Prosaic.

Suspicion

"What's taking them so long?" Huan huffed again, visibly agitated, his leg bouncing up and down as he sat in his chair. Kiui clung to him, standing beside him with an arm wrapped around his. She looked as though she was about to cry. The rest of the group was a bit more collected, although their feelings mirrored the emotions that Huan and Kiui wore on their faces. Felicity stood and peered out of the open door, glancing either way down the hall. A few unfamiliar faces walked past. She stepped out and stopped one of them with a gentle touch to the forearm. The man seemed a bit confused, turning to look at her with a single raised eyebrow and an expressive, unique face.

Felicity spoke with a soft politeness, "Excuse me. Do you know the room where they take the injured persons? Someone I'm looking for is there."

"Oh, sure," he said. "They give them the lighter-weight jobs so that they have more time to heal, so sometimes you might not see them for a while, since they work in a different location than us miners."

"But they would inform the family if that was the case?" Felicity asked. The man led her down the hall and past the nurse's room that Felicity had been in before.

"Oh, sure. Who are you looking for?"

"A friend, she was injured."

"Ah, she might just be taking a while, especially if she's required surgery."

"Yeah, I just want to make sure. I'm new around here, so its making my group a little nervous. Just wanna check up on her."

"Totally understandable." He walked to a door, then stopped and opened it for Felicity. It was similar to the other nurse room, though large and split up into sections separated by white rolling curtains. A mattress was on the floor, where Marina laid, a doctor and Davis standing beside her, talking quietly. They stopped their talking with slightly flushed faces, turning to look at Felicity.

Davis spoke with feigned, pain cheer, "Felicity, was it? What's wrong? Somebody hurt?"

"No, sir. My group doesn't like to be separated. Marina's absence was making us nervous. Wanted to come check on her."

"Oh, that's okay," he said, glancing down at her shoes. "Well, it's okay. We're just discussing what options we have to get her back in good health."

"Is it infected? I feared it could be..."

The doctor spoke, "It is. Our antibiotics can only go so far with something of this extent," and she walked towards Felicity with an eye of early mourning, "We could amputate the arm, but that poses even further risk. She's already spewing of a fever; her body fighting sepsis. It is best to only treat her and hope for the best..."

"Can she come back to the room?"

The two adults shared a semi-worried glance, and then the doctor spoke with precision, "Let's give her time. She's strong, and she could just as easily pull through. Staying in this room will help give her that push, at least until she is back on her feet. But you and everyone else are welcome to come visit her any time, given she's not any more ill or undergoing surgery or anything of the sorts."

Felicity let out the breath that she did not realise she had been holding, "They'll appreciate that." The day had been rocky, but slowly, the new, foreign place had gained Felicity's familiarity; real trust was a long ways away, but it seemed to be on the right path. Felicity would ensure that she held the doctor to her words, and bring the group to visit that evening.

She did so as the sky outside grew dark. The group spoke softly with Marina from her bed and asked both Davis and the nurse questions that Felicity already knew the answers to. Felicity stood nearby, observing boredly, but peered out of the open door and into the busy hall, the bustle growing fuzzy and background, wondering if this place was safe, wondering what the authority was like and how it was elected. She slowly trailed away from the small, talkative crowd, and out of the door with hazy eyes. She peered to the right of the hallway where she had not been before. Unfinished tunnels and rooms branched off in every direction. Part of the hallway was narrow, part of it was more like a school hallway, and part of it was more like a big room or cave. It was all varying sizes. It was clear they had been mining for months, ever since the floods began, she figured, and it was likely this spot was mined at for minerals even before society collapsed. She wondered what job she would get, and slowly grew homesick.