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Malodore was busy in the greenhouse, in the area Cricket had set aside for them; its sleeves were pulled back, leaving its forearms exposed up to the elbow, gleaming metal marred somewhat by mud and dirt. But its little patch was doing quite nicely, and the plants hadn't gotten too out of control during its absence.

The sound of hooves, though, drew its attention, and it tilted its head to one side in momentary confusion. "Hello?" it called out, curious what other hooved creature might be within the greenhouse.

"Calder!" Malodore looked surprised, though not displeased. "I had not thought to see you here - you seem more accustomed to the wilds than this tamed place."

Tame other than Steve of course. Wherever Steve was.

"And these are my little harbingers of health," it added, leaning down to coo over its plants. They had healthy growth now, and it had been gently settling fertilizer against the roots and trimming dead leaves from each sprig. "An assignment from Nurse Cricket. Each of these have medicinal properties, though I am not sure if your clan uses them in such things. They are not bog-plants, I do not think, or not all of them at least."

"I have been with her, but we have our own lives as well - I do not see Barth here, either," it said, sounding amused. "And such medicines are not my forte, as you know, so I can understand why Nurse Cricket would want to assign such to me. A true doctor must be balanced in knowledge and discipline." It skimmed one hand lightly over the tops of the plants, the leaves bending gently then springing back into place.

It peered more closely at the drawing. "Ah, no, I have not - perhaps Cadmus would know, if you can find him. I've not seen hide nor hair of him, but this place goes on further than it seems. I don't venture beyond this room, ever."

Steve might be behind any door, after all.

"Hmm... I did have a tower of my own, right on the edge, where my Casa met the swamps. It was my first laboratory, and I met my savior and mentor there..." The plague doctor closed its eyes for a moment, picturing the place. "But that place stank of decay and rot. This place is clean, green, growing. Not crumbling away." It brushed over its plants again, almost fondly.

"Happy... hm." Malodore extended its empathy a bit and tasted Calder's feelings, delicately...

Then it abandoned its plants, moving to sit next to Calder. "I was, at first; my departure was, after all, more of a rescue. Had I not been liberated at the moment I was, I would have found myself freed in a very different manner - blinded and silenced forever, until I was pulled out of the swamp by my exiled fellows and trained to use crows for sight and voice, as they do. But I was happy, until I realized I could not stay among the exiles. I was whole, in a sense. They weren't. To my knowledge, no other plague doctor of the Casa Cirurgien has ever fled the Casa fully... ah, intact." It reached up and tapped its mask with one claw.

"I was happy to leave the Casa. I was rather less to leave those of my kind with whom I thought I would make my home."

"I didn't want to," Malodore said, quietly; it idly plucked a leaf off a nearby plant and began worrying it between its claws, releasing a sweet, herbal smell into the air. "Staying in the exile's village - they call it Corvilla - was not an option. To walk down the streets with envy and even unwilling hatred behind every crow-gaze... it would be more than anyone could stand, and cruel to them besides. It is unfair, to awaken such feelings and selfishly maintain one's presence in spite of them." The plague doctor's wings rattled for a moment.

"That was how I came here. And, I confess, once I leave this place I do not know where I will go... I try not to think about it, quite honestly. I am utterly ignorant of the ways of too many things. Obtaining property, managing a household..." It shook its head. "I am very good at a few things, and very bad at most others."

"Because I was whole, and they weren't," Malodore corrected. "Without our masks, we can neither see nor speak; the exiles of my Casa have learned to link their FEAR with specially raised crows, and borrow their senses and voices. A partnership, of sorts - but not the same as having those things for one's own. I was a constant reminder of what they'd lost..." The plague doctor shook its head. "I can understand their feelings better now than I could then."

Now that it, too, had lost something.

It listened attentively as Calder continued, nodding slowly. "I see... I do not think you are bad," it offered. "And no, I did not care. Their wants and my own were opposites, and we were never going to agree. Never." Its wings bristled just a little bit. "They probably think me dead, I would suppose. That is fine with me."

It paused. "Tell me your story, my friend?"