Fight!

It had been a busy day at the surgery but Boomslang didn't mind; today she'd had a helper. Cranium had turned up looking for something to do. Boomslang had suspected that she should  have been at school, so she had asked her, fully expecting to be spun some elaborate lie. To her surprise Cranium had told her that she had skipped class. Appreciating her honesty, and deciding as a result not to make a big fuss, Boomslang had decided to let her help out at the surgery, reasoning that at least if she was there she'd be able to keep an eye on her.

About three quarters of the way through the shift Boomslang became aware of a commotion outside the surgery. As she’d just finished seeing a patient she decided to go out and see what all the fuss was about. Just outside the entrance her receptionist, Phalanges, was trying to prevent a rowdy male from harassing some of the patients. Boomslang stepped in to help.
“It’s okay Phalanges, I’ll take it from here,” she said. She stepped in front of the male.

“Come on now Mr Sharpclaw, calm down,” she said in a firm but friendly tone. The male, Sharpclaw, paused momentarily.

“I’m lookin’ for Pebbles. I know sheesh here,” he said, slurring his words slightly.

Boomslang sighed.

“Your wife’s not here, her appointment was yesterday,” said Boomslang calmly.

“You’ve been eating fermented berries again, haven’t you Mr Sharpclaw.”
“You think I’m drunk, don’t you!” he snapped. “Well I’m not drunk, see, I'm perfectly soobre, I mean sobre, I mean,” he paused; “I’M SOBER, that’s the word; SOBER!”

“Go Home!” said Boomslang forcefully.

“NO. NOT UNTIL I SEE MY WIFE!” snapped Sharpclaw. He leapt forward, lunging angrily at Boomslang. Phalanges, Cranium, and a small group of dragons who were watching the incident unfold gasped in surprise as in a single, quick, smooth movement Boomslang flipped Sharpclaw over and pinned him helplessly to the ground. 

“Now now Mr Sharpclaw, no need for that,” she said calmly. She looked round to Phalanges

“Would you be a dear and go fetch a guard? I do believe Mr Sharpclaw needs putting somewhere safe to sober up. Phalanges nodded and hurried off. A few minutes later she returned with one of the town guards. The guard approached the still restrained Mr Sharpclaw and, on catching a whiff of his breath, took him away to sleep off his intoxication in the safety of a guardhouse cell.

With the situation now dealt with, Boomslang and her two assistants returned to the surgery.
“Where did you learn to do THAT?” asked Phalanges, awestruck by what she’d just seen her boss do.

“Did you learn it in the army?” asked Cranium excitedly.

“Yes dear, well kind of,” She replied, seemingly unfazed by what had just happened. “It was actually Shadow who taught me how to fight.”

"You two have always been close, haven't you," said Cranium with a smile.

Boomslang laughed.

"Not really dear, well at least not back then," she replied, much to Cranium's surprise.

"It took us a while to get used to each other."

The rest of the shift passed without further incident. Phalanges locked up the surgery and Boomslang walked Cranium back to the orphanage.

On the way she chatted with Cranium.

“You really shouldn’t skip school, you know,” she said, trying to keep the conversation casual.

“But school’s so dumb,” grumbled Cranium.

“It can feel like that at times I guess,” agreed Boomslang, “But I know I wouldn’t be where I am now without it.”

“Yeh, well that’s ‘cause you’re smart,” grumbled Cranium. “I’m not. School doesn’t work for me. I’m learning all I need outside school.”

“That’s not an excuse. If you’re struggling you should try harder,”
Cranium gave her a look, so Boomslang decided to try a different approach.
“What do you think Mr Shadow would say if he knew you’d skipped school?

“Let’s go for a run?” suggested Cranium hopefully. Boomslang shook her head.

“Try again.”

“He’d say I was stupid,” she said with a hint of sadness.

“And why would he say that?” Boomsang asked.

“Because he’s stupid,” replied Cranium.

“And is that what you honestly believe?” asked Boomslang patiently. Cranium sighed and shook her head.

“No. He’d say it because he’d want me to go to school.”

“And why would he want that?” asked Boomslang, watching her reaction as she spoke.

“Because that’s what kids should do?” she suggested.

“He’d want you to go to school because he wants you to be the best version of yourself that you can be. We both do dear, so please, give it another try.”

Boomslang noticed that Cranium looked sad.
“Would you like to help out at the surgery at the weekends?” she suggested. “Official, with pay.”

Cranium looked round, a smile appearing on her face again.

“Yes please Ma’am,” She replied.

“Excellent,” said Boomslang. “I’ll have words with the orphanage and see if I can set it up.”

When they reached the orphanage Boomslang told the owner that Cranium had missed school because she’d been under her care at the doctor’s surgery, deliberately giving no more detail than that. After that Boomslang headed home.

As Boomslang lay curled up in front of a warm fire she thought about what had happened to her. As she thought about it her mind drifted back to an incident that had happened to her early on during her time in the army.

"Hey Boomslang, where are you going," a voice had called out behind her.

"To get some sleep," she’d replied, not bothering to turn around. She hadn't needed to, she’d known Shadow's voice well enough by then.

"You're not done yet," he’d called out.

"I think I am," she’d replied. Whatever he wanted, she'd had enough of him for that day. She knew he wasn't happy about being assigned to look after her, she got that, but why did he have to take it out on her? It wasn't her fault. It wasn't her that had chosen him.

Shadow had then come up behind her and given her tail a whack.

"What?" she’d snapped as she’d spun around to face him.

"Time you learned to fight," he’d replied.

"I'm a doctor. I don't want to learn to fight. I've spent my life learning to save lives, not take them." she’d replied angrily.

"You really think the wyverns will care? You think they'll stop to check if you're a combatant or not? You don't have to kill them, you just have to not let them kill you!" he’d snapped back at her. Then he’d attacked her, knocked her flying. As she’d gotten back up he’d attacked her again, and again, trying to make her angry, trying to provoke her to fight back.

Eventually he’d pushed her too far and she had started fighting back.

“WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?” she’d snapped.

“Right now my problem is you,” he’d replied. “I’ve been ordered to protect you, and I swear, to the best of my ability I’ll do that, but I might not always be able to be there. I need to know that you can defend yourself when the need arises.”

She hadn't appreciated his heavy-handed attempts at training her until a couple of weeks later when the squad had met the enemy for the first time. They were making their way through some shrubland when they came face to face with a group of wyverns. During the ensuing fight one of the wyverns had attacked her, but thanks to what she'd learnt she was able to fend it off. As it had come in for a second attempt Shadow had appeared beside her and smashed it to the ground. It never got back up. She remembered thinking he was going to have something stern or sarcastic to say, but instead he'd given her a wink and a playful smile. Then he'd disappeared again in pursuit of another victim. To him it had all been a game back then, in the early days at least. Later that would all change.