Learning
Iriana slumped in the chair she had been given and tried not to cry. It wouldn't help. All it would do was disturb the troubled sleep of the boy in her lap. She had given up on fixing herself. Her body flatly refused to accept any replacement tissue for the abraded parts of her scalp and her arm... Healer was trying to regrow it, but that would take time. The Sentinel hovered nearby, but Iriana ignored it. She had gotten good at that. It had drawn a lot of stares for a bit, but then, people seemed to get used to it. Most were far more concerned with Curtis. As well they should be.
The boy wasn't getting any better. The Infested Healer's promised palliative had arrived and had curbed his cravings, but… He wasn't getting any stronger. In her heart, Iriana knew what was happening. His body hadn't been capable of handling the massive dose of morphine that his abductor had given him. He wasn't fully grown. His body didn't have the mass to throw off such a massive dose of powerful narcotics. Iriana wondered at times if that had been planned. Kill off the victim to cover up the horrific deed? She wasn't sure. It was…
Curtis coughed in his sleep and Iriana tensed. She knew what was coming, but it… it wasn't easy. It never was. To see Death coming for her patients had always been her worst fear. To see it coming for such an innocent… Curtis was such a good kid. He deserved better. If only his body has been able to metabolize an adult dose of…
Iriana jerked in her seat. Curtis protested sleepily, then subsided as she comforted him. The healer waited until she was sure he was asleep again before reaching for a terminal. Not a lot of the dojo equipment was functional. From what she had seen, a massive battle had been fought here. When? She had no idea, but it hadn't been recent. But enough of the medical tech was operational to check her hypothesis. The boy did not have the mass to throw off the narcotic and it was slowly poisoning his system despite the best efforts of the all medical personnel. Healer had explained the process by which Iriana's own withdrawal had been reduced and the Tenno Healer knew that the boy could not survive the same treatment. But… What if he didn't have to?
"Healer Iriana." Lisa's voice preceded the young woman into the room. "Healer is worried about you."
"It must get a bit confusing." Iriana said, not looking up as she held the slumbering boy with the stump of her right arm and typed with the other hand. "Healer and Healer…" She chuckled at Lisa's expression, but the girl was not so easily distracted.
"Please." Lisa said softly. "Let me take him for a bit?" She begged.
"He is my responsibility, Lisa." Iriana said mildly. "But thank you."
"Healer Iriana." Lisa said firmly. "The mind mass is aware of your research. They will not let you do it." Iriana stiffened and Lisa sighed. "Taking the boy's mind… elsewhere might work while his body was… repaired or rejuvenated." The girl said a bit dubiously. "But into your mind? No. You need recovery time yourself."
"Lisa." Iriana said, her tone flat. "He is my responsibility."
"Did you abuse him?" Lisa asked sternly but quietly. Iriana stared at her and then shook her head. "Then no, he is not. He is your patient and his treatment is your responsibility. His condition is not." Iriana paused in her immediate comeback and then she slumped.
"When did you get so wise?" The healer asked a bit sheepishly. "I keep seeing you as…" She slumped a bit more. "I am sorry."
"No apology is needed. You saw me first as a feral child." Lisa said, kneeling beside Iriana. "Someone to be protected if I could not be helped. What the monster did… undid most of what he did to me before. No one knows why. What happened to me wasn't your fault." Iriana stared at the girl and then she felt her eyes burn.
"I should have…" Iriana stammered. "I… I knew something was wrong. I should have…"
"Let me take him for a bit, Healer." Lisa said gently, reaching for Curtis. "You need rest."
She took the slumbering boy from Iriana who did not resist. Lisa might have looked like a stiff breeze would pick her up and blow her away, but Iriana knew just how strong the girl actually was. Curtis made a soft, questioning noise, but Lisa rocked him a bit and he subsided again. She started singing something too softly for Iriana to make out the words, but it was obviously a lullaby. She smiled at Iriana's expression, then pointedly glanced at a bed that had been made for the healer nearby.
"Pushy, pushy, pushy…" Iriana said with a sigh as she rose, careful of her balance with only one arm. She walked to the bed and lay down. Her eyes closed as soon as her head hit the pillow and…
Iriana jerked. She wasn't in her bed anymore! She was lying on something soft but… not a mattress. She opened her eyes and went completely still.
"Hello." The male human said quietly from where he sat. "Healer Iriana, you are in no danger here." The man said sharply as Iriana gave a wild cry and scampered away from him.
She scuttled backwards until her back encountered something hard. She stared around wildly. She was sitting on grass. She looked up into the branches of a single tree. She had collided with the trunk. And… She stared. Her right arm hung loose at her side, and when she tried to move it, it came to her face to gingerly touch the parts that had been abraded. She felt living flesh under her… fingertips and she was crying as she stared at the odd human nearby. He wore something like a warframe with no helmet. It…wasn't quite an Excalibur frame, but… close.
"What have you done?" The healer demanded. "Where are we?"
"This is a virtual world." The human said calmly, not moving from his spot. "We pulled you in when your rhythms slowed enough. We needed to talk to you. You are safe here. No one will harm you. No one will dare."
"I have patients that need me!" Iriana said with all the gentleness of a mama grizzly bear whose cubs were threatened. "Send me back!"
"Healer Iriana…" The man said gently. "You are asleep. You need rest to recover from your ordeals. No matter what the mind mass does, they cannot undo such harm as you have taken instantly. They can do marvels the same as you can with the proper gear, but not without the passage of time." Iriana's eyes narrowed at that and he nodded. "We… keep tabs on our kin when we can. You in particular recently."
"Why?" Iriana snapped, examining her surroundings. Looking for a trap, an ambush. But nothing happened.
"Your actions catalyzed something, Healer." The man replied calmly. "There were murmurs of action and reaction from what Jasmina did. But it was muted, unclear. Now? After your pain and suffering…" He bowed his head to the healer. "We know what must be done."
"What?" Iriana demanded. "And you never did tell me who you are!"
"You won't believe me." The man said calmly. "And I don't blame you after what you endured. After what was done to you."
"Done to me?" Iriana repeated. "Which part?"
"All of it." The man replied. "But before I go any further… Some people want to talk to you." He snapped his fingers and three forms appeared nearby. Iriana stared in disbelief as Mishka exclaimed and ran towards her.
"Mom!" The girl exclaimed in joy and threw herself at Iriana, who caught her daughter. "Mommommommommommom!" The little dervish was hugging her tight. Serene and Sara were bare moments behind Iriana's biological child in hugging the now sobbing healer. All three were hugging her and crying as they held her. After a timeless moment, Iriana looked at the odd human over her daughter's head.
"If this is a virtual world…" Iriana started. "How do I know this is real?" Mishka hugged her tighter, Sara and Serene as well.
"Come on, healer…" The man chided her gently. "How would any AI ever written be able to mimic a child's love so clearly? Or more than one at once?" He asked and Iriana shook her head. True that. She hugged Serene and the two kids harder. "We… bent a few rules."
"Into pretzels." Sara laughed wetly as she hugged Iriana tight, tears falling.
"All right, Sara." The man said with a sigh. "We bent them into pretzels." But he was grinning. "But for a good cause." Sara hugged Iriana again and then stepped back. Serene kissed Iriana on the cheek and did the same. "Mishka…" The man said sadly when Mishka did not move.
"No!" The girl begged, holding onto Iriana tighter. "No! Don't send me away. I thought she was dead! I thought I would never see her again! It isn't fair! Don't…" She pleaded.
"Oh Mishka." Iriana said, hugging her child tight, then carefully extricating herself from Mishka's grip. "I am alive. So are you. Shh, Mishkling." She smiled with Mishka at her private name for her daughter. "We will see each other again. Someday."
"Hopefully someday soon." The odd man said with a nod. "Go on, Mishka. You have class."
"Don't remind me." Michka grumbled, but her face was radiant as she joined Sara and Serene. All waved to Iriana and then they vanished.
"Class?" Iriana asked dubiously. "Karl didn't say where he put them." She couldn't keep anger out of her voice when she spoke the name of the clan leader she had trusted and admired.
"He had good reason for not being able to speak of it, Healer." The man said calmly. Iriana bristled and the man sighed. "Don't get me wrong. He made a right mess of things. This whole… shameful episode could have been avoided if Karl had stopped to listen to Dust. He didn't."
"Won't hear me say otherwise." Iriana snapped.
"Would it help to know that the reason Alicia and the Ash tried to trank you was to reunite you with Sara, Serene and Mishka?" The man asked. Iriana stiffened and the man sighed. "Karl was… balanced on the knife edge of honor. I am not saying what he did was right. He agrees it wasn't." Iriana's eyes narrowed again and he nodded. "Yes, I have talked to him too. He was easier to find that you were." He said with a small chuckle that Iriana found herself mirroring. The man sighed. "Karl gave his word not to speak about where Sara, Serene and Mishka were." Iriana hissed and the man nodded. "You how he feels about that."
"Yes, I do." She said, manifestly against her will.
"Healer, you have been abused." The man said with a sigh. "No one blames you for feeling angry over the way you have been treated."
"I don't care about me!" Iriana snapped. "But the girl… Lisa! He took her and gave her to Redi!"
"Actually…" The man said slowly. "Karl found out about it when he got his orders to help Redi. The other medics of his clan had nothing with her being taken. Neither did he."
"I went to sleep and when I woke the girl was gone!" Iriana snapped, angry beyond belief. "There is no way Karl didn't…" She broke off as the man raised a hand.
"He didn't know about the girl being taken until he returned from meeting the one who gave him his orders." The man said softly. "He was… irate. But he had his orders. I know about being given bad orders, Healer. I know it well. When you are in a chain of command, it can be very hard to question orders. It is easy to look back and say 'This was a bad order'. But at the time? With emotions running high and the Infested on the loose? With Dust to all appearances going bonkers? With clear orders from someone he admired and trusted?"
"I…" Iriana swallowed hard and the man nodded.
"Karl made some bad choices and he knows it, Healer." The man said sadly. "Hindsight is always clearer than foresight…" He said with a wince that Iriana shared.
"…but nowhere remotely as valuable." Iriana finished the quote and froze. "Wait… You?" She asked, her voice turning cautious as she finally recognized the being in front of her. The First Tenno. "But…"
"It is okay, Healer Iriana." Hayden Tenno said gently. "I am not here to pressure you. I am not here… in any kind of official capacity. I am here as a brother whose sister is hurting." His voice was so sad. "Whose brother screwed up, and cannot fix what he screwed up. Dust is gone. Jasmina has… moved away from the kin. She has her own path and I cannot say it is the wrong one. Not after all the missteps I made in my own path."
"You are… energy form." Iriana said, swallowing hard. "A remnant of the being who once was called 'The First'." Hayden nodded. "Why talk to me?"
"Because no one else can." Hayden's voice was sad and gentle. "For the record, healer: I have talked with several people, most of the ones involved in this fiasco. None of us blame you in any way. None of us would dare to deny you your rightful anger at the way you have been treated. At what was done to a patient under your care. You are in the right here." Hayden said with a nod as Iriana inhaled. "Whatever you choose, no one will deny you the right to choose your own path. Not… after what happened." He shook his head ruefully.
"Then…" Iriana stammered. "What?"
"You deserve to know." Hayden said dimply. "You deserve to know what happened and why it did. Then you can make whatever decisions you choose, when you have all the information. To do that… Someone else wishes to speak with you."
"I don't understand." Iriana said soberly. "If you are energy form…" She recoiled a little as the man's form suddenly turned into transparent lines of golden code. "Okay…" She said with a wince. "You are." The man was solid looking again and smiled a bit sadly at her as she tried to marshal her thoughts. "Then… why explain? There are secrets I should not be privy to. I am a healer, not a warrior."
"Indeed you are." Hayden replied evenly. "But right now, we don't need a warrior. We need a healer." Iriana shook her head, even more confused. "May I call Eliza? She can explain."
"I don't understand." Iriana replied, fear beginning to build. "What do I need to do?"
"You need to choose." Hayden said quietly. "Choose what you want to do."
"I don't understand!" Iriana protested.
"Then maybe I can explain." A sad voice said as a form appeared nearby. A female human. She wore a golden gown and… Iriana went totally still as she saw a glowing crown on the woman's head. "Hello Healer Iriana. My name is Eliza and I am personally responsible for what has happened."
"That is…" Iriana swallowed hard. Unlike many of the people she dealt with regularly, Iriana had not been born prior to the Collapse. She had been born and raised in a hidden Tenno colony. But she knew what it was she was seeing. Every child in that colony was taught the history of the Tenno. Their successes, their failures. "That… I…" She shook her head, trying to fathom this sudden change. Suddenly rage flared. "You…!"
Iriana threw herself at the woman, who… didn't resist or try to dodge. Instead, she simply stood, taking the blows that Iriana was throwing at her.
"Where the hell were you?" Iriana screamed. "Where the hell have you been? You are supposed to lead! Not cower! Where the hell have you been, you lousy lying Orokin scum?" She flailed, connecting several times before she sank to her knees, crying. "You were… You were supposed to make it all better…"
"We failed." The woman said softly, not even touching her cheek where a bruise started to show. "Currently, the whole extent of Orokin that I lead… is less than six thousand souls." Iriana went stiff and then she just curled up on herself. "I am sorry. Dear god I am so, so sorry, Healer." The woman bowed her head and sighed. "I… When Redi came to me… Just after the Collapse… I… I didn't know what to think." She said softly. Iriana stiffened, but the woman continued. "He was… so smart. So good at working on Infested. We had so little contact. All of us… have quirks. None of us saw it, Healer. You have got to believe me…" The woman begged. "None of us saw his madness. We knew he was a Caretaker. None of us understood what had happened or why. Not until Jasmina jerked us up short. Not until she screamed in my face, told me what my father had ordered her to do and told me to '**** off'."
Iriana couldn't help it, she had to chuckle at that. That did so sound like Jasmina.
"I took Karl's oath of silence, Healer." The Empress of Orokin said softly. "It was on my orders that one of my guards sedated the girl known as Brownie and removed her from Karl's dojo. It was my orders to Karl that kept him from stopping Redi when that madman took Elenia from Dust." Iriana was shaking her head in horror but the Empress was not finished. "And it was my orders that told Karl to protect Redi until he could finish his… abomination." Eliza bowed her head again. "Then it was my orders when I tried to confine Jasmina, to help her." She put air quotes around the word 'help'. "I am responsible."
"Why?" Iriana begged. "Why help Redi? Why…cover for him? Why?" She pleaded, tears falling. "He was insane."
"Yes he was." Eliza said sadly. "But he was also brilliant. He made an experimental machine that helped my daughter. I was willing to overlook some…eccentricities. I overlooked too much."
"I'll say you did." A sour voice had all of them spinning. Jasmina stood nearby in her Ember Prime.
"And I really think it's time you paid."