Blood and babies

Writers: Eimi, Paula
Date Posted: 13th April 2010

Characters: Telemon, Chokala
Description: Telemon's family grows in size, much to a drudges horror!
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 8, day 19 of Turn 5

"Good morning, Master Telemon! How are you today?" the drudge asked
with a bright smile when the Weyrhealer opened his door.

"Is it morning already?" the bleary eyed healer asked with surpised tone
and gestured her in.

"Why yes it is, sir," Chokala replied with a very bright smile. "Time for
me to collect your laundry, if it's all right with you."

"Of course," Telemon said, rubbing his eyes. He had spent whole night
pouring over hides that dated as far back as to the last Pass. If he could
read those texts, who know what treasures they would reveal! Unfortunate
the time had been merciless with them.

"Do you have it ready to go or shall I collect it for you?" she asked,
adjusting her basket on her hip.

"You have to collect it, I'm afraid. I forgot to gather it ready for you,"
the weyrhealer was apogeletic.

"That's all right. Come on, let's have your shirt then." She motioned
that he should just strip it off and throw it in the basket.

"This one?" he asked incredulously and pulled the shirt on him.

"Yes, it looks like you've slept in it, so it will need washing. You can
keep your trousers if you like, though." Shirts tended to smell a lot
faster than pants, she knew too well.

"If you say so," Telemon agreed and pulled the shirt off, tossing it to
the laundry basket.

"Right. The rest is on your floor in your room I presume?" She had been
to many a bachelor's weyr to literally pick up their dirty laundry.

"Yes, here and there and on some chairs and on bed too," Telemon didn't
know if he should be amused or embarassed.

She shook her head with a tolerant smile. "Here there and everywhere, eh?
You men..." Chokala walked over to one of the mentioned chairs and
lifted the towel that had been thrown on it into her basket. She
puttered around a few minutes, finding little piles of clothing strewn
about that were quickly shoved into her basket. As she was about to walk
into his sleeping area she called back to him, "I'm taking the sheets
today too, if you don't mind. I'll bring you fresh ones later."

"All right, thank you," Telemon said and went to clean away his hides.

The Weyrhealer was stopped at the sound of a panic shriek. "Faranth's
Egg! Master Telemon, come quickly!"

"What, something wrong?" Telemon hurried over to her.

"Blood! Babies!" was all the woman could manage.

"They usually come together," Telemon said calmly and looked over her
shoulder. His feline had made a nest to his bed and was currently
nursing a litter of newborn kitties, purring contently and licking them
clean.

"Yes!" She cried aghast, pointing at the happy little family. "Babies and
blood! On my sheets! And the mattress! Oh shards, the mattress!"

"Not again, Taiga," Telemon just sighed. Now that he thought about it, he
had heard his green firelizard humm few candlemarks ago. "You have a
basket for this thing," he scolded the indifferent feline.

"Are you just going to _leave_ them there?" In the middle of his bed? In
that messy pool of goo? "They're all... slimy!"

"I move them into the basket, just a minute," Telemon was rather used to
find litters in unexpected places.

The Master Healer was accustomed to blood and bodily fluids, but Chokola
was not. Not of that nature, especially! "Eeew," she groaned as the
feline mother started biting at a bit of umbilical cord still attached to
one of the kittens.

Telemon fetched the basket from the corner. He started to lift the kittens
there, giving them a quick check over at the same. "Would you like to have
a kitty? After they older, of course. They are fun pets," Telemon asked
the drudge and showed him one that the mom had already cleaned up.

Chokola looked at it doubtfully. "It's deformed. It can't even open it's
eyes."

"She's perfectly fine, she won't open her eyes untill she's eight days
old," Telemon said. "They are all blind until that age," he placed the
kitten to the basked and she meowed a prostest. Which brought in a green
firelizard. She sat to perch on the basket's edge and crooned
comfortingly.

"Aren't you afraid she's going to get 'em?" The drudged eyed the green
warily.

"No, she's their fostermom," Telemon chuckled. When all the kittens were
moved, the mother willingly followed to the basket and Telemon could place
it back to the warm corner. "I've seen her try to feed Taiga's kittens
with dead spinners," he told her.

"Lovely," she said with a squeamish smile as she pulled on the corners of
the sheet, not quite sure if she even wanted to put it in the basket with
the rest of the clothes any more.

Telemon helped her to remove the beddings and bundle them up. "I could
take these down to the laundry myself," he offered.

"I think that would be better," she said, barely hiding her look of
disgust at the little pink and brown stain on the mattress. "And we
better find out what needs to be done about... that..."

"I know a tincture that makes wonders removing stains like that,"
Telemon said. After all, this wasn't first time for Taiga to give birth in
his bed.

"I'll leave that to you then." The less she had to do with this
business the better. She was gaining a whole new appreciation of the
mystery of birth. Some mysteries were better left to the imagination, she
decided.

Last updated on the April 20th 2010

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Blood and babies