Quinday, Bertzia 15th 067.M42
I took a personal day today, so I could go down and see Arlean like she'd asked. I have to admit to telling a slight lie to Scribe-Master Warders - I wouldn't have been able to do so any other way, and Arlean said she wanted to see me this week. So I told Warders that I had a family emergency down in the lower hive, and that my sister had called urgently for my assistance. Thankfully my good attendance stood up for me here. I don't normally ask for time off, and even more rarely for unscheduled time off so she was willing to let me have the day without too many questions. I still feel guilty as frak... calling out at the last moment like that, and even worse lying about it... but this isn't like Arlean. In the time since she joined the Sororitas, she's never called me down to visit her in her clinic. And she's definitely never insisted I come down as soon as I can like that.
So I called in. I told Maddy the truth, of course. I trust that she's not going to betray me. Even if she's the most likely to get a promotion immediately on the back of my downfall. But I do trust her. And Throne bless, she was so lovely about it. She's never even met Arlean, but she was so worried about her - asking if she was well, if she'd fallen ill or fallen into any trouble. I had to tell her I knew about as much as she did at that moment, but I promised I'd update her on what was going on as soon as I saw her again.
Though... there's not really anything to update her on now that I've been and gone down there. Arlean's message had sounded urgent enough - she was insistent that she wanted me there before the week was out, but she wouldn't say why over the vox. But when I got down there, it was almost like she'd forgotten that she'd callled me down there. She seemed surprised to see me when I walked into the clinic, and more than a little distracted. I mean, I know she's busy, and certainly I had no wish to disturb her, but she barely looked at me while we were talking, and every so often she'd just fade off in the middle of a sentence or seem to forget what she was talking about. This isn't like Arlean at all, but she insisted she was fine, just busy, and that if I insisted she called me there, that she had forgotten what was supposed to be so important.
Overall it was just confusing. In the end we talked for a little while longer before she eventually begged off and told me she had to return to her duties. We had a final quick chat about Mum and Dad and Mei, she made a vague promise to come up again for dinner "sometime soon" and then I left.
My first thought was that she had contracted this illness that she told us about last time she came up for dinner. But she didn't seem ill. Admittedly I'm not a chirurgeon, but she didn't seem feverish, or pale or sick-looking. Maybe a bit tired? Maybe she's just feeling a bit run down, all the work has caught up with her. If she'd overreacted to something, I could see her trying to brush it off and pretend it didn't happen, maybe?
Regardless, I was a little annoyed that I spent one of my personal emergency days to do this. I mean, it was good to see my sister again, but still. Maybe I should have called first.
Thought for the Day: The Emperor will never give you more than you can handle. If you cannot handle His tasks then the failing is yours and yours alone.
