Katarina
At H'lee's frown, Mccoreth snorted at him and deliberately turned his head away as if H'lee was inconsequential. Why is he looking at me like that? Clear to Kat, though perhaps no one else, was the fact he'd only turned to ask her that question but didn't want to look like he was seeking counsel from his rider.

"Because you were out here causing a ruckus and he's a healer of a sort." The newly impressed Brownrider replied, still trying to dust sand off of the hatchling dragon. This seemed to satisfy Mccoreth for the time being as he returned to commenting on his empty belly until H'lee spoke and he swiveled his head around in search of this 'A'dam' the man had mentioned. Seeing no one but his rider and H'lee, he shuffled his wings, nearly knocking Kat in the head as he did so, and started the awkward dragon hop-skip walk in the direction his siblings had gone.Once they arrived, Kat wasted no time in snagging a piece of meat and offering it out to the hungry Brown who snapped it up with enthusiasm. A few minor arguments about going slowly and chewing and they had a tentative agreement that Mccoreth would take the meat more carefully and Kat wouldn't call him names or smack his nose (nevermind it had been more of a push when he'd gotten a little too greedy than a smack) again.

A'dam
A'dam was glad the hatching seemed to have gone quickly, though the intensity of dragon chatter hadn't abated as quickly he was quite happy to retreat back into his own mind and block out the dragon voices, though it still felt like a couple hundred of them were inside his head the way it was hurting. At least it's over. Dranith commented from whatever perch he'd chosen to watch things from.

A'dam merely snorted and rubbed his head before heading onto the sands to check the couple dragons he'd noticed might need his help. He checked on the Green that had been stuck and noted only a handful of scratches that would heal up nicely on their own. "Just be careful while you're washing her and she'll be just fine." He instructed, nodding to the greenrider that was assisting the newly impressed pair. She nodded back to show she'd heard and would remind the weyrling if needed.

About that time, a small body all but tackled him to the ground and he had to reach out and steady himself on a nearby Bluerider who was tending one of the other weyrlings. "Selisa! You're not supposed to be down here." He told her, though he bent down to give her a brief hug before trying to search out Erin and Saelit and send the girl back with them until he was free from tending dragons. At least until Seeth told him H'lee wanted his help. With a sigh, A'dam kept Selisa close and sought out the Brownrider instead. "If you want to stay with me you'll have to be good Selisa. Don't touch the hatchlings. They don't know you like Plyath and Dranith do and they're still just babies, they might hurt you without meaning to." He explained as he headed toward H'lee and the new female Brownrider he was with.

The little girl hugged him before she frowned a little bit. But she wanted to be with A'dam! And, naturally, the little girl didn't quite understand why she wasn't supposed to be down there. When he changed his mind, she nodded eagerly, grinning happily. It wasn't hard for her to keep close to him, after all she was shy around most others and kept close to him for the safety of that... and because she liked that idea. "Okay, Daddy," she agreed as they walked, her little hand clutching at his pant leg (or hand, whichever).

H'lee
As anxious as H'lee was about this brown, he was being extremely careful about touching him. Mostly, this was because, as A'dam had pointed out to Selisa, a young hatchling could hurt him without meaning to. A young, apparently grouchy hatchling who was in pain, even more so.

As Katarina fed her charge, H'lee carefully explained each invasion of the dragon's privacy that he was going to encroach upon. He and Seeth suffered enough from joint-ail from their Threadscore injuries that he knew well what to look for.

First, the easy parts: the wings. He gently took the tip of one wing in hand and, standing in front of the wing, laid his other hand on the outermost wing-joint, closest to the tip. He flexed this carefully, holding the joint firmly to feel how it moved as he wiggled the wingtip back and forth. Then he took hold of that joint in his first hand and held the next joint in with his second hand, and repeated the procedure. He did this all the way up to the shoulder; he rolled the wing and flexed it up and down in simulation of flight and folding the wing over the back, all the while feeling along the shoulder for any popping, crackling, heat, or tenderness. He was acutely aware of Mccoreth's teeth and claws while he was at it - he was in a very vulnerable position if he caused any severe pain to the hatchling, something he was doing his utmost to avoid. He repeated this on the other wing.

Before he started, he introduced Mccoreth and Seeth. As he exercised these joints, he asked Mccoreth to either tell his rider or Seeth how each motion felt, whether any of them were more painful than the others, and so on. Seeth asked the hatchling to "link" with him, a light mental touch that would allow him to help his rider understand what hurt and how much. He did not say that if H'lee hurt the youngster in any way, Seeth's mind could then immobilize the younger dragon through this connection in order to prevent anyone from being hurt.

H'lee was bent over (kneeling didn't work well for him), half-under one of the brown's wings, checking his knee for heat and swelling or pressure tenderness when A'dam finally caught up with them. Given that the hatchling was eating and not in a position to have his hind legs flexed like his wings had been, there was only a limited amount H'lee could do with the limb at that moment. Once the seemingly insatiable hunger was satisfied, they'd balance the hatchling in order to do those exercises. Fortunately, the brown was only the size of a large runnerbeast foal, and only weighed slightly more; besides, he was intelligent and would probably cooperate with anything they asked him to do or put up with.

Mccoreth found H'lee's presence mildly annoying and he told his rider as much. "I thought you wanted to eat. Just ignore him." Was Kat's response as she drew the Brown's attention back to her with a bit of meat. He huffed and turned his head so he could continue to watch H'lee as he explained things, only directing his attention to Seeth when he was introduced to the older Brown.

Must he really do all of this while I'm trying to eat? He questioned the older dragon though did not outright refuse to allow H'lee close enough to touch. He did, however, instinctively yank his wing back away from H'lee when the Weyrlingmaster grabbed it the first time if only because he hadn't been wholly expecting it considering he was focused on a piece of food Kat was handing him at the time. Tell him to warn me next time. He spoke to both Kat and Seeth even as H'lee continued manhandling is wing.

"Mccoreth apologizes for pulling away but says you probably ought to warn him next time so he's more prepared." Kat replied, glancing pointedly at Mccoreth when she said he'd apologized and he merely rewarded her unspoken scolding by nipping her fingers when he grabbed his next bite. For the most part he was far more cooperative than Kat would have expected, keeping up a commentary on the motions like he'd been asked and only moving when H'lee hit a tender spot, announcing his displeasure to Seeth and hissing at H'lee for good measure. Beyond that, he was more or less a model patient, doing as he was asked without much complaint, something that surprised Kat though she didn't comment on it.


A'dam
A'dam approached carefully, keeping Selisa as close as possible when they got to where the dragons were feeding. A couple glanced at them as they passed but otherwise ignored the pair. When he approached H'lee, the Weyrlingmaster was already checking the Brown hatchling that had impressed to a girl. "H'lee? Seeth said you needed to see me?" He questioned, more because it appeared H'lee had things under control than anything else. Aside from his ability to hear dragons, he wasn't entirely certain why H'lee would want him around considering the Brownrider was a far more experienced dragonhealer than he was. But he was there to help and if H'lee wanted him to help he would, as long as he could find Erin and have her keep track of Selisa so she wasn't underfoot depending on what, exactly, H'lee wanted to do to examine the hatchling Brown, who looked uninjured as far as he could tell.

Selisa stayed close to A'dam, although her eyes went to look at all the different hatchlings. Of course, she knew full well that each one was bigger than her, after all a six year old human was rather small. Her eyes shifted to where they were going before she grinned happily. Once they were closer she couldn't resist the urge to hurry away from A'dam and over to hug H'lee's leg. "UNCLE H'LEE!!" she giggled, not really taking into account that while she wasn't touching the brown hatchling (as she was very careful to remember A'dam's order NOT to touch the dragons) she might have gotten a little too close for comfort...

Erin, for her part, had gotten caught up on the way out of the hatching grounds. As luck would have it, her parents had caught sight of her and were curious as to when EXACTLY they had become grandparents. So the woman had laughed and set about explaining how she had ended up with A'dam and they had adopted the two children, right after introducing Saelit to them and telling them that Selisa was with A'dam somewhere. Of course, S'erian and Laurin were both pleased to meet their grandson, even if he was adopted.

H'lee
Seeth rumbled reassuringly to the younger brown. I know it's uncomfortable, but it would you rather they checked you over when you were trying to sleep? he pointed out drily. He huffed a bit when the hatchling complained about wanting to be warned next time, but refrained from pointing out that H'lee had explained what he was going to do as he went through each step of the inspection. H'lee raised an eyebrow in response to Kat's repetition of the same thing but also didn't say anything.

Meanwhile, H'lee made mental notes of each point of pain or tenderness the youngster felt. The more he found, the more it seemed likely that joint-ail was the cause. Then A'dam arrived, but before he could answer A'dam's question, he was tackled by something. He yelped a little in surprise as the words "Uncle H'lee!" rang out and his leg was latched onto. He smiled indulgently down at Selisa before realizing her proximity to the weyrling dragons.

"A'dam..." he complained.

A'dam & Katarina
Mccoreth wasn't happy about being poked and prodded while he was trying to fill his belly but he did concede that Seeth had a point and he'd much rather deal with them now than when he was trying to sleep and said as much to the older Brown. Of course, he couldn't help but add that he really didn't see why they had to fuss over him at all. Surely the others were just as sore as he was after being cooped up in their eggs?

The moment he felt Selisa detach from his side he knew bringing her along was a bad idea. He reached out to try and stop her but too late, she was already too far away to reach. "Selisa stop!" But again, too late as she tackled H'lee and clung to him, within dangerous proximity to the Brown hatchling that had sounded more than a little grumpy earlier.

Said Brown was not at all pleased to have someone shouting and then suddenly being in such close quarters with him. He squawked, flaring his wings and fanning them as he sidestepped awkwardly and tumbled to the ground in a tangle of tail, wings and legs, knocking his rider into their little table and spilling meat and water everywhere.

A'dam had moved forward and snagged Selisa out of harm's way, though not quite quickly enough as he was buffeted with one of the Brown's wings, sending him stumbling though he did his best to protect the child he had come to think of as his own. When all was said and done, he could only be torn between looking sheepishly at H'lee and wanting to scold Selisa for running off like that. "I'm sorry H'lee. I tried to warn her. I never thought she'd just go running off like that."He apologized, though the last was slightly more stern and he looked at Selisa as he spoke. He'd have a talk with her later, for now he needed to worry about getting the poor Brown and his rider taken care of.

Katarina, for her part, was well and truly ready to be mad at A'dam and the child as she picked herself up off the ground and was glad the white robe she was wearing wasn't actually hers. However, Mccoreth's plight pushed that anger aside as she went over to him to help him get back on his feet and try and calm him down.

Selisa was all happy when she reached H'lee and grinned up at him... at least until Mccoreth started freaking. A second later she felt A'dam's grip on her as she was protected from the flailing hatchling. She was scared by this point and squealed in fear as she clung to A'dam. When the little one dragon was far enough away that there was no immediate danger, she continued clinging to A'dam, despite being in trouble.

She looked up at A'dam as he apologized to H'lee and shrank against his leg more when he scolded her... more or less. "I'm sorry, Daddy," she whimpered softly through her tears, careful to keep the man between her and the scary brown dragon.

H'lee
Seeth rumbled sadly at the little brown hatchling. No, hatchlings do not normally hurt the way you do. My rider thinks you have some form of joint-ail. I suffer from joint-ail myself, but that's because of this. In a display rarely seen outside of weyrling lessons, the brown shifted to turn his bad side toward the hatchling (he'd been sitting where his scars were relatively hidden from view). It is usually a condition brought on my injury or old age. You have no injuries like mine to cause you to ache so, and you're certainly not old! The last was delivered with a snort of good humor.

H'lee managed to bite his tongue on cursing as he was swatted with a wing and bowled over much as the brown's own rider was. Fortunately for him, he didn't fall into the meat...but he did fall into the now-vacated neighboring table's basket of drinking water and was soaked in embarrassing places. Good thing he wasn't planning to go back to the Academy and had brought several changes of clothes! Not that he didn't bring at least two changes of clothes any time he attended at Hatching...

Making noises under his breath - too mumbled to be positively identified, although Seeth was making suspicious choking noises - H'lee picked himself up and started with helping Katarina right her toppled hatchling. He fully expected at least a hiss and probably some other forms of physical irritation from the brown, and he was quite right to do so (although H'lee would prefer that such antics not be directed at him since it wasn't like he intended for a small screaming child to attach herself to his leg).

"A'dam, just...please either sit her on one of those tables over there," he waved to indicate some of the other vacated tables nearby, "or get Erin to come take her. I'll need you to help Katarina balance Mccoreth here while I check his back legs for tenderness."