A new chance to teach. It had been a while since Kenneth had had such an opportunity, and fondly, he remembered Aloko, who often asked questions with such interest, and Kica, who always tried her best.

  Truly, he was blessed to have them as students, both with their patience and curiosity.

  “You useless healer! If I have to be here, at least make it exciting, and don’t ask me a thousand dumb questions!”

  His current and only student, Nokset, him he wasn’t as lucky to have.

  “I only asked you what you knew about the internal structure of yourself and your species,” Kenneth said, suppressing a sigh.

  “I know about the inside of men and women. They are warm, wet, and soft,” Nokset said petulantly.

  “So no more than the average person got it, then I suggest you pay attention and do feel welcome to come closer; it won’t bite,” Kenneth said, gesturing to the dead carcass on the table he’d procured from the kitchen.

  Crossing his arms and leaning back on his chair in the back of the room, Nokset let out a snarky hiss, “I‘ve already seen inside of that, you dumb little thing.”

  “Dissection has a bit more finesse than evisceration. Come closer, and you can see the difference,” he dryly suggested.

  Ever so noticeably, Nokset's scales lightened as he slammed his feet up on the table, “I may have to be here, but I don’t have to learn anything from you. I heal fine and better than you.”

  “Yes, your clientele clearly shows that,” he replied sarcastically. “If you at least will listen to what I have to say, I’ll clean your ears.”

  He stared at Kenneth with a burning intensity, “I’d sooner cut off my own tail and shove it up my hole so far the only way to get it out is by reaching down my throat!”

  “You got creativity, I’ll give you that,” Kenneth replied, dropping all pretenses of civil discussion. “Listen, Mr. Grabby, I would have preferred other students besides you, but for better or for worse, we are going to be spending some time together, and whether you will admit it or not, I have things I can teach you to make you a better healer.”

  “I healed everyone fine before you came; why would I change because of that?!” He hissed.

  “Do you like healing people?” Kenneth asked. “And of course, I don’t mean the grabby stuff or the power tribbing, but the very act of helping people, seeing them recovered knowing you did that?”

  He sat back down. “I did, then I learned what I’m worth to people and took full advantage.”

  ‘That didn’t get me very far,’ Kenneth internally sighed. “Alright, guess I’ll be doing this. After each class, I’ll be asking you questions about stuff I’ve gone through, and you gotta answer.

  “I’ll be sure to let Nokuji know about your progress, and you can see if she’s going to have the same tone as me.”

  Despite diligently glaring daggers at him while his scales brightened, Nokset appeared to at least put in the minimum effort needed as he got up from his seat and walked up to the front of the class.

  “Let’s begin then,” Kenneth said with some relief as he took a scalpel beside the carcass and opened it up, sawing off the ribcage to reveal the organs inside.

  While the structure was fairly different from either Nok’s or Aki’s, it would help get the point across at the least.

  “Now, Nokset, are there any organs you recognize or know the name of?” Kenneth asked him.

  Giving a fairly disinterested glance, he let out a hiss, “hearts, lung, stomach, intestines, and everything else I like at breakfast.”

  “You know the names, good. Do you know what each one does and how they do it?”

  “No healer should need to.”

  “Well, I do, and you are about to,” Kenneth said as he began a detailed explanation of each internal organ, their function as a part of the whole, and so on and on. Real year 1 M.E.D. stuff.

  Nearing the end of explaining the function of the kidneys, ensuring to get the point across that the Nok internal structure is different and only using the carcass as a placeholder, Nokset looked about ready to drop.

  It had probably barely been an hour, but at the very least, he was paying some attention. “Alright, why don’t we take a break? You can get some fresh air or water. Just be sure to be back after.”

  “How long will you keep me here listening to this pain,” he groaned.

  “Oh, don’t be mellow dramatic. I won’t keep you forever; I need to have this back before dinner. All that's going to happen today is just an overview of the body, and since the best method of learning is by doing, I’ll have you stitch this one close,” Kenneth explained.

  “I have to do something?!” Nokset exclaimed, storming out and not even trying to hide his cursing, using so many words that didn’t translate all that well.

  With a bit of silence, Kenneth turned to Kolu. He was sitting in the corner, his eyes keenly watching his surroundings unblinkingly.

  “Your eyes will get dry if you don’t blink,” Kenneth said, sitting down beside him. “Do you want some water too, maybe some fresh air? Can’t blame you if you do. It’s so stuffy in here.”

  “…”

  “How about a game of Tic-Tac-Toe? I think I wanna try and break my losing streak to you.”

  “…”

  “…Kolu, you know I’m here for you if you ever need to talk about anything, no matter what, right?”

  “…yes,” he whispered, glaring at Split.

  Suppressing a sigh, Kenneth stood up and walked into the other room. A great part about this building was that it was not only a bit breezier but also doubled as a laboratory for his cultivation of penicillin. The other room, unfortunately, didn’t have the same cool climate, but it was perfect for growing mold because of how humid it was.

  It was still a long way off from producing any results. All the mold he’d gathered had been labeled, and then he had simply isolated some individual microbes by placing them into the water and stirring it a little. Using a pipette, she took one millimeter and then diluted that millimeter nine times in vials filled with sterile water, of course using a new pipette every time.

  Then came the next step: using a new petri dish with a nutrient solution solidified using agar. He just got that fresh out of the bag, and then he spread the most diluted vials into it. It took god knows how long, but eventually, everything had been set up and labeled.

  Now, all he could do was simply note everything down and wait and hope.

  The chances of him having found a mold that produced penicillin or at least something similar were probably close to zero, but he knew what he was looking for, so hopefully, it was only a matter of time.

  Partway through his documentation, he could hear Nokset returning, so he finished up and walked out to meet him.

  “So, feeling recharged and ready to go on?” Kenneth asked him, the glare in his eyes his response.

  With no need for him to say it out loud, he went on going over the remaining organs, bringing the overview to an end.

  “All right, that is enough boring talk now to something more exciting,” Kenneth said, pulling some thread and a needle from his bag. “Needlework. We are going to close it up.”

  “Im a healer, not some old pleabo seamstress!” Nokset protested. “If I need to close a wound, I heal it!”

  “Yes, until you fall over. Needle and thread may take time and be seen as useless in comparison, but it is not only for people who can’t heal, but those who can,” Kenneth explained as he threaded the end of the needle. “Healing a wound that’s already pulled together is less taxing.

  “And it was what allowed me and another healer to successfully reattach the arm of an outpost commander in record time and with relatively minor damage, all things considered.”

  Nokset silently stared daggers at him with more fury, though it didn’t matter whether he liked it or not; he was going to learn.

  So after placing the ribcage back and folding the flesh back on top of it, he began sewing and tying stitches, “I recommend watching.”

  “I am,” Nokset growled.

  “You are seeing, but I doubt you are watching; why don’t you come closer and see how I do it? You will be doing it yourself in a minute. And today's lesson won’t be over before you do it, and I’m satisfied,” He told him as he picked up a forceps and tweezer.

  Whether it was to just get him to shut up or the idea he might spend all day working, Nokset walked up to the other side of the table.

  “Okay, now notice I’m holding the needle about two-thirds along it, and I poke it through both sides of the flesh one side at a time. This stitching technique is basic and is called the simple interrupted stitch; the tricky part is just the end and beginning, so remember to be mindful of spacing. You don’t want to go too far apart or too close together,” Kenneth explained, showing him multiple times how to tie the knots using overhand and underhand throws and how to and at which angle he should poke the needle through the flesh. “Alright now, give it a try.”

  He handed Nokset the tools, but he looked far from thrilled; they seemed alien to him even though the forceps holes were made with Nok finger sizes in mind.

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  But at least he gave it a try.

  “There I did it!” Nokset angrily said.

  All he could see were mistakes, spacing, knots not probably tied, and the thread itself slowly coming loose, “If you are satisfied, continue.”

  Little by little, Nokset stitched his way up the animal, but the more he worked, the angrier he got; the work, as bad as it was, became sloppy on top of that all the way to the end.

  “There I did it!” He shouted, slamming the tools onto the table and stomping out.

  “Are you really satisfied with that?” Kenneth asked him with enough strength in his voice to make him stop. “There is nothing wrong with bad work; you are just starting out, after all, but making it slobby just to get out here faster is unacceptable. If that were a real person, they’d be dead.”

  “I did what you told me to!” He shouted, storming out.

  Wanting to call it quits today himself, Kenneth audibly sighed, knowing he couldn’t, “Split, would you please bring him back.”

  As much as he disliked him, he knew what they could achieve and possibly quite more if they managed to work together.

  For that reason alone, Kenneth had to show Nokset that he couldn’t do what he wanted when he wanted. At least not anymore when in regards to learning to heal.

  “Let me go!” Nokset shouted over and over as Split carried him back inside over her shoulder, placing him in front of the carcass. Once down, he tried to leave but was stopped each and every time by Split.

  “You are more than welcome to leave once you show me you can at least take this seriously,” Kenneth said firmly over his shouting.

  Nokset only glared daggers at Kenneth but said nothing as he angrily took the tools off the table and began redoing his work. Funnily enough, his sloppy work seemed better than his angry work.

  “I’ve seen you can do it better than that. I’ll just have you repeat it until you can do it just as good or better than in the beginning,” Kenneth told him in an indifferent tone of voice. “Take your time and try to do it like I showed you. If you need to, you can step away and--”

  “Shut your snout!” Nokset snapped, not hearing a word of what he’d said.

  Sighing, he replied, “I can do this all day, you know, I don’t have any place to be.”

  With long, drawn-out hisses that sounded like utter frustration and anger, Nokset did his stitching again and again, storming out a couple more times or at least trying to before Split yanked him back.

  Eventually, she grew so annoyed by it that she just ended up guarding the exit. At that point, unless he wanted to pick a fight, Nokset wasn't leaving until he did his work properly.

  Though that was apparently asking a lot as he kept at it for a long while longer with no sign, or more so, willingness to improve. It seemed like all of them would be in for a long day, but then suddenly, a couple of guards arrived.

  Split was quick to move as they walked inside.

  “Healer, the guard commander says he wants a word,” One of them relayed.

  Looking like he’d just been told his prison sentence had been cut short, Nokset dropped the tools in his hand and turned to face the guards, “Finally! Take me to that--”

  “Not you, the other healer,” The guard interrupted, gesturing to Kenneth.

  “I see. Kolu, it’s time to leave. I have to meet with someone,” Kenneth said as he came to him, partly hiding behind his leg.

  As he walked, he glanced over at Split. Her gaze, as usual, remained the same, but there was something underneath. As she turned to follow out the door, she was stopped.

  “The guard commander told us to only bring the little healer and has ordered you to remain here,” the guard told her.

  She said not a word of resistance following the order.

  “Oh, before I forget,” Kenneth said as he reached into his bag and pulled out an Ubbi. Unlike the one before, this one was dead.

  ‘I pictured it like the last one. Interesting, time seems to pass where ever they are.’

  It was only a momentary stop before he and Kolu left.

  As they did, Nokset could be heard yelling as he no doubt was being forced to stay by Split. The sounds quickly drowned out and faded away the further away they walked, coming out to the street and up the wall.

  Before, he’d only briefly been up here and more so occupied with the sight below than the one around him. The wall itself was far from simple giant lumps of stone, but as Noksuza had mentioned, one of internal gears and machinery.

  Some of it did poke out at the top with a pair of contraptions, looking not too overly advanced in essence, only a simple rotating bucket system, like a ski lift, using gears and chains to undoubtedly get water from below to then pour down into a sloped waterway leading to the Golden Gate.

  Though there were levers and what looked like capstans like those you’d see on a ship up top. However, none of them were on the mechanism itself. The levers were beside the waterways, and the capstans were to the side, close to the edges of the wall.

  ‘How does this all work?’ Kenneth wondered, the gears in his mind turning to figure it out. The water bucket system is only in two places, but the capstans are multiples all around the wall. It would be safe to assume they are independent of one another. But how does the bucket system work? Do they just pull back and forth on the levers similarly to a pump trolley?

  ‘No, if that was the case, it’d make more sense to put cranks on the bucket system and just have two people spin it around. And back then, when I first arrived, and everyone came up, there wasn't a pause in the tempo at which the water was being filled, not once. That means it has to be consistent. A water wheel would make the most sense, and the wall would certainly be big enough to store one. Perhaps the levers are just for lowering or raising the gates to the waterways below… or releasing some sort of mechanism.

  ‘Yes! That has to be it; otherwise, there should be more levers around, but instead, there are capstans two on each side of the wall, which means it has to be those that open the waterway gates—‘

  “The healer, as you asked, Commander,” one of the guards said, snapping Kenneth out of his thoughts.

  Without half realizing it, they’d walked to the corner of the wall where, at the very tip, Noksafgro stood with his back turned, surrounded by guards.

  “You can all leave us,” Noksafgro said in a calm tone, though even though he was their commander, all of the guards looked at each other questioningly until he turned and looked at the closest guard. “None of you has to worry. It’s clear right now. I think it’ll last.”

  ‘Clear?’ Kenneth repeated in his head as he glanced upward. ‘It’s cloudy. Maybe it’s going to rain.’

  Yet, with some slight hesitation, the guards took their leave, leaving Kenneth and Kolu alone with Him. Having learned he was Split's biological brother had put him at some ease, but he was still wary of him.

  Kenneth could still remember their first encounter and how hot-tempered he was. For that reason, he kept Kolu close and one hand down his pocket to a few medical tools, grasping the sharpest one in particular.

  After the entire disaster that was his attempt at forging and very risky surgery, from now on, he made sure to always have emergency tools at hand.

  “You can come closer, you know,” Noksafgro said.

  “No thanks. I’m afraid of heights,” Kenneth replied.

  “You are weary of me. It is understandable. I haven’t shown you much of me besides anger,” Noksafgro said with almost a slight chuckling hiss as the tip of his tail traced along the ground. “I’m sorry I chose to attack, but I’m not sorry for my reasons for doing so.”

  ‘Saving someone’s sister can change someone’s tune rather quickly,’ Kenneth thought. “I see.”

  Noksafgro placed both hands on the stone railing. “She told me the truth of what happened. Everything you did for her out—“

  “If you know! Why haven’t you told Nokuji about it and had Nokmao impri—!“

  “Don’t interrupt me!” He bellowed in fury, scales brightening, becoming pink, causing Kenneth to step back in a protective manner, prioritizing Kolu, but slowly, as Noksafgro loudly breathed, his scales went back to red. “I’m sorry.”

  “The reason why I haven’t told or said anything is the same reason why you are here, isn’t it? To learn why everyone hates her and why everyone calls her that name.”

  He waited a second to be sure he didn’t interrupt, “So what’s the reason everyone calls her that name then? What did she do?”

  “That name,” Noksafgro repeated. “She’s told me you never once have called her that. Why?”

  A bit caught off guard by the question, Kenneth paused, “I can’t really say there’s a particular reason why. I would just prefer calling someone their real name and not some crude nickname.”

  “She both likes and hates that you don’t. Did she ever tell you that?” Noksafgro questioned with a slight perkiness in his voice.

  “She barely says anything on her own,” Kenneth sighed in slight frustration.

  “That is the reason she asked me to explain. She must like you a great deal, or perhaps she hoped I would never…” Noksafgro paused, breathing a sigh as he looked up at the cloudy skies. “She isn’t being vague or answering the way she does because she likes it or thinks she's better than everyone. It is who she has been from the moment we hatched.

  “It’s a part of her. She has said many times she would prefer never to speak, or anyone else, only enjoy the calm sounds out there.”

  He lowered his gaze and looked out over the swampy wilderness.

  “So what? She doesn’t want to tell me because she doesn’t want to talk?” Kenneth questioned.

  Noksafgro let out a slight chuckling hiss, “She couldn’t care less how her word sounds to people, she says them anyway, but she knows the meaning behind them can often be lost. You are lucky; she wants you to understand fully.”

  “So then, what is the crime she isn’t punished for?”

  As the winds rustled the trees, Noksafgro leaned forward, looking down over the wall, “It was the last battle against the Weakie heretics. We had burned three of their outposts to the ground in swift defeats, taking some prisoners, but not without receiving wounds of our own.”

  ‘Three! I… thought it was only Nya’s outpost that had been destroyed,’ Kenneth tensed.

  “Our numbers had been cut down, but the former commander was not satisfied,” Noksafgro continued. “She hadn’t had her fill of blood, not after some hunters had turned up dead and we had discovered the fourth outpost.

  “Tired and well sated, but with room for more, we attacked, and… and… and…!”

  Noksafgro’s breathing suddenly grew rapid, and Kenneth expected another outburst of anger, but as he placed a hand over his remaining eye, he slowly calmed down. “You were there. You know how it ended. The commander died, and my sister was blamed.”

  A bit cautious yet confused, Kenneth silently questioned, “Why was she that?”

  “I don’t know much of what happened… after… or was it during…? All I know is she got me out of there to the last living healer. She kept me alive, but my sister never once left my side, even when she herself was healed. She refused orders given to her by Nokuji and didn’t join back in the battle when the former commander faced the heretic commander in single combat.”

  “Really?! That’s why?! She didn’t save someone from getting killed!” Kenneth couldn’t help but let out. “How in the world can anyone think that’s a valid reason?”

  Noksafgro looked back at him, his sight unfocused as his scales slightly darkened, “She wouldn’t have liked to hear that. She believes them because she knows they are right about two things. Only she was fast enough to prevent the former commander's death, and she wasn’t back on the battlefield because she refused orders.”

  “Honestly, the only one who sounds responsible for your former commander's death is her—“

  “Shut it!” Noksafgro shouted, but unlike before, there wasn't anger behind as he turned around and walked up to Kenneth, Kolu, clutching closer to his leg. “You are a guest, but if such words of disrespect were to reach the commander's ears, she would have the right to revoke it. Keep it in mind.”

  “…thanks,” Kenneth replied in slight surprise as his body remained tense and ready.

  “Talking to you has been different from what I had thought,” Noksafgro said, turning away. “I want you to know that after what you did for my sister, you have my respect. I cannot promise you it will be clear as it is now, and I might lose myself or forget, but I promise never to raise my hands to you again, as much as that’s worth.”

  “That’s good to hear,” Kenneth replied. “Umm… if you don’t mind me asking, what is her name?”

  Noksafgro paused in his tracks for a moment before resuming, “She hasn’t told.”

  “What?” Kenneth questioned out loud.

  “You can leave whenever you want, find the guards or someone else, and tell them it's an order for me to guide you back,” Noksafgro said as he reached the edge of the wall.

  Having gotten answers that were yet more confusing than before, feeling conflicted, Kenneth wanted to ask more questions, but he decided not to, choosing to take his leave with one of the guards.

  Yet, as they descended halfway, the guard suddenly stopped and walked all the way to the side, grabbing Kenneth and forcing him to do the same.

  “What is the big idea?” He asked.

  The answer to his question would come in the form of a woman with shiny scales dressed in a sleek, padded, and soft-looking white coat, its hood pulled back and lined with blond curly fur that transitioned on both sides into a thick golden thread that stretched across the body in the pattern of hands in various places.

  It was somewhat bare, yet rather beautiful, with a unique and a bit unsurely suggestive pattern. It distracted him for long enough that he didn’t realize until a moment later the person was Nokoovo.

  She barely paid attention to the guard, her gaze locked with Kenneth’s, as he felt Kolu clutch his leg even more than before.

  “I was looking for you. The healer told me that you were around here,” she said, coming to a stop in front of Kenneth.

  “Apologies, Commander, but the guard commander ordered me to take the healer down and return immediately,” the guard quickly said as she grabbed Kenneth and tried to rush down with him.

  However, only after a single step did Nokoovo grab her arm and shift her gaze, the guard visibly becoming uncomfortable. “I wish to speak with him, so why don’t you return to the top side, and I escort him down unless that’s a problem?”

  “N-No… commander,” the guard stuttered, turning tail and walking back up.

  Sparing not a moment more on the guard, Nokoovo shifted her gaze back to Kenneth, “Shall we talk?”