fragile things, after all


amaira can smell the blood before she sees who it belongs to. She’s found that her senses have learned and adapted to illness and injury, overtime. But even aside from that, this is a lot of blood. The pegasus thinks she could smell it from up in the canopy, but as it is, she is rummaging through one of the supply rooms located on the ground floor of the hospital.

When she hears the call for help, she turns—

And is shocked to find Anandi standing there, in the dappled winter sun, shoulder dripping fresh blood. Almost subconsciously, she pulls a bottle of saline liquid and a package of sterile gauze from the closet before moving over to the Emissary.

Her steps sound like heartbeats on the wood underhoof. “Andi,” she says, voice somewhere between choking concern and exclamation. Though she catches the tail end of the woman’s final refrain and cannot help but raise a brow. “It’s good to see that serious injury has not compromised your grace,” and it’s, perhaps, the first time an honest smile has turned up the corner of her lips in a long time.

Samaira pops the lid on the saline and begins to pour it over the wounds, rinsing away some of the blood so that she can see what they are dealing with here. “Do you want to tell me what happened?” an invitation—the deep cuts can be treated easily without knowing the cause, but it will not satiate her personal curiosity.

“We’ll have to get you upstairs into one of the rooms, but I want to try and stop some of the bleeding,” she begins, “but first, it seems you will learn what my bonded can do.” The pegasus glances up into the canopy, knowing that Alaunus is probably with another patient somewhere. “Alaunus, I need you down on the ground, please,” she speaks across their bond. She feels more than hears his response, like an awareness and confirmation. He will be with them soon.



@Anandi <3

fragile things, after all


amaira meets the Emissary’s smile with one of her own, one she hopes expresses comfort and warmth. “It’s good to see you,” she responds, not thinking about the fact that she hasn’t seen the green-eyed woman since their meeting on the cliffs, since their walk to the court. There is so much she doesn’t think about, so much she doesn’t let in.

The Doctor is used to loneliness, used to being on her own.

At least she has Alaunus, who chooses that moment to arrive at her side. He lands gracefully before the grey mare and looks at the wound with bright sky eyes. At the mention of a dragon, the heron visibly ruffles his feathers. “I would say you did pretty well considering what you went up against,” Samaira comments quietly, almost thoughtfully. She doesn’t ask how Anandi got tangled with a dragon, but it’s good to know what caused the wound.

“Alaunus will be able to relieve your pain, and then we can get you into an exam room,” the earthen woman tells Andi, stepping away from the bleeding shoulder to give her bonded room to maneuver closer. And closer he does get, spreading the feathers of one wing over the wound. His feathers shine with iridescence in the pale winter sun.

He closes his eyes, and draws away as much of Anandi’s pain as he can. “Hopefully this will steady your steps and keep you from being in too much discomfort,” Samaira explains, watching as Alaunus takes to the canopy and the sky above to release the ache he had drawn into himself.

She’s surprised at the slightness of Andi’s voice when the Emissary speaks next, and Samaira offers a soft smile, just the smallest upturn of the corner of her lips. “We will do the best that we can,” she turns toward the lifts that lead up to the main rooms of the hospital, “are you ready to head up?”



@Anandi <3

fragile things, after all


amaira’s own eyes follow Alaunus until he disappears up and through the canopy. “He’s called a Caladrius. Him, and others like him, take illness, pain and injury all into themselves and then fly toward the sun, which burns it all away.” She turns back to Ananadi with gentle silver eyes.

“At least, that’s how I understand it to work,” she smiles. Her bonded can only take a certain amount of any ailment, of course, but if given multiple chances, his aid has helped speed the healing of very severe injuries in the past.

The doctor thinks of Florentine’s wing, once broken, and of Silas who very well could have died from his internal injuries.

She is turning toward the lifts when Andi’s weight leans into her. Samaira pauses, and is shocked into silence by the affection shown by the Emissary. It takes her a moment of ind her words, but Samaira carefully guides the woman forward. “Come on, let’s get you fixed up.”

The lift takes them up to the main floor of the hospital, and into a wing full of exam rooms intended for surgeries and other procedures. The earthen pegasus asks a passing medic to please fetch her ice, and they hurry off in the opposite direction.

In the room, she preps some clove oil and the necessary materials for suturing the wounds. After a few minutes, both the medic with the ice and Alaunus arrive. “Hold that to her shoulder for me?” Samaira asks, to which the medic nods and hurries forward to do so.

“Hey,” she says, drawing the Emissary’s attention, “How is your pain?” She would need to clean the wounds before sewing them closed, but the doctor would take care to numb the tissues beforehand, which is where the ice was coming in.



I think we can probably wrap this up in the next round? @Anandi <3

fragile things, after all


amaira looks after Alaunus as he disappears into the canopy, away to the sun, and Anandi speaks. She’s constantly reminded how grateful she is to have him as her bonded. He had been the one to heal her wing, the one to convince her to fly for the first time afterward… she breathes slowly at the thought of flying. Her heart has not been happy enough to fly for a long time.

She turns away from the window, flashing a half-smile. “He is incredible. Alaunus has helped save more lives than any of us could do on our own,” the pegasus admits, “There’s only so much medicine can do for a very serious injury.”

The doctor preps a gauze pad with clove oil, and fills a small plastic container with saline water and a small amount of mild soap. Hopefully this will clean everything to reduce the risk of infection and help with pain. When she turns back around, she offers the Emissary a more genuine smile at her response. “We’ll take care of that,” Samaira says, nodding to the medic that she can remove the ice from the wound.

Samaira begins to gently clean around the area, careful not to agitate it too hard so that it will not begin bleeding hard again. She carefully inspects it for dirt or debris, but the earlier rinse and amount of bleeding seems to have done a good job of cleaning whatever may have been in the wound.

“This will help numb the tissues, so I can stitch you up,” she says, glancing at Andi as she dries it and begins to press the clove oil soaked gauze to the skin around the wound. “If you don’t want a scar, the best I can promise you is to come back once it starts to heal and let Alaunus work on it,” the size of the wound by itself would leave a nasty scar, even with many smaller sutures.

But perhaps with Alaunus’ aid it could be healed in such a way it would be smaller. “You’re going to have to be careful not to go running around or you’ll open it back up,” the pegasus glances at the other woman with a raised brow in warning, though the corner of her lip curls slightly.

After a few minutes, Samaira begins to close up the wound with expert precision. She sutures swiftly but deftly, and carefully snips each one when she’s done. Once complete, the doctor bandages the area and prepares a lemon ginger tea mix for any pain or inflammation, and gives Anandi clear care instructions, so she can send her off hoping she’ll do what she needs to do to keep it clean while it heals.



This is bad and I hate it, but closed! @Anandi <3