Chapter Ten

That discussion had to wait until after Doctor Padre, the royal physician Vesper summoned, had cleared Mira to remain at home. It wasn’t that Mira was incapable of answering questions, it was that Cecily wouldn’t let her. Whatever nerves had been keeping Cecily subdued in front of Vesper evaporated when their heroine had a patient to protect and Cecily refused, respectfully, to allow anyone to question Mira until the doctor arrived, not even Vesper.

Dr. Padre wasn’t best pleased, initially, that Cecily had intervened magically until Cecily listed her actions in clinical tones and explained, “I am a second year student in the National College of Negentropy. I’ve also received an advanced certification for emergency intervention.”

“Ah, well, then that’s a relief,” Dr. Padre sighed as he mopped his brow and turned his attitude on Vesper. “You are very lucky she was here to assist in that case, otherwise the patient would be feeling much worse. The greatest danger in cases like this is from a fall, but that doesn’t make the experience at all pleasant.”

Mira was in her bed, drifting on the dregs of Cecily’s magic and some powerful sedatives while they had their conversation. The bedroom door was left open so she could hear everything, but was in no position to participate.

She listened as Dr. Padre interrogated Nanny Byrde. Everything came out; Mira’s first seizure, the initial diagnosis, then her memory loss, and Dr. Desmona’s second evaluation.

“Desmona’s a solid physician and a specialist in this area,” Dr. Padre huffed, sounding reluctant about it. “I’ll be consulting with her on the spell inscription, but I don’t know that Lister fellow. I advise against including him in Lady Violet’s treatment any further.”

“He is my family’s doctor when we’re in town. He operates a private practice in the Silver District,” Vesper explained. She’d been pacing the room since a while ago and sounded like taking the family’s business elsewhere was the least of what she had planned for Dr. Lister. “Our primary physician has an office in the barracks at home and is too far away to consult. I’ll be reconsidering our agreement with Lister’s clinic.”

“Do so,” Dr. Padre said. “Your sister could have died if she followed his orders. I’m not even confident that you should allow her to be seen by your barracks doctor again either. I saw where Desmona treated part of her skull. Head injuries can still kill days, years, or even decades later. She’s alright to remain here for now. I’d rather have her in a quiet environment, especially if there’s a qualified Negentropy student on hand to administer emergency aid. Given the severity of this most recent seizure, I will be encouraging an aggressive treatment plan with Desmona. If you’ll authorize it, I’d like my office to take over Lady Violet’s primary care while she’s in town.”

“Yes, of course,” Vesper paused in her restless roaming. “I have every faith in the Royal Institute —and you’re certain this is a complication of her old injury? I was given to understand by my father that she only had a mild concussion. Is there any chance that her condition is congenital?”

“No, my lady,” Dr. Padre said, shaking his head. “All traumatic brain injuries have a chance of triggering a chronic condition such as Lady Violet’s, especially when they’ve been misdiagnosed and gone untreated. Desmona was dispatched in response to your call for a reason. Even if I missed such a thing in my examination, she wouldn’t have. With both of us in agreement, there’s little to no chance that the young lady was born this way. It’s more likely that her childhood injury was more severe than you were led to believe.”

Vesper exhaled slowly, but with relief. “Then it can be treated,” she said and laid a hand over her heart. “Good, good. I will place my faith in your diagnosis then, doctor.”

“You do me too much honor,” Dr Padre said, sounding gruffly shy about it. “I have some instructions for Lady Violet’s servants and recommendations for Miss Cecily…”

Mira drifted off as he started explaining his instructions for her care and did not wake up again until it was much too late to call for anyone.

000

The next morning was awful. All the progress Mira had made in her recuperation had evaporated in a puff of smoke and disappointment. She needed help to do everything and was plagued by a persistent weakness that only served to irritate her.

One good thing that came out of the entire affair was that there was no more talk of Cecily leaving. Vesper visited Mira the morning after to explain that she’d taken over the tab on Mira’s suite and expanded their reservation to include two more bedrooms and a study.

“I’ll be staying with you for the time being and working from the hotel,” she explained. “The only way Dr Padre would agree for you to receive care at home was if Miss Cecily or a dedicated assistant remained on hand to monitor your condition. She has agreed and I will be interviewing potential aides for you later this afternoon. I have a candidate in mind, but they may not be available.”

“Can’t Nanny or Anna do it?” Mira asked. The word ‘aide’ was bothering her, like there was something she ought to know, but she felt too sick to think about it in detail. She just wanted to sleep until she felt better.

“Anna’s duties already keep her busy,” Vesper replied as she paged through the leather folio she’d brought with her. It was full of letters and summary reports that Mira assumed had to do with her job. “Nanny will also be occupied with preparing the townhouse. The inscription will ameliorate your seizures and often prevent them, but can’t stop them all entirely. You will need a permanent aide in the future. Miss Cecily will need to return to school at the end of the break.”

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Well, at least that was one thing Mira had accomplished. There would be no need for the heroine to drop out of secondary school in this route. That might affect the story in unpredictable ways. She’d get into university anyway on a recommendation, but Mira was an old person at heart and believed that an uninterrupted education was a sacred right for all children–whether she liked them or not.

“Not to mention, you’ll be starting university soon,” Vesper added and Mira remembered, all at once, why the word ‘aide’ was so important.