25. Bindings
“ A re you ready?” Lyric asked. He was standing on the outside of the pen, with Aeden waiting on the inside of the enclosure by Nyra, who had crouched down as low to the ground as she could.
“ I’m ready ,” Nyra said, bowing her head.
“Now, Nyra, this first part is going to be the most painful, as Aeden needs to lift your wing up from your side. If he is struggling on his own, I will come in and help, but . . .” Lyric paused for a second.
“The reason I am out here is you are likely to lash out when you’re in pain, if someone other than your rider is in with you. ”
“Have you done this before?” Aeden reached for the wooden steps that were propped up by the side and fetched them over to Nyra’s body.
Her breathing was short and fast, and her energy was nervous, which formed a tightened ball in their weave.
She was trying to be brave, but nausea gripped Aeden as his stomach lurched with his own concern .
“I’ve helped bind sections of a wing when there has been an injury, but not to this degree, not both wings at once like this. I know what must be done, and I first did this kind of procedure when I was an apprentice. It’s safe to say this doesn’t happen very often.”
“Why’s that?” Aeden asked.
Lyric sighed as he hunched in on himself. He clearly wasn’t comfortable talking about this.
“ Because, normally an Aer-Kin wouldn’t have made it to this stage in growth ,” Nyra said matter-of-factly. “ They would have destroyed me when I first hatched if they had the chance .”
“It’s because” – Lyric started, but Aeden cut him off.
“Nyra has just explained it to me. You had already explained this earlier.” Aeden didn’t mean to be rude or abrupt, but he was frustrated at the topic.
His gaze fell on the unhatched eggs at the far side of the room.
“How many of those eggs over there will end up being destroyed?” he asked, hostility pouring out of his mouth.
He had been so blind to what happened behind the scenes with eggs deemed to be broken.
Lyric shifted about uncomfortably, a pained expression on his face.
“That’s a conversation for another time.
For now, we need to focus on Nyra and making her comfortable.
” He sighed again and shook his head before bringing his eyes level with Nyra’s.
“This is going to be uncomfortable, but we just need you to be brave. That said, if it gets too much, let Aeden know and he will stop. Now, are you ready?”
Nyra bowed her head slightly, and for a moment Aeden wondered if she was communicating to Lyric through the weave .
“Very well,” Lyric said, answering Aeden’s inner question. “If you are ready, get as comfortable as you can, and I will talk Aeden through the process.”
Nyra shuffled herself into the thick bed of straw that surrounded her, rustling loudly as she got herself into as comfortable a position as she could.
“There is some salve in that bucket there.” Lyric pointed at an old wooden bucket that was by Nyra’s side. “Use the brush to apply the salve to the base of Nyra’s wings. It won’t make it completely numb, but it should lessen the pain.”
Aeden grabbed the large brush that was inside the bucket.
The salve was clear, thick, and viscous, and as Aeden pulled the brush out, he was greeted with an overpowering antiseptic smell combined with earth and mud.
As scents went, it was a strange mixture, and he couldn’t quite tell if it was alluring or displeasing.
“ I’ll be as gentle as I can ,” he said.
“ I know you will ,” Nyra said calmly, but Aeden could sense that her heartbeat was anything but calm as he approached her with the brush.
“Just make sure you don’t get any of that stuff on your hands,” Lyric said, startling Aeden. “Rest assured, if you get that stuff on your skin, it will completely numb the area, but you’ll need both your hands for this procedure.”
Aeden took a deep breath, a slight tremor in his hands as he tentatively reached for Nyra’s wing to raise it ever so slightly.
Nyra shuddered in discomfort and Aeden felt his own sensation of discomfort through the weave.
“Sorry, girl,” he said. He lightly pressed the brush to the base of Nyra’s wing and over the top of her scaled feathers.
He dipped the brush in the salve and repeated the process several times, then again on her other wing.
Nyra managed the discomfort well, closing her eyes and taking a short breath when Aeden raised her second wing.
It was a strange sensation that they shared through the weave.
He couldn’t feel Nyra’s pain directly, but he could feel that she was in pain, and that in itself was torturous for him to endure.
Even still, it paled in comparison to what Nyra was having to endure, and they were only just getting started.
When he was done with the salve, Aeden dropped the brush back into the bucket and moved it to the far side of the pen by the metal railings that stood between Aeden and Lyric.
Lyric watched intently. “Well done, but that was the easy part,” he said, offering little assurances to Aeden, who moved back to the centre of the enclosure to be at Nyra’s side.
He brushed his hand over her to reassure her as best he could.
He didn’t need to speak; he could sense that simply being with her was all that Nyra needed to feel safe, regardless of how scared she actually was.
“So now if you look by your ladder, you will see four rolls of fabric, two white, two black.”
Aeden looked down at a wooden tray were two large rolls of fabric sat. Both looked as if they had different textures to them, with the white fabric looking thicker and softer than the coarser, thinner black fabric.
“You will need one of each for each wing,” Lyric explained. “First, you’re going to apply the softer white fabric. This is padded and will offer comfort as best we can. Pick it up, lad. ”
Aeden did as he was told and picked up the white fabric.
It was soft to the touch but heavier than it looked, the fabric itself drawing more resistance than he had anticipated as Aeden tried to manoeuvre it.
He looked at Nyra and then back at the fabric, wondering how he was going to wrap this around her.
“You need to set the fabric up in the coil,” Lyric said, pointing to a wooden contraption that was sat against the wall behind him.
“I’ve set it there so you can get a good run of fabric as you start the binding.
” The contraption looked like a barrel that had been turned over and had its sides removed.
Only a thin metal rod connected the two end pieces together.
“Take the end piece off and slide the fabric on. The rod should fit in the gap in the middle.”
Aeden stepped through the straw, almost tripping for his efforts as he carried the fabric in both of his arms. He placed it on the ground, then removed the side of the coil and inserted the fabric. Once done, he placed the end of the coil back on.
“Excellent. That will allow you to pull out the fabric that you need. Grab the end and give it a pull. The coil should roll as you pull on the fabric. Does that make sense?”
Aeden nodded as he did as he was told. Sure enough, the fabric came loose as he pulled it back towards Nyra.
“Now be careful not to get the straw mixed in with the base layer. That will cause her discomfort if it gets trapped under the binding. It could dig into her skin and cause an infection if it nicks her, so let’s just be extra careful, okay?”
As Aeden reach Nyra, he pulled the fabric as tight as he could, raising his hands into the air as he tried to keep the fabric away from the straw .
“Nyra, I am going to need you to raise your left wing for me, the one closest to Aeden. Not all the way, but just enough so that Aeden can start wrapping the inner bandage around your wing.”
Nyra shuddered as she raised her wing as instructed. Given the pain he could sense, Aeden wondered if the salve had been of any help at all, but he reminded himself that Lyric knew what he was doing.
“This is going to be the trickiest part,” Lyric explained, gesturing with his hands as he continued to talk Aeden through the process. “Place the fabric on top of the wing and plant your free hand on top of that to hold it in place.”
Aeden did as he was told, lightly pressing his hand against the soft bandage.
“Next you need to feed the fabric underneath and over the top. Pull down on it when you remove your hand. I can’t express the importance of not wrapping her wing too tight.
We don’t want to cut off her circulation.
The intention here is to make her comfortable.
So once you have done that, keep looping the fabric around until you have completely covered her wing.
Don’t worry about it looking perfect. As I said, the key is to not wrap it too tightly. ”
Aeden followed the process as he was told, wrapping the fabric around Nyra’s wing. He was as gentle as he could be, but time and time again, he noticed Nyra shuddering or her breathing becoming shorter as she managed the pain.
“I’m sorry,” he said as Nyra winced once again.
The process was cumbersome, and Aeden’s thoughts constantly whirled around Nyra’s discomfort, which he could sense through the weave.
Soon enough, with the help of the rickety ladders Lyric had provided, he was able to completely wrap Nyra’s wing in the softer fabric.
He took a step back from her to take a look. It was strange seeing her wing compacted and smooth from the thick material in contrast to her other wing. It wasn’t the neatest of jobs, but it was the best he could do.
“ How does it feel? ” Aeden asked.
“ Sore .” Nyra’s voice was pained, almost tearful. Her eyes were tightly shut, like she was concentrating.
“Good job,” Lyric said. “Nyra, if you could spin around so Aeden can do the same with your other wing.”