"Keep it Brief"
Vhalar 115, arc 717
The Etzos Prime Sanitarium had a bevy of comfortable beds; recipients of multiple praises by those who'd suffered the varieties of injuries and illnesses that one could expect to require the necessity of such bedrest.Concussions, sprained joints, broken ribs, over-stepped nerve strain and even simple lacerations of surface tissue were all qualified categories of injury and trauma. And all were listed on the chart currently assigned to Fiona Zippomaria O’Connor, more commonly known as "Zipper". But it was not the Prime Sanitarium where Zipper was to receive her bedrest and recuperation.
In the Hall of Rule and Reprimand, from where the Black Guard staged their teams and peace-keeping operations, they also kept a guard-only infirmary. One would find far more frugal and austere accommodations there. It would be more accurate to refer to the furnishings as "cots". It was not held as good training and conditioning maintenance to have injured guards enjoying luxurious convalescence in thick, comfortable beds.
It had long been judged better to keep them toughened up with the knowledge that bedrest was not going to be anything much better than what prisoners received in the levels below. Only a genuine injury would benefit from being laid up in these flat, hard mats. They would not be comfortable enough to encourage false claims.
Zipper's injuries were not faked; that much had been established. What had not been established was the manner in which they'd been afflicted, nor the perpetrator of the deed. Master Torvyn, of the "Domain Branch" of the Black Guard, already had a good idea who was responsible. And while he was truly not surprised to find her here under these circumstances, the warning had been given. And however antagonistic he knew her to be capable of being, he was not going to allow a subordinate to lash out this way.
He had tracked down the bureaucratic screw-up that had resulted in the wells assigned to this pair being misplaced. It had been his intent to deliver them personally to Zipper and Stark. He was still willing to offer her one of them, but he was not about to grant a well to a underling that had thrashed his superior to such a degree.
The young sorceress was scheduled to give a briefing on her progress in putting together a company of mercenaries in Foster's Landing. There was some sufficiently vague wording in the Foster's Landing charter that made for an opportunity to rescind the promised autonomy on a technicality, if they accepted this company as a recognized force. It was primarily the withholding of the fact of it being headed by an officially registered member of the Black Guard that would create the loophole.
Zipper had been assigned to see to it,however grudgingly, by Torvyn himself. This was as much to get her out of his hair as it was in any hope of success. And now she'd come back to Etzos to give a report, only to get herself beaten into a recovery bed in the Black Guard infirmary. Torvyn had no doubt who had done it. All he needed was confirmation. He glared down at her as she stirred, "So, I guess I'm supposed to be surprised that I find you here when you're supposed to be giving a progress report instead? Well, that can wait. It's just as well that this insubordination be finished with sooner than later."
He gave a long exasperated sigh, "I had a feeling my warnings were going to go unheeded by one of you. To be honest, I thought it would be the Stark fellow that I'd find here, and you I'd be dragging in here in chains to face discharge and incarceration. I guess I owe you some sort of verbal commendation for restraining yourself and embracing law over revenge."
He'd made a vaguely directional gesture over his shoulder to the doorway behind him as he named "the Stark fellow". It was as much a signal as it was a comment, and one of Master Torvyn's personal assistants appeared with a glowing chain in his hand, the slack hanging to something beyond the door. The chain was warded against the Defiance domain, and an additional tug prompted the prisoner at the far end to follow the underling into the room for Zipper to confirm the identity of her attacker.
It was Robin Stark, and he looked as angry as he was magically impotent...