I dropped my bags next to the shoe rack when the door clicked behind us. A sigh escaped me as I absorbed the gentle light of the setting sun in the courtyard. This had to be one of the more beautiful times of day to see the apartment.
My room was on the third floor of the north end of the old factory. We kept guest rooms up on that floor for when we had Caeruleum visitors come in. Rescues didn’t often get lodged in the factory until they had been vetted. Maria Mater had made an exception for me with Sanctus. Seeing…
“I heard Siren Voice so far out, I had to come investigate, Bet-tah,” Leviathan chuckled to itself. “And here I find you hiding a Kraken child. Who’s do you have? Cuttle? Lineolata, Mestus? Typica’s, mayhaps?”
“A little Simil for a big Simil?” I posited to the Mad Hatter. “Benefit the system, and the system benefits you.” He plucked at a grape. It slipped past his fork to roll to the other side of his plate. Baffled disappointment creased his features.
Dressed back into my trench, I directed Sanctus to the door. “Thanks, Medicus. I’ll drop by in the morning,” I said over my shoulder as I let us out of the clinic.
The pub was a quiet, warm affair, more comfortable than I would have assumed on first passing the place. Rowan slid into a chair near to a smokeless fireplace and motioned me to the opposing overstuffed monstrosity masquerading as something akin to a loveseat.
“Medicus! Got your man here,” I greeted as we entered the secondary building on our compound. It had been a concrete block office at some point in it’s past. Now it proved to be our hospital and infirmary. Two patients at a time was it’s capacity. If we had an all out war and enough…