Dane shivered in their hospital bed.

They couldn't remember how long it had been since they first woke up in these very sheets with a cast over their right leg, but they were sure it was too long.

For a child who loved to run and jump around in the slums, being stuck like this was one of the most harrowing experiences possible, and as a homeless orphan living in the slums, they had pretty high standards! Really, in recent memory, the only things worse than that had been Igne putting her bladed limbs on their throat, and...

Dane looked down at the white cast covering their blue skin and didn't dare to imagine the state of the bones within their leg.

But hey, being stuck here had its upsides! They got to eat three meals every day, and they got to sleep under a nice roof, away from the cold! The lady in charge of the place was very nice too, she had even cleaned all of Dane's clothes and hadn't questioned them when they asked her for enough stuff to cover all of their skin until they could put their old clothes back on - which wouldn't be for a while with that dumb cast in the way. Dane had sworn to themself they would never tell anyone about whatever they discovered about her. Not only that, but if she ever asked them about something, Dane would give her a discount! 10%, they still had to eat after all.

"Knock knock."

Dane turned to look at the entrance to the room they were in, there wasn't any door but the nice lady liked to pretend to knock anyway, to let Dane choose if she could come in or not. She looked a little weird with her feathers, scales, horns, green head, and toothy yellow beak, but Dane didn't mind. People always said they looked weird too.

"Enter!"

Doctor Beatrice Drake stepped into the room, her large palms in her custom shoes gently slapping on the ground, and approached Dane's bed.

"Is everything well, Dane?"

The child nodded, their scarf - the piece of clothing they were the most thankful they could wear despite the cast - flopping around with every movement of their head.

"Yup! Is it time to eat yet?"

"No, no, I just wanted to check up on you."

Dane wasn't a doctor, but even they could tell the nice lady came to see them more often than she needed, to the point it might be detrimental to the handling of other patients. The clinic they were in was also incredibly silent, and with their incredible detective skills, Dane had determined that maybe there weren't many people who came here. They remembered listening to people who said that healing stuff was expensive, and Guy had always told them it was better to come back with no news than with a broken arm. Maybe it was why?

"Is everything fine, Dane? How is your leg feeling?"

"Yeaaah. When can I get out of here again?"

The doctor grimaced as best as her beak allowed her, which mostly translated into a sharp intake of air mixed with barring her sharper features.

"With the state your leg is in? I don't think you're fit to go out for at least a month, and even after that, you should keep your cast on for a few more."

Seeing the child deflate at her words to the point she could almost see the joy and hope getting sucked out of them, Beatrice tried to cheer them back up.

"Don't make that face now, you can stay here until you're fully healed if you want. Plus, the end of your recovery period will be all about rehabilitation, so that'll be some fun activity right?"

The covered head tilted to the side.

"What's rehabilitation?"

"Well, if you don't do something for a long time, you become more clumsy with it."

"Oh. So I won't walk as well?"

"That's what's rehabilitation for, to help you get back to normal. Dane, I promise you, you'll be good as new - so long as you listen to me and don't do anything stupid, like trying to remove your cast to scratch an itch for example."

Dane coughed in their hand and turned their head, avoiding the doctor's gaze, which made her chuckle until she heard the front door opening.

"I have to leave you now Dane, I have work to do. I'll try to be quick."

Still looking away from her the child grumbled in acknowledgment, Beatrice lightly shook her head before putting her palmed feet to work to go as fast as possible to the entrance without outright running. Thankfully her little clinic was, well, on the smaller side of things.

It wasn't long before she reached the front desk to see two individuals waiting around, one was a familiar youthful bandaged face, one who had essentially become a regular since he had to come by once a week to treat his burns, but the other was a stranger, an old human man with white hair and a green cap, though based on what the little one had said she could guess as to who it might be. The two of them appeared to be talking before she arrived, and they turned as one when they heard the flapping of her white shoes on the ground. She idly noted neither looked surprised, to be expected from an old patient but notable for someone who saw her for the first time.

"Techlord, good to see you. And who is this friend of yours?"

"Hello, doc. Allow me to introduce-"

The old man ignored the teen, much to the latter's frustration, and walked forward and offered Beatrice his hand with a smile.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Why hello there Doctor Drake, it's a pleasure to meet you. You may call me Guy. It has come to my attention that you've been taking care of one of my protégés, and I must thank you, I never could forgive myself if anything happened to my dear little Dane. Is there anything I could do to repay you?"

Beatrice empathized with Techlord's eye roll. She did have something to say to this Guy, however.

"Well, to start things off, mister Guy, you could pay the medical bills of the little one instead of this mysterious 'Silhouette' I've heard so much about."

"Ah, well doctor it just so happens that he is my employer so-"

She ignored his answer and stepped closer as he stepped back.

"Next, you could avoid sending a child out to spy on dangerous armed thugs."

"I-I had explicitly told Dane not to-"

She went up to him and tapped her - thankfully for him - blunt claw against his chest.

"And last but not least, you could visit your 'dear little Dane' at least a day after their admission, and not WEEKS AFTER THE FACTS!"

The old man shrunk on himself, his face dripping with sweat as his gaze kept switching between the doctor's claws and her eyes, the small orange slit irises within surely proving themselves useful for once.

Although she was very tempted to share more of what she thought of him with Guy, Techlord's fake cough reminded her they weren't alone in the room, and that she had a patient to take care of.

"Techlord, you and I will accompany mister Guy to see Dane. Once they're done, we'll escort him out before we begin with your treatment."

"Do we have to, doc?"

"I don't want to leave my patients alone with outside elements. You never know what a curious hand might do, isn't that right, mister Guy?"

The man looked ready to respond before Beatrice flexed her claws.

"I-It's fine, Techlord. Besides, it's not like anything I have to tell Dane is secret. I do not mind the good doctor watching."

"Fine, but make it quick. I have a lot of work to do, those fancy new gadgets won't make themselves. Not yet, anyway."

Beatrice ignored their banter and simply walked towards Dane's room, only stopping after a few steps when she noticed neither of the two was following her and exasperatedly motioning them with her feathered arm to hurry up.

And as much as it annoyed her, Dane looked just as happy as she assumed they would when they saw Guy. The blue child had a complicated relationship with the man from what they had told her, but overall they saw him as an example to follow, as much as he annoyed them. She had hoped he was some sort of a parental figure, which would explain the mix of aggravation and adoration, but the time it took for him to get here and the way he acted now crashed her hopes. He was the manipulative opportunist she had feared he would be, and nothing good would come out of his relationship with Dane.

Despite their earlier talk Dane almost jumped off their bed despite their cast as soon as the old man with a green cap approached, and the only reason they weren't actually on the ground was that they were having some trouble and were caught in the bedsheets.

"Guy!"

Guy smiled but put his hand on Dane's shoulder, using some force to keep them down in the bed.

"Now, now, Dane. I'm sure the doctor told you to be nice and stay calm, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. You took a while!"

For the first time that day, Beatrice saw something other than faked joy or nervousness on Guy's face. This time, he had a serious and stern look, and judging by the way Dane shrunk on themselves, it didn't mean anything good.

"Dane, I have been quite busy, working for someone who should be very angry right now. Do you know who I've been working for?"

"No...?"

"Can you guess, then? Have a hint, someone I told you to leave alone, and yet you followed."

"Uh... Silhouette?"

"Indeed, Silhouette. The one who, generously, decided to save you after you tried to sell them out to one of their enemies, an enemy that I strictly forbade you all from interacting with at all, at the same time as I ordered you all to keep all matters related to Silhouette secret."

Beatrice didn't like the way this conversation was going, and she didn't like how much force this man was putting on this child's shoulder, a little more at every word. She was about to interrupt when she felt Techlord's hand around her scaly orange wrist and turned to look at the teen, wordlessly asking him what he was doing.

"You have trampled over every rule I set, and almost got yourself killed over it. I am very disappointed with you, Dane, more so than usual. You should be very thankful that our new employer decided to save you, to pay for you to be healed, and to insist that I do not give up on you. You are to remain here until you are fully healed, at which point I will come here to escort you to your new job. No more running in the streets for you."

Although much of their face was hidden, the shaking of their shoulders, the weird hiccup-like noise they made, and the redness in what little could be seen of their eyes were more than enough to know Dane was crying. It only took a few seconds before they finally gave in and stopped holding back their sobs, and Beatrice would have run to them to hug them tight if Techlord wasn't still holding her hand. Guy for his part turned his back to the child and walked out of the room, only stopping at the doorway to address the doctor and the teen.

"I'll be going now. I know where the exit is."

The slits in the doctor's eyes shrunk and glowed with righteous fury.

"As I SAID, WE will be ESCORTING you out."

Guy gulped but didn't complain any further, and this time Techlord let go of her and silently followed as she grabbed onto Guy's wrist and dragged him away, the old man having no choice but to follow if he didn't want to fall, struggling to resist the dragon and duck hybrid's strength. As much as it pained Beatrice to leave a crying child behind, getting rid of this man was more important.

Before long they were at the door and she unceremoniously threw Guy out by the wrist, he barely caught himself from falling before she closed the door on his face and locked it. Done with him, doctor Drake turned around to address Techlord, a single word escaping her beak.

"Why?"

The teen took in a deep breath before answering, raising one finger as he did.

"One, the kid needed to hear they screwed up. I don't like Guy, but he set up rules for his little spies for a reason. He's right to think the kid nearly killed themself with their stupidity, and it's better to make sure they realize that now than risk them doing something stupid again."

A second finger.

"It doesn't take a genius to realize you're not from these parts, doc, because most people wouldn't be so defensive of the kid. You have a good heart, but if they want to survive out there, they need to stay in a do-or-die mindset, not every stranger will want what's best for them. If you spoil them like a city kid, they'll fall for a trap set up by one of the weirdos out there. They're already living on their own out there, they're used to crying alone, if you start hugging them now they'll get used to it after a few months, but what happens when they're back out there? Will you be there to hug them the next time they have a crisis, out in a house that's falling apart, surrounded by monsters?"

Another.

"Lastly, I know what our boss has planned for the kid, trust me, it's better than what Guy wanted them to do. Chances are he'll have the oldest of Guy's kids take over the business here and force them to manage things differently, while the young ones will go somewhere safe. He's a softy like that. So yeah, that little threat at the end? As much as they might hate it, staying clear from the streets is probably what's best for them."

Techlord lowered his hand.

"You're a good person doc, but helping people grow here isn't the same as helping them in the city."

Doctor Drake stared at the bandaged teen for a moment that felt like an eternity before stepping away.

"Come now, we have burns to treat."

"Uh... You're not going to be rougher on me because of all that, right?"

She ignored him and kept walking.

"... Right?"