Crown hobbled her way towards the med station. This mining expedition seemed to be full of misfortune. First they had lost tools and time, and had nearly lost themselves due to an unexpected cave in with a deep fall. In the moment, everything had seemed fine, but as the group had made their way back to town to seek an inn for the night, Crown had noticed a pain in her leg. The more the adrenaline of that disastrous moment wore off, the more painful her leg had become.

Now, as she made her way, carefully as could be, into the med station, it was hardly load-bearing. Scale, a bright tsab physician, greeted her with arms crossed. “It’s a good thing I insisted on following you out to this barren rocky place. I just had that feeling that one of you would find a way to injure yourselves. The mines of the mountains are not forgiving. I’ve seen more injuries come from them than any bush in our home region.”

Crown ducked her head, a tad embarrassed to have proven the physician correct. “No one got seriously hurt though, and that’s what’s important!” Crown tried to redeem herself with positivity. Scale merely snorted in response. “C’mon back, let’s just get you patched up. I’m sure, despite my wisdom, you’ll want to get back out there and find more shiny rocks.”

Crown started forward, wincing as she put the slightest bit of pressure on her front leg. Scale wordlessly took up place by her side and helped support her through the door. The medic might be a bit blunt, but she certainly wasn’t unkind. The tsabs made their way to the back of the med station where there were ample supplies to be used.

“Just because it seems so painful, would you object to an X-ray?” Scale asked, gesturing at a small dark room in the corner with a half-open door. A sign on the door proclaimed “X-Ray Radiation DANGER when door closed. DO NOT OPEN”

Crown swallowed nervously. “Will it…. Hurt?” She asked cautiously. “Only if you don’t hold your breath”. Scale paused, watching Crown’s eyes widen in concern, then let out a chuckle. “I’m just joking. No, the sign is a bit dramatic. It’s perfectly safe for you. Those of us who use it fairly often just have to take care because over-exposure can have health risks. All you have to do is sit still while I take a picture of your leg. And we’ll get to see your bones!”

Scale seemed rather excited about that. Crown nodded in approval. “Okay, let’s get this picture.” The pair hobbled into the dark room and it suddenly felt very tight. Scale dragged over a chair for Crown to sit in. “I only need your front walking leg on the table, so you can sit here next to the table and just rest your leg.” Crown obliged and sat down, watching Scale fiddle with some knobs on the machine and power on a screen on the wall.

Scale grabbed what looked like two sliding rulers attached to a metal pole and took some odd measurements of Crown’s arm. She then appeared to do some sort of math and then turned the knobs a final time on the X-ray machine. Scale grabbed a very heavy grey poncho and draped it over Crown, obscuring all but her arm. It even had a hood that was surprisingly heavy. Scale then grabbed something off a table and turned back towards Crown holding in her left hand a little device that looked like a bomb detonator. “I’m going to step out of the room now. Hold tight for 5 seconds while I snap the shot.”

Scale hurried out, closing the door behind her. Crown heard a BEEEP! From the machine and felt very nervous. Suddenly, a picture popped up on that screen Scale had turned on. Before her was an image of her own arm without the flesh and blood. Scale re-entered the room and exclaimed about the picture being beautiful. “You can take that poncho off now. I know it’s heavy.”

Crown gratefully removed the draping as Scale stood by wordlessly, intensely staring at the image on the screen. After what felt like ages Scale announced “it’s not broken.” Crown breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s not even sprained! All you need is some rest, anti-inflammatory medication, and some pain medication and you’ll be just fine. Let’s go get a measurement of your weight and then I’ll get those pills for you.”

The two tsabs made their exit from the X-ray room, doing just as Scale had suggested. Crown waited patiently while Scale counted and recounted two different pills for her. “Alrighty, here ya go. Take these with food to avoid stomach upset and stay off your feet for at least a week, you hear me? I don’t want any more mountain climbing until you can jog without a hint of pain.” Crown nodded and swore to rest. She felt a little guilty for slowing down her mining partners, or making them go on without her. It would certainly be a little extra work for them to go down into the cave-in to retrieve the tools they’d lost. One less person would be there to hold the rope if they didn’t want to wait for her to fully heal.

Scale patted her shoulder in sympathy. “You’re in no shape to go back out now. You’d only make that foot worse. But hey, if you want to do something useful while you’re waiting to heal, you could always keep me company here. You’d be surprised the amount of foolish things the people in mining towns het up to. There’s always an injury or 4 to tend to. And sometimes these guys do the strangest stuff. I once saw a…”

Scale launched into a tale about a previous injury she’d seen involving a rootscraper getting stuck somewhere it should not have been. Perhaps Crown would stick around and see what help she could be. It sounded more exciting than laying in bed at least.