They were not meant to be arrogant. I was merely stating a fact. Merely telling her that if she needed me, I had at least some of the skills to help her.
Telling her, I supposed, that in a sense…
She was not alone.
“Of course, I defer completely to your expertise in medical matters,” I said. My voice sounded gruff and awkward to my own ears.
She waved away my words. “You probably have much more knowledge of Zabrian medical and anatomical realities than I do. That’s what I plan to study while I’m here when I’m not treating the human women. I’ll need to learn as much as I can about Zabrian health to prepare for the first little Zabrian-human babies that come our way! You can help me with that.”
She began walking slowly forward again. I remained at her side, my claws twitching with anticipation that she might fall and I would need to catch her. My tail was tense on its hook, primed and ready to snap around her waist and haul her to me.
“I am at your service with whatever you should require,” I replied. “I am no true doctor. Not like you. But I do have some small amount of education and experience from my time in the military. And my time here, of course.”
“Have to patch up your cowboy convicts now and then?” she said, still smiling.
“Not so much now that they are adults and are mostly sensible enough to clean and bandage their own wounds,” I told her as we walked. “Though I did perform Rivven’s amputation. He was but a child then.”
The smile vanished. Like the sun swallowed by clouds.
“You performed hiswhat?”
I was saved from elaborating by the appearance of Rivven himself at the saloon’s door ahead. He leaned back into the saloon, as if speaking to someone unseen. A moment later, he stepped outside, followed closely by Shiloh who was pulling on her jacket as she came. They stepped around the box that Warden Tenn and Tasha had already brought over on the slicer. I heard the slicer now, on its way back for the next one.
I stood aside while Dr. Ortiz introduced herself to Shiloh and Rivven, hugging them both. She seemed so happy just to meet them, smiling once more and looking thoughtfully into their faces as they spoke. As if at this moment, they were the most important people – theonlypeople – in her world.
As I was no longer currently the focus of that deep, absorbed attention, I studied her in silence from a few paces away. Her hair was long and wavy, nearly as dark as mine at the roots but brightening into a creamy yellow-ish white colour at the ends. Her body was larger than Shiloh’s in some ways but smaller in others. Even with the bizarre heels of her boots, she was not as tall as Rivven’s wife. But Dr. Ortiz was more generously shaped, something obvious even in her coat. She had much wider hips, larger human breasts, and a protruding softness in the areaof her abdomen. For one horrendously unexpected moment, I could not stop imagining placing my hands there – right on that tender swell of her stomach – while I stationed myself behind her.
Stationed myself behind her to dowhat?
Turning abruptly from the others, I strode back to the wagon loaded with Dr. Ortiz’s belongings. I’d already hooked up my two shuldu. Now, I led them forward. They strained into motion, the wagon’s wheels sucking awkwardly for a moment in the freezing mud. It was good that we’d be splitting this load in half. My shuldu were strong beasts, but even they would struggle to get the wagon back to my station like this, especially with the ground in its current state.
As it was, they made it to Rivven’s saloon, at least, and I began to unload the boxes, carrying them two at a time into the building where the other four were now located. Warden Tenn and Tasha had no doubt seen me getting the wagon over here and had dismounted from his slicer after their last trip. Currently, they were gazing up at a painting that Rivven had mounted on the wall, a piece completed by Shiloh. It was a scene from nearby – a pond, frozen in winter, sunlight and shadows striping the snow. Two figures were skating on the pond – a miniature Rivven and Shiloh.
“That is stunning,” Dr. Ortiz was saying. She clasped her hands together in front of her chest. “You are so talented! Do you take commissions?” She unclasped her hands from each other and spread them wide, like she was framing something in her mind and needed her arms to do it. “I would love to have a piece by you on my own wall!”
“Perhaps once that wall is built,” I grunted, bending to lower the two large boxes to the floor.
Dr. Ortiz dropped her arms, and turned to me. “Yeah, these guys were just telling me a bit more about the delays. I didn’t realize it had been so drastic!”
“You will lodge at the warden’s station,” I said. A little odd, how I’d called it “the warden’s station” instead of “my station” or “my home.” I chose not to analyse this. “It is not far from here.”
“Yeah, they were telling me,” she replied. “And that’s where you live?”
“Yes,” I confirmed. “I have a spare bedroom. Tasha has stayed there once before.”
“Before she was married,” Warden Tenn grumbled, which made his wife laugh.
“If I remember correctly,” Tasha said, “you set your tent up right beneath the window for the entire night!” Still chuckling, Tasha added, “It’s nice, Lualhati. You’ll be comfortable. It’s very, er, clean.”
“Of course it is clean,” I said. What an odd comment to make.
“Sounds fine for the time being,” Dr. Ortiz said easily. She did not seem at all concerned about the late hospital or the changes in plans. “We’ll be roomies!”
“Yes, the house is roomy enough, since there are two bedrooms,” I agreed. Although, I was now having some private doubts on that score, considering the many, many boxes of personal belongings she’d brought with her. I made a mental note to add an extra storage closet or two onto the hospital for her.
“Anyway, we’ll talk more later,” Dr. Ortiz said to Shiloh. “I’m sure your art takes a lot of work! Maybe we could time it so a piece is ready by the time the hospital is done, so I can hang it up there! But for now, I’m going to go help this guy.”
“This guy” apparently was me. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder towards my face.
