Chapter 4: Facade

The sight the scouts were treated to after looking out of their room was less scary than it was sudden, the couple medics that had been tending to the girl backing off as she began to scream, left unsure how to proceed or even what had caused it. With Aria's reemergence into the main chamber of the tent, the medics had turned to face her, wordlessly asking her to advise- she wasn't about to do that though, instead walking right up to the screaming child to intervene herself.

The good news was that Anne clearly wasn't screaming because of what she saw, her eyes clenched shut as she shook on the soft bedding, feebly trying to twist her body to its right side. Unfortunately, that left the other main possibility, even a cursory check of her thoughts revealing the pain she was feeling in her left arm, unceasing even as her screams turned into pained whimpers. Aria's own medical expertise was very limited, but she still had enough of it to put a Healing Pulse and a Calm Mind to use, her touch on the cast-wrapped arm numbing the nerves and gently cooling the panic building inside of the poor child, whimpers replaced by quiet gasps and then eventually deep breaths as the pain left her be.

"^She was in pain.^"

"Must've underestimated the dose, damn it. Can you hold her like this for a while?"

Close watch over the child's thoughts let Aria know she'd heard Maple's words even if they were not understood in the slightest- and also that she was much too tired to pay any real attention to them, content in laying on her right side for the time being, the Gardevoir nodding towards the Leavanny as her hands gently held the cast-clad arm. The leafy medic wasted no time walking back over to the bed, one leaf-like arm looking for the right spot of exposed skin as the tip of the other began to glow light purple. The Poison Jab that followed was almost entirely painless, completely paralyzing the girl's left side once more.

"Better now?"

"^Much better, thank you Maple.^"

"Are you gonna put her back to sleep?"

"^I may, but it'd be good to see if I could figure out what-^"

The girl's mumbled words interrupted the hushed conversation, the rest of the gathered group freezing as they realized they still had an awake human in their midst as they saw her slowly rotate back onto her back, Aria quickly glancing between Maple, other medics, and the rest of the scout team, passing a message to them all-

"^Back off for now, I'll handle this.^"

Aria watched nervously as Anne's head turned to look over in her direction, remembering to link up with the girl this time, torn between wanting to help the injured child and protecting her village and its secret, though Anne's current weakness skewed her mostly towards the former. After a few long moments, their patient was back to laying on her back, eyes slowly beginning to pry themselves open and staring into the ceiling, squinting almost immediately. Her gaze took its time moving around the walls before eventually landing on Aria, squinting just as hard, the whole room's collective beat skipping as they watched how would their inadvertent guest react to their current situation-

"~T-thank you, n-nurse...~"

Out of everything Anne could mutter out in her pained state, Aria wasn't expecting gratitude, the mentally translated words making her feel that much warmer- at least until she finished taking the rest of them in, having no idea what did the girl mean by that, or why was she squinting at her like that. Without saying anything in response, Aria walked a half step closer, eyes closing as she tried to more invasively dig into her thoughts and piece together just what was going on in here-

...

Figures she wasn't scared, she could barely see her.

An attempt to see through the girl's eyes revealed the resulting image to be unfocused beyond all recognition, Aria's own appearance reduced to a tall white and greenish blur, blur that Anne was interpreting as some sort of human with a white and green outfit with a mask covering their face-

"~N-nurse?~"

The confusion in Anne's voice made Aria realize she wasn't sure how to respond, though that uncertainty soon gave way into going along with what the girl was already thinking she was seeing, Aria taking a quiet breath before answering in character-

"^I'm here Anne, I'm here. How are you feeling?^"

She sighed inwardly in relief at the realization that Anne wasn't suspecting anything, slow and muddled thoughts slowly coalescing to come up with a response as the Gardevoir glanced at the rest of the group- or at least the rest that had still remained, Sprout having taken her leave in the meantime, with all medics but Maple over in other parts of the clinic tending to someone else for the time being. Before anyone else could try catching Aria's attention or speak up, Anne spoke back up-

"~I-I'm thirsty. C-could I have some water?~"

The request was wordlessly passed over to Maple as Aria's expression continued to soften, the girl's miserable state firing up every last bit of empathy in her system, making her want nothing more than for Anne to feel better. Still, her duty continued to weigh on her mind, forcing her to maintain an impersonal facade and simply respond with-

"^Water is on its way Anne. Would you want something to eat as well?^"

"~M-mhm.~"

Anne closed her eyes and attempted to relax further into the bedding, giving Aria an opportunity to quickly dash over to grab the meal Holly had made for her, taking it out of its smell-proof bubble before scrambling back to Anne's bedside, the sweet, buttery aroma immediately filling the air as the meal was set down on the bed stand. The girl was much too exhausted to think though the weird logic of food being provided so instantaneously, most of the senses that weren't busy hurting instead focusing on how nice that smell was, making the cold air feel so much more welcome.

"~T-that smells so nice...~"

"^It does, doesn't it?^"

The allure of a nice meal got the injured girl trying to squirm around on her bedding, grunting and wincing as she tried to move the rest of her body closer to the pillow and closer to the meal. She managed some steady if slow progress towards that before suddenly stopping, Aria getting taken off guard by the sudden hesitation and nervousness inside the girl's head, about to speak up before Anne did it first-

"~C-could I have m-m-my clothes back? If there's n-nothing medical stopping t-that. A-and glasses...~"

The first part of the request was easier to understand, though not exactly trivial to fulfill in the heat of the moment either, especially with how vague it was. The second part had Aria dumbfounded completely, the Gardevoir freezing for a moment as she thought through ways to respond, eventually settling on something that would buy them time-

"^We'll get to looking for your clothes sweetie. In the meantime, could you describe how do glasses look?^"

At the same time, she reached out to just Lumi, deciding to just play it safe with what to bring-

"^Lumi, run to Mikiri's and bring over Anne's bag and all the clean clothes it had in it, asap.^"

"Aye aye."

The Luxray didn't have to be told twice, bolting out of the tent, passing the leafy medic holding a large cupful of water on his way out. The part of the exchange Anne could hear confused her even further than she already was following the nurse's response, eventually managing to shake it off and answer the very oddly phrased question-

"~V-very t-thick lenses, metal rims and temples, black with some paint fl-flaking.~"

As unhelpful as the description on its own would've been, the mental visualization that had accompanied it was very helpful for the Gardevoir, letting her get a clear enough image of the item in question. It also made her realize they hadn't seen anything like that from digging through the girl's bag, nodding in response to the description while also passing the visualization over to Ori and Ruby-

"^She asked for this thing. There wasn't anything like it in her bag, right?^"

Ori was about to respond, mouth opening before he remembered that their little guest could hear him too, instead trying to put on the quietest whisper he could manage, to somewhat mixed results-

"None to my recollection."

"I'll have a sweep through where Sprout found her just in case." - Ruby had the right idea to keep her voice down as well, though it was only partially successful at not catching Anne's attention, the girl attempting to look over in their direction but annoyingly only seeing a dark blur in the unlit part of the room.

That is, if she had actually been focusing on that, the much closer green-yellow blur with something brown in its arms catching her more immediate attention, this odd small hospital she must've been in becoming weirder and weirder by the moment. Figures asking about this one thing won't hurt-

"~Is th-this a Leavanny?~"

The question finally brought Aria's attention back to Maple having made her way back, the Gardevoir relieved at their facade remaining unbroken. She only barely avoided breaking her disguise, mental reach waning an instant before it would've become visible as she reached over to grab the wooden cup with her physical hands.

"^Yes, Anne. She... helps us with our patients.^"

Thankfully, the human took the response at face value, as vague as it might've otherwise been- especially with the words that followed steering her train of thought away from trying to further pry into just what exactly was going on in here-

"^I've got the water, will you need help with drinking Anne?^"

"~M-mhm.~"

Slowly, Aria made her way around the bed towards the side of the human with a functional arm, the human girl clumsily sliding towards the back of the bed while using her good arm to keep the covers as closely pressed to her front as possible, not letting them slide even slightly. A rather confusing behaviour on the face of it, though if the Gardevoir could pick up on anything, it was just how uncomfortable not having clothes seemed to be making the girl, and this tied into that in some unclear way.

No matter what exactly was the culprit, Anne had a spare pair of hands to help her out regardless. The cup being brought over to her lips made the girl close her eyes and start drinking, her pretend medic helping her noodly arms keep the cup stable with a bit of telekinesis when her pretend patient wasn't looking. The girl downed the entire cup without pausing even briefly, gasping quietly afterwards as her eyes opened again, looking at her "nurse" from closer up, some of the details not adding up, but that was mostly of secondary concern for now-

"~C-could I have more?~"

The unnecessary nicety of the question brought a soft, sad smile over to Aria's face, the Gardevoir nodding as she took the cup away-

"^Of course Anne. Will you need help with eating as well?^"

"~N-no, I think I'll manage that one. Though I've a q-question if that's alright...~"

"^Of course, go right ahead.^"

With the cup getting passed back over to Maple, the human girl had Aria's undivided attention once more while she reached into the bundle prepared by the Azumarill a few hours prior. Her nose sniffed eagerly as she brought one of the buttery pastries over to her mouth hole, keeping her hunger in check for just long enough to manage to stammer the question out before biting into the meal-

"~W-where am I?~"

Aria froze in response, these specific few words being the one question she hoped she would not have to answer, her silence unnerving the human as she waited for a response. Fortunately, while she herself didn't have an idea of how she could possibly respond to that without making the girl either suspicious or outright panicky, Anne did, the human mumbling quietly as her train of thought was investigated, together with the name of the location she hoped she currently was in.

"^This is the Lillywood hospital sweetie. You... had a very rough accident in the woods, but the rescue came in time and helped move you here.^"

Anne sighed at her hunch turning out to be correct, while at the same time freezing at the mention of her accident, what she had previously assumed to be some sort of vague nightmare turning out to be exactly what had happened last night, the realization making her gulp quietly. Aria felt that pang of fear clearly, walking over that bit closer to immediately reassure her-

"^Don't worry Anne, you're safe here now-^"

"~A-a-are they here?~"

The fear dripping from those words gave Aria a pause, her attention narrowing on them as she responded, paying as close attention to how the girl would react as possible-

"^They?^"

"~M-m-my parents...~"

...

The Gardevoir could only stare at the human for a while, the pieces of the rotten puzzle suddenly coming together in the most disgusting, harrowing way imaginable, whatever trace color there might have been there draining from Aria's face shortly afterwards. Something deep inside her cried out in pain at the realization, the psychic's body trembling as she gathered words, her response thankfully putting Anne's mind at temporary ease-

"^N-no, they're not Anne.^"

"~Oh good.~"

The girl was still thoroughly shook, her mind calming down only somewhat as it refocused on chewing through the delicious meal, the rich flavor providing a pleasant, if very fleeting reprieve. As she wrapped the portion up though, fear began to build up inside her once more while she looked over at her nurse and the Leavanny by her side. She knew full well that her request wouldn't be honored, but she had to do something, say something, try to fight what felt like the inevitable at this point, tears beginning to well up in the corners of her mostly blind eyes-

"~P-p-please don't make me go back...~"

Her whimper almost made Aria do something then and there as the child shrunk into her bedding, her terror the likes of which she wouldn't wish even on her worst enemies, eyes clenching as she shook harder and harder.

"^I-I-^"

"~P-please! I-I'll do anything, PLEASE-~"

"^We won't let them hurt you again.^"

Anne's teary eyes snapped back open at that, looking over at her nurse in all their blurriness, a desperate question bubbling up from the depths of her terrified mind, carrying within it the tiniest spark of hope-

"~R-r-really?~"

"^Y-yes Anne, really. Y-you're safe here, I... I-I promise.^"

It was the one response the human was not expecting in the slightest, and even if a healthier, less exhausted her would've doubted the truthfulness of these words, the painted, blind, tired her couldn't help but to feebly latch onto the promise she was given, nodding shakily as she tried to process it all.

"~T-thank you n-nurse...~"

The relief was as immense as its effects were immediate, the release of tension working in tandem with the girl's tiredness to bring forth rest, as nourishing as its foundations were shaky. In not too long, unconsciousness had claimed her recovering body once more, plunging the rest of the room into thick, largely confused silence. Nobody but the Gardevoir was aware of the details of the exchange that had just passed by them, having just been quietly observing their coworker for the previous few minutes.

Anne falling back asleep brought a fair bit of relief to the rest of the group, Maple just setting the cup of water down on the bed stand next to the unfinished pastry, swiping some leftover crumbs from the girl's hand and face all the while, Ruby attempting to catch Aria's attention by patting her arm all the while.

"Aria?"

Her voice being spoken out loud finally got the scout to turn back to the rest of their group, nobody else expecting to see a couple stray tears flow down her cheeks, the psychic seeming to be only barely maintaining composure.

"We're- what happened?" - Lumi's question was, unusually for him, not dismissive, the sight of his coworker being distraught stopping any snark before it even had a chance to be thought of.

"^We need to talk.^"

Nobody was about to dispute that, the scout team heading back over to the side room, sparing one last look at the sleeping bedful of trouble on their hands and paws before making their way through the canvas flap and settling down. Lumi dropped the bag down onto the floor in the middle of the room while Ruby continued to hold onto her spoils, the small metal and glass trinket eventually found buried in snow, its frail appearance convincing her to keep holding onto it lest something would happen to it.

The whole room remained silent as everyone awaited Aria's words, words that kept not coming despite a couple attempts, the Gardevoir's mouth opening and closing for a while before she eventually just used telepathy-

"^I figured out what she was running away from.^"

"Great. What is it and what can we do about it-"

"^It's her own family."

The answer cut Lumi off before he could finish his sentence, a cold shudder running down his, and everyone else's spines at that answer the more they thought about it.

"W-what do you mean?"

"^I wish I had a more concrete idea, only had a chance to talk with her for a few minutes. But... the kind of fear she felt asking whether her parents were here was more than just being afraid of being chewed out. She was scared for her life, and if they're the reason she ran away in the first place... what do we even do?^"

The rest of the group looked among themselves as they thought back to their brief spat with Sprout earlier and what to do now, nobody exactly liking where their imaginations were ending up at when attempting to think it all through. Still, her parents being terrible didn't quite mean she didn't have any other family-

"I find it hard to believe she was simply running towards nowhere on that fateful night. She must have some other relatives she was in the process of heading towards before suffering her accident, and if we can make sure she ends up with them then should will be good."

While most of the group was persuaded by Ori's argument, Aria most definitely wasn't, not after seeing and feeling it all for herself. She was unable to imagine someone gripped with that much fear having a plan any larger than their immediate future. Though, it's not like either of them had any sort of concrete evidence to base any further decision making on and they both knew that, the Gardevoir simply sighing and nodding along- they'd have to dig into it all once Anne was awake again and could receive some questions.

But, at the same time... what if she indeed has nowhere else to go?

"And besides, judging from what Mikiri found I kinda doubt we'd ever want this one in particular living here with us."

Aria was about ready to snap at the Luxray for that remark, but ultimately held herself back, watching as the canine opened the bag by yanking on the dangly bit with his teeth, one paw reaching in to clumsily grasp the Fennekin doll.

"Look inside, at that weird painting again- that's our Ember."

This revelation chilled the room almost as much as the one from a few minutes before, the weirdly slick doll getting immediately grasped by Aria's Psychic and brought over closer before getting unzipped violently, her hand shaking as she reached into the hidden pocket. There's no way that could be true, that wouldn't make any sense whatsoever with what she'd seen of Anne-

...

A closer inspection of the picture had the doll unceremoniously fall down onto the floor, some of the metal circles and canvas rectangles slipping out as Aria stared transfixed, making out the tiny detail inscribed on that thin, stiff piece of wood, Lumi's words unfortunately coming true. The little Fennekin's left eye had the same misshapen iris and almost nonexistent pupil as she had seen on the Braixen that lived amongst them the couple times she took her eyepatch off in the public, the detail overlooked earlier in all the chaos, Aria's spirit deflating at that realization as she passed the picture to the other scouts.

"That is... terrible." - Ori's unusually curt response had the rest of the group agreeing, Lumi feeling a slight pang of guilt at lowering everyone's spirits by so much, even if the reason why was absolutely justifiable and they would've had to tackle it eventually.

"Not like it changes particularly much though. Her staying here was never in the books in the first place, all this means is that we'll have to pay closer attention to her and make sure she's out of here and someplace safe as soon as possible."

"Do you really think she deserves safety anymore Ruby?" - Lumi's response was contemptuous, less so towards the Weavile and more so towards the subject of their discussion.

"If this is true, then no. But if what Aria was saying is right and the girl was indeed running for her life, then sending her back to her parents would be sentencing her to death, and that isn't a punishment I'm comfortable sentencing anyone for no matter how severe a crime."

Even Lumi knew better than to try to argue a philosophical matter like that, swallowing his disagreement as the tiny painting was passed over to Ori. The Scizor expressed more emotion after briefly looking at the image than he had usually done in the span of a week by closing his eyes and immediately sticking his pincer back out for Aria to grab the item again.

"Though... what is this for, do you know Aria?"

Ruby showed off the trinket with two large glass circles and some bits of metal connecting them, two longer metal pieces sticking out to the sides of the glass circles, one of them bent harshly, some parts of the item still wet from melted snow.

"^I... am not certain. Though considering her eyesight is so terrible that she had a hard time differentiating me from a clothed human, I suspect these to have some use in alleviating that considering their shape.^"

Lumi was left blinking dumbfounded at that claim, having a terribly hard time imagining vision so crippled it couldn't differentiate his friend from one of those despicable creatures- though then again, compared to what his eyes were capable of, almost every other creature in existence was stunted in that regard.

"Perhaps it is best she stays parted with them then."

Aria felt like she ought to disagree, to claim that it was cruel to keep someone blind like that, but... she couldn't really bring herself to say that out loud, not after learning that the injured human apparently had something to do with what had befallen Ember all these years ago. Her desire to comfort Anne clashed violently with the scorn she felt like she ought to be showing the human girl, expression twisting briefly before settling back down.

Plus- no better way to maintain the facade of this being a human facility than to keep Anne unable to tell what she was even looking at.

That tiny silver lining couldn't hide the fact that the psychic scout still felt terribly conflicted about all this, the two facts refusing to make any sense whatsoever taken together. The conundrum left her pondering in place even as the rest of the group started to take their leave one by one, the glass trinket getting unceremoniously left on the ground next to the bag as Aria took another closer look at the image in her hand. The human was unmistakably Anne and the Fennekin was unmistakably Ember, but...

Why would both of them be happy together on that painting if that was the case?

__________________________________________

A part of Aria considered bringing the painting with herself before ultimately deciding against it. If it was all true, if Anne was indeed one of Ember's tormentors, then the last thing the Gardevoir wanted was to bring that trauma back for the poor vixen.

She still remembered the night when Ember arrived at the village, her among so many others- there seemed to be some sort of human facility not too far from the edge of their woods where many mons were being housed in conditions Aria herself would consider barbarous, but which were apparently a marked improvement for some living there. Bright light, only a handful of square feet of personal space, being trapped in cohabited cages with metal bars- true, it apparently also came with food and water, and that fact for many was enough to make it better than what came beforehand, but that fact did little in making it all any less monstrous, any less... human.

They were all being held there, and one night someone had apparently figured out a way out when the humans weren't looking, some good couple dozen smaller mons successfully making a run for it to the woods. Many of them simply regained their freedom and ran off wherever the wind took them, never to be seen again, but the rest did eventually end up stumbling onto their little village, and Ember was one of them. Scared, scarred, traumatized, injured, the cruelty she'd been on the receiving end of from humans monstrous beyond words, especially from before she had ended up in that bright place she would eventually end up escaping from.

The memory of Cinder's reaction after listening to the little one recount everything she'd been through was forever burned in the Gardevoir's mind, the Delphox's burning rage turning into an unbreakable resolve to never let any harm come her adoptive daughter's way from humans ever again. It was a laudable intent for sure, though even Aria couldn't deny it occasionally became uncomfortable at times to listen to, Cinder's desire for protection quite often veering all too close to wishing for a bloody, fiery vengeance for comfort.

Regardless of any objections Aria might have had towards her mother, the younger vixen herself was someone she had nothing but sympathy towards, especially after she began volunteering to help with looking after the little ones of the village and teaching them their language, Bell in particular seeming to like her a lot. If there was any place she had a decent chance of finding her at during the day it was tending to the younguns, and sure enough, it was the case today as well.

While most tykes were gathered in the vicinity of the Torkoal in the center of the large open tent, with most of them being either told stories to by their caretakers or napping, there were a few other smaller groups around the tent, mostly consisting of mons who tolerated cold well playing around with each other. The couple tots sitting on or next to Ember's lap didn't really fit that criteria, but her warmth kept them comfortable all the same as they nibbled on a handful of nuts and berries. The Braixen kept a close watch over them all the while, her warm, shaky paws making any sort of casual affection that much more pleasant for the little ones, especially in the cold of winter. While most of her shaking and stuttering was well attributable to what humans had done to her, there was a notable undercurrent of worry that flowed through the fox's mind that contributed as well, Aria eventually speaking up making her jump-

"Good afternoon Ember."

As mellow as her voice was, it was still enough to startle the Braixen before she quickly calmed back down, the Whismur and Skiddo snuggling into her waving back at the visitor to the best of their anatomical ability.

"G-good afternoon M-Mrs. Aria! B-Bell is with the r-rest, next to-"

"Oh no no, I'm not here to pick him up, I wanted to talk to you actually."

Even through the off white shawl, the Gardevoir could see Ember's shaking intensify, a stray gust of wind making the white eyepatch flutter slightly.

"Oh, w-what about?"

Aria need not have been a psychic to tell the girl was rather spooked, though that trait did make it clear that it wasn't her that the Braixen's fear was centered about, one eyed glances over towards the direction of the medical tent telling her everything. As understandable as that was, it didn't make the Gardevoir regret having to ask her about this any less, the scout telekinetically shoveling some snow off to the side before taking a seat down next to the fox and offering her a shoulder to lean on.

"Well, I have one question in particular, but it can wait a bit. How are you doing sweetie?"

Ember eagerly accepted the offer, huddling in as she tried to keep her breathing under control, the little ones mimicking her without having a real idea of what was even going on.

"Scared. W-when w-will that human be gone?"

Aria's hand reached up to lightly pet the fox's head as she herself took a deep breath, the answer as straightforward as it was unsatisfactory, Ember's body language immediately shrinking in response.

"We don't know, sadly. Their situation is... a complex one, and we want to avoid potentially harming them even more through acting hastily."

Her mother would've likely snapped back with something dismissive, likely even scoffing at the scouts for even considering the human's wellbeing in all this. Not Ember though, the Braixen just nodding and leaning further into her, her hands occupied with petting the little ones, providing some well needed distraction all the while.

"I-I see. I hope they get well soon, I-I really do-"

"-even if just so they'd get out of here sooner?"

Ember froze at Aria completing the sentence for her, shrinking a bit and giving her a weak nod, as mean as it was to admit.

"Don't worry sweetie, if there's anyone justified in wanting them gone from here it's you."

"It feels m-mean to say..."

"Maybe, but I know you're not doing it out of malice."

Speaking of possible malice...

"But, I wanted to ask about something else."

The clarification might've been a lie and Aria might've been a terrible liar, but thankfully for her Ember didn't exactly have a lot of spare attention to notice, the words perking her up as she looked back up at the taller psychic.

"Does... does the name "Anne" ring any bells for you?"

She had to smudge the pronunciation a bit to hide the name's obviously human origin, and judging by the fact that the Braixen didn't immediately panic at hearing it, she was likely successful. Deep thought wasn't what Aria was expecting either though, leaning in closer to the vixen as she concentrated, her shaking seeming to completely subside for a moment. It wouldn't last long, especially after her expression started to scrunch up in a mix of uncertainty and a well, but not completely masked frustration, Ember's response not conveying any of the latter-

"N-no, I don't think so. Why do you ask M-Mrs. Aria?"

"Oh it's... it's nothing."

The Braixen might've been distracted last time, but this time she most definitely noticed the lie, looking up at the Gardevoir uncertainly as she got up, getting rid of any leftover snow on her skin dress before addressing the firefox-

"Alas, time for me to head back to my duties. Come visit sometimes sweetie, Cadence likes hanging out with you more than she'd admit~"

Ember chuckled quietly at that, the thought bringing a smile to her face, which persisted as she waved the scout away, focusing back on the tots near her afterwards. While Aria was of a mind to immediately head back to the clinic or at least to resume her duties in the meantime, a low, heavy voice caught her attention before she could walk more than a few steps forward-

"Aria? A private word if you could."

The Torkoal speaking up caught the attention of the tykes surrounding them only briefly, most of them focusing right back on the stories their caretakers were weaving for them, the Wigglytuff and the Grumpig waving briefly over at her as well, the wordless gesture returned as the Gardevoir addressed the fiery tortoise-

"^Yes, Elder Ana?^"

The fire type might not have been capable of telepathy proper, but she could make up for that by just thinking about her words really hard, letting Aria and any other psychics in the vicinity pick up on what she was trying to convey. Which was good enough, considering that the group in question currently consisted of a handful of toddlers, most of them asleep, and one very occupied caretaker.

"^What's the situation with the human?^"

"^Improving quickly healthwise, she woke up earlier today for a while. It would appear that she was escaping from her family when she ended up having her accident, and it is very uncertain whether she has anyplace to go. We'll be attempting to figure out whether she has anywhere else to go and how to get her there. And...^"

Aria paused briefly, the fact still not sitting quite right with her.

"^...it would appear that she is one of Ember's past tormentors.^"

Ana grew quiet at that, old age not helping any when it came to the speed of her thoughts, but she wasn't gonna let that stop her.

"^How... confident are you of that claim?^"

"^Not at all, but there is some evidence towards it that I can't argue with.^"

The Torkoal reciprocated with a slow, thoughtful nod, shuffling on the grass surrounding her a bit to get more comfortable.

"^Very well. I trust your judgment. Proceed as you were.^"

"^Understood, Elder Ana.^"

"^May the winds hasten you Aria.^"

__________________________________________

The Gardevoir's walk back to their clinic took a while, conflicting thoughts continuing to swirl around in her mind, occluding enough of her thought process to not let her realize a couple very critical facts until she'd already stepped into the large multi chambered tent, the surprise startling and urging her on.

One, the girl was awake.

Two, Aria's mother in law was here.

One hurried march later, the Gardevoir stepped into the girl's room herself, thankfully finding the situation to be nowhere near as out of control as she feared it to be, the Indeedee currently pouring the girl a cup of Holly's concoction as Anne watched with curiosity, the greenish glow of Autumn's telekinesis captivating, despite how little she could make of it.

"^Autumn, what are you doing!?^"

The private telepathic exchange went unnoticed by Anne thankfully- which couldn't be said about Autumn physically turning her head to look up at her daughter in law, the blurry motion making the human glance over in that direction as well, mood only improving further at the sight of her nurse.

"~H-hello nurse!~"

"^Making sure the girl's comfy- I'm not even sure she can drink anything like this Aria, someone had to come help her.^"

"^She thinks she's in a human hospital-^"

"^And she still does, don't you worry, I didn't try to speak to her.^"

Quick check of the human's surface thoughts had the Gardevoir confirm the Indeedee's words, Anne thankfully not suspecting anything much to Aria's relief and surprise, the tension quickly evaporating from her body with a couple nods.

"^Alright, I see. Sorry, I-^"

"^Shhhh. Don't go around worrying Aria, you're just trying to-^"

"~N-nurse?~"

Anne speaking up again interrupted the mental exchange, Aria clearing her throat as she refocused on the human, taking in a couple deep breaths before responding as calmly as she could-

"^I'm here Anne, I'm here. How are you feeling?^"

"~Better. T-this Indeedee came and helped me w-with the drinking while you were gone.~"

Even if the choice of words wasn't ideal, both women could palpably feel the gratitude in the girl's voice, the nearly blind human looking back over at the shorter psychic with a weary, tired smile.

"~Um... c-can I thank them in a w-way they'll understand?~"

Autumn had to bite her tongue not to chuckle at the silliness of the question, a small smile on Aria's expression thankfully much harder to spot for their guest.

"^Just say it out loud and she'll get what you mean, don't worry.^"

"~O-okay. Um... thank you Mrs. Indeedee.~"

The elderly psychic responded with a light bow before helping to hover a newly refilled cup of juice over to the girl's mouth, the weary human eagerly downing the entire thing all at once despite how intense its flavor was. While Aria was glad she was feeling better, the pressing questions still remained, regardless of how unpleasant they were to think about- or difficult to segue into without the girl thinking she was being questioned in a hostile way... but she had an idea.

"^We've located your bag with clothes Anne, I'll move it over to your bed.^"

The news only had the girl drinking faster, even slight nods resulting in some of juice spilling onto the rest of her face, the affirmation and relief clear in her thoughts without the need for any words.

Aria was somewhat conflicted about what to do about the glass trinket that laid off to the side of the bag, eventually just following the conclusion she'd reached with her coworkers earlier today. A light telekinetic nudge shoved it into the corner as she picked up the rest of the bag by the weird feeling handle, the Fennekin doll peeking out from its opened metal seam. Even if she couldn't make out much of it, the girl was still very glad to get her bag back, even though the sight of the plushie poking out was an odd addition.

"~Thank you s-so much nurse! What about t-the glasses?~"

"^We're... still looking for them unfortunately.^"

"~Oh, o-okay. I really h-hope they're alright, they're so ex-expensive...~"

The thoughts about the trinket's price didn't immediately translate into anything Aria was familiar with, leaving her confused about what the 'expensiveness' actually implied. The internal question was quickly swept off to the side though, replaced by a cautious, close observation of what Anne would do with the bag's contents, Autumn no less curious herself, watching over from behind her daughter in law.

Reassuringly, the Fennekin doll was carefully picked up from the bag and given as close of a hug as the currently one armed girl could manage, internal warmth mixing with somber longing as she held onto the toy for a few moments longer, before setting it down to her side afterwards and reaching further into her items.

"^That's a nice Fennekin doll.^"

While the precise phrasing confused the girl a bit, the gist was understood nonetheless, almost blind eyes looking down at the dearly held item, shaky fingers brushing through the fake polyester fur as Anne grew sadder, taking both Aria and Autumn by surprise.

"~Mhm. It's nice and I'm g-glad I found it...~"

There was a lot left unspoken in that sentence, Anne closing her eyes as a couple tears began to leak through, the Gardevoir finally taking the risk by prodding the topic on hand-

"^Is there something wrong Anne?^"

"~Oh n-no, no, no, it's just... I-I miss her, t-the real her.~"

"^Her?^"

"~My F-Fennekin, Ember. We... we had to separate and I p-promised her that I would f-find her one day and we'd both finally be safe...~"

Autumn's gasp caught the human girl by surprise, making her look in the Indeedee's direction, shaking a bit more.

"~W-what was that?~"

"^Don't worry Anne, she just... sneezed. So, Ember used to live with you?^"

The Indeedee was slowly attempting to back out of the room, feeling conflicted and a bit disgusted by what she'd just heard, though the words that followed it up made her pause-

"~Mhm! We've known each other since sh-she was tiny. I loved her, and she l-loved me too it felt like, we'd go everywhere together, she'd snuggle i-into me at night, w-we'd hide together from the other kids o-or my parents...~"

With how different and yet entirely honest this recollection was compared to what they 'knew' about Ember's upbringing, both women couldn't help but glance at each other in utmost confusion, wholly stunned about just what was actually going on. Both of them believed the scaredy Braixen in their village more than a random human that just so happened to crash land here, but with how genuine the response was Aria in particular couldn't help but begin to think whether some tragic misunderstanding had actually taken place here, whether Anne's Ember was even their Ember, or perhaps even more distraughtly, whether whatever affection the girl had expressed towards the little fox only ended up harming her.

While the two exchanged thoughts on how realistic either possibility was, the human they were talking about was investigating a mystery of her own, accidentally stumbled upon as she reached up to wipe the tears from her face. Her eyes shot back open at feeling, or rather not feeling something, sliding the rest of her right arm along her nose and mouth before reaching it over to feel along the thick cast enveloping her left arm, motions growing more uncertain as they continued elsewhere around her body, with neck, shoulders and stomach similarly clear.

By the time Anne was done, both Aria and Autumn noticed the anxiety building within her even if neither had any idea on what it was caused by, the Gardevoir putting aside her internal debating to ask calmly-

"^Anne? Is something wr-^"

"~W-where's the I-IV tube thing... o-or t-the nose thing with oxygen, o-or-~"

The girl took another long look around the room, trying to spot anything white or metallic from the oddly brown and tan decor, anything that could look even remotely like medical equipment, shrinking more and more into the bed as the panic built inside her.

"~O-or anything...~"

Aria had no idea how to answer any of those questions, taking a couple steps back from the bed to give the girl space as their entire facade came undone in what felt like an instant, Anne left terrified, her voice little more than a quiet, fearful whisper-

"~W-where am I?~"