Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mica decides to pay a visit to his impromptu guests in the clinic. On the way there he has to dispel several rumors, nipping a dozen or more in the bud.

Shar firmly shakes her head. "No you cannot. I've explained to you that although the tissues have mended, the cellular mesh is weak. Those muscles are tissue thin right now. The reason you feel so well right now and it is not bothering you is they belong to large muscle groups which govern movement. Here... let me show you..." She sits down on the bed's edge and runs a hand firmly along Kero's back, stopping just below his shoulder and slightly to one side of the spine.

"This is a good muscle. It is the mirror to the one you injured. It attaches here along the spinal region and wraps the chest cavity so. Lift your paw... no not that one the other one.There did you feel that. I was restricting it's movement slightly. Now this other muscle overlays it here, kind of like this..." she lay one hand across the other so that the two lay in differing directions.

"This muscle contracts when the other muscle releases, allowing you to move you leg back and forth... see... Now when you landed on the sword fragment you managed to cut through major sections of both muscles. Have you not noticed that when you go to the jakes or move about the room that the muscle just doesn't quite respond the way it should?"

"Yes it is, once the muscle has healed enough to bear the movements it needs to support it's strengthening. Have you ever seen paper being made?" she asks suddenly.

Shia laughs and get s up, seeing the Dawnlord at the door. "Master Mica, please... instruct the cub in the art of paper making while I go fetch something that may clear up some of his confusion."

Mica walks in with a surprised expression. "Paper making?" he echoes taking a chair by the bed. "What will she think of next? I agree with you, Kero... It does indeed smell."

Mica makes a face then laughs good naturely. "Ah... so pardon me for asking, but do you understand how paper is made?"

Mica nods. "Aye, in many ways that it is, but it can be more than wood pulp, plant fibers and even rags can be used to make paper. In fact the more rag content in the paper the sturdier it is. I wonder what itis she is trying to show you. Well, let's talk about the basics then. In all forms of paper, the fibers are rendered down into a mush like state. and for many forms old paper is also used to give the new sheets a more consistent content. Now depending on the type of paper, this mush may be thin or thin. Then the mush is poured over screens, allowing the fibers to spread out evenly. After the water has drained from the screen, the still fragile sheet of paper is layered between layers of felt and placed beneath a press, where the rest of the water is removed by force. Then the sheets are dried and cured."

"Thin mush creates thin papers, some of which are very delicate... the thicker mushes form heavier sheets of paper." says Shar from the doorway. In her hand she has several pieces of scrapped paper. She hands one to Kero. "Hold this one up to the light, see how you can almost see through it? Now try to tear it."

Now she holds up what appears to be two identical peices of paper, fairly close to the same thickness. She hands him the first to tear as well, and as he suspected, it was a bit harder to rip... then she hands him the third.. which tears so easily it tkaes him by surprise, for it is even easier than the first sheet, though clearly four to five times thicker.

"That last sheet was improperly made. The press was not properly weighted down and the fibers are too far apart. See... if you look at the edge of the sheet you can actually see just how loose they are. It does make a nice bit of blotting paper though..." she says with a laugh, scratching his ears.

"Now how does all that fit with what you need to know about your muscles... it s like this. Thin muscles tear easily, as do muscles which are not fully meshed out. The sort of problem happens only in certain forms of healing, those that involve magic. You feel fine because the blood vessels and nerves are intact and you look at where you were hurt and see nothing to tell you there is something wrong with it, but just like a poorly made basket or sheet of paper, the cell lattice is a mess. full of empty spaces. The longer you rest now, allowing your body to fill those spaces in, the stronger and thicker that muscle becomes. And once I see that it is strong enough to excercise, we will start on your rehabilitation."

She laughs and tickles him a bit. "You'll begin to exercise and learn how to move certain parts of you without hurting yourself all over again."