Hello,
In advance I would like to thank you for reading and to let you know that I appreciate any feedback or reviews immensely. I make time to reply and interact with all my readers who are generous enough to reach out.
That being said, this story does not line up with Mass Effect Andromeda; I am intrigued with the ideas and concepts that will become clear as the chapters go on. I am fond of the Nyx sisters and the timelines and events of Mass Effect do not line up with my own story as it takes place. This story is not about galactic heroism or journeys into the unknown but rather a story about a handful of people and their lives crashing into one another.
I hope my writing entertains.
-Old Night
-0-
Vetra Nyx clicked her mandibles in annoyance for the tenth time that day as she almost slipped on the polished blue cobblestones of Grennik, an archaic town on the lonely frontier planet of Mirrard. The frost and snow had come early and with an abrasiveness the locals had in no modest way informed her "was angrier than turian without a stick up its ass".
It had been a long and fairly unpleasant journey to the system of Uldin and its capital to this little backwater planet on the galactic frontier. She much missed the technologically modern amenities of actually developed planets rather than the wide and uneven streets of the primitive little town she now lived in; crowded by jeering humans and other rough aliens in similarly sour moods. Her younger sister skipped along, enjoying the slick surface beneath her feet as she giggled obliviously to the humans' treatment of her sister.
She had come to Mirrard in an effort if not an outright wish that perhaps she could make an honest living there and perhaps carve out a real home for her and her sister away from all the problems that forced her exile from her home planet; having no other family and scant experience with anything other than smuggling she knew her options were limited.
But Mirrard, as she understood, had its advantages.
Only in the last few months, the local governments on both turian and human sides of the intergalactic border had offered monetary and living incentives to those willing to immigrate and settle in the Uldin System and others. She'd suspected that the powers that be simply wanted a populated border between one another as to clearly define the galactic territories at their limits before claiming everything behind the line; but also to create a buffer between one another should either choose to attack. It was not the dumbest idea, considering how sparsely populated this region of space was and how much less so it was now after the Relay 314 Incident which had happened only twelve years earlier, its lasting legacy spooked away all but the most stubborn of settlers.
The fighting had taken place deeper into the galactic sector but Uldin and Mirrard were spared during the incident itself because of their un-strategic positioning and lack of tactical resources. Mirrard, in particular, had a tidy amount of natural resources but the planet was small and heavily forested and boasted nothing to raise the interest of either space-faring races.
Unimportant and quiet seemed like a good place to be.
That was until she'd actually come to the planet and gotten into her habitation block and realized what she'd actually been paid to come and settle in. Turned out Mirrard was full of a particular kind of human and she'd quickly learned they had a thing against other galactic species and widely avoided modern technology. More than once she had asked others who lived on the planet longer than she what were the prime things to be aware of and their answers varied but two things were mentioned more often than anything else.
The human inhabitants of Mirrard were by and large part of a cult called "Darskirr" that strove for the antediluvian "essence" of mankind.
And the idea of who was "accepted" and who was not was paramount to the humans.
All non-humans on the planet- who could count themselves an absolute minority- had adopted a habit of careful segregation in order to better adapt and find their place. Though no rule was written occasionally there was violence.
Luckily, Vetra admitted to herself, the humans of her particular town of Grennik were fairly demure.
Save for the ever-present hard looks and occasional sneer she was allowed to live in relative peace.
Sid cooed with delight as she accelerated her pace ahead of her then slid on the thin ice that had accumulated on the sidewalk.
Many things bothered Vetra about Mirrard but living with her sister and needing not to worry about law enforcement or getting stabbed in the back gave her hope for the future- and no amount of narrowminded or backward humans would poison that for her.
Lost in thought Vetra noticed only too late that Sid's last enthusiastic lunge was carrying her straight into a bystander waiting for their turn to cross the street.
"Sid!" Vetra snapped as her younger sister crashed bodily into the side of the bystander, her shorter frame shoving the individual's left side causing them to fall- hard- on their ass. Awkwardly Sid tried to catch the victim of her unintended hip check and only succeeded in grabbing their entire arm before looking at them, then at her older sister in the moon-eyed way children do when they know they are in trouble.
Vetra advanced as quickly as she could before grunting in as much anger as anticipation of pain as she felt her balance escape her and she fell to her knees accidentally trying to catch herself and only succeeding in shoving the victim against the ground onto his back.
Humans walking by burst into delighted at laughter and wondered out-loud who the unlucky recipient of the Turian assault was.
"S-Sir, I am so sorry I didn't mean to, I just started sliding and I couldn't sto-"
Sid's hasty apology was cut short by a peal of barking laughter from the bystander which faded into a groan as he sat back up.
"Elder Winter strikes again it seems. This was only my second fall today and I was doing so good."
Vetra smiled, the recipient of her sister's fumbling had a sense of humor- thank goodness.
"Are you alright, sir? Sid, you need to be careful. You could have hurt this man." she chided as Sid shrunk into her shoulders as she continued to hold onto the stranger's arm.
With another amicable laugh, the stranger pulled off his deep hood and scarf and with a sharp tug he removed the ancient listening device he had inserted into both his ears. "Excuse me, I couldn't hear you save for your frantic tones."
The stranger was a human and the smile in his voice and his face died as he craned his head back to look at Vetra.
For an instant Vetra felt a wave of hostility wash over her, the human didn't see her so much as through her before the wave subsided and his face resumed an even gaze.
"Oh." he said simply as he regarded her with cold indifference, or perhaps disdain.
Then his face looked back at Sid who stared at him with a grimace of guilt even as she continued to hold his arm tight.
With a small twist of the lips a small, practiced smile appeared on his face as quickly as the cold look had suddenly left him.
"Hello, young lady." the man offered.
"Hi. I'm sorry."
"All is forgiven. You will, however, be more careful. Slide into a street when a vehicle is coming and that's the end of you."
Vetra, pulled herself up before offering her hand to the human only to feel a bloom of anger on her cheeks as he stood himself up while staring at her with hard eyes. Sid stayed latched on pushing him up to his feet.
"Please excuse my little sister, we're leaving now."
"That would be good" the human intoned before flashing another small smile at Sid.
"Thank you for your help, young lady."
Sid beamed and latched onto Vetra's outstretched hand as her older sister rushed down the street for a block before slowing down.
"Sid, how many times have I told you to stop sliding?" she exhaled as her embarrassment subsided.
"Sorry, Vee. It's just fun."
"Yup, until you fall down, slide into traffic or knock down a human."
"He seemed nice."
With the eleventh click of her mandibles that day Vetra sighed.
"Sid, we are not on Palaven anymore. Turians are few and far between on Mirrard and the humans don't like us or anyone else for that matter. It's important not to irritate them."
"That's not true! At school, my friend Errall Puyora said he's friends with his human neighbor's children and he's a salarian."
"Sid" Vetra gritted pleadingly. "I don't want to worry about you, promise me you'll steer clear of them."
"But they're everywhere."
"I know that! Just-just don't cause problems, ok?"
Sid looked away and nodded, Vetra narrowed her eyes as a fresh wave of irritation consumed her. Sid wasn't going to listen and she was going to have to ground her.
Stress teased a hard swallow from Vetra. The truth was she felt deeply uncomfortable at times on this new planet, she'd seen maybe three turians total since she'd arrived a month ago and all seemed reclusive and quiet. Her imagination took her to unpleasant conclusions as to how life would unfold for her and her little sister over time even if the humans never got fed up with all the other extragalactic races that lived on Grennik. A life spent walking on eggshells with no community and no family or friends seemed like a fate worse than a life spent sailing through space.
At least the space between galaxies was warmer than the humans of Mirrard had been.
So lost in thought she'd been that she hadn't noticed her younger sister staring at her left away from her until she felt Sid lightly press into her side.
Her eyes went to her sister, then the fair-skinned hand pushing her into her older sister.
"What are you doing?!" Vetra snapped at the human who they had knocked over as he kept pace with them.
The human again regarded her a few seconds later with a look of mild bafflement as he withdrew his hand and a bench passed between them where Sid had been walking only a few seconds before.
"Making sure your sister does not walk into any object bolted onto the sidewalk. What were you doing?"
Vetra stopped and pulled Sid behind her.
"If this is your idea of a joke, it isn't funny, human."
The human halted a few feet away from them as he regarded her with a look of amused mastery. His mouth opened a bit before his eyes went to Sid who had stopped smiling and was looking at the exchange worriedly. His mouth closed and he drew a deep breath before exhaling a cloud of mist that curled like smoke in the frigid winter air.
"I mean you and yours no harm, turian." said the human.
"Stop. Following. Us." answered Vetra, drawing herself up to her full height.
The human narrowed his eyes at her but the smile never left his face, Vetra could see his venomous disposition simmering his beneath the surface.
"I was not. My path today happens to take me this way."
Vetra took a step forward and clenched her fists. She towered at least fifty centimeters over the human and she was not about to take his shit.
"I think you need to find a different way then. And if you ever touch my sister again you are going to lose a few fingers."
The human held up his hands and languidly wiggled his fingers. His dark brown eyes smiled with his expression as he gazed into Vetra's own, furious, azure eyes.
"Bigger turians than you have made similar threats and yet I still have all my digits."
Vetra took another step forward and bent her elbows, she felt a roiling sense of revulsion at the human's audacity to touch her sister and a mask of heat was forming under her faceplates from the anger at his arrogance.
"Walk away, human. Before you find yourself in a problem you won't be able to walk away from."
With a snap of his fingers in the gesture of a gun he winked at Vetra before turning away, "A bigger problem still would be tardiness for work any day of the week, no?".
Vetra relaxed her arms an inch as the human gave in and broke the confrontation first. She didn't relish the idea of making a mess out of a brazen idiot, much less in a town full of other presumably brazen idiots.
Of the same species no less.
"By the way, you have a pudgy waist and bony hips!" called out the human as he turned again with a toothy, malicious grin.
Vetra's jaw dropped as all her anger evaporated and she suddenly felt very self-conscious.
A trilling and loud laughter erupted from the human's mouth as he held his abdomen with both arms crossed over it.
The turian was completely taken aback, throughout her lifetime of experiences that endowed her with a quick wit and a sharp tongue she had only rarely been rendered speechless. And of all the things she expected that any human could have ever said to her; a dig at her insecurities as a turian female was not one of them. It was such a niche and personalized insult she had no idea how to react.
Skipping away from them the human sped off down the street as quickly as he dared as to not fall on his rear again all while giggling like an idiot.
"Vee?" started Sid as she pulled on her older sister's arm. "Why did he say you have bony hips?"
"I don't! Shut up!"
-0-
Vetra worked in silence in the bright warehouse where she'd found employment, all while trying very hard to ignore the chill nipping at her feet.
The business was called "Sapphire Salvage and Relics" and was owned by an asari- thank goodness- named Lixan Druhn; the turian had been relieved and pleasantly surprised when she'd been offered a job before she could even ask for one as soon as she'd explained her experiences in smuggling as "resource acquisition". As it turned out before proper colonization efforts had taken place nearly half a century before, subtle gravitational pulls and mere serendipity had in fact seeded intergalactic satellites and other assorted detritus all over the planet while space-faring races homed in on the surrounding system.
It was also rumored there space pirates had also lost more than one ship that had then crashed into Mirrard, but no one had ever found out.
Work had been slow for the last few weeks and she'd mostly been directed to help with the SSR's other focus in between salvaging jobs; goods transportation and vehicular repair.
This required her to interact with the humans under Lixan's employ more than she would have liked. But they had been cordial enough, if standoffish, just as her employer had assured her they would be.
Activating her omnitool she began to scroll through the digital inventory looking for the right place to add a surplus vehicular part that they hadn't ordered. She clicked the right set and then stood from her small desk in the corner of the repair and retrofitting area, stretching her legs and picking up the small but heavy package she began to walk the part down the aisles of unidentifiable hardware. On her way, she passed Lixan's three human mechanics chatting happily who would better know where to put it away, but she didn't ask nor did they offer.
Suited her just fine. If it saved her the effort of conversing with the pink-skins then she'd just find the place herself.
After hefting the box into place she felt her omnitool vibrate, alerting her to a call. She clicked on the glowing orange display and answered "Nyx. What do you need?"
"Ms. Nyx, you have a phone call from the school."
Vetra narrowed her eyes, Sid was in trouble.
Again.
"What did she do? She's not listening to her teachers or did she get into another fight?"
Lixan chuckled on the other line, "That's mean. As Sid tells the story she's only ever fought bullies, though I cannot speak for the lack of attention at school. However, they wouldn't say. They insisted that the call was just for you as her only family."
Before she even spoke her legs were already moving rapidly toward Lixan's office. Insisting to speak to family was unusual and it set her on edge. Her employer's comment, though factual and well-meaning did sting a little. She wished their father was around, their mother was never around even when things were good anyway.
Hurrying up to her office she fumbled with the antiquated piece of technology before Lixan made a gesture for her to hold the receiver to her ear and the speaker to her mouth.
"Hello?"
"Ah, Ms. Nyx. This is Ana from the principal's office, your sister got hurt today."
"How?!" snapped Vetra before catching herself. Embarrassment colored her cheeks but hearing a human tell her her sister had been injured were two things she didn't like together, though it was not Ana's fault.
"Her class was let out for recess and I believe she tried to climb a tree, then slipped, fell and broke her leg."
"I'm on my way." blurted out Vetra before looking at Lixan for an instant and remembering she was at work. The Asari smiled sympathetically and waved her to go on.
"Wait!"
Vetra and Lixan focused on the phone's speaker.
"We took the liberty of contacting the nearby clinic as the owner is known to us. Your sister will require medical attention but perhaps the broken leg can be mended there instead of two hours away at the hospital in Kuov. Go to the clinic instead of here, Sid's teacher will be with her."
"Thank you, Ana." the Turian breathed through a clenched mandible and closed eyes.
She hated thinking like this but as she stepped out of SSR and into the snowy street and bright suns she wondered for a moment how much leaner the month was going to be in financial terms for whatever she clinic chose to gouge her for. Granted Sid nor she had ever made use of it but she said a small prayer to the spirits as she hadn't done in years:
"Spirits let my sister mend quickly. And please let it be a turian clinic."
-0-
Vetra opened the heavy wooden doors of the clinic as an amber light greeted her from inside and at first, she almost turned on her heel to leave.
"You are in the right place!" called out a Salarian behind a wooden desk.
The turian's eyes adjusted to the softer light and looked about; several tables lay about without obstructing passage to the salarian's own desk. Humans, salarians and a pair of asari waited in various states of mild injury or illness. A young human female came and went serving tea and offering healthy foodstuffs to the waiting patients. Vetra furrowed her brow in consternation; this looked more like someone's house than a clinic.
"Welcome to The Apothecary, I am Grinnisaria Ullamox, call me Grin for simplicity's sake. You must be Ms. Vetra Nyx, correct?"
Vetra shook her head for a moment realizing she was expected and approached the desk as the Salarian stood and gestured her towards the righthand hall.
"Yes, that's me. Where is my sister?"
"She is in room six, I shall take you there." Grin replied and she sped ahead with hurried but measured steps before gesturing to the room to her left with the perfect etiquette of an awkward hostess. "If you require anything else please activate the red button by the door inside the room and an attendant will be with you shortly," she added before withdrawing with the same unnecessarily speedy gait.
With a shudder then a sigh of relief Vetra let herself into the room to the glad face of Sid's asari teacher whose name she could not recall and the guilty look of her sister who remained seated and with eyes averted to her leg.
"I'm glad you are here, Ms. Nyx. I am so sorry this happened-"
"It is fine, don't worry. My little sister knows better than to go on climbing frozen trees, which is why I would never expect her to end up at a clinic for a broken leg."
Sid's hands fastened around her shins gingerly as her head shrunk into her shoulders.
"Like I warned her could happen. Just last week in fact."
A knock on the door interrupted the one-sided dialogue, "Can I come in, ladies?" called out a voice just outside. A human voice, a female.
Vetra clenched her fists without realizing as she expected yet another uncomfortable interaction. "Come in."
Blonde hair and bright blue eyes peeked through the door as a young-ish human female entered the room in clothing the likes of which the had never seen before.
White slacks with wrist length billowy sleeves and what appeared to be a white apron. She wore her hair in a tight braid and her smile betrayed no disdain for the turians in the room.
"Hi, you two are the Nyx sisters? I'm Amanda, I'll be looking after you for now." she started with a bubbly disposition to match her tone.
At this Vetra raised an eyebrow.
"Are you a doctor?"
Amanda clasped her hands before her and hung them at her waist in a fluid, practiced motion as her smile dampened. "No, ma'am. I am a medical assistant."
"So where is the doctor?"
"We don't have one."
Vetra blinked and her hand shot to grab her younger sister by a centimeter before she realized her sister had a broken leg and couldn't walk.
"What do you mean; you don't have a doctor? How is this clinic allowed to run without one?"
The human nodded her head deferentially and sighed without disrespect, "This is a common remark but I assure you Sindri is very capable of fixing a broken leg and he is more educated than most regardin-"
"If he's not a doctor then what is he?"
Amanda winced and said "He is the most senior medical assistant we have-"
"Sid, we are leaving."
The asari stood up for a moment and put her hand on Vetra's back sympathetically.
"Please, Ms. Nyx I understand your hesitance. Everyone has the same reaction but believe me when I say; sooner or later everyone comes to The Apothecary and gets patched up. It is not easy getting proper medical care out here in the frontier but Sindri is quite good and if there is something that is beyond his skill to heal he arranges transportation to Kuov where they do have a- more modern- hospital."
Vetra looked straight at her sister who was cringing away from her. She didn't have private transportation and the disaster it would be to try and find a willing driver in Grennik made the idea of walking palatable. Her options seemed slim against the snow.
With a sudden drop she sat down next to her sister, crossed her arms and looked at Amanda.
"If I so much as get a whiff that this glorified bedpan washer doesn't know what he's doing we are leaving."
Amanda smiled and her eyes glittered with humor once again.
"Funny you should say that, he's called himself as much. Last week when he helped deliver a baby he said-"
Her amicable demeanor withered under Vetra's glare.
"He just has a sense of humor, you know?"
The four sat in silence for a while before Sid spoke.
"I'm hungry."
Vetra looked at her younger sibling. It was neither a demand nor a request, it was one of those increasingly rarer moments where her little sister still acted like a child. She stated to the world around her that she wanted food.
"I don't think they have dextro-compatible food, kiddo."
Amanda frowned at the little Turian, "I could go ask at the front desk, honey. The worst thing that could happen is that the answer is no."
The older turian sighed, "No, do your job and stay with her. I'll go ask Grin."
Stepping out of the room Vetra and began to walk back to the front desk, as she did so she couldn't resist glancing into the open rooms as she passed. To her surprise, it was mostly non-humans who came to the clinic and conversely it was mostly human staff doing the actual healing. Each one was professionally dressed in their ridiculous outfits. She slowly became aware of a subtle scent and quiet in the hall between the rooms.
It was a pleasant smell, smoky and rich but she could detect no burning fires or herbs anywhere. The amber light had a warmth to it that made her feel good and was clawing at her nerves to settle. She realized for a place that was full of injured and ill people it was a surprisingly calm place.
"Thank you for the embroidery, Doc. And the stitches too, next round is on me when I catch you again." rumbled a krogan in an as amicable tone as that taciturn race is capable of as he stepped out of his room.
Vetra stood still for a moment as the krogan walked past her without a top and back towards the front desk where he asked if Grin had a sheet. Shooting up from her desk she shuffled away in her busy little half-run into another room before returning and wrapping the sheet like a shawl around the krogan's torso. Her eyes noticed the horrific-looking cut that was now so neatly stitched together on the brute's side. Then without words, Grin helped the Krogan put on his jacket which had a matching rip into its flank, which was also stitched expertly back together.
"Did you need something Ms. Nyx?" asked Grin as she turned her head to look at her.
Feeling a fresh flush of embarrassment for gawking she then shook her head and approached the Salarian. "Do you happen to have any dextro-compatible food? My sister is getting hungry."
Without breaking eye contact, Grin produced a little black apparatus with an antenna and two buttons on it. She pressed one and asked "Apothecary, do we have any food that is dextro-compatible? Your next patient, I fear, is becoming hungry."
A garble of static, "Dextro? Did we get a quarian patient finally? You know we have no sterile rooms, we'd be no good for them."
"No sir, a turian female. Ten years old, broken tibia and fibula, waiting in room 6. Increasingly hungry."
There was a short pause.
"Give me a minute to gather what I need."
Vetra frowned and Grin bowed her head slightly.
"I'll make sure he checks."
"Thanks. I really appreciate it."
Another garble of static, "Ms. Ullamox."
The Turian stopped in her tracks as Grin turned to look at her with a blank expression as if awaiting input.
"Yes, Apothecary?"
"Is this an unaccompanied minor in room 6?"
"No sir, her family is here."
"Have them file out, can't work with a crowded room."
Grin unclicked the button then pressed her palm against the speaker of the device as if to prevent eavesdropping from the other side.
"Ms. Nyx, will there be any other family coming?"
Vetra shook her head patiently, "No, it's just my sister and me ever since we left Palaven. No family."
"No, sir. It is just the patient and her sister ever since they left Palaven. No family." repeated.
Wide-eyed the turian stared back at the Salarian.
"Why would you repeat something like that to the doctor?"
"I repeated what you said. Should I have softened my quoting of what you said?"
Vetra looked at the salarian searching for an answer in her wide, black eyes. Something was off about her.
"And to correct you: Mr. Sindri Bogatyr is not a doctor he is the most senior-"
"I got that! He's not a doctor."
"I am glad you understand the technical difference. While he never went to any form of medical school many call him a doctor or "Doc" out of respect."
The turian looked at her for a moment longer before telling her she'd be returning to room six. Immediately after, Grin turned on her heel without delay and sat in perfect posture at her desk as their interaction was finished.
"Shit" Vetra thought to herself as she committed the name to memory. Sindri Bogatyr she would bet her last credit was a human name. Cringing she wondered how badly she was going to be bled for money after the orderly did his work. Perhaps she could work out a deal or a way to pay him over time. But it made her angry to know that she was going to be squeezed just because the humans on this planet hated the other races.
Pulling up her seat by her sister Vetra buried her hands in her face. The warm light and smell were coming back and her anxiety was slowly subsiding despite her being determined to worry.
"Vee-," Sid started.
"I'm sorry I broke my leg and caused a problem. I won't do it again."
A little hand pressed itself on Vetra's shoulder and lightly shook her.
Finding she couldn't fight a smile the elder sister looked at the younger.
"Kiddo, I just want you to be safe. That's all. I am angry because I was scared for you more than anything else. You know how important you are to me."
The asari smiled and Amanda covered her mouth to hide her own.
A curt knock on the door snapped the occupants of the room out of the moment, Amanda reached for the door and opened just enough to see who it was.
"Oh! Here he is, the man himself," she said as she swung the door open to reveal a medical professional not unlike her but dressed in black pushing a tray with new vials and needles, not to mention an unknown apparatus that looked like a baking oven.
The adults stood up as the man entered and Vetra's blood ran cold as she and he locked eyes.
Grinning from ear to ear and with a gratified glitter in his eyes to match the human stood up straight and laughed in earnest.
"And welcome back!" he intoned as he looked down at the younger Nyx.
"No." said Vetra as she placed her hand on the human's chest and pushed him backwards and into the wall- and not a little roughly. The man's expression did not change, he looked at her with amusement and not a hint of anxiety.
"No?"
"Not you. Get someone else."
With a toothy grin, the human put up a single hand and slowly shook his index finger.
"There is no one else. The rest of my staff is unfamiliar with turian anatomy-"
"Bullshit. There has to be someone here who can take care of my sister, but it won't be a pink-skin like you."
"Ms. Nyx! Language!" chided the asari as she snapped out of her silence.
"Madam, that is deeply inappropriate." started Amanda as she crossed her arms, her sunny disposition gone.
Vetra then became very aware of everyone else in the room.
"You don't understand, this creep touched my sister on the way to school this morning." she started at the women in the room.
Smiling with delight the human looked straight into her eyes.
"To be fair I touched your sister to push her out of the way of a bench you were about to walk her into."
"My sister doesn't need your help, stop talking about her like she's slow in the head because she could perfectly well see the bench."
"I didn't, I was looking at you to see if you were still mad."
"Sid!" Vetra snapped at her sister who had started to smile thinking the exchange was funny, mostly because of how gregarious the funny man from that morning was.
Turning her head back at the human she rasped through gritted teeth and a tense jaw, "Get. Someone. Else."
He returned her gaze evenly with a polite smile.
"No."
Vetra clenched her fist and of its own accord, it pulled back as if to wind it up to punch him in the face.
"I'll rephrase."
The asari and Amanda looked on, unsure what to do in breaking up a fight that had yet to start and at the same time afraid that if they intervened they could set the turian off.
"No, there is no one else I would trust to handle a broken leg on a turian child without my direct supervision. Secondly, are you going to put your sister through a two-hour drive through the snow to the hospital just because I was rude to you this morning?"
Underneath her faceplates, Vetra could feel the heat rising from being shamed. She gradually began to deflate and blush colored her cheeks from her outburst.
Why did it have to be this asshole?
"You love your sister, that much is obvious. I know that kind of love. Let me help her." said the human as he lightly touched her on the shoulder.
His tone was sincere and reassuring.
Taken aback by the sudden change in demeanor she stepped aside slowly as she continued to watch him.
The human smiled at her warmly and knelt down by Sid.
"What is your name, little miss?"
"Sidera Nyx, but everyone calls me Sid."
With another smile, the human shook her hand gently, "Well, how very nice to meet you Sidera Nyx. I am called Sindri Bogatyr. Do you mind if I pick you up and put you on the table? Which leg is hurt?"
The little turian touched her right leg and then wrapped her arms around Sindri's neck as he picked her up princess style and effortlessly stood with less than forty kilos of ten-year-old turian in his arms.
"Amanda, if you please would you bring the portable x-ray?"
The young woman nodded and bounded away, clearly satisfied the pair hadn't come to blows.
Reaching to his tray and stepping on a pedal beneath the medical table he pumped the table up to his abdomen and took another look at the various vials he had on the table and the according needles.
"So, Sid. How did this hurt come about?"
"I fell out of a tree."
"Why were you climbing it? The branches are brittle this time of year."
"This is my first winter, Vee and I haven't been here long."
"Oh? And how do you like it? I know we Mirrard humans are not a welcoming sort."
The little turian hissed as she shifted her leg and a fresh snap of pain brought her out of the conversation.
Nonchalantly Sindri poked her boot and said, "I'm going to very slowly take this off and roll up your pant sleeve so I can take a better look at your leg. Is that ok?"
Sid nodded and paid very close attention to Sindri's languid but practiced movements in delicately removing an article of clothing off an injury.
"Vee says that humans don't like non-humans and that I should stay away from them."
Suddenly very self-conscious Vetra wondered how much of a beating she was going to take in one conversation about her private advisement of her younger sister. She also didn't want to aggravate the only person who could mend her sister's leg in town but he'd surely have something indignant to say in defense of his species.
"Your sister is wise."
At this, the turian looked up at the back of the human's head. He continued as though only Sid and he were in the room even as Amanda walked in with an apparatus with a semi-circular dish sprouting from an arm in the machine's frame.
"Ms. Sid, on Mirrard much like everywhere else you have to figure who are your friends and who are not. It takes time to know if someone you've found is a friend that will last. Thankfully not-friends reveal themselves quickly, but I can tell you this much for certain; most humans on Mirrard don't want to be friends with you or your Vetra."
The little turian looked at him with consternation as she struggled to understand, her sister also listened intently.
"Does that mean you don't want to be my friend?"
Without pausing Sindri popped off her boot after zipping it while keeping her leg perfectly still, "Oh, I don't know about all that."
Holding his head high and looking down on Sid with an air of mild snobbishness he slipped a pair of nitrile gloves on.
"Making new friends is hard for me. I only really like toughs. You know the types. They don't cry when they get hurt, they are strong and dependable. The kind of people that remind me what it's like to be strong, so I can be the tough friend others rely on too."
Sid's eyes brightened as she gesticulated with her hands, likely as much to grab onto what he said as to coax the words out of her own throat.
"I'm tough! When I fell out of the tree I didn't even cry!"
Sindri stifled a laugh as he cocked his head down a bit now feigning surprise by the little Turian's claim.
"Wow, that's pretty tough. I cut my hand last week and I cried for an hour, Amanda saw."
"I did! It was pretty embarrassing."
Slapping both her hands onto her mouth as to not laugh at the human she wiggled in her seat at the table before continuing.
"Vee and I have traveled a lot too! We were born on Palaven where turians are from, but I'm too young to remember. I was just a baby when Vee and I started moving around too. We lived on a few space stations and that's super dangerous. If the windows get a hole in them it will suck you out and throw you into space and you'll die."
The human cupped his mouth while his face assumed an air of sincere dread as his assistant activated the machine and moved its dish upwards then oriented it a meter above Sid's leg.
"And you weren't scared?"
"Nope! My sister knows everything, she is really tough. Mother and father weren't around so she had to figure out what we were doing."
With a smile, Amanda interjected "I'm going to move your leg a little, ok honey? We just need to take a picture to see what's broken."
She reached over gently towards Sid's spurs before Sindri's hands lightly intercepted her. Sindri's eyes flickered and the air around him changed to that of the eponymous apothecary for which the clinic was named.
"Ms. Amanda, be mindful; the leg spurs on a turian are directly bonded to their tibial bones through the shin plates. While it does make an appealing little handhold you may just as well pull on the broken bones. So instead you should lift underneath the knee and beneath the ankle on their digitigrade feet, like so-"
Noiselessly and without a wince of pain, Sid looked on keenly, drinking in every word from her prospective friend as Sindri moved her leg over a few centimeters while only abducting her leg away from her body anatomically without disturbing the actual structure.
With a pleased exhalation, the human looked at the young turian and smiled.
"I'd be lucky to have a sister like yours, Vetra sounds like she's one of a kind."
Silently Amanda flipped on the half dish over Sid's leg as she then looked back to the machine and began to clack away on its old keyboard as the dish began to slowly glow.
"You don't have a sister?"
"Nope." the Apothecary smiled.
"Do you have a mother and father?"
"Nope!"
"Where were you born?"
"On the moon. I fell out of it and I'm not sure which is the right moon now."
"Are you being funny?"
"Nope," answered Sindri with a grin. "I promise, I don't have parents or brothers or sisters."
"Do you want to come live with Vetra and me?"
With a laugh Sindri shook his head, "I'm not homeless you ding-dong. I live somewhere out in the woods."
"Why so far?"
He leaned over to look at the machine's image. Giving Amanda a thumbs up and instructed her on the "print" for the little oven they had brought with them.
"Because it is hard for me to make friends and if I can't be around friends I'd rather be alone."
Amanda rolled her eyes as she punched his arm lightly.
"Don't let this mean old monster fool you. He's got plenty of friends and people who love him, he just insists on living all alone out in the cold."
Raising an eyebrow he looked at Amanda and asked "Who are you calling old? I haven't even had my thirtieth birthday yet."
"Couple more years, old man."
Turning around with a look of injurious surprise he turned to the other two adults in the room and whispered "Can you believe the level of disrespect I am treated with? It is as though I am moist garbage."
The asari stifled a laugh, Vetra shook her head trying not to giggle despite herself. For someone who she had felt ready to strangle to death a scant fifteen minutes prior, Sindri was easy to like.
He was also easy to hate she admitted to herself, so easy it was for him to worm under her scales and press just the right buttons to incense her.
Sindri clapped his hands together, as he smiled at Sid.
"Ms. Sid, you told me you are pretty tough and after all I've heard I am starting to think you've got some moxie. But-"
He paused for dramatic effect, Amanda covered her mouth and looked at Sid who seemed excited and expectant.
"I am going to need you to prove it."
Reaching over and turning the little tray upon which the machine rested he showed her and the adults in part the imagines on its screen.
"Now, here you snapped the two bones beneath your knee and above your ankle nice and clean. But the good news is that the snap was just so and nothing is going to need re-adjusting. Thank goodness for that. However, you will need an injection deep into the muscle for a bit of medicine that will help you mend faster and stronger."
Sid's eyes flickered to the tray and Vetra stood up holding herself, now the picture of a concerned sibling she stepped by Sindri looking at the image of her sister's broken bones.
"Why? Why will she need that?"
Turning towards Vetra, Sindri intoned warmly "To ensure she mends."
She looked at him confused.
"Why wouldn't she?"
"You haven't been here long, so I've heard from a little bird who told me. And dextro-compatible food is not easy to find here in Grennik and to be perfectly honest with you I will be tremendously upset if my patient does not heal properly for want of food. So what I am going to do is inject a cocktail of distilled medigel with all the vitamins and minerals a growing turian would need to heal a broken leg."
Vetra exhaled.
"She won't go hungry."
"I'm not hearing a no."
"Go ahead."
Sindri shook all three vials as he returned his gaze at Sid.
"As I said, I need you to prove to me that you are tough, Sid. That's if you want to be friends. If you don't think you can take the injection without flinching then I won't give it to you."
The little turian shook her head hard with a determined look on her face and tried lifting her leg to offer it before hissing in pain again.
"How bold," said Sindri with a smile before drawing the appropriate amounts out of each vial.
Holding up the large syringe he gave it a little squirt to test.
"Last chance to back out, Ms. Sid."
Feigning surprise, Sindri leaned back and whispered to Vetra much too loudly; "Do you think she's got this?"
With a smile she looked at her younger sister, "I know she does. She's tough."
The apothecary handed Sid a little swab of alcohol.
"Rub it where you want me to stick you with the needle."
Rubbing her calf vigorously Sid clenched her fists as she looked straight at Sindri then nodded.
Sindri wheezed as he laughed lightly, "Anywhere then."
Sid winced but remained perfectly still as with a practiced hand the needle slipped into the soft flesh on the back of her calf then withdrew after a quick push of its plunger.
"All done!" said Amanda as she clapped for Sid.
Removing his glove with that same air of pretension he'd so quickly summoned before Sindri bowed his head respectfully and offered his bare hand to the little turian.
"Sidera Nyx, I would be very proud to be able to call myself your friend. Do you still want to be friends?"
Excitedly she reached for a hug which Sindri leaned into and amicably patted her back.
"I'm glad. Are you hungry?"
"I am!" answered Sid instantaneously.
Sindri then reached into his pockets and produced few bars of dextro-compatible sweets and treats.
"Do I get to pick one?"
"Nah, take them all. You are my only turian friend anyways."
With a squeak, Sid grabbed them and tore into one with a green label before wolfing it down oblivious to the ding of the oven apparatus.
Smiling placidly Sindri patted Sid on the head and made an offering gesture to Amanda, "Brace fitting and physical education is your wheelhouse, Amanda. Please excuse me for some paperwork."
"See you later, my friend," he said.
Sid waved happily, "Bye-bye, Sindri!"
And with that, the apothecary was gone out the door.
Vetra blinked then looked at the asari teacher then at Amanda as she went about fitting velcro straps to a silicone shell the oven had cooked up that looked like it would fit the leg of a ten-year-old turian.
"I'm sorry, what's your name?"
The asari smiled, "Mrs. Rivana."
"Could you watch her for a bit, I have to ask Sindri about something."
With a wink from Rivana, Vetra got up and left the room and sped after the fleeing healer.
"Sindri." Vetra called out only for the man to turn and wonder out loud as much to her as to himself "Did I forget something?"
Closing the distance with him Sindri turned again and walked away from her and past the main lobby.
"It occurs to me that I should write you some instructions and notes before I send you two home."
Anxiety nipped at the edges of Vetra's fluttering mandibles. As pleasant as this visit to a medical clinic had turned out and the deft way this morning's tormentor had with children to make said visit borderline fun she was dreading what was to come next.
The subject of payment.
Frontier grants from Palaven didn't include visits to a community medical clinic instead of a perfectly good hospital two hours away.
"I wanted to thank you for being so good with my sister. I haven't seen her that engaged in a long time, it's like she is acting her age again. In a positive way, I mean." she started as she took a seat in Sindri's office.
"No worries, Ms. Nyx. I like children and I like helping others," he said with a half-smile as he looked at Vetra again.
She winced. There it was again; a frigid look in his eye like he didn't see her but through her.
"I was worried after this morning. You seemed so angry after you looked at me."
With a deepening scowl, Sindri's eyes bored into Vetra's.
"My ass hurt."
Instead of looking away or arguing Vetra looked into his eyes and held his gaze. She had developed the ability to read the room and someone's disposition when she'd been smuggling in the more civilized parts of the galaxy before coming to Mirrard. And there was something embedded deep into the man's eyes.
There was a not-insignificant amount of genuine but expertly restrained anger.
Some contempt simmered there too, she could see it on his lips.
But deeper still was a well of something strange that was slowly bubbling up, before she could guess at what it was the human looked away and back down to his notes.
What is wrong with you? she thought to herself.
Scribbling rapidly on a piece of lined paper with a pen Sindri began to reiterate in a kinder tone.
"Obviously, Sid needs to use the immobilizer we printed out for her and the crutches we will provide for her until she gets better. With the dextro-OSPRP injection I gave her will ensure she'll heal smoothly but she needs to eat and remain active so she mends as though nothing happened and she grows up fine and healthy."
"That's actually something I wanted to touch on with you."
"Dextro-food can be found in Grennik. I can give you the name of the guy who sells it."
"Not that, Sid won't go hungry."
Sindri looked up from his pad and the air between them began to chill again, his pen flicked in his fingers to point at Vetra like a black talon.
"You are all the kindred that that little girl has. You cannot afford to falter."
The turian bristled at him.
"I know that. I've been taking care of her since she was born. I don't need a-"
"Pink-Skin?" interjected Sindri with a smile.
Vetra blinked at him before very obviously choosing to continue her train of thought.
"-a stranger, to tell me what my sister needs."
Satisfied with her answer Sindri then turned around and rifled through a list of cards, one of which he copied the numbers off of.
"This guy is reliable and he's not a pink-skin. He can sell you the high end ready to eat meals like in the turian military gives its officers instead of what it gives the troops in- what's that called? Bootcamp?"
"Wouldn't know what that's like, never finished it." she snapped back before shutting her eyes, wondering why she offered that information just to be a contrarian.
Upon opening her eyes she could see the contempt dripping from Sindri's face.
"It shows."
Vetra stood up from the chair and snarled at him "How much is this going to cost?"
"The food? I don't know how much per unit."
"No, you asshole. The treatment you gave my sister."
Instantly brightening in demeanor and tone the human smiled and brought his hands up as if dredging the price from the depths as he stood up.
"Nothing."
Vetra narrowed her eyes at him.
"I'm waiting to hear a number and I'm in no mood for any more of your bullshit today. What are you going to charge me for healing my sister and the privilege of insulting me to my face and getting away with it."
The smile never left his face and the sincerity in his warm tone never wavered as he answered her.
"Get fucked. You don't owe me anything."
Vetra raised her clenched fists to her head and took a deep breath. Spirits help her she was going to kill this man.
"Everything comes with a price, either in money or in favors. I am not leaving until I owe you neither."
"Oh yes you are because you don't owe me anything and you are not pig-headed enough to stick around to settle some imaginary debt between us all the while preventing your sister from going home."
Snapping his fingers at her in the gesture of a gun he added, "You shit-wit."
Stomping her foot hard enough for it to echo down the hall Vetra stepped well into Sindri's space before lowering herself to near eye level even as she towered above him.
"I am not leaving a loose end for you to call in some favor later. I mean it, how much will this cost?"
A smug and triumphant expression broke on Sindri's face as he turned his face away from her in crude mimicry of modest embarrassment.
"I don't think I've ever had an uglier woman flirt with me this aggressively before in my life."
Vetra scraped her fingers along her crest as her face contorted in rage.
"Listen- Vee- I am flattered but I think turians are the most disgusting things ever to have walked creation."
Turning away from the woman with murder in her eyes he gathered together the instructions and paperwork for his patient's recovery.
"And you don't owe me a single credit. Besides the silicone immobilizer costs next to nothing and the medicine I gave your sister was basically a vitamin shot I can that I can get more of for a song. So get fucked, and get out. Now." he said as he excused himself out of his office before anouncing "Next!"
Vetra felt anger like she hadn't in years. Not when she'd been cheated out of six months' worth of credits by a rival on Junavi III or when Sid had 'accidentally' broken an old lamp she had treasured since the early days when she had taken up construction jobs to make money for the both of them.
She hated him, she hated this human.
Spirits, forgive me I'm going to hurt him. He healed Sid, but I'm going to beat him until he shits himself one day.
'Healed'
By his own admission, he'd given her an injection of something Sid could have just eaten trace amounts of for virtually the same effect.
"Next time, we're going to Kuov and damn whatever we need to do to get there."
Vetra took a moment to calm down before stepping out of the office. Striding back to room six and pointedly ignoring Sindri as he knelt by the two asari at the reception. He asked in a genuinely dulcet tone "Myra and Gola what has happened, my friends?". There she faltered for an instant before recalling what he'd said in the office.
I think Turians are the most disgusting things ever to have walked creation.
Now remembering his treatment of the krogan and the asari, his comment didn't come off as a dig just to get under her skin.
It was a statement of fact.
The hostility, the contempt, and the brazen insults were all because this two-faced asshole had a problem with her. Not because of anything she did but because of what she was. But then why pretend for Sid's benefit? Why pretend to strike up a genuine friendship with her and not turn her away like she knew he wanted to? Straight into the snow and ice with no vehicle to Kuov. Why not hang up a sign saying "No Turians" or whatever other colorful expletives he could think of? Why go out of his way to bring her sister sweets, why stock dextro-compatible food if he hated them so much?
Vetra looked at her younger sister surrounded by Amanda and Mrs. Rivana, all smiles and trying out her new crutches. She mustered and smile and a thank you to them both before gesturing to Sid to come with her. The asari followed them then got the door before stepping outside herself into the cold winter air and the dying light of Mirrard's gentle suns.
"Wait just a moment." squeaked Grin as she tried and failed to catch the door before it closed behind them with a dull thud.
Vetra looked at the salarian as she exited the clinic, she suddenly felt very tired. "What can I help you with, Grin?"
"Nothing at all, it is, in fact, you who is in need of help; more specifically to be given your paperwork and additional information. It seems you forgot it at the Apothecary's office."
"Ah, thank you Grin. There's nothing important on there though, Mr. Bogatyr basically told me to keep her fed, watered and rested and the contents of the sugar water he injected her with she could have just eaten. Thanks anyway."
The salarian cocked her head slightly to her side.
"Why would the Apothecary inject your sister with sugar water, the paper clearly states he gave her thirty milliliters of dextro-compatible-osteoblast stemcell-platelet-rich-plasma in a forty milliliter -"
"I'm sorry, he gave my sister what?"
"He gave her thirty milliliters of-"
"Grin I heard you, but I don't know what that stuff does."
The salarian's head righted itself as she breathed then exhaled a puff of cold air.
"It heals. The osteoblast stem cells assist rapidly with bone repair and the platelet-rich plasma is key to the accelerated healing of torn flesh, ligaments and joints."
"And is that a common thing he hands out?"
Grin shook her head emphatically, "No ma'am. Not at all. Very rare, very expensive. Don't know how he got a hold of some."
Vetra turned fully towards the shivering salarian.
"How much does that stuff cost, Grin?"
"In a capital world such as Palaven where they can presumably manufacture the substances, perhaps thirty thousand credits per treatment. Out here I would wager such medicinal substances would be worth four times the price perhaps? Adjusting for inflation."
Grin bowed her head and returned quickly indoors, unwilling to weather the cold any longer than a minute.
The older turian stood frozen, blinking. A clap on the shoulder brought her back to reality.
"It is a blessing to have someone willing to do so much for our young. And for nothing too I bet. Not that that's unusual for him, that Sindri." said Mrs. Rivana.
Vetra looked again at the wooden doors and the sign above it.
"The Apothecary"
"Did this asshole just spend one hundred and twenty thousand credits of specialized medicine just to heal my sister and say nothing?"
"Did he just tell me to get fucked?"