CHAPTER 14
Eleri
After nearly an hour of walking from the clinic down past the canal, Eleri finally reached her last home visit appointment for the day.
She flexed her wrist a few times, trying to ease the soreness of dragging her medkit for so long.
It should be a routine visit. Glia had whelped a new pup after a long labor, but she was recovering well, and the pup was thriving.
Eleri was surprised to find the domicile a flurry of activity as Myla and several of the other females all crowded into the small home.
Before clearing the room, Eleri tried to remember what she had learned about kyrot post-natal traditions.
It wasn’t unheard of for visitors to see the new pup and mother, but Glia looked uncomfortable, and the pup was starting to make calls of distress.
Four days after the birth was entirely too soon for so many people to be here.
Eleri braced herself for a potential conflict as she entered the main sleeping chambers.
The room was physically clean, but someone had decided to set several fruit-scented candles alight in each of the corners of the room.
The cloying scent set Eleri coughing despite her best efforts to enter unobtrusively.
Several of the females were passing around the pup while Glia made a feeble effort to protest.
Myla seemed content holding court in one of the corners of the room while several other females circled her. Eleri started by blowing out the candles and opening one of the windows to let in fresh air. She stopped by Glia’s bedside. “Have you chosen a name for the pup yet,” Eleri asked?”
“His name is Irio.”
“That’s an excellent name. Let’s get Irio back to you so he can feed and then sleep.” As Eleri moved purposefully around the room, heading directly for the squalling Irio, she noticed a silence had settled behind her.
“Is something wrong, trainee healer Eleri?” Myla asked with a voice too sweet to be well-intentioned. Not to mention, the intentional emphasis on her lack of status. Eleri swallowed hard. She wasn’t looking for a confrontation, but ultimately her patient’s wellbeing was the top priority.
“Glia is recovering. She needs fresh air and quiet.” Eleri held out her arms for the pup which one of the other females was cooing over. “I’ll take Irio now, please.”
“That’s not your place,” Myla spoke to her like scolding a child. “Glia can make her own decisions about her pup. Besides, this is our custom. We are here to be helpful.” Myla turned. “You don’t mind us being here, do you, Glia?”
“I am a bit tired,” Glia offered with a feeble lift of her wingtips.
“Well, of course you are. And we are here to help.” Myla turned back toward Eleri. “As you can see, Glia has no objection to us being here.”
Eleri steeled herself. Glia was obviously exhausted, and the pup needed to be with his mother, not passed around like a toy. For someone else she could be fierce.
“It’s time for you and the others to leave, Myla.
Glia needs to rest, and Irio needs to feed.
Give me the pup,” she gestured again, arms outstretched.
The other kyrot females in the room had stopped their quiet chittering.
A long silence withered between them until it was clear that Eleri had no intention of backing down.
“Well then,” Myla passed the pup none too gently into Eleri’s arms, “you all heard the trainee human healer. We’re not wanted here.
” She placed particular emphasis on the word ‘trainee’.
Eleri flinched, but this was for Glia’s health and the health of her pup.
If she had to take the heat for it then she would gladly.
The kyrot females filed out past her as Eleri held the pup close and away from their brusque movements.
When the air and the room had cleared, Glia held her pup to her breast contemplatively as the small creature made noises of contentment and settled into eat. “You shouldn’t have done that, you know,” Glia said. Her tone was mournful as she stared down at her pup. “Myla won’t forget.”
“Let me worry about Myla.” Eleri held back the sigh brewing behind her teeth as she measured the pup’s heartbeat and then mother’s blood pressure.
Glia didn’t need to know that her hands were shaking with adrenaline as she examined the pup’s wings and then checked the feeding latch to make sure he was getting enough to eat.
“She’s going to make life hard for you.”
“I have no doubt.” It was easy to be brave when she wasn’t confronted with an entire pack of females, but Glia didn’t need to know how her knees were still quavering. “Irio looks perfect. How are you feeling?” Eleri asked.
“Tired.” Glia made a shrieking that indicated laughter. “But I think that’s true for all new parents. Lyros is out working for the day, but he helps as much as he can when he’s home.”
“Good. Do you have any other friends who can come help and might be a bit less… disruptive?”
“I apologize for all the trouble. It’s hard to say no to Myla. I’ll send a comm to Wira if I need any help.”
“You can also always contact the clinic if you need anything.”
“Thanks, Eleri.” Glia’s voice softened. “I’m glad you decided to come to Laurus, even if we weren’t the most welcoming when you first got here. But it seems like S’samph has come around? We’ve seen you two together a few times recently.”
Eleri could feel the blush rising up the back of her neck. No hiding anything from anyone around here, it seemed. “I’ll be back next week to check on Irio’s growth.”
“Thanks.”
Eleri smiled and started to pack away her tools before hurrying out of the now quiet home and back into the blistering sun outside.
She wasn’t entirely sure Myla and her pack wouldn’t be waiting for her when she exited the dwelling, but kyrot weren’t particularly fond of heat and preferred the cooler night and evening hours for their peak of activity.
After determining the coast was clear, she breathed a superheated sigh of relief.
A few levibikes sped by in the distance, but otherwise the world was blissfully empty.
She took a rare moment of pause to repack her medkit in the shadow of one of the domed houses.
There was always an awkwardness in lingering in a patient’s home to do small tasks like this, but she also didn’t want to waste time when she returned to the clinic.
Instead, she planted herself in the dust and took inventory of the unrefrigerated supplies.
The sun was beating down on her with unusual intensity when she realized she’d forgotten to put on her hat.
Eleri reached into the front pocket of the medkit where she always stored it and found it empty.
She frowned and fished around in the other compartments.
Had she left it back in the house? A quick search inside turned up nothing. Someone had taken her hat.