[C'tain]

The Medical Center was quiet that evening as he wandered the halls.  While
the dragons had all fallen ill, few among the humans were sick or injured.

The notable exception was Baeta, whose temperature had spiked suddenly.
The staff had watched, hoping that the powerful antibiotics she had been
taking would be enough.

He stepped into her room, followed by Gemma, one of the nurses.  Baeta's
face was sheened with sweat and she was muttering and twitching in a
fevered delirium.  Carefully, he pulled aside the dressing on her leg and
examined it.  Sadly, he shook his head.

"Gemma, who's on relay tonight?"

"P'chak and Heltas."

"Tell P'chak to have Heltas tell Ribbon that we may need Lakoda to come
in.  I'm going to have to do surgery on Baeta, leaving us short if
anything comes up.  In other words, sleep with her clothes on just in
case.  And have a surgery prepped."

Gemma nodded and left.

******

[Sina]

She almost collided with T'rend as he came dashing out of Baeta's room.
He grabbed her to steady them both, breathing hard.

"T'rend, are you okay?"

"Sina... wh- what happened to her leg?" he demanded, the question almost a
wail.

She took his hand and gently led him to a bench and sat him down.  "A
portion of the bone in Baeta's leg died and became infected.  It began
poisoning her.  C'tain had to remove the infected portion last night to
save her life."

"How much?"

"From just below the knee."

He closed his eyes at the words, then opened them and stared into space
ahead of him.

"Are you okay?" she asked in concern.

"She'll never walk again," he whispered.

She shook her head.  "She wasn't going to walk again with the leg the way
it was anyway."

His eyes registered surprise.  "What?"

"She had a *dragon* *land* on it and then skidded some fifty feet after
that.  The bone was crushed and a great deal of the muscle mass was gone.
We were only trying to save the leg for cosmetic and psychological
reasons."

"She never said..."

"She was too worried about Jindalie to consider her own situation.  I hear
Jindalie appears to be recovering somewhat on her own, though she's still
got a lot of healing to do.  Now, Baeta's going to start noticing her own
condition... especially now."

He nodded.

"T'rend," she said quietly, "there are a whole lot of people who get
uncomfortable around amputees, like their condition is contagious somehow.
She's going to need a friend, and she doesn't have many here.  I hope you
won't let her down."

Respectfully submitted,
 Lynette R. F. Cowper
  C'tain and Sina

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 * Lynette R. F. Cowper       *     Official INWO NetRep & Goddess    *
 * lcowper@io.com             *        Circle of Janus Secretary      *
 * lcowper@indy.net           *   VP of P.U.R.P.L.E. (People United   *
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