Gilda appreciated Goldina letting her work on her own and not watching over her shoulders at every step and little decision she had to make. On the other paw, being alone, without someone watching over her shoulder to make sure she didn’t screw up scared her. Every decision she made had the potential to mess everything completely up.

When baking scones, the worst possible ended at burning a batch. Or punching someone in the face when trying to sell, apparently. Such thoughts didn’t help.

Fortunately, a short walk didn’t allow for many more such thoughts and she reached her patient’s room. She knocked and someone on the other side said she could enter with a less than excited voice. Opening the door, she entered a small but neat room. The open window above a nightstand let the fresh air in and with the bed right next to it. A green and white male griffon laid on his side, looking miserable.

“Hello? Mister, uh…” She looked at the clipboard and then back at him. “Godfrey?”

“Hi, miss.” He raised his head for a couple of seconds to look at her but gave up with a groan as she walked over. A quick look at the clipboard told her he was on several medications. She had no idea what those medications did, it explained.

She examined the blood spotted dressage wrapped several times around his neck and the smell of blood aggravated her. Not enough to cause her to heave, fortunately, she expected worse. The chemical smell emanating from the thing made her skin crawl though, but memories of Judge Gracey worried her more.

She coughed into her paw. “So, I’m gonna clean this thing for you. And uh… Do you need anything?”

“It just hurts a bit, but it’s fine.” He said groggily and seemed to sleep again.

She stared at him for a few seconds and then shrugged. Fine. The sooner she got it done, the sooner she could go home and the less she would have to bother the poor guy.

She opened the ‘kit’ over the nightstand and found all she would need. A pair of curved bowls some gauze, and a sponge with a foul-smelling soap. A rounded scissor and tweezers. She knew those things had names, but she couldn’t be bothered with those. They were tweezers.

She donned the gloves which came with the kit, after all, one wouldn’t care for the wounds of others with the same paws they walked all over in the floors. Funny thing they ate with those… Well, they washed their paws. They also carried stuff with their beaks, but griffons ought to be mindful what they put in their mouths.

She sighed and looked at the dressing with the dark red spot on it. Enough stalling.

Slowly, she cut open the dressage, a little surprised at how careful she was. A nasty wound hid underneath, some four fingers long and all mucked up with an oily ointment and wet lumps of blood. The smell bothered her, but the weird ‘hospital smell’ became background as she focused. They had shaved his plumage around the area, and the dressage kept if clean of dirt.

The two lips of skin kept together with small threads struck her as awkward and somewhat disturbing. ‘Unnatural’. But not as much as the alternative of ending up on a corner with Grizelda and Gertrude or at Shatteredrock.

She feared hurting the guy or damaging the doctor’s work if she so much as touched the swollen wound. It was her job, though, and she forced herself to get started and stop stalling. The ointment and the clotted blood came off easily enough into the small bowl with some water and soft rinsing. He kept sleeping and she loved it as her paws trembled through the procedure.

Once she had cleaned the wound it looked nice. As nice as a stitched-up cut would look, at least.

Next, she applied the ointment. Fresh, it smelled like chamomile with a greasy texture, conveniently sticky. Then she covered the wound with gauze and wrapped the dressing around it. Before she knew it, she had done it. It looked neat too if she could say so herself.

He guy had slept through the whole thing, and she concluded she preferred it so. She cleared her throat and got rid of the dirty water in the bathroom to then return the used-up stuff to the appropriated disposal area in the nurse’s room.

She went to the sink, aiming to clean her paws. Nobody seemed to care about her except for a female. A paler shade of tan than Gilda, with brown eyes, she approached to wash her paws too.

“So, what’s your story?” Pale tan asked with a curious smirk. “The chief’s taken a liking to you and you’re way off the season from the nursing school.”

“I’m not really a nurse… Community service.” Gilda said as dryly as she could and as defensively as she dared. Hopeful she wouldn’t incur on some sort of discrimination from her fellow, actually trained nurses. Maybe her own insecurity gave her such thoughts, but she might be angry herself if someone with barely any training got in the way of her job.

“Oh! Cool!” The other brightened up, completely opposite to what Gilda feared. “I thought someone had gotten you a job here, or something! I mean… You know.”

“Yeah… No.” Gilda kept her dry tone while minding her paws. Try as she would, her paws wouldn’t stop shaking.

“What’s your name? What’s your actual work?” The paler one became way too excited for Gilda’s taste, letting her wings flare and almost dropping medicines and medical stuff on a nearby shelf. “Oh! What did you do? Did you kill someone?!”

“Come on, Gina.” Another of the nurses in the room, a yellow and white male chuckled and approached, much to Gilda’s relief. “You don’t get community service for murder.”

“Hey! I think I know you!” He beamed at Gilda.

“I’m Gilda… I bake and sell scones. And I punched a dude.” She said, her wings tight against her sides and eyes shifting, not staring directly at them. “He stole from me.”

“Aw, sucks…” Male one said with a frown. “Yeah! I remember you! Great scones! I hope you hurt him to make him regret it though. You look like a tough hen.”

Her cheeks went hot, and she coughed, stumbling on words.

The younger hen spoke, wide-eyed. “Dude, that is bad! Griffons have anger issues, and we need to chill!”

Gilda’s eyebrow raised. “I thought you were excited I was doing community service…”

“Well, yes… But we have some bad impulses we need to keep under control.”

“Don’t listen to her too much, Gilda.” The male one deadpanned. “She’s been listening to some unicorn jerk who says griffons need to be educated, or something. That we need stricter laws and whatnot. That we are dangerous, and such.”

“No! This is for real. He helped me get through university! I was all angry all the time and then my friends sent me to talk to him. He helped me achieve an inner peace I never thought I would. Maybe you should talk to him, Gilda!” Gina grinned widely.

“Yeah…” Gilda grinned too, but with a grimace and a forced cough. “I’ll think about it. I got work to do now.”

Fortunately, Gina didn’t insist. Both left her alone to check the file for her next patient. Some young guy working in construction fell and got a wound on his thigh. He got an infection and had to stay at the hospital after the surgery. Her job included removing the dressing, cleaning the wound, and leave it for the doctor to see during his shift. Also take his medication to him and witness him taking it. For whatever reason.

If she remembered her study session correctly, she should leave the wound covered with a gauze, so it didn’t get too exposed.

After grabbing the relevant ‘kit’ she minded the medications listed on his file, a couple of pills. She had to fuzz around the medicine cabinet until she found the medications in the correct doses. Feeling like an idiot, she took a moment or two to notice the alphabetical organization and she swore under her breath. Another quick walk, pretending confidence in her abilities, took her to the patient’s room. Everyone seemed too busy to give her attention anyways.

A chirpy male voice told her to enter after she knocked. Another room, much like the other, with a white and dark gray griffon laying on his side, but awake. Barely an adult, and his nightstand had a bottle of water and a glass.

“Hi!” He grinned and waved at her.

“Hi, George. I’m Gilda.” She smiled, walking in and pulling the door closed with her tail. “I brought you your medicines, and I’m gonna clean your wound if you don’t mind.”

“Sure thing, ma’am.”

Ma’am? Geez, what a dweeb.

First things first, she gave him a small plastic cup with his pills and even served him a nice glass of water. She watched like a hawk until he was done.

Wait, was she enjoying her job?

Regardless, satisfied he had done as he was required without so much as a word, she opened the cloth packet with the things she would need. Fortunately, his wound was on the outside of his thigh, so he just laid on his side and away from her.

“So, you’ve been working here long?” He asked with a cheery, youthful voice.

“No. I just came in.” She refrained from snarling while cutting the dressage around his thigh. A foul smell invaded her nares. Not the chemical stink of the hospital, but like disease. It almost made her heave. Gladly, he couldn’t see her grimace. The gauze stuck to the dried off pus and blood, so she wet it a little. An acid burn came to her throat at the smell and sight of the sticky secretion.

Rough stitches held the lips of the wound with a soft rubber pipe stuck inside. It smelled of pus and drained drops at the sheets. A dry yellow coating and bloody clots over the swollen lips came out with water. Including some blood that got on his fur past the shaved area.

For all it’s worth, she felt like she was paying for something but told herself not to freak out. The alternative would be worse.

“Does it look too bad?” He raised his head and looked back at her.

She coughed down her nausea. “Aaah… It’s doing as it should. You know… The doctor’s gotta see it.”

“How did this happen? I read you work in construction. You look kinda young.”

She wasted no time in cleaning the ugly thing with the soaped sponge and a lot of water. Someone else would reapply the local medicines once the doctor had looked at it.

“Thanks! At least they said I can go to school as soon as I’m discharged from the hospital!” She softly touched the wound with a dry cloth to remove the excess water.

She had to change the sheets but doubted the kid could stand. Fortunately, the book taught her how to deal with the situation, and Goldina showed it during their tour. She took off one side of the sheets, had the guy roll over the exposed rubber mattress. Then removed the rest, cleaned the impermeable mattress, and replaced the sheets with a new set from the closet in the room. It would probably get easier with practice. At least the kid helped as best as he could.

“So, do you need anything?” She flashed her best friendly smile. “Any pain?”

“No. It’s okay.” He shook his head. “Thanks Miss Gilda.”

“Say, are you all alone?”

“Mom is gonna come here to sleep with me, but she has to work during the day and my big sis has to watch my young brothers.” He looked away from her.

“I see. Well, call if you need anything, kay?”

“I will!” He chirped, looking back at her. “Thanks again, Miss Gilda!”

“Hey… Doing my job.” She grinned at him and offered a closed fist he bumped with his own.

She hurried out the door this time and then repeated the process of discarding the used stuff and washing her paws. The clock above the blackboard showed half-past-two. Long day ahead, it seemed.

After she cleaned her paws, one of the nurses, a female with a salmon coat and white plumage on her head approached all smiles. “Guys are saying you’re the hen that sells scones in the plaza! Can you get us some next shift? Those would be sweet to have in the meeting! We’re gonna pay you, of course! Gordon says your scones are great!”

“Sure!” Gilda grinned. “It’ll be my pleasure!”

“And don’t let Gina intimidate you… She’s kinda crazy, but she’s nice.” She did the spinning finger gesture next to her head. “Hey! You’re gonna dine with us, right? When the shift is done?”

“Sure. Gotta make use of my free meal a day.” Gilda chuckled with an awkward grimace.

“Alright!” The other smiled. “See you later.”

Acquaintances! Awesome. With her head a little higher, Gilda proceeded to check on the file for her next patient. Some guy scheduled for beak surgery. Even easier than last one. Ask him a few questions, no disgusting wounds.

Before setting on her way, she took a good look at the questionnaire. Mostly stuff about allergies, previous diseases… Interaction with the health system. It certainly was important for someone’s job.

With a confident grin, she took the clipboard and a pencil, tucked it all under her wing, and walked out of the room past one of her new colleagues on the hall. They nodded at each other.

Wondering how her scones were selling, she stopped before the open door of the relevant room and saw the fat dark-brown and yellow hen. The mayor’s wife, with her ‘little boy’ sitting on the bed.

It took her all her strength not to scream, but she fortunately reacted in time and hid past the door’s frame.

Suddenly the air in the corridor seemed to have vanished. No way she could go into that room and deal with that old cunt and her spawn! She would recognize Gilda and make a scene. Being the wife to the damn mayor, she could ruin everything on the first day!

Another griffon wearing a white coat, probably a doctor, walked past her and raised an eyebrow. She smiled awkwardly and tried relaxing instead of backing into the wall. Controlled her breathing instead of letting her chest move frantically. She closed her fists and controlled her nerves. Inside, she could barely contain her screaming.

They would make a scene. They would ruin everything.

“Gilda, is there a problem?” Goldina stared at her, her head tilted with curiosity and her voice sounded like a worried mother.

Gilda had to cough a few times and restart her sentence some three times before she managed to speak like a damn adult. “It’s the kid I punched!”

Crap! She realized too late she shouldn’t have said that! Now Goldina would be judging her too.

But rather, the older griffon lady held her beak and hummed. “I see. I’ll take it from here. You should wait in the nurse’s room. Okay?”

She opened her paw for Gilda to give her the clipboard, which she did. “Now, don’t you worry, Gilda. I’ll meet you in the nurse’s room when I’m done. Try to relax a little. You look like you’re going to burst.”

It all happened too fast, and Gilda only came to herself when she heard Goldina greeting the pair inside the room. Finally, she relaxed, but her muscles hurt all over. Goldina told her to return to the nurse’s room, and she slowly dragged herself.

The corridor turned to the gallows and the executor was a big white and gray griffonness ready to pull the plank from under her. The room became the jail cell where she would wait for her condemnation. Mostly empty, the nurses in there busied themselves with paperwork. She sat at the big central table and waited until the pale-yellow Gina approached her.

“You okay?” She put a friendly paw on Gilda’s shoulder. “You look like you saw a ghost!”

Gilda didn’t feel like talking to anyone. “I guess…. I may have screwed up.”

She didn’t even know how she came up with the notion she did something wrong, but it would be too much trouble actually explaining what had happened. It didn’t help the other hen gasped in the same way Gilda would have expected out of Rainbow’s pink friend.

“Oh my gosh!” She held her face much too comically for Gilda’s tastes. “Did you scratch someone’s eye off in a fit of rage?”

“No! What the hell?!” Gilda screeched and ruffled her feathers.

Fortunately, Gina’s male friend dragged her off and they left Gilda alone. She wanted to think about what she would do when Goldina came back and treated her like a criminal for what she had done to the kid. Goldina, as a professional would know how bad it was. She would be offended Gilda gave her team a bad name.

Gilda’s elbows supported her head over the table and her paws covered her eyes. The words uttered by the town militia’s griffon echoed in her mind. Maybe she should leave Griffonstone. Maybe she could live for a while with Dash until she got a job in Ponyville. Fat chance she could compete with Pinkie and her pastries, though.

But she couldn’t just go. They would find her, and it would be worse.

Oh man… It went better than expected only to get ruined in the first day… The first hours. She stared at the white ceiling and let out a heavy sigh. Well, she did her best.

It didn’t take too long for Goldina to return with the clipboard and place it with the others before chirping at Gilda. “Well, that was a bit of bad luck… But it’s sorted out now. His wound didn’t seem so bad, but anyways… I’m not a doc. How did you go with the others?”

Gilda stared and blinked at her. “I didn’t screw it all up?”

“What?” Golden frowned, but then she giggled. “Oh, dear! I saw some griffons really mess up their jobs here and you didn’t! You didn’t do anything wrong! It was just a tiny bit of bad luck, that’s all. I took care of it. I wanted you to tell me, but I also checked on your other patients. You did great! Don’t worry about it anymore!”

Poof. Just like that, the room had cleared of its dark clouds. Gilda hesitated before she spoke to the other though. “Oh. Thanks.”

“You just gotta get started and before you know it, you’ll be free to go take care of your life. Though I’m biased towards hoping will be going to nursing school and joining the team in full. I would vouch for you!” Goldina winked at her.

She would vouch for her. Nobody had ever told her anything remotely similar. Did she mean it for real? Gilda’s heart warmed at her words nonetheless.

“Now, I got a few more patients for you. The shift ends at seven, you know. There is never a dull day around here.” The Goldina gave her a smug grin and elbowed at her. “Just make sure you dine at the hospital’s restaurant before you go home.”

She didn’t count how many patients she saw, but for sure the hospital was damn big. Sure, details mattered but, at its core, the job repeated itself. Or maybe Goldina jsut gave her the easiest patients. The actual nurses got the challenging ones.

All her patients taken care of, slightly before seven, she walked the halls of the hospital towards the restaurant. They ought to serve her this time and she wondered for a second if her job meant anything. If her simple ‘community service’ tasks accomplished something. Supposedly, taking care of the simple stuff freed the actual nurses to take care of the more complicated patients. It gave the whole thing some meaning. A sense something good came out of it. Other than she not getting sent to Shatteredrock.

Also, Goldina had said she would vouch for her if she went to nursing school. She had some trouble believing it. Her supervisor probably tried to motivate her, or something. Gee, she, an actual nurse? She restrained herself, or she might start giggling in the middle of the hallway where doctors and other nurses still went one way and another.

Reaching the restaurant, she found no opposition. Most of the tables were filled with griffons and a few ponies having dinner. Approaching the buffet in the back, one of the waiters greeted her.

“Hello nurse. We have grilled fish and potatoes, or minced meat lasagna for the main course. You can take whatever you want for complement.” He waved at the flood displayed before her. Premade dishes with grilled fish and others with the lasagna, but also bowls with things for her to add. Cheese and ham rolls, white rice, rice with meat, rice with lentils, sliced tomatoes and onion salad. Even more salads for the ponies, fried potatoes, potato salads…

Wow. Those guys ate well. At least part of her taxes seemed to be going the right way. She wondered for a second why didn’t Chancellor Gail mess with the health system, since he stole everything he could.

Probably because the hospital belonged to the Confederacy. Mostly funded by the Royal House. Griffonstone, Griffonland Hold and Griffonia’s government helped, but supposedly the Royal House ensured the hospital worked no matter what.

“I’ll have the fish!” She pointed. Less politics, more food!

“Here you go.” He gave her one of the plates and she took her time getting a bit of everything from the rest of the table. She worked hard during the day, but at least she could eat well. She could even choose lemon, guava, strawberry or apple juice (from that place). And another table had desserts! Grape gelatin and some sort of pave with chocolate.

She found the table with the nurses from the ward she worked on. Gina waved at her, and she felt like she didn’t really have a choice. She took her tray with her fish, the rest of the stuff, her apple juice, and the piece of the pave.

“Hey, you made it!” One of the nurses she didn’t know the name of greeted her.

Goldina sat at the table too, with her own plate and glass of juice. “You did great for your first day, Gilda. Gerard, you could be nicer to your patients… Let’s try to be more friendly, alright?”

A blue and navy griffon at the table blushed a little. “Sure, Miss Golden.”

While she watched, Gilda ate. The fish actually tasted like fish. She tried not to hurry, even though she hadn’t had a decent meal in a while.

Goldina went on. “Doctor Flesh Wound said the third operating room opened again, so we should be getting a pair of you back up to recovery. I’ll ask for volunteers tomorrow, so think it up. Other than that, we did great. And, Gina, I swear… Next time you ask a patient if they got injured in a knife fight, I will send you back to Emergency.”

“But he’s name was Gianni, and he came from Manehattan!” She defended herself and then pouted to her food. “Fine.”

Then the dinner turned to friendly banter rather than work-related conversation. Mostly curious about Gilda, they asked questions, but none of them bothered too much with the details of how she ended in her present situation. When the food ended, they left. Some of them had an extra shift to do, but Gilda left the hospital to check her stand in the plaza.

No scones in sight, but the bowl for the money wasn’t empty.

It had a paper written ‘sucker’ on it.

She sat on the plaza’s cobblestone, looking at the paper. She internalized the message because she sure felt like one.

What a fool-hardy, naïve idea. She should have known it wouldn’t work, but she would survive… She would probably make some good money selling her scones to her new colleagues.

She grabbed her things and started on her way home.

If anything, the night provided a welcomed chill, but the streets were mostly empty and the griffons outside weren’t the friendly kind. She felt a familiar sense of being put back in her place. Like the world wanted to remind her happiness didn’t fit her.

But tomorrow would be another day and things looked up. Mostly. She could even hope the mayor’s wife had forgotten about her.

Next Chapter: Lèse Majesté Estimated time remaining: 32 Hours, 27 Minutes