Meeting of Masters

Writers: Halyonix, Shawna
Date Posted: 30th March 2026

Characters: Alyndra, Laithan
Description: Alyndra invades the healer hall
Location: Healer Hall
Date: month 10, day 26 of Turn 12
Notes: Follows DFW: A Half Step behind

Alyndra was on a mission. The Weyrhealer had stormed the Healer Hall around mid-afternoon, insisting that she wanted to talk to the Hallmaster urgently. It had occurred to her to send a message requesting a convenient time, but she’d rejected that, wanting to talk to him while her ire was still raised and not wanting to risk being put off for whatever of the myriad of reasons her fellow healers usually dismissed her for.

Besides, she was a Weyrhealer, it entitled her to a little well-earned abruptness. She had found someone to point her in the direction of where the Hallmaster could be found, though she’d quickly gotten turned around. She’d never actually stepped foot in one of the ‘Halls before, preferring to stay at the Weyrs where she was more welcome, and the unfamiliar layout quickly had her lost and demanding a different passerby point her in the right direction.

At least that meant that Master Laithan had certainly been warned that there was an annoyed looking greenrider insisting she was Dragonsfall's Weyrhealer looking for him by the time she finally tracked down his office.

"You can stop raising a ruckus in my Hall," Laithan warned her as she came in. Dragonriders. They were all the same: pretentious little prigs who needed to remember their pre-dragonrider roots. He was standing behind his desk, having been interrupted, and was pinning Alyndra with his charcoal dark eyes. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Master Alyndra, Weyrhealer of Dragonsfall Weyr. And I came to find out why I was the last person to know the Hall had a fancy new prosthetic that could benefit one of my riders." She crossed her arms and met his gaze without flinching.

She had spirit. He respected that. Now here's hoping she had brains too. Or at least enough humility to realize that she wasn't privy to _everything_. He put together her rank, her location, and all of the possible candidates with a new prosthetic (it was less than five) before crossing his arms in mirror pose and saying, "It's a prototype. And if it's still working as good as I designed it in six months, we can start working on more." While each case was patient-specific, the premise was mostly the same. "So, you're friends with K'leriac, I'm guessing."

"I am, but I'm here as the Weyrhealer, not his friend. I don't play favorites with the people under my care." At least not in any way that mattered or that she was willing to admit to Master Laithan. "I should have been informed that one of the riders under my care was going to be part of an experiment. He said there's hopes to get him properly back on dragonback." None of the light work only he'd been doing.

"High probability, not hopes," Laithan corrected her. "I don't work on hope. I work on iterations. And it's not my fault that he came to me for a second opinion. We're a teaching Hall, after all. Why wouldn't we have some of the latest treatments in our knowledge?"

"You should have them, but I should know about them," Alyndra countered, "If I know what you're working on, I can better refer suitable patients. Like K'leriac."

"He hasn't been so bad," the Hallmaster answered. "Far more polite than _some_ people." He exhaled dramatically and waved at one of the chairs. "Sit. Let me show you what we've been working on." If she was going to take up his time, he may as well figure out how to turn it into his advantage. He had worked at a Weyr before, he knew how to deal with riders. If he could make an ally here instead of an enemy, that might help his Hall more somehow.

He withdrew a stack of scrolls from one of the shelves and unrolled it on his desk. "This is our first few prototypes. You can see how we changed it up based on his needs. He hasn't come back complaining loudly yet so I'm going to assume that this one--" and he pointed one of the later sketches, "--is working out for him."

Alyndra took the chair, pulling it closer to the desk to study the sketches. "Yes, he's said it was an improvement and he seems to be walking easier." She turned the sketch towards herself more. "Do you have anything similar in the works for above the knee amputations? We have some of those. They tend to be less mobile than K'leriac, and a little less stable on their dragons, so less likely to wind up here for a second opinion."

"Knee?" Laithan echoed. His charcoal eyes darkened in thought. "Prosthetics involved a joint are harder to fix. I don't have anything built out yet but we can workshop it if you've got an idea." Knees were a good way to keep steady on a dragon or runner. Laithan was fairly certain he could rig a strap system that would replace that but as far as other mobility... "Does the Weyr use wheeled chairs?" he asked. Faranth he hoped so! Crutches were a pain in the wherry's ass to work with long term.

"I don't have any real ideas- this isn't my area of expertise, I'm afraid. I'm more experienced with the initial injuries." Sighing, Alyndra said, "There have been a few, but not many. Honestly, for those who permanently needed a wheeled chair, I'd gently encourage a relocation. Between the snow and the stairs, Dragonsfall isn't the friendliest location for that type of thing. We'd never kick someone out, of course, but..." she shrugged, "there are more more accomodating locales."

"Yeah, I can't imagine cutting stone into accessible ramps would be easy to do," Laithan agreed sourly. Alright, so wheeled chairs would be out of the question for Dragonsfall at least. He scratched his short hair while he thought. "I can't promise a whole range of mobility but...we might be able to work on something. A knee is a modified hinge joint. But you're missing the extensor and flexor muscles that would normally control it. We might be able to rig some of that with some help from the smiths but it won't be perfect. And I'm not sure it'll give you what you need for flight. We might have to take a different approach on that need."

"I'm not looking for promises, but some hope would be nice to offer. If you're amenable, I can send some potential patients this way. Those who are less mobile than K'leriac likely need a little push to seek out a second opinion. I can arrange the nudge. And transport for any that require it. A lot of times an injury that grounds the rider grounds the dragons. Flight isn't always the goal, unfortunately." Nodding, as if she'd just decided something, Alyndra actually smiled at the Hall Master now. "Maybe we can have a closer relationship with your Healer Hall than we've been able to manage in the past with more old fashioned folks."

Scathingly, Laithan said, "You mean the ones who thought women didn't have two original thoughts to rub together?" He made a sharp, dismissive gesture. "Not worth their knots. Old seahold midwives have known more about a woman's body than any textbook Healer class could teach. It's about time the craft caught up with that." And more. Lots more. With the latest teaching techniques and research coming to his Hall, Laithan stood poised to revolutionize the craft in so many ways. If he could work with the Weyr to push that along, that was fine. "Send those riders my way. I'll see what I can do. Make sure K'leriac uses that salve I gave him though. He's terrible about taking care of himself and he's liable to get another infection if he doesn't let the shardin' leg heal."

"I'll threaten to order him grounded if he doesn't," Alyndra said seriously. "I'll be in touch, and I'd be interested in anything else your Hall is working on that might have applications to the weyr. Have a good day, Hallmaster," she nodded, politely now as she rose to leave.

Some moments after she left, Laithan quirked an eyebrow and muttered to his firelizard, "She was interesting."

Last updated on the April 1st 2026

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Meeting of Masters