Winter 14, 119
Astra had taken a portal with her half sister back to her father's kingdom for the weekend. The portal would be closed after they got to the nexus, after which they would walk through the nexus portal to the knigdom. They'd planned to psend the weekend away from Bastion Academy. She had been sidelined from strenuous activities for a while so that she could start working on her medical studies, not that she always listened. Her father had expressed interest in having her take on Devorare, but his rule was he wouldn't give it to his children unless they showed proficiency in a medical setting.
Astra had little interest in medicine, but she did like the idea of the power behind Devorare, so she came around now and then to learn. Plus it was nice to get away from the hubbub of the city to go back to a place more familiar.
"Princess, you're home" a guard said as she stepped out of the portal.
"That I am," she said with a wink. "You keeping things safe around here?"
"Doing our best," he said with a blush. He couldn't resist taking a whiff of her as she walked by. Astra could've sworn she'd seen him start to drool.
Astra continued out of the castle and out to where the hospital was, finally parting ways with the one who'd portaled her over here. She walked inside, nodding to those who turned to look at her. It was not her trainer who had sidelined her. Astra was not sure that such a thing was in her power. However, someone had taken care of the matter to try encouraging her to take her medical studies a little more seriously. And then, it would have been stupid to come back to work at the hospital when a bad attitude was likely to result in the death of patients. She would have been of no use at all.
Finally, a part of selfishness in Astra screamed at her that the only reason she hadn't come to the hospital to work more often was none other than her displeasure at being around people who were in no good shape to take to a bedroom. As she passed through the inner doors of the care facility, Astra nodded politely to more familiar faces. Most of them were doctors, or nurses - they had first met her around the age of around 20 when she officially started her medical training.
She then arrived at her trainer's office. The man had taught her the majority of what Astra knew about care procedures. Astra's Teacher was leaning over his papers, checking, prescribing, and checking again. He did not raise his head when Astra entered his office. He had only grunted a vague, "Come in..." when Astra had knocked on the door.
Having worked with him, Astra knew that this behavior was a harbinger of bad news.
"Here you are finally..." her Teacher said in a tone of somewhat theatrical disdain.
"Yes, I am back."
"You have never stopped being so fashionably late. With your absence from your post, I have every right to reprimand you for professional misconduct."
"But you were aware..."
He interrupted Astra with a reproachful click of his tongue.
"You were sidelined from your other duties because after all this time you still shirk your responsibilities."
Clear and dry. He was really angry. Too bad for Astra. She kept quiet and waited for him to continue.
"In your absence, the other students had to take over your projects and I had to set up yet another separate schedule for your studies."
Silence. Astra tried to minimize her mistakes, knowing that arguing was a lost cause.
"I thought you would forgive me because I was working on something very important... I didn't think there was anything for me to do here…"
"Enough! Besides, I had completely different plans for you. If you actually cared about your studies I might give you days off as a form of punishment, but as far as I'm concerned, you would only enjoy that. I can guarantee that you would've had work to do! You would have sorted papers, washed floors, taken out the trash, sterilized medical equipment. You would have done repetitive but terribly useful work."
Astra waited for the verdict. Really the worst thing that could happen was her father getting mad at her since he had high hopes that she would be able to get initiated into another blight. Ultimately inconsequential, but she didn't welcome her father's anger. A part of her told her that she should take the easy way out and manipulate her teacher, but she had a general aversion to doing so out of habit. Plus she had to be wise about when she used her reserves. Did she really care about how this doctor felt when she could use her powers elsewhere for much greater payoff?
"Anyways, I have a special job for you to do. Depending on how you do, I will decide whether it is necessary to tell on you. In any case, I am forbidding you to leave this patient's side."
He handed Astra a file, that of a patient admitted here, and dismissed her with a wave of his hand. Astra left the room shaking and filled with doubts and stress. Who was this patient? What was so special about her that her treatment alone could justify the rest of Astra's fate?
She opened the file and read the first line.
Name: Nahmeyo
Her patient was none other than someone that Astra detested. Astra was going to have to take care of a woman who had painted her portrait intentionally poorly a long time ago. She gritted her teeth. She should have expected this. Her teacher had always been fair. What better punishment could she suffer today? Well, it was time to get this over with.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Astra had barely closed the hospital room door and she already felt her temper rising.
"My leg hurts a little." Nahmeyo's tone had been so full of irony that Astra glanced at her injury, then at her medical records. Obviously, she had torn a ligament in the back of her knee. Why? Probably some kind of fight. The woman had never been one to get along with others.
"Who did you fight with?"
Nahmeyo looked at her like she was a complete idiot. Astra then remembered having tackled Nahmeyo during a spar a few weeks back. Nahmeyo had fallen on her back at some point, but Astra didn't think she was even capable of causing that kind of damage.
"Are you trying to say that I did this to you?"
"Yeah, it was you. Why do you think I punched you so hard right after? Well, I had no choice. Did you come to get revenge? Well, enjoy it because you won't get another chance!"
Astra reassured her, "no, Don't worry. I was assigned to keep you company as part of my punishment." Upon seeing Nahmeyo's skeptical look, Astra felt obliged to add, "look, I have to do this. I might get in trouble if I don't. So if you could be so kind as to NOT getting a fake infection and ignore my helpful suggestions."
Her tone had been devoid of animosity. She displayed a forced rigorous professionalism, like a mask placed on her face. Astra was taught not to judge her patients, and she wasn't going to start showing signs of doing so now, even if she did want to burst out laughing.
Wasn't the first commandment in medicine the famous "do no harm?" She didn't know if she had been effective, but in any case, Nahmeyo relaxed. Well, as much as one could in front of someone who had been injured by their medical professional.
"Go ahead, play the nurse!" Nahmeyo said.
Astra frowned, "don't you want to swallow your pride and make the job easier for both of us?"
"No. I want you to get lost and have a real doctor come and do the job."
Astra had taken that like a slap in the face. Her face must have shown an unfeigned surprise because Nahmeyo smiled at her own remark. Astra was starting to think that the punishment her teacher had inflicted on her was going to be much harder to bear than expected.
She also understood that she had made a mistake in telling Nahmeyo that her future depended on how things ended in this room. Astra thought she was reassuring her, but she had just given Nahmeyo the best weapon to ruin her weekend trip.
Nahmeyo must have thought that from now on, she could get away with anything. Everything. Until Astra cracked. Since the problem was a ligament, it wasn't an easy injury to treat. It would be necessary to ensure the repair of the injury, of course, but above all… there would be the rehabilitation period behind which the duration could vary. It would be hell.
A part of Astra screamed that she didn't have to put up with such things, that she could just as well leave her post, somehow convince someone else to take her place and carry out the job. But unfortunately, what kept her there was a sense of duty to her father.
Astra had to shake herself. She had to stop being mistreated by this girl. That she was better than her in status was a given, but that Nahmeyo was better than her in a hospital. That was unbearable. Besides, she also had to calm down. Outbursts of anger weren't going to help her here.
"You're also going over and over what happened, aren't you?" the other woman asked after a while, while Astra was checking the progress of her injury.
"Yes. And I'm telling myself that I should stop."
Nahmeyo replied, "it's not like you could have won the spar by fighting fair, you just had to cheat."
What a bastard. She was also twisting the knife in the wound! Astra frowned but didn't say anything as she finished removing the bandage and awkwardly put another one on. If she let her talk without saying anything, maybe she'd get tired of it? In any case, she'd have to leave the room to throw away the gross dirty bandage. Also, she'd have to go bring her some food. Astra had been expecting someone else to come in but nobody had. She was all alone and having to keep this woman company.
"Really? Nothing to say? I guess that's why they say you're all looks and no brain."
"What? Who?" Astra half-choked in surprise.
"Well, you know… One of the girls I usually kill time with."
"Oh, you have friends now?" Astra snapped back.
"Of course, one tends to make friends when they don't run off to another city to spend daddy's money."
It was the height of irony. She hit Astra in a place she couldn't really defend. Astra didn't know if that should reassure her because, suddenly, since the other woman hadn't fought fairly, she hadn't really lost their duel of wits, or if this story should sadden her because this was really how people might think. Now, this story was going to serve as a lesson to her.
The woman continued after sighing, "don't want to talk anymore? Tell you the truth, if the situation had been reversed, I would have strangled you already!" She giggled.
Astra must have been white with rage. She squeezed the bandage a little sharply, making the other woman grimace slightly. Without waiting any longer, Astra grabbed the trash bag and turned to go out. Nahmeyo grabbed her wrist in mid-air and pulled her toward her. This gesture was so unexpected that Astra didn't understand at first, but the woman smashed her head into Astra's shoulder hard enough to make her shout in pain.
Enough was enough.
"So listen to me now, you idiot. I'm trying to be the bigger person here, okay? I'm the one who decides what to do and asks the questions. Understand? Shut up!" Astra brushed aside her protests by raising her voice and grabbing her by the collar. "Shut up! Stop your little game! It's over, okay? I'm not here to be made to feel bad by a nobody. I'm here to get you back on your feet, and frankly, I'm not lacking the desire to punch you in the teeth. The problem is, I'm not allowed to do it!"
With that, Astra left the room. Her cheeks were red as an apple. However, she had seen in the other woman's eyes that her scolding had borne fruit. Of course, she didn't have the right to make her suffer either, but she based her entire bluff on the fact that the other woman didn't know it. In the worst-case scenario, all she could do was suck it up. Her teacher had known this was going to be difficult.
When Astra returned, she found a completely different Nahmeyo. Her usually mocking face had given way to a kind of mask of forced neutrality. Before getting carried away with hypotheses about her patient's thoughts and behavior, she put the meal tray on a table whose legs were specially designed so that the work surface could pass over the bed.
She really controlled her emotions. She had been aggressive… not appropriate nor professional thing. Nahmeyo could argue with the doctor that Astra's behavior had been inappropriate toward her. Since Astra was in hot water, she didn't want to draw attention to herself. However, if she apologized to Nahmeyo, she might resume her infernal little game. Unfortunately, going through that again was not an option.
The morning finally passed and Nahmeyo was scheduled to be taken to the doctor to make sure she was still doing okay. Astra felt obliged to break the silence.
"Do you need anything?" she asked, leaning against the door.
"No."
Silence.
The door to the room was opened just as Astra was about to say something. It was the doctor. Astra didn't know why he had come like that, so unexpectedly. Had he heard about the events that had led to Astra leaving the room a while ago? And if that was the case, it didn't mean anything good for her... Without a word, the doctor invited Astra to leave the room. He closed the door behind them and led the way to her office.
When they arrived, he sat down behind her pile of papers and ordered Astra to sit across from him, on one of the free chairs available. He then said to her, "you could have done a lot worse," as if that were the best compliment he could give her.
All the pressure suddenly fell away.
"Thank you… I think…"
He sighed and continued, "just try to do better in the future. Make sure to do your readings and actually come back tomorrow so I can teach you something useful. Or, if you continue to skip out… I'll have to put you with even less amiable patients."
"Understood," Astra said, glad that her "day" of work was finally over with. She was finally free to go do something she enjoyed, like singing. She got up and started humming as she walked out the building, onto the park where she could hopefully put on a performance.
Math:
Khenera
.33 - .04 apprentice cast to nexus -0.04 to close portal
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