Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Nine

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Ivor was pretty thankful for Tala's quiet thoughts, if her unshielded thoughts were anything like her speaking voice, he'd have had a headache already.
He nodded slowly.

Sawna chuckled and set to making the drink and bagel, taking them over to Ellie when she was done. She also brought Shane his usual.

Ellie grinned at Sawna. "Thanks! You're awesome!" She sipped her latte.

Sawna smiled at Ellie "Thank you." She said then went back to her drink and book.

Shane smiled and took his drink.

Ellie drank her coffee for a bit, letting the caffeine and sugar absorb into her bloodstream. "So Shane, how you liking having your other people around now?"

Shane looked to her at the question and gave it a little thought "I like that they are here and free. They seem to be really nice though they are still a little wary."

Ellie nodded. "Did you get to know them much while you were flying home with them? That must've been so weird man, after all those years being just human."

The doctor put her breathing apparatus back on and led Kay and James outside, walking a little further down the corridor before turning to them.

"your friend has an existing injury." She stated matter of factly.

Kay pulled the rebreather off, tilting his head. [His leg?]

The doctor nodded. "It may present an issue during molt. "

Kay's frown deepened.

"Other than this, he seems in good health. Everything else should go without problem." The doctor tried to reassure them. "I would though, like to suggest that at least one of you remain to assist, and to observe. If he is to remain a member of your crew for any extended period of time, you shall need to go through this again eventually."

Kay nodded slowly, this woman seemed to be pretty pragmatic and she made a good point. if Armin stayed with them, eventually he'd molt again. They should be prepared. He looked to James. He had a photographic memory right? And didn't have to breathe, or sleep.

James frowned, but nodded as well. "Yeah, we'll need to know how to handle this. Either for Armin, or for any other vavare who might join our crew in the future. I'll help if you guys want me to, I'm not the best medic in the world, but I'm strong and have steady hands, and I'm good at following orders." The following orders remark was sort of a joke, but it was also true. He was pretty good at following instructions when he wanted to, and with Armin, he would definitely want to.
"What's likely to happen during the molt? Will we have to be like, helping to remove his old exoskeleton, or does he do most of the work himself?"

"most of the work he should be able to do himself, usually we would let the individual do as much as they can without intervention, only stepping in should they become too exhausted to continue, or if they injure themselves." the doctor explained.

Kay looked concerned. [How likely is actual injury?] He asked.

"Thankfully rare." The doctor told him. "With his existing injury, he may find it difficult to extract that leg, in which case we will have to intervene. I can walk you through that process if it would make you feel better?"

Kay looked to James, then nodded. [That may be wise. If he doesn't require help this time around, he might in the future. We should be prepared.]

"Yes, we'd like to know as much as we can," James agreed. "From what we know of the process, it can be very dangerous, so we'd like to have a good idea of what's supposed to happen." He looked at Kay, "We should be able to download a training program for the holodeck in the future too, although that won't prepare us soon enough for Armin's molt."

Kay nodded, this seemed a good idea.

"Very well." the doctor agreed.

Kay led them to a room where the doctor could explain matters. How the Vavare would split their old exoskelton along their chest, hinging it out along the edges of their spine, the only actual bone in their entire body. They would use their small vestigal limbs to help wriggle their shoulders and neck out, peeling away the segments around their face and then the most difficult part, getting all their legs out.
The whole process could take hours, even days to complete in some cases, though if things went on beyond 24 hours a medic usually would intervene.

Intervention involved using a small blade to cut away at the membranes still clinging to the exoskeleton and in extreme cases, careful use of a rotary blade to literally cut them from it. Intervention was dangerous and only done in cases where the risk was determined to be lesser than the risk of letting them keep trying to struggle out themselves.

After Molt they would be weak, soft and unable to do much. It would be a month before their skin hardened enough and in the meantime they would be vulnerable to damage and potential infection. The doctor recommended quarantine during this time, and continued fasting for the first 2 weeks, providing small meals on week 3 once a day, building up to two a day in week four.
this way he could slowly and carefully rebuild his strength after a long period of fasting.

"Wow," James said when the doctor had finished explaining. "That sounds pretty rough." He looked a little stunned, the reading he'd done had mentioned a bit about how a medic would help a vavare to molt, but getting a full explanation from a doctor was a different matter entirely. It made the possibility seem way more real, and that reality was a bit terrifying.
"I guess it's best not to intervene surgically because of the risk of accidentally causing bleeding?" he asked. "And with all that recovery time, I guess it would probably be best for Vestia to remain on Terra for the first few weeks after the molt in case of complications?"

The doctor nodded. "yes, as i'm certain you already are aware, Vavare can bleed out in minutes without prompt intervention."

Kay frowned. This was all pretty worrying.

The doctor noticed his look of concern and bowed her head. "Your friend should be fine, he has done this many times in his life already."

Kay nodded slowly, but he knew that just because you'd done something over and over didn't mean it wasn't awful and frightening.

"as for remaining on Terra, I see no reason why you cannot leave once the molt is over, you are able to maintain a clean environment for him and maintain a quarantine." The doctor reasoned.

[What if he gets sick?] Kay asked, chewing his lip.

"you are a trained medic are you not?" The doctor countered. "Vavare biology may be quite alien to you, but I assure you, we respond to antibiotics just like humanoid races. Dosage by body mass should be appropriate."

Kay still looked unconvinced. It may delay their plans, but he expected the others wouldn't want to leave while Armin was still recovering, and he would be far more comfortable staying until they knew he was fine.

Kooshie wrote:Ellie nodded. "Did you get to know them much while you were flying home with them? That must've been so weird man, after all those years being just human."

Shane nodded and smiled again. "Yeah, I did and it was a little, but they don't care much about not being full blood, or knowing about our past."

James looked thoughtful. "I'm sure Armin will urge us to not postpone our travel plans for him, but I think I'd rather keep him on Terra, where we'll have access to way better medical facilities and trained doctors if he needs them. We might be able to help him if he has complications, but I don't think we want to bet his life on that."

~~
"That's nice of them. I'm glad they aren't snobby," Ellie shook her head. "My people would be mad if they met a half-human. I mean my parents would be okay with it because I'm making them be okay with it, but Humanists in general wouldn't like it at all." Well maybe her parents wouldn't be okay with a half-human either, but she was working on that.

Shane smiled and nodded then shrugged a little "There's too few now though, so they have to try to build the pure numbers back up again."

"There are like what, a few million right?" Ellie said. "That's a lot. I think you can keep the inbreeding from getting too high with a few thousand people, at least that was what they told us in human colonization class." She took a bite of bagel and chewed it thoughtfully. "At least they aren't mad for you not being pure."

Shane shook his head then smiled a little. She was right. "There are less than a million pure bloods left as of now. Half bloods like me have an equal number and those who have 'thinner' blood are another twenty thousand or so, but they are less likely to have access to full power than my kind are. It isn't their way to be mad at being a half-blood. Before all this, the only ones they really cared about being pure were the ones in power."

Ellie drank some more latte and nodded. "I guess if I had the power to make planets, I would want to have kids with the strongest planet-maker maybe. If I wanted kids." She looked thoughtful. "Magic is so weird though, isn't it? I mean my parents were both pure Terran as far as I know, but I have more power than the rest of my family combined. But I guess it's not the same for your guyses magic cause it's not random or something."

Shane nodded then shrugged a little "Yeah, you get further from pure, it's more likely to have non-magic kids or have the magic start skipping generations or be weak to do more than just 'party tricks' instead of being able to make a stable planet or terraform one without tools."

Ellie nodded. She sorta saw Shane's point, even if she thought it was a little weird. Oh well, dragons were just nothing like her. They were aliens, after all. "Do you think we'll get to visit my parents on the way by my home planet?" she asked. "Cause then you can meet my weird people too."

Kay nodded, he agreed with James. [As medics, we get to overrule his wishes, for his health. I'm sure he'll forgive us.] Yes it was another delay, yes it hurt, but the life and wellbeing of a crewmate was more important right now. Even if Kay did feel a stab of sadness at knowing this meant even longer till he could see Danika again.

James looked at Kay with sympathy. James knew it sucked so much to be separated against your will from someone you cared about, Kay must feel awful about not being able to get Danika back yet. Poor guy. "Yeah, we'll make Vestia stay here, at least for the first two weeks, maybe longer if Armin seems like he needs it. It's for the best, he'll have to get over it."
James turned his attention to the doctor. "I'm guessing you have access to all the tools we might need for his molt?"

"Of course." the doctor replied, patting her pockets. "I came prepared."

Kay nodded grimly. [If there's anything else you need, let us know.]

"Awesome. Man, it is so good to have you here to help us, seriously, this is going to be so much better for Armin," James told the doctor gratefully. Vavare were just so different, even if Armin liked Vestia's crew, he'd certainly be more comfortable with someone of his own kind helping him out.

The doctor bowed her head. "I will be in touch. And I will alert you as soon as the molt begins."

Kay nodded. [Thank you.]

Kooshie wrote:Ellie nodded. She sorta saw Shane's point, even if she thought it was a little weird. Oh well, dragons were just nothing like her. They were aliens, after all. "Do you think we'll get to visit my parents on the way by my home planet?" she asked. "Cause then you can meet my weird people too."

"I would like to meet your people, even if we can't tell them what I am." Shane said with a smile