Meeting with a Healer (Enald, Healer)

[kayla]

Leshya had found the head of Telgar's healers, and made her concercn about the sickness that was spreading through Telgar and now the Hold proper clear. She also expressed that she was not just concerned about herself or Enald, but about all the Hold, especially the children. He had agreed to meet with her and Enald that evening before dinner, to let them know the gravity of the situation and everything that he knew.

Leshya had been raised to be a proper lady. As much as she wanted to pace, she was sitting at Enald's desk - rather than her own which had been moved in - when the Healer arrived in the study.

Her husband was pragmatic. He was not overly concerned about what would happen if she was pregnant and got sick. Worse case scenario, for him, seemed to be a dimglow, or even a deadglow, who would be sent to work for his brother. The thought made Leshya's heart hurt. She wanted children; she wanted to be pregnant, but she also wanted healthy happy intelligent children. Especially the first one.

However, she understood her husband's pragmatic approach. It would be fine. He was a pragmatic optimist, and Lesh had to admit that made her smile some and take comfort from him even when she was terrified.

"The Healer should be coming soon, dear." She knew Enald knew that, but he also had other matters demanding his attention - and she was too distracted to be of much help to him, as much as she wanted to be. She wondered if he was regretting her sharing the study with him - though she hoped he knew she'd be more helpful under not so dire circumstances.

[thedreamerlady]

"I know." Enald replied mildly, leaning against the wall. Though it wasn't a problem, he'd been usurped from his desk, and his wife didn't appear to be doing anything. It would mean he couldn't do anything until the Healer came, but he supposed that wasn't a bad thing. Besides- he could work through several problems without the hides.

He really didn't know why he had to be part of this meeting. The welfare of the Hold was his Wife, and the Headwoman's responsibilities, but asking would only provoke another fight- something he wanted to avoid. Fighting caused stress, and stress was keeping her from having children. Shifting slightly, Enald stared at the door, waiting for the Healer to arrive.

Adjusting his brown shirt slightly, Enald wondered if he could get his new cothold approved without bringing it up to the Conclave. He couldn't remember if he only needed Fort Weyr's approval or not. He'd have to ask his new harper after this was over.

[kayla]

She hadn't meant to usurp his seat. She had started off sitting at the side, and to be honest, she was not even entirely sure how she had wound up in her husband's chair. She knew she was preoccupied, but she had not realized that it had been that bad. She smiled up at him, "Sorry, dear."

She stood, it would do no good for the Healer to find her at her husband's seat. Though the man would surely knock before coming in. Leshya moved over to her husband, "I'm sorry, I'm not sure how I ended up taking your seat."

She smiled up to him even as she hugged to him, "Thank you, Enald." She knew he didn't fully understand her fear or her desire for him to be here for this meeting, but she was glad he'd agreed. "Maybe you're right and this isn't that serious. If so, I'm sorry for taking you away from your work. But thank you for indulging me in this."

[hrsegrl]

The tall, gruff man entered the hallway to the Lord Holder's study. A wrinkled forehead and quinting, light blue eyes told of years of reading, study and worry. The man rapped softly on the door. His size would suggest a louder noise but at 71 it was hardly easy to be loud. Besides one could hear the coughing and sneezing better when quiet.

The Lady had questions for the MasterHealer of Pern but the man was decidedly busy. He was being conveyed, dragonback to several, more serious locations of outbreak. Disease... yet to be named a plague.

He wore a comfortable pair of shoes on days like these. His thick cloak covered most of his body and was a ruddy brown. All in all the man looked ancient but wise. He waited for the Lady or Lord to answer his knocking.

[kayla]

She almost sighed, so much for wanting a moment of comfort from her husband. She'd kiss his cheek and then smile, "I'll get it." After all, she was the Lady - the Hostess.

She moved over to the door and would open it, "Welcome. Come in, please. I know you're busy with the disease spreading so quickly, but we appreciate you coming to meet with us. I know that a couple of the children among the drudges have already died to this disease. How many others have we lost? What all can you tell us?"

She did have specific questions, but she would wait to see what the man would volunteer himself. The less questions she had to ask, the less she gave away.

[thedreamerlady]

Enald retook his seat as Leshya answered the knock at the door. Attacking a smile to his face, he allowed Leshya to take control of the interview. He wasn't exactly known as a man who liked to talk(indeed, his wife probably heard more from than the rest of the hold put together, and so it was easy to get out of speaking roles), and so he could get away with her taking control.

The man behind the door was a man that Enald was fairly well aquatinted with. He was the one who was nearly always sent to debrief Telgar Hold Major about anything was going on, be it a sickness, or warn them to get sun, as to not become vitamin D deficient.

Nodding his head in the Healers direction, Enald trusted that either Leshya would offer him a seat, or he'd take one on his own, the Lord Holder waited for the response to Lesh's questions.

[hrsegrl]

He greeted the Lady properly before entering the study. She was bursting with questions. Not that it should suprise him but he was not well acquainted with Lady Leshya yet. Lord Enald was in his chair behind the desk. The Healer took this opportunity to sit down as well.

Olren waited a moment, settling in, to respond to the Lady Holder's questions. "My dear, one question at a time." She almost sounded too worried when she spoke so much in succession. "The disease is spreading throughout Pern at a very quick rate though it is not fatal to all residents. The very young children and the very elderly are at the most risk. "

He looked intently at the young woman, "The disease is spread from contact with someone who has it or from being coughed or sneezed on. It is best that if you ahve an area where many children or older folk congregate to seperate them. Less risk for fatalities. There ought to be very little issue in the more rural cotholds. Places with a lot of people are at more risk. As of now we do not have an accurate death toll."

[kayla]

"Would you like something to drink?" She blushed slightly at being told she was asking too many questions. She would wait for the answer to his question before she took her own seat. She would pour a glass of water for herself and her husband,

"I'll talk to the Headwoman about seperating the children." She nodded at that.

"Can you tell us how many of the Holds children we're likely to lose? And at what age are children more likely to survive this illness?"

For the moment, she'd keep her own major concerns to herself. She did not want to seem selfish in her concerns, and her heart did go out to those parents who were losing their children to this thing.

[hrsegrl]

"No, thank you. I'll require accomodations for the evening, if it won't inconvenience you too much." The Healer was attempting at politeness though to be honest he had and always would be a fairly simple man not the best with people.

He looked over at Enald momentarily. He seemed content to let the Lady handle this. That was fine with Olren as well. "The children most affected will be under the age of eight. After a certain age, the older the person the weaker they are and hence less able to fight the disease, that goes for children in the reverse, the younger they are, the weaker. I'd say the highest risks would be new borns to those about the age of three."

[kayla]

She nodded and brought the glasses of water over, putting one down in front of her husband and taking sip from the other. "Of course. We'll have a room readied for you. If you need anything, food or drink, it'll be provided." In fact she was pretty sure that one of the rooms she had kept constantly ready was probably ready now.

"Three and under... thats already a dangerous age." That could mean that almost none in that age group - one with an already high death rate would live. She hoped not, and the tragedy of losing that many lives... she closed her eyes imagining the pain that would cost the Hold.

She frowned, since they were talking about who would be affected much, she asked the question which was burning for her. "What about unborn babies? I mean... if a pregnant woman gets the disease. How would it affect the baby?"

There were other questions. She knew her husband wanted to know if it had spread to the weyr, and probably how many other Holds were fighting this as well, but she'd agreed to try to just ask one question at a time.

[hrsegrl]

The older man nodded. It was to be expected. There would be losses, many in fact. He had no doubt that the number of children in that age group would be diminished considerably.

"The disease has only just started Lady, so we cannot be sure if the unborn are affected at all. Some women, as with all illness, may lose a pregnancy if they become ill. This will generally occur during the first three months of the pregnancy. Women with a longer pregnancy will be less likely to ahve any issue, as far as we know. As with all disease, pregnant women may pass on some immunity to a disease if she had it during the preganancy. In this case, the baby may actually have an advantage over a child who has been weaned."

[kayla]

Leshya almost chewed her lip as she thought over his answer, but made a point not to. She was not entirely sure what to do with the possibilites he gave her. She didn't even think she was pregnant, just that they were trying and it was always a possibility.

She'd glance over to her husband. As much as she hated to admit it, if he asked her to not help with the sick, to quaranteen herself from them, she would not fight with him over it. She'd hate it. But she would agree and not fight him. She also wouldn't volunteer to take those restrictions though. Her place as Lady Holder was to be there helping their people, making sure that their people, of all ranks, knew that their Lord and Lady cared about and valued them.

"How far has the disease spread? Other Holds? The Weyrs?" She knew that had been one of her husband's questions, and it was a good question. If perhaps Telgar was the only Hold suffering this... then when the lost age group became a problem, perhaps it would not be too much of a problem. Though she hated to think in those terms.

"Is there anything else that we can do to help those who are sick? A treatment that eases their suffering or..." She wanted to ask for a cure, but she was pretty certain they would have been told of that from the beginning if they had one, "How close are you to a cure?"

[hrsegrl]

The healer's casual tone changed when he moved on to the locations of the disease. "The other Holds that have contracted the disease are Crom, High Reaches, Lemos and parts of Igen. Though Telgar and Crom have the most reported fatalities second only to Telgar Weyr. The Weyr is reporting losses of mostly children daily."

The Healer looked overly concerned having shared information about the Weyr being weak. They had a lot of children in one area. Of all places Telgar Weyr was getting the brunt of the disease. "There are rumours that Retired Weyrwoman Marisol has contracted it." He added, frowning even more. If the Lord and Lady had met her they would know she was a very formiddable person.

"My suggestion is to isolate yourselves from people for now. The Master Healer of Pern is currently working on a treatment plan. In the interrim, treat symptoms as needed. Fevers need to be cooled, a little fellis might ease pain from excessive coughing. For now, I wouldn't come into too much contact with the ill. We believe the disease is fast and mostly kills by creating high fevers."

[kayla]

She frowned at the report of the spreading, especially that only the Weyr had it worse than they themselves did. She hadn't realized how affected the Hold had been. She grimaced at hearing that the retired weyrwoman had it. She had never met her, but she had heard things about her - primarily from Enald's father about how much above her station she'd risen and how the new weyrwoman Elisha had the right idea about a woman's place.

"Why do we need to isolate ourselves? We're not extremely young, elderly, or sickly. From what you've told us, the illness offers little threat to healthy adults." She did not argue, she just pressed the Healer.

"We'll make sure our people know how to treat it, and we'll send the word out to the rest of the Hold." The head woman could make sure that there were people assigned to make sure that the children are cared for.

[hrsegrl]

He shook his head at that. "Just because you are not vulnerable doesn't mean you can't carry the disease to those who are." The common folk would be at more risk than the Lord and Lady for they had less healing knowledge and generally poorer conditions of living. "I would suggest that it is done as soona s you are able. When I get more news from the Healer Hall I will inform you." He added. The thing was, he really didn't know what else to tell them.

"If that is all, I would like to take my leave." He waited for permission from either the Lord or Lady and remained seated in his chair.