I’ve heard a lot of things about medicine on Earth. Was it bad? Well, from the point of view of someone who never had proper medical care beyond the druidic and shamanic rites of her elders throughout childhood, it was better. Still, my earthly education helped me discern some problems.
As I usually said, I only needed the forest to feel alive. Being a medic was a side gig I wanted to pull to have someone to talk to and to be useful in the grand scheme of things. Before my discussions with my father, I was sure I was going to be one of the next generation shamans in my tribe. Then life happened and I ended up stranded on Earth, where the figure of shaman simply disappeared centuries ago.
There was something on Earth though that Thaeb didn’t have: a need for money.
Resources? Yes, you could gather them on trees, herbs, fungus, animals and, sometimes, rocks.
Treatments? Of course: we savages weren’t idiots. From a simple massage to putting bones back in place after a dislocation, to treating a poison bite, we knew what to do most of the time.
Medicines? Every Thaebian worth their salt knew at least how to purify water, and people like me were attentive enough to understand the principles behind every medicine the elders concocted.
Abstract representation of debt in an accountable form? I usually get lost in the first word of the definition. Short answer, no. Good thing about being a wild tribal is that we usually don’t complicate things more than necessary.
My knowledge of herbs and traditional medicine secured me a job in the orphanage. If it weren’t for my skill to cure maladies and save lots of money for the organization, I’d be a savage girl living in a cottage in no man’s land. From stomach aches and food safety, to the control of several flu outbreaks, I managed it all. I couldn’t cure everything, but I always had a good eye and an even better hand to concoct home-made medicines to alleviate the worst symptoms and deal with the sick. Even when I was a blood obsessed pre-teen, I knew what I was doing every step of the way to good health.
And so I did it; because I wanted to, not because someone was paying me. The ingredients were right outside. I only needed some time to gather them, and then a place to develop them. I turned, in time, into a cook; and eventually a pharmacist. The sole on call and guard in the Home of the Stork.
But time passes, people change, and some things improve.
"…what are you doing?" it seemed like Ellie was weirded out, but she was, in fact, surprised by the fruit of my labor.
"Making sure Bibbi doesn’t have a throat infection?" I said, throwing away the stick and turned off my small light. "Ok, little girl. You only have a light cold. I’ll give you a syrup in a bit. Just drink it before eating and your throat won’t hurt when you shallow. Now, head over to the east wing for a while. We don’t want you to spread your cold around." she was about to step out of my room when I remembered something important. "And remember! It’s only for you! Don’t allow anyone to steal it from you or I’ll make it bitter next time!”
I noted down the prescription for her, as the headmistress watched with a mix of surprise and disbelief at what I had turned my bedroom into.
"When did you change everything?" a fair question. Maybe it was, in part, an imitation of a main doctor’s office, but all the additions to the room made my secondary job in the building much easier.
"Well, I didn’t do this alone. You haven’t met her yet, but a friend of mine…" someone called to the door. "Speak of the devil”.
"Can I?" She was, in the eyes of a common beholder, a slightly chubby, weirdly dressed young woman. Curly hair, round face, black clothing full of embroideries… you’d see her walking in the street and never forget the sight.
"Come in, Ana" issa, of course. She could create anything from thin air with half a thought thanks to the Snow, but her shapeshifting was another thing entirely. She could emulate any other person just like that. I could see through all of her disguises but, even I had to respect how much work she put into her act, no matter the face she wore.
"Oh, should I return later?" she stuck to the door as the shy girl she posed as, but the Snow around her screamed otherwise.
"No, you came in the best moment" no better moment to present her to my boss than now. "Ellie, this is Ana, the one who donated all this equipment to the Home of the Stork”.
"…she just helped me one day when I fainted in the street…" low voice, averting eyes, fingers clinging to her clothes… the very definition of shy person. "We hang out from time to time and, well, she told me what she does here and…”
"And Ana, this is Headmistress Ellen, or Ellie, the one who gives shelter, feeds, educates, dresses, and cares for all the kids around here.
"…you always say the same" Ana concluded.
Ellie took her time to look at the strange girl in front of her. Whatever Ellie saw, it couldn’t match what I felt from that girl.
"Still, isn’t this too much?" bewildered, Ellie had to state her doubts. "Partitions, cabinets, a stretcher, equipment…”
"Most of it comes from my father’s old office," Ana hurried to reply. "He has another clinic now, so aside from being a bit dusty, it’s perfectly usable, and he doesn’t care too much about it, so… now it’s hers." And then, like an innocent kid, she clumsily smiled at Ellie.
"I wonder how you didn’t see Ana bringing this cabinet all by herself," I pointed out. "Didn’t the kids tell you anything like that? I mean, it’s not like they shut up about weird people around here”.
"…no, they didn’t…" Ellie was confused, and with a good reason: she hardly ever left the building. She was that busy with all the ins and outs of the institution. Not a single bird could land on the roof without her noticing it right away.
How could this have happened? Easy: because all Ana and I had told her was a lie.
I was the one who created all this equipment. It wasn’t easy. I had to bring into reality not the entire set in one sitting, but piece by piece: the tubes of the stretcher, the windows of the cabinet, the fabrics of the separations… the simplest parts made me dizzy; the most complex, the nastiest of headaches. I worked for three days on just the stretcher.
But it was mine, in all the meanings of the word.
"In any case, you came to my room," I changed the subject as soon as I could. It wasn’t good for me that Ellie started to barrage me with questions. "Did something happen?”
"Oh, yes." she composed herself after the brief surprise. "You need to go to the town hall tomorrow. It seems there’s a problem with your credentials or something. You know…”
"…bureaucracy" we three sighed at the same time.
"I don’t think it’s anything big but, just in case, I’ll move your next shift to the day after. That said, I need to go. Nice to meet you, young Ana,” she turned to me”, and have a nice day, young girl”.
And away she went.
"Is everyone young in her eyes?" Ana, ever so slightly issa, commented.
"She has it pretty rough here so, please, don’t think badly of her" I revised the prescription and brought out the box with all my ingredients from under my bed. "When you have the daily workload she has, everyone has it easier than her”.
"Reminds me of my old boss" she laughed with a side of bitterness, as she scanned the list of ingredients for my next concoction.
"I wonder what kind of person can rule over someone like you," some herbs, some salts, a bit of certain leaves… And then, something hit my desk.
"We need to talk." A bottle with the prescribed medicine, already concocted over my desk and a very serious looking Anaissa right beside it. Anaissa being hasty: That wasn’t good news.
"What happened?”
"Things are getting a bit out of hand in the city." She seemed nervous. "Whatever happened with that Vazet guy and the local government ended with a factual take over”.
"Vazet?" I’d never heard that name on Earth, but I knew it was a Thaebian one, probably the name of my brother’s boss. "What did he…?”
"He’s trying to bring you to his side" she said, sitting down in my bed, eyeing the floor. "I don’t know what he knows about me, but he finds me dangerous, or potentially useful to his plans." Was she…ashamed? That was really a new look on her. "And you are the cog he needs to connect me to his machine of tribulations. The summons to the town hall? His plan," she sighed. "He’s the head of Colony 32 civil power now. The mayor is just a puppet in his hands. He’ll try to make apprehending you as legal as possible, until…”
"Stop." I didn’t like seeing her so down, so I cut her short. "Whatever happens can be solved, so please, stop worrying”.
"So, you’ll go, regardless of the danger…”
"I’m an illegal immigrant in this country, after all," I sighed as I brought out my (quite large) folder of my documentation. "Or this planet, if that matters." I searched through the folder and retrieved several pages. "Could you photocopy these?" As soon as I’d said that, perfect copies, paper wrinkles included, appeared on my desk. Again, her creations weren’t fancy, but spectacular and graceful in their own right. "It doesn’t matter if it’s dangerous: if I don’t go there, this orphanage—my home—would be in trouble. The town hall has a thing for me, always trying to get rid of me off the face of the planet, and back to Thaeb; so I have to go to the town hall, no matter how dangerous it could be.
"Still, you don’t know what are you facing" Anaissa was really worried. "I mean, when was the last time you walked the city? Did you see the state of it?”
"Three weeks, if I’m not mistaken…" I went to Anaissa’s palace every day off I had. The Black Circle changed its schedule only to accommodate my own. My poor brother missed me all those times because I was too busy enjoying out the Lady of the inverted spire. Totally worth it. "It can’t be that bad, isn’t it?”
"Let’s hope you don’t have a seizure when you feel it…”
Comments (0)
See all