"I implore you, sir! You need to rest up!"
"I'll sleep when I'm not needed, Sarbor!"
The arm blocking the door frame leading into Dr. Sallus' disorganized office did not bunch no matter how far back the monster doctor's white ears bent. Lit with orange by the quick sunset outside his office's wide window, they slid down the back of his head as he looked up with a stern stare at the mustached human preventing his exit out his office while stood at a very awkward bend, yet still firm and decisive against letting Dr. Sallus out the door.
"You know full well that there will never be a time when you're not needed, Sallus," his apprentice scorned back at him with a tiredness sinking at his eyes that was worse than Bonny's. "Let us apprentices take care of the night while you rest up. If needed we'll call up the soldiers again and–"
With a sudden explosion of angry wrinkles, the fluffy and white bunny nose turned sourer than puss. "We are not risking more human lives, Sarbor!" His roar was that of a lion. "We already have military personnel in the morgue, and by Ebott's shadow you knows that it'll be a damn mess already to get that sorted out afterwards due to Clinic Hill balancing between Monster Country and Xoff jurisdiction." A streak of weak fire followed his angry slash upwards, licking against Sarbor's hand accidentally and forcing him to retreat it to his mouth in reflex.
Bonny did not take the opportunity though to sneak past. He was too proud to take advantage of such a backhanded trick, even if it was an accident. "No, the soldiers that remain down at that temporary station are for transport and nothing more. They are already risking enough without us asking them to throw their lot in further in a situation they have no damn idea about."
The burn on Sarbor's hand was that of just grabbing a cup of tea that was hotter than expected, so his hand returned to blocking Sallus' path before the monster doctor had finished speaking. "You're not willing to risk soldiers that have sworn and dedicated their lives to protect their country, but you are willing to risk the lives of civilians and peasants that have come to you pleading for your help by not sleeping?" Sarbor's eyes hardened as best as they could with such tiredness tugging him face down into a hanging mess of angered emotions. "It's been days, Dr. Sallus. Not only that, but it has been nights as well. You're making mistakes."
"I'm still saving more by being awake than I am being asleep." The small tail whipped as best as it could. "And you apprentices and the nurses are there to catch those mistakes when I do them."
"So you admit to your decisions being compromised due to lack of sleep?"
Oh for…
"It's just statistics at this point, Sarbor." Bonny's finger rubbed at his nose between his eyes. It felt good to have them closed. Too good, in fact. He had to stop rubbing and open them up, but even he could feel that they opened too slow to not show the extent of his tiredness. He could barely muster up the slightest of cold magic inside the palms of his hands which he pushed up to his face to help him wake up. Despite him not being of flesh and blood it still worked because he believed in it.
There had even been some signs that it worked as a remedy with him accidentally just giving tea rather than an actual remedy to some of the plague-struck patients and then seeing an improvement in their condition. If the patient just believed that something would help them heal it looked as if it had an effect. With it working with Bonny too perhaps it meant that it was something from the soul?
Nothing he could experiment further with though whilst both of the brick houses were fuller than anyone could ever have imagined. The plague killed quickly, but not quick enough that the neighboring villages, and plenty beyond, couldn't bring their sick ones in hopes of being treated. The plague killed though, as it had the last time it was casting its deadly veil over Xoff. It killed even worse to boot, almost as if it had become stronger during its absence. It didn't make sense. It had just become…
"Statistics," Sarbor sighed in empathy with his monster teacher. His hand budged for a brief moment from pressing against the door frame, but only for a moment. He leaned in more with his shoulder, pushing it even harder and sturdier. "Already it has become just statistics..." Even without an aura there was an air of tired despair hanging over the tall human.
His mustache which always gave him such a proud presence hung his face even heavier. Even the colorful orange which pushed itself through the wide window could not light it up. "Last time we did not reach that point until the plague had begun to ease down. The worst was over when it became just statistics."
If only Bonny's magic was strong enough that he could have given his apprentices enough magic to have Cooperative Connections. "Now the worst has only begun, I'm afraid, my apprentice." If only his own magic was more directly relevant instead of indirectly through multiple steps. "And it is because I do not know when exactly the worst will hit that I can't rest." If only he didn't have to rely on a child to use healing magic in his stead. "I need to be awake for that." If only... "I must be."
If only everything.
"I want to say that I understand you in that, Bonny, but my heart still believes fully that you are making a mistake, and as your apprentice I am here to help you correct that." Sarbor let his stained and apron-dressed length stand above Dr. Sallus once again in the door frame. "I do not believe that the state that you are in is the best for the humans that you have sworn to take under your care, and for that I again implore you to rest until you can be awake enough to uphold the hope that you have promised your patients. Please, Bonny."
The monster doctor's tired eyes met his human apprentice's even tired ones once again.
"I beg of you, with all of my heart and soul."
He…
"Rest up for the sake of your patients."
Sarbor spoke of his soul!
"You need it."
He...he never spoke of his soul. Not even among his monster colleagues. He must have been desperate to plead with his magical side as well as his physical one. Was he that desperate to get Bonny to sleep that he would throw away every bitter thought he had against human magic?
The shock had the monster doctor stumbling backwards with his eyes blinking in disbelief. He knew fully that Sarbor said it to tell how deeply he felt about the situation. He knew fully that it was a trick of the rhetorical kind.
Yet it worked.
Because Bonny believed in it.
Even if he did believe in it though it wasn't a cure, but merely a remedy for a few symptoms. It was experimental, a wild guess that hopefully slashed tangentially at the true answer.
A risk.
A gamble born out of lack of other options that did not bring a satisfactory conclusion, only an unbalanced impasse that did not budge no matter how much was thrown at it.
A trait that Dr. Sallus' apprentice wore like a badge.
"Sarbor."
Gambles cost lives though.
"I will not rest until I alone make that choice."
Lives that could have been saved using known and proven tactics.
"For as much as I trust your judgment, I trust mine more."
Tactics that have managed to keep the brick buildings merely full and not overwhelmed.
"Where that fails is where you and your colleagues pick it up. That is where your judgment comes in, and not before. Sleep is less an importance for a monster compared to a human, and the fact that I have to remind you of that is worrisome." Dr. Sallus' ears stood up, reaching over Sarbor's hanging mustache. "And while I appreciate your thinking of me as human it is not applicable during this time of crisis where we need to be focused on what has been proven to work."
"Like sleep," came an instant response from the apprentice that still would not budge despite his teacher's explicit order and authority. "Sleep has been proven to bring back lost energy in monsters even if it is less important than for a human."
Dr. Sallus ears fell back again and he again pinched the bridge of his nose from underneath his glasses. His closed eyes did not feel comfortable though that time. "You could have spent time preparing for relapses and a new wave of sick humans arriving next morn. Hell, you could have gotten some sleep yourself, Sarbor. Yet you keep yourself standing here in my way impeding me to do my job."
"I am doing mine," Sarbor repeated with just as much conviction and tall posture. "To boot, I am here on the request of all the others. Of all the other apprentices and nurses that work for you. They have all voiced concerns over your lack of sleep, and have sent me to convince you. I am the one with the short stick here among my colleagues, Sallus. I am not asking them to do the impossible, they are asking me," he finished off with a point down the dimly lit hallway empty of humans nor monsters.
"Calling it impossible for me to consider getting some sleep is ridiculously hyperbole even if it is correct." Bonny's eyebrow shot up as did his respective ear. "I will sleep once I trust that the situation will be capable with my absence, but not before that."
With a blink, Sarbor eyes went from challenging to averting, wandering off towards the large bookcase covering the left wall of the office. "It's not you getting some sleep that we consider impossible." He shook his head slowly, as anything fast would have him faint. "That is me prioritizing that you should be wide awake for the impossible." Sarbor tilted his head down towards his teacher. "The other apprentices and I have come to the conclusion that this plague isn't caused by miasma."
It hurt again when Bonny closed his eyes again with a deep inhale through his nose and a slow exhale through his disappointed mouth. "Sarbor," he stated still with his eyes closed. "Why, in this time of great medical strife, are you colluding against me?" Bonny wasn't angry with his apprentice. "Why, when the methods we are applying are proving as efficient as can be expected considering the circumstances, are you impeding me trying to save more humans?"
He was disappointed, however.
"Why, when your colleagues are looking to me for strength and wisdom, do you plant seeds of doubt that has them growing suspicion against the one that's taught them?" There was a time and a place to approach other angles of approach. "Why, Sarbor, do you not trust me?"
But it wasn't when Bonny was needed more than he'd ever been needed before!
Again he has to say that to his best apprentice!
Why?!
"So me getting sleep was so that you could formulate yourself better in order to try and convince me, no?" Bonny continued to press with the rim of glasses drowning inside the wrinkles on his nose. "This short stick of yours you don't trust yourself wielding and hence you needed time to formulate better that my proven theory of miasma is incorrect?" His white hand again swept the air between him and Sarbor, but with no magic following it. Bonny's emotions were in check.
Sarbor's clearly weren't.
"The testimonies from the sick humans contradict the miasma theory," Sarbor replied after his flat hand against the door frame curled to grip it. Even with that there was still a pleading desperation in his voice. "They have spoken about relatives getting sick in villages where none previously had and where they were preventing any source of miasma from building. The river villages from many of the other splits of Ymmet River have been infected despite the wind blowing the other way." Sarbor paused for breath. As he did, his fingers curled even deeper into the wood as Bonny's expression remained neutrally disagreeing. "And some of the relapses here have been inside the rooms with the positive pressure. The rooms were checked afterwards and found nothing wrong with the air system. From the slim communication we've had a sketch has been drawn that this plague is caused by something else than miasma."
Dr. Sallus pushed his slid-down glasses back up his nose with a slight sigh that spoke of his frustration more than his words could ever. "Are you implying that the same disease with the exact same symptoms from the previous plague has changed itself so drastically that it is no longer covered by the miasma theory yet still acts the exact same way?" Words still helped Bonny to express his confusion though.
Sarbor's eyes softened. "This is why I wanted more time to formulate myself," he said like an apology. "I firmly believe that there is something different than miasma causing this plague, and I did so during the previous plague as well. At the time though I could not run any experiments, and in-between I did not find any other examples which supported my suspicion. Now though, with even some of the nurses and other apprentices noticing that something is amiss, I am now convinced that there is something else!" His conviction flared up through his other arm as well, which came up to grip at a blood stain on his apron over his heart. "The miasma theory is wrong about the plague, Dr. Sallus!"
The desperate voice echoed throughout the three-storied house and out into the early night that descended silently over Clinic Hill. The deep orange that had painted Sarbor's face with light shadows became more and more darker as the quick Xoffian night rushed to replace the lively orange with a bitter dark-blue which emphasized the deeper shadows underneath his eyes.
Bonny watched the harsh breathing of his apprentice for a few of the nightly bitter moments that passed between and around them through the wide office window. "And what do you suggest we do about it, pray tell?" he then posed with a gentle, yet authoritative tone to his voice. Again he watched his apprentice, but no answer came to the question posed to the human apprentice to the monster doctor.
"How much time should we spend searching for this specter of yours? How many lives should we set aside for you and your colleagues to chase a solution born out of stress and finding hope where you feel that none exist?" Neither with the next question there was no answer. "I do not choose to continue our course through this stormy weather because it is easy, Sarbor." Bonny placed his hand on his chest. "I choose to because it is the hardest decision to make. To stick with the statistics is the most difficult choice I can make in my situation. How we treat the sick humans with what has been proven to give the most efficient recovery, and not the flashiest or headline-grabbing."
Sarbor looked away again.
"Believe me, my apprentice, I would be the one most excited about the miasma theory being proven wrong, but we can not prove it wrong right now." Bonny knew exactly where Sarbor were coming from. After all, he hadn't become as knowledgeable as he was just by reading books. He'd seen all the ways a human could die, and plenty of times to boot. "The symptoms are too dire for us to give effort to the underlying cause should it be different than what we have already established."
Dr. Sallus didn't know it firsthand though. Despite all of his, after and all, he was still a monster treating humans. There was still a disconnect, even if it was small. Maybe it was what had him pushing against Sarbor wanting to explore the plague being caused by something other than miasma, but even if it was that fact, Bonny still needed to stick to his monster choice against his human apprentice. Wavering would have been worse than putting his large foot down.
"There's only really one experiment I am willing to go through."
An experiment which pertained to both the potential of another underlying cause as well as the disconnect.
As Sarbor realized what Bonny meant he was the one to argue against. His hanging mustache curled up as his lips thinned into a dismissive scowl which had him shake his head against his teacher and employer. "The Monster Mages changing your magic is even riskier than pursuing another angle to the plague's origin, with all due respect."
His hand disconnected from the door frame and was thrown vaguely towards where Monster Country was located. "On top of that they are foreign military. They were invited by you personally, yes, but as you said, it is inviting the Monster Mages from Monster Country territory in Monster Country to Monster Country territory in Xoff. Last time they visited the plague was under control, but right now it isn't. The County Generals would never let them through."
"I made sure to leverage my influence and some favors to clear the road that they were supposed to travel on," countered Bonny with a tightened brow and sharp angle to his ears. "Do not let your bias against human magic get in the way, Sarbor." Just as how Bonny could not understand firsthand how it was to be human, Sarbor could not understand firsthand how it was to be monster. Bonny was betting his very soul on the Monster Mages changing his magic to make his magic better.
It had become imperative.
A dire situation was still dire, even if it hadn't blossomed beyond what-even Clinic Hill was capable of. Dr. Sallus was jaded, that he would never spout as false, but that jaded nature he needed to have, as without it…
Without it he would have been like Sarbor.
No offense to his best apprentice, of course.
Even though it is what Bonny has done the entire evening, really.
"Singe my soul..."
Maybe he did need some sleep.
"I don't like repeating myself, especially when I'm asking something from someone else," said Sarbor underneath his breath as his teacher rubbed his eyes for the third time. The first time he did the sun was plenty visible outside the wide window, but at the third time the orange had turned into a darkened blue heeding the arrival of the silvery moon about to cast a brighter, yet also dimmer, light through the window at the human and the monster struggling in their ever-difficult effort to save whatever lives they could. "However I hope that you've at least seen why I am worried and where I am coming from with those worries. You taking a good night's rest will say to us that you're calm enough about the plague to do so."
There was a long silence between the two which told Sarbor plenty enough. "If only it were so," Bonny sighed into the floor with his ears folding over his head. "If only it were so, Sarbor."
The silvery glittering that followed the moon's rise brought with it a sigh from Sarbor as well, but not fully. Halfway through it, his eyes blinked with a surge of focus which had him turning into the hallway. "That's not the moon," dripped from his mustache. His monster teacher leaned his head out too, his ears stood up and reaching just below Sarbor's wrinkled forehead. "Is it magic?" he commented towards the fluttering glitter that tapped quietly against glass, illuminating the otherwise-dim hallway with silvery rays dotting the walls, floor, and ceiling, moving around with each tap.
Bonny traded a glance with his apprentice before the two set off down the hallway towards the locked entrance. They didn't speak a word, as their minds were busy with thoughts about what magic it could be knocking at the door in the beginning of the night?
"A scroll?" reacted Sarbor as his long legs brought him to round the hallway corner a few steps before his teacher. He waited for Bonny to arrive at his side, and the two stood still staring at the floating scroll tapping again and again at the glass on the front door.
"A magical scroll," Bonny corrected while still as confused as his apprentice. "With the Monster Royals' stamp on it too!"
Could it have been?
"Let it in, Sarbor!" said Bonny hurriedly while wafting his hand towards the locked doors. "It has to be," his emotions then spoke for him as his apprentice fished up the keys from his pocket. "It must be from the Monster Mages!"
A pause, small yet noticeable, came to be between Sarbor putting the key into the lock and then turning it. Even so, he still let the magical scroll in, which promptly ignored him fully and instead floated over to Bonny's outstretched hands. The magic from the scroll tingled at his fingers as it settled its slim weight inside his excited, furry palms. "It is!" he shouted eagerly. "It's from Cter! I can feel my own magic from it!" Like a child with a new present, the monster doctor opened the scroll with all haste, discarding the broken seal on the floor in his hurried eagerness. His eyes darted left to right with all haste, and his smile grew each time his eyes lowered to another row.
The smile was hidden from Sarbor though. "What does it say?" Not for long, however, as when Bonny lowered the parchment from his face, his smile shone brighter than the moon did in its silvery glory outside the opened door. The cold night air was enough to have Bonny's extended ears fall behind his head.
"It says–"
His relieved cough threw thick tears from his eyes which dotted the floor around the broken and discarded purple seal.
"It says that I can sleep tonight, Sarbor."
