The third wing, which was directly at the back of the building, facing north, was much shorter than the other two wings, which housed the in-patients and out-patients. In total, Lee saw a staircase, which led to the other four floors of the building and eight other rooms.
To the side of each doorway a small bronze plaque labeled who owned which room. For now, they were all blank, but that would probably change in due time. At the far end of the wing, another set of large double doors, similar in size to that of the temple, signified a larger room, unlike the others.
And, of course, Em stood in front of those doors, giddy as could be.
Em energetically waved over Lee as she eagerly tapped her feet into the wooden floorboards. “This is the room that I want. It’s big, homey, has no windows, and I can fit inside easily. Can you place all of my stuff down?”
Lee nodded easily as he peeked inside the door and found out the main purpose of the room. He signed as he thought about the future. “You do know this is where I will be teaching people magic, right? It’s basically an auditorium. Do you want people to be in your room all the time?”
Em’s smile began to slip. It wasn’t like Lee wanted to dissuade her from the room, but it would… probably cause issues in the future. He swung open the doors, walked inside, and scanned around the room.
There would easily be enough room for all of Em’s things; that wasn’t the problem. The problem was this was built for him to use to teach. Thousands of people would stop by and be taught, and Em’s things would be out and about for all to see and maybe potentially steal. He didn’t care if she wanted this room, but he wanted to ensure she knew the downsides.
“I’m not saying no, Em. I just want to make sure you understand what’s going to be happening in this room.”
Em shuffled around and then smiled and flicked her eyes to the ceiling. “Well, this room doesn’t have extra floors. We could build a… loft! Yes, a loft! I could watch from up above like I used to do back in Breye!”
Lee thought about it, and it wasn’t a terrible idea. He had no clue how much it would cost to add a floor to an already established room, but it couldn’t be cheap. It's a good thing that wasn’t going to be a problem once the room was put into use.
A loud rumble echoed out into the silent room, and Lee pretended that it didn’t exist. He patted his stomach as he calmly looked at Em and tilted his head back to the hallway. “I bought some dinner for us all. Let’s eat, then we can set up your room. For once, I’d like to sleep more than six hours… In a bed.”
Regina had left his side as he entered the northern wing, where the employee rooms were, as headed upstairs to help Gina get the food ready. At first, Lee was a little worried that Em wouldn’t be able to fit into the stairway, but just like her tower, the spiraling staircase was no obstacle for her.
On the second level, there were no separate rooms to be found. Instead, a wide open room filled with chairs, tables, lanterns, a kitchen, and other amenities was showcased. In the center of the room, Gina was laying meals out across a long rectangular dinner table. A calm Gerald, Sleepy Hera, and hungry Neil sat about the table and said their thanks as a burger was placed in front of each of them in turn.
Lee took the closest seat available, and Em donkey kicked one of the nearby chairs away to sit next to him. Sighing, Lee brought out one of EM’s mattresses from his Hidden Cache so she didn’t have to sit on the floor.
When Gina placed his meal in front of him, the rumbling from earlier returned, causing everyone to turn their heads. Lee took a massive bite out of his cheeseburger and melted, just like the cheese, on the spot. “I’m going to go into a food coma after this.”
Gina smiled warmly as she handed him back some change: two silver coins and seven copper. Lee looked at the coins and looked around at the stacked table. Everyone had two burgers for themselves, and there was a side of some sort of salad with vegetables Lee wasn’t aware of. The reddish lettuce brought up a memory from Breye, but that was about as far as that went. They all drank water, which was free, but still… A table full of food for a handful of people was cheap.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Regina daintily ate her burger with a knife and fork, which caused Lee to cringe. “When are you prepared to teach the military your healing? Also, do you know where the portal is?” Regina asked.
Lee took another bite and summoned some ice cubes for everybody's drinks as he responded. “When the patients here have been treated. This was only day one, and I’d be naive to think others weren’t on their way. I’ll be busy, but if some of the people I teach want to work here and help out, then I’ll move them up my schedule. As for the portal? I have no clue where it is or how to use it.”
Gina and Neil looked around the table, confused. “There’s a portal? Like, a magic portal?”
“Not yet, but there will be. Came with these peepers.” Lee said, pointing to his rainbow eyes.
“Speaking of your eyes, is there something else to refer to you as, other than ‘god-blessed?’ Fatalina would be interested in the information.”
Lee finished off his first cheeseburger and started on his second. “Anointed. I’m an anointed of Arcani now…”
Lee flicked his rainbow twirls over toward her as he had a question of his own. “The gods said you didn’t have a last name. You’re ‘just Regina.’ What does that mean?”
Regina took a sip of her ice-cold water and gave him a leveled gaze. After a few seconds, she cut off another slice of her plain hamburger and answered. “People without last names are orphans. You don’t have many orphans where you’re from?”
Lee shook his head. “We do, I’ve just never met too many. When they’re adopted, they usually take the last name of their new family.”
Regina’s fork paused as she registered what he said. “What do you mean new family?”
This time, Lee paused. His cheeseburger was held halfway up towards his open mouth. He looked around the table and saw that what he assumed to be a common thing was apparently not so. “Do you guys not have orphanages? I’m ninety-nine percent sure I’ve seen one here and there as we traveled…”
Hera was the one to over-enthusiastically answer. “We have orphanages!”
She stared around the table and registered the atmosphere. Her over-eagerness to join the conversation with something meaningful had backfired. She sat back down, as she had half risen in excitement, and continued. “With all the monster attacks that happen, of course, we have orphanages. They’re governmentally established, and some lords and ladies even open their own. Sometimes, if they’re skilled in what they do, they can be picked up and join a noble house as a maid or servant.”
Lee nodded along, that all sounded well and good. In Earth’s past, it was probably similar. “Can a normal family not adopt a child?”
His only response was the sounds of chewing and silverware clacking against plates. The lifting and setting down of cups and the shifting clinks of ice cubes melting in water.
Regina spared the room of the awkward silence. “No. You could be hired to do a job for cheap, but they never get adopted. They’re legally owned by the kingdom.”
Lee balked a bit at the ‘legally owned’ part. “So…”
“Yes. I am owned in part by the kingdom. Fatalina has hired me indefinitely. Though, I am an outlier. Once you’re a legal adult, and cant stay in an orphanage, you’re your own person. You may find a job and live a normal life. They then aren’t legally the kingdom’s, but they must pay taxes to pay for their earlier care.”
That… made sense. It wasn’t all good, but at least there was something in place for those destroyed families. “And why can’t someone adopt? Why does the kingdom lay claim over them?”
“Most families can hardly take care of their own. Only the wealthy could afford to adopt if they could, and even then they wouldn’t want someone not of their blood to become a noble. I don’t know the specifics on why the kingdom lays claims on their lives, but I can find that out for you if you’d like.” Regina said.
Lee thought about it, but decided that this wasn’t his problem to tackle. It wasn’t a broken system, so he shouldn’t meddle in their affairs. “No, that’s all right. I was just curious. Cultural differences and all.”
The rest of the meal was filled with small talk. Em was excited about her new room, Regina was happy to have them all settle down somewhere defensible, Kendri was content to lounge about and drink, and his new employees seemed eager to work and help out in their community.
Afterward, Lee entered the auditorium and set up all of Em’s items. Which included her bookcases, books, meteorite of infused iron, and other odds and ends, he went to find a room of his own.
By the time he had finished, everyone but Em and Regina were fast asleep in their own rooms. He strolled down the north wing hallways, inspecting the plaques and peeking into unused rooms before deciding to take the one closest to the stairs.
Inside, the room was pretty barren. It had a nightstand by a king-sized bed, a wardrobe, a small desk with a chair, and a cushioned recliner. Lee stood in the doorway for a bit, enjoying the silence, before he unloaded his mountain of furs onto the bed and started to undress.
The days to come would be long and filled with grief, relief, eager students, hard-headed military personnel, and lots of attention.
With his Robe of the Genesis in hand, he thought about putting it into his Hidden Cache, but elected to put it into the wardrobe provided to him for a bit of normalcy. As he opened the wardrobe, he found a small mirror attached to the swinging doors and looked at his new eyes again.
They were beautiful, but he didn’t feel like he earned them. Not yet, at least. Once he went to the front lines and healed war-torn military members, maybe he could say he earned a tiny bit of what had been given to him.
The gods were… daunting. When they asked for help, it didn’t really feel like ‘no’ was an option…
Unless it were his uncle, Shane, then he’d say no every day of the week.