Chapter 3 – Phoibe
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Madiyan didn’t allow bureaucracy to delay us for long. Most of Dr. al-Ahzar’s documentation had been processed the day before, in the capital. By mid-morning we had departed the town’s administrative center to escort the doctor to the island’s clinic.
Aemilia’s clinic. Well, not anymore. It felt strange to follow that road again. Past the patch of woods where Julian had died, to the cluster of buildings where I had nearly died. I kept my recollections to myself as we trudged along the muddy path. It wasn’t far, and the rain left us alone, but I was weary by the time we arrived at the medical compound.
We didn’t waste time. Madiyan needed to return to her office, and I had an errand to run. We did introduce the doctor to his nurses and the technicians working in the apotekopoiia, several of whom greeted him with good Arabic. All the women were glad to see him, though their excitement was slightly dampened by Madiyan’s terse announcement that his responsibilities would be strictly professional. After that, we brought al-Ahzar around to the residential quarters behind the clinic. I delivered him there with his luggage and a promise to return in the afternoon, after he’d had a chance to bathe and rest. He shook my hand like he meant it, and that was that.
Madiyan left me in town. I slogged the rest of the way back to my village alone, arriving a bit too early to tactfully stop in at home. The clouds drifting in from the bay looked dark with rain, and I figured I was damp enough already. So I went indoors.
The lunchroom was dry, warm and brightly lit, distinguishing it from most of the shuttered storefronts along this street. It was also apparently deserted. “Hello?” I draped my sodden raincoat across one of the chairless tables and walked toward the back of the shop. “Phoibe, are you in here?”
A snake-haired lamia reluctantly rose from behind the glass-fronted counter, and seemed to regret the decision. “Oh, it’s you.” She sagged onto the countertop and contemplated me with half-closed eyes. “I guess class is in session?”
“How’d you know?” I leaned against the glass and smiled down at the proprietor. She was pretty, like all of the island’s natives, with a tangle of purplish plekti drooping from her head and a pile of matching scales coiled behind the counter. Her faded blue sweater was baggy enough to use as a blanket.
Phoibe yawned in my general direction. “It’s the only time you come in here.”
“Hey, that’s not true. Yurilee and I grab dinner from you once a week.”
“It’s the only time you come in alone,” she smirked. “She chase you out so she could give him some ‘private lessons’?”
I shrugged. “Yuri doesn’t mind if I stay when she has a student. But he might.” Maybe I cared, too, a bit. “Anyway, what’s for lunch?”
“Not much. You men are the only reason I keep this place open in the winter.”
I contemplated the dilapidated foodstuffs beneath the glass counter. “Could you make me something to order?”
“What’ll I get if I do?”
“First in line on Thursday?”
She didn’t even look up. “You can’t promise that.”
“I do get a vote, but I suppose you’re right.” If I could sneak favorites into my weekly ‘guest list’, I hadn’t thought to ask how yet.
“Then it’s just what you see in the case.”
“You’re heartless.”
She pouted up at me. “I’m cold.”
I shook my head, suppressing a laugh. Commerce with the lamias was simple enough. Maybe I should have felt exploited, but I didn’t. “Well, I can’t abandon a lady in distress. And I do happen to know first aid for hypothermia.”
“Oh? What does that involve?”
“Shared body heat. First, we both have to get naked; then find a cozy spot and hold each other close…”
A reluctant smile crept across Phoibe’s face. “I don’t guess anybody will care if I close the store for a few hours.”
“But feed me first. I can’t save you if I’m starving to death.”
“Hah. I know first aid for that.” She pulled herself upright and slithered through the doorway behind her. “Just give me a minute to start the grill.”
I took a moment to shutter the windows, then followed the medusa girl into the rich-smelling dimness of her kitchen.
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I liked it. But again, this is more of a scrap than a chapter.