Chapter 115

The lobby was mostly quiet at this time of day. There were a few girls sitting around and chatting with each other but all of the girls I had seen last night were gone. An unfamiliar woman was standing at the front desk and waved us over when she noticed us. She was a tall canine beastkin. Despite her long floppy ears, her sharp features and pointed muzzle gave her a rather regal look. Her clothes looked quite a bit higher quality than what most of the other people here wore, even Madame Oceane. She wore a white ruffled button-up blouse over her large bust and a dark blue knee-high skirt, giving her a bit of a sexy teacher look. She was a bit older than most beastkin I've met but was likely middle-aged and younger than Oceane if I'm judging their ages correctly.

"Good morning, the Madame asked me to keep an eye out for you and your group. Is your healer ready to heal more of the girls?"

I nodded. "Yes, I'm Lilith and this is Torien."

"Ah, excuse me." She bowed slightly. "My name is Grace. I am the bookkeeper here at the Ruby Vixen. I handle a lot of the accounting and business operations of the brothel. The Madame and I talked at length last night about the service you offered to one of our girls. Let me personally thank you again." She bowed once more. She looked pretty stiff overall but not in a way that made her look uncomfortable or judgmental or anything, she just seemed like a very methodical person.

I nodded. "It's our pleasure, though Bella is still upstairs at the moment, she's the one who actually deserves the praise. I just wanted to make sure someone was awake before all of us came down."

"Prudent. I am usually awake and up at the front desk for the first few bells of the day. If you ever need anything please do not hesitate to ask. While many of our girls would normally be asleep right now, I am sure they wouldn't mind being woken up a bit earlier if it was to receive healing. If you would like to get started right away I can lead you to them once you're ready."

"I think that would be a good idea, we were going to go out with Raya today to help her look for some food."

Grace smiled. "The help would be welcome. Oceane told me Raya had been stabbed yesterday and may have perished if it had not been for your party's intervention. That would have been tragic, Raya is such a good girl. I would try and dissuade her from going out at all, but I am sure she would not listen. Especially under the circumstances, food is so scarce right now we have already run through the month's entire maintenance budget securing barely enough to make it through the week. The situation is truly dire and Raya is always eager to help in any way she can."

I returned the smile. "I've come to like Raya quite a bit in the short time that I've known her. She seems like a good person, maybe a bit too much for her own good. I'll go up and get Bella now and be back down in a minute. It was nice meeting you."

"Of course, it was nice meeting you two as well. I will find a volunteer to watch the desk while you go retrieve your healer friend. Though if you would like to wait longer that would be fine as well. Raya is unlikely to be down before noon."

I shook my head. "No, I'd rather take care of this now. It will also give Bella a chance to rest after healing, assuming it doesn't take too long."

"Not a problem. I will be ready for you when you come back down then." Grace smiled as she slightly bowed once again. Despite her sharp, somewhat unapproachable atmosphere, she seems like a very nice person.

The two of us walked back upstairs to go grab the rest of our party. When I opened the door I could see the four had been talking. I was actually rather happy to see Mimi had been included while we were gone. At a glance Silva still seemed a bit wary, though I could already tell she was quickly becoming more comfortable with time.

I gently knocked on the door frame. "Hey girls, looks like we can get started with the healing. Their bookkeeper Grace said she would lead us to the people who still need healing, I assume Oceane and Raya are sleeping right now. Grace said Raya probably wouldn't be ready until at least noon so that will give us some time to rest after healing people, assuming there aren't too many patients."

Bella smiled and stood up. "Great, that sounds good to me. I've actually been a bit anxious to get started actually."

Mimi stood up and stepped closer to Bella. "Would it be alright if I went with you today? If we split up I want to protect you."

Bella pulled Mimi closer and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Sure, that would be great Mimi." Mimi's form shifted and she flowed into a pretty gold necklace that hung from Bella's neck.

"What should we do?" Morrigan asked. "It might be weird if all of us go and meet everyone that's hurt in the brothel. Maybe it should only be you, Bella and Mimi for now. Unless you think there's some way we can help?"

Bella turned and looked at Torien. "Er, I'd rather have at least Torien with me. She's the least squeamish about helping me with dressing wounds."

Torien laughed. "Sure. I don't mind helping out some more."

"Will you two be alright alone up here?" I looked back and forth between Morrigan and Silva.

Morrigan smirked and looked at Silva. "Sure assuming my sister's girlfriend is able to stop herself from kissing me again."

Silva stiffened before replying awkwardly. "I told you it was an accident. It was dark still..."

Torien sighed. "Silva, my sister is just messing with you. Don't take her that seriously." She put her hands on her hips "But no making out!"

Silva looked awkward but the comment just made Morrigan snicker more. "I wouldn't dream of it! This is the first time you've ever been interested in romance! There's no way I can get in your way now!"

Torien just huffed and looked away, her cheeks were a bit rosy. "Lets get going." She turned around and went out the door, not waiting for any of us before she stood in the hallway on her own.

I looked at Morrigan. "Don't give your sister too hard of a time now."

She waved me off. "I know, I know. It's just hard not to, it's just so cute. ...and in a way I'm really happy we both like girls. I... I was so scared when I told her. Now that I know she likes girls too I don't feel worried about her... I don't know... secretly having a problem with it? I know that's kinda dumb..."

I shook my head. "It's not dumb. I understand." I turned to Bella. "You ready?"

"Yeah," she said with a smile.

The three of us went back down and found Grace waiting for us. She smiled as she saw us approach. "Ah, you must be Bella. It is nice to meet you." She bowed again before straightening up and looking up and down her clothes. "That dress looks very good on you. It really brings out your beauty."

Bella's ears went pink and she swayed from side to side. "R-really? Thanks."

She nodded and gestured towards the back rooms. "Shall we go and meet the first girl who needs attention?"

Bella nodded, the embarrassment quickly faded into professionalism. "Yes, please lead the way."

Grace led us back to the girl's dormitories, not too far from where we had healed the last woman. When we reached the door she turned to us. "This is Nadia's room. Let me go in first and make sure she is presentable and ready for treatment. I will only be a moment."

She knocked on the door and entered when she heard a mumbled reply. The three of us waited outside for a couple minutes before Grace opened the door for us again.

A young looking mousekin woman with bright white fur sat on the edge of her bed. Her right arm was amputated about half way up her upper arm. The wound didn't look like it was treated very well and the entire area looked rather red. She also seemed lethargic and depressed but it was impossible to know if it was because of the time of day, the mental impact of her wound, or a possible infection.

Bella gently sat down next to her. "Hi, my name is Bella. Would you be alright with me using some magic on you? I'd like to diagnose any issues before I do my best to heal you."

The mouse girl nodded. "Sure." She looked down at the floor, despondent.

Green motes of magic floated in the air as Bella's mana flowed through the young woman. Bella's brow furrowed in concentration but it wasn't long before she released her magic.

"It seems you're a little sick from when you were treated." Bella glanced at me for a moment. "An infection, after that I can ease some of the pain in the wound and perhaps reduce some of the scarring. ...I'm sorry but I'm not able to regrow your limb, it's not nature healing's strongest suit and I'm not powerful enough to force it to regrow."

"It's okay..." Nadia teared up. "Th-the medic that pulled me out told me that it's really expensive to get a limb regrown. I w-wouldn't be able to pay for it anyway."

Bella stroked the girl's hair. "It's not a matter of payment sweetie. I would do it if I could... unfortunately it's not something I can do."

The mousekin nodded but didn't speak again.

Bella gripped her scepter and her magic flowed through the young woman. Afterwards her complexion looked better and the wound no longer looked as red or scarred but the healing didn't even phase the woman. After Bella was finished she just rolled over and curled up under her blanket.

The four of us quietly left. Grace was frowning and her eyes looked wet. "I am... sorry that Nadia didn't thank you for your service but I hope you can understand how much her injury has affected her. She has been... quite out of sorts since we found her at one of the medic tents."

Bella nodded and wiped her own tear from her eye. "I understand. It can be quite a challenge to deal with this kind of injury."

Grace sighed. "I just hope she's able to recover some of her zest once she... adjusts. She was always an energetic and happy girl. It is a little difficult to see her this way."

Grace led us to the next door but the woman inside was much more chipper and happy. Eira, the demi-catkin was quite energetic despite looking terrible. She was covered in bruises, cuts, and scratches, like she had fallen out of a moving car or something. She had the remnants of a black eye and large parts of her body were skinned as if she had road rash. She must been thrown a distance and skidded to a stop. There were parts of her body that had already been bandaged and many of them had some kind of salve applied to them too but a lot of her wounds were still visible and raw.

Bella sat next to her. "Are you feeling alright? You seem rather... energetic despite how bad your wounds look."

The woman smiled and looked down at the floor. "I would be lying to say that I'm not in a lot of pain but... When I almost died it made me realize how good my life is. One of the huge demons held me in one of its hands. Despite looking like this, I'm lucky it threw me rather than just crushed and ate me. Even if I end up scarred and ugly, and it makes it harder to make money here, I'm just... so happy to still be alive."

Bella smiled and gripped her scepter. "Then I'll do my best to remove as much of the scarring as I can." Her scepter glowed and the green motes of her magic filled the room once again. Bella closed her eyes and furrowed her brow as the magic focused on one thing at a time, first easing the pain before cleaning up as much of the skinned flesh as possible, after that most of her scars faded too. In the end the woman looked great, completely unmarred as if nothing had happened.

Eira beamed and hugged Bella. "Thank you! I feel a lot better now." She looked over her body, inspecting all the places that had been hurt and where the bandages had once been. "I was really scared when it happened but... In a way I'm happy. I don't think I'll ever forget that feeling, how happy I was when I woke up still alive. I thought I was going to die but I didn't. And now I'll always appreciate it in a way I never had before." She smiled and looked up at Bella. "And now I don't even feel like crap!" she said with a laugh.

Our little group left the room after Bella who now had her vigor renewed. I could tell that the experience with Eira had really helped her. The positivity was something Bella needed after our first patient.

Bella turned to Grace and smiled. "Alright! On to the next patient!"