Bird Wings

Chapter 17

Now that her confinement was over, Wren's life was (outwardly) just as it had been the year before. She socialised a little less, worked a little more, but the casual bystander wouldn't be able to find a noticeable difference.

All that remained were the continuing regular exams from Doctor Patrew. Every time Wren walked through the village to his office, which was once a week at least, she felt like a beacon lit from her head to alert everyone that she was still a potential source of danger.

Wren stopped for a moment one day while taking that dreaded walk. The doctor's office was just off the village centre, across from the general store. When she reached the next street and turned into it everyone in or around the shop would see her.

Today was especially trying, as a merchant was in town. Everyone who had a free minute would be milling around outside the shop where he had laid out his wares. It was silly to care so much about being seen when everyone already knew she visited the doctor often, but she still hesitated to start walking again. Why couldn't the doctor have a back door? Or better yet, why couldn't she stop needing examinations all together?

She took a breath and started walking again. It was for her family, that's why she put up with it. Going to the doctor this often calmed their worries about her (worries that she kept making worse with her strange behaviour. Try as she might, Wren couldn't pretend to be the same as ever to people who saw her often, even to the unobservant eyes of her family), and being known to visit the doctor made all their neighbours more comfortable with her presence in the village. Because she did this, her mother and sisters could visit around just as before, and everyone had peace of mind. Everyone except Wren.

Wren kept her head up as she walked across the centre, avoiding everyone's gaze and only acknowledging those who spoke to her. She reached the doctor's painted door and slipped inside as quickly as she could.

The waiting area was covered with talismans and charms. He made and sold them, but also used them to decorate. They were hung on every wall and even the furniture, and some were painted permanently on the floor and ceiling. The whole building smelled like herbs. Wren suspected the man used the most pungent plants he could find for his concoctions to give them an extra air of importance.

Sitting carefully in one of the chairs, Wren wondered for the hundredth time if there was really anything in all this. Was she just biassed out of discomfort, or was it all nonsense? Perhaps it was based on truth, but she couldn't help feeling like her community had taken things too far.

"Ah, Wren, you're right on time." Doctor Patrew opened the inner door (causing all the things hanging from it to wiggle unnervingly) "Come on in, I'm ready for you."

He shut the door behind her.

"Hop up here, we'll do the examination first." He seemed cheerful, that probably meant he had some new nasty potion for her to drink.

Wren obediently climbed onto his exam table. This was the part that she hated, honestly. If all it was was bitter medicine and weird smells she wouldn't mind so much, but signs of bad energy or curses showed up on the skin. He had to check her body for unusual markings.

"Now, once again I'm going to take your mother's word for it about the more private areas. She still has the pamphlet I drew for her, correct?" The doctor asked, taking her wrist between a professional thumb and forefinger and stretching her arm out.

"Yes, she checked me last night." Wren hesitated. "I wonder if her judgement could be enough for the rest of me as well."

"I know it's tedious to be examined so often, but unfortunately it does take a practised eye to catch a lot of these things. I'm still a little concerned about her abilities, to be perfectly honest. You've been feeling much the same?"