Restorative
Jun. 10th, 2025 05:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redwolfSarah had spent her afternoon following up on their new arrival. Her concerns that the child could be suffering from a similar malady to that which had claimed her parents had been well founded. The healers had placed the little girl in statis while they worked to slowly purge her system of remaining toxins and to repair the damage they had caused.
While Sarah had hoped the healers could provide her with a list of the chemicals involved, that had unfortunately devolved into a circular discussion with neither party understanding the other’s terminology. Taking a different tack, Sarah had ended up calling Irene and, between the two of them, they had determined that the family had been the victims of a tainted water supply. It seemed that there was a high profile legal case for victim compensation in progress, which may help those families who had a chance of recovery, but there were enough people who were beyond medical intervention that Sarah suspected the child was the first of an influx.
Entering the library, Sarah smiled as she saw Jareth sprawled on a lounge chair. Having fallen asleep while reading, his head was thrown back, exposing a long column of neck and one hand was buried in the heavy pelt draped across his lap. As she watched, his rug moved and a very much alive wolf didn’t so much fall from the lounge as it did succumb to gravity in a slow ooze that eventually yawned, curled in a tight ball at Jareth’s feet and resumed its own sleep.
Stepping behind the chair, Sarah brushed Jareth’s hair aside before kissing him on the forehead.
With a dramatic full body stretch, Jareth reached up to return Sarah’s kiss. “How’s the patient?”
“She’ll recover fully, but they want to keep her in their care for a while yet.” Carefully avoiding treading on the sleeping wolf, Sarah joined Jareth on the lounge and curled into his side. “There’ll be more, won’t there?” She could feel an air of heavy expectation from the Labyrinth that made her suspect the next call would be soon.
“Quite a few, yes.” Sarah shuddered and Jareth tightened his arms around her.
“I’m feeling the urge to introduce the culprits to the bog.”
“Alas that is outside our remit, my love,” Jareth commiserated.
“Is there anything we can do?”
“We can ensure the children who are wished away find loving homes.”
“I meant Above.”
“I understand, but there are rules, and while you only want to intervene with the best of intentions, others may not be so altruistic.”
As frustrating as it was to hear, Sarah understood that it would be a slippery slope. While she knew the flip side was that there would soon be families Underground gaining a much wanted child, it was still difficult to only be able to step in under tightly defined conditions and even then it was in the aftermath of disaster.
“We provide a safety net for those who’ve lost all hope.”
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labyfic — drabble #213: luxurious
Part of the Balance!verse
While Sarah had hoped the healers could provide her with a list of the chemicals involved, that had unfortunately devolved into a circular discussion with neither party understanding the other’s terminology. Taking a different tack, Sarah had ended up calling Irene and, between the two of them, they had determined that the family had been the victims of a tainted water supply. It seemed that there was a high profile legal case for victim compensation in progress, which may help those families who had a chance of recovery, but there were enough people who were beyond medical intervention that Sarah suspected the child was the first of an influx.
Entering the library, Sarah smiled as she saw Jareth sprawled on a lounge chair. Having fallen asleep while reading, his head was thrown back, exposing a long column of neck and one hand was buried in the heavy pelt draped across his lap. As she watched, his rug moved and a very much alive wolf didn’t so much fall from the lounge as it did succumb to gravity in a slow ooze that eventually yawned, curled in a tight ball at Jareth’s feet and resumed its own sleep.
Stepping behind the chair, Sarah brushed Jareth’s hair aside before kissing him on the forehead.
With a dramatic full body stretch, Jareth reached up to return Sarah’s kiss. “How’s the patient?”
“She’ll recover fully, but they want to keep her in their care for a while yet.” Carefully avoiding treading on the sleeping wolf, Sarah joined Jareth on the lounge and curled into his side. “There’ll be more, won’t there?” She could feel an air of heavy expectation from the Labyrinth that made her suspect the next call would be soon.
“Quite a few, yes.” Sarah shuddered and Jareth tightened his arms around her.
“I’m feeling the urge to introduce the culprits to the bog.”
“Alas that is outside our remit, my love,” Jareth commiserated.
“Is there anything we can do?”
“We can ensure the children who are wished away find loving homes.”
“I meant Above.”
“I understand, but there are rules, and while you only want to intervene with the best of intentions, others may not be so altruistic.”
As frustrating as it was to hear, Sarah understood that it would be a slippery slope. While she knew the flip side was that there would soon be families Underground gaining a much wanted child, it was still difficult to only be able to step in under tightly defined conditions and even then it was in the aftermath of disaster.
“We provide a safety net for those who’ve lost all hope.”
labyfic — drabble #213: luxuriousPart of the Balance!verse
