Morning came cold and wet, but Gilda’s head had cleared enough she could see the way forward. She donned her leather pouch and dutifully marched to the city hall, a large brick and plaster building next to the plazza. Before going in, she dropped her letter to Rainbow Dash into the mailbox outside. The simple act lifted a weight from her shoulders. She smiled, ready to deal with the day’s manticore: getting started on community service. It might even be relaxing. Once the day got warmer, messing with the cold clouds always helped a griffon relax.

Past the large iron and glass doors she found herself stepping on a cold marble floor and right by the entrance an information table occupied the center of the atrium. Perfect.

A griffon sat across from the table, reading the day’s newspaper. A map dominated the front page. Griffonia separated in the south and southwest territories against the north and northeast territories printed in different shades of gray. The headline’s fancy letters read ‘Loyalist army captured in Snow Mountains Hold’.

Suddenly armies had gotten themselves involved. I wasn’t even supposed to be a war, but whatever. Not her problem. She tapped her paw at the table. “Hey… I gotta go to Community Services.”

From behind the newspaper, a yellow griffon paw pointed up to the sizeable placard affixed on a pillar. It directed to different offices, and showed her destination on the second floor, to the right of the stairs, so she hurried there. Didn’t bother thanking whoever sat behind the newspaper either.

The checkered black and white pattern on the floor almost made her eyes go cross and the puke yellow walls sucked the will to live out of her. The white roof didn’t help much, and neither did artificial magical lights on the white ceiling. Along the corridor several griffons who didn’t want to be there occupied varnished wood benches.

Fortunately, she found her destination without much of a walk, but someone talked to the clerk inside. Gilda sat on the bench, next to an abandoned newspaper. And she waited.

And she waited.

She huffed, not even caring to think about how long had passed and grabbed the newspaper. Opening at a random page, a photograph of some old but restored castle in a cold place greeted her. Its towers held long banners with Princess Cadance’s cutie mark, assorted hearts, and the cutesy stuff that the ponies loved. Tall stained-glass windows and more decorative banners decorated the towers and the palace-like structure of the main keep.

‘The Bordello of Candy, sieged by the Royal Guard.’ The headline said with giant bold letters.

“What the heck?” What in Tartarus were the ponies doing? Wasn’t that place a brothel or something?

Earlier this week the Royal Guard sieged the ancient castle that houses the world-famous Bordello of Candy in the Crystal Empire. According to witnesses, the event followed the arrival of Princess Luna and Queen Chrysalis at the capital, who quickly enacted martial-law and mandatory curfew to the population.

Queen Chrysalis? What?

The pair was then seen ridding a coach to the old castle and haven’t left yet, despite Princess Cadance having been seen leaving it under an escort of Luna’s Royal Guards.

Due to the curfew still being in effect at the time this was written, our correspondents could not enter the Bordello. But little more than 24h later an entire detachment of the Royal Guard arrived. With the Presence of Princess Celestia, King Thorax and Prince-Consort Chocolate Velvet they surrounded the place and hostilities were initiated with the use non-lethal weapons and spells.

After a quick skirmish, changeling forces defending the castle surrendered. There is no new information as of the publishing of this paper after the Royal Guard has taken control of the towers and the gates remained closed afterwards.

Great. It reminded Gilda of the time the Moon just stuck to the sky, and only days later they even heard about the mess with Nightmare Moon. She stared at the text and blinked a few times until she noticed another griffon, a tan and white male, next to her reading the paper she held.

“You think that’s bad?” He groused. “I have a friend in Ponyville and he said Princess Celestia had ordered the local militia to apprehend Princess Twilight and all her friends right before they escaped on the Princess’ airship. Can you believe this? Griffonia is going to the shitter and the ponies are going around doing stupid pony stuff.”

Gilda swallowed a lump of insecurity and fear down her throat. She knew Rainbow’s friend enough to know that if Twilight was out and about doing something like that things were bad. Even worse, her letter might never reach Rainbow.

Other than that, she worried her morning would go down the drain and she obviously hadn’t sold a single scone. She just nodded at the griffon, not really thinking about it.

Sometime later, she still waited and pulled her bang feathers. “Ugh, come on! How long does it take to pick a job off a list?!”

The other griffons on the corridor stared, and she pretended she hadn’t said anything, but after a few more minutes later, she had enough. She stood and stormed through the door to a simple office with a window, a desk, an old yellow and brown griffon lady talking to another old griffon lady, but she was tan and yellow. Both glared at Gilda.

“I have an appointment!” She growled.

“Ugh. Fine. See you later, Guelly.” Yellow and brown grunted and then waved goodbye to the other walking past Gilda with a more than disgusted stare. Of course, Gilda responded with her own evil eye.

“What do you want?” The remaining old griffon growled at her, sitting straight behind her desk.

“Isn’t it your job to talk to the griffons who come here?” Gilda’s voice raised. Scones didn’t sell themselves. But she felt conscious of mentioning it to the old hen.

“Sweetie, you’re a criminal. Nobody cares about your problems.” The other simply didn’t seem interested anyways.

“I’m not a criminal! I punched a jerk that stole from me!” Gilda snapped back.

The old one on the other side of the desk snickered. “Royal Law says that makes you a criminal. Go take it out with The Mare. Now, since I’m stuck with you here… Name?”

Gilda contained herself not to break something and simply sat angrily on the sitting pillow. “Gilda of Griffonstone.”

Yet, she knew better than asking the old grifffoness to hurry. Gilda watched as the old hen shuffled through the papers, repeating the name to herself until she finally pulled one out of the pile. “Ah. Gilda, Griffonstone. Hum… Got two Gildas born here. Parent names?”

“Grendel and Gaud.” Gilda rolled her eyes. Stupid griffon names.

“Ah… This is you. Wait. You punched a kid?!” She put down the paper. “What is wrong with you?”

At least she got the right one. Gilda hoped the other Gilda wasn’t as stupid. “I have anger issues, apparently! I want the cloud duty job.”

She remained seated, avoiding fidgeting despite the nervous energy, while the old griffoness hummed to herself and looked at a list for a minute or two. Nice office, though… Yellow walls, brown door, window right to the next building. At least Gilda would never have to work in an office like that.

“It’s taken.” Old yellow finally said.

“What do you mean it’s taken?” Gilda snapped out of her thoughts.

“No positions available.” She glared back at Gilda. “You have to choose the hospital or the gutters.”

Gilda stared at her for a second. “Because life doesn’t suck enough, right?”

“Hah, wait till you get older, sweetheart.” The griffon snickered from the other side of the table.

At least things seemed to be consistent in that place. Everything sucked. Gilda held her face and grunted. She really didn’t want to take the hospital job… Cleaning patients sounded miserable. Messing with wounds and listening to sick griffons whining would be torture. On the other paw… The gutters.

“How bad are the gutters?” She asked and the government employee showed her a list with exactly zero names on it. “That bad huh. Fine… Put me in the damn hospital.”

“Alright. Just a second.” The other replied smugly.

Gilda spent several minutes answering dumb questions. Diseases she had or might have had, and even more uncomfortable personal questions involving sexual partners and kinks. The old griffon lady probably asked more for herself than for whatever form she had to fill. Once the creepy old jerk was done embarrassing her, she finally gave Gilda a small paper card with her name and a stamp.

“Give this to Worker Resources. You’re expected to be there at one past noon. Don’t be late. They have to train your worthless ass before you can even get started.”

Gilda took the card and secured it in her pouch. Fine. The sooner she started, the sooner she’d get it over with, even if it meant no scones sold. At least she was done looking at that creepy old fuck’s face.

“Any questions, Gilda?” The clerk gave her a half-hearted smile.

“Will I get paid or anything?” Gilda frowned.

“Yes!” The old griffon grinned in such a cruel way Gilda regretted asking anything. “One free meal per day and a cap that says ‘I’m a Good Griffon’. You’re doing community service, dumbass! They’re doing you a favor, so they don’t send you to Shatteredrock and it doesn’t get too crowded with violent asses like yourself. It would end up costing even more money to the Union.”

“Fine. Thanks.” Gilda couldn’t wait to get out of that place, turning on her seat to leave.

“You’re welcome!” Her cheery voice just punctuated how pissed Gilda felt by then.

She wouldn’t give the old jerk the satisfaction of slamming the door like she wanted, but she almost screamed when she saw the clock on the corridor. The damn thing said it was a quarter to noon! The whole morning spent in that stupid place and now she wouldn’t have time to go home, lunch and be on time at the hospital!

It would also, probably be a good idea to not tell others why she was stuck doing community service… Regardless, maybe she could eat something at the plaza in front of the hospital. Or maybe they had some sort of cafeteria or restaurant in there.

The hospital occupied a large portion of the blocks surrounding King Grover’s Plazza. Wide walls made its façade with new paint and large decorated wood doors for enjtrance. Inside, washed-out green linoleum and white masonry walls dominated the view. The ceiling held occasional iron chandeliers keeping the magical lights. Totems directed visitors to wherever they needed to go in a wide atrium with stairs.

Turned out they did have a restaurant in the hospital. But it only served staff and patients. Gilda lost about half an hour while the griffons discussed whatever or not someone on community service belonged to the staff. After they decided she was indeed part of the staff, they told her that she wasn’t part of the staff yet. She had to report to Worker Resources for it to become true.

Griffons and logic. The result of unicorn efficiency applied to griffons.

Hungry and upset, Gilda went outside to the back area to the cafeteria. A covered area next to the outer wall. Behind the hospital, close to a small garden under the windows of the patient rooms. A sitting area occupied the space in front the cafeteria and under a passage on the floors above, as the hospital had a H shape.

The hospital actually had two cafeterias. One for griffons and one for ‘the others’. The griffon one was closed, and she had to eat from the ‘pony one’. It had no name associated with it, so she decided she would call it so as an earth pony couple owned it.

In the end it was a good thing she was so hungry because she didn’t think she could eat that disgusting soybean hamburger she bought for one Bit. At least the damn thing was cheap! She didn’t even feel like eating the fried potatoes, they just made her think of ‘pony food. She paid four Bits for the whole meal with the potatoes, the apple juice (from Sweet Apple Acres, of course), and the extra onions she asked.

One of the owners came to her table with an apologetic look on her face. Ponies could make such sad expressions despite their usually funny manners. Even her funny red coat and green mane, or her sliced tomato cutie mark couldn’t help it. It was like a clown, sorry her act wasn’t funny. “I’m sorry the food isn’t very good for you ma’am. It really is meant for ponies that want to eat with their griffon friends, but it is something you can eat.”

She walked around, collecting plates from nearby tables. “It seems as though meat prices have soared. Most of it comes from the northern holds and the larger businesses are buying all the farm meat, seafood, and poultry they can. Smaller food businesses are closing all over.”

Gilda said nothing, but she hadn’t asked! She had enough troubles to worry about without worrying about others.

“Doesn’t help the ponies regulate the meat farming industry into oblivion.” Gilda grumbled, as though the poor pony could be blamed. She regretted her tone, despite her awful mood.

“We, hum… Decided to return you two Bits, since you didn’t like it.” She put the coins from the pouch on her apron on Gilda’s table.

What a surprise. The small act of kindness not only helped a lot, but it brought a smile to Gilda’s beak. “Thanks.”

“It’s not our fault.” The pony explained, almost offended. “Princess Celestia follows the regulations other races vote on. The problem is that hooved creatures find it grisly you eat the flesh of other hooved creatures. Especially when they are intelligent too. They settled on a compromise with fish and other things, like eels. But even then, some dairy farms get permission to sell the meat of deceased cows. I hear it’s not very good, though. There is also the game meat from the north, but I don’t understand the politics behind it.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m just angry today…” The pony smiled sympathetically at Gilda’s words and went back to her job of clearing the tables, but Gilda became curious about the problem. “Why is fish expensive? I mean… I understand griffons in the north have a problem with the ones in the south because of the Chancellor and him being a corrupt ass. But… Don’t our fish come from the coast?”

The pony shook her head. “Most of the coastal cities don’t export their fish. Or they export only a portion of it. Most of our fish comes from Mount Aris. They have humongous fish and kelp farms. That should be normal, though. The problem is that Queen Novo is miffed about some pretty bad things the northerner griffons say about her kind. She also hates our Chancellor Gail. She’s put some heavy taxes on their fish coming to Griffonia. Actually, everything coming here through Mount Aris. Larger businesses don’t care, but smaller ones simply can’t pay. It also drove the price of poultry to Luna’s stars, since they’re buying all they can. On the other hoof, one of the companies that makes soy hamburgers lowered prices. The owner says it’s because it’s going to prevent famine in here.”

“This sucks.” Gilda frowned. “I’d think Princess Celestia would do something about it instead.”

“Well, she could. But she typically avoids intervening unless it is really necessary because of the Princess Meddling Accord.” Since Gilda’s face turned to a confused frown, the pony went on. “It says that the Alicorn Princesses aren’t supposed to mess with individual nations within the confederation to maintain their sovereignty. Only if things get out of hoof.”

“I’d say her subjects getting out of food and corrupt officials screwing us over fits.” Gilda grumbled, suddenly in a bad mood again.

The pony simply shrugged. “The princesses know what they are doing.”

Ugh… Typical pony. The little bastards couldn’t admit their precious princess was screwing up. It made Gidla think of the news article about the Bordello of Candy.

She didn’t know much about Thorax, but he struck her as a giant wuss simply for marrying the Changeling Queen. What the hell, wasn’t she supposed to be his mother or something? Freaking weird changelings! Not to mention she was supposed to have disappeared, or something. What the heck was wrong with the world?

“Well, thanks for the service. And for returning some of money. The rest tasted great, though.” Gidla cleaned her beak with a napkin and left it with the rest of her uneaten ‘hamburger’.

“You’re welcome! If you ever wish to try some of our other dishes, we’d be delighted to have you!” The pony ‘ponied’ at her, all sappy and friendly.

She thanked the pony again and left. She didn’t want to get late for her first shift.

She had no trouble finding the Worker Resources department due to some helpful, and likely wealthy griffon doctors. Past the door with the plaque identifying it, she found a waiting room. Gilda presented herself to a tan and white griffoness with beautiful red highlights on her feathers. She gave her the card and waited for a few minutes while the other went to the next room. Soon she called Gilda. A unicorn pony, deep blue with a well-kept and short lighter mane, gray eyes, sat behind a desk.

He even had a cyan tie and offered a hoof. “Hi Gilda! Nice to meet you! I’m Azure Suit!”

Fitting name… Regardless, she bumped his hoof with a fist and sat in front of him as the hen returned to her post.

“I see here you got yourself in a bit of a problem with the law!” She wondered what he was so cheery about. “We’re glad you’re now a part of the team and we can help you pay your debt to the great city of Griffonstone! I will get your papers through to administration as soon as I come back. Come. I’ll take you to your supervisor, Miss Goldina. We call her ‘Golden Heart’.”

He chuckled as he stood, and Gilda dutifully followed him through the corridors. More light green linoleum floor and white masonry walls with the eventual chandelier. They walked past doors to rooms with patients, doctors, nurses, empty examination rooms… Mostly griffons, but also many ponies. They passed different wings for different specializations and different wards.

The size overwhelmed Gilda. The central lobbies connected the floors and the wings on both blocks of the building, with small decoration items everywhere along with comfortable furniture for seating. Mostly paintings the unicorn explained were from local artists and some artsy statues. Large windows let in the sunlight and a general atmosphere of calm serenity dominated the place.

“We are the largest hospital in the area, and we receive patients from all cities in the hold and complex cases from the next ones. Our job is very important, Gilda. I hope you see that while you work. We are excellent to our patients, and we expect excellence from our team. Part of which you will be for the next two months. Don’t worry, though. Administration urges all the staff to be excellent also towards one another, so if you have any questions, or suggestions, we urge you to be open to your colleagues!”

She wished she could have paid more attention to what he said, but the smells started getting on her nerves. Such a shame, since the pony seemed to be so nice and enthusiastic about her presence there.

Blood and remedies. Weird pungent smells that got her on edge and clashed with the peaceful atmosphere. Thinking of sick creatures make her skin crawl.

Finally, they reached a larger room in between the patient rooms with a central table and some cabinets on the walls. More cabinets and windows along the deep wall. Some griffons busied themselves with ‘hospital’ stuff and stared only to see whatever happened didn’t concern them. One of them dropped what she was doing and went to them.

Like a living gold statue of a griffon covered in a particular shade of yellow. The griffoness walking to them smiled radiantly and it seemed to maker her golden fur and feathers shine even brighter.

“Hi! Can I help you Azure? Who is your friend?” She asked all happiness in her pink eyes.

“Hi Golden. This is Gilda. She’s here to supplement the nursing staff with non-medical tasks.” He nodded at Gilda who refrained from rolling her eyes at the obvious ‘code’.

“Oh! I see! Welcome, Gilda!” At least her soon-to-be-boss grinned genuinely at her.

“Uh… Hi!” She responded with her best smile, but feared it came of as standoffish. The ‘golden’ griffon let that bother her.

“Don’t you worry, I got you under my wings!” She piped and gave Azure a thumb up. “I’ll show you the ropes and assign you to some easy patients to get you started!”

Gilda let an uncomfortable chuckle escape. “Thanks Miss Goldina.”

“Nah! Call me Golden! Everyone does!” She then grabbed Gilda’s paw and pulled her to walk down the corridor, leaving Azure behind. “Now, do you have any experience in taking care of sick creatures? The elderly?”

“No… I don’t. I live alone, actually.”

“Ah, it’s alright.” The other griffon waved a paw while they walked. “There isn’t really much to this job. All you have to do is be nice, patient and caring to them.”

Three of the things Gilda should never be tasked with.

“If all fails, remember you’re not a real nurse.” Goldina smiled. “You’re here to help us, alleviate our job and learn some love for your fellow creatures.”

The training session took hours, but it felt like it had taken entire days. At least it didn’t seem so bad after learning a thing or two. Really all she had to do was listen to them complain and not really do anything other than tell one of the real nurses. Unless it her list of attributions allowed her fixing the problem.

Change dressings of simple wounds, clean said wounds. Change the bedding if needed, help patients eat. Open the window, close the window… Fortunately, bathing and helping them go to the bathroom didn’t belong on her list of tasks. She supposed they wouldn’t trust just any shmuck, much less a ‘criminal’ to do those things.

‘Golden’ even took her on a small tour and showed her, in vivo, how to do stuff. Once back to their teaching room, her supervisor finished it up with a few quick additional tips.

“Now, you should go home and study this!” Goldina grinned while she put a relatively small book on the table they shared. She had the earnest stare of someone who really cared. “I know you would rather not be here but give this job a chance! It can be hard at times, even if you’re not really a full nurse. Patients don’t usually see the difference and their gratitude will creep on you and take you by the heart!”

“Okay…” Gilda said slowly. “So… Until tomorrow?”

“Yes. Officially, your obligations here start at one past noon, but it is a good practice to be at least one hour early. So you can participate in our meeting.”

Yeah. Fat chance… Gilda showed her best to smile anyway. “Thanks, Miss Goldina. Er… Golden. I’ll be here tomorrow.”

“Alright! Bye!” She grinned widely again as Gilda collected the book and stashed it under her wing. Then Gilda left before she got too uncomfortable with the smiling hen.

She thought of picking up the scones she baked last night and trying to sell them, but she would likely not be able to sell enough to justify the time she’d invest in it.

Getting home, she sat on her small couch on the sitting room, made herself comfortable, and started reading.

Minutes later she boredom caught up to her, so she left the book.

Seconds later she picked it up again because she realized she had to take that thing seriously or else she might have to see Judge Gracey again. If she went to see Judge Gracey again, she would likely end up in a prison. If she ended up in a prison, she would end up in the same path Gertrude and Grizelda did. She just couldn’t let that happen to her. Period.

Thus, with the late afternoon spent in frantic studying she hoped was effective as it was semi-panicked, she could barely keep her paws under her on her way to her bed. She slept as soon as she collapsed on it.

After a short night of sleep, she woke to the noise from the street outside her window. The usual noises of griffons and other residents going about their businesses of starting with their day. A cart passed by, loaded with metal, anything they could sell for a pittance. Dragging herself out of her bed, she readied herself for the new day by baking fresh scones. She had planned to do it before sleep, but at least the things would be as fresh as they would ever be. She could put them up with the ones from yesterday and it would be fine. They wouldn’t have gone bad yet.

Not much time to waste, she would rush to the plaza with Grover’s statue as soon as she had them ready. If anything, the proximity with the hospital helped. She hated the idea of not being able to sell her stuff in the afternoon because she had to be in the hospital though. Maybe she could sell her scones to the hospital staff? Many of them already used to buy from her during the night shifts! What a great idea!

Wait… What if she doesn’t have time? She knocked her own forehead and called herself stupid. She had work to do in there. And not even as a ‘free’ worker. Maybe she could sell them by the bunches, after she made some acquaintances. After they recognize her as the griffon selling them scones at night.

Heh… Making plans... Maybe the whole ordeal would be good for her after all. She smiled to herself, just a little. Maybe next time she met Dash she’d be a respectable owner of a whole bakery? She could dream, couldn’t she?

That, or she was trying to distract herself from the fact she had to do a shitty job she didn’t want to. All because she punched someone who deserved to be punched.

Bitching about it wouldn’t help her. Getting stuff done would, so she quickly gathered what little she’d need, along with the book Goldina had given her. When her scones were ready, still hot from the oven, she wrapped them in a delicate cloth. Put them in a bowl and took her foldable stand.

After an uneventful walk to the plaza, she set up her stand, let the scones sit on the cloth inside the bowl and donned her best smile.

And she held it for the majority of the morning. The sun rose, the time for her to present for her job came closer, and scones became less and less fresh before her. Her smile diminished until she finally let go a deep and sorrowful sigh when it was time for lunch. She chose to not have it so she could stay and hopefully sell something.

She ate a few of her scones before leaving. They tasted wonderful, as far as she was concerned. Maybe the extra few minutes would yield at least a sell or two.

It didn’t and the time to present herself had arrived, but an idea dawned on her. Almost a stroke of genius. Something she once saw a pony do in Ponyville, and if it worked there, it would surely work with her. She should leave the stand with the scones and the bowl in a way griffons who went by saw them and would leave the money in the bowl for the scones they took.

Part of her called it an incredibly stupid and naive idea, after all nobody had left money when she the militia arrested her, and griffons had taken the scones. But she hadn’t left the scones properly stacked with bowl next to them.

She neatly placed the cloth with the scones next to the bowl. A small, tasty pyramid sitting on the cloth arranged as a diamond, making sure the little plaque with the prices stood in the middle. Once satisfied, she left with a few minutes to spare.

Step after step towards the big building she almost convinced herself insanity had started to claim her faculties. Community service, prostitution, the griffon king, being sent to a prison and barely making it week to week with the scones had to be doing a number on her. Griffons walking past her stared at her pained frown, but she ignored them.

Walking past the doors, she saw Goldina sitting at the middle of the hall as though she expected someone. She waved and smiling warmly at Gilda as soon as she saw her.

“Hi Gilda! You made it! Horray! You missed our meeting, but it’s okay! I’m glad you’re here!”

“Yeah…” Gilda hesitated and rubbed the back of her neck. She completely forgot about the meeting. “I guess…”

Oh, Mighty Sun… Goldina could clearly see Gilda when she was outside. Her cheeks burned, but Goldina’s words interrupted her.

“That is great, though! One step at a time, right?” ‘Golden’ beamed at her and she got the book from under her wing.

“I brought back your book. I studied… I’m ready.” She smiled awkwardly and Goldina looked at her like she her mother or something.

“Come on!” The golden griffon lady smiled some more. “First task of the job is returning it to its place, so you know where to find it if you need it. You’re not expected to do everything by heart, you know? You can look at the book whenever you need. Come on.”

She concluded with a beckoning wing gesture and Gilda followed to the second floor, past another hall, a few doors in a hallway and into room where griffons worked on ‘hospital’ stuff.

Actually, according to the book, there were separated rooms for doctors and for nurses. Hooray! She did learn something!

“So, here is where we keep this book.” Goldina told her while the others watched casually or simply went on with their jobs of writing stuff down or preparing medications. Nonetheless, she placed the book on its place on the shelf. “We keep it here so the new ones can find it easily. Don’t hesitate to open it again to look for information you might need, or even, asking one of the others. The important thing is to get the job done right, not to do it by yourself. Right staff?”

The other griffons, and one or two ponies in the room grunted collectively, some more enthusiastic than other, waving at Gilda, who waved at them too, if out of embarrassment.

“Now!” Goldina went on. “This is our board!”

A black board with a few pieces of chalk and an eraser tied to it. Nothing too fancy, but someone had drawn a table on it. File number, patient names, condition, and room. Quite simple, but certainly efficient.

“And these are your patients. Just three of them since this is your first day. Take your time and do everything just like in the book. I’ll be around if you need anything, but the others will help too if you need it. Just pretend you’re confident.”

“Uh… Thanks.” Nothing more than a couple of paper sheets with stuff about the patients.

First one had been submitted to neck surgery. The second had a wound on his thigh and the dressing needed to be removed since the doctor was going to see him. The third had a surgery scheduled. She had to ask him a few things.

Well, alright. Seemed simple enough. She thanked Goldina again and checked the room numbers on the table, and then she checked the details for her first patient.

Some guy had a lump removed from the side of his neck. The medical jargon made it a touch difficult, but she managed. Mostly thanks to the book. She didn’t really need to understand everything, just care for his wound as the book and Goldina taught her. She was supposed to see if he was okay and see if he was awake. Then clean the surgical wound and take note of any complaints to be directed at the medical staff. All right. Nothing too complicated.

She also knew what she would need and finding the stuff wasn’t too hard. In fact, the nursing staff had everything already set up and prearranged in neat cloth packs. She grabbed one of the ‘kits’ from the locker and put on her back with the clipboards before she made her way to the room. Come to think of it, Goldina must really be trusting of her to simply let her be on her own. She better not disappoint.

“Oh! Just one more thing!” Speaking of Goldina, she waited for Gilda by the door with a huge smile as she put a white cap on Gilda’s head. “This is our uniform! You gotta keep it clean and come wearing it to your shift. Also, return it at the end of your tour. Any questions?”

“Not really. No.” Honestly, Gilda just wanted to be done with it. Finally, Goldina let her go into the wild of the Surgery Ward.

Next Chapter: Actual Labor Estimated time remaining: 32 Hours, 44 Minutes