Chapter 8
We made it into the Raiken’s stone building with its beautifully intricate wall decorations, following Hove’s lead.
Despite the commotion our arrival had caused, no spectators were clogging the hallways.
The protectors helped the bagua who had trouble walking, and two of them stood by with a stretcher ready.
Apart from those emergency responders, the only people I saw—students in copper and gray, mostly—hurried along quietly as if they had errands to complete or places to be.
The last time I’d needed to be checked out, Fellisse and Inkiri had taken me to a kind of lab, but that was not where Hove took us.
We went down an incline and into a room that looked a lot like an Earth hospital with three sections on either side, all of them separated off with wooden screens on wheels.
The ceiling was too tall to make privacy curtains feasible.
The bagu in taupe who’d called Lissir to help with translating was now taking notes while Lissir spoke to one of the survivors.
While I looked around the room, Hove asked another bagu—this one also in taupe but wearing short sleeves—a question.
I wished my Lugarra were better, but I only managed to catch the question word “gu” at the end of it, none of the actual question.
“I’m really fine, Ink,” I mumbled. Hospitals were rarely fun places to be, and the bagua we’d saved probably needed the doctors a lot more than I did right about now.
Inkiri nodded. “Then the healer will just have a quick look and confirm that you’re fine.”
The bagu Hove had spoken to—a nurse, I was guessing—beckoned for us to follow him to the back.
There, the open concept ended, and individual treatment rooms were one next to the other.
That seemed smart—triage when you came in, then specialized treatments after.
From all the hospital shows I’d watched, I wasn’t exactly sure whether that was how Earth did it.
The shows loved focusing on ER drama, improv surgery, and lots and lots of sexual tension between doctors and nurses.
There wasn’t a lot of that happening here though, from what I could tell. Probably for the best.
I could sound out the letters above the doors here in the back thanks to my training with Kinnek, but once again, I didn’t know the words. When I recognized the character for “eye” though, I felt very proud of myself.
The nurse knocked then opened a door, the second to the last on the left. The bagu inside exchanged a few words with the nurse and Hove.
Hove bowed toward me and Inkiri. “I will leave, then. We enjoy that your mate be here again, and well.”
Hove left to do whatever a visdena had to do when a bunch of Koa Esher captives were suddenly dropped on his doorstep. He was probably going to be busy with that for the foreseeable future.
The nurse stayed, and the doctor—healer—smiled at me.
“Hello, my name is Gesango, and I will be your doctor today,” the bagu doc said, and my jaw dropped.
“You speak English!”
“I am learning.” Gesango patted the treatment table. “Please come.”
Before I could so much as tell Gesango that I was fine, actually, Inkiri picked me up and lifted me on the table.
It was fine though. I needed to get back into trophy mate mode, and trophy mates were carried around a lot, I hoped.
They looked their best. I patted myself down, making sure my scarf was still in place.
It was muddy, especially the ends. I had no idea when that had happened, but my hand flew up to my brooch.
“Oh no. Dang it.” I flinched when the three bagu in the room immediately clicked at me.
“Sweet thing, what is it? What hurts?” Inkiri squeezed my knees, and his eyes searched my face.
“I lost it! My brooch.” I reached under my scarf and breathed a sigh of relief. “I still have my necklace though.”
Inkiri let out a sigh. “I will beg Noki to make you another, sweet thing. Do not worry about it. It’s just a brooch.”
But it wasn’t. It had been a lot more to me. However, I would not complain or cry about a stupid brooch when my mate had jumped into danger to fight off the celadon, and when the survivors—after everything they had endured. Trophy mate or not, I would not sit here and grow whiny over a brooch.
I nodded. “Okay.”
Gesango stepped closer. “May I have a look at the patient?”
He had less of an accent than my guys had when I’d met them, but the way he spoke was like he’d memorized all the words and lines, a bit stilted.
Still, that made his British accent come out strongly, and all in all, that wasn’t a terrible combo.
Of course, I had the best combo ever in my mate, but I could appreciate that someone else would be lucky if Gesango did dirty talk for them.
Which made me blush. Stupid train of thought that was trying to distract me from my brooch.
I cleared my throat. “I’m pretty much fine, really.”
“Pink skin can indicate a fever, and a sore throat may also point toward infection.” Gesango narrowed his eyes at me. “I know that it was not too long ago that you were very sick, so we need to be careful.”
He said something to the nurse, who got a thermometer out of a drawer. This one was bagu made, of course, and glass, like old thermometers on Earth.
“My throat is okay, really. Humans just make strange noises sometimes.” Uh-oh.
Was that something I should be saying about humans in general?
It wasn’t the most favorable thing, probably, but saying favorable things was not my strong suit.
My eyes followed the thermometer. “Wait, where do you want to put that? You really don’t have to.
I just blush sometimes. It means nothing. ”
Inkiri raised a brow and almost grinned, clearly amused. Huh.
Gesango clicked and took the thermometer from the nurse. “I would prefer to make sure. Human physiology is new to me, but I will do what I can. Open your mouth, please.”
I did. The door opened, and Vergis poked his head inside. Gesango looked at Vergis and clicked once.
The nurse said something in that way all nurses have when their patients are disturbed, or started to, but Vergis simply glared at him to shut him up.
“Princess, I’m taking Daddy home, but then I’ll be back. Maybe don’t do anything stupid until then.” He grinned. “You look good with your mouth full. Bye.”
I squeaked indignantly, but that helped exactly nothing.
I was already turning a deeper shade of billet bean red, Gesango clicked again, probably thinking I needed to be put on the transplant list or something, and my mate was no help whatsoever, just standing by with amusement lighting up his eyes.
Gesango sighed and shook his head as if to clear it. “If I may, I’d like to check your pulse, sir?”
“Uure, uut am eally eyne,” I said around the thermometer.
Gesango tilted his head.
“He says it’s fine, you can touch him and do a thorough exam,” Weirdo Mate said, and I was almost positive he was purposefully misunderstanding me.
Gesango took my left wrist and found the pulse point there.
“Ehy’s uour English o ood?” I asked the healer doctor.
Inkiri clicked. “My mate is asking how come your English is so good.” He understood me perfectly. Even if I had something in my mouth. He smiled and clicked at me when I tried a reproachful look, and I melted.
“Thank you for asking, sir. I trained at the Ueskona Raiken and learned the language there, and I will be going with the reinforcements to Earth. I am looking much forward to it, although today shows we will need hangua doctors there beside me.” He pulled the thermometer out of my mouth.
“Fene-etto, perfectly normal. As is your pulse. Without any pain or symptoms, I have to conclude you are well, sir.”
I crossed my arms. “That’s what I said.”
Inkiri nodded. “And now we can feel more certain of it.” He turned to the doctor. “When he uses much of his magic, it weakens him. He was brave, fighting like a protector mage today.”
Gesango nodded as he handed the thermometer off to the nurse to be cleaned. “I had heard of your mate and what he did here in Esaka. It seems logical to let him rest.” Gesango tilted his head. “Olden mages were also healers sometimes. I regret we cannot offer your mate that level of care.”
Inkiri clicked and put his hand on my back. “My mate has the power to heal.”
“Yeah, although that really takes it out of me unless, like, it’s Nokim getting shot again,” I said. “But if any of the hangua need me to try, I’ll try. Really, whatever they need.”
Gesango regarded me for a long moment. He had dark silver eyes and an easy smile. “I will keep that in mind and call you if our medicine cannot help, but if magic weakens you, you should not waste it.”
“He is quite strong,” Inkiri went on, and I wondered why when we could already leave.
Then it hit me. This was it. He was seeing me as a trophy mate! When you had one of those, you showed them off and told everyone how awesome they were, didn’t you?
I smiled. “I try.”
“For the hangua you helped rescue, you have succeeded.” Gesango inclined his head. “Make sure he rests and eats, and keep an eye on him, just in case.”
Inkiri grunted and nodded eagerly. “Of course.”
I was good with Inkiri keeping an eye on me, actually. “We should go now, right? The survivors… I’m sure they need a doctor more than I do?”
Gesango tilted his head. “Survivors? The hangua you saved?”
I nodded. “Although Kinnek saved most everyone, actually. We just got there in time to bring them all here. But yeah. Some of them are in bad shape. And pregnant.”
Gesango nodded. “Yes. But I am hangu-na, and it is best, in this situation, to have hangua treat hangua. You need not worry for them. This Raiken here does see many battle wounds, but they know well to handle a patient’s needs beyond that.
Abortions if the hangua wish it, or whatever care might be needed.
It is a value to have a mage who can heal though.
The hangua have suffered much. We will not add to their suffering here. ”