Sometimes Monsters are Good

Mysterious People and an Infirmary Bed

The world was going in and out of focus as Sam laid behind the now burning table. Her ears were ringing and there was a sharp pain in her right arm and side. As she continued to try and blink her way back to full consciousness, she registered two people. The first was built and steady while the second was skinny and obviously heavily leaning against the first.

For a split second, it almost seemed like the first person looked at Sam, like they made eye contact, but it was just a second before the two figures disappeared and Sam finally lost her battle with consciousness.

. . .

Sam slowly blinked back into reality to realize that she was no longer in what used to be a dining room, but the infirmary. Believe it or not, Sam had made many visits to this wonderful place. Or at least, enough to the point where she could recognize it based purely on smell. The bright light shining through the window depicted that she had been asleep for at least a day. Slowly, Sam started to register a striking pain in her right arm as she tried to move it. She looked down to see it covered in bandages.

That definitely wasn't good.

Just as Sam was about to adjust herself even more, the curtain opened, and Brigid walked in. Brigid was the head healer in the kingdom. She was kind and did her job well, and even tried to make a few attempts to befriend Sam.

Sam would've let her had she not known the kind of things that happened to her 'friends'.

Either way she was a lovely young woman. Brigid had worked at the castle since she was a child, though she had started out as a simple servant girl, her strengths soon proved themselves in the medical field. Her father, the former head healer, had been brutally killed during an assassination attempt, and Sam's father (before he lost his mind) had acknowledged the young woman's obvious talents and appointed her to the position in her father's place. Ever since then Brigid had been working hard and had become one of, if not the best healer in the kingdom's history.

Brigid smiled slightly as she walked in, obviously taking account of Sam's alertness. Sam smiled back before deciding that she would be the one to speak up.

"So," She started smiling slightly, "how bad is it doc?"

Brigid let out a small laugh before she set down her chart and moved closer to Sam's bed.

"Not too bad I'm happy to report," she said while bending down to check Sam's bandaged arm. Sam quietly lifted it up, knowing that she was in good hands. "The blast obviously knocked you out and gave you pretty nasty burn damage, but it was nothing I couldn't fix," Brigid continued. It was obvious she was proud of her work, as she should be. There were very few people out there who could've taken a concussed and burned patient and turned them conscious in little over a day.

Speaking of which.

"How long was I out?" Sam asked, being careful not to sound too worried about it. Brigid frowned slightly and that was all it took to make Sam's heart drop.

"I'm sorry to say you were out for almost three days," Sam's eyes widened, and her breathing nearly stopped before Brigid kept going, "you and the prince were the closest to the doors, so you took on most of the blast damage. Honestly, it's a miracle you weren't out for longer although I am glad you've made progress to this point, I was worried you'd have brain damage."

Sam had stopped listening as soon as Brigid had said three days. This was bad. VERY bad. Another fun thing about her father, he did not like having to deal with bad publicity. Specifically bad publicity over injuries that Sam might've sustained. Surprisingly, when a person is unconscious, they cannot go or do anything. Sam constantly had to go and do things. If Sam was hurt but regained consciousness within a day, it meant that she could excuse and absences with tiredness or sudden activities. No bad publicity. If Sam was hurt and did not regain consciousness within a day, it meant her father would have to make a statement about why she couldn't attend, usually regarding her injured state. Her injury, that he had caused. Very bad publicity.