//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Bandages 
// Story: Silver Spoon Adopts a Naga 
// by Halira 
//------------------------------//

The office that they intended to convert to a bedroom hadn't even started its conversion, but Sisstet needed somewhere to sleep for the moment. For the current night he'd have to spend it in the living room, on the couch. Lantern had been convinced, with some effort, to go his Mishtet and Sythel to tell them the whereabouts of the young naga, and that Silver was taking care of him. There was no telling how the two older Naga would react to Sisstet's sudden disappearance at this point, and she would rather avoid them doing anything rash. Lantern said after he spoke with the older nagas he would keep his patrol close to the house, just in case Sisstet made a fresh attempt to run away.

Silver had sat up watching her young charge until she was confident that he was asleep, and it was getting close to midnight when she was sure that he was definitely asleep. Twist had sat in the dining area, with a clear view of Silver and Sisstet, with her muscles tense. Silver knew what was on Twist's mind, and knew the conversation that was going to be coming as soon as they left Sisstet's earshot. She'd deliberately stayed watching the young naga perhaps longer than she needed to just to avoid it. 

As she stood up Twist got up as well. "Come on over here so I can check your bandages," Twist instructed. 

Yep, she definitely knew what was on Twist's mind, but she did as she was instructed. She walked over to her wife, sat down, and held out her bandaged foreleg for inspection. Twist immediately set to work checking the bandages with an overabundance of care. 

"They're fine, really," Silver whispered. "They'll almost certainly be good to come off tomorrow."

"You'll change them out tonight and give that bite another thorough washing," Twist ordered in a hushed voice. "We should have already taken you to a doctor. You're going to one tomorrow."

"You're overreacting," she said with a yawn. 

Twist stopped inspecting the bandages and looked her in the eyes with her brows angled high up. "Overreacting? He bit you! He bit you hard enough to draw blood. We should have somecreature checking your blood for poison."

Silver arched one brow at her wife. "He's not venomous or poisonous, Twist. I do know some things about naga. I've been teaching for years, and believe me, every once and a while foals bite. I've been bitten by foals before."

Twist gasped. "You never told me you've been bitten by foals while teaching!"

Silver rolled her eyes and set her leg back down. "Have you ever had to restrain a foal when they're in a physical fight with another foal? They do a lot of squirming, and if that doesn't work, they'll sometimes bite. It doesn't happen that much, but it happens. I've been bitten twice over the years while breaking up fights. It wasn't anything serious in either case."

Twist snorted. "Be that as it may, this wasn't a fight you were breaking up, and his teeth aren't like pony teeth. He could have seriously injured you!"

"But he didn't. He was angry, hurt, and scared. He's part snake, and snakes strike like that sometimes when they're too upset and not feeling trusting about anycreature. I'm a hundred-percent sure that if I got too close to Sythel's egg she'd do much worse to me," she took a deep breath before continuing. "He didn't finish the bite either. I think he was in shock that he even did it. Sisstet is normally very gentle, but can you tell me that you wouldn't be at your worst if you had to go through what he has in the last day?"

Her wife, still frowning, looked back towards the couch. She stared at it for a few seconds before turning her attention back to Silver. "Okay, I'll cut him some slack, but this can't happen again. I do want you to see a doctor still. I'm guessing foals don't normally draw blood when they bite, and even if he isn't poisonous or venomous that could still get infected."

Silver accepted that with a nod. "I think if I keep it clean I'll be fine, but I'll check with a doctor tomorrow, just to be sure. I'll want to get a checkup for Sisstet anyway."

With that said, some of the tension seemed to leave Twist. The other earth pony gave her a hug and then looked around the room briefly. "I'll go into work for a half-day tomorrow. I'll tell Bonnie I need a few days off to help deal with all this. I have plenty of vacation time I'm owed, and she and Lyra are taking off for a short vacation next month with the Golden Horseshoe Gals- so she owes me a chance to take a few days for myself sometime before that anyway. I'll see about getting that office converted and finding a bed for the room."

"I appreciate it," Silver replied with a smile, but her smile didn't last long. "I suppose I'm also going to have to go visit Mishtet and Sythel tomorrow to tell them I'm taking custody of Sisstet. I'll need to find somecreature to watch Sisstet when I'm doing that. Him going back there right now wouldn't be a good idea."

"Maybe Diamond or one of the Crusaders?" Twist suggested. 

"Maybe, or maybe Dinky," Silver said thoughtfully. "First thing in the morning he and I will go by the doctor, and then I will check with a few creatures to see who's available. Then I'll go see the naga." She glanced over at Sisstet's backpack which was on the dining room table. "I saw you going through that. What did he bring with him?"

Twist sighed. "It looked like a toy train set, with accompanying figurines, some various pieces of fruit, and some... some dried and salted fish." She gave Silver a wide-eyed look. "I know naga eat just about anything, but does he need meat in his diet to be healthy?"

"I think so…" Silver answered warily. "I know it's a little different than what we're used to, and I'm not exactly sure how much is necessary. I know at the school I need to guarantee that he gets at least one serving a week, according to Princess Twilight's guidelines, but I'm not sure if that was in addition to him getting regular servings at home."

"That sounds like something important to find out, and soon," Twist responded, looking at the backpack with mild distaste. "Silver… I know I normally am the one cooking, but I don't have a clue how to prepare meat. I mean, I could possibly do it with instructions, but I have no idea if I'm going to be doing it right. I normally taste test my cooking to judge what I need to adjust, rather than follow strictly to recipes. I can't taste test meat. I'm not even sure how we are supposed to store it or anything like that."

"I know it runs higher in price than fruits and vegetables, and it normally is kept chilled," Silver said as she thought back to what she knew. "The school keeps a small amount of meat for students that need it, and Cheerilee always went over the budgets with the faculty before the start of every school year. I remember her describing how much meat we'd be purchasing each year and how much it cost. Not that I recall the exact figures, just the general idea. I think it was mostly fish that we kept, as well as large insects."

Twist shook her head. "Still not sure how to handle that."

"Technically, ponies can eat meat. It is just a taboo, and it isn't really good for us," Silver reminded her. "If you really need to taste test it to see if you are doing it right-"

"Silver, no! Oh sweet Twilight, that just makes me want to vomit thinking about it."

"We'll figure it out," Silver said as she stifled a yawn. "But it's late. Let me go rewash these scrapes and change the bandage, then I'll join you in bed. This will all work out. I'm sure of it."

Twist gave the bandaged leg a pointed look, but didn't comment on it. "Don't take too long. I don't fall asleep right if you aren't snuggled up close to me."

Silver gave her a quick peck of a kiss on the lips. "I won't be. I'll be in bed in just a few minutes. Love you."

"Love you too. Now hurry up."

"Yes, ma'am," Silver giggled. Then hurried off to the bathroom. 

She flipped on the electric light as she walked into the bathroom, glad that her house was one of the houses that had been wired with electricity. She wasn't always so sure what to make of the princess's various modernization reform programs, but electric lights in houses was one she found very useful. When she'd been a foal she'd have had to walk around at this time of night with a candle or firefly lamp, and those were really annoying to deal with when you were exhausted and in a hurry. She recommended to all her friends that they should get electricity in their houses too. Her earth pony friends were typically the ones most open to it, both Diamond and Applebloom had switched their houses over before her. She didn't have a single unicorn friend who'd switched over though; they didn't understand the struggle of late night candles. 

She walked over to the tub and turned the shower on. As the water began to flow she carefully unwrapped her bandages, and considered everything that happened today (or yesterday by this point).

Twist was definitely not as onboard with this as she hoped she'd be. Sisstet's little snap certainly hadn't helped with that. Silver had to admit that she hadn't been expecting him to do something like that, but felt she dealt with the situation well. It was a one time incident, and it was over now. 

Pain caused her to wince when she stuck her leg under the flowing water. Maybe that doctor visit was going to be worth it. She pumped out some soap from the dispenser and started lathering up her leg, still thinking, and the pain subsided back to soreness and discomfort.

Assuming she could get Twist to come around, what was she going to do if Princess Twilight objected to her taking permanent custody of Sisstet? She couldn't think of any reason why the princess would, but the naga integration program was one of the princess's pet projects. Sisstet lived in Equestria at Princess Twilight's allowance, and the princess had far more control over his placement than she did any other creature's. 

She turned the water off, and started drying her leg. The pressure from the towel stung a little, but it wasn't too bad.

Leaving Sisstet for an hour or more with somecreature else also had her worried. He was already dealing with abandonment issues, and didn't like the idea of leaving him alone so soon after what happened. There was no help for it though, she had to go speak with his former guardians, and he was not going to force him into their presence after they had tossed him aside as they had. 

She walked over to the still open first aid kit, and began wrapping a fresh bandage around her leg.

All she could do is see what tomorrow brought. She'd set her alarm clock to get up earlier than normal. She wanted to be awake before Sisstet, so he didn't wake up somewhere unfamiliar by himself. Twist might not appreciate the clock going off earlier, but Twist could go back to sleep after. Silver would just make sure her wife got up at the normal time. 

With her leg rebandaged, she shut the first aid kit, and headed to bed, flicking off the light switch as she went.