Good News – A Future New Smile –

7 of Amberclaw, 999 A.N.S.

6 A.M.

At the first hints of dawning, a teenage girl jumped out of her bed. 

Quickly, she readied herself to another day of work in this remote house located in the lower ring of Ganymede, a flying city. She put on her long sleeved black robe and her black boots making her look like a nun. That was all equipment she needed.

In mornings like these, her job was to clean the whole house, do the laundry, cook the meals and of course, wash the dishes. She would also stay at the disposition for her Master for anything she would want in the meantime – as a slave, those were the most basic things she could do. 

The house had nothing too fancy about it. A living room with a big table with multiple purposes, a few ornaments mostly made out of wood and most surprisingly, a little bookshelf. The girl finished her cleaning in less than 2 hours. It was one of the few things she was very skilled at – in fact, one could say her skills were otherworldly in that regard. The master of the house surely wouldn't be displeased when she would wake up.

At least that's what the girl expected. 

Going down the stairs, a young woman with very long white hair, sky blue eyes and tanned skin let out a loud and exasperated sigh. The girl prepared a chair for her, but the woman just ignored it and sat at the other end of the table. The girl then proceeded to serve to her the breakfast she took care of preparing this morning, but the woman raised her palm to her in order to make her understand she didn't need it. Finally, the girl just stood there, like a doll, simply waiting for her Master to give her an order. 

The woman named Nya sighed again – that was her own way to respond to mental fatigue. She didn't sleep even for a second, spending her night reading medical treaties from the old world. She was a doctor, or at least, that's what her patients called her. In her own opinion, she was a charlatan, she didn't have any accreditation for the work and wasn't openly operating her business. Simply put, she was a back alley doctor.

Nevertheless, she took her job seriously and while she did belittle herself a lot, her patients would always come back to her. The reason for that was simple: she was the best doctor around. They would always talk greatly about her and she would heal efficiently anyone regardless of their social standing or living means. She was like a curse, a demon coming down to help the poor people of the lower ring.

However, while their expectations toward her were indeed overwhelming, that wasn't what was stressing her the most at the time. The reason she was uneasy every morning for the last two weeks was this girl staring at her at that very instant. She stayed silent for a long moment, her hand baring her tired face and her fingers tapping impatiently on the table in rhythm with a clock hanging on a wall. It seemed as if she was counting every second, waiting for something she knew wouldn't happen anytime soon. 

Finally, maybe tired of waiting, she glared at the girl, greeting her by the question that burned her lips for days now, "So, when are you going to leave me alone?"

The girl looked at her "Master", not understanding what she meant by that. As a slave, of course she didn't even conceive to not be close to her owner, let alone leave her. She tilted her head, seeming lost, which exasperated Nya further. 

"Listen, I already told you you don't have to repay anything to me. You are free to go wherever you want, and do whatever you want, is that clear?"

The girl didn't answer. At the look in her eyes, Nya understood that she wasn't even remotely thinking about the possibility of living as a free person.

"She's a lost cause. Totally a lost cause." Nya mumbled as she went toward her little bathroom to clean her face. In the mirror, she saw her tired expression and practiced her smile. A towel suddenly appeared in her field of vision, of course it was the girl presenting it to her. Nya sighed again as she took the towel from her hands.

This day too promised to be hectic. 

***

"Everyone! Let's all smile!"

Nya slung open the paper covered doors of her clinic, her arms widely opened and a bright smile on her face. The sunlight violently entered the room and birds who were washing themselves in a puddle at the front, hurriedly fled away in a cacophony of wings' beats. However, it hardly made more noise than steam factories found everywhere on the lower ring.

With her long black robe, her white apron and her tight chignon, Nya looked like a Victorian era maid which was strange as "maid" is a job only accessible to people from the upper rings. That showed how special she was in this place filled with factory workers, but also greatly raised questions about where she came from originally. In the crowd of women working there, none of them didn't knew what Nya's greeting meant. She couldn't openly say that she was opening her clinic unless she wanted the authorities to storm her house, so they came up with this password. It was easy to remember: whenever Nya was there, everyone would smile.

A woman approached Nya. She was visibly older than her, maybe in her forties, but still a solid and beautiful woman.

"Good morning, Nya my dear. How do you do today?" she asked.

"Well, I would say pretty good, Ms. Hornette!" Nya cheerfully replied, her hands on her hips.

"Now, now, call me Hornette." the woman asked, elegantly covering her smile.

"Ah, yes," Nya indicated her door with a hand before continuing. "Would you care to step inside? I made a bit of tea."

The woman slightly bowed. "That would be my pleasure." she replied.

Of course, it was a code too. The only rule was to say "call me Hornette" at any point in the conversation and she would instantly understand that a client came to her. Her regulars were so skilled at it that it would always pass as a normal conversation every time, and the urgency of the situation was also indicated by how long they would drag it on. This was standard for a mid-level urgency. 

Both women entered the house after that and Nya closed the door behind her, to ward off the prying eyes.