matter. There is more to life than beauty. Beauty won't put food on the table, it won't knit or weave and so finding a husband won't be a problem," she assured the woman, knowing that the husband part was all she was worrying about.

Waisana finished her cleaning and found that she had been correct about Ludina's nose. There was a small hole where the flesh had been torn through and away. With stitching it might close but the flesh would be left puckered if it healed right. She wouldn't tell the mother that. Stitching would serve for the rest of the lacerations as well.

Threading her needle again, the teen to the fire again to sear it clean before approaching the girl again. The child would be terrified. It wasn't something that Waisana was in any way eager to stitch. It was because it was a face that she was stitching. She wouldn't be as nervous with any other body part but she was worried that the girl would wince or jolt and that the needle would plunge into something it shouldn't. The nose was an particularly difficult one. Infection could be a problem with the stitches on the inside but there was no other option was there?

Steeling herself the teen began her work.

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Waisana
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[Opal Healing Tents] Leaving Scars

Postby Waisana on December 1st, 2013, 12:24 pm

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Placing her hand lightly under the girl's chin, she lifted her head slightly. Holding the sides of one laceration on the girl's cheek together, the teen put the needle through both sides. The sharp point pushed into the flesh with ease, the still warm metal helping with that endeavour. Pulling the thread through however was another matter entirely. The thread did not pull through without a lot of effort and the girl was ever conscious of the pain it must be causing Ludina. She moved onto the next stitch, looping back over the previous one to make sure that it stayed in place and the thread didn't pull loose.

The stitching was a long and delicate process but it was much easier to close some lacerations than others. When she got tried to work on the girl's nose, Waisana wasn't even sure how to begin. The wound was in an awkward place and so she had some difficulty getting the needle where it needed to go. When she did manage it, the teen had to be careful how far the needle went in so as not to do anymore damage. It'd be a disaster if she did any harm to the poor girl, she'd been through enough as it was.

The stitching on the nose took the longest as it was where the most wounding had been done. Halfway through she even ran out of thread and had to thread and sear the needle again. When she reached the top of the nose, she stitched across to the eyebrow, her stitches getting more messy the longer she worked until she was done. Stretching her hand to stop it cramping, the young healer closed the puncture wounds while she listened to the mother whimpering and muttering.

When she was finally done, she stepped back and looked at her handy work, her arm aching from the angle she'd been working at. The youth's face was a terrifying sight. There were stitches everywhere. She looked like a much loved rag doll that had had to be repaired on numerous occasions over the years. The only thing was that on a rag doll the marks of repair wouldn't have been so noticeable and irregular looking. It was a little frightening really but at least she'd pieced the poor woman's daughter back together.

Leaving the girl and mother alone to embrace for a moment, the healer gathered up another of helpful items. Tolm for pain and a sleeping aid, Vyfox to apply as a poultice on the wounds of the girl's face to stop infection and bandages. She handed the woman two jars, one of each plant and the bandages.

"Make tea from the tolm, it'll help with the pain and it can help her sleep," she explained, pointing to the first jar. "This jar has vyfox in it. That has to be put on the wounds when you change the bandages. You'll have to change them tomorrow. If there's any swelling, any pus or it smells bad then come back here immediately. You can bring her back in a couple of days and I can start taking out the stitches," she told the woman. She took some vyfox and dabbed it over the wounds on her face. Taking a cloth that was warmed by the fire, she pressed it over it and ordered the girl to hold it in place.

Now that they had been seen to, the pair gave their thanks and left, the girl clinging to her mother. Waisana smiled as she watched them go and then collapsed into a chair, completely exhausted. That had been a difficult piece of work and she just wanted to rest after it but there was sure to be some other patient in soon. The life of a healer was never dull but it was certainly tiring.

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Pavi | Grassland sign | Common | Speech of others

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User avatar
Waisana
Gentle Horse Maiden
 
Posts: 322
Words: 363907
Joined roleplay: October 7th, 2013, 6:47 pm
Location: Endrykas
Race: Human, Drykas
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[Opal Healing Tents] Leaving Scars

Postby Translucent on January 1st, 2014, 5:21 am

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Congratulations On Your Hard Work!


Waisanar:
XP:+2 observation, +1 persuasion, +3 medicine,
Lores: Calming little girls, Medicine: Checking to ensure nothing below the skin was damaged,

Notes: Some suggestions, have Waisana learn some herbalism. There are herbs she could have given poor Ludina to help with the pain.  Nice thread, don’t forget to edit your grade request

As always PM me if you have issues.


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Translucent
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