St. Olga's Memorial Hospital was among the more respected, and well established medical institutes in all the Caelumnian Empire. It had a strong link with the medical program at Lochshore University, the campus of which was only a couple of blocks away. The tall gothic bell tower of which could be seen from the premises easily. Along with it, the loud, overpowering knells of tradition, reputation, and status quo, echoing out over the burgs in which the working class tended to reside.
Beyond the central location of the university and the hospital, were the tall sky scrapers that parted clouds like branches dipping down into a creek. Great towering obelisks that were shown with glimmers of copper, bronze, brass, and steel grew up from the center of the floating plateau city that was Lochshore. A city that built on top of itself upward, gliding across an endless horizon of blue. The shapes of buildings were a patchwork of different architectural styles of the cultures that had boarded it during the Great Ascension, with a great art deco tower rising above them all, with great rounded peaks, vertically beveling up to a rounded point.
From all directions there could be seen billowing towers of steam, and flying skiffs, ships and zeppelin of all sorts, soaring all about in a semi-controlled fashion. As if invisible lines keeping them on a centralized course within city limits prevented them colliding with buildings or other airships, pulled them along on a magnetized course, discouraging deviation.
The further toward the center one drew, incredible feats of engineering and the ingenuity, engineering, and imagination of skilled human builders showed bright, sparing no expense to flaunt the creative capacity of the human spirit. The further one went out from the center of Lochshore, the expense began to peeter out, as if the lack of proximity to the original built segments of the city, so did ambition and funding began to wane as it grew further and further away from the opulence of its oldest and most vital areas over time, and changing management.
What was once meant to be quarters that were to keep even the most impoverished people well housed; were converted to storefronts, places of commerce. The accommodations for the working class were built outward and condensed as much as possible, with considerably less care for quality of life as it was outfitted to max out the capacity of living. As years and years passed, the priority of the Sector Administrators priorities shifted from the basic survival of the human race, and the dream of prosperity to be shared to all that remained of mankind; to economy, capitalism, expansion, and growth. The buildings and segments toward the farthest edges tended to be the newest, though the craftsmanship grew cheaper and more minimal the further out you went, the newer the segments were built. As the construction priority moved from skilled hands of architects, toward pre-fab manufacture and suiting minimal bottom lines.
In the background of it all was a great giant gear, always turning in the background, creating power, direction, and an iconically identifiable focal point for all those that resided. In a floating city where orientation was dictated on the scheduled flight path of orbit around the world below, the great gear became north on any compass rose depicting the metropolis.
Walking down the sidewalk on the grand thoroughfare that made up one of the primary curving bands of commerce, streets lined with steampowered automobiles and busy pedestrians hurrying along for the holiday season, was a well groomed man with short black, well oiled hair, wearing a warm melton overcoat and hat, carrying a basket under one arm, and holding a warmly bundled child appearing the age of three, in his other arm.
He walked with a levity in his gait and a smile on his face as he merrily walked toward St. Olga Memorial hospital. He exhaled as a cloud of vapor escaped in the late morning chill, as he pulled the blanket up farther around his son fast asleep in his arms.
He approached the tall gothic building of St. Olga's, with its ornate stone pillars supporting the overhang of the entrance, greatly looking forward to being inside where it was warm. He was about to shuffle around the basket and child in his arms when the door swung open, and a rotund tweed fellow with round glasses carrying a couple books in his arms was about to step out before noting the fellow's predicament, and taking a step back to hold the door open for him.
The dark haired man smiled and tipped his hat to the man graciously, before walking through and the polite man with the glasses proceeded on his way. He approached the front desk and gave a polite smile to the dour woman at the desk and sat down his basket as he signed in.
"Good morning Edith!" He said cheerily as the old woman gave him a polite nod with little enthusiasm as she read through a magazine. He finished the entry procedure, picked up his basket and walked down the hall to the On-call room, where the medical residents rested during their long, arduous shifts where they don't get much opportunity to go home or rest. Inside there were a couple bunks, a desk, a break-room kitchenette, a sofa, and a magazine rack. The father smiled and waved at a medical resident eating a sandwich and finishing up some coffee.
"Good morning," the father said. It took a moment for the eating man to register the wave, but he yawned and managed a nod before finishing his sandwich He checked his watch and sat his basket on the table and sat on the couch, rocking his sleeping son in his arms and humming a jaunty little tune as he admired the sleeping child.
Finally, a little after noon, the person he was waiting for finally opened the door. Cresseida was bright and brimming with positivity as ever, as she finished up a conversation she was having with one of the nurses while standing in the doorway, she laughed and said her goodbye before fully entering the room, and closing the door behind her. The moment the door closed, it was like a switch flipped in her. Her shoulders immediately fell and her posture slouched drastically as she leaned against the door and sighed deepy.
All at once it was like all the tiredness in her body rose to the surface, like a lead cloak had been tossed on her shoulders and finally started weighing her down. The bags under her eyes were big enough to carry your groceries, and her neverending bright smile finally waned as her bloodshot eyes opened and landed on her beloved husband sitting on the couch.
She wobbled over to the couch and collapsed upon it, her feet throbbing, back aching, her limbs felt like they weighed a thousand pounds and her head was beginning to threaten a migraine. She offered a weak, but genuine smile to her husband and kissed him before letting her head fall on his shoulder as she began to snore softly.
This made Eddie smile as he put an arm around her and let her nap. He held his son in one arm and his wife in the other and he looked like the face of peace. Not an impatient thought in his mind.
During this midday snooze he nodded to her coworker who seemed slightly revived by the refreshments as he went to leave the room. He nodded back at him. "Afternoon," Then left.
Despite an attempt being made to close the door gently, the noise did rouse Cresseida from her near REM sleep, as she flinched a little, looking around before realizing where she was and sighing with relief when she saw her husband's sympathetic expression gazing at her.
"How long did I get?" She cleared her throat and mumbled sleepily, trying to wake up.
"About 15 minutes," He smirked and kissed her head.
"How's Tian today?" She smiled softly with gentle brown eyes as she stroked her sleepy son's head, who stirred, scrunching up his face before sneezing, making both parents laugh.
"Tired, the cold really knocks him out," Eddie replied, taking his handkerchief and wiping the child slobber off of his shoulder with good humor.
"Who does that remind me of," She raised an eyebrow and smirked, eyeing the basket he brought, rifling through it and starting to dig into the pork stuffed rice balls he brought her for lunch.
"Oh my god food tastes amazing," She gasped between bites. "Thank you so much honey, I am so sick of hospital food!" She whimpered as she gratefully ate the meal he brought her. Eddie grinned with pride in his food being appreciated as their child began to fuss as he woke up, so he began bouncing him on his knee as he continued to make conversation.
"How's our favorite patient?" He asked with interest as he held his son's hands while he cooed and giggled.
"Finally began physical therapy today, though still cagey about personal details. She's been loving those books though," Cresseida said, pacing herself with the food, coughing slightly. Eddie handed her their son as he got up and retrieved a glass of water for her from the kitchenette, then sat back down again.
"Have the other staff warmed up to her yet?" He asked as Cresseida sucked the water down with grateful eagerness, then made a frustrated expression.
"Not really… though a couple nurses I think I've gotten to give her a shot, so that's not nothing," She said with exhausted optimism. "But she's gaining weight finally so I'm really happy about that!"
"That's good," Eddie agreed. He looked at his wife and smiled, caressing her cheek. "It's good to see you," He said earnestly, his warm, sparkling black eyes studying every detail of her exhausted, resilient countenance with both pride and sympathy. "Just six more months, right?" She cringed then slouched with both misery, exhaustion, and a smiling resignation to her face. It had been 7 years and six months of increasingly taxing study and labor. Her expression told him that those six months couldn't be up soon enough.
"Ye-UP. SIx MoRE moNTHs…!" She expressed in an intentionally hoarse voice that made three year old Tian giggle. "Oh yeah..? You think that's funny little man?" She smirked and held his hand as he reached for the rice ball she had grabbed from the basket. He reached for it as she held it out of his reach and blindsided him with a smooch on his cheek before taking a bite of the food and rocking him in her arms as she zoned out a little and stared into space. In the moment of quiet her smile faded and her eyes looked like she was somewhere far away.
"She… She reminds me of Tanesha sometimes…" The little family went silent for awhile as the words lingered in the air with gravity. Eddie put his arm around her and let her rest her temple on his cheek.
"You're a great doctor. She's gaining weight, she's getting stronger every day," He encouraged.
"I know…" Cresseida furrowed her brow. "It's just… I can't stop thinking about what's going to happen once she's healed enough to leave…" a pained expression appeared on her face. Eddie nodded, knowing all too well how she feels about the failures of their medical system, having listened to her rant many many times, but never having a solution to offer.
"Where will she go? Edith wasn't wrong, she doesn't have anywhere to go and little way to safely provide for herself…" She looked frustrated. "It isn't fair… and it makes me angry because she's right!! The problem is so much bigger than me and I've come so far and learned so much and I still feel just as powerless as when I started-!"
"Darling," A gentle touch of her husband's hand on hers calmed her, and she noticed the tears running down her cheeks and the flushed feeling in her face. She closed her eyes and sighed. Eddie went to wipe her tears with his handkerchief but remembering the baby spittle on it, pulled up his long sleeve and wiped her tears with it kindly. His kindness just made her cry more for a while before she finally sighed and got it out of her system. She turned her attention to her husband's gentle face.
"There will always be so much farther to go." He urged her gently. "You just gotta stop and look at just how far you've come," He spoke the words as soft as rose petals. "You are going to be a full fledged doctor now. With the title and accreditations that people will listen to. You have peers with power now too. You can't move mountains on your own. And the way things are, well, it's a pretty heavy mountain," He admitted, scratching his head. "But you are Cresseida Noatak and I don't think there's anything you can't do." He spoke the words with belief in their power.
The exhausted woman looked at her husband with tired eyes still glimmering with love and appreciation for everything he had been to her, and she hugged him tightly.
"What would I do without you?" she squeezed him.
"I'm afraid you'd have to go hungry, with only hospital food to sustain you," He grinned as he brushed off his shoulder with intentional arrogance regarding his cooking skills. She snorted and shoved his shoulder playfully as she turned her attention to her son, lifting him up as he reached for her, kicking his legs in the air, and she laughed softly.
"Yeah, I gotta say I got pretty damn lucky," She smiled, pulling her son close.
"Oh yeah?"
"They always told me never to fall in love with a piano man," She gleamed. "Good thing I've never been that good at obeying what I'm told."
"... So you're saying we wouldn't have worked out if I took up the bagpipes…?" Eddie posited with a raised eyebrow. Cresseida sighed and gave her husband who was looking all too proud of himself, an unamused look, before smirking.
"I dunno, that depends, do you think you could pull off a kilt?" She grinned and he blushed and rolled his eyes.
"Of course I could, my dear, I have dancer's legs!" he stated proudly.
The two of them continued to chat, laugh, and relax for the rest of her break, enjoying what time she could get with her husband and son during this very stressful, busy time in her life. Letting her cares and worries lift off of her shoulders, even for just a little while.