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third floor.
    They followed the nurse up. At the top of the stairs she stepped into a short hall and pulled a large bell next to a door with iron gridwork in the small glass window, set at eye height. After a minute or so another staffer, in similar clothing, looked through the glass. She was clearly alarmed to see Exiled there, but opened because of the presence of their guide.
    “They want to see Dr. Reising.”
    The psychiatric staffer raised her eyebrows. “She’s not just…”
    Charming pushed past, opening the door wide enough for Sky to go through. “Is she here or not?” he asked, picking up on the fact that the staffer had said ‘she’.
    The emergency nurse gave an apologetic shrug to her colleague, meaning, “Sorry. It’s your problem now,” then left in a hurry.
    “She’s here, but…”
    “Where?” said Charming. “Show us now.”
    “She’s making rounds. She looks in on patients in the mornings.”
    Charming turned to Sky to silently communicate that he didn’t know what ‘rounds’ meant.
    “Take us to Dr. Reising,” Sky said. “It can’t wait for… rounds.”
    The woman looked between the three Exiled as if to say that she was failing to grasp the emergency. “As I said…”
    “Either take us or we’ll go room to room until we find her.”
    “Look here…”
    “Human,” Charming said ‘human’ with just enough disdain to cause her to pull back and reassess her assumption of superiority. “I have to give you points for balls. But I’ve been through too much the past thirty six hours to waste what little patience I have left playing games with you. Counting down from three to one. Three. Two.”
    “Alright,” she said, but not without giving Charming a look intended to kill.
    The Exiled fell in step behind her, absorbing every detail of the facility as they went. It appeared to be clean. There was even a recreation room with a wall of windows bathed in morning sun and several patients engaged in creative activities. One of the doors opened and two people, a man and a woman, emerged in white coats. They made no attempt to hide their surprise at seeing three hybrids.
    “What’s going on here?” the woman said.
    “These guests insisted on seeing you, Dr. Reising,” said the third floor psychiatric unit greeter. Her emphasis on the word ‘insisted’ left little doubt that she believed she hadn’t had a choice in the matter.
    Dr. Reising looked Charming, Sky, and Flora up and down. “I see. What’s the problem?”
    Sky looked around. “Perhaps we could sit down and discuss our dilemma in a civilized way.”
    Dr. Reising looked stern, but interested. “Your dilemma,” she repeated. “Very well. Come this way.”
    They followed Dr. Reising while the man accompanying her on ‘rounds’ brought up the rear. Stopping at one of the closed doors near the front where they’d come in, Dr. Reising removed a ring of keys from her coat pocket and unlocked the door.
    “Come in,” she said, motioning to two chairs in front of a large desk. “This is Dr. Matorsin.” She nodded toward the man behind them, who took a seat on the couch at the side of the room as if he was happy to be out of the way and observe. Charming offered the chairs to the two women and stood by the door.
    It was a nicely turned out office, with a large window for light and a wood case with books.
    Sky looked at Charming for confirmation that he thought it was safe to sit down. With his nod the females each took one of the chairs offered.
    “What can I do for you?”
    Sky began by saying, “My name is Sky. This is Flora and Charming. Were you aware that there was a battle for freedom from the Rautt yesterday?”
    Dr. Reising nodded. “Yes. Everyone knows. There were, probably still are, celebrations all over. We’re going to be able to reclaim a more advanced lifestyle, among other things. I suppose that’s partially thanks to you.”
    Charming barked out a derisive laugh and repeated the word,