(meeting in the Treehouse living room)
Thorne: Wendy, thank you for coming.Wendy: Of course!
Thorne: I don't know if you've met Zaniel. He's a healer brought in by the wizards to help with Lady Sey, and he's currently in charge of Emi's care.Wendy: I'm glad to meet you, Healer Zaniel.
Zane: Please, just Zane. And it is an honor to finally meet the Lady of the Treehouse.
Thorne: Zane has an update concerning Emi's condition... though, I'm afraid it isn't good news.
Zane: I am sorry to report that Emi is suffering from an extremely advanced case of Whooping Crane.Wendy: Er... you mean Whooping Cough right?
Zane: No, Whooping Cough is a human disease. The fae get Whooping Crane. It starts out as cold and flu like symptoms: aching joints, mild fever. It's easier to treat at that point. Emi, being the type of person I've come to understand that she is, had blown it off, and neglected herself until it's become quite advanced. She's... well, she's just begun to sprout feathers...
Devika: *GASP* Oh! Poor Emi!!!
Wendy: So, you're telling me my assistant it slowly turning into a bird?Zane: A crane. Yes. Exactly. And it is a HIGHLY contagious disease. We need to determine where Emi could've caught it from, and quickly. Tell me, has she been around any unfamiliar fae children lately?
Wendy: Uh.. not that I'm aware of.
Thorne: Zane, I can answer that. The day the royal courier came, to bring the paperwork about the Treehouse being a Mythological Sanctuary, he had his children with him. I believe it was "Bring your Offspring to Work" day or something. Emi spent quite some time playing with them in the foyer.Zane: That greatly unfortunate. That courier... there's no way to know how many homes he visited with those children that day. We have to let the royal family know at once.
Thorne: I'll call them.
Zane: We're going to need to immunize every single fae in this house...
Wendy: So, can I see Emi?
Zane and Thorne: NO!Zane: Absolutely not.
Wendy: But why? You just said it's a fae disease. I can't get it.
Thorne: Wendy, you can't get it. But you CAN carry it, and potentially give it to all of the other Fae living here. Do you WANT a house full of cranes?Wendy: Oh! Well, no...
Devika: You don't want to be another Typhoon Margie, Wendy!Wendy: "Typhoon Margie"? Is that like Typhoid Mary?
Devika: I don't know, maybe. I don't know a lot about human history. But Typhoon Margie nearly wiped out three villages, just carrying Typhoon to each one without even knowing it!
Wendy: I'm afraid to ask what "Typhoon" is.
Devika: Oh, it's terrible. It starts out as a cold, and then eventually the infected fairy just vanishes in a gigantic sneeze of rain and thunder and wind!
Wendy: Of course...
Zane: I should go look in on Emi before I visit Sey.Wendy: Please, send her my love.
Zane: Of course (smile). Farewell.
Thorne: I should go call the King and let him know his courier is passing around Whooping Crane.
Devika: You have the King's phone number?Thorne: We play chess sometimes.
Devika: Oh.
Wendy: (sigh) Fae diseases are really weird, Vee.Devika: Oh yeah? Maybe it's human diseases that are weird.
Wendy: How's that?
Devika: Our diseases make sense! Humans don't turn into chickens when they get the chicken pox. And no one ever turned into an Asian Bird from the Asian Bird Flu!
Wendy: Well, I guess you've got a point, Vee...