//------------------------------// // Morning 45, fragment five: Wars and Brothers // Story: A mare and her dog // by cammera //------------------------------// "Hm, yes," a unicorn examined Quibra's rib "No organ pierced, only a few ignorable bruises..." he searched in his cabinet and put an ointment over the fracture "Try not to do acrobatics and your own body will take care of it in a few months. Have weekly checkups, however" "I'll try to" Quibra got up. The doctor gave him a skeptical look, but started filling the paper work without a comment. Mariela was waiting him outside the room. "You are from Quibra Star, right? Were you there recently, by chance?" he was surprised to notice that, while accented, her Stralit was nearly native, and nodded. "I am from Eeral, is it fine? Have those idiots fell into another war?" "A few diplomatic errors with the plainslands, but no" he shook his head "There was..." he paused to remember "A functionary member was accused of murder, but at the end it was a misunderstanding from a typo" he shrugged, then winced from his rib. "A language with nearly two hundred words for killing," sighed Mariela, a combination of irritation and surrender "Do I need to say more? I am surprised it doesn't happen more often than it does already. Thanks, anyway. It does me good to know that motherland didn't cause yet another bloodshed" she lingered silently for a moment "A saddening prospect, is it not? War?" Is this some kind of test? he considered the answers for a moment, mildly irritated. "Its just a lot of angry people" he made to walk off, but Mariela stepped in his way. "So? We all know how the enraged machine works. After the first charge, there are unlimited reasons to keep charging" she pressed "Would you fight in the war that may happen?" Ah. Should've seen it coming. "I'd be a bodyguard at most" he answered automatically "I am no soldier" "And maybe you are even honest" Mariela walked out of his way "Try not to kill too many sons, brothers, or fathers" He gave her an odd look and walked off. A bar would be nice to find right about now. Mariela watched him walk away quietly and entered the castle doctor's office, earning an wide eyed look from the unicorn. "You are alive?" he asked in surprise "But you-" "A year, yes. Being hidden makes it hard to chit-chat. Can you make a check?" she asked, walking to the examination table. "Of course, just..." he finished filling the paper work and set it aside, then put the necessary instruments in a tray "But why now?" "Many people has seen me, it means little for now" she lifted her wings to let him examine her chest "Discreet medics are rarely good, too. A typical case of romanticism with those ones" she moved a claw in a vaguely irritated way. "Mh?" he was using a stethoscope in her chest. "In a book you'd find a medic who'll never say what happened and or file paperwork" she rolled her eyes "A doctor like that will be careless. Once I spent three weeks with a microfracture until one of the idiots found it" "I'll file you under a fake name, if you want" the medic tapped her gently and she overturned, allowing him to use the stethoscope in the opposite side "That wouldn't be so careless, wouldn't it?" he moved the stethoscope to the upper side of her chest "Your heartbeat seems to be fine. Do you have the necessary medication to keep it that way?" he took a blood pressure meter and started inflating it around her arm "It took me months to find out why is that you were so desperate to get so much all of sudden, you know" "The dreamer's madness had gone beyond bearable threshold" she sighed "What he did to Hlaoo..." "You know you could've sent some message" he insisted "Mom was going mad on me" he passed the instrument to her other arm. "You both know I wouldn't die just like that. You are the one who stalks me" she smiled. "Correction, I am the one who keeps you alive" he paused for a moment, thinking of how to say it "You know, you better stay in this monastery" "This is my life's calling, even if it took me half of it to find out. But why?" "Because I can't travel after you anymore. Weeding's next month" he said. "A we-" her eyes opened wide "Wait. You-? But-" she slapped herself, then smiled widely "Congratulations, you idiot! Who is it?" He took out the blood pressure meter and put it over the tray, "Your heart is still working well, so mom's problems haven't appeared. And remember that chambermaid that you said stared at me?" "Cynthia?" he nodded "She'll be good for you. I'll talk with her, provided we survive" "Hm..." he started filling the paperwork, taking a pill flash from a nearby closet, "Have these ones in the house" it took him nearly a minute to process her word "Provided?" he said in surprise "Are you using an "If"?" "I fear..." she averted her gaze "Make me a favor, Issy. If you hear screeches coming from the Big Church, run from the city. Promise me you will"