Chapter 10: Tussle

Damn, I literally just got out of the doctor’s office last night and now I’m lying here getting what feels like surgery. This lab smells of acetone, she must have wiped it down earlier. 

Boss prefers to sanitize her area herself because she doesn’t want castle staff sticking their noses where they don’t belong. Funny how she takes better care of her equipment than she does herself.

This laboratory is the closest thing I have to a childhood home; in my adolescence, I can remember often being scolded for placing my oily fingers on glass surfaces and tools. But now, one would think I’m a nurse with the speed I’m able to fetch an exact piece of equipment just from observing what Boss is working on.

Boss’ workspace is composed of four porcelain-dyed walls and a hollow glass triangular prism overhead. This allows for her to easily spot miscellaneous stains or shards should they escape her immediate sight. The glass above us can split if needed to release whatever dangerous gas Boss might conjure inside. Once the solstices come, one can almost see the constellations from the floor as she lays upon it. This room remains chilly to keep her tools sterile for longer. Topaz designs are along the left wall in the cabinet’s various bottles and containers; I find it in likeness to an antique shop. Along the back thinner wall, there are published research papers as well as human anatomy models. The right wall is home to the medical dress cabinet, masks, lab coats, goggles, hazmat suits, and the like are all folded neatly in its many drawers and shelves. 

It’s the center of the room, though, whose appearance I can never predict. This week it’s examining tables and last week it was gardening soils.

I don’t understand why the king gives her a bedroom when she’s in here most of the day. I don’t think I’ve even seen her sleep anywhere other than this lab.

Much to my distress, Boss tosses Phoenix into a large cage on one of the tables. He makes sure to get a bite in before she closes it.

“How long will this take? I’ve got places to be, people to see,” I inquire.

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“Your compliance and pain tolerance,” she states, gliding her stethoscope under my bandages.

Oh, goody. Like being dropped from a balcony and a roof yesterday wasn’t bad enough. She stabs me with a needle and claims she needs a blood sample. Bull, she’s got plenty of them from all my previous excursions.

“I’ve got a new job for you,” she starts after nearly blinding me with an LED medical pen.

“No can do, Boss. I’m heading out with Akechi either today or tomorrow.”

“Refer to him as His Highness, JJ,” she chastises me once again.

I make sure not to inform her that the High Priest is coming too, lest she bombards me with questions.

“You two are going into town?”

I don’t like lying to Boss, but there’s no way she’d let me go to the Northern Queendom with a prince, no guards, and my injuries if she knew what I did.

“Yeah, I don’t know when we’re coming back, though, so don't blow up my communicator. It may be a couple of days,” I mislead. 

I need to see if I can deactivate the tracker in that device; if not, it’s no biggie, it’s not like she can do much of anything other than spamming me if I’m in another country.

She smirks at the implication.

“How mysterious. You shouldn’t lead boys on, JJ. You’ll make him cry if you don’t commit,” She warns.

I roll my eyes. What is she talking about? Akechi would cry if I’m too quiet around him. I wonder how he will be a stern king if he’s so quick to tears because he thinks he’s not pleasing the people around him.

Boss dips a pipette in the sample tube she just drew my blood into. Steadily raising it from the tube, she hovers the dropper over a microscope slide, careful not to squeeze the knob as she lets a drop of my blood fall onto the slide. Boss then returns to her desk next to the left wall cabinet, removing the slide she was examining before and replacing it with the new slide. She doesn’t talk for the next several minutes as she observes my cells. It pisses me off that she drew all that blood for one drop to look at.

She suddenly scoots her wheelie chair back to my side, offering me a blank slide.

“Cry on it,” she commands.

I blink at her, dumbfounded.

“I need some eye cells to compare with the bird’s. You want to see through his eyes, don’t you? Or if you’d prefer, I can stick a needle into your eyeball and draw blood,” she elaborates.

I find myself leaning over the slide and trying to think about tragedies. 

Homeless kids. Homeless sick kids. Dead kids. Genocide. Yeah, nothing. Boss stands off to my side, arms crossed. Give me a minute, damn you. This is harder than it looks. I end up using one hand to pry open my eyelids and the other to fan my eyeball. Dry eyes, don’t fail me. Sure enough, my vision starts to blur then a single tear falls onto the slide. I hand it back to her arrogantly and she snatches it before sitting back at the microscope. 

Ten minutes pass and my stomach growls. Oh yeah, I haven’t eaten since the ball.

“Go. I should have a solution by the time you finish filling your belly. Leave the bird,” she says, focusing on my tear.

I slide off the table and rewrap my bandages. I can already tell Phoe’s upset about me leaving him here. His entire body is turned away from me when I approach his cage.

“I’ll bring you some crackers back soon, bud,” I promise as I turn to leave.

The halls of the palace are crowded due to last night’s noble affair. I bow at the few queens and princesses who pass me. 

Opposite to the norm, though, I find that most of the nobles are avoiding me. I guess they don’t know that me and Mika are on good terms now. 

Fine by me. 

I manage to eventually find Akechi on the way to his quarters. I prefer eating with him in these sorts of situations because, one, I know he won’t bug me as much as the nobility and, two, he has access to the best cuisine. Usually, I have to beg the kitchen staff to make me something or I’m left with fending for myself. But they probably won’t let me cook again seeing as I burned toast and had the dining hall smelling of charcoal when I was younger. Akechi’s talking with some countesses when I interrupt.

“I’m hungry,” I blurt.

He nods, ordering the nearby servants to go get sandwiches, cookies, tea-

“And crackers! For Phoenix,” I smile, glad I remembered.

“And crackers. For Phoenix,” he repeats, “the sweet ones.”

He wraps up talking to the countesses who can’t seem to get away from me fast enough and gestures towards his room. 

The carpet is patterned with beige lily flower symbols amidst a verdant background. There is a multitude of trinkets from Akechi’s travels scattered across his furniture. The sun reflects perfectly off the tea table next to the left window as if to spite me when I temporarily enter the glare’s range.

I barely have time to sit down before the kitchen workers bust into the room with my food. I try to ignore their shuffling and the clanking of cutlery as I lift the lid off the sandwich tray.

I’m in the midst of stuffing my face when Akechi works up the nerve to speak up.

“Teach me how to fight,” he proposes.

I choke on some ham.