An apple a day is for OTHER problems [Talian]

You will go to the Healers! There was insistence in this that irritated Jada to no end. Krypth's dander, however, was up! Orange eyes were roiling at her along with a rage that was naturally intimidating, even when not directly aimed at her bonded. It had started when she had woken with a swollen face. Refused to go to the Healer's for something preventive. Continued when at breakfast she had noted fuzziness in her left eye. Then Krypth had commented over breakfast that her eye was looking purple, and she had some dirt on her cheek. When had Jada's eye turned purple? Would the rest of her? Then the dots had connected that it wasn't dirt, it was a handprint. And then her fury had been palpable.

Krypth had wanted to go drop S'kef Between right there.

Her fury had been contained with far greater ease than her lust had been, but it had was a near thing. She had given a strangled cry, spreading her wings and slamming her face hard into Jada's belly, the smothered noise of rage vibrating through the Harper's smaller form. That her pleasure had come at this cost-! It mattered little that people were whispering of the marks that Jada had given to the brownrider, or that other marks of the man's violence were on her form. It was the handprint and the blackening eye that inspired her outrage. Rightfully so, she had insisted, until it had been nipped in the bud.

How dare he lay such a hand on you!

"What goes around comes around." Jada assured her companion, scratching between her headknobs. "Don't worry love. It won't happen again." She hoped. Who knew? In Flights... well, she'd learned firsthand just how overwhelming and base the needs had been. Maybe next time it wouldn't be S'kef giving her a black eye. Then again, Krypth had very much seemed to revel in Tyrrisath's attentions. And the memories that Jada could vaguely recall, she hadn't exactly been telling the brownrider to tone it down. (Did that make her a pervert?)

And fairly, maybe her face had- okay, no.

Her room was the first thing that was to be sorted after the meal, and Jada refused to take Krypth's advice. Refused to obey a direct command from the gold! Appalling, and irritating and Krypth had sworn... Now, the Harper was getting ready for midday meal, her mattress finally shoved haphazardly onto the frame, when there came a knock on the door. It was light, tentative at best, but it caused the dragon to give a grunt of satisfaction and a wave of pleasure rolled through their bond. Good. He came. I was afraid no one would give him the message.

Even Krypth had better manners than to speak directly to their heart-wounded Master Healer. Yet it never crossed her mind that it might be another at the door- when Krypth summoned a Healer for her recalcitrant Chosen, she summoned a Healer.

What a familiar call THIS one was.

Someone showed up with a message about Jada. Goldrider Jada. The same girl who'd been so badly injured earlier in the turn. Tal received the message shortly after his morning rounds. As he felt his office to head out for lunch, he found his daily walk to the dining hall interrupted by Krypth's messenger.

Jada was hurt again? Tal frowned. B'jin had been awfully upset about the flight, and he certainly knew what that wicked brownrider was capable of. Oh no!

Tal grabbed his bag and took off at a full-tilt sprint, which wasn't exactly wise. He was in better shape these days thanks to his chores, but he was hardly in good enough shape to run all the way from the healing hall to the weyrling barracks. He stopped to catch his breath half way before taking off again and finally coming to the door. He knocked urgently, then let himself inside without hesitating.

"I'm here! Where's the emergency?!" His hair was a mess after his sprint, and he'd somehow forgotten to button his pants. He didn't care! Emergency!

When the knock led into her door crashing open without so much as a by-your-leave, Jada was startled into giving a small scream and jumping, which them escalated into a higher-pitched scream and a little bit of a swoon as the pain in her face and the pain in her gut combined and made her collapse into a sit on the bed. Which she had, luckily, just braced up. Krypth crooned with concern and dragged her massive frame up close to her Bonded, nuzzling into the girl and knocking her onto her back in a wild sprawl.

By all rights, the emergency probably looked like a woman being crushed by a dragon. Then again, considering Jada was about eye-level with the Healer's unbuttoned pants, it could be her dying of embarrassment. Or of her eyes somehow managing to bug out through one lid which was starting to swell shut, and another which was not quite that bad but with a definite start to a bruise bleeding through over the bridge of her nose.

"Emergency?" she asked stupidly, still staring at- her eyes quickly averted, striding up his lean torso and his disheveled shirt, past the red-flushed cheeks and up to the messy hair before darting down- or up?- to his eyes.

Yes, an emergency! Krypth had, more specifically, asked someone to fetch her the Talian-Healer. She had stressed urgency, and told them to advise her girl was in pain and was not talking to her. She hadn't, in fairness, considered that her message would be taken to heart to the point that the human would come racing into their room as though Jada were bleeding out, or fevered and unconscious again. However, now that he had given her the word, Krypth sprang upon it viciously. Healer, do your Healing-thing. Make her not hurt, please.

The please was choked out in her cool, crisp tones. Frankly, she only expected Jada to know how hard it was to remember to be courteous and not to simply command.

Oh shards! That dragon was...crushing her!

Tal's eyes widened accordingly and he started to shout, but then he noticed the color. Ah yes, gold...there were only two of those, weren't there? The healer frowned, instantly feeling silly for getting so momentarily riled. He just didn't trust the sharding things.

He was relieved, at the very least, to see that Jada was all right. In fact, she looked all right enough that he was annoyed.

"I was told there was an emergency?" he asked aloud. He ruffled at the dragon's voice on his mind, but he was too polite to tell Krypth to screw off or even ask Jada to keep her out of his head. He couldn't make any promises if it continued though. For now, Jada was more important.

It didn't look like an emergency, but something had certainly happened. Talian frowned as he recalled the earlier events.

That evil brownrider must have been responsible.

Tal stepped forward and set his bag down. "...I'm sorry to have barged in, Jada," he said softly. It made sense to him now, especially considering Krypth's behavior during Jada's last 'emergency', which coincidentally had been a real one. Krypth had panicked. No wonder she was over-protective now.

"I think your dragon may have overestimated your injuries and called for an  'emergency'," he said. He was more understanding now, though still a little bit annoyed in the back of his head. More than anything, he was relieved to see it was a false alarm. He wasn't sure if he could pull the same person back from the brink twice.

He stepped closer. "Let me see. Did...did brownrider S'kef do this to you?" he asked with a healer's tender concern.

"I wouldn't call it an emergency, but apparently Krypth thinks I can't judge for myself if I am well or not." Which was just as good, since last time she'd been wounded she had ended up on Talian's table, dying. So not that Jada would acknowledge and thus reward the pushy behavior of the golden creature, but she would at least not push the Healer back out the door with a grimace, alike her first instincts demanded. (She couldn't much grimace right now, but she could grunt in dismay.) Who did Krypth think she was, anyway?! Irritated, she shoved at the heavy body on top of her, face contorting as much as it could, considering how swollen it was. Affection was turning to anger at the fact her decision had been taken away from her. If she had wanted to see the Sharding Healers-!

"It's not your fault you barged in." she snapped at the Healer, glaring through swollen eyes at her concerned lifemate. "It's Krypth, acting like a wherry, like I am a child!"

Her anger was unfair, especially considering... well. Jada had lost nothing in this, and it wasn't as though it were Krypth's fault that Jada had a black eye and a half. Or two, if the second blossomed completely. Krypth hadn't had the strong, muscular back that Jada had dragged her fingers down until they were sore and nails were broken. It hadn't been Krypth's mouth that had sucked at her flesh until it was ripe and plump, bruised. And it hadn't been Krypth's hand that struck her across the face when- well.

"It is from the Flight." she agreed. She didn't say it was S'kef, because as she remembered more, she recognized that she was at fault for it all too. She had let it get so far, she had challenged him, possessed by Krypth's natural superiority and some kind of monster that lurked inside herself. She- and Krypth- had challenged the males of the Weyr to prove themselves, and then she had forced them to when her chosen mate was denied her.

But shards, she ached everywhere. She felt like she had been forced to run from Nerat to Southern Boll and then locked in a closet until her muscles- ugh. Overdramatic, but "Shards!" she slammed her hand into the bed, an unpleasant sulk crossing her face before she smoothed it out. One did not make a tit of themselves in front of the Healers. She had learned that lesson early on.

Talian didn't appreciate being snapped at. He looked cross at her for a moment before processing the context. He chose to believe she was just letting off steam. He certainly would be, with that bossy, bloated horse-monster crowing at him all day long. At least it was sweet for the thing to be so worried about her. If dragons were anything good at all, they were devoted.

He sighed a bit and rubbed his temples before moving towards Jada. Before he could say much else, she was throwing some sort of fit and punching her bed. He lifted a brow, expecting her to lash out at him again. He didn't particularly mind, but he was ever pleased when it did not, in fact, happen.

"It looks like just some basic bruising. I can give you some painkillers to take the edge off," he said as he held his thin hands out for hers. "Can you let me see you hands, please? Sometimes ...physical confrontations like this can lead to hairline fractures in the hands and fingers." He'd certainly seen his share of well-worn greenriders by now. It worried him, especially since his greenriding friend Erisi would be due for flights soon. B'jin went through it all the time, and while Talian hadn't seen any direct evidence of this kind of thing, he was certain it happened.

Even still, Tal couldn't find it in him to really hate S'kef for the things he did. Resent? Shards yes. Fear? Absolutely. Hate? Tal just didn't have it in him anymore.

He offered Jada a modest, consoling smile. It was all he knew to do. "Do you have anything in particular that you think needs checking out? Any unexplained aches or anything of that nature? Otherwise, I think you check out...Some low dosage fellis and a day or two of rest and you should be good as new."

The Healer moved closer, rubbing his temples in a manner that made her think of her mother. Shards! Such a little gesture, and her emotions were dancing. Jada had no more outbursts as the Master Healer came near, and held out her hands obediently to him. The thought of her harried fingers turning out to have fractures in them was a terrifying one. A rider might not need the same sensitivity to her fingers that a Harper would need, but! "I would appreciate the painkillers," she told Talian quietly, and Krypth hesitantly scooted a little closer.

The Gold really didn't understand the why of the Healer's dislike, for Krypth liked him just fine, but she could recognize he had a dislike and she knew he was doing one thing for Hers that Krypth, for the moment, had not the ability to do. However sulky Jada may be acting at the moment, the Healer did have the title going for him, and no one would disrespect that! She tried to avoid touching the Healer physically out of respect, however hard it may be for her long, glorious body to manage, crooning lowly to the humans in the room. Tell him everything. Her crisp, cool voice was meant for her bonded alone. You will get better, and we will find the joy in what has happened, instead of focusing on our pain. Jada's pain, actually, but Krypth was, in a roundabout way, the cause of it. So their pain.

"Can you make the bruising go away?" She was a little concerned that she would be having to suffer through situations not dissimilar to Krypth's until the bruising did, indeed, vanish. "It is mostly stiffness and soreness at this point." Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "And my hands." Apparently the pain in her gut hadn't been as severe as it had seemed at first, or had something to do with the fact she hadn't eaten most of the food she had picked up at the Meal hall yesterday. It was gone now, drowning in the fact that she was being treated... like the child she was acting like.

Her head sank to her chest, dark hair falling in front of her face and nose wrinkling. How mortifying. Really.

Stop being dramatic. Pay attention.

Krypth's approach was suffocating. Undoubtedly she would be what turned this sweet young lady into the monster that most dragonriders were! Tal could only imagine what kinds of mind-warming propaganda and brainwashing the Weyrwoman and Weyrleader were putting poor Jada through on  a daily basis. He cringed, visibly fearful of the dragon's swarfing presence, but didn't allow his focus to waver.

"Your hands check out," he said quickly, but with absolute certainty. He reached into his bag and produced a small bottle of fellis. "Cut with with water and drink it every four hours. One capful per cup of water," he instructed as he lightly set it down on her bed. He smiled at her, as reassuring as he could manage. He couldn't imagine going through what she'd gone through. Forced to sleep with that monster brownrider, in addition to all the harassment she undoubtedly received from day to day? Leadership aside, Talian hear plenty of gossip about the poor girl just on his rounds.

He knew what it was like to receive more attention than was wanted, to have everyone's eyes watching your every move because you were 'important'. It wasn't pleasant. Sympathy glowed behind his skepticism as he looked at her.

"I suppose there is one other concern," he said. He didn't know how to approach this kind of comment from an emotional level, but the professional approach was more suitable anyhow. "...There is a possibility that you could be pregnant. Have you decided what option you'd like to pursue if that's the case? I'm worried your strenuous lessons would be bad for a baby."

Jada may not have noticed the way that the Healer cringed as Krypth drew near, but the Gold herself did, and she didn't like it. Immediately, she was at war with herself; impetuous youth wanted her to pitch a fit; awakening maturity had her pausing, trying to consider why it was that the human drew back from her. Did he not know that no dragon would harm a human, much less one so valuable to Theirs? Her head shook slightly, swinging side to side. She wanted to speak to the Healer, to try and assure him she meant no harm, but he had been full of fear for as long as she could remember him. Her pity and her affection would be wasted on such hatred, so she would save her energy for her bonded, and with time the Healer would see the truth. His would eventually show him, if Talian had a His waiting.

Jada sighed in relief at Talian's words, and Krypth focused on soothing her Bonded. To relax her, to give her cause to be happy. She could use her hands, could make beautiful music with the Harpers. Jada would be able to stroke her hands over Krypth's hide, draw back her bow with ease. Her hands would be lovely, unruined, once the small damage grew back. It would be lovely, she would see. Krypth pushed happy thoughts towards her Beloved, relieved to see the crease between her brows fade. "One capful per cup of water, every four hours." Jada repeated obediently.

The fellis sat on the bed, and Jada didn't reach out for it, content to wait a bit longer before she fell upon the liquid. He spoke up again, however, and Jada's brows drew together. One other concern? His tender voice came out, spilling words to her. "...There is a possibility that you could be pregnant. Have you decided what option you'd like to pursue if that's the case? I'm worried your strenuous lessons would be bad for a baby."

Pregnant. Ah.

She was back to thinking about that, then. She had avoided the thought all the night before, that she might get with child. It had fluttered in the back of her mind, however. D'ren wanted the women to do their duty to the Weyr, and bear young. Jada had duties to Krypth, however, and that included Weyrling lessons that would surely take her Between. "I have no plans to worry over a baby." She assured the Healer, face paler than her voice might suggest. "I'd rather never know if I- I might get pregnant, and though I plan on... waiting, a bit, until I have discussed with the Weyrleader the effect that another dragon taking me Between might have on Krypth... but I have lessons. You're right. And she is my priority." she nodded her head to the butter-colored dragon.

Which meant...

"I don't want to know." her voice, meant to be firm, cracked slightly. Krypth crooned, soft.

Such was the reaction Talian expected. He smiled softly at her, understanding, and pulled away. "That's a good decision, if I may say so," he commented lightly. "Back at home, I saw many young ladies risk their health and even their lives for a potential pregnancy." How convenient it was, for dragons to be able to eliminate those little problems so easily. Hey, there was something dragons were actually good for!

Even from a distance, Talian could see what a problem a pregnancy would be for a weyrling in Jada's position. Her lessons would have to be rearranged and possibly cancelled until much later. What a mess that would be. It just wasn't the right time, and far too often young women didn't want to accept that. Hold girls, unwilling to terminate under any circumstance...

Yes, it was best that she not know. He could see the conflict. This was the best way.

He nodded and took a few steps towards the door, delicately avoiding bumping into Krypth. He frowned at her cracking voice, wishing he could give her some other form of comfort. He was, at his roots, a healer. It was his job to nurture, and seeing poor Jada bludgeoned by that ogre S'kef was just too much.

"Can I do anything else for you?" he asked gently. He didn't feel like he knew her well enough to sit and make small talk, but he didn't want to just rush out, either.

It was the Healer's smile that hurt the most, that film of compassion in his eyes. "I'm too selfish to risk my life for a maybe." It came out harsher than she'd meant it to, and she opened her mouth to apologize. Paused, the words about to drip off her tongue and into the air. And shut her mouth, instead holding out her hand to the Healer. "Talian, I- Thank you for coming. I am very sorry that Krypth alarmed you. I will try and make sure that in the future she doesn't simply throw around the word 'emergency.' After all, if she cries Emergency all the time, you'll never believe her when one does come." Amber eyes slanted to her dragon, and the Gold tried to look innocent.

I do apologize if I caused distress, Master Talian. If it were any other, Krypth would have leaned in, pressed her nose to their brow, or some other sign of her grateful affection. However, she sensed he would appreciate little of the gesture. Instead she inclined her head to him, then rested it on Jada's mattress, away from him. She would have to soon remind Jada of their meeting with the Weyrleader, but that was of secondary importance next to the Healer's presence.

Jada blinked at the Healer as he backed away, somewhat owlishly. What else could he do? Well, alas, most of it was in other hands, now. But he could give some advice. "The bruising?" she asked him again, gently this time. "Should I use a cold compress? I read somewhere meat could help, but I'd really rather not be sticking raw flesh to my face. Sleep elevated? I need to be rid of this mask as soon as possible." he would surely understand the urgency without having to have it explained; Jada just knew that if everything could only look normal, everything could be normal.

Talian smiled. "There's nothing selfish about that, Jada.  You are more important than any maybe," he replied. He'd never understood the stubborn refusal of so many too-young women to abort. Having a child too early could (and did) ruin lives. At least the weyr didn't condemn termination on the same level as the hold. The insistence on childbearing was ominous for the weyr's women, but at least it was derived from perceived necessity, not social constraints.

He eyed Krypth, his muscled tightening involuntarily as she spoke to him. Evil creatures. At least she was being polite this time, and not barking orders like a cow. Talian inhaled slowly and made a cautious nod of his head. It was his attempt to thank her for her civility. His survival instincts wouldn't allow for much else, but the gratitude and relief mixed with his general mistrust was evident enough, should the dragon choose to pay attention.

"Think nothing of it, Jada," he said reassuringly. "And for the bruise...well, start off by applying light pressure and cold when you can. After a day or two, you can massage it lightly to help it fade faster. Vinegar works better than red meat, too. If you need some, I have some in my office. Other than that...I think you'll be just fine." His voice got softer as he spoke, ending on a near whisper.  He smiled, then started to head for the door.

"Good day, miss."