Chapter 709

Once the pair got into the groove of things it really wasn’t hard to get across the dance floor only a matter of time. The notes were remarkably lenient towards Blue’s completely out of time shuffling and whatever the heck it was Kat was doing. It could really only be called dancing in the vaguest of senses but it was movement in time with music and Kat was making her way to the door.

When they made it to the other side of the room the barrier was still up, Kat was tempted to break through but a “Just wait out this song,” from Blue when she spotted Kat’s actions was enough to still Kat’s thirst for violence, especially considering it wasn’t really all that high. Punching things just happened to be a good answer to problems since she’d become a demon.

When the song wound down, trailing off with a soft duet from the trombone and the flute player Kat picked Blue up and carefully opened the door. When Kat saw a receptionist desk in front of a Thyme in a nurses outfit... a really buff Thyme in a nurses outfit 2 sizes too small Kat wasn’t sure if it was best to laugh or cry.

The scene was both wonderful and horrific, she was overjoyed they’d found the medical bay, but found the chances that this worked out were so high she had to laugh about their success. *Praise the lord! Wait... is that heretical for a demon to say? Also is God real? Demons are real but they aren’t anything like what they should be. Angels are also real and I don’t even want to get into those guys. If a shadow of an angel can predict the future days in advance, or compute the most likely events brute forcing it... well either is horrifying. How much stronger would a god be if they’re real? Nope. I don’t wanna think about it.*

Kat stepped inside and the nurse took this as prompting to address them. They had a soothing soft spoken voice completely at odds with their appearance, “Hello dears, what can I help you with today?”

“My friend here,” said Kat as she raised Blue up slightly at the mention of the word ‘friend’ “has had her eardrums destroyed and we were hoping you could help us out with that?”

The nurse nodded, “Certainly I can, please step this way,” said the nurse as they stepped out from behind the counter to push open the curtains to the back room. “I am a little surprised though. Usually the band is quite wonderful,”

.....

“Um no... it wasn’t them...” Kat mumbled as she carried Blue into the healer’s room. It was both a lot like a doctor’s office and nothing like it at the same time. There was an examination bed, a desk, and three chairs nearby. Instead of a computer they had a large stack of paper, presumably for writing out medical instructions if necessary. There was also some kind of incense burning on the windowsill, the open window blowing the scent further into the room. The wall Kat was moving through had a glass cupboard with a number of glowing tinctures and for some reason there was a large plant sitting at the foot of the bed.

“Would you mind explaining to me the exact cause of the damage then? It might change the spell I’ll need to use,” said the nurse.

Kat nodded as she placed Blue down on the bed, “It was this... weird chair...” Kat wanted to say ‘chair demon’ but as a demon herself she knew it certainly wasn’t one, “chair thing. It was this creepy looking woman? Girl? Something that had long black hair and could launch itself out of shadows and stretch its jaw to the size of a small child. When we... destroyed the chair it just screamed and screamed and screamed and it was too much for Blue,”

“Not yourself though?” noted the nurse as they summoned a glowing magical circle, to get some diagnostic results from Blue. It was actually a five ringed spell, making it the highest level spell Kat had SEEN cast. Thyme had likely done better, but also hidden the rings in other instances.

“Um... I have regeneration so... arguably I was caught as well. Trust me... it’s not fun having to listen to high pitched screaming as your eardrums rupture only to heal themselves and repeat the process...” grumbled Kat.

“Ah, my condolences,” said the nurse, summoning up a second diagnostic spell this time four ringed. “Ok, so I’ve looked at the issue and it’s a good thing you guys came to me. The damage isn’t just the eardrums but also a bit of a lingering curse and I think some minor brain damage. The last one is a little tricky to spot even with the right spells, but actually not something to worry about despite being ‘brain damage’ it would naturally repair itself once the curse is removed but while you’re hear...”

The nurse Thyme summoned up three four ringed spell circles and Blue lit up like a Christmas tree. Green light spilling from her body especially her ears. Blue shivered under the sensation as the damage was repaired. A few seconds in the nurse summoned up a single red circle spell and a moment later blood rushed from Blue’s ears.

*Is it rude I keep thinking of this Thyme as a nurse despite clearly being a competent healer? Wait... if they are the healer why are they manning reception? Why are they in a nurse outfit? Why does Thyme know what an Earth nurse outfit looks like?*

Kat’s questions would go unanswered as Blue groaned at sat up, wobbling slightly as she rose. The nurse steadied Blue slightly, “Easy there dear, your balance will still be a bit off for a few moments as you readjust to having working ears again. There was a good deal of blood that had flooded the ear canal as well complicating that further. Just stay steady,”

Blue nodded and once she was sitting up scooted backwards to lean against the wall. Blue let out a long thankful sigh as she relaxed into the wall. “Thanks,” said Blue slowly as if testing the words. She’d sounded fine back when she couldn’t hear, but it was still something Blue wanted to make sure of now she had her hearing back.

“Now dears, I’ll just leave you here to rest up for a bit before getting you to leave. The healer’s wing is for sick and recovering people not for those of us that are healthy. It is simply the way of things...” said the nurse as they left the room and Kat could imagine the steely glint in their eyes as they left.

Kat swallowed instinctively, flashing back to the school’s nurse and her no nonsense attitude. “Right... well... if it wasn’t clear before it is now, we can’t stay here too long... but where do we go? I mean, I think we should head to the bedrooms, right? That seems like the most likely place to end this challenge...”

Blue tapped the side of her leg a few times as she thought about that, “I suppose so. That does seem to be what the rules said. I know I couldn’t speak before but I was paying as much attention as I could through the pain. Still... my memories of the list are a little... fuzzy... so anything else you want to jog my memory with?”

Kat shrugged and said, “Not really? I mean, the master bedroom appears when two bedrooms merge together, sometimes multiple master bedrooms show up, and I hope we don’t have to find one of those specifically. Um... hmm... otherwise the only things I can think are worth noting is that if we find the kitchen we’ll probably be attacked and the laundry likely has spare uniforms but that’s more a ‘neat if we can find it’ type of thing. If we find a bedroom first that would be for the best,”

Blue inclined her head and said, “Yeah. There were a lot of those, almost as many as the storage rooms scattered all over the place. From what I saw it’ll just be a matter of rushing around and opening as many doors as we can. Do you want to try and be sneaky about this or just rush around and ignore the Thymes?”

Kat raised an eyebrow at that, “Weren’t you the one who tried to convince me not to carry you around? If we’re really moving, even with the suppression bracelet, I’m still a lot faster then you are. I’m happy to carry you of course, but I didn’t expect you to let me once you were healed,”

Blue pursed her lips in thought, biting the lower one, “Hrngh... yeah but I think I’ll just need to deal with it,” said Blue with an odd air of determination. Kat just nodded along, because it really was no issue. Blue was light, as were most people these days, and Kat didn’t really see any issues with just carrying people around. Perhaps part of it could be blamed on wrangling orphans from a young age.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om