Healthcare. A simple word, and yet so many ways to implement it. In this country, doctors are usually paid by their patients upfront after the treatment. If you couldn’t pay though, you were in for a fun ride with crippling debt. If the patients didn’t look like they could pay in the first place, they were usually left to their own demise. This day was special though as the king simply ordered the doctors to help out the victims of the fires. I think that was a great way to solve the issue of healthcare.

On a side note, everyone was allowed to help out, which was also the reason why I was in a certain lazaretto. Totally not because a certain elf was there … and I totally didn’t focus on the area where she rested. She was sleeping rather irregular, her pupils moved constantly and she quivered as if she had a nightmare.

I initially didn’t even want to take care of her as I tried to make it seem like a coincidence that we were both here, but nobody else attended her. No nurse, no doctor came to check on her even once and even the surrounding patients wanted another bed as if she spelt bad luck. Well, they all proved once again that human rights weren’t applied to elves or other species. And so, a vampire took care of an elf inside a human kingdom who hated our races. It would have been a great start for a fable if she didn’t sweat so much. I had to give my best to hide the disgust I had for her sweat as I dried her forehead regularly.

“Mum … dad …” From time to time, she mumbled in her sleep, but I couldn’t hear anything interesting. Her parents were dead or discarded her. Either way, there was no reason to call for them in her sleep.

I wasted so much time around her. I could have knitted a few socks, helped Mary or even do a handstand and wriggle my legs, all would have been better than attending to her and her neighbour´s wounds. What an utter waste of time it was as I couldn’t even shake her awake because the public was always watching. Sometimes, or rather most of the time it was a hassle to hold up high morals I usually didn’t fulfil.

Bored out of my mind, I sat down on a nearby stool and relaxed to the point where I took a nap. As I woke up a few minutes afterwards, she looked at me as if she had seen a ghost. I was pale, but not that pale. A bit angry about the look she was giving me as I sat inside my chair, but also incredibly happy she was finally awake, I opened my mouth, only to close it again. I needed to make a good second impression, some half-hearted ‘hi’ wouldn’t do it.

“Hi.” She said with a dry mouth.

“Hi.” I replied out of reflex, regretting that I couldn’t come up with something catchier.

“Where … am I?” She asked, finally realizing she wasn’t at home anymore.

“You are in a lazaretto, just outside the city gates. You … well, everyone here was impacted by a fire that devoured the whole upper eastern slum. How are you feeling?”

“Tired.” Well, she wasn’t the only one.

“Hmm … I hate to admit it, but you are discharged now that you are awake.” At least that’s what the doctor told me. “Do you have a place you can stay?” Naturally, she didn’t, otherwise, she wouldn’t live in the slums. To my surprise though, she nodded and swung her legs over the edge of the plank bed. With wobbly legs, she was already walking out of the lazaretto, trying her hardest to stay away from the doctors and nurses. She shrank back whenever a patient in her path moved a bit as if she was scared of an unconscious human. A bit interested in her behaviour, I stood up from my chair and followed her outside, much to the surprise of the doctors and nurses.

“Hey, wait a second. You are too weak to go out on your own.” I shouted behind her, catching up to her mere seconds before she replied.

“I´m fine.” She said and quivered as I placed my hand on her shoulder.

“You are most certainly not. Here, wrap an arm around my shoulders. I´ll help you to walk.” She was too scared to even react and just stood there, frozen in fear.

“I … I …” She stuttered badly and was completely overwhelmed by my actions.

“It´s alright. Take a deep breath. You probably are still shocked, so take it easy.” I said in a calming tone.

“I … don’t need your help.” She said, took a step backwards and already started to turn around in an attempt to get away from me as fast as possible. She probably only made horrible experiences with humans so far which made breaking through her shell a rather tedious task. I didn’t follow her directly, but rather ran towards a nearby campfire from the guards, paid a rather hefty price for two skewers and sprinted after her.

“Wait!” I said as I was a mere ten metres away from her. She froze a second time and was incredibly short of running away as she finally noticed the sweet and juicy meat in my hands. “That one is for you.” I basically shoved one into her mouth. In satisfaction, I noticed how she gulped loudly, but sadly, she didn’t reach out to it.

“I don’t take food from strangers.” She said, probably wary about being poisoned by a few racists.

“One more for me then.” I bit into the one I held in front of her face and ate while we walked back towards the slum. Just before biting into the second one, I paused and held it over to her once more. “Are you sure?” She was incredibly hungry and even though starving was a rather common occurrence for her based on her figure, she still couldn’t resist.

“… thank you.” She took the skewer out of my hand and wolfed it down without a second thought. For a few minutes, nobody spoke a word as we walked through the remains of the slum, followed by a few humans who were interested in me. It did seem like the newest newspaper featured me and my usual clothing on the front page and told everyone my heroic deeds. Luckily, there was no drawing of me on them, otherwise, I could forget strolling around at night.

“Who are you?” She asked out of the blue.

“Lucy White. And you are?” I asked, giving my best to make it seem like I knew nothing about her.

“Hannah. Why are you following me?” I was quite mesmerized by her name as not too many wore a palindrome here. Maybe the elves had a special sense for naming their children because I found it strangely interesting.

“Hmm … I am trying to do something against the guilt I am feeling.” I said and ignored her name for the most part, following my admission.

“Guilt?” She asked, not understanding what I was uttering.

“My father … he was killed by elves a few days ago. It was most definitely my fault as they only targeted him because of me … and so, as I saw you in that burning tent … I hesitated.” Brilliant execution, ten out of ten points for the actress Lucinda! I even pressed a tear out of my left eye and wiped it away with my hands, captivating everyone who was following us. Hannah was taken aback by my performance as well, but for a very different reason. She couldn’t believe anyone would feel sorry about hesitating to save an elf like her. She lived under humans that looked at her like she was dirt her whole life and then, I came.

“You saved me?” She said, surprised by the very fact alone.

“Yes, I did. See this bandage?” I pointed towards one bandage around my wrist. “I got burnt as I dragged you out of the tent.” I smiled brightly, convincing her even further that I was a kind person, even to the likes of her.

“Thank you.” She said and looked at the ground with mixed feelings.

“Everyone would have done that.” I stated, although nearly everyone knew this was a lie. In fact, nearly all of the twenty-odd humans following us through all this destruction wouldn’t have helped her. She stayed silent as she didn’t want to say anything about the truthfulness of my point.

We arrived at the place I suspected her home to be a few minutes after that. Aghast, she looked at everything she had left which was not much in all honesty. One of my books was more worth than anything she had combined which were a few iron rings, a few long nails to keep the tent from flying away and a simple dagger. The rest was turned into nothingness as the fire devoured everything she had.

“This …” She sank on her knees, defeated and completely hopeless. There was nothing left in this blonde girl anymore, no will to rebuild, no hope of finding a way out of this. She took her time going through the ashes once more for whatever reason. Her fingers went through the ashes time and time again always with the same result.

“Hey,” I stared and knelt down beside her. “should I bring you to a relative or so?”

“There is no place I belong to.” She said, saddened by the very fact that her family was gone.

“We … we have a few empty rooms at my home.” I stated.

“I´m an elf. Nobody would want me there.” She replied and was probably right for the most part. The maids wouldn’t like her at all, but my mother wouldn’t mind her, I was sure of that.

“I do.” I said, brimming with determination.

“I … I cannot rely on your kindness any further.” And she still didn’t want to come. This place was her home, even though she was regularly abused here.

“Then work for me. Become my maid, everyone can do that.” I said.

“What about your family? You are a noble, I don’t want you to get into trouble because of me.” She was making this incredibly hard because she was just too scared of change.

“My mother has a big heart! Don’t worry, it´s going to be fine!” I stood up, grabbed her arm and pulled her up as well. If I had to use force to get her back to the estate, I was willing to do so. Luckily though, she followed behind me willingly after the first few steps and I didn’t have to pull her anymore.