Travellogue 191 / 0916 He awoke with garish lights shining through painful eyelids.Travellogue 191 / 0916 He awoke with garish lights shining through painful eyelids. The lights dimmed as he blinked into them, and his surrounding resolved into a hotel room... no, a hospital room? "Welcome back to the living," a voice he hadn't heard before said. The owner of the voice was a Felinzi, another housecat, this one with a lush, reddish fur. "I'm Nance Narrone, Skii's father. I'm also your nurse, imagine that." "What happened to me?" "You've been stabbed, dear boy. Your lady friend is quite worried about you. Don't worry, Rhys Adnil stitched you back up good as new, and P'nyssa and I made sure that your guts will stay in place." "Stabbed?" Nickolai asked, confused. "I don't understand." "Stabbed. You know, given the shiv. Stuck up. According to the report, you did quite a lot of bleeding all over the floor in the hotel. "I mean, who? Why?" "That I'm not sure about," the Felinzi admitted. "You'll have to ask whoever's in charge of the investigation, not that there was much of one." "I don't understand." "Well, I-" "Nickolai!" he heard from the door. Shardik stood there, as did Furry and his mother. Shardik spoke first. "You have this surprising talent for firsts. First Terran to be stabbed by another Terran on Pendorian soil. We've had a few Pendorians assaulted, usually for sleeping with someone else's companion of the moment. But stabbings? That's so archaic I doubt the Uncia do it anymore." "What... what was I stabbed with?" "A meat knife." "Big?" "Not really." Shardik spread his hands apart several centimeters. |