The staff entrance to the main trauma receiving area was deceptively calm. Only a low mechanical hum broke its silence as its young students waited.
As the door slid open, they straigtened up ever so slightly.
Healer T'Ven looked over the PADD in her hand. Her students waited, fourof them, two from medical schools, one from the Science Academy, and one from the Temple of A'morak. Their files said none had experience in a real hospital, much less one of this patient volume. It would be much like the kahs-wan for them, then, for they had recieved many hours of teaching and training, but little had prepared them for this.
"Tonak," she addressed the first. "Graduate of the Science Academy's medical program."
"Ohakausu," he replied formally, honored Healer.
"Do you have experience treating patients?"
"I spent one month in a medical clinic in ShiKahr."
"What types of procedures did you learn?"
"I learned to use basic medical instruments, osu," he said. "Hypospray, dermal regenerator ..."
She stopped him with a short wave of her hand. "When will you recieve your medical degree?"
"Within a month."
"Dr. T'Pani. From Kir'Kahr Medical School. What is your experience treating patients?"
"We spent almost a year observing in a local hospital."
"Observing? Did you perform any procedures?"
"No, osu, we did not."
"Dr. Seket. Medical Academy of Retakh. Is your experience comparable to Dr. T'Pani's?"
"Yes."
"T'Ak'hel. You have recieved training at the Temple of A'morak. Have you any experience in a clinical setting?"
"No, Ohakausu. This will be the first of such training."
"You look young. May I ask, how long did you spend at A'morak?"
"Eight years, osu."
"And did you treat any patients during that time, or spend any time with the 'pilgrims' there?"
"No, osu, I only trained with the adepts."
The calm of before abruptly ended as the group entered the main trauma receiving area. Doctors and healers called out orders, patients moaned, monitors beeped and alarms blared, the low hum of the turbolifts and environmental system continued on, and to their right, the shrill whine of a transporter beam.
"Keep clear of the transporter pad," Healer T'Ven said, pointing to the sign that read the same. Her students crowded together to the left.
"There's so much pain," T'Ak'hel whispered.
"Yes. This is a large trauma center. You must learn to block it from your mind." She turned to the others. "Seket and T'Pani, there is a child in examination room 12 with a hand laceration. Find the room, find a tricorder and dermal regenerator, heal the laceration, call Dr. Stesik to examine your work when you are finished."
The two doctors started off down the wrong hallway, looking for signs which would point them towards the right room.
"Tonak, T'Ak'hel, follow me."
T'Ven led them to one of the equipment storage areas. "T'Ak'hel, can you distinguish between a dermal regenerator and a thrombic modulator?"
"No, osu."
"I can show her, Ohakausu," Tonak said.
"You all must learn on your own, Tonak." She handed the young healer-in-training two instruments. "Look at these, look at the settings, and tell me which instrument is which."
As T'Ak'hel turned them over in her hands, trying to solve the simple problem, T'Ven turned back to Tonak. "Explain the difference between Improvoline and Inaprovaline."
He hesitated. "Improvoline is a stimulant, Inaprovoline is a sedative, both widely useful for humanoid physiology."
"If you gave a patient in shock Improvoline, Tonak, it could kill them. Inaprovoline is the synaptic stimulant and cardiostimulant." She grabbed a PADD off a stack, pressed several buttons, and handed it to him. "Study this tonight, so you do not kill a patient because of faulty memory."
~.~.~.~.~
Some months later...
"Oko-mekh!"
Several head turned towards the young child in the middle of the room, calling for her mother.
T'Ak'hel set down the patient's chart she held and approached the girl. She was not one of the patients in this section, nor did she appear to be a patient at all.
"Oko-mekh?"
"Who is your mother?" she asked in reply. The girl looked no older than two years old.
"Oko-mekh!" the girl only repeated. Perhaps, illogical as it was, she only knew her mother as such, and did not yet know her proper name.
Trying again, T'Ak'hel asked, "What is her name?"
The child appeared to think about the question for a moment, then suddenly dashed off across the room.
Seconds later, T'Ven strode around the corner, the girl trying to cling to her legs.
"Ko-mekh name T'Ven!" the girl exclaimed with more than a little pride.
"Ohakausu," T'Ak'hel said by way of greeting.
"How long has my daughter been here?"
"One point four minutes."
"Why are you here, T'Shel?" she demanded of her daughter.
"See you?"
"Where is Kurik?"
"He sleep."
A flicker of concern passed over her face. "Healer," she said, addressing T'Ak'hel by the title she had earned, "I will return. Keep watch of my daughter, do not let her leave your sight."
T'Ven left at a pace nearing a run.
Less than ten minutes later, T'Ven summoned her four students - and daughter with them - to the trauma receiving area. She stood over an elderly man in a trauma bed, already joined by two other doctors. The man was unconscious, his monitors showing dangerously high intracranial pressure.
"oKurik?" T'Shel asked. "You sick?"
When the man gave no reply, big tears welled up in the child's eyes. She rushed towards the trauma bed, pushing her way through his doctors.
"T'Shel, kroykah. They must work."
"No! oKurik, wake up! No sick!"
T'Ven quickly grabbed her daughter out from amongst the doctors' legs, fingers searching out the meld points on the child's face even as she ushered her out of the room.
"Do we follow?" T'Pani asked, looking at Tonak for guidance.
From the corner, Seket, voice barely audible, said, "It is a family matter. We stay here."
"Doctors," one of the senior doctors started, addressing three of T'Ven's four students. "Healer," she added as an afterthought, addressing T'Ak'hel with a brief nod. "Our patient has a ruptured arteriovenous malformation and resulting intraparenchymal hemorrhage. Will you be joining us in surgery?"
The other senior doctor activated the wall comm unit and alerted the surgical suite of their impending arrival. The first checked the patient's position and detached the anti-grav bed from its stationary base.
T'Pani again looked at Tonak, and this time at Seket as well. Tonak spoke up. "I do not believe Healer T'Ven would have asked us to come if she had not thought we could learn from this case."
"We will join you."
As the group emerged and headed towards the turbolift access, T'Ven and her daughter approached and stopped her students.
"Diagnosis?" she asked.
"No-sataya?" the girl repeated, not understanding the word.
"Nosh-satalaya," her mother corrected. "The identification of the nature and cause of his illness."
"oKurik sick."
"Vi'nafek-is-krus khafaya," Tonak said.
T'Shel stared up at them with wide eyes, as if she did understand.
"This is not a complete diagnosis. What is the cause?"
"A ruptured riyeht-shid'es t'khaf-mev."
"May I join them in surgery?" T'Ak'hel asked.
"There is no reason you cannot learn basic surgical procedures."
"Oko-mekh?"
"Yes, T'Shel?"
"oKurik?"
"Kurik requires surgery."
"Shushan?"
"Sharushan," her mother corrected. "It means ... they will attempt to repair the damaged blood vessels in his head."
"You go?" she asked T'Ak'hel.
"Yes, I will observe the surgery."
"Okay. You go."
"Ohakausu T'Ven," Tonak began, "It is possible as arteriovenous malformation such as this could be heredetary. Would you like to obtain genetic testing?" He looked down at the child.
A brief flash of anger flared up, then was quickly suppressed. "Kurik is not her father. Go join the surgical team before they are finished."
T'Ak'hel and Tonak found T'Ven and her daughter in an otherwise empty waiting area. A disordered kal-toh sat in front of the Healer, while T'Shel ran around the room, a t'an in each hand, poking everything in sight.
Seeing her favorite healer, besides her mother, she ran up to T'Ak'hel and poked the rods into her knees.
"T'Shel!" her mother chided.
Caught off guard by the force with which the small rods were jabbed into her knees, T'Ak'hel stepped back and didn't completely suppress a cry of pain.
"We do not poke sharp objects into people, T'Shel. Apologize."
"Ni'droi'ik nar-tor," the two-year-old mumbled.
"How is Kurik?"
"He has not yet regained consciousness, Ohakausu."
"T'Ak'hel, take my daughter and find Seket, bring him to me. T'Shel, leave the t'anlar here. I will not have you injuring my student further."
"Seket?" the girl asked, tossing the rods back onto the table.
"Hassu Seket," the younger healer added. Seket had earned the title of Doctor, and it was proper for the child to refer to him as such.
"Tonak, remain," T'Ven spoke. "Sit down."
The young man sat.
"You must learn to curb your ambition. It was not proper of you to assume Kurik was my daughter's father, and was a serious breach of privacy - mine, my daughter's, and Kurik's - to approach the subject in a public hallway as you did."
"We discussed the patient's diagnosis in the same location."
"I asked you for the patient's diagnosis. I did not ask you to determine my daughter's paternity nor to question her health. If you had concerns, they were better addressed in private at another time."
"I did not mean to offend, Ohakausu."
"I was not offended, however, you must learn that greater caution is called for from a doctor."
"Yes, Ohakausu."
"Additionally, arteriovenous malformations are present before birth, even if symptoms do not appear then. Genetic testing would be superfluous in a case like this. A simple scan would suffice. Now, you are dismissed. Continue your work."
As Tonak left the room, T'Ak'hel returned, T'Shel and Seket behind.
She motioned the two adults to sit, and T'Shel grabbed her hand, intertwining their fingers together.
"As you may have surmised by now, Kurik provides supervision for my daughter while I am here at the hospital. Since you cannot yet be left without supervision of your own, I cannot take my daughter home at this time without compromising your educational opportunities. However, neither can I supervise her myself the entire time. Therefore, Seket, will you escort her to the cafeteria and replicate a nutritious meal for her?"
Seket just nodded.
"When you are done there, you may return her to myself or T'Ak'hel," she inclined her head towards the latter, "if that is acceptable with you."
"Of course, Ohakausu."
"Do not hesitate to answer her questions, she is a very curious child."
T'Shel gazed up into her mother's eyes. "It is time for you to go with Ohassu Seket."
"I go with Ohassu T'Ak'hel."
"T'Ak'hel is a hakausu, not hassu. But you will go with Seket now. You may see T'Ak'hel later."
She stared at the strange doctor a moment longer, then said, "Okay, Oko-mekh."
The two left, leaving just the two healers in the room.
"May I ask a personal question, Ohakausu?" the younger asked.
T'Ven considered for a moment, then gave an affirmative nod.
"Who is Kurik?"
"Kurik is the guardian of my child during my working hours."
"Is he ... family?"
"He is of my clan, but there is no closer relation than that."
"Forgive me, Ohakausu, if this is too personal. Are you bonded?"
"No, T'Ak'hel, I am not."
"Have you ... been?"
"If you are asking who the father of my child might be, that is too personal a question."
"Is that why you were angry ... earlier, with Tonak?"
T'Ven inhaled sharply.
"I apologize," T'Ak'hel said quickly, readying herself to stand up. "I should not have asked."
T'Ven waved her hand, inviting T'Ak'hel to relax. "You are correct in your assumption. However, I will say no more on the matter." She paused, then asked, "Do you have empathic ability?"
At this, the younger healer actually hung her head. "No, ohakausu, it was evident on your face."
T'Ven just stared at her. "I won't make excuses," she finally said. "I was angry, yes. I should not have been. I cannot blame my lack of control on anything besides my own self."
"It will not be spoken of again."
T'Ven thought for a moment. Healers tended not only to their patients' physical needs, but to mental needs as well. Is that not what her student was trying to do for her?
"He was a V'Shar agent," she began. "I did not know more than his given name, and that was likely a fabrication. Not to decieve me, no, but because of confidentiality." She stopped, visibly uncomfortable with talking about that part of her life, but continued for her student's sake. "It was not his ... 'time.' Nor was it mine. We never bonded, mentally, nothing permanent. We came together in a moment of weakness, of ... bad judgement. It is something I still ... regret."
"Regret," she repeated. "And your daughter?"
"I do not regret my daughter. Only the circumstances which led to her existence."
T'Ak'hel raised an eyebrow.
"It is time we return to work," T'Ven said. "After Seket returns, I am taking the others to the upper floor. Keep my daughter on this level, and you may work with Hassu Sorvik. I prefer she is kept away from patients with infectious diseases today."