Close To Home

[justify]It was... well, it was a little bit strange, to say the very least, to be waking up in barracks now instead of the lodgings that she was given when she traveled from place to place. It was also kind of odd to get used to having a set schedule, instead of the spontaneous one that she had lived off of for seven years as a Journeyman. Yet, unlike others that were bitter and hated the Weyr for it, Tiani was actually interested to be here. For a long time, she had thought that dragons and their riders were long gone, especially when the expedition had found nothing when they went to the South. Yet here she was now, in Katila Weyr. She couldn't help but wonder if her Uncle was hidden here somewhere, or if his dragon had died in the depressing plague. She had heard stories about riders who lost their dragons, and she didn't know if the man could survive something like that. She could hope, though, and so that was what she was going to do.

Since her Craft was so useful to have readily available, a lot of Tiani's time was spent in the infirmary while she helped out others with cuts and burns, who happened to mostly be Weyrlings and the newer dragon riders. They were all so nice, and thankful that she could help them out, and she was glad to be of help. A place like this needed her, she felt, and as a Candidate or not, she took it upon herself to help in the Infirmary as well as do the Chores asked of her. Tiani was a doer, and there was no stopping her when she got going, but by the end of the day her feet were always dragging. She would trudge through the day, though, and as long as she somehow made a difference... well, maybe that was all that mattered.

Nevertheless, it was still quite odd waking up in the Barracks, with the same people from day to day, and a set schedule to follow. It was a nice change, she though, as she got up and got dressed. The others that were around her seemed to ignore her. She guessed that they had learned, by now, they she was not a morning person, and she would much prefer to be left alone for the first few hours of the day. Those were the hours that she normally found out what her chores were, she would mumble her way through them, and then head off to the Infirmary to see what was needed.

Out of habit, Tiani was scrubbing her hands clean before she even went to the Infirmary, making sure that her hands were clean and as germ free as they possibly could be. She didn't need to make a bad impression on the residents of the Weyr when she had just gotten there, especially since she had no idea how to get back to Fort Hold when they didn't want her anymore. While she assumed that day would never come, she still had that doubt lingering in the back of her mind.

While she was arranging the herbs in the cabinet alphabetically, she heard footsteps from somewhere behind her. Tiani didn't turn to see who it was, or what they wanted, she merely asked, "Can I help you with something?" It felt like whoever it was was staring at her expectantly, but they had a voice. They could use it.[/justify]

[justify]Benjinamor, better known to the Southern population as B'jin, was not an often seen face within the Healing Hall. In fact, it was such a shock to see the man in their walls, that a couple of people actually went out of their way to do a double take. One girl, so startled she tripped, sent her armload of bedding flying. An amused B'jin had quickly helped her scoop the assorted cloths up, before politely enquiring after the young woman he had brought in to Katila Weyr not so long ago. Receiving instructions on where to find the girl, B'jin had bowed slightly to the flustered woman, and quickly made his way through the halls.

A blind person could have seen how uncomfortable B'jin was in the Healing Hall, as he scuttled along, shoulders hunched and making his lanky 5'9 figure almost halve. His arms were held close to his side, and his eyes darted about warily. While he wasn't actually scare of the Healer Hall itself, he was more than a little worried about running into a pot of numbweed on legs that would hunt him down and coat him in the gooey goodness. Larrikith snorted sleepily from her couch by his hut, but quickly settled back down again, ignoring her riders self-created distress. She'd offered to simply summon the girl to them. But oh no, B'jin would rather sweat it out hunting her down in the Hall, than wait calmly and comfortably by her side for the girl to come to them. Well, if he wanted to torture himself, who was she to say no?

B'jin, as he usually did, ignored his dragon's attitude and input, and continued to concentrate on not ending up a mass of tiny boils by landing head first in a pot of numbweed, which he just knew was hiding somewhere, ready to pounce out and get him. His suspicious lurking, and high-strung nerves, however, was what caused a weyrbrat to just about send him flying through the ceiling when she tapped him on the side. Squealing like a little girl, and turning wide eyes on the child, B'jin stared down at his daughter who stared back up at him in shock. She then burst into tears. Sighing, B'jin picked the four year old up, and hugged her close, reassuring her as he continued his trip along the halls a little more relaxed as he concentrated on the child.

"Mummy on duty here, love?" His daughter nodded her little head, and B'jin smiled. Maybe he'd catch up with the pretty blue rider after he had spoken with Tiani. Smiling happily at the thought of the saucy woman, B'jin shifted Amorandii on his hip, and glanced around, looking for the room the other girl had suggested he look in. Sniffling quietly, Amorandii snuggled closer to her father, and sucked on her thumb, relaxing as she looked around idly. She knew the Healer Hall fairly well, spending a fair amount of her time there with her mother (she had a tendency to fight physically with other children, so rarely went to Crèche. Her parents had no idea why.) and wondered where her father was going, and what he was looking for.

"Now, where could she be?"
"Who?"
"A girl I brought in," B'jin mumbled, peering into a room at random, and lowering his daughter to the ground absently as she wriggled. "Tiani. She's a healer."

Blinking as her feet touched the ground, Amorandii followed her father, thumb still in her mouth, as he searched. After a while, she seemed to grow bored, and headed over to the other side of the room, peering in with wide eyes. She was greeted by the back of a woman, and a blunt question. Tilting her head, Amorandii continued to stare at Tiani's back for a moment longer, before she quietly left the room, and went to get her father. It didn't take her long, but if Tiani had turned, she would have found a completely empty door way.

A moment later, however, the child successfully tugged her father to the doorway, and, grinning, giggled before dashing off down the hall. B'jin frowned at Tiani's back. Larrikith, however, saw potential in every motion, and made her claim upon the most recent: If she credits you with the giggle, I want a child free oiling. B'jin rolled his eyes.

"Good morning, Tiani!" The man's voice, cheerful and upbeat as ever, was almost overly loud in the quiet morning, and relatively deserted region of the Hall. His grin was sincere , however, eyes bright and the expression almost childish in the apparent innocence. He blinked. "How are you faring?" A little more serious now, B'jin's cheerful was toned down a little, but no less apparent. The greenrider did feel a little guilty about snatching her away from her life and family, and he'd seen some of the other new comers go through some really interesting bouts of depression, elation, and well... everything. As such, he was slightly wary of Tiani throwing herself at him in a fit of rage. He did hope. however, that she hadn't yet learned of his allergy to numbweed. If she knew of that, and was angry... B'jin shuddered.

---

Random is as Random does! Hope it's okay O-o I'm so out of RPing it's not funny![/justify]

Unlike most of the other Candidates, Tiani was raised perhaps a little bit different; at least, different enough to have a different opinion on dragon riders. She had been born before the plague, she had a family member who was a dragon rider who had gone missing when the dragon riders were banished to the South. Instead, she had a small glimmer of hope somewhere in the back of her head that maybe at some point she would find him here. Tiani hadn't been here long enough to have time by herself in order to find him, or even have a moment to ask any of the other Riders. It a miracle that after all this time, she could still remember his name. S'ney, a name very similar to her father's before he graduated as a Weyrling. That was probably the only reason that she happened to know it, because he was more often than not situated in Telgar Weyr. Tiani was too young to be travelling there before the Plague had hit. Now she was just curious; curious as to what had happened to him, and a little bit curious as to why she was here.

Still, Tiani had to admit that it was kind of nice to have only one place to be. Her Runner was missing, probably wild by now, but at least she had a roof over her head for an extended period of time. Having no clue what was in store for her at Katila Weyr, Tiani just decided to keep herself busy instead. That was one of the reasons that she happened to be in the Healer's Hall at that moment, obsessively alphabetizing the herbs in the cabinet, and making a list of what they had and what they could make with it. Oh, and she also made a mental note of what other herbs they would need, just in case someone got an ailment that the herbs they currently had wouldn't cover. She had a feeling that they wouldn't take her seriously, though, and would probably just leave the little note unsigned and leave it in the cabinet itself. If there was one advantage that she had, it was that they had no idea what her handwriting looked like.

While Tiani had heard a little giggle from somewhere behind her, she had turned briefly to look, and found instead an empty doorway with no fleeting shadows. She furrowed her eyebrows for a moment as she leaned to write something down, using the flat surface of a nearby bedside table to write on. She scribbled down her notes, and she scribbled them down fast, and she left it unsigned and stood back up to her taller height of five foot ten. If there was one thing that she would change about herself, it probably would have been her height. She was a whole head taller than most other women, and it made her stick out like a sore thumb. She had to get clothes that would suit her height (that weren't men's clothes), and normally they were made by her mother. Now that she had stuck here, though...Well, things didn't look so promising. She had been handed a plain white robe and sandals. That was it.

No sooner than she had put the note inside the cabinet and closed it, a familiar voice had come from somewhere behind her that caused her to jump slightly, and she swore her heard might have stopped for a moment. To go from a giggling Weyrbrat - at least, she assumed that was who made that noise - to the deep voice of the greenrider... Well, it sure as hell was both startling and confusing. Tiani turned to stare at him finally, wondering why he needed to exclaim things so early on in the day, especially when there really was no other noise to help balance it out. "Good morning, B'jin," she returned, hopefully recalling his name correctly. It's not like you could forget a kidnapper's name, though, right? Maybe she could even relate all of this to Stockholm Syndrome, had she ever known a damn thing about it.

"Well, aside from a near heart attack, I'm faring well as I can," she said with a mild shrug of her shoulders, turning to face him fully now. "And yourself?" she asked him out of common courtesy, if only because she didn't feel like hearing people blabber on about respect and all of that. What they had to realize was that she came from a world where dragons and their riders no longer existed, and those traditions were no longer practiced. They had whers, that was about it.

At the moment, though, it seemed that B'jin wasn't going to have to deal with someone throwing themselves at him in a fit of rage mixed with a dash of depression. Tiani didn't feel depressed, and she wasn't terribly angry. She was a bit said knowing that she would probably never see her parents again, and that they would never know what happened to her... but she felt it safe to assume that everyone else in the Weyr had suffered similar fates. "What are you doing in here so early?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in question. "As I hear it, you're not very fond of the Healer Hall or the Healers in general," she said with a small grin. She had no idea why, because she never really felt the need to ask, but she did find it quite humorous.

[justify]B'jin's expression brightened visibly as Tiani recalled his name with apparent ease, his grin widening to show straight, white teeth in his otherwise tanned face. He had been worried she might only recall him by whatever ludicrous name Larrikith had come up with for his mission up North - He hadn't been able to go by B'jin for apparent reasons, and of course, Benjinamor was listed as deceased by the Harper records. Not that he could remember what name Larrikith ha- Jimmy. B'jin flinched noticeably. A moment later, he realised Tiani had been speaking to him, while his mind had been wandering all over the planet. Focusing once more on the girl, he blinked to see her now facing him, rather than the panes of her back.

"Oh? Oh! Sorry!" The words of the young woman took a moment to register, but with the help of Larrikith's snide input, B'jin fidgeted slightly and looked a little guilty. "I didn't mean to startle you." Glancing around anxiously, B'jin searched for some way to change the subject, when the healer gave it to him.

"Oh, well, I'm fine thank you." His grin reappeared, bright and charming as ever, and his brown eyes sparkled. He then realised what he'd said, and where he was located, and his features fell into a blank mask as B'jin tried to think of a way to fix the rather large foot he'd shoved into his mouth. If he was fine, and apparently cheerful, what was he doing in the Hall? Larrikith's laughter in the back of his mind was not helpful. She seemed to realise this, and upped the tone.

"I, um, oh, yes. Um, excuse me a moment -" QUIET! - "Sorry, my dragon? You see, she's well, sometimes she's loud, and I, um, I was having trouble concentrating, which is already hard enough, because you see, I-. Shards!" Flushing crimson as he realised he was babbling nonsense, B'jin took a deep breath in, and slowly released it, a smile once more appearing upon his face, albeit this time slightly wonky and self depicting. "No, I don't like it down here." A small shudder, "but we shan't go into that!" He grinned, almost teasing, and waved a hand towards where he had come from, and, one would assume, where his dragon was located to some degree. "I do have a reason for being here, however! Besides dropping by to see how my loveliest venture was fairing," Great Faranth help us. I hope she numbweeds you for that. "-I'm ignoring you Larrikith! - I actually am here to pick up some more numbweed for the ungrateful green lump."

B'jin grimaced, looking unhappy and brought his arms in front of himself, crossing them absently. "She flew shortly after arriving back here," He wasn't sure if the girl were aware of it, but in any case, "and at any rate, the blue that flew her had great dirty claws. Her wing joints were sliced, which isn't uncommon, she's got a lot of scarring there. But, the horrid beast had filthyy claws and the cuts became infected. I've been tending them, but they just don't want to heal! Larrikith is grounded, and she's grumpy and hungry and in pain and driving me insane!" Blinking, B'jin snapped his mouth shut as he realised his voice had been increasing in volume as he spoke, and almost yelling by the end of his little tirade, his arms gesticulating wildly around his head, indicating the insanity he was currently subjected to.

Shifting uncomfortably again, B'jin shrugged slightly and looked apologetic, his arms dropping to his side when he realised they were up in the air.. "Sorry. I'm a little stressed." he took another deep breath, and ran a hand through his hair, the other arm hanging at his side as uselessly as the poor man felt. Looking up, wide eyed, his expression was almost begging. "Please tell me you have something strong enough for her?"

---

I, ah, have no idea where any of that came from o_o[/justify]

Although it had only really been a sevenday or so since she had seen him, Tiani had, at some point, completely forgotten about how energetic that he had been. Or happy-go-lucky, or optimistic, or well... whatever you wanted to really call it. Come to think of it, that part in her mind was a complete blur, mostly because she was scared and confused until everything was explained to her. She couldn't remember if B'jin had tried to explain it to her, but all she knew was that he probably couldn't say anything to her that made sense over her babbling and yelling. Had she yelled? She couldn't quite recall anything that happened before she arrived at the Weyr, and was placed in a hut. She was so shocked to see dragons everywhere. Well, perhaps not everywhere, but from going from the belief that they were all but dead and gone to finding that they weren't... it was quite a shocker. She wondered what she looked like.

Tiani then grinned slightly at his apology. "It's fine, maybe I should just be a little more observant." She shrugged her shoulders again, an action that seemed to come quite naturally to her. That was just something she did when there was an awkward silence, or she just didn't know what else to say. She normally knew what to say, but she was better at talking about herbs and different remedies than she was carrying on a conversation with someone who was almost a complete stranger. She knew his name, she knew his dragon and her name, but she didn't know much about him. Other than that he completely changed her life, but that was beside the point.

Giving him a confused look, it quickly turned into an amused one as she noticed that he must have realized his error. He was quite the chatterbox, that was something that she noticed about him. An animated character, especially for what she remembered dragon riders to be. She was young when they had left, so she could hardly remember what they had actually been like. She always imagined them as stoic and somber, brave and daring, but never hyperactive and chatty. Perhaps a bit insane, because then he started on a rant again. Maybe not a rant, but his voice was getting louder and louder, so it sounded like such.

Tiani just continued to stare at him blankly, since she didn't know what having a dragon was like, and what it would be like to have one constantly in her head. The only time she had ever heard a voice in her head was his dragon, which would have been more than enough to scare her to death. They said greens were the smallest dragons, but they were pretty damn big if you asked her. She could only imagine what a gold or a bronze would look like.

He continued then, and even yelled at his dragon out loud which brought a grin to her face. It would have been quite the scene if she had no idea that there was a dragon somewhere talking to him that could actually here him. She probably would have thought she he had lost his mind or something. This whole time she had stayed quiet, mostly because she knew that it would be quite pointless to try and interject with someone who had their mind set on getting their point across. She listened to the explanation. She hadn't known that, and she also had never seen a flight. She had probably been around when it was going on, but whether she knew what was going on or not... that was the real question.

"Well, of course there's a stash of numbweed here. There's also a large variety of concoctions that I can give her to eat to deal with the pain, and the numbweed to help it, and I can also make something to put on it for the infection to go away. It's not that hard, really. Well, depending on how much I'll need. I've never really worked on a dragon with the wingspan larger than any person I've ever met before." She blinked for a moment, and turned her head to look at the cabinet again. "I can even brew you something for the stress if you'd like... you know, before you lose your mind," she said to him with a grin.

Since she assumed that he was going to be okay with everything, she grabbed the various herbs and pulled them from the cabinets. "Can you ask her not to kill me if it tastes bad?" she said with a small smirk. "And you, for that matter. Although, yours is going to taste more like...tea than anything."

With that, Tiani went to work, crushing up the herbs and tossing them in a pot before turning to the fire in the corner. "It's going to be a bit for both of these to finish brewing, or whatever you want to call it. But, in the meantime, I can apply numbweed to her wounds so it stopped hurting, and I can figure out how much of an ointment I need to make to help her infection." Tiani had only been near the dragon once, and that time still seemed like a blur to her. She knew it happened, but she couldn't recall the little details, like how large her wings were.

[justify]While B'jin still didn't know Tiani very well on a personal level, he was aware of the girl's generally given personality. Of course, said knowledge was gathered by the usual harper tactics - gossip. As such, even B'jin's occasional density was being made aware that the young woman was not everything he had heard about her, but quite a lot more! Added to that, that the healer was the first person B'jin had been allowed to steal from the North (Larrikith was very particular about her choices - I picked you didn't I?) and he was more than a little curious as to how she was coping, and, more, who she was. While he wasn't sure he could quite be friends with the girl - You idiot, why not? - he was more than delighted to try. She was proving to be a very interesting person.

While B'jin was not everything Tiani expected of a dragonrider, B'jin was moer than delighted to notice she herself was not everything he associated with Healers. She wasn't stuffy, she wasn't all-knowing, and most importantly, she wasn't shoving numbweed at him with this look of horrified delight to find out exactly what it was about him that caused the substance to blister his skin. He wasn't sure she was aware of this, ah, issue he had - Healers weren't as inclined to gossip as Harpers were - but he didn't bet on her not finding out eventually. It was pretty common knowledge, after the blow-out he had had with the Weyrleaders about his refusal to be a part of the Numbweed gathering wing. No way, no how, was he going on that. Then there was the fact that he had to have a fellow rider assist with numbing Larrikith when required. It was all very painful (never mind the Turns he'd been alone with the green. Ugh.)

"Oh, thank Faranth!" B'jin exploded in response to Tiani, and visibly fought the desire to throw himself at her in a jubilant hug. He was with it enough to be worried about how, exactly, such a hug would go down. Beside which, the girl was now tossing around herbs of various types, and he was more than a little wary. "You are a life saver!" B'jin gushed, grinning with relief and slumping happily as the weight of the world seemed to lift from his shoulders.

B'jin lost his mind Turns ago, little healer. Larrikith's input surprised B'jin who blinked rapidly and stared at Tiani, tilting his head. "See what I am subjected to?" B'jin pouted, bottom lip sticking out and his brown eyes sparkling playfully. "I'm trying to get you to help, and she is being a bully."

B'jin laughed at Tiani's request not to let Larrikith kill her, and he grinned happily. "She won't. And I'm not a fan of tea, but if it helps this headache I've got, I'm good." Creeping closer on his toes, B'jin peered over Tiani's shoulder to watch what she was doing, skipping and hopping out of her way whenever she went to grab something, his face alight with a wary curiosity. When she finished putting things in the pots to brew, B'jin pointed at the small, which he assumed was for himself. "That does not look tasty."

"Oh! Of course! Larrikith says she's just outside, and that she is quite looking forward to some relief. Of course, she didn't put it quite that nicely." He grinned, and gently grabbed Tiani's hand, and tugged her arm, impatient to be outside. "You're going to need a looooooot" he stressed the word comically, dropping the girl's hand and bouncing towards the doorway. "She has huuuuuuge wings." Still grinning teasingly, B'jin bounced out of the room and vanished out of the Healer Hall.

Just outside the main building, Larrikith was sitting on her haunches, her tail wrapped around her hind feet as she posed in a very feline manner, her head tilted to make her eye the closest part of her body as B'jin came leaping out. Grinning, the man flung himself at his dragon's maw, and hugged her, before stepping back and letting the green lower herself carefully to the ground, and timidly extend her wings. When she was poised, she turned her attention upon the young healing woman. You will see better if you climb up behind my wings. He made a real mess, I have seen through B'jin's eyes. Larrikith's voice was a deep thrum, and her eyes sparkled as she watched the girl. She wasn't really one to bespeak a non-rider often, but she did enjoy doing so occasionally - their reactions were more than worth it! Whatever you do, do not get that numbing cream anywhere near my rider, or I will eat you! Her voice took on a harsh tone then, and B'jin coughed softly, looking uncomfortable.

"Be nice, Larri. She's trying to help."

You may help now. Larrikith announced arrogantly, ignoring her rider, all her attention focused on Tiani. B'jin sighed softly, and shook his head.

"She's not normally so irritable. But, well, when you see the mess they are, you'll understand."[/justify]

---

Feel free to get creative with the damage done to her wings. I'd say it's about a week or so old, and festy xD

Making concoctions and ointments were something that Tiani was good at; she preferred dealing with injuries, and while she was never expecting to work on a dragon, she felt that it was safe to assume that it would be like healing a human who was just... a bigger size. So the numbweed was something that was easy, since she didn't have to really make anything with it, although she did get a quick idea. She had done it once before, and it had been successful. "I'm going to mix the numbweed with some aloe and garlic. I know it doesn't sound that... good, but I promise that it's used to heal external wounds. That way it can numb it and heal it at once. Then I'l make an ointment when I get back." She nodded her head then, and quickly made the concoction with the numbweed. She made a lot of numbweed. She knew how much she needed of that because of a journal that she had read while back at Fort Hold about healing dragons.

It was funny, a lot of people had odd assumptions about Healers, and Tiani seemed to ever fit the mold right, which was something that she had discovered while travelling between the Weyrs and Holds. The Holds, of course, knew more of what to expect than those at the Weyr, who often didn't get the Journeymen Healers, considering that some of their riders were more than capable of it. With them gone, though, they seemed to need the extra set of hands. They had always assumed that she would be filled with gossip, or that she was't going to want to talk, or that she wouldn't be gentle... They were always wrong. She was quite the character, especially for a Healer. She was more down-to-earth than any other Healer she had met.

Tiani couldn't help but grin at B'jin's excitement, and replied with a simple, "I try." Of course, she was joking, in a way, but she was going to try her hardest to make everything alright. That was when a voice had entered her head, and though she had heard it before, she just wasn't used to it. She stopped what she was doing, a confused look on her face, but then she couldn't help but laugh. "I see that," she mused aloud, not quite sure how so speak back. Could she just think it? Is that how the dragon could hear her? She had no idea.

Then B'jin started again, and Tiani couldn't help but laugh softly, especially with the expression on his face. "I think you would bully her a little bit if the situation was reversed," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Maybe it helps her forget about the pain?" She frowned for a second, then let it fade.

While she was brewing in the smaller pot, she could feel B'jin somewhere close behind her, but he seemed to be able to judge her moves pretty well. He went left when she did, he went right when she did; so he was never in her way. "I promise, it doesn't taste as bad as it looks. It doesn't smell that much different than tea. I can probably but a few other herbs in it like mint to make it taste better?" she offered with a small smile. She knew that it probably looked like something nasty, but it was better than stressing out for the rest of your life, right?

As soon as Tiani had the package that was filled with the numbweed salve that she had made, her hand was being tugged by B'jin and she stumbled behind him until she caught up and he dropped her hand. She followed him outside, where the green dragon sat waiting, looking much like a feline curled up like that. "It might take a bit longer, but I can make as much as needed. You can help if you want, it'll make it go by a lot quicker," she said with a small smile as she turned her attention back to the dragon.

Then the dragon spoke to her again, and Tiani looked shocked and confused, blinking for a few moments until she realized that it was once again the dragon. It was strange, staring at a dragon who was hardly moving, and still having that voice in her head. She nodded as she got the instructions to climb up behind her wings, and then the threat followed not long after that. "I promise I won't touch him with it," she said, a little nervous as she adjusted the package filled with the salve. She climbed, then, slowly and carefully, until she was situated behind her wings.

"By the first Egg... this does not look pretty," she mumbled, mostly to herself. "No wonder she's bullying you! I would be too. I can only imagine the pain," she continued as she took the salve and leaned to the farthest of the cuts first, gentle rubbing it on each cut. She went with the left wing first, as it seemed to be a little bit more damaged than the right. Then her attention was turned to the dragon's right wing, and she once against started with the farthest cut and worked her way in. "Does that feel better? I mixed some healing herbs in with the numbweed, so the infection should be killed off by the time the numbweed wears off." She nodded her head then, but didn't get down quite yet just in case she had missed a spot. She was sure the dragon would let her know.

"Why don't you like numbweed?" she asked. She had heard some of the other Healers joking about him and numbweed one day, but she wasn't paying enough attention to really know that it was because he was allergic. She simply assumed that he didn't like the way it felt when it was numb, because it did feel a bit... well, odd.  A relief, yes, but it was odd.

[justify]"Okay," B'jin said easily, letting the girl pull the shots, as he had no idea at all about the ins and outs of healing. He knew what made him sick, and he knew what to avoid, but he was pretty nieve when it came to what would make him - or his dragon - better. If the girl said aloe and garlic was what the numbweed need to make his precious green's wings better, well, then, aloe and garlic away! B'jin grinned. "Better than feeding it to her. Garlic breath, on draconic proportions!" The rider shuddered comically.

B'jin's comical pout was back in place when the healer agreed with his dragon's comment about his lack of sanity, but he brightened when she spoke to him. His eyes widened dramatically and he held a hand to his chest, looking bewildered. "Me? Bully? But I'm far too sweet!" Even as he spoke, his features moulded into a look of childish innocence and sickly sweetness. "I wouldn't dream of bullying dear, sweet Larrikith." You are so full of ash. B'jin burst out laughing. "So long as I can drink it fast, it doesn't matter what it taste like, Tiani." B'jin replied to her musing on the tea, "I don't plan on it being in my mouth long enough to taste it." He smiled, less outrageously, and inclined his head.

As the young woman scrambled up the side of his dragon, B'jin shook his head dramatically at her offering for him to help. "Ah, that's okay. You have it well under control." B'jin shuffled slightly on the spot, anxious and unhappy at being unable to see what was going on. He knew what Larrikith's joints currently looked like, and the pretty dragon had seen them through his own eyes herself, to her distress. While not a particularly vain dragon, Larrikith was proud of her appearance, and seeing the mess the blue had made of her wing joints had distressed her - though not nearly as much as the invading infection had done. Her inability to fly had restricted her ability to eat and it was making her very unhappy and unsure of herself. Dragons were meant to fly!

Swinging her head low, Larrikith blinked at B'jin who stepped closer and rubbed her eye ridges absently for a moment. After a slight nudge from his life mate, B'jin climbed up her neck, being careful to mind where Tiani was rubbing in the numbweed, and settled himself on her neck, just out of reach of the joints. A low rumble rippled through Larrikith's throat, and she took in a great breath, blowing it out gently. B'jin smiled, a truly relaxed smile, and gently patted Larrikith's neck.

"That's much better. But she says you missed a bit over there." B'jin pointed in the direction of Larrikith's left joint, and indicated an area slightly outside the radar of scratches. "She says there is a small part there that pains her." B'jin frowned slightly, face taking on a blank expression. "Oh. It's unrelated!" He grinned. "She has an itchy patch where new skin is growing through. If you could numb it for now, I just have to oil it later."

As Larrikith rejoiced in the numbness of her wings, she stretched the large appendages out as far as she could in each direction, and then upwards as high as they would go, making cooing sounds in the back of her throat as she did so. Thank you, little healer. Larrikith's voice was a softly murmured whisper as she wriggled happily. B'jin flung himself from her neck with a practised leap, and landed with cat like grace at her feet. Rolling her shoulders, Larrikith gently folded her wings in to her sides, and sat up slowly, watching Tiani carefully to make sure she didn't disrupt the girl that had just helped her.

As B'jin watched the pair, he scrunched his nose up and tilted his head at Tiani. "We don't get along." He stated simply. Larrikith snorted a gusty breath of air that was obviously laughter, and flicked her tail tip to be around her toes. Turning to look at Tiani over her shoulder with a movement that was very reminiscent of an eyebrow arching in amusement, the dragon snorted in amusement again.

"She's saying things that pretty ladies shouldn't be privy to." B'jin offered, when he realised Larrikith was talking to Tiani, but not allowing the girl to hear her. Silly dragon. "I have a reaction to it. It isn't pretty, it isn't fun, and it doesn't numb me!" His eyes widened, and he stared up at Tiani, he got in with the defensive as soon as he could: "and it's NOT funny!"

Larrikith resorted to gustily expelled breaths of laughter.[/justify]

A scream and a clatter of metal nearby disrupts the relative calm of the healers hall, accompanied by the exciting yipping of a dog that's getting louder and louder. Streams of curses and choruses of "catch that sharding dog" are following it.

Tiani was nervous; she was nervous that she was sitting on the back of a dragon, and also nervous that the dragon was obviously not hers. It wasn't that she ever expected to have a dragon of her own, but it almost felt like she was being responsible for someone else's property. Larrikith was far from property, so she assumed the nervousness was better referred to like babysitting someone else's little Weyrbrat when you had no experience with them. She was a Healer, yes, but dragons were a lot different than humans were. She never had the chance to deal with dragons, since up in the North they had no idea that they were even still around. There was one beneath her now, though, and whose wings she was patching up. There was no way that this could possibly be an illusion.

She chuckled at his obvious sarcasm and comedic tone when he said that he would never bully Larrikith, and she shook her head. She would have agreed with Larrikith, had she known what she had said, but in a light manner of course. She had no idea what they were like all the time. He seemed to mean well, though, and that was usually all that mattered, right?

The numbing salve that was on her hands made her hands go numb, but she was used to the feeling. Tiani didn't bother grabbing any gloves or anything to protect her hands from it, simply because she was so used to working under situations that didn't have time for such tedious things. She had toughed it out before, and she could tough it out again. Plus, she wasn't going to make the poor dragon wait any more than she had to. Since the infection sank it, she could only imagine what it would feel like. Or maybe she couldn't, since the infected parts, had they been connected, would have probably been larger than her entire body.

She looked up for a moment when B'jin climbed atop Larrikith and then went back to work, and finally thought she was done. When she heard that she had missed a spot, she got that nervous feeling in her stomach again, as if she had done something wrong. She got that every now and then, especially when she thought she did something terribly, terribly wrong. She relaxed instantly as soon as he said that it was just an itchy patch and she laughed. "Of course, I can do that," she commented as she leaned toward the spot and applied the rest of the salve on it. "I bet that feels ten times better," she said with a smile. "Maybe I'll go give that blue a piece of my mind," she teased. That would go over... very well.

Having no idea how to get off the dragon herself, and knowing that she would probably break something had she jumped like B'jin, she used the back of Larrikith like a slide, and made her way slowly down the back of her before she stepped aside. "You're welcome," she replied with a nod of her head. "If it gets bad again, all you have to do is let me know and I can numb it again, but the infection should go away before it wears off."

Confused when the dragon turned her head toward her, she looked at the expression on her face and grinned; she could only imagine the things that were being said, and she laughed. She knew that whatever she was saying was unpleasant, and B'jin made that apparent. "You're allergic to numbweed?" she finally asked him. She didn't think it was funny, probably because she was used to taking her job as a Healer seriously. She felt... bad. "Well, there's alternatives..." she began, but her voice drifted off as she heard a loud noise that sounded like metal falling. Then there was the sound of a canine, and Tiani looked about in confusion. She had never passed a canine in the healer's hall... So what was going on?

Then came the voices - or curses more or less - of everyone else that must have been quietly working up until that moment and she laughed. "We best go check that out, yeah? Might be worth some entertainment," she said as she began to venture back into the Healer's hall, curious as to what might have happened.