She rarely walks the court anymore, not unless it is coming and going from her home, or to the markets. There is too much here, on these cobblestone streets, that remind her of days and those long gone. They are painful. She does not want to remember them.

So Samaira leaves before sunrise, when everything is awash in a dim haze, and the memories are still lingering in darkness and not in the light. She leaves before sunrise, with Alaunus gliding on silent wings above her, his shadow draping over her shoulders, giving her wings that she has not had the courage to use in months. And she comes home in the dark, after all her patients are asleep, when the only thing to keep her company is the lonely glow of lamplight.

The sun is high, though it barely bleeds through the thick branches that cradle the hospital and weave over its roofs. The hospital is, as always, a bustle of activity. Doctors and medics brush along the pathways strung between wings, some with the lemur-like helpers poised upon their backs. Samaira is making her way to the rehabilitation wing when an arousal of noise catches her attention from below.

Glancing down, she can see equines gathered about at the base of the hospital’s roots. She can sense more than hear their concern from her place, high above them in the trees. Someone shouts for a doctor. She takes a lift down to the swamp floor, her steps echoing on the wooden planks keeping them up and out of the wet and mud.

“Give them some space,” she says as she reaches the gathered equines, “you’ll do them no good suffocating them like that. Back up.” The pegasus gets her first look at the injured equine and is shocked to see them still alive, if barely. She glances up, toward the branches above. “Alaunus!” her moon-silver eyes search the dark canopy for the iridescent shine of her bonded’s feathers.

She feels him before she sees him, his concern zipping along that invisible line between them like a bolt of lightning. “I’m coming,” he responds, and a few moments later appears beside her with the beating sound of wings. “Hello?” she says, voice more gentle than it was a moment ago, “can you tell me what happened to you?” Her biggest concern right now is this equine losing consciousness before she has a chance to find out what needs to be done.

“Alaunus, can you alleviate some of his pain, I need him to stay awake,” Samaira glances sidelong at her bonded, but his blue eyes haven’t left her since he arrived. She knows what he’s thinking, but she doesn’t have time for his worry. “Please,” because here… here she does not have time to think about anything other than what is happening in front of her, even if her bonded thinks she should face it.

She cannot face it.

But the heron steps closer to the equine and carefully touches his beak to their skin, drawing away a small amount of his aching. Oh, there is so much of it he is nearly overcome; never has he experienced such a flood of agony before, in all the patients he has worked with alongside his bondmate. He draws as much as he can take, perhaps enough to make the man more coherent, less like they are about to lose him any minute, and then with a few flaps of his wings disappears into the canopy to dispose of the negative energy.

Samaira watches him go for a moment, before looking down again, waiting to see if it has helped.

"Speaking."


@Silasthein one doctor and her healing bird at your assistance

 

 

The man begins to laugh, and Samaira wonders if his pain is so great that he is lost to delirium, or if he thinks himself so close to death that he cannot help but to face it with humor. She can tell when his pain becomes more manageable, however, as the focus returns to his eyes and he begins to stand. “Be careful,” she warns, “My bonded only managed to alleviate the pain you feel, your injuries still exist.”

The doctor waits as the man explains his outburst, and she cannot help but raise a brow in curiosity. “You might be surprised in the things I would believe,” Samaira responds, lowly, looking at him with quiet silver eyes and taking a step closer when he loses his words to the ache. But he seems to steady himself and continues.

And she does believe him, because it is so similar to what happened to her. Of course, she had not impacted with the ground in the way that he had, but she had somehow been magically transported from the sky in Irindor to the ground in Novus. A portal of some sort can really be the only explanation, though she has no idea where it would have come from.

“We should move into one of the exam rooms,” Samaira says, turning toward the hospital’s lifts, “are you stable enough to walk? They are right at the top of this lift.” She is already thinking of everything they will have to do based on what he has explained of is situation. Pain management, possible internal bleeding, the threat of pneumonia as he has no doubt broken ribs.

“Alaunus, meet us in a room when you are finished,” she asks of the young heron over their bond, as she slowly makes her way across the wooden boardwalk, hanging close to the man in case he stumbles or requires support. “Your recovery won’t be short, but I promise we will get you all fixed up.” Across their bond comes a soft sound of confirmation, and she knows Alaunus will be waiting for them when they get into the canopy.

"Speaking."


@Silasthein this isn't super great rip

 

 

“I’d only be doing my job,” she responds lightly. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time she’s seen the medics and doctors here drag anyone anywhere.

Although Samaira isn’t sure how she ended up on Novus, a portal is really the only thing that makes sense. Where it came from, she doesn’t know. What the pegasus does know is that she’s lucky all she woke up with was an arrow through her wing, and not a plethora of internal injuries. Her entrance could have ended up so much worse, considering she had been plummeting out of the sky when she had passed out.

Once the pair reach the lift and the rooms above, Samaira gets him settled within one. “I look forward to it,” she says, as she carefully preps everything that she needs. Clove oil, ice, suturing materials. Plus something for pain and inflammation, certainly.

She senses Alaunus’ approach before she hears him, and turns just as he enters through the window. “Are you okay to keep going?” the doctor asks him. He bobs his head and steps closer to the injured man. “I need you to check him for internal injuries. If you find any large tears, do what you can to close them,” she looks into her bonded’s bright blue eyes, “Take it slow if you to.”

If there is internal bleeding, any Alaunus can take care of the source, the man’s body will eventually reabsorb any of the blood in his abdomen on its own. She needed to get to work on his visible wounds, in the meantime.

“I know it’s painful, but I need you to try and take slow, deep breaths for me okay?” Samaira explains as she moves closer with ice and clove oil. “If you don’t get nice deep breaths, there’s a risk of pneumonia setting in. We’ll give you something to help with the pain then, however.”

Carefully, she begins applying the oil around the bleeding wounds that she can see. It would penetrate the skin and help numb the tissues underneath. Then she presses the ice packs to his side gently, holding them long enough to numb the surface so that she can clean the areas. Alaunus, in the meantime, has left the room again.

"Speaking."


@Silasthein I think we can finish this next round!