From Ashes and Dust (Book One)

Chapter 25.1

The walk to the medical bay was quiet. Vatra fiddled with tape still stuck to her knuckles, which were already purpled and swollen. She winced as she scraped her fingernail along the adhesive.

"You should have let me help you when you felt Ares slipping away," Hisato said, breaking the silence.

Vatra snapped her head up and sucked her teeth. "I knew you weren't done critiquing our fight." She stuck her tongue out at Hisato before returning back to her tedious, and painful, task.

"You made mistakes, Vatra," Hisato said. "You could have lost us the fight."

"I had it handled. We worked together, didn't we?"

Hisato didn't answer.

"Didn't we?" Vatra pushed. She glanced back up at Hisato with a frown.

"I just think we should have been together from the start. You're too hot-headed-" Hisato swallowed his words before they even left his lips. His eyes widened and he hesitated in his steps.

Vatra's injured fist clenched tightly, shattered bones audibly crunching from the force. "You shouldn't say something you don't mean," she said through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry," Hisato rushed out his words. "I had to say my peace before we met with Ares. I told you I don't like getting into fights, and it didn't sit well with me that we weren't on the same page the entire time."

The rage subsided from Vatra's veins. She exhaled the breath clenching the muscles in her shoulders. "You're too much of a perfectionist, Hisato. Fights don't always go your way. They're messy and bloody, and sometimes even the best of us let our emotions take control. You should know this after all your years fighting."

"Are you claiming to be one of the best fighters?" Hisato's eyebrow shot up. He'd relaxed once Vatra had settled down again.

"Of course," Vatra retorted. "And you are, too. We just kicked the god of war's ass, don't you remember? On the same page or not, we certainly met up for the story's conclusion."

Both of them chuckled. They'd been through too much together to allow heated emotions, stoked by pain and adrenaline, to divide them. Vatra looped her uninjured arm through Hisato's as both of them navigated the last turns of Tau Honnor's inner hallways to the medical bay.

The medical bay was a separate entity from the station's clinic. While the clinic was open for all visitors and patrons to the station, the medical bay was only for special personnel, including participants in the fights. Their destination was inconspicuous and marked only by a white cross splashed in paint across a metal door.

They'd passed only a few others in the halls of Tau Honnor, mainly guards taking short cuts throughout the different districts. Outside the clinic, it was even emptier. Vatra looked at Hisato once they stopped. She glanced back at the white cross and scrutinized the dried bits of paint that'd strayed from the shape.

Hisato stepped past her and pushed the door open. The smell of alcohol and a faint scent of citrus assaulted Vatra. She scrunched her nose as she followed Hisato through the door, allowing it to swing closed behind her.

Sweeping a glance around the room, Vatra noted a modest waiting room with four chairs. They were empty. Sterile and boring gray, the furniture was anything but inviting. There wasn't even a magazine to thumb through. Vatra furrowed her brows and shuffled her steps along to the check-in desk.

A woman sat behind the plain, wooden desk. She was human, frail and sickly looking herself. Maroon scrubs loosely fell around her wrists as she typed away at the keyboard projected from the desk's surface. The woman's attention flickered away from the computer screen in front of her momentarily when Vatra approached.

Vatra noted an IV stand behind the woman, and a line peeping out of the collar of her scrubs. Dark green liquid, almost black in color, slowly dripped through the line.

Emerald Crow, in Tau Honnor? I didn't expect them to have that kind of contraband here, Vatra thought.

She must have shown her surprise on her face, as the woman in front of her leaned forward and tapped a finger on the desk.

"This isn't the place for tourists, dear. What are you two here for?" the woman asked. She darted her gaze between Vatra and Hisato, the latter walking up to the desk at the mention of his name.

"I injured my arm in the fight," Vatra said. She held her arm up as if it were an afterthought, her attention still on the bag behind the woman. "We fought for Lorenzo."

"Hmm," the woman grunted out. She sat back in her chair and typed something into her computer. "Are you injured, too?" she questioned Hisato.

"No," he replied.

The woman typed away noiselessly, her fingers pressing down on blue keys that disappeared and reappeared beneath her fingertips.

"I take it you know what Emerald Crow is," the woman said, filling the silence with a statement that caught both Vatra and Hisato by surprise. "Most people would just think I'm a sickly woman getting medication that doesn't look very nice."

"We know about the experiments done to make it," Hisato said. The surprised look on his face darkened into one of distrust. "Emerald Crow is a concoction of drugs that has a binding property taken from the spinal fluid of a god or supernatural being. It's torture for a few moments to feel like you're invincible."

The woman chuckled and finished typing before she slowly stood to her feet. "Oh, don't worry. Those who all fell for the allure of Emerald Crow are certainly paying their dues now."

Vatra noted how truly broken the woman in front of her looked. She probably wasn't much older than thirty, but her features had withered and wrinkled beyond her years. Whatever spark once ignited in her green eyes was now dull and fading over.

"What's your name?" Vatra asked.

"Julia," the woman replied. "Let me take you both back. I have a room open, and someone will be able to tend to your injury shortly. Whatever suspicions you have about seeing this Emerald Crow, please know that we don't deal with blackmarket drugs in Tau Honnor. Whatever supplies we have here is by donation only, and for select recipients."

Julia walked from behind the desk, tugging along the IV stand behind her. She motioned for Hisato and Vatra to follow her.

"Donations?" Vatra inquired. "You seriously have gods lining up to donate their spinal fluid around here?"

"We offer hefty payments or other forms of trade for the donation. The god or supernatural being must be a willing donor, of course," Julia explained.

She walked at a snail's pace ahead of them, but Vatra didn't mind. The pain in her hand was numb at that point, and she was more interested in the story being told to them.

"There must be quite a few on Tau Honnor, then," Hisato said. "More than we thought there were," he added, turning his attention to Vatra.

Nodding, Vatra leaned in to Julia. "I don't suppose you could divulge some of these identities to us?"

Julia smiled softly. "I saw the record of the fight to confirm you were Lorenzo's fighters. It wouldn't be a complete breach in confidentiality to say you must have known who you were fighting against, dear. But, I can't say beyond that. Everyone else on Tau Honnor has asked for anonymity." 

I wonder if they know they're being hunted, Vatra thought. She could tell Julia wasn't going to break her code of ethics, so she didn't pry any further.