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‘A hospital is always busy’ was a common saying in The Boiling Isles.
The months after the tyrant’s downfall proved it to be a relativistic matter.
For example, one of the field hospitals that were built after those faithful days just had its least eventful shift.
The shift’s head witch was even using to quiz her ‘extra-junior’ apprentices, like one Emira Blight, on various medicines and ailments.
Emira was the second youngest of them. When the temporary ruling council called for volunteers, it set Sixteen as the minimal age for healing witches who wanted to enlist at the field hospitals.
She was also by far the least experienced, and according to Ms. Lerb just barely persuaded him to let her prove herself.
Prove she wasn’t an illusionist who is only putting on an act of wanting to be a healer.
And she wasn’t, she was both.
From shift to shift she did her best to show them they can trust her, and from shift to shift the witch in charge gave her more to do.
But now that the crisis was truly behind them, field hospitals like the Bonesborough one she was stationed in were seeing much less action.
So, no rushing between rooms, bringing supplies and passing on the orders or the requests of the real medical witches that ran the hospital.
No little kids to provide illusions for, to keep their spirits up while they or their family members are being treated or waiting to be treated.
And no opportunities for her to join in on those treatments, to lend her (still relatively meager) healing capabilities to the effort.
A nudge from the youngest ‘extra junior’ apprentice broke her out of her musing.
Viney was looking at her smiling, and offered her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
“You were overthinking something again, eat.” She said and sat down next to her.
Is she sitting really close to me or am I hallucinating? Emira couldn’t help thinking.
She took the sandwich (she didn’t even realize how hungry she was) and theoretically cleared her throat.
“I was not overthinking, I was picturing, imagining even!” Emira replied and with a twirl of a finger made tiny various shapes appear between them.
One of those shapes just happened to be of Viney’s pet Griffin Puddles clumsily flying around, with a bucket on its head.
Her effort was rewarded with the wonderful sound of Viney’s laughter.
I missed this, Emira thought, and I didn’t even realize.
“So, thinking about Hexide re-opening?” Viney said after she settled down, again stopping Emira’s train of thought.
“What? No I wasn’t.” Emira object.
“I was just thinking about how boring of a day we are having.”
“Well yeah” Viney agreed, “But those things are connected, aren’t they?”
“Things calming down here means the isles are stable again, stable enough for sending us back to school, for telling us that soon everything will be getting back to normal.” Viney continued.
“I guess so” Emira agreed with a small sigh, “But that’s not true.”
“Things won’t just get back to normal, they can’t be the same again.”
“No they won't,” Viney echoed in agreement, and then seemingly paused to take a longer breath.
She turned to look directly at her, her bright green eyes causing Emira’s golden one to widen.
“But… that’s not a bad thing, at least… for us?“