Chapter Text
When Sophie wakes, it’s mid-morning. Sophie changes out of her nightclothes and packs up her duffle bag again. She quietly makes her way to the sitting room. When she gets close, she hears Fitz talking to someone, but she can’t make out the words. When she appears in the sitting room, Fitz appears to be alone though.
“Good morning, Doctor Foster.” Fitz says pleasantly.
“Please, call me Sophie. Hardly anyone calls me Doctor Foster unless it’s some sort of formal occasion.”
“Sure, Sophie.” Fitz gives me a half smile. “I’ve contacted Elwin, he’s a healer, and he should be here in less than half an hour. Just for a checkup, no clue how living in the Forbidden Cities may have affected you.” I nod. Fitz continues. “Afterwards, we’ll go to Atlantis to meet with Quinlin Sonden, he’s the Chief Mentalist, then to Mysterium to pick up anything you might need.” Fitz reaches over to a small side table and picks up two small packages. “These are for you, Councillor Kenric forwarded them here, to save you a trip to the treasury.” I open the packages. Inside one is a palm sized green cube and inside the other is a silver choker with an amber stone inset. I assume these are my Treasury Cube and Registry Pendent respectively.
“And, to go to Atlantis, you’ll need proper attire.” Fitz says, putting a strange emphasis on the words proper attire and turning his head to the left. I wonder what he means for half a second before a shorter woman appears nearby. My heart skips for a second in surprise. She’s obviously another Vacker, dark wavy hair pulled back from her face in an elaborate braid, perfectly even pale skin, and teal eyes. She’s wearing a deep red empire waisted dress with clean lines and elbow-length flowing sleeves, almost simple in silhouette, but the dress is meticulously embroidered with golden thread to form tiny curlicues that seem to swirl as she moves. She responds to Fitz with the most elegant scowl I’ve ever seen. He pretends not to notice.
“Hello, dearest sister. How nice of you to show yourself.” he says mildly.
She ignores him and instead focuses on me, looking me up and down. Her scowl deepens slightly and I feel a bit insulted.
“Are you the one everyone was in such circles for yesterday?” she asks, voice like chiming bells, accent crisp like her brother. I don’t quite know how to respond to that, but Fitz jumps in before I do.
“Be nice Biana. Sophie’s had a long day.”
“It’s a new day now, isn’t it?” she retorts. Fitz sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.
“All I need is for her to borrow a dress to go to Atlantis in,” he sighs. I startle a bit, and I think I understand the issue now.
“No, no, I’d never imagine pushing my welcome like that,” I turn to the woman, Biana, my voice probably sounding a bit anxious. “I assure you that it was never my intention to encroach upon your home like this. Beyond that, I am a guest, and guests do not assume such favours.” I turn back to Fitz. “Perhaps, Emissary Fitz Vacker, you could not request things from others in my name without consulting me first. It is my name after all.” That came out a bit more sharp than I intended. Oops.
After a brief pause, the woman, Biana, chuckles out a laugh, sounding like the vocal chord equivalent of a harp scale.
“I take it back, you can borrow a dress.” After another chuckle, she continues. “Anyone who can talk down my brother with such skill is someone to watch for. I’ll pick out something for you while you’re with Elwin.” With that, she turns on her heel and disappears again.
After another pause, I hear Fitz mutter “That went well,” sarcastically. I decide not to correct him, because it did, indeed, go much better than it very well might’ve.
After a bit, a single chime rings through the room.
“Ah, that’ll be Elwin.” Fitz says. He moves through the room and opens another door for me. I follow.
Fitz escorts me down to some sort of sun room. He says he’ll wait while I’m checked out by Elwin. I honestly can’t decide how I’m feeling. On one hand, an elven healer I can grill about medical techniques. On the other, I’ve always hated being the patient in a doctor's office. I pull open the door to the sun room. Inside are several tall potted trees and other plant life. The more interesting focal point of the room though, is a cot, a table, and an elf. The elf, Elwin I assume, turns as he hears the doors open. He smiles. He’s wearing a tunic covered in dinosaurs as well as thick glasses that make his eyes seem exceedingly large.
“Hello! Sophie Foster I presume?” he asks.
“Yes, that’s me.” I walk up to him and stick out my right hand in greeting. He hesitates for a second, but then grips it backwards and shakes it. Close enough I guess. He gestures to the cot, so I haul myself up and sit on it. He turns to the table on which rests an old timey looking medical bag and riffles through it.
“I’m afraid I’ve never experienced an elvish health examination, so I don’t really know what to expect.” I say.
“Oh, that’s no issue,” he says. He turns back to me and hands me a bottle containing a clear blue tinted liquid. It looks like the “health drinks” Forkle’s been giving me, just a slightly different bottle shape and this one has a label on the front. I don’t know if there are any health repercussions to ingesting two of these in a day, so I just set it down behind me. I’ll deal with it in a bit. Elwin continues.
“All I need you to do is lay down, and I’ll flash different colours of light around you and look at you through my glasses. It’ll show me different things based on what colour of light I use.” I readjust on the cot and lay down, tilting the bottle of youth under my hand so it stays hidden. Elwin snaps his fingers and a yellow ball of light appears above me. He nudges his glasses slightly before straightening up and clapping a hand to his forehead.
“Introductions! Sorry, I forgot. I guess I’m just used to people knowing me.” He adjusts his spectacles on his nose. “I’m Healer Elwin Heslege, but just Elwin is fine. Fun fact about me is that I have a pet banshee named Bullhorn.” I smile. Elwin reminds me a little of this one biology professor I had back when I was at SDCC, a bit scatterbrained, but good at teaching and making the material interesting.
“I’m Doctor Sophie Foster, but I guess you already knew that. Just Sophie is fine, that’s what almost everybody calls me, even most of the kids call me Doctor Sophie. Fun fact about me is that I love the beach.”
“You're a Doctor? That’s a sort of human healer, right?” Elwin asks as he restarts his examination.
“Yes. I’m a medical geneticist. Honestly, the thing I’ve been most excited for after learning about The Lost Cities is learning about any info on elven medical systems.”
“Oh, well, I can see how that would be interesting. I’m afraid I don’t know much about human healing, so I don’t know how it’s different or similar.”
That’s interesting. As much as I did not know elvish things before Forkle’s lessons, I suppose Elves wouldn’t know human things. Looking at that statement from another angle, though, I can’t tell if Elwin is underestimating or overestimating human medical advancements.
And here, my friends, is where I stopped. I am exceedingly unlikely to continue this in any way, shape, or form, but if you like the idea and want to continue or modify it, feel free, as long as you credit this story as the inspiration.