It doesn't take much longer to finish feeding Aria. She takes each little bite, eyes still half closed, and chews it a little before swallowing. Seems like cold porridge goes down easily enough. I also ensure she keeps taking sips of water, until the food and water are gone. As soon she's finished, I look back over and say, "Aria's done eating. Let's go to the doctor now." I can't believe Eryk figured out so much, so quickly. He met Aria once and he already knows she has powers! He's one step from finding out she's a rail unit! Stupid Aria, giving him lightning mana!
The men stand up at my words. It's weird, talking to adults like this. Especially Eryk. He owns that big company, he must be a divant, right? I probably never would have been in the same room as one of them in my whole life, but here we are... Then there's Francis. I glance his way a little. He's just as great as Aria made him sound, he knew exactly what to do. He found the perfect place where she could eat. That man behind the counter didn't ask any questions at all.
"You lead the way, I'll carry Aria," Francis offers.
"Sure," Eryk agrees.
"Careful, I think she has a lot of broken bones," I tell Francis quietly when he comes closer. I don't think he's had a chance to look her over too closely yet. As he gently lifts her into his arms from the chair, I can't help but think back.
If these are the kinds of injuries a rail unit can take, it's no wonder why she never cared about getting hurt before. And despite the cuts all over, some as long as my hand, none of them show signs of infection. Her mana really is incredible. Especially if she's converted all of it to earth, though I'm worried about her trying to get rid of it. We can't go home until she does, but she probably needs all of it to deal with those wounds, otherwise she already would have converted it when she got back, wouldn't she?
"Let's get moving," Eryk says, and we make our way out of the store.
"Thanks a lot Matthew, I'll talk to you later, ok? And I shouldn't need to ask, but... keep quiet about this, alright?" Francis stops briefly in the doorway to talk to the shopkeeper.
"My lips are sealed," the man says with a serious look. I didn't think of that! Besides Eryk, Matthew and that other man heard what we were talking about too! As we walk out onto the street, I look over at that man. He isn't wearing metal armor like the guards, but he is dressed in pretty nice clothing with thick leather here and there that kind of looks like armor. Do they make armor out of leather? He also has a sword at his waist, like Francis. Is he some sort of guard? Like a personal guard for Eryk? I guess since he's a pretty important, rich person, he can probably afford to pay someone to protect him. Still, whoever this man is, he just heard about Aria's powers too. Unlike Eryk and Matthew, we don't know anything about him.
"Hey Eryk, who is this? I'm worried about what he's heard." I say as we walk on a side street parallel to Main Street.
"That... is actually a very good point, Emily," Eryk says with a kind of worried look. "You said your name was John, right?"
"Yes, sir," the man answers. Looking at him closely, he's sort of plain, really short brown hair and a sleepy look on his face. The only thing about him that really jumps out is a scar on his left cheek.
"Can you be discreet?" Eryk follows up.
"Yes, sir," he answers the same way. We all frown. Just having him say so... doesn't really fill me with much confidence.
"Hmm..." I mumble, biting my thumb. He already knows something, but we'd still be revealing more information. But it would let us be sure he won't tell anyone...
"Is there something else?" Eryk asks me suddenly.
"Well..." I glance up at Francis, but I get the impression he doesn't know about how Aria's mana works. She only just figured it all out recently, so I doubt she had a chance to tell him about it. "I just... really want to make sure, you know?"
"Ok..." Eryk makes a small gesture to go on. I look around at the buildings we're passing, until I find a small alley where we should have some extra privacy.
"This way," I say, leading everyone into the alley. I wave for Francis to kneel down so I can talk to Aria again. "Hey, Aria," I wake her gently, brushing a hand through her hair. "I could use a little help."
"Sure, what can I do?" she mutters sleepily.
So I lean close so I can cup my hands around her ear and whisper, "I need you to give some earth mana to someone so he'll tell us the truth. So kind of a lot, is that ok?"
"Sure, but can you be quick? I need it for my injuries."
"We'll make it real quick, I promise."
"Ok, who is it?" Her glazed eyes scan around. "Oh, Francis?" she mutters when she finally notices he's the one carrying her. "Thanks for always helping me," she continues to grin up at him. That just makes him smile a little.
"It's him, over here," I redirect her attention to the man. "Sir, could you just touch Aria for a moment?"
"U-umm..." he stammers a little, looking down at her with a clearly worried expression. He did just learn she could do things to people with a touch, so I guess it makes sense.
"Just do it," Eryk says. He just looks passive, but I'm worried that he's actually really excited to see this. Chances are he only figured out what she could do because she gave him that mana, so he wouldn't know any of the other things it can do yet.
"Ok..." the man says worriedly and steps forward. He puts a hand on her forehead, standing for a few moments. Aria winces a little, I guess she's pushing the mana in now, and... He stumbles a step back, a worried looking grin spreading over his face. He stammers in confusion for a few moments. However, Aria's condition visibly worsens in response, like the blood just leaves her face and she begins to grow pale immediately. We really do need to be quick.
"Are you going to tell anyone about what you've heard?" I turn to John and ask him pointedly.
"No, of course not. We aren't supposed to talk about what any of our customers say or do while we're on the job. It's a matter of professionalism." He blinks a few times, bringing a hand up to his mouth in surprise. I feel a little bad. Suddenly blurting out everything you think is a very strange experience the first time... But we can't really be sure he'll keep this secret otherwise. I am relieved to hear he won't tell anyone though.
"Emily... This looks like what's happening to Aria," Eryk comments. I flinch a little, and look away to avoid giving him any more information to go on.
"I'm not talking about it," I say firmly.
"Is that so..." he mutters. "I get the impression he'll tell us anything now, is that right?"
"...Yes," I answer reluctantly. Even that is more than I wanted to tell him. But there was no helping it, I guess.
"Well then, let's go over this better to be sure..." I look back up to find Eryk fixing John with a hard stare. "To start... tell me about your home life. Do you have a wife or children?"
"No, though there's a girl, Alison, that I'm dating. I'm thinking of proposing soon, but it's been hard to convince her father because he says my job is too dangerous-"
"Ok, ok," Eryk waves him off, clearly surprised by the completely unrestrained, personal information John is giving. He glances over at Aria with a meaningful look.
"Please be quick, Aria can't stay like this for long," I remind him.
"It takes something for her to do this?" He asks, raising an eyebrow curiously.
"Not telling!" I huff back at him, annoyed. No matter how many times I refuse, he just keeps asking more questions. I don't know what information could be dangerous, so I have to make sure not to tell him anything if I can avoid it.
"Ahh..." he chuckles nervously while turning back to the other man. "Where were we... Do you drink?" Where is he going with these questions?
"Yeah, I go out for drinks with the guys after work most nights."
"What do you talk about over your drinks?" Eryk asks before he keeps talking.
"Usually we talk about what we've been up to, like with our girlfriends and families."
"And later? What about if someone gets drunk?"
"Well, sometimes we tell stories or talk about gossip we've overheard on the job." I can see his eyes widen as he says it himself. I blink a little. I asked him if he was going to tell anyone and he said no, he doesn't talk about his work. But now he's saying he does?
But Eryk grins. "Truth is malleable," he says. "So which is it?"
"No, I swear, I won't tell anyone."
"Until they get a couple drinks in you," Eryk adds with a dangerous tone.
"I..." but John can't argue. He already said that he talks about work with friends when he goes out drinking.
"How about this? You know I have connections. If I hear a single whisper of this secret getting out, I will use my connections to bring your life down around you. How does that sound?" Despite the goofy smile on his face, terror shows in John's eyes.
"E-Eryk? Isn't that going a little too far?!" I gasp. He's never seemed so threatening before! Is this what people with money and power are really like? Was everything before this an act?
"It might be," his tone suddenly loses its edge as he turns back to me. "But this secret could be extremely dangerous for Aria, right? Shouldn't we do everything we can to keep it?"
"Well, I guess..." I flounder, unsure what to do. We can't let anyone else find out, but threatening people is wrong. What would Aria think? "I think it's wrong though," I voice my concern. "You don't even know everything yourself."
He shakes his head with a sad shrug. "You told me to ask Aria, but I can't until later. We need to deal with this now."
He's right. "I did..." I bite my lip.
"If I knew the whole story, I would have more to work with," he suggests.
"No!" I finally snap angrily.
"Emily, are you alright?" Francis suddenly asks. At his concerned look, I realize I'm crying, and quickly start wiping away my tears.
"It's not fair." I'm speaking before I really know what I'm saying. "Do you know how long I waited for her to tell me? Do you have any idea how hard it was? Do you really think someone like him would be able to accept her?!" I point at Eryk accusingly. He hardly even knows Aria!
"Uh huh..." Francis says simply, like he's urging me on.
This isn't the time for this, but I can't stop myself. "I was this close to running," I admit. "I told her I'd give her my answer when she came back, but I'm still so mad at her... She lied to me the whole time. I haven't been able to come up with my answer at all. I don't know if I can really believe her or not!" I'm suddenly letting out all of the worries. I don't even know if they know what I'm talking about. I'm not even talking about Eryk anymore. Then Francis thumps his big palm down on top of my head, rubbing my hair gently.
"You're here now, aren't you? I think that's your answer right there, isn't it?" I gasp, eyes widening. Even through my jumbled feelings, I helped her. As soon as she was in front of me, all thoughts of accepting or rejecting her vanished. I just ran to her. "Besides, that makes you way stronger than me. I ran twice before I even gave her a chance."
"Y-you did?" I stammer. Aria never got into the specifics of how she met Francis... But I shake my head. Now really isn't the time, I remind myself again. Aria said she wanted her mana back soon, so we need to finish dealing with John first.
I turn back to Eryk, forcing myself to stand with determination. "Aria wouldn't like doing it like this. Instead of threatening him, isn't there some way we can work together? Actually..." Now that I'm really thinking about it, Eryk's plan wouldn't even work, would it? "Actually, even if someone did reveal her secret, you wouldn't know if it was John or not. It could be someone else."
"How many people know...?" Eryk asks with a worried tone.
"Umm..." I think for a bit. Me, Francis, Eryk, and John make four. Mathew is five. Then there's Frank, who definitely knows something, though I don't really know what. And Aria mentioned two kids named Mary and Aiden finding out when she was kidnapped, so... "About eight people, I think."
"That many?" Francis asks. I see him counting on his fingers, but it looks like he only knows of five. That would only be everyone at the bar, so Frank hasn't mentioned anything to him?
"Aria mentioned Frank knowing something, but she really never finished explaining. There were also some kids who found out when she got kidnapped."
"Frank?"
"Kidnapped?"
Francis and Eryk question at the same time, with similar confused looks. But I shake my head. I got sidetracked again. We have to finish this.
"No, we have to figure out what to do about John." I look back down at Aria. Her breathing has turned kind of ragged. I don't want to push her much further.
Eryk runs a hand through his hair. "I suppose if we're looking for a cooperative agreement, I could bring him on as a personal bodyguard. How does that sound?" It feels like he's asking me as much as he's asking John.
"That's fine by me," John eagerly agrees, "as long as it pays the bills."
I look back and forth between them. "You can do that?" Why didn't he say so sooner?
"Of course. Like the rest of this, it won't be cheap, but it's doable." I have no idea what would be expensive to someone like Eryk, but if he can solve the problem by just hiring John, wouldn't that be for the best?
"I guess that's decided then." Francis cuts in. "Now, let's let Aria take it easy. What do we do?" He looks over at me, but before I can start to explain, Aria suddenly starts coughing, then groans a little.
"Emily, I'm at my limit. Can I have my mana back yet?" She suddenly asks. Shit! I took too long! My eyes go wide as she mentions mana in front of everyone. I snap back to Eryk.
"Do not mention that word to anyone!" I demand, mind racing.
When Aria first told me about mana, she said that it was safe to talk about, as long as you didn't end up mentioning it to anyone who already knew. Of course the people who already know are the ones involved with the rail unit program, so they would immediately tell you that only rail units have mana, right? Her secret would be revealed instantly!
"Don't even say it out loud!" I follow up. He usually looks so calm, but Eryk finally gulps a little. But then I quickly turn back to Aria. Without her earth mana, her condition is clearly getting worse. So I go back to John and tell him to touch her again. He does, and Aria shudders, before relaxing slowly. Since she isn't knocking him out, I guess she's gotten better at pulling mana out of people? Or at least she's doing it more slowly now.
While Aria recovers her mana, Eryk hesitantly asks, "I don't suppose you'll tell me anything about... that... right?" I grit my teeth. Stupid Aria, this is why I was trying to keep you from talking to anyone!
But it's still my fault. If I hadn't gotten sidetracked talking about my own guilt, we would have finished up faster and she wouldn't have said that. Damn it!
I don't know what to do. If Eryk doesn't listen to me and starts asking questions, he'll definitely figure everything out. He has so much power, he would end up turning everyone against her!
"I can't let you ask anyone else about it, so I'll tell you..." I stare at the ground and mumble. "I'll tell you later, we need to get her to the doctor first, ok?" I ask. It's stupid, but I just want to put off telling him.
"Sure, I can wait," he responds with a small nod.
"Emily, I don't have enough mana, I think I'm losing it to my injuries," Aria suddenly speaks up yet again. She's already blown that secret, but I can't help flinching when she says it again. But then I consider what she actually said. Losing it to her injuries? She never mentioned anything like that when she was using it to heal my injuries after the monster attack, so is this something new? If she's losing mana, what does she need... I think back to everything she's told me. She'll pull more of it out of the well she mentioned, and then convert it to earth. For that, she needs nuvrite and iron...
"You don't have anything with you though," I frown a little. Then I look around. She usually used nuvrite coins, but what about iron?
"Sorry, we dropped all my stuff outside the gate," she responds. We? We who? I shake my head, going back to the actual problem. Both Francis and John have swords, those should be made of iron, right? No, I don't like that idea. What will she do later if she needs more again? There are iron coins too, but those are... I blink a little as my eyes settle on Eryk. Isn't he super rich?
"Eryk, can I have a nuvrite and iron coin?"
"Sure, but I only have the iron," he responds. Is he... too rich to carry nuvrite coins? It's hard to even comprehend. Still, the way he's staring at her, he definitely cares more about seeing what Aria does than any money. How much is he going to figure out about mana, just watching?
"Here's a nuvrite," Francis pitches in as well.
"Here you go," I say gently. I stack the little iron coin Eryk hands me on top of the larger nuvrite one and touch them gently to Aria's forehead.
Aria breathes in, then shudders and cringes for some reason. "Ow ow ow..." she keeps mumbling to herself for a bit. "I don't get it, I'm definitely losing some..." she says to herself while her head lolls to the side in Francis' arms.
I don't understand what she's rambling about, but I don't think she's about to explain anything like this. Despite whatever just happened, she says, "Thanks Emily," to show that she's finished.
As I remove the coins again, I can feel them sticking together just a bit. I take the iron coin and give it a few hard taps against a building to demagnetize it, like Aria did in the forest.
"Now get back to sleep," I say in a gentle voice, and Aria closes her eyes. Once she seems to be asleep again, I return the coins.
"She might need them again later, is that ok?" I ask. They both nod. Francis only gave a nuvrite, but Eryk gave an iron... Looking at his coin purse and listening to the jingling as he puts the money away, I think I understand a little better, that one coin isn't much to him at all.
----------------------------------------
Without much conversation beyond that, we continue. Our trip down into the central district proceeds in silence. Eryk leads the way while Francis continues to carry Aria. I don't think I've ever been this far south in the city, so I don't have any idea where we are.
Before I know it, he says we're there. When I look up at the building in front of us, it's actually pretty small, even though it looks much better built than any of the buildings I'm used to. The shop front has a sign with writing on it instead of a picture.
"It says 'Taylor Clinic.'" Francis reads it when he sees me looking. I give a small nod. Despite our strange circumstances, going to a place like this is nerve-wracking. We're all the way in the central district. Everyone around here would be pretty rich, right? Probably even higher class than Francis. When I glance down the street in either direction, other shops have writing on their signs too, which means a lot of people around here would know how to read, right?
Eryk doesn't hesitate to walk into the shop though, and we all follow him in. "Good day, Eryk. What brings you here?"
"Good day, Nina," he returns the greeting as we all enter behind him. I find the voice's owner sitting behind a desk a short distance from the door. She's a kind of pretty woman, with a nice face and very dark hair. Though it's still brown, not black like Eryk's. I can only see down to her chest with the desk there, but the neckline is a good bit lower than I usually see. Not to mention, the dress is a dark green color. I've only ever seen colors like that at a distance, on some of the higher class people at church. Dyes like that must cost a fortune! I stiffen up as Nina scans across our weird group, looking very confused as she does.
"I would like the doctor to take a look at a badly injured girl," Eryk says before she can question us. Her eyes settle on Aria.
"Baro!" she exclaims, rising halfway out of her chair at the sight. "O-of course, the doctor will see you right away." She immediately gestures to a door to the left of her desk, and we quickly move to walk through. However, she waves her hands a little when she sees us all going.
"Hold on, the rest of you should wait outside. Just Eryk and the child, please." I stop short. I can't go with her? But what if she needs me? No one else knows her like I do. Even Francis hasn't seen her in a while, so he wouldn't know about things like her problems with lele fruit.
I look over at Eryk, pleadingly. There's no way I can talk back to an adult like her. She's a shopkeeper and way higher class than I am.
It seems like Eryk understands, because he points at me and says, "I'm taking this one with me too." Nina blinks in confusion a few times, but doesn't protest. Francis gently passes Aria off to Eryk, and I follow close behind him, through the door into the back.
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The next room looks... weird. Everything is made of this weird sort of material similar to stone. It's light gray and looks really smooth. Is it important for doctors for some reason? But my attention is pulled off of the strange room when I see the two people standing from their chairs near the far wall. The woman turns, already staring at Aria and begins to run the short distance across the room. She's wearing really dark colored clothing.
"Please, bring her over here, I'll treat her right away." She sounds much more calm than she looks. As she reaches Aria, she is already staring down closely at the different injuries while Eryk carries her over toward a table in the middle of the room.
I look at the woman as they walk and my first impression is- She has enormous boobs! I blink a little when I notice it. I wouldn't even say she's that pretty, or curvy, so they look weirdly out of place on her otherwise slim body. I... hope mine don't get like that...
Putting those thoughts from my mind, I follow them over to the table. It's kind of tall, so I can only barely see over the top of it. I glance a little at the man. He's sitting again, gathering some things from the table he's sitting at. From behind, his clothes look dark like hers, but he has short brown hair, while hers is long and blond, pulled into a ponytail behind her.
"What happened to this girl?" the woman asks.
"I don't know," Eryk says shortly while he slowly lowers Aria onto the table, before backing away. The woman immediately begins untying the bandages and ties to remove her clothing, but keeps speaking as she works.
"Taylor, are you ready?"
"All set." The man responds, turning in his chair, holding something flat in one hand, and a stick in the other. The way he holds it, sort of perched between his fingers, seems odd. He dips the small metallic tip into something, tapping a couple times as dark ink drips off of it. Is he writing something? I've never actually seen someone write before.
"Patient's name?" The woman asks.
"Aria," Eryk answers. Taylor begins writing. I guess he's recording the information?
She stops briefly, grabbing a couple things from one counter. She unrolls a long tape measure. Kind of like the one I remember my parents having when I was little. She holds it next to Aria and says, "Height: one hundred two centimeters." Then she looks over at another tool near the far wall while frowning. "For weight..." With one more sweep of the room, her eyes suddenly lock onto me. "Girl, stand on that." She points me over to the strange tool she was looking at. It's for weighing things? I hurry to do as she says and stand on it. It's a little platform that I stand on, but... It looks kind of lopsided. The part I step onto rests on the floor, connected to a metal bar with another little flat platform up in the air.
The woman quickly walks over and begins moving a few blocks of metal onto the other platform. After just a few, the platform I'm on suddenly starts lifting up into the air and I flail to keep my balance. Before I can figure out what to do, now standing on the little platform up in the air, the woman comes over and lifts me off of it. My heart hammers as she holds me under my arms, lifting me up and down a couple times while thinking.
But then she sets me back on the ground and goes back to Aria without saying anything. How is this supposed to help Aria anyway? The woman slides her arms under Aria and lifts her off the surface of the table briefly before setting her back down. "Less than half, so I'd say about... eleven kilos." She shakes her head as she speaks. Now it finally makes sense. If that tool was for measuring my weight, she lifted me to get a rough idea of how much lighter Aria is. Taylor continues to write as the woman speaks.
I glance over at him. Wasn't this called the Taylor clinic? Is he not the doctor? Or maybe he's the one writing things down because he is the doctor?
"Class is peasant, I assume?" She raises an eyebrow as she asks, but doesn't question Eryk about it. He just nods.
"Age?"
"About five, I think." She turns back to Aria with a worried look.
"She's small," the woman comments in a low, worried voice. I have to speak up when they get it wrong.
"Actually!" I jolt when everyone looks at me. But swallow my fear of these much higher class people, and tell them, "Aria is seven." As expected, they all look at her in shock.
"Are you sure about that?" the woman asks me pointedly. I gulp nervously under her piercing eyes, but make myself nod anyway.
"Fine. Age seven. Who is her legal guardian?" Why does she look angry?
"Fredricson," Eryk answers. I slowly walk over closer to the table where she's working, clasping my hands in front of myself. I shouldn't be so worried, Aria already said she was through the worst of it, but this woman's serious expression and the way she's working remind me that these injuries are not normal. If she wasn't a rail unit, they would definitely be fatal. Would already have been fatal.
"Medical history?"
"Nothing I know of." Eryk shakes his head. I don't butt in this time, since I don't really know much about that outside of the fact that she got hurt a lot. She said they beat her every day, but didn't get into specifics... The woman gives a small nod and moves on.
The first thing she does is press her wrist to Aria's forehead and note that she doesn't have a fever. Then she finishes taking her clothes off, setting them down on an empty counter near the door. Everyone winces when they see that the injuries are just as bad underneath her clothes. I clamp a hand to my mouth when my stomach starts to turn.
But then I see Eryk's gaze snap from Aria's wounds over to her clothes. He must have realized her clothing was changed... I can only assume that had something to do with the bird that flew into our room. It must have dropped her robes and grabbed her regular clothes. Did she make more animals like Maven then?
"No signs of external bleeding... infection... internal bleeding..." the woman notes as she looks over Aria's whole body. "Nothing immediately urgent at least. Before we get to her injuries, she's suffering from starvation and dehydration."
"We gave her food and water on the way here," Eryk says "but she probably needs more."
"What did you feed her?" Eryk responds to her question by looking at me, since I was the one who actually fed her.
"I think it was a porridge made with crushed wheat and oats," I explain.
"Not bad, but she needs more protein and nutrients. At her weight and age..." she speaks to herself a little, moving across the room again. She opens up a high cabinet and starts pulling things from inside. The first thing out is an egg? They don't last long, maybe a few days at best. Does she have to buy those all the time? They aren't that expensive, but if you had to keep buying a lot of them it would really add up. She pulls out a few more things I don't even recognize, but they look like some sort of fruits or vegetables. So rich people have completely different things they eat, I don't even know what they are. But when I see her pull out a lele fruit, I realize that they must use some of the same healing things we do too.
But this is what I was most worried about. I'm glad I came. "Excuse me, lele fruit are really bad for Aria." I tell her.
"Oh? A food allergy?" She turns back to look at me as she asks. I don't know what that is though. There are so many things here I don't understand at all, is this how Aria feels all the time? All I can do is follow her example and ask questions until I do.
"What is a food allergy?" I ask.
"It's when eating something most people can eat causes things like stomach aches, nausea, hives, and such. Does that sound about right?"
"Well, not exactly. They make her faint for about a day if she eats one, and she can't move for another day after. And they stop her from healing properly. When they were used to treat her bandages before, her wounds got really badly infected. She even said that touching them makes her feel sick," I try to explain just how bad they are. If she fed one to Aria in her current condition, she would die immediately. Even the woman seems to understand that. She gulps nervously and nods, then puts back the lele fruit. Once she has collected the rest of her things, she mashes them all up, cracks the egg in, and adds water until the whole thing looks like a dark, multicolored slush. It looks really gross. Is she going to use that to treat her bandages?
"Now we just need to feed it to her," the woman notes with a frown, and I grimace. She' supposed to eat it? No, if she has to eat it, that's what she'll do. Shaking off my hesitation, I go to Aria to wake her up. With a gentle head rub, I call her name, and she opens her eyes a little.
"S-she's conscious?" At the doctor's tone, I look back to see the blood draining from the woman's face. "G-get the painkillers!" she stammers at the man, who's already scrambling out of his chair, his writing tools thrown back onto the desk at his side. She rushes over to Aria and leans down very close in her face. "Hi there honey," she suddenly begins speaking in a quiet, gentle voice, all traces of worry gone. "My name is Beth, I'm a doctor."
"What's a doctor?" Aria asks quietly. Is this really the time for that?
"I help little girls like you when they get hurt," she replies sweetly.
"Ahh, I get it," Aria says, grinning happily. When I see that look, it reminds me that we can't let her talk too much here either. I take a tentative step forward, but I don't know if I can say anything now.
"How are you feeling? Miss Doctor here will make all the pain go away," she continues to coo softly, even as she keeps one arm outstretched, frantically motioning for Taylor to hurry as he goes into a cabinet.
"I've never gotten so hurt before," Aria giggles. "My whole body feels like it's on fire. It's fine though, I'll survive this time." I grit my teeth, she's way too close to revealing something dangerous, isn't she? I don't know exactly what happened either, but if Beth asks, Aria will tell her all about the battle, won't she? Taylor finally gets the 'painkillers' she requested and puts them into Beth's outstretched palm. However, instead of continuing what she was doing, she suddenly turns to Eryk.
"This child, she's-" she starts to say through angry, gritted teeth.
"Stop!" Eryk puts up a hand to stop her. "I know exactly what you're thinking, and that's not it. What is actually going on with her isn't something you can imagine." The doctor's mouth drops open a little, like she doesn't know how to respond. "This child is special. Unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to discuss the details."
"Is that so..." Beth mutters. She takes the 'painkillers', which look like some sort of dried up leaves, as far as I can tell, and crumbles them into the scary looking food-drink thing she made.
"This medicine will make the pain go away," she switches perfectly back into her kind, comforting voice when she addresses Aria again. Holding her head up a little with one hand, she lowers the thing to Aria's lips with the other and begins to feed her slowly. When she lifts it after a little so Aria can swallow, she continues to coo, "Good girl, good girl."
"Blegh, this medicine is gross," Aria complains. Even Aria thinks it tastes bad? After hearing how she was fed in the past, the thought sends a shiver up my spine. "Do I really have to take it?"
"Yes, this will help you get better. Be a good girl and drink," Beth responds firmly. I can't help how it brings back memories of my Mother when I got sick... Despite the complaints, Aria continues to drink the thick sludge stuff Beth feeds her, a little bit at a time.
"All done!" Beth suddenly cheers when she lifts the cup away again. "What a good girl, taking your medicine. Good girl, good girl," she repeats while rubbing Aria's head. She even gives her another small cup of water to wash it down with.
"Hehehe..." Aria giggles with the same big grin on her face.
"Is that it? Can she go back to sleep now?" I ask hesitantly while Beth continues to rub her head gently.
"Yes, I have more work to do, but you can rest again now, little one," she says quietly to Aria.
"Ok," Aria responds quietly, and closes her eyes, going back to sleep again immediately. I let out a relieved sigh without realizing it. Beth also lets out a long breath, dropping the happy, sweet face she kept faking while working with Aria. She suddenly looks really worried again.
"It's time to treat her injuries," she says darkly. She begins by looking them over again and listing them off while Taylor takes his seat again, writing frantically. "Burns on her face, arms, chest, and legs." She gently rolls her onto her side, noting, "Burns are only on her front," before settling her on her back again. She continues from there, talking about lacerations, punctures, avulsions, and a whole bunch of other words I don't know, with numbers of wounds of each type, many of them over one hundred.
As she goes on and on, she points out that most of the injuries are to the front of her body, though some of the punctures seem to match between her front and back, like they went right through. Does that mean that she faced her enemies head on? Despite the differences between them? Taylor keeps writing the whole time as Beth speaks. When she gets to the bones, she actually says that Aria's arms and legs are broken in more than a dozen different places. I flinch at the thought, remembering how I hugged her earlier. Apparently most of her ribs are broken too.
"Still, these wounds have mostly started to close. Why didn't you bring her sooner?" she asks, clearly angry.
"We just found her today," Eryk explains quickly.
"That doesn't make any sense. She already made it through the worst, somehow. The blood loss alone shouldn't have been survivable through the first couple days. And that's before I get to her bones. Look at these!" She points down at Aria's arm, lying limply across the table. "The fractures have set! These injuries must be at least two or three weeks old already!"
"No no, that's impossible," Eryk shakes his head. "I talked to her just last week. She was perfectly fine at the time." Beth runs a hand through her hair, obviously confused.
"Then what about these? Half of her injuries weren't even bandaged or anything, but there are no signs of infection at all. Not even from all of the broken bones. Eryk, these wounds don't make any sense," she says pointedly.
"I don't know how to explain it." All he can do is just keep shaking his head in response. "Emily?" He finally turns to me and asks.
"Uhh..." I mutter. I had a feeling he would ask me, but what do I say? "W-well... Aria has always healed really fast." All I can do is explain the things I've seen, without getting into why. "Like, she got stabbed and beaten one time when she was kidnapped, and bitten and clawed by a monster another time, but she always healed in a few days. And her injuries never got infected except when they were treated with lele fruit."
"She what?!" they respond together. That's right, we never really told Eryk about those times, did we? Slowly, they both look back to the girl. Even Eryk has an expression somewhere between pity and awe.
"So you're saying she just heals really fast? I've never heard of anything like that, but even then, it is a miracle this child has survived to this point with injuries like this." Beth rubs her forehead while letting out a long sigh. "Ok, I've already said that she has made it through the worst of it. All that's left is for her to rest as much as possible and eat as well as she can. I could try stitching the wounds so they don't scar as badly, but they're so extensive, she'll definitely be extremely disfigured, no matter what I do..." Eryk grimaces when she brings up the long term effects, but now that she mentions it, Aria's wounds never left scars, did they?
"Umm, I don't think that will be an issue, from what I've seen, she doesn't scar." Even I know that isn't normal, but there's no helping it. "Even that bite from the monster, her arm was all torn up afterward," I point to her arm. It's all slashed and torn now, but back then it was basically shredded by the monster's teeth. It didn't leave any lasting scar. "When it healed, it didn't leave a scar, it looked fine," I explain. Besides that, being beaten every day growing up, wouldn't she have some scars from that too?
"You... didn't pick up a child blessed by Baro or something, did you?" Beth stares at Eryk as she asks.
"Not that I know of..." he says flatly. But then he sends a glance my way, like he's saying, 'is that actually her secret?' I stiffen up a little, since her guess was unexpectedly close to something that has happened, even if it's far away from Aria's true identity. What would Eryk do if he found out she'd been chosen by Reena, given a premonition, and had some sort of important fate in store for her? I can't even guess, so I just keep my mouth shut for now.
"I guess I'll just bandage the wounds then," Beth sighs. Slowly and carefully, she wraps numerous bandages over all parts of Aria's body. It looks like she has treated them with some herbs, but I look closely to make sure they don't have any lele fruit on them, just in case. By the time she's finished tying off the last bandage, Aria is pretty much covered head to toe in wrappings, hardly a bit of skin left showing. Then Beth goes back over to the cabinet and removes more foods, mashing them up into dark sludge like the medicine earlier.
While she works, she explains, "You should feed her as well as you can. But also give her one of these every day. I want to see her again in one week." After some time, she produces three small wooden cups containing the same dark sludge. "Those won't keep long, come back in three days for the second half. Then bring her back next Shanaday so I can look at her again." She ties lids onto the cups so they won't spill, and places them on the table.
"Sure, we'll do that. Thank you for the help, Beth." Eryk gives her a small smile.
Now that she has done everything she can for Aria, it looks like Beth is starting to relax a little. "It's no problem. I'm glad the girl will be fine. But still, a peasant child?" She even throws a glance my way, and I shrink back a little. At least she doesn't look disgusted by me...
"It's a long story, I'll tell you about it sometime," Eryk chuckles.
"Sounds good. You can pay at the front," Beth says while grabbing Aria's clothes and slipping them back onto her. I go over and tie the skirt on so it won't fall off when Eryk picks her up.
"Sure," he gives Beth a small nod while he watches me tie on her skirt. Once I finish, he carefully scoops her up from the table, and I grab the small cups in my arms. We walk back out into the front room, where everyone else is sitting on long wooden benches I didn't notice earlier. Eryk hands Aria off to Francis so he can go to the front counter and pay. I have no idea what sort of prices a doctor costs. I'm kind of scared to even think about it, but I can't stop myself from shifting toward the counter and watching closely, even as my heart thumps away nervously.
"Two nickels," the woman at the counter says, and Eryk produces the shiny silver coins, like it's no big deal. Aren't those worth even more than iron? I don't know if I've ever even seen one before!
"Come on, let's get going," he calls over to everyone, his gaze turning back to us. I flinch a little when his eyes sweep across me, realizing again just how wide the divide in our statuses is.
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We leave the clinic and walk a short distance before stopping again. "So, where to from here?" Eryk asks. Everyone goes silent for a while. I hadn't thought this far ahead at all.
"Well, we need to take Aria somewhere she can rest," I volunteer the obvious answer.
"And where is that?" Eryk asks, his eyes narrowing. His tone says 'think it through better,' so I stop to consider it. Where do we take her? She still has too much earth mana, so she needs a place to rest where no one will bother her. But she can't even move to feed herself or anything, so she needs someone to take care of her too. For... what, a week?
So, is there anywhere she can stay that's safe? The orphanage is out of course. I... don't really know of anywhere else though. The only other places I can think of would be the homes of the people here. But Eryk and John obviously can't because they aren't safe for her to speak to alone either. That just leaves Francis, but didn't Aria tell me about how she already wasn't able to stay there because his wife hates rail units? There's no way she could just show up again out of nowhere, injured like this...
"I... can't think of anywhere," I reluctantly admit.
"I figured you wouldn't let her stay at my house," Eryk shrugs. "I know some other places, but those wouldn't be any better than my place, since they would all be with strangers who don't know anything."
Then Francis comes to the rescue. "If we're talking about people who aren't strangers, who already know something, and we're looking for discretion, I... think I know a place. Come on." He begins leading the way as we go north again.
Since we're traveling at a fast, adult pace, Francis picks me up and carries me. We quickly pass out of the upper class central district. Just crossing over Main Street sets my heart at ease. The bells ring as we walk, but I have no idea which bells they are at this point. I probably already missed lunch. And breakfast. I need to eat something soon...
While I consider these thoughts a little, Francis just keeps walking while he carries me along. We travel for a while, like earlier, just a few blocks off Main Street, going parallel. It's only after we arrive at our destination that I realize it should have been obvious.
"The bar again?!" Eryk sounds exasperated.
"Why here?" I ask. Sure, Matthew heard our conversation earlier, and I got the impression that Francis knows him, but... does that really make this a good choice?
To explain, Francis says, "I grew up with Matthew, we've been friends forever. He even heard what we were talking about earlier, so I figured this was the best place."
"You've been friends that long?" I ask. I may not know Matthew, but if Francis trusts him that much, maybe it is a good choice. Not that I have any other suggestions anyway.
Well, given our requirements, there isn't really any good place to take her, is there? Where could we leave Aria for a week that has someone to take care of her all the time, but they won't speak to her at all? So this is the best Francis could think of based on that, I guess.
"Yeah, let's ask him what he thinks about it," Francis says as he leads the way back into the bar. "Hey Matthew, we're back," he calls, and Matthew walks in from the back shortly after. Just standing inside, I can smell food cooking now. It makes my stomach start to rumble since I haven't eaten today, but I push it from my mind.
"Hey, what's up now?" he asks, looking back across our group again.
"I have a favor to ask, could you let Aria stay here for a while? Since you heard everything earlier, you know we can't leave her with just anyone..." Francis awkwardly grins while he asks.
"Well, sure..." Matthew looks like he's thinking about it. "She can use a room in the back, but I can't really take care of her all the time. I have to watch the bar and all, you know?"
Before I know it, I'm sticking my hand up. "I-I can help!"
"Help? With what?" Matthew tilts his head a bit, questioning my sudden outburst.
I... have no idea. I think I was just too eager to help with anything I could... Even so, all I can do is push forward. "Anything! I'll help with the bar, or running errands, or anything else you need." I clench my fists, trying to show my resolve.
"Another set of hands, huh?" Matthew scratches his chin a little.
"Uhh, Emily?" Francis looks at me with a worried expression, and I realize I missed something important.
"That's right, I have a curfew..." I lower my head apologetically as I speak.
"Hmm, a second set of hands throughout the day could still be a big help, as long as you're willing to work. How does this sound? You help me out during the day, I'll let you take breaks to look after Aria. In return, I'll check on her a few times a night too. Sound good?"
"Y-yes! Of course! Thank you so much!" I feel tears beginning to form in my eyes, but quickly wipe them away.
"I'll be sure to stop by and check on her on my way back from work too," Francis volunteers, and Matthew nods.
"Not that I'm doubting the food you make here, but Aria needs to get the best food she can right now," Eryk cuts in smoothly. "I can send a messenger over with good food a few times a day."
"Sure," Matthew shrugs.
"Thank you, Eryk. Thank you, Francis." I can't help but smile. It looks like everyone will be pitching in, all for Aria's sake.
"Come on, I'll show you to her room." Matthew lifts up part of the counter, apparently with a hinge in the wood, and we all file through the narrow space, into the next room. It looks kind of like a kitchen, but much bigger than the one at the orphanage, with counters scattered around and a big hearth over near the left wall, the source of the food smell coming from inside.
"Over here, we have a few rooms. Usually use them if a patron gets a little too drunk to make the walk home. She can stay in this room on the end." As he says that, I drag my eyes away from the tall metal pot on the hearth. Off to the far right of the room are a row of doors. Five of them along the wall, with the last one in the gap under a set of stairs leading up to the second floor.
We go over, winding through the multiple counters until we arrive by the doors. The space right under the staircase is pretty narrow, with the door leading into a similarly narrow room, so it's hard for everyone to fit, and John just keeps his distance. The small room is hardly furnished, just a bed and small table inside.
Even this bed in the back of a bar is better than what we have at home. It's made of wood, but he has a worn out looking straw mattress thrown down across it. Even if it is full of holes and straw sticks out everywhere, lots of it falling out onto the floor, it's still a step up from not having one at all.
Francis gently lowers Aria onto the bed, where she settles, looking more comfortable in her sleep than I've seen her... pretty much ever. I know it's just the earth mana, but seeing her actually sleeping peacefully in bed... I blink away the tears that want to form in my eyes, and set the three cups of medicine down on the small table.
"I guess we've settled this..." Eryk says in a low voice. "I'll be heading out. I still need to negotiate with John's contractor and draw up the paperwork to hire him."
Francis speaks up next. "I guess I should report back to Frank. I'll see if I can find out what he knows while I'm at it." The adults all nod at each other, then look at me.
"Umm, I'm not sure..." I don't know what I should be doing next. I'm getting really hungry too, and the strong food smell in here is making it kind of hard to think... I glance around at all of the adults around me, feeling really small again. Then a hand thumps down on top of my head, and I look up. Matthew looks down at me with an amused grin.
"I'll show you the ropes before business picks up. Shanadays are busy here, so we better get started."
"Get started? Already?" I ask, panicking. I had no idea we would be starting this right now. When he raises an eyebrow, I shake my head emphatically. "Right, yeah, of course!" I give him a big nod, and he ruffles my hair a little, still grinning.
"Thanks for everything, Matthew." Francis says as everyone begins to split up for the day.
"It's no problem," Matthew answers. "I got a little helper out of it, after all." With that, everyone else leaves, and it's just Mathew, me, and Aria left in the bar. "Let's get to it, I'll show you what you need to know."
"Right." We walk back into the kitchen, the wafting smell of food immediately making me kind of dizzy as my hunger pangs hit me again. When my stomach growls loudly, Matthew looks over at me, blinking a little. "S-sorry!" I immediately flush with embarrassment and start apologizing. "With everything that happened, I haven't really eaten today..." I mutter, staring at the ground.
After a few tense moments, Matthew says, "Well, there's no helping it. Let's get you some food first, we'll start after." By the time he's finished speaking, he already has a bowl and is scooping something out of the pot on the hearth. I open and close my mouth a few times, unable to respond. He's going to give me food? Just like that?
When he places the bowl in my hands, I stare down at the food briefly. It looks kind of like what we eat at the orphanage. Some sort of stew with different things in it. But the smell is completely different. It's not muddy and doesn't smell like dirt.
"I-I'll eat it quickly so we can get to work," I stammer, looking for somewhere to set the bowl.
"It's hot, don't burn yourself," he warns, then suddenly scoops me up and drops me on top of a tall stool near a counter.
"T-thank you," I take the spoon in the bowl and begin to blow on the steaming stew. By the time I take a bite, Matthew has already served another bowl for himself and taken another seat at the counter. As the stew hits my tongue, my eyes immediately go wide. This is nothing like the tasteless sludge we get at home! Even with the hobin we've been adding since we started hunting, it never tasted like much. But this!
"Mmm!" I shudder as the rich flavor of the sauce fills my mouth and the vegetables punch through with their own unique tastes. "This is delicious!" Matthew just gives me another amused grin. Shrinking a little and feeling embarrassed over the reaction that shows where I'm from, I just focus on the food for a bit while I keep eating. As I take slow spoonfuls, savoring every last bite, something finally begins to sink in.
Did I just... get a job?