[Training] Healing Hands

There were evenings he walked quietly, lost in thoughts too grim for music or problems that refused to be solved, and then there were the nights like this when he hummed, his steps verging on a dance as he made his stately way through the settlement and towards the Temple that housed his place of work – and the place one of his dearest friends on Caido worked, too. It wasn’t that he’d been avoiding the infirmary, but there was just so much to do and never enough time in the day, and he hadn’t wanted to interrupt or make a nuisance of himself when there were those in the midst of a medical emergency...

Well. He hadn’t been consciously avoiding the infirmary, when he had so many rationales for other things taking precedence. But Isla had offered and he had accepted… and as Long Night drew nearer, he was developing an unsettled sense of something approaching that he didn’t understand, and wouldn’t until it was too late. There were warnings in his books and in the words of his native-born friends, but far too few details. There was dark, and cold, and fear…

And blood.

The last thing Jigano thought he wanted was to hold responsibility for people’s lives in his hands again. He had been so arrogant once – and still, in smaller ways – and his decisions had gotten people killed. His mistakes had gotten people killed. And once the weight of the world had no longer hung from his shoulders he had fled his responsibilities and sought refuge in anonymity. But he had also had magic then, his own and items that had allowed for swift and painless healing. He no longer had that, and if one of his friends or someone he could have helped suffered because of his ignorance…

Was there any greater sin, for a lorekeeper?

Well, yes. But it was at least high on the list.

So, humming to keep his spirits up – and because he was looking forward to seeing Isla again - Jigano found his way to the infirmary’s door and poked his head in with a smile. His hair was bound tightly back in a braid and he wore old clothes that were clean but growing a bit frayed about the edges in case stains were involved – though he hoped that for his first lessons they might avoid that. ”Is the lady healer in?” he asked, pitching his voice to reach back to the study if she wasn’t immediately in sight.

"She is, indeed!" Isla's voice came from one of the treatment rooms, though the door was open suggesting that it wasn't too bad. If Jigano stepped in to investigate he would find the healer in question tying off a bandage on the elbow of a gangly teenager - there was a similar one on his knee. "Best to watch where you're going on your way home, okay?" She smiled to him, straightening up. "You're all set."

Not wanting to impose any further (and mightily embarrassed, no doubt, for falling and losing pride as well as the skin on his knee and his elbow), the teenager scarpered, sidling past Jigano and out of the infirmary with nothing more than an awkward thanks. Isla smirked, making sure everything was clean and her supplies were away before she turned to greet her new student.

"You're looking ready and willing," she murmured, giving him a warm smile. "It's good to see you outside of the Glade, I'll admit. And things are relatively quiet tonight so, barring the unexpected, we should get some good training in."

Isla sounded cheerfully hard at work but not unduly stressed, so the bard stepped into the Infirmary, looking around in curiosity as he made his way towards the room the voice had emerged from. There was, in fact, a patient, but his wounds seemed superficial enough to require only minor treatment. Indeed, the boy fled the moment he was released, and Jigano had to hide a grin at his retreating backside when the lad nearly bumped into another table on the way out.

"I suspect he'll be back before too long," he murmured, giving his friend a wink. "He seems like one of your regulars - though I could hardly blame him, with such charming treatment!" There was a time and place for theatrics, but the infirmary seemed like neither, so Jigano settled for placing a hand on his chest and giving his new mentor a shallow bow of greeting.

"If we are lucky, things will stay quiet for a little while. I don't fancy being pressed into service quite so soon! But I am here and at your disposal, Grace-ful Isla. Please, how shall we begin? With theory? Or with practice? If nothing else you can put me to work cleaning tools and folding bandages," he offered gallantly.

Instinctively, Isla dipped into a quick curtsey in response to Jigano's bow, the medic grinning to him and shrugging. He's a regular alright, but that's more because he was clumsy anyway. Now the ground is icy I'll be surprised if he doesn't fall again before he gets home from here." Chuckling, she heard him out and thought for a moment, glancing around the treatment room and analysing the state of the infirmary so far tonight.

"Whilst the menial work would be more than appreciated, perhaps we will leave that to the end," she murmured. "Cleaning down is important, but it does you no good in an emergency. When I was learning, I found a mix of theory and practice was perfect. It helped what I was learning to stick in my head more."

So saying, Isla began to get out a few basic tools - bandages, swabs, a hooked needle for sutures, a scalpel and some gauze, along with a few other things. Once that was all set up, she smirked at Jigano and hopped up to sit on the bed where the teenager had been a few moments before.

"Today I will be your patient," she said. "I feel no pain and I've been led to believe that I can heal relatively quickly anyway, so this should work well. What do you say?"

Their shared humor over the unfortunate teen was a bright spark in the bard's chest, and he listened cheerfully to her wisdom, nodding in understanding. "That makes sense, and I found the same - though in different fields, of course," he agreed readily, shadowing her at a courteous distance as she began to putter around gathering their supplies. He noted where things were kept, and in what order so that he'd be able to help put them away later, but raised a brow as she hopped up on the bed herself.

At her declaration he drew in a sharp breath, allowing her to see his discomfiture as he tucked is long-fingered hands into his sleeves and regarded her with far more solemnity. "You've been led to believe, but you don't know for certain?" he clarified, a questioning note in his voice. "Isla, even if it's true... I can't say that I'm comfortable cutting into a perfectly well person - a friend - especially when I may very well make mistakes and hurt you more. And..." He hesitated, thinking on a recent conversation with Sam. "If you are hurt and need... fluid..." he didn't quite stumble over the word, but said it slowly. "Is the shrine in the back of the Temple near enough for you to replenish at?"

Of all the things Isla had expected in offering herself as their training dummy, so to speak, reluctance and worry had not been one of them. Perhaps she had been too hasty in her assumptions and plans; the last thing she wanted to do was make Jigano feel uncomfortable. "Well, I am able to... monitor myself, if you understand my meaning. I haven't had any injuries since I ascended, really, but I am reasonably confident that my body will be fine."

But it seemed Jigano was giving it much more thought (evidently) than Isla, and she folded her hands in her lap and smile to him apologetically. "The shrine in the Temple is not far away at all, so I would be able to make it should the worst happen. But... you are right, perhaps I ought to have given this more consideration. Please accept my apologies, Jigano. There are other ways we might train." So saying, she hopped off the bed and wheeled the little table with the tools on between them, offering for him to take one of the seats.

Since it hadn't actually been put to the test yet, Jigano was less sanguine about Isla's ability to recognize injury and heal herself, especially since she had difficulty with sensation now. He trusted his friend, though, to know herself and her new body better than he could. That much they could agree on, but... cutting into her? He was not, by nature, squeamish. If he had been once, it was true no longer. But slicing open a friend simply to learn something that should surely be taught on a non-living subject first? No, he was not happy about that.

Luckily the duchess was gracious, and kind enough to accept his reservations and work around them. "Accepted, of course, especially since you were only trying to help," he demurred with a shake of his head, the smile returning to his lips. He took the offered seat and eyed the tray of tools curiously. He could name them all, recognized them from books and diagrams, but aside from basic bandages and gauze had never had reason to touch a suturing needle or scalpel before. "Perhaps," he began hesitantly, "you could begin by showing me some of the suture types you know, on a piece of cloth maybe? And then correct me as I practice them? It might not be the same as skin, but it's a place to start at least."

Taking a seat opposite the bard, Isla nodded to him; that sounded like a very intelligent and good place to begin. "I was a surgeon before I branched out to run the whole infirmary, so I know a lot of sutures that belong within the body - I'll leave those out." Winking, she prepared a folded strip of sturdy cloth that they might practice upon. That done, she walked Jigano through the needles she had prepared, as well as the suture thread.

"You can have a continuous suture," she murmured, expertly stitching them in a row using one piece of thread. "And interrupted sutures." This time, with each stitch she tied off the thread and began afresh. "Both give a fairly strong close to a wound, but with interrupted sutures if one pops, the rest of the wound will still remain secure," she explained.

"Do you want to give both of those a try?"

"A surgeon," Jigano mused, considering Isla's sharp mind, and now watching her deft fingers. He bit back his comment about magical healing on his world, remembering her family, and simply smiled instead. "Yes, let's start with the basics, please. And hope I don't find myself needing to stitch anyone's organs up anytime soon!"

"I can do a fairly neat stitch with a straight needle, but I've never held one like this before," he admitted, picking it up gingerly when his turn came. He poked it carefully through the cloth, pulling the thread behind it until the knot pulled firm and trying to copy Isla's continuous suture. His stitch was wider than hers at first, but it steadied as he grew more comfortable with how the needle rocked through the fabric and when he tied it off it was looking tolerable, with a neat, strong knot.

The interrupted suture was almost easier, both from more familiarity with the needle and being able to close each stitch off before he started the next. Long, slender fingers moved with increasing confidence as he copied his friend's lines before presenting the fabric with rueful smile. "Clearly I will need to practice but will this do for a start? Or are there any glaring errors I should address in my technique before we move on?"

Isla watched Jigano carefully and with patience as he practiced his first sutures, smiling and nodding to encourage him as his hand seemed to grow more steady and his stitches became neater. "No," she assured him, "you're a very quick study, it seems. They're looking good, though I must stress that it can be a lot different when it is flesh instead of cloth. And when the person is moving and squirming, and the wound is bleeding."

She winked to him. "But as far as practice goes, you know more than you did before, right? I think I'm happy to move on and we can come back to this at a later time. What else would you like to learn? Do you know how to treat broken bones? Or head injuries?" Sometimes having such a wealth of knowledge at varying degrees of detail could work to her disadvantage.

Jigano grinned at her assurances, finding himself no less proud of this than when he deciphered part of a new text or found a rare journal. "I have an excellent teacher," he riposted gallantly. Her qualifications had his grin turning crooked a moment later, however, and he gave a rueful shake of his head. "My, it does sound so much more charming when you put it that way." He winked to accompany his dry humor. "Hopefully we can work up to that slowly, though. Blood doesn't bother me, but trying to stitch up someone who was squirming would definitely give me pause." He would attempt it if he had to, but he fervently hoped he would have quite a bit more chance to practice under calm, controlled conditions first.

"I know generally that broken bones should be straightened and then tied to a rigid support," he said slowly, "though I've never had to do it 'hands-on' before. Healing magic was common enough in my world that it was rare to fall back on the essentials... something I regret now." He chuckled. "But, as you said, I am learning more with every minute spent in your company, my wise friend. So... perhaps head injuries, next? I admit to being less familiar with those, even in theory. I know to check the eyes to see if they have trouble focusing, and slurred speech but... I'm afraid that is as far as my diagnosis goes, and aside from 'throw magic at it until it gets better' I know even less about treatment. What would you suggest?"

"It can definitely be more exciting, shall we say." Isla grinned to him; personally, she preferred them squirming unless they were medicated. Someone who wasn't squirming was likely in enough trouble that they were unconscious, and that was a worse situation by far. Her grin faded into a small and humble smile at his reference to her being 'wise', of all things, Isla hearing him out and nodding.

"That's good, though, that you're at least aware of the basics. If I had been born with healing magic then no doubt I would have been using it, too." There was nothing wrong with that, in her opinion, but it definitely would have made things more difficult.

Head injuries, then. Isla straightened up, recalling her basic mental checklist for something of that sort. "So your ideal patient is someone who can talk to you," she murmured, smirking. "You can check whether or not they have fallen unconscious, where they hit their head, what happened and so on. I always check to make sure there's no bleeding or obvious swelling, and I ask if they remember what happened. If they don't, or if they seem nauseated or disorientated, they may have a concussion. That isn't normally something I would keep someone in the infirmary for, unless it was particularly severe or if they didn't have anyone to keep watch over them."

"The potential for it is not the same is its use," he said, flicking his fingers dismissively at his youthful foolishness. "My mother's magics were small enough that she used a combination of them and more traditional healing techniques, and I learned quite a bit from watching her before I turned to books. Even as I got older and started coming into my power I relied on magical items for a long, long time. It wasn't until later that I learned healing spells that were more serious in nature, but even those had limits." He smiled wryly, remembering with a little regret how resistant he'd been to learning healing spells when he could learn spells of charm and luck and harm instead. But he had been younger then, more eager for glory, and just more... whole.

And it wasn't as though he had been able to bring any of it with him anyways.

"So what do you do if they are unconscious? If there is bleeding or swelling of their head?" he asked curiously, absorbing the information like an eager sponge. "And how do you decide if a concussion is severe enough to remain here or mild enough to be sent home?"

"Well, this place isn't short on magical items either," Isla murmured with a smile. "Knowledge I have in abundance, it's true, but I will always use something that gives me the chance to save lives more quickly or comfortably." She shrugged, listening to his questions and stifling a grin at how quickly he was picking everything up, or how interested he was to learn.

"That depends," she murmured. "Usually I would need to defer to someone with magical expertise for a diagnosis, but since I got new eyes... well, I might be able to find that out myself. Sometimes it requires surgery, as there could be internal trauma or bleeding on the brain..." That was far too complex, though, for today's lesson.

His second question, though, she could answer. "Regardless of how minor it was, I would always keep someone in if they had nobody to go home with. It's important to monitor the patient at least overnight. If they are vomiting, though, or they are dizzy or in a lot of pain, I would likely want to keep an eye on them in that case, too. Does that make sense?"

Sitting back from their little table with the suturing equipment, Isla turned to take note of everything else she had brought with her. "So that's head injuries, stitches... do you know how to perform resuscitation should a person stop breathing?"