Azri's New Patient

Azri approached the air docking yard early in the morning. There were flags strung up around the entrance: there had been some sort of festival or flea market over the weekend. Azri never paid attention to anything that went on on this side of the lake, but a banner bearing the words "Human Festival" announced the site's purpose. Azri thought that sounded incredibly vague, happily put it out of her mind and kept walking: a wall of storm clouds loomed over the horizon. This was only an initial checkup, and if she could get in and out, she could be home within twenty-four minutes, giving her exactly forty-seven minutes of free time to read the new Greenbird novel.

The yard sat atop a plateau next to a large lake. It was a sprawling grid of raised boardwalks of varying heights for different sizes of air vessels. It was largely empty; there was a large airship docked next to the entrance, lived in by the dock steward. Azri made her way along the grid to the outer edge, to a peninsula of clear ground in the sea of evergreen trees consuming the northern part of the lake and plateau.

Other than the craft Azri's destination was the lone craft in that quadrant of the docking yard. It was a silver Andyne skiff, about fifteen meters long with rounded doors and windows and a smaller second floor on the top with large, rounded windows. It was a nice craft overall, and its occupant exited it as she approached: her patient. Azri's patient was a woman with tanned freckled skin and waist-length green hair, wearing a long blue nightshirt. Azri waved and padded a little faster on the damp boards of the walkway as her patient took a little set of stairs in her little site, her head bobbing just above the walkway as she crossed the damp ground. She hunched over as Azri made her way down the small set of stairs.

The woman in front of Azri splayed her knees and lifted her dress over a slightly dry tomato plant. She wasn't wearing anything underneath her dress, and her legs had a defined tan line halfway up her thigh. Her forelegs had a thin layer of green hair. Green was normally a haman hair color, but the woman's small rounded ears indicated that she was human. Azri was about to say something, but her patient spoke first.

"Good morning, how are you today?" the woman yawned, and Azri jumped back. The woman grunted, wiggling her hips, and sprayed a clear jet of urine into the planter. "Did you know that the lady who owns the docks gets interdimensional cable? I think I could probably install that next to the evaporator module."

Azri opened her mouth to speak but stopped: it didn't sound like a good idea to have a piece of electronic equipment right next to a machine meant to collect water, but she didn't really have any significant mechanical expertise-

The woman stuck out her hips, using her fingers to aim the stream around the planter. She had a strong, steady flow; she kept it up for just over a minute, and Azri watched quietly, impressed.

"Phew," sighed the woman, letting herself drip over the plants' leaves. "Aaah, that's so much better! I held that all night, just for you."

Azri blushed a little. "That's flattering, but you shouldn't have, that isn't healthy to do all the time."

The woman froze and slowly looked over her shoulder. Though she was unusually strong even for an Amphibious person, Azri wasn't a very imposing figure: she was a head shorter than her patient, with faded blue-green skin, jaw-length dark green hair, and sleepy silvery eyes that glinted like coins. She wore open-toed sandals, jean shorts, and a t-shirt that read "I pooped today" under a long dark-colored cardigan.

"Cassiopeia Williams?" asked Azri casually.

The woman paled, so shocked that she forgot to drop her nightshirt when she stood up. Her eyes were brilliant blood red in the irises, and Azri briefly wondered why that was. "Y-yes...?"

"I'm Azri, your new physician," said Azri. Cassiopeia stared at her like she was from another planet. "Did you actually hold all that pee for me or...?"

Cassiopeia turned red and mumbled, "I was uhm...talking to the...tomatoes. I pee on them twice a week."

"Ohhhh," said Azri. "That makes a little more sense...also you are very well-hydrated. Good job."

They stood, staring at each other until a peal of thunder sounded in the distance.

Cassiopeia dropped her nightshirt, covering herself. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

Azri snorted, "Tea? Sure."

Cassiopeia washed her hands first thing before filling the kettle at the sink. "I'm really sorry you had to see that, Dr. Azri."

"See what?" said Azri, sitting down on the long couch next to the door.

Cassiopeia squirmed while she brought down the tea bags from the cupboard over the sink. "You know, when I-...how long were you standing there?"

"The whole time," said Azri. "About a minute, maybe more. Phew, you must feel better after that."

Cassiopeia awkwardly continued making tea, and sat down next to Azri while she waited for the kettle to boil. The rest of their visit was awkward and short, and Cassiopeia seemed glad to see Azri leave when the time came.

Two weeks went by before Cassiopeia showed up on Azri's planner again. This time, the morning was bright and blinding, and when Azri entered the docking yard it was clean and swept.

Azri caught a glimpse of Cassiopeia's green hair halfway across the docking yard and followed her, stepping quickly. Cassiopeia hopped off the walkway near the mouth of a small trail in the trees. Assuming that it might be a shortcut to Cassiopeia's craft, Azri followed.

Cassiopeia stopped in a small clearing in the trees. Her back was to Azri, and she seemed nervous all of a sudden. She doubled over, sticking out her rear, and started dripping between her legs. Azri stopped walking when Cassiopeia yanked down the leggings she wore and unleashed a long desperate torrent, splashing several meters behind her. Azri was wearing shorts, and felt some of the spray on her ankles.

Cassiopeia kept up the pressure for about thirty seconds before it slowed to a lazy arch. She relaxed her body and wiggled her hips. In the process of that, she finally noticed Azri. She stood up straight, gasping, and released another pint of urine into her leggings.

"Still well-hydrated, I see," said Azri. "How is restorative working?"

Cassiopeia took a deep breath and sighed, "Better. I'm not getting any kidney stones." She pulled up her wet leggings.

"How are the tomatoes doing?" asked Azri, following Cassiopeia to her skiff. The trail was a shortcut after all -- a shortcut with a respectable puddle in the dusty dirt.

"Great," said Cassiopeia. "They're starting to flower."

"That's wonderful," said Azri.

Azri sat on the couch while Cassiopeia climbed her ladder and changed clothes. Azri had a crossword puzzle in her pocket to work on while she waited, and listened idly to the waterworks on the second floor.

The next visit was four days later, in the early afternoon. Azri had brought a large lunch, and she was excited to eat it as she breezed into the docking yard. The owner, a tall andyne woman in an elegant sundress, was out having a walk, and Azri greeted her before continuing on to locate Cassiopeia.

Azri caught up with Cassiopeia on the boardwalk for a change. She wore the same "I Pooped Today" shirt and cardigan as she had the first time they'd met, and carried a large lunchbox slung over each shoulder with a larger thermos tied to the rest of it.

"What...is all this?" asked Cassiopeia.

"Lunch," said Azri. "The minis and I harvested some wild lake kelp, and I made some tea. I don't have any other patients today and the minis are at school, so I thought I'd share."

"Would you like some help carrying it?"

"That sounds great, thanks, Pia," said Azri.

"Pia?" Cassiopeia grunted under the weight of the thermos Azri had been carrying. Like most amphibious doctors, Azri was a physical empath. Azri was very slowly getting in tune to Cassiopeia's physiology, and felt a sudden, sharp impulse.

"You need to pee," Azri blurted out. When Cassiopeia blushed, Azri added: "It means I'm getting a feel for you as a patient. And I can carry the thermos if you're having trouble."

"I'm okay," grunted Cassiopeia. "Why did you call me Pia?"

Azri shrugged. "A bit of a Freudian slip, I guess...but the more I think about it, Pia's a pretty name...or would you prefer Cassie?"

Cassiopeia squirmed. Today she wore a long blue dress patterned with dandelions, and her normal shoes without any pants or stockings.

"Everyone calls my Cassie," said Pia. "I hate being called Cassie."

It wasn't long before they found themselves approaching Pia's skiff. Pia handed Azri her keys, hurriedly set down the thermos, and padded down the stairs to the ground.

"Go ahead and set your things on the counter," panted Pia. "You don't need to watch this time."

Pia's bladder didn't wait for her to finish speaking, and she gushed a large amount of clear, desperate piss as she raised her dress and splayed her knees over the corner of the tomato planter. She wasn't wearing anything underneath the dress, and that was the last thing that Azri noted before easily picking up the thermos and entering the skiff.

As Azri set her lunchboxes on the counter, she could still hear Pia outside.

"Aren't you babies glad I'm staying hydrated today?" she laughed while her stream whizzed loudly in the background.

"If you like to talk to tomatoes," sang Azri while rummaging through Pia's cupboards for dishes. By the time she finished the song, Pia was walking into the small kitchen.

"Was that the...Veggie...Stories theme?" asked Pia slowly, stepping up to the sink to wash her hands.

Azri snorted, "You afraid that's copyrighted?" She thrust a plate of food and a mug of tea into Pia's hands. "Here, go sit down."

After a pleasant lunch and long discussion on medical matters, Pia walked Azri out of the docking yard. Both of them had eaten a lot, and Pia drank most of the tea herself. On the way across the yard, Azri found herself rambling about different uses for fresh lake kelp. Pia seemed to be half-listening until a deep voice stalled her train of thought:

"Cassie, who's this?"

Pia made a face when addressed as Cassie, and Azri spoke up: "She prefers being called Pia."

The woman - the dockyard owner who Azri had greeted earlier - frowned at Azri.

"Miss Mayra, hi," said Pia quickly. "This is Azri, my physician."

Miss Mayra shuffled her large feathered wings apprehensively but held out her palm to Azri. Azri reached up and met her greeting.

"Do you have a surname, Dr. Azri?"

Azri squirmed: she could feel that Pia was starting to need to pee, and was beginning to feel the need herself. There was a convenient alcove on the way out of the docking yard where they could both relieve themselves.

"The Destructor," said Azri. "Azri Lilian The Destructor. 'The' counts as a second middle name."

"The Destructor?" Mayra repeated slowly.

"I'm from a family of glam wrestlers," explained Azri calmly. "My great grandmother was so proud of her title that she made it her surname."

"Do you have any idea how outlandish that sounds?" asked Mayra.

"Everyone I meet says that," said Azri. "I'll bring my birth certificate next time, it's a riot...anyway, I gotta get back. It's very nice to meet you, and your wings are gorgeous, ma'am." Azri gave a somewhat formal bow, which compressed her bladder a little, but Pia's growing urgency next to her magnified it. Azri winced a little as she stood up.

"Thanks, I just finished molting last month," said Mayra. "It's been...interesting...meeting you, Doctor."

Azri and Pia hurried away. A long grassy slope led down to the small port town on the Long Lake. Much of it was shielded from both the docks and the town below, and before Azri could suggest stopping to pee, Pia stepped behind a tree, spreading her feet apart. She was lifting her skirt just a little in front as Azri caught up with her.

"Hey, if you want to pee in the bushes-" Azri stopped when Pia let go right there with a small grunt of relief. It cascaded freely to the ground from underneath her dress.

"Beat me to it," said Azri. She hiked up her shorts, pulled them to one side, squatted next to Pia, and let go in a brief but strong burst. Pia was still pissing when Azri stood up, straightening her lunchboxes and thermos. She took a step to the side and leaned on a tree next to the one Pia was pissing behind, facing away.

"Have you always had a large bladder, or did you develop it after you had the accident?"

"After," answered Pia, shifting her stance a little as her stream slowed. "I didn't have to drink two gallons of water a day before the accident."

Azri waited for Pia to finish. Pia wasn't quite done when she asked, "Can I ask a weird question?"

"I'm a doctor, not a search engine," replied Azri. "But I'll do my best to answer."

"Can you...feel me peeing? Like as a physical empath? How does that work?"

"The explanation is long and full of technobabble," said Azri. "I can feel something like an echo of what you feel if I concentrate. I have sensory neurons in my skin that are sensitive to the electromagnetic fields that living organisms give off. With other amphibious people all I have to do is 'tune in' and I can feel them. With other species it's more difficult, though my former mentor has an andyne patient right now that she can feel so strongly that she doesn't even have to try."

Behind the tree, Pia finished her long pee and stood letting herself drip for a long moment.

Azri and Pia parted ways at the bottom of the hill; Pia headed back to the docking yard while Azri made her way through the lake town's docks, toward the ferry that would take her home for the day.