As I followed the corporal out of the station we were stopped by a small group of 4 guards that stood up from a bench as we approached.

“Sir, are we leaving? Everyone is here and ready to head out.” The stranger said.

“Almost. Mr. Wallace and I are going to go pick up his familiar from Trent’s infirmary and then we will head out. Be sure to have yourselves formed up and ready to head out by the time we are back. I don’t want to be heading back into the building before leaving. God only knows, I will be caught up in more work if people see me walk back in this early in the shift.” Evans said with a bit of hesitance in his voice.

“Will do, sir. Honestly we were hoping you would say that. Otherwise we would be on trash duty in a few more minutes. Would you mind if we came to the infirmary as well?” The stranger asked.

Pinching the bridge of his nose Evans chuckled and then said: “Sure. It wasn’t that long ago that I would’ve asked the same thing haha. Squad form up in the courtyard, we are setting out for local business then for our patrol.”

Evans’ squad quickly formed up into what I felt was an odd formation. There were two heavily armored men in front, followed by a very lightly armored man carrying a staff, and then finished off with a woman dressed in light leather with a bow in her hand and quiver on her side.. Each squad member also had a backpack and cloak. It was obvious from their packs that they would not be returning today.

As the small squad marched down the street with me and Evans bringing up the rear, people slowly and respectfully moved out of the way in order to clear a path. Only once did our small procession come to a stop and that was for a heavily laden wagon with a broken yoke. As the two heavily armored men helped to push the wagon to the side, Evan and I were trying to keep the large beasts of burden out of the way. The beasts looked like extra large bulls that I had seen in classes about ancient times.

With the citizenry helped and the downing of a few offered cups of fresh water, the squad was back on its way towards the infirmary. Within a few minutes we were within sight of the two story building and shortly after that the squad was halted at the door waiting for me to return from picking up Rumble.

As I entered the building a loud crashing noise could be heard throughout the building along with thumping sounds pounding down the halls. Laughing at the absurdity of it, I just knelt down with open arms to receive my hyperactive companion.

Launching me onto my back, Rumble had crashed into my chest with his arms open wide with crying emojis flooding the top right of my vision. For how ferocious the little plant was, he sure was clingy.

“Look little buddy, I didn’t forget you… I just had to go give a statement to the guards.” I said.

After a few moments of looking at me with what I could only describe as a “raised leafy eyebrow”, Rumble ended up shrugging and throwing out a few happy emojis.

With Rumble’s strong arms helping me to stand back up right, I was greeted with a few laughs from the surrounding workers and a gentle pull on my arm.

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“Thanks Melissa, Rumble gets pretty excited whenever I am gone too long.” I said.

“So I see.” she said with a smile. “He definitely is a caring little one, but not so great to have around when he can’t find you. You might need to tell Healer Trent sorry for the hassle, Rumble has been flying through the infirmary flipping bed sheets trying to find you. In fact he has lifted the patient out of your previous bed so many times that we had to flat out quit using it until now.”

Looking down at Rumble in disbelief with my jaw hanging, I could help but feel embarrassed when the story was all but confirmed with “shy and crying” emojis being spammed.

“Look, I doubt he will entirely blame you. Let's apologize to him and get this squared away.” Melissa said as she took my hand and led me down the hall and to a door on the left.

With just enough time between arriving at the door and being shuffled in with the door being left open behind me, I read “Master Healer and Master Alchemist Trent B. Smith.

“Sorry to take your time Healer Trent, but patient Wallace wanted to speak to you briefly.” Melissa interjected before the healer could even open his mouth.

After having taken a quick elbow to the ribs, I hurriedly rushed to speak: “Healer Trent, I just wanted to apologize about the mess that my familiar made in my absence. I hope that all can be forgiven, I will make sure that it never happens again!”

With his initially annoyed expression softening to a somewhat humored seriousness, the healer said: “Its fine and all forgiven. Apologizing and taking accountability is the first step of correcting bad habits. Don’t make having to have this conversation a continuous situation and all is forgiven. That being said, you should try to knock next time. I wouldn’t want my staff to learn such habits.” he said as his eyes locked onto Melissa for the last line.

“Lesson learned” Melissa and I said in unison.

With cheeks red from embarrassment she said: “With your permission Healer Trent, I will escort Patient Wallace back out to the front.”

With a quick nod from the healer, I was shuffled out of his room with the door closing softly behind me.

“I’m so sorry for that, sometimes I get so caught up in being proactive that I trip over myself.” the pretty blonde with now glowing red cheeks.

“It's fine Melissa, I am just as guilty as you are.”

“Well, lets get you back on the road. I am afraid that I will be on a tight leash for the next few days and possibly bedpan duty.”

“For your sake, I hope that is not the case. Before I go though, I want to say thank you for helping me to smooth over any frayed relationships. Upsetting the healer is not something you want to be remembered for by said healer.” I remarked.

“Well, I will always be happy to have you as my patient.” She replied.

“I appreciate that but I hope that my need for such services will diminish. It was nice meeting you and I hope to talk in the future, but I do not like the thought of ending up in your bed again.” I said good heartedly.

With a few loud coughs coming from the surrounding crowd, realization hit me. Melissa quickly spoke up: “I would suggest we leave this conversation behind us and get you on your way. Take this blanket to cover Rumble until you leave town. Also, I will see you in a few days to pick up the healing herbs. Most importantly, please do your best to clear this up with the guards at the door… I don’t want too many rumors running around about me.”

As she finished her final words, she quickly turned and headed towards the main patient area with a now burning red face.

With a hot face myself I turned to leave and walked over to the curious guards.

Having seen the blanket fall from my hands and not fully knowing what happened, Rumble shrugged his shoulders, picked up the blanket, and skipped off after me.