Morning came quickly, and with his fathers direction Leonard shuffled his way to Dr. Priscilla’s office, tucked away on the outskirts of the estate behind a large garden at the back of the main building.

The office was the only thing in the building, rather than simply being shoved into one of the many spaces available, Dr Priscilla insisted on having her very own space. Leonard found it nice walking through the gardens, he hadn’t been through them since his childhood. After he started schooling he found himself with very little time for such things. A shame he thought.

The office was a small single story building, the foyer was simple, a single counter behind which Priscilla’s assistant worked away on a console. She spotted Leonard when he walked in and directed him to an open door at the beginning of a corridor to her side.

Dr Priscilla was inside, younger looking than what Leonard had imagined, however in the current day and age many did. Age reversing and life preserving technology had advanced that many looked like they were in the prime of their life, when in fact they were double or even triple Leonards age.

She was dressed very plainly, a long sleeve black turtleneck tucked into a pair of dark pants, as well as wearing her black hair up in a ponytail. It seemed to be a theme. She did wear glasses however, which was a very strange sight these days.

“Come sit.” She gestured towards a number of different seats before her as the door automatically pulled shut behind him. Leonard simply sat at what looked to be the most conservative of all the arranged chairs while Priscilla herself sat across from him.

“Good morning Mr..” her voice trailed off as she looked through a data pad in her hand. “Ah, Mr Leonard. You’ll have to forgive me. I usually remember the names of all my clients, however you were pushed into my schedule without much notice.”

“Don't worry I understand,” Leonard sighed as he imagined his father kicking out someone and giving him the spot instead. “My father can be very pushy when he knows what he wants.”

“Ha, don't I know that.” Priscilla laughed, “Arthur always was very.. Adamant on some things. Though it was good to see him again, and to find that he raised such a fine young man.”

Leonard didn’t know how to respond to that, instead scanned his eyes over the weird yet calming interior of Priscilla’s office while she busied herself with her data pad briefly.

“Now, Leo.” She discarded the formalities and looked towards him, pulling him back from his idle thoughts. “Tell me what I can do for you?”

“I uhh.” Leonard blanked, he didn’t really know what he wanted, or if he wanted anything at all. He had only come here on his fathers request. “I'm not sure?”

“Fair enough.” She leaned back, crossing one of her legs overtop the other. “Let me ask you something then, what is it that you think I do?”

The question took him aback. “I'm not sure, you're a therapist, no? You help fix peoples heads.”

“Yes that's true, but that's really just an outcome of what I do. You may think that i'm a doctor, poking and prodding at my patients' minds until they feel better, or that I am some wizened old sage that can solve all your problems with deep quotes and philosophies. However, I find most of the time, all people need to get better is someone to talk to.”

“Talk to?” Leonard questioned, not really seeing the point in their discussion. “Couldn’t you just talk with anyone then?”

“Ah you’d think so wouldn't you.” She began, smiling now that she pulled him into a conversation. “But soldiers have a way of keeping these things to themselves. Not because they want to, but because they think others wouldn’t understand.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Leonard countered, not agreeing with her view. “You won't know until you try.”

“But when have you known a human to be rational Leo? Humans are by their very nature irrational. But I understand you may not agree with me, I only came to this conclusion after working in this field for long enough.”

Leonard gladly dropped the subject, he didn't much care for arguing semantics.

“Tell me then, what got you medically discharged from the Mech Corps?”

“It was a pretty bad injury during my last battle.” Leonard answered. “They had to regrow half of my body.”

“Sounds rough,” Priscilla winced. “But to me you look physically fine. Why the two extra months?”

“It’s to monitor any complications from the alien matter that could still be mixed in my body.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Ah yes, Arthur told me that as well.” Priscilla looked unconvinced. “However he also told me that, while he wouldn’t press you on it, he didn’t believe your story in the slightest. Some mumble jumble about the Corps not having the funding and so forth, really his reasoning behind it isn't important, but the fact that he holds the opinion is. What say you Leo?”

Leonard was stumped, he certainly hadn’t expected an interrogation when he came in this morning.

“How would I know how my father thinks?” He responded simply, not trying to get into a discussion about something he knew he couldn’t talk about.

“Fair,” She easily accepted. “But I want to know what you think. Is what you said a lie?”

“Couldn’t say,” Leonard merely shrugged.

“Hmm,” she nodded. “So you know the truth but don't say? Why is that?”

“Really, I couldn’t say.”

“There's no one in here but me and you, even if you said you killed the chancellor no one would find out.”

“Someone is always listening.” Leonard raised his wrist wearing his comm unit.

“A little paranoid don't you think?”

“I don't think so.”

“So you know who’s listening?”

“Couldn’t say.”

“You don’t like talking do you Leo?” Priscilla uncrossed her legs and leaned forward in her chair, visibly interested. “Or are you just scared of what you might say?”

“Look, I'm not here to argue,” Leonard stated, clearly annoyed. “There are just some things that I can't say and that is that.”

“Fair enough,” she dropped her line of questioning, instead getting up and fishing around in a closet behind her desk. She returned with a small black and white chequered board, one that Leonard recognised immediately. “You played chess before?”

“I have, but.” Leonard had played many times, it was one of the few games from the old world that persisted all the way until now. But he was a little confused about why she wanted to play a board game. “What is it for?”

“It's like what I said before, but rather than talking I think companionship is a better term.” While she chatted she set up the game, two rows each of white and black pieces. “And since you don't want to talk, I figured this might be better.”

“Guess I’ll give it a go,” he leaned forward in his chair bringing the pieces into his reach. His competitive spirit lit up a little, while he wouldn’t say he was the best, far from it, he wouldn’t make it easy.

“Attaboy,” Priscilla, having finished placing all the pieces, gave the board a spin, various small magnets keeping everything from flying off. The board slowly came to a stop, the white pieces resting in front of Leonard and black in front of Priscilla. “Your first then.”

The pair played for a while, the previous interrogation completely forgotten. Leonard couldn’t help but enjoy himself a little, even if he was on leave he still had work to be done, the future wouldn’t change if he sat still. However it felt good to be able to just sit back and enjoy something fun for a change.

Priscilla for her part completely thrashed him, of the three games they played she won them all, leaving very little room for interpretation. The games were a blow out, however Leonard still enjoyed it.

“Well that was fun,” Priscilla said, stretching back in her chair, taking a quick look at the comm unit on her wrist. “Though it looks like our time is up. Same time tomorrow?”

Leonard had to agree that it was fun, however what she said next perked his interest.

“Tomorrow? I know it's up to you how long this continues, however I'm sure im perfectly fine.”

“You're right about one thing, it is up to me.” She smiled, entering in Leonard for another appointment the next day. “Doctors orders, so make sure you show up. I don't want to have to chase you down.”

Leonard laughed off her final statement, however the glint in her eyes said that she would do just that. He shuddered a little. Though he shouldn’t be too surprised, working in a house of soldiers meant that Priscilla would have to be a little more firm with her patients than if she was working in the civilian sector.

Walking out of the doors Leonard couldn’t help feeling a little better than before he walked in. Maybe there was something to it he thought to himself.

As he was walking back through the gardens his comm unit pinged, a simple message coming through from John saying his order was ready for collection.

There was no mention of what he had ordered, or the fact that he ordered it from the Bloodhounds. Something Leonard was thankful for considering how unsecure his comm was.

–

Willam burst through the door into Anna’s cafe, Anna herself slowly meandering about behind the counter, waiting for any customers to come through.

“Will!” She gasped as she saw her brothers tattered form collapse into one of her chairs, blood covering it in an instant. “Oh my god! What happened to you?”

She grabbed a small first aid kit and rushed around the counter, she wasn't a professional by any means, but she knew how to put something over the bleeding. The first aid kit was very beginner friendly, its various plasters and creams having pictures to help Anna place them in the correct way.

Willam winced as an entire tube of antiseptic cream was poured over a large gash on his back, the liquid stinging its way into his flesh.

“Just ran into the wrong people is all,” he laughed hoarsely, trying to make light of the situation. Anna didn’t seem to be amused however, she slapped on the next plaster over one of his many wounds, electing a loud cry from him. “Ahh! Go easy will you?”

“As soon as you start taking this seriously!”

“Ah, yeah yeah. Don't worry Anna, I have a plan.”