Lament of the Slave

Chapter 21: No Sleep

So Marcus and the Captain were in the army, did they retire to Castiana? Or were they transferred here? Who else was there with them? All the guards? I doubt it. If I wasn't mistaken, the City Guards were not part of the army.

"Becca, right?" I asked the woman to make sure.

The healer smiled and nodded, "Um-hmm, senior healer, Becca Hill, but you can call me Becca. You're Korra, aren't you?"

I bet everyone in the infirmary listened to my conversation with Marcus. I couldn't blame them. Being in their place, I would listen too. Still, it was annoying.

"Please call me Korra and not lass, like that jerk," I blurted out, begging her with my eyes.

She chuckled, "Okay, Korra. What did you want to ask?"

Yeah, good question. What did I want to ask her?

Was my brain so scattered that I couldn't remember what I wanted to ask, or was it merely the fatigue I felt despite what time it was? It wasn't even noon yet, and my eyelids were closing with exhaustion.

Ah, I remembered my question.

"Were you in the military too, Becca?" I asked the Senior Healer.

"No," she shook her head, sighed, and continued, "I grew up here in Castiana, never traveling further than the nearby towns."

"That's ..." I hesitated.

Becca grinned, "Sad? Many people think so, but I'm happy. I don't want to travel the world when I see what can happen to people only here in Castiana."

"You mean me?" I asked.

"Not just you," she shook her head.

I looked around the infirmary, which, despite its size, was without other patients. Either the healers were so good that no one lay here for a long time, or rarely did anyone gets hurt.

Suppressing a yawn, I asked, "Who else?"

"Who do you think this infirmary is for? City guards. The guards dive into the depths of the labyrinth as part of the training. Despite being accompanied by healers, the treatment of their injuries sometimes requires more time and resources than the healer has with her. So they end up here."

"Patrolling the city can be quite dangerous too. We may not have to defend the city walls from hordes of monsters, but dealing with seekers is just as dangerous." she explained, thinking for a moment, "I used to work for a seekers company. Some seeker seeks conflicts intentionally. Mostly they are frustrated by the failures in the labyrinth or because one of their friends has died. It's not for nothing that they're called deekers."

Yeah, death seekers. I guess I shouldn't tell her I want to be one. The irony was that I wasn't a seeker yet, and yet that was why I ended up in the infirmary.

Why did I want to be a seeker? That was the question that brought me here.

Fucking Imperial Agent!

If it weren't for him, none of this would have happened. Why was he so interested in me? He could have warned me not to resist interrogation, and didn't have to attack me right away.

"Hey, Korra!!" Becca raised her voice, shaking my shoulder.

I looked at her nervous expression, wondering what might have frightened her so much, "Yes, what happened?"

"You've been gone for a while," she told me, relieved. She sat back in her chair, much calmer, and added, "You didn't respond to my questions, just stared into space, crying."