Completed Cutting Corners

[Inoadar]

OOC - continued from Here.

25th of Winter, 513

Inoadar

Inoadar was still muttering angrily to himself as he approached The Healing Hand. He didn't want Ariella changing her mind and going back to the wilds. But he could hardly blame her after her terrible branding ordeal.

When you took your Kelvic slave to get its brand of ownership, you always had the option of purchasing pain killers to spare them the suffering of the burn. This could be anything from the post-op application of salves like Tulja Poultice or Krolar Poultice, or the more expensive, if less creatively named, Burn Salve, to the narcotic and very effective "Pinch" or "Poke" drug, made from the Piletar plant in the distant heights of Wind Reach.

He'd paid the 25 gold mizas for the drug, wanting his own new Kelvic assistant, Ariella, to be as comfortable of possible while she endured her branding. So for after the ordeal, he also paid for the two poultices. They cost a collective ten-and-a-half more mizas, but he gave the man fifteen, to ensure good relations. The Burn Salve would do too much healing to what was supposed to remain a permanent mark. All he was after was the pain numbing effect. The "Pinch" was supposed to deaden the nerves completely.

But it had not worked. Not at all. Ariella had shrieked in agony and immediately switched to tiger form. It was only the few instances of Inoadar's past aid that got through the feral haze and allowed him to intercede on the medic's behalf. He still suffered a nasty slash that tore through a few links of the mail on his forearm as he blocked the swipe of her claws.

His fury nearly matched her own though. He had given her his word! He had assured her there would be no pain. He had to rein in his anger quickly though as soldiers converged on the disturbance. The brandings done here were not done out of kindness. They were to mark slaves, and slaves did not merit such considerations as pain free brandings. The drugs and salves were only for those soft-hearted owners that treated their slaves more as pets.

Inoadar was certainly not the kind-hearted type. But Ariella had come into town and he'd realized she represented a unique opportunity for him to gain, not only a great bodyguard, but a source of a major Wildleash poison component from a willing donor. He had offered her a job at his shop in exchange for these concessions, but it had been enforced by soldiers that were on the verge of taking her away to the general slave pits.

Slavers had cornered her and she had changed forms in self-defense. Inoadar had recognized her and realized it was a death sentence for her to maul city workers with her status as loose slave. He'd stepped in to rescue her, dropping the name of a highly-placed member of the Slaver ranks to stall the escalation of hostility. Then the Ebonstryfe had arrived.

He'd had to think fast and had scrambled to come up with a tale of her having been his slave, but having had the mark mauled by wolves while in the wild. The wolf mauling was nothing short of truth, but in addition to a number of other odd claims to support his story, he'd had to make whispered mention of his hush-hush visit to the KRI.

After confirming the incident, the soldier had been willing to accept that Ariella had been "awarded" to him for his assistance there and previously branded by interns that did not know the proper location to apply it. The soldier had told him to obtain a new collar immediately and "Get that cat branded again right away!"

So he'd come to see the Slavers to have her branded. They had said they had these drugs direct from the Healing Hand and had years of experience with them. It burned Inoadar's gut to recall how anxious Ariella had grown right before her turn. She'd kept insisting that she felt no numbing effect, but he hadn't listened, thinking it simple apprehension due to exaggerated fear and inexperience.

After the mayhem, when Inoadar made his angry claim to the branding tech and the soldiers, they checked their records and found them in order. The documentation was complete and checked out with all available records. Inoadar was ordered to quit making a scene and take his slave with him. He complied, angry that he'd had to use another dose of Pilowsap to put Ariella to sleep so the branding process could be completed. And he had the poultices for later. But he wanted answers and it appeared that The Healing hand would be the place to find them.

x

[Amolina]

Amolina reached The Healing Hand. She saw a few styfers in black uniforms standing near the fenced in entrance, doing nothing to conceal that they were guarding the place. Amolina, however, was a citizen and didn’t need to be nervous. She went in through the quite narrow gap in the fence, showed her citizen papers at the front desk, and was allowed to enter.

It was winter, so she was wearing her new dark winter cloak over the violet silk dress. Sure, it was a constant reminder of the troublesome fact that she was being blackmailed. But the blackmailers cloak was warm and elegant. Amolina had succumbed to the luxury of wearing a garment of very high quality. It had been Xavier’s cloak, but now it was hers. Though if it was a gift or a warning was unclear. Perhaps both.

She walked over the floor to the counter where they sold all sorts of medicines, ointments, tinctures, drugs. The shop assistant behind the counter, a, thin and delicate looking blond woman was making notes about something, but now she looked up and asked what she could help Amolina with.

Amolina explained that she was looking for something that would make child delivery easy and quick.

She had heard that there was herbal medicines for that and perhaps also oils, ointments and such. Well, she wasn’t so knowledgeable about it really, so she would like the shop assistant to show her all they had for this purpose and explain the properties in detail. In particular the risks, as Amolina wanted to know exactly what effects the treatments could have.

She was doing an in depth investigation and asked for very detailed information. Soon enough she was deeply engaged in an animated discussion with the shop assistant, who seemed to take great interest in this case and spoke lots about “the baby” she supposed was the reason for all the fuss.

And there was actually some future baby, somewhere. But it wasn’t Amolina who was expecting. She was investigating the possibilities for other ends. However, she didn’t find it necessary to tell the shop assistant. It would complicate things and perhaps even make it impossible to get the information she had come for, so she smiled and played along.

The shop assistant had started at an advanced explanation of benefits of Delavive Tonic and Midwife Miracle Tincture and Amolina was listening with avid interest. “What’s the maximum doses?” she asked. “And what happens if somebody would make a mistake and take too much?”

"I think it's best to be very careful" the shop assistant said. She had a ledger with detail information she was reading up in. "An overdose of delavive tonic can make the birth be too quick too, and it can perhaps also hurt the baby. It's recommended to just start with a small dose and see if that's enought. Avoid overusing it."

They were speaking on, comparing the benefits and risks. None of them paid any attention to the other people working in the shop, or the other visitors that came and went.

[Inoadar]

Inoadar

Inoadar arrived at the Healing Hand, showing his citizenship papers with an effort to restrain his impatience. He informed the receiving intern that he wanted the Veterinary Department. He was expecting to be shown right in, but instead found a hand braced against his chest, accompanied by instructions to "Wait here."

He stood, suppressing his irritation at the wait, until a young woman came out from a back door and escorted him back. He explained about the painkiller's failure to have any effect and how his Kelvic assistant had suffered. "Is there some reason why these serums and salves should not have worked? Surely I'm not the first man to try to use them on a Kelvic. If there has been some finding that they don't work on Kelvics, it would have been nice to have this posted!" his anger percolated slightly as he spoke.

The veterinarian was plainly skeptical, "There's no reason why it wouldn't work, sir. These philters and tinctures do not hinge on whether the target is animal or human. I suppose some summoned beast from another world may have a different reaction, but nothing natural to Mizahar. I can only assume they were improperly administered, or your Kelvic may have an allergy."

Inoadar rolled his eyes. "I know an allergic reaction when I see one, Miss. There was no reaction at ALL. I'm not talking about a painful rash, or swelling. I'm talking about medicine that was supposed to stop the pain not working! What's more, I had a few meds left over from an injury of my own, and they worked!"

This gave the woman pause. Her brow furrowed as she considered. "Perhaps they were mislabeled by the branding personnel. Or the technician simply grabbed the wrong ones. Did you happen to see which ones they used? Can you describe the containers, colors, whether it was liquid, pills, salve?"
she offered.

Inoadar glared, "Don't try to make it up to ME to determine the competency of those people. I paid my mizas and expected to get what I paid for. besides even if they used the wrong stuff, there would have been SOME effect, even if was just her having diarrhea for the next few days. But there was nothing. It might as well have been water. And I wasn't watching to compare labels."

The woman made a face and looked puzzled. "Well...maybe something will pique your memory. Come with me." She led Inoadar into the veterinary supply room.

x

[Amolina]

Meanwhile, Amolina was done with her discussion with the shop assistant. She memorized the information, not sure if she would use it or not. Perhaps. She hadn’t made up her mind yet. That abortion job she had seen on the board at The Spot when she had been there with Rheon Blueheart had been well paid. It would be easy money if it could be done with an overdose of common medicines. But there could be lots of bad consequences of all sorts for the one that arranged it…she had only investigated a few facts, and now she had knowledge. What she would do or not do with it remained to be seen.

She looked around at random in the human medicine department as there were a few other things for sale than medicines. Obviously the healing hand also sold a few genera well-being products, like scented oils and powders. There were rows of shelves with this kind of things at one side of the location.

Amolina wasn’t going to buy anything, just spend some time looking around for fun, now when she was here. She didn’t pay too much attention to exactly where she went. She was lost in thoughts, and after a while she found herself lost in the location too, walking between two long shelves, like in a corridor. Oh well, she would just walk to the end of it and see what they had for sale.

OOCFeel free to time this and make them meet somewhere, some way at some point, in any department of the place. You can post on if you need several posts to get the story in place. Tell me in OOC note when it’s my turn again.

[Inoadar]

Inoadar

Inoadar stood back as the veterinarian started examining labels on boxes. He sighed heavily a few times as the chimes passed with nothing to break the monotony but the official's frequent "Mmmhmm...mmmhmm...check...mmmhmm...right, checks out...mmmhmm..." and so on as she made check-offs on her inventory list. This was getting nowhere.

He tapped his feet and rolled his eyes as the vet came back to report that nothing was out of the ordinary. He once again started his protest that stockroom numbers were beside the point. That the issue was that the stuff hadn't worked, not that the list verified the right label on the box. "How do you know that the label on the box is correct?" he spouted. "If some intern at the Branding Commision sees a code on the box, but the code was put on the wrong box to begin with, how is he supposed to know?" He was starting to get loud now, and attracting attention.

Now it was the vet's turn to sigh heavily. "Sir, just exactly what do expect me to do? If you're going to question such basic precautions as the double-checking of stock when it's initially packed, than I see no way to convince you of anything!" she now matched his volume and ire. "I've wasted enough of my time. Now, if you'll excuse me..." she made to step around him.

"Fine..." Inoadar growled, "you're excused!" He made no attempt to stop her from leaving, but the sound of his knife leaving its sheath did the trick as he stalked toward the boxes, knife in hand.

She stammered in disbelief as he reached one of the stacks she'd checked. "Wha-..d-do you...Stop! You can't...Get away from those! Guards! Gua-...Whaaaat?" she paused her outburst as the flap on the box lifted easily for Inoadar. Clearly it had already been opened. She checked her inventory list with a renewed intensity. "This isn't right..." she said, mostly to herself.

"Oh dear! Is something not "checking out" for you now?" Inoadar sneered with venomous sarcasm. "What's supposed to be in this box anyway? I mean which medicine?" He leaned over to take in the side of the box with the label, "What does 'CGQ' stand for?"

"Calgonquit," the woman replied without looking up, her furrowed brow turning in the direction of several different stacks of boxes now. "It's more of a drug than a medicine..." she continued in a distracted tone. "It relaxes the mind, gives clarity...helps medi...tation...hmmm...well this is peculiar..." she began to walk toward a stack of boxes near the door to the human medical area.

"Then why are all the pouches in this box labelled either "EL" or "CH"? What do they stand for?" Inoadar gloated in vindication. So proud of himself, he failed to notice the ugly sidelong glance directed his way by an unsavory looking customer beyond the door.

x

OOCOkay, feel free to have heard the mild commotion and hear about the stock discrepancy. If you want to see the unsavory looking dude as well, feel free

[Amolina]

Amolina could hear the upset of a man and a woman. An argument obviously. She stopped and hesitated, and was now standing at the end of the “corridor of shelves” she had been following. Both the shelves ended there, but the left shelf was somewhat shorter and it was possible to turn left, walk back on the other side of it and return to the main part of The Healing Hand where Amolina first had entered.

And she nearly did. But...

At the empty space around the end of the shelves there was a simple door and a window, and through the window she could see something that caught her attention: an unkempt looking man just standing there. He showed no intention to enter, but he didn’t go away either. He just stood there, like he was looking at wares on display. Only that there were no wares on display, just shelves with containers. It was looking like a plain and boring storage room. But the unkempt man seemed to take great and mysterious interest in watching it.

Amolina shuddered while she studied him. He was bulky, but not in a fit and well trained way. His shoulder length brown hair looked like it hadn’t been washed recently and his clothes looked like he didn’t care much how they looked. The word “unsavory thug” came to her mind.

The argument in the room in front of her had escalated, the two people were speaking louder and she heard the man growl aggressively : “ Fine! You’re excused! “And then she heard the woman answer in upset tone : “ What do you…Stop… You can’t … Get away from those… Guards ! Gua…whaaat? This isn’t right …” And then the man again : “Oh dear! Is something not “checking out” for you now?”

The unsavory thug outside seemed to be all attention now. He stepped closer and stared in through the window like he was now watching something extremely interesting. Amolina stood like petrified. What the petch was going on in the room? And what would she DO ? Turn around the left shelf, run back to the main room, go out on the street and call the Ebonstryfe to the rescue?

That could take too long time in a situation like this one. It might be better to just step in. She might be able to interrupt what she supposed was about to happen, as a witness can often make people stop things they are doing just because they think nobody can see them.

She stepped out from the shadows between the shelves and into the room, hardly hearing the last words the two people were saying. And there she saw …

“Mister Parnell !” she managed. “This! And in the Healing Hand too !”

[Inoadar]

Inoadar

Inoadar spun at the use of his name, "Mister Parnell!" He missed the follow-up statement at the realization that it was Amolina Moletta... Another coincidence involving his on-again-off-again nemesis? The last time, they'd barely eluded a squad of Ebonstryfe and then gotten in a life-and-death struggle with a phony ravosalaman. He wanted to blame her for the unfortunate position he'd found himself in, which had nearly rendered him unable to defend himself when the man had suddenly attacked him. But the truth was, it was as much his own fault as anyone's.

And ultimately, it had led to his partnership with she and Valerius Nitrozian in the NMSS. He was greatly enjoying the advanced lab gear he was able to use. He still found her sudden stall tactics at the opening of the new facility odd. And what reasons she had provided rang false somehow. A flash of speculation led him to wonder if her presence here reflected on any possible lead. But he dismissed it as quickly as it arose. SHE was the one who had spoken up just now, not himself. If she had some connection to hide here, she would not be wanting to bring his attention to her.

He was pulled back to the other odd development in his day by the ongoing sounds of puzzlement coming from the lady veterinarian. They were becoming more alarmed as she continued looking at the layout of pallets and crates. Apparently the mislabeled "EL" stood for Everlight, and the "CH" for Chamayo, both herbs that also were used for mental clarity and focus, but far less potent than the outer labelled "Calgonquit". And also much cheaper.

Inoadar began prompting her with comparisons of other "mislabelings" they were finding. Ground Krolar tree bark in place of the drug, "Slammer", which was shipped in from Wind Reach by the occasional Eagle Rider. It cost much more here than there, but it was pricey there nonetheless. Both numbing agents. The same with the painkiller Piletar Root, used to make the very costly drug, "Poke", also called "Pinch". In its place was a different, much cheaper root called Tulja, from some tropical tree, the vet explained.

When she mentioned that Piletar was also found in Wind Reach, something began to tickle Inoadar's memory. The "WR" was significant somehow. The vet then confirmed that the switching of Salialana for Halbriar would be another very profitable deception, and it all clicked. He had seen these codes in the hidden ledger he'd stolen from thugs working with his true nemesis, the industrialist Mr. Barton. He remembered the pattern of entries in the book, many of them with a "WR", accompanied by a "pt" or "sl". There were many switches of a few other items as well. But the last piece of the puzzle were the numerous entries "sal/hal". Apparently, Mr. Barton didn't want the "sl" for Slammer being mistaken for Salialana, so he'd instructed it to be tagged as "sal", and switched with "hal", a tag for Halbrair, a far cheaper fertility/aphrodisiac herb.

Inoadar didn't realize he was grinning. He had it figured out now. Mr. Barton was smuggling expensive drugs and medicines from The Healing Hand after having the stock replaced by cheap knock-offs. He and the veterinarian had laid it all out verbally during their discussion. Amolina would have easily overheard it all if she had been listening.

But three things suddenly struck him. The first was that this meant that someone working here was doing the dirty work. The second was the fact that this person may be here right now, ALSO overhearing them. And the last was that Amolina had a very worried look on her face, directed at the door leading out into the other room.

x

[Amolina]

She looked at the medicines and in order to conceal that she was embarrassed for jumping to conclusions and rushing in like this, she picked up a box at random. She wasn’t familiar with any of the drugs or whatever it was and in order to not seem stupid she didn’t ask. Instead she just looked at the text on the box, reading without understanding anything.

Alright, she had immediately thought the worst about Parnell. It was obviousl that nobody was going to be killed here, though. And the man had actually made peace with her and was a business associate these days. She really ought to stop being so quick to jump to conclusions.

Ambitious, serious, knowledgeable and hardworking, she thought. This was how Nolan Parnell came off now when he had dropped extreme threats. In the start she had felt a bit awkward and wary around him. But he was focused on his work and very busy and there hadn’t been any reasons to clash.

The veterinarian made upset sounds of and seemed more and more alarmed as she continued looking at the layout of pallets and crates. Everlight and Chamayo were mentioned, both as unknown to Amolina as Calgonquit was - but from listening to what Parnell and the veterinarian said she got that Calgonqit seemed to be a more expensive drug that had been replaced with the other two, cheaper.

She watched Parnell and the veterinarian and listened while they went on to comparisons of other "mislabelings" they were finding. Ground Krolar tree bark in place of "Slammer”. Some tropical tree thing namedTulja in the place of something called Piletar, or Poke, or Pinch. Something named Salialana had been replaced with something else named Halbriar. And there seemed to be switches of other items as well.

Amolina didn’t understand the discussion and the things they were saying about sal and hal, but the situation was clear enough. Part of the stock in the Healing Hand had been replaced by cheap knock-offs. Wind Reach had been mentionened too, but it was unclear to her why.

Oddly, Parnell was grinning like he found this very fun. She didn't get it, but Parnell could sometimes be hard to understand.

“I’m sorry I rushed in like this when you have a serious investigation of fake drugs ongoing” she said. “But it was so unnerving, the way that man outside stared at me through the window. “Truth was, the bulky unkempt man out there hadn’t looked at Amolina at all. She had been standing in the shadow between the shelves before she made her dramatic appearance. But she found ot good to make a small lie in order to have a reason for how she had barged in.

The unsavory spectator had seemed to be mesmerized by other things, but what it could have been was hard to say. The only thing Amolina could see in the room was Parnell and a veterinarian, investigating the medicines.

“I think he was staring at you too” she said finally, turning to the woman. “If I was you I’d be careful when going home this evening. He just stood there and gazed at you through the window you see. Stared. A big and bulky man, unkempt and sloppy, looked like a thug if you ask me. He was right outside the door and I was under the impression he was... Oh, well. I just thought I’d warn you. You’d better get somebody to escort you safely home after work.”

She hesitated a bit, still holding the small box in her right hand.

[Inoadar]

Inoadar

The veterinarian would have none of it. She braced her back stiffly and announced her intention to report this obvious bit of piracy to the Ebonstryfe. And that any man here that was involved wouldn't dare to interfere.

Inoadar stepped aside to let her pass, thinking that if he interfered, he'd somehow end up imprisoned as well. The Stryfe tended to round up everyone and then sort them out by how convincingly they wailed their innocence under duress. Or by how well they could implicate someone else.

He turned to Amolina, "Funny seeing you here, sweetheart. And once again, just as trouble is about to break out. I suggest we make ourselves scarce. As in right now!"

He ducked through the very door the thug had been watching through. He had not noticed the man, so he attached no great significance to the fellow that tried to hide his double take as Inoadar hurried into the display room. He'd been here enough to know there was a side door that gave quicker access to the common streets. There were still a pair of guards stationed there, but judging by the direction the vet had gone to rock the boat, they would be the last to hear any disturbance.

He did not pause to see if Amolina was following. He knew her to be somewhat more idealistic than himself, but also knew her to have enough experience with the "punish-first-prove-guilt-later" attitude of the Ebonstryfe to agree with the wisdom of a hasty departure. Nonetheless, there was something too familiar about rushing out of a brewing situation with her to be comfortable with as he began to hear faint sounds of angry protests in the direction the vet had gone.

The vet was crying her disbelief at the fact that SHE was being detained. There were murmured voices countering her with some accusations of their own, but Inoadar did not linger to get the details. Then he saw the man again, watching him with narrowed eyes and he realized he had a tail. Then shouts rose and he saw the pair of guards confront the man.

At first, he sighed with relief. But then the man pointed his way and the guards redirected their hostility his way. "Oh shyke!" he muttered, breaking into a run. Those two guards, at least, were in on it!

x

[Amolina]

Parnell dashed out and was out of sight. She saw the guards and the unkempt man rush out too, and when she peered out through the door she saw Nolan Parnell and the guards running one way, while the thuggish looking man ran in the opposite direction instead. The latter ran surprisingly quickly despite looking so bulky and heavy. However, in the Healing Hand the shouting went on and people were coming her direction. Amolina needed to come up with a way to escape being detained just like the veterinary.

Like all soldiers, the Ebonstryfers did lots of physical training as part of their work. They were fast, strong and efficient at seizing people. It was well known. Amolina realized that she didn’t stand a chance to outrun the stryfers who were in and around the Healing Hand. It had been different the time she and Parnell had escaped in a ravonsala, because the water had stopped the stryfers from following them at once. But now there was nothing that would stop them from catching up with her. The only thing she would accomplish by running would be to seem even more suspect.

And she had showed her identity papers when she went in. They would know she had been here today. And she had spent so long time chatting with the shop assistant who believed Amolina was expecting a baby, chances were she would be remembered even if she somehow managed to run away. It would be a temporary escape, very temporary.

Being an actress she was prone to take to acting as a solution to most things. Acting was what she knew. And from the stage she was used to need to improvise quickly in order to cover mistakes. Just like in a play, her imagination immediately reached out for the few things that were available to elaborate on and she grabbed them and put them to use.

She dropped to the floor, curled up, her arms crossed over her stomach, and moaned like she was in pain. People arrived within the next few ticks, and yes, it was a couple of stryfers, just like she had feared. When they told her to get up she playacted: she sobbed hysterically and babbled incoherently about how a big bulky thug had suddenly barged in, attacked her and hit her in the stomach and now she was deadly scared of the baby being hurt, and perhaps she would even lose it.

At this point she grabbed the legs of one stryfer and held on to him while she alternated between acting like she was nauseated and about throw up, hysterical and about to weep, or in pain and possibly about to need medical care here and now, at once. As the stryfer of course wanted to get information about what had happened he asked questions, but Amolina answered like the welfare of the fake baby was absolutely all that was on her mind and she was pretty unable to think of anything else than her own physical condition. Everything had happened so quickly, she wailed, and she didn’t know what was going on.

The stryfer was getting impatient and pushed her away quite forcefully. But more people had turned up, one of them the shop assistant she had spoken with before. With a small upset sound the other woman rushed in between the stryfers and Amolina, telling them the lady was expecting and what were they thinking, treating a ravokian woman in this delicate condition like this? Obviously this shop assistant had more authority in the Healing Hand than met the eye, because the stryfers just muttered something that sounded like “it wasn’t us” and let her take care of Amolina.

Amolina wept a bit on the shop assistant’s shoulder. She made it seem like this calmed her down enough to refresh her memory a little bit. Picking out the small medicine box from the pocket in her cloak she said in a husky, strained voice: “He seemed to be totally crazy. He threw this on me and then he punched me in the stomach…” Her voice broke and she started over with the moaning.

The shop assistant took the box and read aloud: “Salialana”. She shook her head. “This is really odd. The attacker threw a very expensive fertility drug on a pregnant woman, then punched her…seems like a madman, if you ask me.” She put the box down, let go of Amolina and got to her feet, speaking with the stryfers.

As the veterinary had been brought along she took the opportunity to try to save herself by joining this idea. “Yes” she said quickly. “This poor lady actually told me she had seen an odd man looking at her in a weird way and felt so unnerved that she rushed in here. She said he had been looking at me too and warned me. It was only a few chimes ago, and now this! And he had drugs on him too ! I’m convinced he must be the one that has stolen our drugs !”

The veterinary had said all this very quickly and desperately. She was scared of being silenced before she was done. And there was more: “ Everything is just like I told you! A cheated customer was complaining on bad painkillers, and I investigated and found out that valuable drugs has been replaced with less efficient things. And now the guilty one has revealed himself by attacking this woman. Instead of wasting time on me, you ought to catch a dangerous madman who’s endangering the health of all people in Ravok and also attacks innocent women and tries to kill their babies while he throws drugs on them!”

While the veterinary had everybody’s attention, Amolina took the opportunity to put the small box of the very expensive drug named Salialana in her cloak pocket. She could sell it later, she felt sure. And in the current confusion nobody would miss it. Was this larceny? Perhaps, but Amolina decided to think of it as a compensation for the inconvenience of being drawn into this mess because of the Healing Hand’s lacking security routines.

The stryfers looked at each other. Then they told the veterinary to go back to work. They knew who she was and where to find her and she wasn’t the highest priority now. They went out on the street and it wasn’t possible to see what they were doing anymore.

After having “rested” for a while in a quiet corner, Amolina was allowed to leave through the main door, just like people used to do. She passed out through the opening in the fence outside, entered the street and started walking.

Continues here later same day.