Dragon Kin 2

29

Carmen

"She talks to you?" Alicja asked, as I checked her wound.

"Doesn't the Mórrígan talk to you?" I asked in return, taking the packing in my fingers and pulling out the long bloody strip of cotton gauze.

"No," she said. "I just get insights and thoughts. Visuals. Like memories I didn't know I had. It's odd but very effective."

"Huh," I grunted. "This wound is too closed to pack again. We'll just let it close up from this point. You're healing much faster than normal. Days faster. I'm glad I got back."

"I have the scar from a bullet wound. Very rare in these parts," Alicja mused. "Wonder how many will pay an ox to see it at Summer Fest?"

"An ox?" I asked, visualizing of a long line of men holding oxen.

"Like a quarter, I guess. A split is a penny. A hound would be like our dollar. A tankard is an ox. About the same for a loaf of bread. Stew and a tankard will cost a hound. Get a coin worth one-hundred hounds and you have a dragoon. One hundred of those and you have a full fox. So, parents, eh? What's up with that?"

Nice, sensitive way of breaching that subject, I supposed.

"I have to say," she continued, "that I didn't expect to see you for some time. What's it been now, four days? Did you go see them at all?"

"No," I said, turning away and picking a gauze patch and a roll of tape. "I'm just going to cover this loosely. Let it breath but don't get anything inside there."

"Not excited to talk about it?" she asked.

I stopped with the patch, "I just don't know what to think about it. There is this world of hurt that has reared up with saying 'what do you mean they were alive this whole time. Why didn't they find me?' I mean, I know it's childish. I was a continent away from them. There was no way they could find me."

"Yet you still blame them," she said. "My parents died when I was young. Well, younger. My dad first, and then my mom a few year later. You've been forgiving them for so long, now, they are alive, and they have to take the blame like everyone else."

"huh," I grunted. "Something like that, maybe." I put the patch on her and stood back, letting her adjust her shirt.

The door opened and I turned around to find Alexis.

"Good, thank you for coming so quickly sir. Have a seat and I'll be right with you. How is the wound?"

"Better," he said. "Healed."

"Healed?" I said, coming over next to him. "Can I see?"

He took off his over shirt and then pulled down the neck of his undershirt. There remained only the hint of a scar on his chest. I checked his gum line and the edges of his eyes, and everything looked good. Maybe I was wrong to worry about it.

"You're right, it has healed nicely. I'm so glad. Do you have any questions?"

"No," he said.

"Well, then I'm sorry you came all the way here just for that, but thank you," I said.

He nodded to me and then stood and gave Alicja a short bow and then left without another word.

"He's not talkative, is he," I said.

"Not any more than you are," Alicja said.

I sighed and turned around then sat in the chair Alexis just left from. "I don't know what to say. I just couldn't run off without checking the two of you. It was too important to simply leave you to your own devices. And don't say you wouldn't have been fine – I didn't know that, and I'm your doctor. It has been twenty-one years since they have ... well, since I've seen them. It can wait a while longer."