Chapter Six: Operation High Tail — Part 7

Even as Kia looks down his throat, checks his ears and eyes, and talks about her findings, Blake knows he’s in trouble. This woman is caring for him, but there’s a temper there, and Kia may be all business, but deep down he knows that she means to settle some business, and he isn’t quite certain he knows why. When she’s done, she looks more concerned than he expects, and she starts prepping some water for him. She’s seen everybody before, has records on their specific health and needs. Even Blake, who usually avoids doctors, had unwittingly been checked by Kia during their prior visit, under strict orders from Joe. Now Kia is stern in her appraisal.

“Your throat is raw, and it is being exasperated by whatever butcher had his way with you so many years ago.” Kia says this while stirring the water in the flask. “Gargle with this. Seven days, bed rest, gargle three times a day, thick soup and liquids only. I see you take one bite into bread, meat or anything solid, and I’ll kick your ass.”

Blake thinks for the shortest second that he might be safe, because Kia has turned her back for a moment to mix him a larger amount of the bitter, salty throat wash she’s prepared for him, sealing it in a jar and leaving it on the table. That hope is dashed with Kia’s next words.

“The Asian boy, who Teri and Jon will spend the next hour wrapping up and putting to rest, is my patient. I don’t think he fell down the stairs, or walked into a door, or did anything to deserve what you did to him.”

Blake’s look is defiant, and Kia interprets it precisely.

After a considerate pause, Kia clucks her tongue. “He will serve you better once he’s mended, and I will tell you when that is.” She says, “If you so much as muss his hair while he’s on my watch, I’ll cut your balls off.”

Blake’s eyes go wide, because Kia looks and sounds so terribly serious that he thinks she might be serious.

Kia laughs, after a moment, with just enough evil that Blake can’t tell if she is laughing at a joke, or because she’s just stepped out of a daydream where she is castrating him. “I’m not particularly fond of men.” She snaps. “One like you stole my wife from me twenty years ago. One is stealing my daughter from me even as I speak. Despite the pleasure an individual person’s suffering can cause, I cannot condone one man beating on something helpless, no matter the circumstances. You owe him an apology, and the sooner you get to where you can give it, the safer it will be for you.”

Blake isn’t entirely certain if he is being threatened or not, but it is clear that Kia sees things hidden to him. Blake makes a note of Kiyoshi, whose shoulder and ribs are being wrapped tight while he watches, and whose face still shows the signs of Blake’s rage. Blake hates himself, in a sudden, violent, unexpected way. He doesn’t know why, or how, or even what to do about it, he simply knows that he has made a serious mistake, and though he should be thinking about how to fix things with Kiyoshi, the first thought that comes to mind is Heath, and how small he must look in her eyes. Heath, who lay on her stomach, smiling in her sleep, because for the first time in days, the constant, excruciating pain is starting to ebb, must think him the worst sort of creature.

Whether fatigue or medicine is claiming him, Blake finds himself lying on his side, face to the curtain, crying quietly and bewailing his own stupidity, thinking he has lost everything and everyone dear to him, all because his rage consumed him. Kia makes a point to stomp off as she heads to check on Kiyoshi, and Blake, realizes absently, in some absent sort of way, like noticing that a mosquito is digging in, that his consciousness is slipping indiscernibly fast. He wanders through his small thoughts that turn slow and distorted, wondering at the darkness that, as he looks at himself in his mind, seems to polish away every detail, leaving him aware only of his continued breathing.

Jynx, is eating breakfast after a long night’s rest, enjoying a moment of groggy satisfaction, that feeling where the funk of sleep is still crowding the mind, and the body, having been relieved of sending anything but the most rudimentary sensory information, is just starting to focus on the taste of food that finds its way slowly into her mouth. So it is not unremarkable to the front of her mind that Jynx should find herself surprised by the appearance of an unexpected guest. At some point, Kia has found a seat opposite Jynx, and is drinking a cup of coffee that looks heavy on cream. Kia, Jynx has noticed, is unexpectedly nosy, from time to time, and Jynx writes it off as a necessary attitude for a doctor of her caliber. Another thing about her, Jynx has noticed, is that she never seems more or less than optimum in both mental and physical strength.

“Good Morning, Death Girl.” Kia says quietly, and Jynx mumbles a hello back between corn flakes. “So you adventure has been rough so far.”

“Guess so. I’m pretty sure it almost killed me, and you see what meeting with the Tokyo natives did to us.” Jynx says, smiling as she spears some bacon from her plate and viciously chewing it, savoring something she would never have eaten if not for the Storm.

Kia chuckles, “You’re all still going to finish your loop though, right?”

“Yes we are.” Jynx says. “Three universities, one backwoods settlement, not in that order, really, and then back home for the rest of the summer to beat out the drapes, restock the larders, and plan the next trip.”

“I know you and your other three are crew on ship. I have been told you are the force of decision in house and home. Am I right?” Kia asks.