Dedicated to Our Lady of Veracruz

Known only as "Rose"

Noble in Life

Healer for the Sick

Mother to Orphans

Wrestled with the Nephilim

Died to Resurrect Veracruz

Righteous in Death

The plaque had caught Telesetea's attention shortly after she'd woken up in her hospital room; its reflective gold finish had been shining directly into her eyes. Once she'd found out she was able to walk, and found most of her personal belongings in a drawer next to her bed, she'd walked over and scanned the plaque, running it through her omni-tool's translation software. She wasn't sure what a Nephilim was, but it was probably nasty enough to deserve its own line, and she wasn't quite sure what "resurrect Veracruz" meant. The annotations mentioned Veracruz being a state of some sort in a country called Mexico on Gaia, but resurrect made no sense. Metaphorical maybe.

Telesetea looked down at herself. She'd checked her omni-tool for the date. Only eighteen hours since she'd dealt with Caepia. She only felt a little out of it, amazing considering her injuries should have put her out of action for at least a week. She then thought on the old married couple. She'd seen them take hits that should have killed them. She had seen them die. Several times.

She looked back at the plaque. Hell, it might not be a metaphor.

"Wasn't expecting a show so early in the-"

Telesetea was startled from her thoughts, turning just time to see the old woman smack her husband upside the head.

"How are you doing dearie?" the old woman smiled as she walked over, leading Telesetea back to her bed, keeping her facing her husband the whole time. "You should sit down; blood magic can work miracles, but they still had to pump you full of medicine when the asari doctor looked you over."

"Blood magic?" Telesetea croaked out.

"There's some of the best hemamancers on Lluvia, called in ever since you aliens showed up." The old man offered.

"Oh, big words." The old lady replied, "I remember you used big words whenever you wanted to impress me. Who are you trying to impress dear?"

"No one." The old man answered, sitting down on a nearby chair.

"I'll call a nurse," the old woman said as she pressed a button on a nearby console, Telesetea heard her mutter something under her breath; "He still thinks he's 20."

"How are you two-?" Telesetea began, wondering how to continue.

"How are we fine?" the old lady continued, "Dearie, it'll take more than your fancy space guns to hurt us. We've been through too much to get killed on vacation by some brats." She looked over at her husband, who was nodding along. "Plus, I'll give my hubby some credit, he's an accomplished blood practitioner and I've got to be made of sterner stuff to throw punches like I do." The old woman laughed, flexing her old, wrinkly arm.

Telesetea followed the old woman's fist as she did. It was old, wrinkled and had gored several full grown krogans in heavy armor.

A knock at the door heralded the appearance of a nurse along with an older man and an asari.

"How are you feeling?" the older man asked as the nurse handing him a datapad that scrolled with numbers and figures, he medical readout. He only glanced at it, his expression eager for her to go on.

"I'm feeling fine… just a little light-headed. I could use something to eat and drink." Her throat was dry, and she realized she felt like she hadn't eaten in weeks. "Doctor?"

"Yes, yes! Forgive my manners, I just realized we haven't been properly introduced Miss Edari. I am Dr. Gambaryan, head doctor here at Saint Rose. I am the head medical practitioner here and acting as your physician." The older man seemed amazingly enthusiastic; the room seemed to brighten just by him being in the room. Telesetea wasn't sure if his attitude was helping her or further confusing her. Her eyes wandered over to the asari.

"Dr. Iessara," she said. "I consulted." She motioned Dr. Gambaryan for the medical readout, her eyes scrutinizing the information while Dr. Gambaryan stepped up to Telesetea's side, an omni-tool flashing around his hands, a medical scanning light washing over her.

"Dr. Iessara," he said, fiddling with his device, "Looks like our patient is doing wonderfully, full recovery!" The asari walked over, her own omni-tool lighting up and running its own scan. "Miss Edari," the Gaian doctor continued, "I'll get you something to eat and drink, since you seem fine enough for solids. Luckily for you, digestive tracks are similar enough that growing you a stomach was a breeze!" the older man chuckled, Telesetea chuckled right alongside him.

"Did you just say you grew me a stomach?"

"Yes!" the doctor beamed, "Medical history, right here under my watch. Fascinating stuff! I must say, the asari body is quite fascinating, did you know that your bodies are internally similar to ours? Surface similarities are one thing, but the insides too? Amazing! It's almost… huh, well!" he suddenly trailed off, his toothy grin beaming. "Well, as far as I am concerned, you can be discharged as soon as you want! Oh, first I'll get you your food!" and with that he turned to the nurse, talking to the young woman about bringing up some of their best food.

Telesetea looked over at Dr. Iessara, hopefully getting some answers out of her own kind.

"I don't know what to tell you Miss Edari," the asari woman began. "According to this chart, the doctor's scan and my own, you are in perfect health despite being near death only yesterday. I wonder if I'll have to find a new job," she joked. "But, I'll have to agree with Dr. Gambaryan, since you are in perfect health, you can be discharged at your convenience. The feeling of light-headedness will pass, a side effect of the anesthesia I ordered, for all the good that did."

Telesetea was almost afraid to ask, but did. "What did they do to me?"

The asari doctor glanced at the older couple, who were busy talking to themselves, clearly not interested in medical conversations. "Honestly, it looked like the sort of medicine we practiced back on Thessia thousands of years ago. A room that looked like as if someone was building a temple then crammed some medical equipment onto the altars. I was this close," she gestured with her hands, "to calling the asari embassy to take you into protective custody under asari medical malpractice laws." She sighed. "But it worked. I shouldn't complain, any medicine that can heal people like it did you is wonderful, as a doctor I recognize that. On the other hand I can't believe I just saw what I did. They grew you a stomach, he wasn't kidding about that. Yesterday I saw… I think I saw one of the doctors here… no. You wouldn't believe me." There was a long pause. "Here," she tapped a few buttons on her omni-tool, Telesetea's lighting up in response. "That's the number for my private practice, call me if you feel, well anything. This Gaian medicine," her face seemed confused, unsure of how to say what she wanted to say. "I find it hard to believe."

"I do too," Telesetea responded, earning a chuckle from the asari doctor as she left the room.

Telesetea wondered what sort of world she would live in from now on, one where hospitals brought people from the brink of death to perfect health in the span of hours. One where old ladies could kill krogans with her bare hands, where old men could pop heavily armored krogans like bloody balloons with lightning from his hands. Where some people didn't seem to stay dead. She glanced over at the plaque again, the word "resurrect" burned into her mind. She remembered all the information she'd gathered, all the junk data she'd written off as superstition. She realized she accepted it now. Magic, immortal warriors, old gods, a war against monsters. It was probably saner this way, she realized. Accept it all now and the world will make sense again.

She turned and looked at the elderly couple, who smiled at her.

"Do you really want to eat hospital food?" the elderly man asked.

Telesetea was probably insane.