[Scalvoris Town/Viden Academy]Healers in the Round-Guest Mod

[Arlo Creede]

Cylus 29, Arc 717

True to Professor Carter's distracted and disorganized nature, Faith and the rest of her classmates had received notice just that morning with only two breaks to spare, that they'd be teaching, each of them, their own classes at the Academy. Yes, that very morning. Each had been assigned a handful of students the notices said, eight to be exact, drawn from various areas of learning. All first level students in alchemy, physics, chemistry or mathematics. But if Faith or any of her fellow third level students had expected a list of names with their instructions, well, it appeared that Professor Carter had forgotten that as well.

As for subject she'd be teaching however, Faith knew it already. Introduction to Medicine, and how the subject might relate to the other areas of learning. She'd have just enough time to organize herself, gather whatever supplies she believed she would need, and hoof it to the academy in order to find her assigned classroom.

That wasn't easy either. It seemed that with all the additional classes being conducted that morning, the university had run out of properly equipped classrooms and had needed to improvise. That meant that the room she'd be teaching in wasn't ordinarily used to conduct classes. Instead it was a small lab that had been equipped with desks, each meant to accommodate two students and arranged in a half circle, and was difficult to find. If luck was on Faith's side however, she'd arrive just before her students began trailing in.

Most of them were as expected. Five females, three males, and most of them the expected ages, somewhere between seventeen and twenty one. They'd all brought their books and materials with them. A bit of a late arrival however was a young, human woman who entered with the use of a cane. Plainly she was blind, and with her, helping her was an older man who looked to be in his sixties, maybe seventies.

At first glance he might have been her grandfather, simply coming to help his grand-daughter along. But when the pair found a desk to accommodate both of them at once, the books and materials the man put down made it appear that he too was to be one of Faith's students for the trial. And there they were, curiously regarding the young woman at the front of the room, their minds apparently ready to be molded. Except for the youngest boy at the back, who seemed more interested in finding a good place for a nap than learning anything that trial.

[Faith Augustin]

It was a good job, she considered, that she'd experienced all that she had during her childhood. It meant that she wasn't cowering behind her desk or sitting in the corner and rocking back and forth when they came in. She was very much wanting to do either or both of those things, possibly at the same time, she thought to herself as they walked in. The constantly repeating mantra of 'I can't do this' really wasn't helpful nor was that awful gnawing feeling that she was about to prove everyone who had shown faith in her very very wrong to have done so.

When she'd met him, Professor Carter seemed like a very nice man but Faith really wished that she'd been able to be anything resembling like insistent with him. Thankfully, she wasn't in the worst position of her classmates as the idea of teaching terrified her. Truly, utterly and completely terrified her. Therefore, she'd been preparing since the trial she found out about it and had needed to run home, just about as fast as her legs would carry her, to get her things. Even then, she'd had to double back and get the small five-bit hourglass. At least four out of her six other classmates hadn't even begun to prepare. She couldn't think about that, at least they had chalkboards at their disposal she considered as she looked around at the entirely inappropriate room. Still, take advantage of what she could and since they were in a lab, Faith grabbed a selection of the equipment there. Beakers, pipettes, the trial by trial stuff that would be very familiar to the chemists and alchemists. She popped them into a small basket, along with a ruler and a protractor.

She looked around them as they came in and she smiled, nodding her head and wondering if any of them would mind holding the bucket as she threw up. The last two students came in and either her maths was way off or there was one more than she was expecting. One of whom was old enough to Padraig's grandfather. Another one of whom was blind. Oh, Famula's lantern but so many of the things that she had planned, even some of the ones which she had then decided to keep (there were easily five times as many exercises and activities discarded as there were kept) were visual in nature.

Well, that was it. She couldn't do this. She was going to have to admit it. It would be fine, she knew. Padraig would understand and she would be able to say that she'd tried. He wouldn't be disappointed in her and he wouldn't judge and she could walk away if she wanted to. Lifting her head to tell them that she was sorry but there was no way on Idalos that she was going to be able to do this, she caught sight of one of them. He was sitting, looking at her expectantly and he had himself ready to take notes. He looked eager, he wanted to learn.

Damnit. Service. Service to the greater good, as she had been instructed by Famula. What if this lecture was the thing which caused one of them to change their course of study? What if, having done that, one of them went on to cure the Rot, or one of many other currently incurable diseases? What if, fundamentally, she did damage by not being brave? Oh no, she couldn't do that. "Good afternoon. My name is Faith. I'm going to be teaching you to-trial," she said with a smile. "I'm undertaking my Diploma in Medicine here. I understand that this isn't like your usual lecture hall, but it fits perfectly with what we're going to be talking about today." Oh, she thought, she was teaching. That was odd. Right.

She lifted a piece of parchment and handed it to the student next to her. "Alright, I'd like you to write your name in a list, please, starting here and moving clockwise around the room. Please also write next to it what you're studying. Thank you." Looking at them she considered and then breathed in.

"I have here a list of ten medical advances made on Idalos over the last twenty arcs." There were, in fact, ten of them. But she couldn't give them individual tasks so she decided that it would be done in pairs. "I'm going to give you these in pairs. Alongside them, I've got cards, ten of each, with the names of different disciplines on them." She gave the list, each one written in a table so that there was a space to the right of the medical advance for the cards to go.

"Each medical advance, as described, has at its core one of the disciplines I mentioned previously. Sometimes, it's more than one. In pairs, work together and identify which disciplines work with which medical advancement. You have five bits starting now." Turning over the hourglass she breathed in and prayed to Famula that she might actually serve these students correctly, that she might teach them something useful. Once they'd done the exercise, her plan was that she'd talk through each of the medical advances, discuss the disciplines involved and consider how and who had worked together for them.

In the five bits, though, she made her way around the room, making sure that each of the pairs was happy, they understood what they had to do and just checking if they had any questions. When she got to the list, she checked it carefully, wondering just who she had here and who was studying what.

[Arlo Creede]

As soon as Faith found her voice and began to speak, the drowsy boy in the back lifted his chin briefly, eyed her critically and muttered, "Just Faith?" Clearly the kid was present in body, not so much in focus at the moment but it appeared it was that one thing at the moment that had grabbed his attention.

Nonetheless as she handed over the empty list to the first of the students, each began filling in their names and fields of study, only to hand the sheet off to the next one, and to the next again. Five humans in all, six counting the older man, one Sev'ryn, a Biqaj and a halfbreed of questionable origin. Two physicists, three chemists, two alchemists and two mathematicians. She'd notice that when the sheet arrived at the table of the blind young woman, it was the older man who filled out her details, and then made a note on the sheet beside his own name.

Should Faith be curious about his role there, the man would clear his throat, attempting to explain. "My name is Harold Simmons, and this is my grand-daughter Elizabeth." Smiling and shaking her head, she put a hand on her grandfather's hand and spoke up for herself. "I study alchemy professor Faith. I was born blind and in most ways I function just fine." His grand-daughter was brilliant, the old man insisted proudly. The brightest in her class, and Elizabeth shushed him with a smile.

"I can manage most things on my own, but when I was accepted as a student, an exception was made for my grandfather to accompany me, to act as my eyes when I need them." But it appeared that by being exposed to the study of alchemy as often as he was, Harold had acquired an interest himself and was learning right beside her. Though it was her tasks he'd be helping with this trial, rather than any of his own.

So in pairs, her students worked on the task they'd been given. Some of them struggled a little, mostly the mathematicians and one of the alchemists. As for the sleepy boy at the back, turned out he was fairly bright after all and he and his partner got only one of the categories wrong. As for the blind girl? Faith could see that while her grandfather was her eyes, it was her that did the actual choosing and placing of the cards, once he'd taken her hand and familiarized her with the page itself.

But anatomy, nutrition, wound care, pathology, the study of drugs and poisons, it appeared that by careful thought and process of elimination, she'd placed all the cards correctly. She was the last to finish, but the one that had taken the most care with the task. And then Faith would have the completed tasks back in her hands.

[Faith Augustin]

"Yes. Just Faith." she'd replied with a smile and then got on with the exercise. During which, she made her way around the class making sure to make eye contact and speak with each student. When she stopped in front of the older man and what turned out to be his grand-daughter, Faith did as she had with each of the others, lowering herself so that she was sitting on her heels in front of them, her arms on the table. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr Simmonds, hello Elizabeth." She smiled at his description of his grand-daughter as brilliant, but she turned her attention to Elizabeth when she spoke. "I understand. I hope you enjoy the class. If either of you have any questions, as I've said to all of your colleagues, I'm happy to answer them." Having paused for a few trill to find out if there were questions, she either answered, or when she was done, she was sure to say "I'll leave you to it." She made sure to say that so that Elizabeth knew she was leaving and did not have to rely on anyone to find out.

What interested Faith wasn't really what answers they had given, she was intrigued with how they had gotten there. "Thank you for these, they're interesting and have given me a good insight into how you're thinking already." She looked at them and asked, quite genuinely, "Before we carry on, does anyone have any questions about that exercise? " One of the things that Faith did, and had done since she was able and allowed to was read. So, when she and Padraig had spent a few trials on Faldrass, not all of the books she'd taken with her had been about medicine. Some of them had been about teaching and she knew that she had to allow silence. So, once she had asked the question, she slowly counted to five in her head. Then, she breathed in twice more and then continued. Unless, of course, there were questions in which case she would answer them.

"Alright. So, we need to consider what the difference is between you and me. Moreover, we need to understand why it is that I need you, but you don't need me." The young woman's internal dialogue was a constant repeating mantra of panic, but she pulled on every ounce of discipline she had because she had to do this. So, she sat on the teacher desk and motioned to students of that discipline as she spoke. "Mathematics exists without medicine. So does chemistry, alchemy and physics. But what I do requires each of you." She smiled at them and tapped the pile of papers next to her. Please Famula, don't let them see her shaking hand.

"Every one of these advances required your subjects. If I don't understand how much anaesthetic to administer dependent on the weight of the patient, I run the risk of them waking up half way through a procedure or not waking up at all. Ratios and proportions. " The mathematicians, after all, had struggled more than the others. But then, having used the anatomy example for maths, she went through them. Chemisty and pathology went hand in hand. Elevating a wound to stop the blood from pouring out was basic physics and so she went. Each example, she talked about chemistry, mathematics or physics. "So it appears," she turned and lifted a small container into her hands. "That two of you are feeling left out. Alchemy. Alchemy takes what already is and refines it, amongst other things."

Faith looked down at the container in her hands and she took a brief few trill to put all her fear in them. "As a medic, I take what you do and I apply it to save lives and to enhance people's quality of life. So. A practical example of how each of you make me better at what I do." There was a problem, she explained, with wounds. Blood poured out of them, that was the first problem and that was physics in action. Each pump of the heart pushed the blood out and that meant, mathematically speaking, that the moment there was a wound of sufficient size, there was a time limit before the patient died. They knew that they didn't just have to stop the bleeding, though, they had to stop the chance of infection. A simple, chemical reaction. "We know what we do, we elevate. We apply pressure. We stitch and we bandage. And as a medic, I hope that what I do is a good enough application of your subjects so that the bleeding stops, stays stopped and the wound stays clean."

With a smile she asked "So, before we go further, are there any questions?" In the container she was clutching so carefully, she had some of the raft which she and Padraig had worked on. Before she talked to them about that, though, she needed to know they were with her.

[Arlo Creede]

"You're not grading us on them?" drowsy kid asked once she'd looked over the sheets they'd handed in, and had thanked them for their efforts. Now either the kid was clever, even brilliant in spite of a disinterested appearance, and wanted some acknowledgment of it. Or, he wasn't, but hoped he'd done well enough this time to warrant the acknowledgment.

It appeared that there weren't any more questions on that particular topic. But on the other hand, nine faces were turned in her direction, and it was plain she had their attention. Some of them were taking notes, others just listening. But all apparently interested and engaged. The assertion that as a practitioner of healing, of medicine, they as fellow scientists, or hopefuls anyway, didn't need her, brought a couple of frowns to their faces and a thin, ginger haired boy at the back piped up. "You mean for the purposes of study in our respective fields, right, and not literally?"

A scoff and a snicker made its way through the room, another young woman rolled her eyes at what she perceived to be a very stupid question, and she huffed. "Of course that's what she meant you dolt. Are you going to visit your local mathematician for a broken leg or runny nose?" The ginger haired boy scowled at his tormentor, but nonetheless, point made.

What she was saying about different areas of study, as related to her own, seemed to come as a surprise to some of them. The mathematicians in particular. But most of them, while they'd never actually taken the time to think about it, were unsurprised and seemed to agree as they jotted down their notes. Of course, the notes taken by the old man with his granddaughter, while she simply listened, might interest Faith since he seemed to be using some sort of stylus to hook and pull bumps into a plain sheet of paper, rather than writing out any words.

"But experimentation is encouraged, if you're a chemist or an alchemist," one young man pointed out. "But surely it's not quite the same in medicine is it? Or is experimentation done on animals before using any new approaches on people?" And then? Well, someone had to ask. "YOu mentioned needing the other sciences. What about philosophy?" At least half the room snorted and retorted in exasperation, "Philosophers aren't scientists!"

[Faith Augustin]

Grading them? Oh why in the name of all the Immortals hadn't she thought of that? Faith looked at the young man in question and she smiled at him as she breathed in. "I'm going to review them, attach notes and feedback and a suggested grade then pass them to your subject professors. They know where they fit in to your respective areas of study" Please Famula they did. "So I can not speak in terms of what credit weighting it will give you, but I can tell you that yes, it will be graded and feedback provided."

The ginger-haired young man raised a question which caused a snigger to go around the room and Faith thought that if the ground could just open up beneath her, it would be just fine about now. She smiled, though, the expected response and she motioned to the young woman who had answered. "Indeed. I mean in an academic sense. Should anyone experience a heart attack, I can't imagine the call going up to find out if there might be a physicist in the house, really."

She was absolutely intrigued by what Mr Simmonds was doing in preparing notes for Elizabeth. She determined that she would find out more about that, but later. Somehow, despite the feeling that she might just be better off running out of the door, she kept going and they seemed to engage. How people did this on a trial by trail basis, she did not know, but she settled her nerves again and waited a trill after she had asked if there were any questions. There were two. Faith listened to them both and she put down the container, opened it and took something out of it.

"Both good questions," she responded, nodding to the two who had asked. "Firstly, you raise an important question for medicine. How do we experiment? We do so in a number of ways." She walked over to the young man and put the object in her hands down in front of him. "You might be wondering why I've put an orange in front of Chris. The peel of an orange is the closest thing we have to the skin of a human. We test on it. Or on animals which are capable of having the disease we are seeking to cure. Sometimes, we try out experimental procedures on patients who, having no other option open to them, know and agree. Still other times, we learn a lot by our examination of the dead. It depends on the treatment and on the illness." She motioned to the orange. "I learned to give injections on an orange. Better that than a living, feeling being."

Faith moved back over to the teacher desk then and she picked up the container. "As for your second question, I'm glad you asked it. It's easy to dismiss philosophy, it's easy to mock it. We, after all, are proper scientists are we not?" Faith shook her head slightly and she smiled, suddenly glad that Padraig hadn't come to her first class. His opinion was different than hers on this, she knew. "My honest opinion is that philosophy seeks to answer questions that we do not dare to ask." The very subject of philosophy, she explained, was what medics faced each and every trial. What is it to be mortal? How does one individual differ from another in their thoughts, their emotions, their responses?
"Medicine is as much about the person and their experience as it is about their illness." If someone came to her with a disease which kills half of those who have it, she explained, she could treat it to the best of current knowledge. "But I have seen, time and again, a simple truth. When given that diagnosis if the patient chooses to fight, then they might still not make it. But if they give up? Without exception, they lose the battle." Faith shrugged her shoulders and gestured around them. "Why that is, I do not know and I don't have time to find out. But it is, at the very least, a question worthy of study. Which leads me to this."

Opening the container, she pulled out a few small jars and some oranges. "I work in the Order of the Adunih. Professor Augustin and I worked on this together. He is a Professor of Physics and also an Alchemist," she explained and there was an undoubted element of pride in her voice when she spoke. "It is an alternative to bandages and sometimes to stitches on open wounds. It is transparent and so allows me to examine the wound. It is waterproof and so keeps the wound completely dry. It has antiseptic qualities and draws out impurities from the wound it is over. Do not put it on your skin, it will harden and adhere." Reaching back into the container she lifted another orange. "It is why I brought these. I'll bring them around, you can have a few moments to explore it. Apply a small amount to the orange, relatively quickly it has to set quickly. Then, have an explore and then use the solvent to remove it. It was created to solve a number of problems with traditional bandages and sutures."

Each pair of students got a small jar, an orange and an application stick. Also, a small amount of the solvent to remove it and she kept a careful eye around. "Physics, chemistry, mathematics and alchemy, all working together to create something which I can use to save life and limb" Faith smiled at them and said, quite honestly. "Frankly, I can think of no better application of what you do and no better reason for doing it. Questions?"

[Arlo Creede]

That she'd be giving her students some sort of written mark and feedback on the assignment she'd given them, appeared to please a handful of them. While the gesture might well be welcomed by their own professors, for a few of them, it provided a sort of written acknowledgment to their parents that their money for schooling wasn't going to waste.

But for most of them, their interest was genuine, and not just a show of it based on their desire to please their professors or parents, or to meet yet another requirement on the way to receiving their letters. Elizabeth in particular, having been quiet for the most part till now and only communicating in whispers with her grandfather, seemed particularly interested and raised her hand. "How difficult would it be to transition from one course of study to another, professor Faith. From alchemy to medicine for instance? Would it require starting over from the very beginning?"

"Lacking an animal with the disease in question to test on, another young woman asked, is it an accepted practice in your field to infect one for the purposes of study?" She seemed genuinely interested. And her tone suggested that she wouldn't necessarily see it as a bad thing, was it done with any regularity. After all, Faith herself was familiar with a young man who'd tested a dose of poison on a rat he'd cornered and trapped.

As for her thoughts on the topic of philosophy, a handful of them remained unconvinced. "In that sense, it boils down to fight or flight. Or surrender, doesn't it?" one of the less skeptical ones asked.

The liquid bandages however fascinated them all to the last one. All the more, because it had been created by combining several fields of science together. Eager to try it for themselves, each took an orange and a sample of the stuff and experimented as she suggested. "How long does it last in storage?" one asked. "Do changes in temperature make a difference?" another one asked.

After another trill or three, it was the ginger haired boy who spoke up. He raised his hand, though his forefinger and thumb were together, end to end. "I have another question. Do you have any more solvent?" Muffled laughter rolled round the room, as it seemed the kid had somehow fused his fingers together.

[Faith Augustin]

She would make sure to mark the papers that trial and pass them on with her comments to the professors in question. Faith didn't want to dilly-dally around or be seen as someone who did not deliver on what she had promised. They seemed pleased and she listened to Elizabeth's question with a slight raise of her eyebrow. "Honestly, Elizabeth, I'm not sure." Better to be honest, after all. "If it was something you'd be interested in doing, any one of you, then I suggest the best course of action would be a written note expressing that, which I can pass on to Professor Carter, the head of Medicine." She made sure to add, so that Elizabeth was clear, though. "I can not imagine him turning away anyone who wants to learn, truly. It's worth the communication." Although Elizabeth couldn't see Faith's face, her grandfather could and the tone of her voice was completely congruent with it. She saw no reason why someone couldn't study medicine with a disability.

The next question about infecting animals with diseases was a tricky one for Faith. She nodded her head, though, speaking the truth of it. "Yes, sometimes. We'd rather not if we can avoid it, but if I'm going to test out an antidote, for example, it's better to poison a rat than a living being. If we need to study a disease, the same happens." Did she like it, no, but was it necessary? Sometimes.

She smiled at the thought on the flight/fight / surrender response. "Maybe. But by that definition, the body reacts to your emotional state ~ making it more vulnerable to disease. So the study of people's emotions is, at least, a valid one. Not what we are here for, though, certainly."

What they were here for was to consider what she did, what they did and how they might work together. Thank Famula, they seemed to do just that and they were intrigued by the raft bandages. They had questions, too, for which she was equally pleased. "Correctly sealed, more or less indefinitely we believe," she replied when asked how long it would last in storage. "Although Professor Augustin and I created it last season, so it has yet to actually last for more than a few months. I have test samples from trial one, though, and they are showing no signs of degredataion or damage."

As for change in temperature, Faith shook her head. "Not once it's sealed, no, temperature doesn't affect it. In it's liquid state if it's open to air it can be affected by extremes of temperature. That's the next thing we're going to work on in the refining process." At some point, Faith considered, she might want to inform Professor Augustin of that fact. Still, she continued, "the issue is that, in order to make it resistent to extremes of temperature will increase the cost of it significantly. It's next on the list, though."

Then, the ginger haired boy raised his fused hand and Faith looked at him with a slight smile. "Excellent timing and illustrative of my next point. We made it so that it slowly degenerates over a course of twelve trials. So, in twelve trials, hopefully, you will have use of your hand again." Her delivery was utterly deadpan, but as she stood in front of him, she put her hand out, took his and applied some solvent. "And the other one?" She grinned at him and shook her head.

"I'm afraid we're out of time. If there's anything any of you want to discuss, I'm here for the next half break. It's been a pleasure to meet you and I wish you all the very best with your studies. Please bring your oranges, jars and applicators down here, pop them in the basket. Thank you." As they got up and left, Faith waited and spoke to any who wanted to ask questions.

Once she was done, she decided, she was going to go and hide downstairs and throw up.

[Arlo Creede]

Review: Rewards

Faith

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5

Knowledge:
Discipline: Making the most of unexpected circumstances
Leadership: Gaining the respect of a group
Leadership: Maintaining the interest of your audience
Leadership: Connecting with individuals in a group setting
Leadership: Redirecting the focus of your audience
Leadership: Use of new concepts and ideas to maintain the interest of your audience
Logistics: Gathering, preparing and organizing materials
Linguistics: Reading and writing methods for the blind
Medicine: Linking disciplines with advancements
Medicine: Relies on the input of other sciences.
Medicine: Testing on animals is sometimes necessary
Psychology: Calling on past experience to overcome fear
Psychology: Service to the greater good
Psychology: Positive thought aids in healing
Rhetoric: Speaking in front of an audience
Teaching: Use of materials to connect with students
Teaching: Familiarizing yourself with your students' interests
Teaching: Assigning tasks as learning tools
Teaching: Students enjoy validation through grading
Teaching: Use of hands on activities
Teaching: Asking for feedback
Elizabeth Simmons: Blind alchemy student
Harold Simmons: Elizabeth's grandfather and helpmate



Fame: Sharing a discovery freely (raft bandages) +1. Leaving your students with a positive impression of medicine. +1 Total Fame: +2
Devotion: Prayer to Famula. +1.
Loot: N/A
Magic: These points may not be used for magic

Comments: A very enjoyable and informative thread. I really enjoyed peer modding this one. I liked seeing how Faith overcame her fear of leading a class of her own, how she interacted with her students, how she gained and maintained their interest by connecting their own fields of study and by introducing new concepts. Nice inner dialogue, no structural problems to speak of.

You know the drill. Any concerns or comments, feel free to drop me a pm. Thanks!