Debrief

Miyori had been to see a doctor before, but never to a hospital. She hadn't even been born in one. 

It was large and smelled too clean, with an edge that burned her nose. The hallways were barely high enough to allow clearance over the human heads, and most of the people here were human-sized.
So was the bed her uncle was on. And so was the door the human doctor opened onto the hallway before turning to Noa. 

"You," she said. Noa lifted his head, expression still cloudy. "Can you stand up?" 

Instead of answering, Noa stood. 

"Good," the doctor said. "Come with me to the next room, please."

Miyori hovered, uncertain. 

The pixie doctor was still working over her uncle, who seemed to be pretty out of it. Her aunt Yuko's attention was fixed on him, and her father had one arm around her, comforting her wordlessly where they sat at her uncle's side. 

She caught her father's eye and gestured vaguely towards the door, mouth dry. 

Her father nodded and mouthed, Go.

Miyori darted through the door before the doctor shut it, and followed above Noa's head as he stepped into the adjacent room. 

The doctor pointed at the examination bed. "Take off your pants and sit."

Noa did so, wordless. 

Miyori winced a bit, looking away, but neither of them protested her being there. 

The doctor pulled a stethoscope from out of her jacket and reached under Noa's shirt, listening to his heartbeat, then his lungs. "Inhale. Now exhale. Good. One more time." 

Miyori perched on the back of the chair in the side of the room, watching. Next the doctor tested the reflexes in both Noa's legs, and then pulled a bracelet from her pocket, placing it on her wrist. She rested her hand on Noa's knee—the knee he'd cast a spell on.

"Hold still," she ordered. 

Whatever happened next had no visible signs. Noa might have been shivering, but Miyori couldn't quite tell. 

Eventually, the doctor sighed and let him go. She pulled the chair Miyori wasn't using away from the wall and sat down in it. "That was one hell of a stunt you pulled, kiddo. Do you realize that?" 

Noa's voice was hoarse when he spoke. "It worked, though. Right?" 

He didn't sound confident. He sounded scared, and a little lost. 

The doctor's jaw flexed. "It shouldn't have worked. You were very lucky. That man was very, very lucky. And more to the point—" She sighed. "You're in high school, right? You should know the basics of magic theory by now. Tell me what that spell was." 

Noa furrowed his brow. "…Analogy? The sort of spell that tells one thing to behave like another thing. That…that was what I was trying for, anyway." 

"That's what the spell's command was. I'm asking what variety it would fall under." 

Miyori knew. It was obvious. They were pixie sigils, but the spell had commanded—and Noa had drawn it in— 

"Blood?" The strangest thing was that he didn't sound sure about it. "But it wasn't—" 

"Yes." The doctor stared Noa down. "The written spellwork didn't include anything forbidden. But the components, the effect—either would have been enough. You did blood magic on another person. An unconsenting person, I might add." 

Noa glared. "He didn't stop me! And—and it helped." 

"You got lucky," the doctor snapped, and Miyori tried not to flinch. "That? That was illegal, son. If the people in that room decide they don't like what you did, if that man's luck runs out—they could press charges. I don't know how old you are, but for an adult that sort of thing could get you locked up for years if it were prosecuted." 

Miyori bit her lip. She wanted to yell that they wouldn't—that her family would never, ever do something like that to a person who'd been trying to help them. 

But maybe it was better if this doctor didn't know that. Maybe she was actually looking for an excuse to press charges herself. 

Noa took a deep breath. "Okay. Yes. It was dangerous. Maybe it was illegal, too. I just—I didn't know what else to do. Will he…what will happen now?"

The doctor leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs. Apparently the interrogation was over. "The spellwork for now is about stopping the bleeding—properly this time. Then, we'll need to do an assessment of the damage to determine next steps." 

"Will he be able to keep his leg?" Noa asked. "It was…bad." 

"That depends," the doctor said.

"On what?" 

"A few things. Luck. Level of care. The patient's own wishes." 

Noa frowned. "Why would he want to…?" 

The doctor sighed. "From what I saw? The damage was pretty extensive. If he doesn't get a full battery of treatments, with physical therapy and some rather tricky spellwork, he might wish he'd chosen to lose the leg. If he were human…but he isn't. Of course," and here she shot Miyori a look, "this something I'm going to have to discuss with them. Don't get me wrong, kid, but I get the feeling you're not exactly family. I've probably told you too much as it is." 

"Tell me one more thing," Noa said, voice low. "The full run of treatments. How much are they going to have to pay? Out of pocket, I mean." 

Miyori's heart twisted. She'd been trying not to think about that—telling herself that it wasn't important, that her uncle's life came first. And it did. 

But…Miyori hadn't been born in a hospital. Many pixies weren't. Even in this day and age, they avoided formal medical establishments where they could. There were a few reasons for that, but one of the biggest ones was cost for everything the government considered nonessential. And those costs added up fast. 

Yes, pixies had the same rights and benefits as any other sentient being, and that included health insurance. But pixies, for centuries, had gotten by on less. And the cost of things in the human world was simply beyond most of them most of the time. 

The doctor gave a number. An estimate. Miyori felt her heart sink.

That was so much. 

She didn't know exactly how long it would take to pay back an amount of money like that. But she knew it was more than her tuition. More than a pixie might make in a year. Her uncle had been trying to scale up his business, but even then, with a baby on the way….

Noa spoke up. 

"I want you to tell them that they can get financial support. That it'll all be covered." 

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "You want me to lie to them?" 

"Yes," Noa said. "Because I'll pay it. I can manage that much."