Chatting

[Will Wright]

Will finished writing in Dean's chart.
"You look tired." he smiled at her.
"I am, been working straight since 6:00 this morning." it was now four o'clock in the afternoon and Will was being as stubborn as ever. She refused to take anymore breaks after what happened the other day with Cass. So here she was checking on patients.
"Shouldn't you take a break in that case?" he looked at her like she had three eyes.
"No."
"Why not? If I were you I'd-"
"I have other patients to see. Excuse me." she took the charts and walked on down the ward. Her feet dragged but she could take it. She would endure sore feet to keep out of her own head....speaking of Heads...
"Hi Kira," she smiled sincerely as she walked over to her bed who was being atteneded to by another Carer, "I'll take over from here. Thanks," she handed over the charts to Will and walked away, "How've you been?"
She hoped she wasn't to bad being stuck in a hospital bed. Will remembered when she had been in one. It nearly drove her mental, "Getting enough attention and good care I hope." she filled out her chart and looked at the monitor over to Kira's right shoulder and noted the numbers down in her charts.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

At the end of her first week in the Hospital Wing Kira had asked one Carer attending to her about her injuries, and why they couldn’t just stitch them up with magic and send her on her way.
“Oh,” the girl- a redhead- had paused, the bandage she was unravelling sagging slightly in her hands as she did so, “didn’t they tell you?”
“No.”
They hadn’t told Kira a lot, in truth. They would have told her more under any normal circumstances, but as it was, they didn’t have the time. The Carers were under a lot of pressure; working long shifts that lasted for hours at a time. Sometimes teams of them swarmed around her, babbling incessantly and using medical terms she didn’t understand. At other times- like when she’d spoken with this girl- they dealt with her on a one-to-one or two-to-one basis. At first Kira, frustrated by the lack of anything she could do, snapped and snarled at them; but her grumpy attitude had soon faded when she realised she wouldn’t be set free for a while yet. After that, she’d reeled herself in and been a lot more co-operative with the Carers when they came to check her wounds, redress her bandages or to help her with her physiotherapy. When they had the time and she had the strength, she struck up conversation- in part, to make up for her foulness towards them during the first period of her stay; but also to satisfy her curiosity about everything that was happening around her and to her.
“Well,” the girl- whom Kira had marked out as a fifth year by her dark green scrubs- “this battle has brought… new injuries, I guess. Injuries like yours. We think the weapons they used were enchanted in some way.”
“Enchanted?” Kira’s eyebrows rose. “How?”
“It’s like…” the girl gestured vaguely at the window, and Kira’s head turned, catching a glimpse of the deadened, burned forest outside. “The Blueberg fire’s wreckage is proving difficult to clear because as it had a magical source it’s persistent. It keeps coming back. Well, your injuries are a bit like that. Wounds like yours were inflicted by weapons enhanced by magic… it makes them more… resistant to our Healing powers.”
Nervously, Kira’s hands- made a little stronger by the physiotherapy she’d begun to undergo- edged themselves along her bandages. “But then… how do they heal?”
“They have to heal naturally,” the girl had replied. “All we can really do is… help them along their course and make things as easy for you as possible.”
Then she’d been called away, and had not returned to Kira until several days later.
The ‘natural’ process was a little like hell.
Kira honestly wasn’t sure how non-magical people coped. The Carers were a Godsend. She wished a lot of the time that her days in the Hospital Wing were dull. They weren’t.
They were long and they hurt.
It had been more boring than anything when she was kept in isolation. Then only the ticking of the clock coupled with the coming and going of Carers and visitors punctuated the silence that was her endless companion. And her shadows had managed to find her and had begun to whisper again- but now, she had not the strength to beat them back. She’d been relieved when she’d been removed to a ward, because then at least she could sit up (propped by pillows) and watch the world move around her.
That relief quickly disappeared.
The Hospital Wing stank of blood, disinfectant and misery. The Carers worked tirelessly; the patients moved restlessly; and the visitors talked incessantly- stabbing wildly at normality with fake words, smiles and touches.
Most of Kira’s visitors were welcome, though. Arihant came, and his appearances spurred her on, and encouraged her efforts to do things for herself and get stronger. Jude came- usually with Jack- and they sat at her bedside and made jokes and laughed together. Their combined presence in the wing usually brightened the atmosphere. Even patients in other beds rolled over to listen, and smiled to hear the young Spy and Warrior’s talk. Ellie and Brian came and bickered like an old married couple- which was lovely, actually, because their conversation required no input from Kira. Sometimes she received letters from her family, and some of her visitors offered to let her dictate her replies to them. She found that more awkward than anything else, and again, her lack of physical strength frustrated her.
Lee never visited her.
And after their argument, she made no effort to revisit him.
Today had been a day much like every other. Except quieter. Finally, some of the students had begun to evacuate their beds- if not fully recovered, well enough to move out of the wing- and some of the Carers were beginning to leave and get some well-deserved rest.
The girl who’d answered Kira’s questions on her injuries- whose name Kira had learned to be Abigail- bounced up more cheerfully than usual and asked if she could recheck Kira’s wounds.
“Why so happy?” Kira asked her, smiling.
“My shift ends in five minutes,” Abigail sighed, her usually sharp nails peeling back the bandages to reveal Kira’s wounds, “then I get to go sleep.”
“Sleep does sound nice,” Kira laughed.
“Mhm,” Abigail nodded. “Okay… any changes? Any increase in pain, anything out of the ordinary… so on… so on… so on?”
“Nothing.”
“Thank goodness!” Abigail stopped, embarrassed. “That is… because you’re getting better-”
“It’s fine,” Kira laughed. “Really. Believe me, if I could leave, I’d be out of here as fast as I could.”
Abigail smiled warmly, her soft cheeks dimpling. “Everything looks fine.”
“Good,” Kira shifted slightly, allowing for the Carer to put the bandages back. “That’s good.”
Abigail picked up Kira’s chart, but as suddenly as she’d picked it up, another redheaded Carer arrived by Kira’s bedside.
“Hi, Kira,” Will’s smile was brilliant as she made her way over. “I’ll take over from here. Thanks.”
Abigail, evidently taking Will’s words to be her dismissal, squeaked ever so slightly in relief as she passed the chart over to her Head. She turned on her heel, giving Kira and a couple of her other patients the slightest of waves as she reached the door, and left the wing.
“How’ve you been? Getting enough attention and good care, I hope.”
Kira’s attention switched to Will, and she returned the Head Carer’s smile.
“I am,” she sighed. “Getting more than I need, probably. How are you?"

[Will Wright]

God.. Will winced on the inside. Everytime somebody asked her that it was like a very slow tearing on the inside. But she kept her smile on her face, her eyes tightened slightly.
"I'm alright. Tired but good," she filled in that pages and signed her name and put all the charts she had on the bedside table, "Getting tired of being fussed over?" she chuckled and sank back into the chair beside her bed.
Truth be told, Will didn't want a break. She couldn't stand to have another break like she had had with Cass. It was too much to handle. Looking at Kira she couldn't help but notice her normal colour had returned and she looked a little tired.
"Trying to keep everyone motivated and on their feet, y'know?" she sighed, "At least this is one of the more...brighter wards that you're on and possibly one of the more..active ones. I don't think anyone can really spend too muhc time in Ward 7 without their eardrums exploding not that it's the patients' fault or anything." shr rubbed her eyes and blinked a couple of times.
"So..have you been popular? How many people have been to see you?"

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira knew what she meant about Ward 7. Kira could hear the sounds coming at her every time the door opened. When she'd gone to see Lee, she'd had to pass through it. She hadn't wanted to, but the Carers attending her at the time had insisted on it. It was the quickest way to where Lee had been staying.
Kira took a closer look at Will as the Head Carer sat down beside her. Large, dark rings ran in circles around her eyes, and she looked worn and stressed. It was amazing that she could manage to smile like that, under the circumstances.
She felt a pang of respect for the Head Carer.
"You're doing wonderfully," Kira told her truthfully. "The Carers have been great. And I am a little tired of being fussed over," she admitted, "but... I know it's necessary."
She wished it wasn't, though. She hated being fussed over, under any circumstances.
"A lot have come to see me," she continued softly. "Jude... and Jack. Jack doesn't come as often, though. I think he's avoiding Olivia. Have you seen him? He was asking after you last time he was here."
In all honesty, he'd asked after Will more than he'd asked after Kira. Jude had told Kira in a chuckling whisper it was because now that the Carers were doing so much and earning so much respect, Jack was beginning to feel bad he'd once stated that all male Carers, with absolutely no exceptions, were utterly and totally gay.

[Will Wright]

"No." Will answered sharply. He'd asked for me? Jack asked for me? Why didn't he just try and find me.... she let out her breath and spoke in a kinder tone, "No, I haven't seen him, as for avoiding Olivia, I'd say you're right, and that he's right in doing so, at least for now. He was asking for me? I wonder why...."
She was thrilled. Her heartbeat increased. And her cheeks felt a little hotter. Her smile widened a bit more. And she figeted. It was unfair though. If he wanted to know how she was why didn't he just come look for her and ask her himself? Why did he ask Kira?
"Well it's good you've had visitors. I know what it's like being stuck in a bed and not being able to do anything. I would have come to visit you earlier but you know why I couldn't."
Seriously! Why doesn't he just come up here and aske me himself for crying out loud?! she was groaning inwardly. It was annoying and frustrating, having to know the person your mind was on nearly 24/7 was in the same place as you were and not being able to see them. Very annoying.
"Lee hasn't been to visit you yet?" she aske cautiously, "And how is Jude anyway?" she added.
Will knew that Kira and her cousin were not on the best of terms but she thought that Lee would have made the effort to at least come and see her. Try and talk things through. Maybe Will was just too much of a dreamer.
If she could help she would but she also didn't want to get in the middle of it. Relative rilvary is not something anyone wants to get in the middle of if they could help it.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira noted the usual flush to Will's cheeks, and the widening smile at the sound of Jack's name. These signs- the same old ones Kira had learned to recognise ever since Will had told her her... not so secret secret- were more pronounced than usual.
Though underneath them, just for a moment, Kira thought she detected something deeper.
Something different.
Then Will mentioned Lee's name aloud, and it flew from her mind in a flash of anger.
"No, Lee hasn't come."
She concentrated on Jude instead.
"Jude is... he seems... Jude-like. Like Jude always is. He's calm and... tired, I think. But calm. Which is more than I can say for most us. As to Jack... I think he was asking for you because he wanted to see how you were."
Despite what Jude told her, the two both knew Jack's intentions when he asked after Will were entirely honest- i.e. he really did care about his friends.

[Will Wright]

Soooooo glad I asked about Jude... Will thought quickly when Kira answered her in a less than friendly tone. And despite the fact Jude and Will never really saw eye-to-eye on anything she was glad to hear he was Jude-like. Jude-like was probably the best way to be. And the smile came back again without the blushing. He wanted to see how she was...but she sighed.
"That's good. I may have to hunt Jude down sometime...just to talk and hopefully not argue..." she looked to the ceiling and trailed off. She hoped they woudn't argue and then again the whole getting off was actually quite easy if Will wasn't avoiding.
Well avoiding wasn't the right term..she wasn't avoiding anyone. She was avoiding her thought train and that's why she refused to take breaks unless it was absolutely necessary e.g to use the toilet. She hadn't been down to the Dining Hall in quite a bit either and had only really been eating what was in the Staff Room but she didn't care.
"Next time you see him you can tell him him I'm alright." she replied. She couldn't/wouldn't take time off to find him. He could be anywhere in the school and despite what Nurse Gornray and Cass had said, they needed her there whether it was to stock up, file things away or changing dressings. More to the point she refused. Nurse Gornray had had a go at her but Will fought back and won the argument and ever since Nurse Gornray had left her alone.
Of course Jack knew Will would be in either two places: The Hospital Wing or Blueberg. She wasn't that difficult to find. But Kira was probably right. He was avoiding Olivia and vice-versa.
"So I reckon you'll be allowed out of here in about..oof and week or two? Not long now anyway which is good, right?" she smiled again and looked at her friend, "You know Paul? He's got everyone thinking he's gay, hahaha but I know he's not. He told me so and Carly who happens to be able to tell when someone is telling the truth not matter what. It's quite amusing to watch actually, a lot of banter, there's been a right number of guys looking at him now from all of the groups." she chuckled as she remembered one guy who had asked Paul out and Paul had turned to him and said that he was a devout lesbian. The guy had looked at him strangely gave an awkward laugh and turned tail and headed to his friends bed again clearly confused by what Paul had said.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

... a week or two?
Will was chatting about something else- someone random she didn't know- but Kira barely heard it. After Will's voice had tailed off, there was a long pause before Kira realised a response from her was required.
"That so?" she spoke vaguely, pushing a few limp locks of her hair out of her eyes.
God. Her hair. It felt greasy and dirty and she couldn't wash it without any help because she couldn't move her body to do it, nor could she use her powers, because she was so weak. She was humiliated.
Absolutely humiliated.
From Head of the Spies; one of the most respected leaders in the whole of Orchid Hill to...
... to this.
As though mocking her, a spasm of pain leaped up from one of her wounds, wickedly snaking its way across her chest. She gasped slightly, her hand jolting to the place where she'd felt the pain.
"Sorry," she said, looking at Will. "A week... or two? Really? I mean... that's so... long."
And she'd already been here long enough. She was tired of this place. She was tired of this battle. She was tired of being wounded.
And it was making her mad, too. Stir-crazy mad.

[Will Wright]

Will watched Kira as she leant forward her face scrunching up with pain and her hand flew to the source of the said pain. Will wish she could do something but it was too early to give her anymore meds. She'd only had her last dose about twenty minutes ago.
"Sorry," she apologized and Will looked at her cruiously and just as she was about to remark that apology Kira got there before her, "A week... or two? Really? I mean... that's so... long."
Will gave a shrug, "Why're you apologizing for being in pain, exactly? And I know it's not very..helpful but count yourself lucky. A lot of other people will be in here for a lot longer than that."
Even though she was talking to Kira her mind was still on the fact Jack had asked for her. She felt like bolting and finding him just to tell him how she was right now, but that would be rude. Besides, she wanted to talk to Kira, she hadn't spoken to her in a good long while. Which was pathetic really.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira frowned. She hadn't realised she'd actually apologised there, now. She'd just said, "Sorry," automatically. Why was that?
"I don't know," she admitted. "I guess... I don't know."
But when she thought about it... she did feel sorry. She felt sorry for a lot of reasons. She felt sorry for being here; sorry for herself; sorry that she wasn't allowed to help out... do something worthwhile...
She was sorry she couldn't be strong. Madeleine was always the strong Head. And how long Kira had admired her strength for... how hard she'd worked to make herself strong...
One lapse in concentration, and she'd lost all that strength.
Yes. She was sorry.
So sorry.
"You're right, though," Kira looked up. "People will be here a long time... I heard Sister Smith had arrived. Have you met her, yet?"

[Will Wright]

Ah, yes. Sister Angel Smith.
"No," Will gave a sad gin, "I haven't unfortunately but I hope I will get a chance fairly soon. Have you met the Ex-Head of the Spies yet? Or any of the others? Well...other two."
Will started to wonder what Sister Smith was like. She was legend in her days. Will wanted to learn new things from her. Wanted her advice, her opinion. Nurse Gornray had taught her an awful lot, sure, but it wasn't the same.
"I really do. I have a lot of questions. And I want to pass something by her too....but yeah, you should be out of here fairly soon."

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Katie Le Faye was her name.
Kira hadn't met her... but she'd heard a lot about her. Someone had said... a Carer maybe... wasn't it funny that the two Head Spies at Orchid- both ex and current- were Irish? It was funny. Perhaps the Irish were simply good at listening in on things they weren't supposed to listen to. Perhaps that was why so many of the Irish women Kira knew were such terrible gossips...
"I haven't met her, yet," Kira shook her head, "but I really... yeah I'm like you. I want to learn things... I really can't wait." She smiled slightly. "And from what I've heard, Professor Le Faye is really lovely..."
And Professor Le Faye was strong.
It was another reason to get stronger, faster. She wouldn't shame herself in front of one of the best Head Spies Orchid had ever known.

[Will Wright]

"I think all of them should be lovely. At least from what I've been hearing they are. I think there will be a meeting between us four and them which should be interesting and if not I think there should be. IT's great that they'va all come. There is so much we can all learn from them. I'm quite excited!" her smile kept on growing and growing as she spoke about them.
It was a very big deal after all.
To all of them.
And better yet...they could help with getting Madeleine back.
Well she hoped they would be able to.
"So..is there anything you would like to know...besides what we've already discussed?" Will didn't know if she would be able to answer her or if there was really anything new she could tell her but she could try her best...right?