The two walked back, exchanging nary a word. Soon, the Clinic could be seen in the distance, and Exill knew he had to clear the misunderstanding before it really set in.
“I didn’t know it was a proposal.” He blurted out, feeling the stifling tension build up between them.
Envy paused to look back at him, hugging the bundle of towels to her chest. Was there a hint of regret in her clear amber eyes? But her words were decisive and cutting as usual.
“I wouldn’t have accepted it if it was a proposal.”
It couldn’t have been a stronger denial. He couldn’t understand the pinprick of disappointment felt just then. In spite of this, their misunderstanding was resolved, and Exill opened the front door to find Tsarra sitting at the table looking tired while cradling a cup of tea.
“Rough night? I’m sorry but we will have to buy your clothes tomorrow morning.”
“Um… okay.” She had woken up late to find the Clinic empty, and had a brief panic attack until reading her mentor’s hastily scrawled note. In the meantime, Exill was busy performing last minute preparations for their opening.
“Did you study all night? I need you on top of your game Tsarra. We are going to be bombarded with hurt people and I need you to triage and ask lower priority patients to return tomorrow.”
Seeing a queue starting to form outside the clinic despite it being only nine in the morning, he opened the door to greet his first visitor. The patients were processed one after the other, a lot of the cases were straightforward, such as persistent infections, burns and partially healed fractures but a few proved difficult to handle.
One was a rich merchant who needed three of his teeth removed. Exill gave him pain medication and asked to return tomorrow evening as the procedure would take long and cause a mess.
The second issue was a belligerent man who claimed he had subscribed to a treatment plan for regrowing a hand that had been fully paid upfront. He was waving the stump angrily in his face at this very moment.
“Look, Master Witchdoctor. I paid 1200 Denars to regrow me hand and she disappeared, run off with me money! As her replacement, I ask you to honour the agreement… do you know how long I had to save for a sum like that?”
It was a princely sum for a simple townsman, but Exill felt the man was trying to pull the wool over his eyes. Back in Ark, such a treatment plan would be agreed beforehand and paid in instalments over a two-month period. Unless you were dealing with the very rich, it was nearly unheard of to be paid upfront.
“Again, Master Hunter. I ask you to get the Sheriff involved to settle with her estate, I am merely a temporary replacement.”
“How am I supposed to talk to the Sheriff when I lost me receipt! Check the Clinic records!”
Exill sighed as he reached back to flip through the clay tablets containing treatment records, but couldn’t find Hunter Bartol in any of them. Neither of them had evidence that money had exchanged hands.
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He reluctantly stood up and sidled past the glaring Hunter, opening the door of the treatment room. A throng of awaiting people greeted his eyes. Motioning Envy over to him, he turned to the aggrieved Hunter.
“I’m sorry but there are no records of your patient history. I must ask you to leave and take the issue up with the Sheriff.”
“You damn thieving scoundrel!”
The burly Hunter grabbed Exill by his throat with one hand and pushed him against the doorframe, overcome with fury. Envy arrived in time to knock the breath out of him with a pommel strike to the solar plexus, and peeled the offending hand from his throat. Dragging the wheezing Hunter out by his hair, she threatened the man with hissed sincerity.
“If you show your ugly face here again, be prepared to lose your other hand.”
Exill felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of the indomitable Valkyrie, but massaged his sore throat and motioned the next startled patient to come through. Envy was doing a fantastic job keeping complaints to a minimum and stifling the impatient crowd. Tsarra was also performing admirably, triaging the most urgent cases while steadily moving up the queue.
Time went by fast as he saw the next patient after another, only taking a short break to eat some bread and cheese. There were two more patients who needed their limbs regrown, but thankfully, they were on the patient register.
These people too had paid upfront, and proved a headache for him. Their treatment could not be denied, and in spite of this, he would need to claim against the estate of the deceased Healer for a fraction of the treatment fee. Not being a member of the Healer’s Guild made the difficulty of this filing process hard to gauge. He wasn’t sure if it would be challenged by the permanent replacement that would come to fill his shoes.
Regardless, this proved to be a sore point for him, as it consumed a lot of mana for indeterminate pay. Before they knew it, evening arrived and Exill sent off his last client. He staggered over to Tsarra while she tallied their earnings for the day.
“How much did we earn?”
“600 Denars! That should be around… 450 after taxes!”
Both pleased and unhappy at the same time, he patted her head, proud of how she had performed today. Things had gone smoothly thanks to Tsarra walking down the queue to inspect patients, arranging a time or date for them to return.
‘Argh. They take too much in taxes simply because I’m not a resident here!’
Exill suspected it was a ploy by the town council to convince him to settle roots. Looking around at the generous people and beautiful countryside, it was starting to take effect on him.
“It could be nice to live here…”
“Did you say something?” Tsarra asked.
“Oh! just thinking aloud, nothing really.”
Over the course of the day their neighbours had dropped by to greet and thank them, leaving small baskets of preserves and foodstuff behind. The two sat down to enjoy the meal that had thankfully been provided. They were both too tired and hungry to cook and quickly devoured soup and pie while it was still cold.
“Let’s rest early today, it looked like you didn’t get a good night’s sleep. We can study tomorrow.”
“Um... okay.” Tsarra was still eager to read the Healer’s reference tomes, since they had no books back home. She hesitated for a moment then gave him a quick hug, hurrying to her bedroom with the clay tablet tucked under one arm.
Struggling to stay awake, he checked the windows and doors were latched before turning into his... no, Envy’s bedroom. The Vampire had worked hard to intimidate troublesome patients, and maintain order throughout the day.
He found her sitting on the edge of her bed, quietly admiring the bracelet on her wrist. She had changed into the black dress that effortlessly clung to her figure, contrasting against her pale skin. Her shapely legs were a welcome change to the long breeches that she normally preferred.
“It suits you well.” He said while laying down behind her, rolling up the sleeve of his tunic. She loosened her hair, allowing it to fall like a scarlet waterfall as she lay down and adjusted his arms for comfort.
By the time she had finished feeding, Exill was already deep in slumber. She watched him for a while, stroking his forehead in an attempt to relax the frown that had formed above his brows. She swung one leg over his hips possessively, and buried her head into his side.