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After Annayah and Kalya finished eating, they walked back to Annayah's quarters. There they said their goodbyes and parted company. Kalya's duty shift began within the hour and she to go get ready for work. She promised that she'd stop by again in the morning to see how her friend was doing.

With that, Annayah was left alone again and at a bit of a loss as to what she should do. She shouldered the door to her quarters aside and sat down on the edge of her bed. Normally she would be out patrolling the streets at this hour. In a way, she was glad that she didn't have to go through her normal ten hour duty shift. Her headache was still pounding in her ears and she was grateful that she didn't have to go out and patrol the streets. The mystery stew that she'd had for lunch had settled rather uncertainly in her stomach and she was beginning to wonder whether it would be content to stay there or not. She yawned and winced slightly. She relaxed a bit and stared at the wall for a couple of minutes. Even though she wasn't feeling all that well, she still missed the daily drudgery of her regular shift. Boredom crept up on her far too easily when there was little for her to do and there was nothing to distract her from the silent loneliness that surrounded her when her work was done.

Annayah pushed herself to her feet and adjusted her jerkin. She stepped over the chaos strewn about the floor of her quarters and stood in front of the old mirror that hung upon the stone wall. She took a long and hard look at her reflection. She turned her head to the side and flicked her left ear. The bald patch behind her ear held her gaze for a moment. She stared at the angry red lump and the neat line of stitches that crawled across it, thinking of how much worse it could have been. She sighed and sat back down on her bed again. Why she had come to this city, a place so far away from her home and kin and taken a job that was nine tenths boredom and drudgery and one tenth frantic excitement was something she had always wondered about. She could have stayed with her clan, she knew that. It wouldn't have been easy but at least she would have had the company of friends and family instead of the isolation of a city full of strangers. She wondered what her mother and father would think of the life that she lived now.

With a sigh and a twitch of her tail, Annayah dropped her head into her paws and stared at the floor. She had to do something to distract herself otherwise she would soon go crazy. She glanced around at the chaos that ruled her quarters. She could do some cleaning but she couldn't find the energy to do it. She stifled another yawn. She really should try and get more sleep. She remembered that the Doctor had said to come by and see him if she needed something to help her sleep and after last night's fruitless attempts at slumber she decided that she would take him up on that offer.

The hallways were deserted as Annayah stepped out of her room. She padded quietly down the empty corridors, her sensitive ears picking up the occasional murmurs of voices from behind closed doors. She reached the main hall, waved at the rather confused looking coyote who sat behind the front desk and was out the front door before he could ask where she was going.

The snow that had fallen the day before had nearly all melted away and puddles of murky, slushy water sat on the cobblestones. Here and there a solitary figure or two slogged their way through the slush. A cart drawn by two horses rattled by, kicking up a spray of mud that nearly hit Annayah. She growled and muttered something nasty about the driver of the cart and turned down the narrow street to find the hospital.

The sun was hidden from view in an overcast sky that threatened to drop more moisture on the city below but apparently was waiting until it had decided whether it would be rain or more snow, or both. Annayah looked up at the sky as she picked a path along the edge of the muddy street. She really missed the snow. The stuff they got down here was usually more rain than snow and it never stayed on the ground for very long. She missed the dry, fluffy snow of her home territory, the stuff that used to get so deep that the drifts could reach to more than a person's height. An ache grew in her heart as she thought about old times. She even missed the biting cold that came with the winters up north. No matter how cold it managed to get down here, it was never enough to penetrate her thick pelt. Even on the coldest days, when most of the residents of the city stayed indoors, Annayah would go out on patrol, revelling in the silent solitude of the deserted streets and thoroughly enjoying the winter weather. Her friends and co-workers thought her insane for even venturing outside on days like that, but once they saw how thick her pelt became during the winter months, they had left her alone to do what she wished. She was, after all, a creature of the north. The deep snows and the frigid cold of the dark northern winters were what she was made for. She had the large feet and paws that were so typical of her species to help support her weight in the deep winter snows. Her pelt was pure white, long and thick with tough guard hairs to keep the elements out and a thick, woolly undercoat to keep her body heat in. Most of the species this far south were adapted to warmer weather. Their pelts were shorter and not as dense. She always thought that such pelts made their owners look scrawny, almost sickly, but she soon learned the advantages to a thinner pelt once the heat of summer arrived.

Annayah smiled to herself as she jumped up on a wooden walkway that ran along the buildings at the edge of the street. She had arrived in this city in the middle of the winter and had not put much thought towards what the summers would be like this far south.

The first taste of summer heat had taken her completely by surprise, especially considering that it hadn't even been summer yet. It had been in mid April, and Annayah had still been in her full winter coat. She'd gone out on her regular patrol but she'd had to return early. By the middle of the day she had been panting so hard that she'd felt like she was going to pass out. The lieutenant that had been in command of her patrol had been concerned and had sent her home. She had returned to her quarters, promptly drank a couple of litres of cold water and spent the rest of the day sprawled panting on the cool stone floor of her quarters, foregoing even the comfort of her bunk in an effort to cool off.

Three days later, she'd begun to shed, badly, her woolly undercoat coming loose in big tufts. She'd tried her best to brush out all of the loose fur every day but there was just too much of it and it was coming out too quickly. Her pelt went from thick and luxurious to patchy and slightly ragged looking in the space of a week as her body tried to rid itself of all of the extra insulation that it no longer needed. It wasn't long before little collections of loose hair gathered in the corners of her room and piled up under her bunk. Everywhere she went, she left a trail of fur behind her and that had caused her no end of embarrassment. She took great pride in her unique pelt and it had hurt when people had pointed and stared, whispering behind her back about people who couldn't take care of themselves. She couldn't help the fact that her body was apparently rebelling against the heat and trying to dump as much fur as quickly as possible and it wasn't like she enjoyed leaving a trail of her white underfur everywhere she went. Being a foreigner had only made matters worse. She'd had no friends among the city dwellers at that time and her appearance wasn't helping her in her attempts to fit in to her new home.

Fortunately, she'd met Kalya during that difficult time. The two of them had been paired together as patrol partners for a one week shift. Kalya had seen Annayah's shedding problem, seen that she was acutely embarrassed about it, and the coyote had offered to help after their shift was over. After a solid couple of hours spend tending to each other's pelts, the two had become fast friends and Annayah was feeling happier and more relaxed than she had in months and looking much better as well.

Kalya turned out to be one of the best friends that Annayah had ever had. The outgoing coyote was always laughing and telling jokes, striving to bring the larger wolf out of her shell and put a smile on her muzzle. Annayah was grateful for such things. She may be Wolven, but she had always been a bit of a loner and had never had a large circle of friends. Her natural shyness and introverted manner normally kept such things out of her reach but having Kalya around made it a little easier for her to interact with people she normally would have avoided. Without Kalya as a friend, Annayah wondered whether she would have gone crazy by now.

Annayah skirted around a particularly large and deep looking puddle that occupied the middle of the street. Her path took her past the mouth of an alley and she reeled at the stench that emanated from it. The odours of stale beer, vomit and urine assaulted her senses and she found it hard to breathe for a moment. She turned her head to the side as her stomach made a quick turn. The mess hall's mystery stew still hadn't settled in her gut and it took her a moment to fight back the nausea. She coughed and breathed through her mouth for a moment, trying to avoid the stench pouring out of the alley. She made a disgusted face as the stench left a sour taste on her tongue. She closed her mouth and tried breathing shallow quick breaths to avoid the horrible smell. She stepped up her pace to try and get away from the stench. Just as she passed around the corner, her sharp sense of smell, even dulled as it was by the disgusting odours that poured out of the alley, picked up a familiar and disturbing scent that she had not come across in a long time.

Wolverine.

Annayah's lips curled up in an involuntary snarl and she stopped just out of sight of the alley. An innocent raccoon that was passing nearby stopped suddenly, stared nervously at her and quickly crossed to the other side of the street before continuing on his way. A low growl built up in Annayah's throat as she craned her head around the corner and peered into the alley. Her blue eyes scanned the shadowy depths of the alley until they located a small figure sitting with its back up against the wall of the alley perhaps twenty spans from the street. It was a rather ragged looking individual, dressed in stained and threadbare clothing. Patches of brown fur stuck out through the holes in its clothing. Annayah risked a deeper sniff of the air currents that curled around her. Annayah's nose told her that this unkempt individual was a male and was most definitely the source of the stench that poured out of the alley. His knees were drawn up to his chest and his head rested upon them. His arms were curled around his head and nothing could be seen of his face. Annayah flashed her teeth in disgust and turned away from the drunk passed out in the alley. Had she been on duty she would have dragged the offender back to headquarters and given him a cell in which to sober up in. She briefly considered taking the wolverine back even though she was off duty but she knew she was in no shape for such a task. Wolverines in general were a difficult species to deal with. They were antagonistic, stubborn and fiercely independent. The were powerfully built for their size and possessed amazing strength. One Wolverine, even drunk, could be difficult for her to deal with on a good day even though she outmassed the person in question by a good thirty percent. On a day like today, where she was on sick leave and not feeling anywhere near well enough to want to deal with a recalcitrant wolverine she did her best to ignore what she had seen and scented in the alley and continued on her way to the hospital. She had enough problems as it was.

Still, the encounter with the wolverine disturbed her. She had never heard of any living this far south. They weren't exactly the types that would be drawn to a life in a large city, they were far too independent and quarrelsome for that. They were notoriously untrustworthy and would do nearly anything as long as they saw some profit in the end result. Annayah made a mental note to investigate the stranger when she returned to work.

The dirty side of city life had been quite a shock to Annayah when she had first moved here. She never would have believed that homeless people would be sleeping on the streets and in the alleys, with nothing but tattered, stinking rags covering their matted and ragged pelts and she never believed that a place could smell so bad. She'd never seen as much crime in her life as she had in the short ten months she had lived and worked in the city. Robberies and assaults were daily occurrences and it seemed like barely a week passed without at least one murder being committed. To Annayah, it was nothing short of unbelievable that people lived and worked in a place such as this where violence was so commonplace that it was ignored by most. Annayah shook her head sadly. This city was a far cry from the quiet, forested lands where she had spent the first twenty years of her life and there were times that homesickness nearly overwhelmed her, times when she really questioned her decision to leave everything behind her and start over. It had seemed like the right thing to do at the time but she often wondered whether it wouldn't have been better to stay...

She walked with her head down for a couple of minutes and watched the wet cobbles pass under her feet, almost forgetting where she was going. Her headache began steadily rising in intensity as her feet thumped dully against the wet stones. The overcast sky suddenly seemed brighter than the midday sun and she squinted as the light sent a spike of pain through her head. She stopped to lean against a building and waited for the pain to subside. She closed her eyes and stood there motionless for a moment, leaning her head against the wall of the building. It felt like the world had started spinning around her again. Her stomach did a sudden somersault.

"Fancy meeting you here."

Annayah jumped. She had some of the sharpest senses of out of anyone in the city and it was a rare thing when anyone could sneak up on her without her knowing. She risked a sudden spike in her headache and snapped her head around to see who had startled her.

Doctor Garen stood a few paces behind her, dressed in a dark brown overcoat that made his reddish orange fur seem brighter than it really was. He had a look of curious concern written all over his face.

Annayah closed her eyes and relaxed somewhat. Her heart was still pounding in her ears and each beat made her headache go nova.

"Doctor Garen." She said weakly, her eyes still closed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm just heading back to work." He stuffed his paws into the pockets of his overcoat. "What are you doing wandering around out here? You should be in bed getting some rest."

"I'm taking your advice." Garen raised an eyebrow.

"My advice?" He looked confused.

"You told me during lunch that if I couldn't sleep I should stop by your office and you would give something to help me rest."

Garen looked at her evenly for a moment before realization dawned and he broke out into an apologetic grin.

"You're right. I forgot about that." He scratched at the side of his muzzle briefly and sighed. "Meeting with that insufferably arrogant Captain of yours was a distraction I could have done without."

Annayah smiled in spite of herself at the Doctor's remark. The Captain's reputation for arrogance reached far and wide.

"You might as well come in then. There are a few things I have to tend to before I can get you your prescription, but I shouldn't be more than a few minutes." Garen passed by her and entered the doorway of the building she had been leaning against. She stepped back and looked up at the old stone building in surprise. She'd known the hospital had been close by but she hadn't realized that she'd literally walked right into it. She shrugged and followed the Doctor.

There were only a few other people in the small waiting area and Annayah quietly took a seat among them, making sure that several empty chairs were between her and the utterly miserable looking raccoon that sat in the center of the row of chairs along one wall. She leaned back in her seat and let her eyes rove around the room, only half listening to the occasional ragged coughs and sniffles from the room's other occupants. Someone in recent years had tried to improve the feel of the old hospital building. The grey stone that most of the buildings in the city were built from had a cold, lifeless feel to it that Annayah had always found rather to be rather dull. Here, some nameless tradesperson had worked wonders and enriched lifeless stone with deep brown wood panelling and strategically placed lamps of the new pressurized gas design. A long wooden desk sat at one end of the room and the Doctor and his receptionist conversed in low voices behind it, nearly hidden from view behind the stacks of paperwork arranged neatly on the desktop. A few works of art adorned the walls above the leather and wood chairs that lined the waiting area and the room had a warm, cozy feel to it. Annayah felt herself relax a bit in such surroundings. In some ways, this waiting area reminded her of her old home. Her people did not use much stone in their buildings. Wood was the preferred construction material though some stone was used to accent the wood in certain places. An unconscious smile came to Annayah's muzzle as she remembered old times. Her father was a renowned craftsman and carpenter and he took great pride in his work. The home he had built for his family was a spectacularly beautiful place set amongst equally spectacular scenery. She had fond memories of vaulted ceilings with heavy, open beams and of intricate carvings on the walls and railings. The great stone hearth that occupied the center of the gathering area was her favourite part of the house and she had spent many long hours in the company of friends and family in that great room. She remembered the huge trees that surrounded the house and how she used to sit among them at the edge of the small creek that twisted through the forest a short distance away. Even on the hottest summer days it was always deliciously cool down there by the water. She used to spend hours there, listening to the gurgle of the stream and the sounds of nature. She missed that quiet beauty more than anything else.

Annayah watched quietly as the receptionist handed Garen several folders. The Doctor turned away and disappeared through a door behind the desk. Short moments after the door swung closed, the scent of disinfectant chemicals curled out into the waiting area. Annayah wrinkled her nose in disgust. She never understood why a place of healing had to use a disinfectant that smelled so bad. The slightest scent of it made her stomach turn and she wondered how many people ended up feeling worse instead of better after visiting the hospital and breathing such horrible fumes. The raccoon a few chairs away sneezed violently and Annayah turned her head to look at the miserable creature. She began to wonder how many people ended up getting sick after spending time waiting in a room full of other sick people. More than a few, she figured.

The door behind the desk swung open and Doctor Garen stepped out. He was wearing a freshly laundered white lab coat and had a stethoscope hanging around his neck. A folder was tucked under his arm. He spoke a few words to the receptionist and turned to the waiting area.

"Annayah." He beckoned with a paw.

She rose from her seat and padded quietly after the doctor, the soft click of her claws against the floor barely audible among the background noises of the hospital. Someone in the waiting area behind her began coughing wetly and Annayah unconsciously picked up her pace. She was able to breathe a bit easier once the door to the hallway closed behind her.

Garen led her down the hallway and turned off into a small examination room. Annayah recognized it as the same one that she had woken up in the day before. The smell of disinfectant was nearly overpowering and she tried breathing through her mouth to avoid scenting the nauseous fumes. It didn't help much.

Garen motioned for her to sit on the examination table. Annayah thumped herself down on the edge of the steel table and curled her tail around to the side. She straightened out some tangled patches of fur there while the Doctor rummaged noisily through a small cupboard. He apparently didn't find what he was looking for and he let out an exasperated sigh and stepped back a pace. He dropped the folder on top of the small desk under the cupboard and turned to Annayah.

"I'll be back in a minute or two. Somebody has been moving stuff around again."

He was out the door before Annayah could reply. The door swung shut with a heavy clunk and his footsteps faded away quickly as he hurried down the corridor.

It didn't take very long for Annayah to get bored. The table upon which she sat was by no means comfortable and within a minute or two she was on her feet and wandering around the small room. There was little within in it that held her interest for more than a moment or two. There was a large anatomical chart that graced one wall that showed the locations of various internal organs for several different species. She stared curiously at it for a minute before her eyes began wandering around the room again. She stepped over to the cupboard that the Doctor had been searching through and glanced at the contents that lay within it. Bandages, sutures, a pair of forceps that gleamed brightly in the light from the gas lamp that hung over the examination table, a syringe, and a several small glass vials full of unknown liquids. The names scribbled on their labels were long and difficult to pronounce. She turned away and moved back to the table. She drummed her claws on the flat surface in a bored manner. Her eyes went to the folder that the Doctor had left on the desk under the cupboard and she wondered what was in it. She stepped over to the desk and eyed the white folder uncertainly.

Annayah had always been the curious type. As a pup she had gotten her nose into everything and had caused her parents no small amount of aggravation because of it. Now that she was an adult, the old curiosity had died down somewhat but it was by no means gone. She felt the curiosity swell within her as she looked at the folder. Her name was written on the tab in large letters, and she wondered what details concerning her lay within it. She reached out and after a moment's hesitation, she flipped the cover aside.

Several sheets of paper lay within the folder and all of them were covered with the same scrawling, near indecipherable handwriting. She flipped through them quickly, keeping one ear cocked towards the door, listening for signs of the Doctor's return. The folder contained Annayah's medical history from the time she had first enlisted with the Guard. It was rather uninteresting reading. She knew her own vital statistics well enough. There was the report from her initial medical exam, another one from a hot summer day when she had almost passed out from heat exhaustion after chasing down an alleged mugger. The next one made her screw up her face into a grimace. It was a report from when she had gotten severely ill after eating some bad food in the mess hall. A half snarl appeared on her muzzle. She had never forgiven the cook for the pain she had endured those hellish three days. There was another report concerning a minor injury received while on duty and that was it. A frown appeared on Annayah's muzzle. Shouldn't there be a report concerning the injuries she received during the incident with the human? She flipped back through the pages of paper in case she had missed it, but it wasn't there. She raised an eyebrow at that and wondered why. Maybe the Doctor had yet to complete it since she was still being treated. She did remember him scribbling away on a sheet of paper as he had examined her so there should be some record of what had happened to her. Maybe the report had yet to make its way into the folder. She shook her head slightly. That didn't make much sense. She figured that the Doctor would want that report in his records so he could keep track of her progress. She didn't have much time to think of why the report was missing. Her sensitive ears alerted picked up the faint sound of someone walking down the hallway. She hurriedly stuffed the papers back into the folder and returned to the examination table just as she heard the door latch turn.

Doctor Garen elbowed his way through the door, looking slightly flustered.

"Damn that partner of mine, always moving stuff around. You figure the least he could do would be to put things back where he got them from." He muttered. Annayah just smirked.

"Anyways," Garen continued "I'm going to give you a quick check over before I give you your prescription and send you on your way."

"Okay." Annayah shrugged.

"First, let me see how those stitches are holding up." Annayah turned her head to the side. She felt the Doctor's gentle touch on the bare skin behind her ear.

"Nothing wrong there. That should heal up nicely in a week or so. Once your fur grows back in it'll look like nothing ever happened." Garen stepped back. "I recall that you mentioned having headaches and nausea. Are you having any other symptoms?"

"I do get occasional spells of dizziness. I've almost lost my footing a few times because of it."

Garen nodded. "Ah, right. I remember you telling me that as well." He put a paw to his head. "Sorry, I've been a little distracted lately." He smiled weakly. He paused for a moment and clasped his paws behind his back. Annayah noticed that he had yet to pick up her folder from the desk behind him. Every other time that she had ended up in the Doctor's care he had been busily scratching down notes as he had examined her. She wondered why he wasn't doing it this time.

"All of your symptoms so far are classical side effects of suffering a serious concussion. They should fade within a week if all goes well." The Doctor smiled weakly again. Annayah thought he looked nervous about something.

"Are you having any ringing in your ears? Numbness in any extremities? Problems with your memory?"

"Not that I can recall." Annayah replied after a moment of thought.

"Good." Garen grunted.

"Now, if you could please look up at the light, we can finish up here and you can be on your way."

Annayah lifted her muzzle and stared into the bright gas lamp. The light stung her eyes and brought on a resurgence of her dormant headache. She squinted into the glare. Doctor Garen gently moved her muzzle from side to side, comparing her pupils.

"Good." He nodded in satisfaction. "You'll be fine in a few days. Sometimes after suffering a concussion, the brain can begin to swell or bleed in the affected area. So far I see no signs of that in your case."

Annayah stared at the Doctor intently, not really paying attention to what he was saying. When he had been checking her pupil dilation and had his paw on her muzzle, she had caught the faintest whiff of the same thing she had scented when the Doctor had passed by her in the mess hall a few hours ago. The background stench of disinfectant had nearly masked it from her sharp nose, but in the close quarters of the exam room, she had just been able to pick it out.

The Doctor had been in contact with the human. But the human was supposed to be dead, the Captain himself had told her that he was. Annayah sat quietly, trying not to betray her surprise as the Doctor rambled on. She wanted to ask the Doctor about the human but she recalled his nervous, preoccupied manner. He did endure a meeting with the Captain earlier in the day. It was more than likely that Hagarth had used the same threat on the Doctor as he had on her concerning any information on the human...

Doctor Garen's words brought her back to reality. He was holding up a small glass jar that contained a dark brown substance.

"This," He spoke in a precise, professional voice, "is shredded Valerian root. It will help you to sleep. Just before bedtime, put two small spoonfuls in a medium sized cup. Pour boiling water over them and let stand for fifteen minutes before drinking. It's not the best tasting tea in the world but it's an ancient and effective sleep aid. Hopefully it will allow you to get some much needed rest." He handed her the vial. The Doctor's scrawling writing graced the label. She tucked it into a pocket just as the doctor held up another vial. "This other vial contains shredded willow bark. Prepare it in the same manner as the Valerian root and it will ease the pain from your headaches."

Annayah accepted the vial gratefully. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Now go home and get some rest before you fall over."

Garen picked up the folder from the desk and tucked it under his arm. He held the door open for Annayah.

"Don't hesitate to call on me if you experience any unusual symptoms over the next few days. You're not quite out of the woods yet, so to speak."

"I'll do that. Thanks again for the help."

Garen smiled, a genuine, friendly smile. "Sleep well Annayah." He waved to her as walked down the corridor.

When she had finally disappeared through the door at the end of the hall, Garen sighed heavily and his shoulders slumped. He walked slowly and cheerlessly back to his office. Once within the sanctuary of those four walls he sat down heavily in his old chair and stared dejectedly at his paperwork laden desk for several minutes. He had become a doctor in order to help heal people, yet here he was, a party to a scheme where the chances of someone getting hurt through his actions, or lack of them, were very real. What he was being forced to do disgusted him to no end but he had no choice in the matter. There were threats against others who were far closer and more dear to him than that unfortunate young Wolven who was guilty of nothing but being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He picked up a small photograph that sat on his desk and a smile came to his face as he looked at it. No matter what transpired in the future, he couldn't let anything happen to those he loved the most.

The old chair creaked as Garen got up and paced around the office, wondering what he should do. Recent events had left him with no appetite for his work, but he had little else but work to distract him from the turmoil that had backed him into a corner. He sat back down and picked a folder from the pile that sat on the corner of his desk and flicked through it, hoping it would provide a suitable distraction.

He chose the wrong folder for that. He had grabbed Annayah's file. He slumped dejectedly in his chair as he leafed through the file. He was about to place the file to the side and pick another but his blood froze in his veins when he realized that the reports within Annayah's folder were in the wrong order. Garen had a meticulous system when it came to keeping his files in order and it was unthinkable that he had left something out of place. Now that he thought about it, he had left the folder in the same room as Annayah when he had gone looking for her prescriptions. There was a chance that she might have looked through it. Had she noticed that her latest report was missing? If so, what did she think about it? Garen shook his head. He was probably just being paranoid. The meeting earlier in the day with Captain Hagarth had left him preoccupied and worried and he might just have been distracted enough that he misplaced one of the reports within Annayah's file. He put the file aside and leaned forward in his chair, cradling his head in his paws. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. Why was he the one to have this situation forced upon him? His conscience kept nagging at him to do something about it but his fears about what might happen if he did overruled his desire to do anything but play along.

The creature locked up in the dungeons below the Guard house loomed large in Doctor Garen's thoughts for a moment. People said a lot of things about humans and a lot of those sayings had a degree of truth to them but Garen figured that they had paid a high enough price for the mistakes that they had made in the distant past without being hated as much as they were. They were a dying species and would soon be extinct, what more could people want? The one that Hagarth had chained up in his dungeons was the first seen in these parts in over a hundred years. The Doctor's initial exams had shown him that the human had been in poor health to begin with, apparently a common problem from what little he understood about their species. Fortunately the bullet had hit nothing vital, and had punched a rather clean hole through muscle and bone. The human had lost a lot of blood though and Garen wondered whether the creature would be able to survive its wounds in its weakened condition. He leaned back in his chair and thought intently. For the first time in his life, he was actually considering withholding treatment and letting a patient die. He doubted that the human had had more than a few years of life left before its run in with the Guard. Surely death would be preferable to whatever it was the Captain had in mind for it now.

Garen sighed and pushed himself out of his chair. He picked a folder from the top of the pile on his desk and went on his way to see his receptionist. He had to at least try and get some work done before he went and checked on the human again.