As they strolled through the town, glancing at the shops but none drawing their attention to the previous stores, they noticed a building, one that was plain outside with white painted walls and a small wooden sign with what seemed to be beaker or bottle of some kind engraved in it. The children followed their temporary guardians into the building. Inside it was no more plain than the outside, with the walls painted white, with not so much as a scratch on the floor. To the right there were a few chairs greeting the weary group and to the left was a pristine desk and opposite of the entrance was a closed door. Two people stood at the desk, they were slightly tanned with light brown hair and eyes. They were of average height of around five foot five. Even though they worked in the hospital, it was clear based on their calloused hands and tanned skin that they also had experience out in the fields. They had a very gentle presence that suited the setting very well. Balm trod quietly towards the two receptionists. The three whispered among themselves as the others sat down in the chairs provided. The twins, nervous of being in an unfamiliar place, held each other's hands, squeezing them to comfort each other. In the silence Balm started to move towards them. “It won’t be long until you will be seen.” He offered a small smile. “So how about we get to know each other a bit more?” Bougainvillea suggested. The twins stared at him for a brief moment and nodded simultaneously. Bougainvillea continued to speak “So your names are Acanthus and Sequoia, what about the baby?” The twins looked at each other and then looked back to the adults. Acanthus spoke first “he hasn’t been named yet.” Sequoia spoke second. “He’s only three months old so our parents never got the opportunity to name and register him.” “I see.” Balm replied. The conversation drifted off into an awkward yet oddly comforting silence. 

Minutes after the conversion halted, a man, whose clothes were covered in blood but seemed to be unharmed, left the hospital. A soft voice sliced through the air, disturbing the group’s silence. “You can go in now; Doctor Balm Gilead is waiting for you.” The group stood up, slowly making their way through the hospital to the wooden door. 

The children were hesitant at first, they didn’t know what the doctor was going to do or if it was going to be painful, after all, they never needed to visit a hospital before. They gripped each other’s hands tighter than before, holding back for a few seconds, before being encouraged to go in. They were led to a room at the end of a hallway that had multiple doors along both walls. The receptionist knocked on the door, the sound echoing around the narrow hall. “Come in,” an exhausted and fed up voice leaked through the door.  

The receptionist opened the door, allowing the group to enter. Once they all stood in the room, the receptionist left the room and closed the door behind them. “Sequoia and acanthus, I take it.” The doctor said looking at a sheet of paper. Her bright green eyes, slightly hazed over behind thick glasses, glanced towards the twins. “Balm Gilead, but call me Gilead.” She mumbled under her breath, focusing back at the paper. “Sit over there.” The woman pointed to a brown chair that contrasted the rest of the building. Sequoia glanced towards her brother, giving his hand one last squeeze before placing herself on the chair. It was uncomfortable, with the chair having lost its previous softness after years of use, its fabric was rough and worn, causing Sequoia to shuffle around for the moments that the doctor wasn’t paying attention. 

Eventually the doctor tore herself away from the sheet of paper and made her way over to a glass cabinet filled with flasks of blue liquid. She plucked one from a shelf and sauntered over a carpet that was placed in front of the chair that Sequoia sat in. The doctor threw herself onto the floor, stretching one leg out and crossing the other. She removed the cork from the flask she was clutching, taking small sips at a time. With each sip she looked down at Sequoia’s foot and back up at her. The silence was painfully awkward, the only sound being the occasional sips the doctor took and the sloshing of the liquid. Eventually the flask was empty and the doctor spoke up. “Unfortunately there’s no chance of me restoring your foot, however, I can properly clean and disinfect it and then heal it over.” Despite hearing this news, Sequoia didn’t feel too disappointed. Afterall, for someone to be able to heal an entire limb they would need incredibly strong personal magic, magic that would be used once and have a huge amount of backlash on the caster. 

She glanced towards her brother, trying to gauge his feelings. Acanthus tried to hide his feelings, he tried to smile and keep strong for his sister, however, Sequoia knew him better than that and could see past his facade. Seeing him like that finally made her realise that they could no longer run to their parents for comfort and couldn’t vent or cry to them, that the only people they could rely on is each other, that now they would also have to raise not only themselves but their baby brother as well. With her now having to face her new reality her eyes started to well up with tears but before she could start crying she took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. She looked at her twin and at the baby that was shuffling around in Chestnut’s arms and resolved to become stronger and someone her siblings could rely on, someone who would take on the burden of taking care of her siblings. 

The doctor was silent for a few more seconds before letting out a yawn. “Let’s get this over with already. The sooner I do this the quicker you can get to the blacksmith and get a replacement.” After hearing what the doctor said, Acanthus seemed relieved and let out a deep sigh, however, for Sequoia, it didn’t mean much to her, not after what she resolved to do. “Alright, now where did I put those swabs and disinfectant?” The doctor muttered as she stood up. She walked to many different shelves and cupboards, digging around anywhere she thought it would be. Eventually she opened one of the draws in her desk and found what she was looking for. She walked back to her previous spot and flopped herself down once again. This time she sat with her legs crossed. The doctor lifted up Sequoia’s leg and inspected it. “I see you tried to do something, unfortunately whatever you did didn’t quite work, there’s swelling and a bit of an infection, but the area is in much better state than what it could have been in.” After that comment Gilead went silent and swabbed the area with the disinfectant. She placed her hand at the stump, Sequoia flinched at the sensation, within a second a blue light illuminated Gilead’s hand at which point she removed it and once again stood up. “Alright, it’s going to feel a bit strange for a while but that’s fine, it’s just your wound healing up properly and the disinfectant removing any bacteria and what not. Obviously don’t walk on it, and I suggest going to a blacksmiths called Dogwood’s blacksmiths and get a new foot there. Lastly, while the foot’s getting made, stay in bed and don’t move.” With that the doctor stood up and ushered the group out, they thanked the doctor and receptionists as they walked out.