Lysar stared at the floor by her feet, trying to form words. Occasionally, she would stutter, mutter something then fall silent again. Rethais had attempted to put his arms around Lysar to comfort her, but every time he did so, she shook him off.
A glass of water appeared on a tray next to Lysar, but she ignored that as well. The medic was speaking to her, but she didn’t want to respond.
“Rethais, would you mind stepping aside for one second?” Kaldoran asked as he got up from his desk and headed to a table to one side. On it was a kettle and various cups.
“I should…”
“Lysar needs a moment to digest what she has been told. I am going to make Lysar a cup of tea and give her a handful of crackers so she can be on her own for a moment.”
Rethais sighed, and did as he was told, making his way to the small office door. “I do not…”
“Rethais, please. I need to speak to Lysar privately, and to get her out of this shocked state.”
“Of course, of course…” Rethais shook his head. “I apologise, Kaldoran.”
“It is fine. Just…”
“Yes, of course…” Rethais closed the door behind him, stepping out of the office.
Once the High General was gone, Kaldoran quietly set about making that cup of tea. For this type of problem, a gentle herbal tea, with a hint of lemon, would have been best. Kaldoran knew that the tea lacked any real medicinal properties, but its scent would at least be calming, and would give the patient something to focus on.
As he placed the cup of freshly brewed tea next to Lysar, she finally spoke.
“Can I not… have kids of my own?”
“Of course you can.”
Lysar wiped tears from her eyes. “But… I had a miscarriage…”
Kaldoran tilted his head to one side. “Believe it or not, my dear, miscarriages are actually rather common. You are not alone in your struggles. But you are not damaged either. You can have a healthy kid, however, there are some precautions you will need to take. The first of which is to give yourself some time to mourn and to recover.”
A spark briefly lit up in Lysar’s eyes. “I could… have a kid? My own kid?”
“Yes.” Kaldoran eyed Lysar, and kept his eyes on the patient as he moved back to his desk, pulling out a pad and pen. Something seemed off about Lysar, but it was probably just because the poor thing was in shock. “You can. Before we get ahead of ourselves though, there are three duties we must fulfil before you can have a healthy egg.”
“Are they… hard tasks?” Lysar whispered, sipping the tea,
“No, not really. The first is quite simple, you will need to take some medication, to ensure that the… old remains pass through you cleanly. Secondly, you have to wait 4 weeks until everything as passed, and your body is ready to go again. Not waiting may cause a repeat of what has happened recently.”
Lysar immediately seemed to perk up a bit. This, in her eyes, was amazing news.
“The third task however is quite important. I noticed that there is some… anger between you and Rethais. Before you consider reproducing again, I would recommend that you both speak to a therapist, both separately and together, in order to both keep your relationship in check and make sure you are mentally healthy. Can you do that for me?”
Lysar hesitated, then sighed. “I… I guess I can… I do not like… therapy though.” She watched as Kaldoran jotted several things down. “It is hard to… open up, to appear as weak.”
“That is perfectly understandable. Which is why I am going to recommend you to a specialist. A Skyavok therapist will allow you to open up without feeling weak. After all, you are much larger than a Skyavok, how could they harm you?”
Kaldoran finished writing, then handed Lysar three sheets of paper. “This first one is a prescription for your post-miscarriage medication. Two black tablets a day, morning and night, for a week, and you are to remain at home for the entire week. You are not allowed to work or to undergo strenuous exercise until the week has passed. After that week, you must take one red tablet a day, as a hormone settler. I recommend you also make a solo appointment with the therapist, and you will check in with me again in two weeks.”
Lysar almost giddily read through the prescription and doctors notes, then got up out of her seat.
“One last thing, dear…” Kaldoran warned as he too got up, keeping the door to the office shut. “I highly recommend not having intercourse for the next four weeks. You are hormonally imbalanced, and will only hurt yourself. The red tablet will help, but it can only do so much.Understood?”
Lysar nodded. “Thank you, General Kaldoran.”
Satisfied, Kaldoran opened the door, letting Lysar pass through. “Stay safe, alright?”
“Will do!” Lysar smiled weakly as she hugged Rethais, who had been waiting outside patiently. “Thank you so much…”