Moving through the hallway from the room where she'd awakened was a bit awkward for Karen as she was finding how her balance and equilibrium changed as a result of her joining with the merpeople's "holy animal" in order to become a mermaid and be with her daughter and have her family restored. In some ways it was similar to the differences of how she'd swum before, but now swimming was her primary method of movement. She'd also found to a certain degree her tail wasn't fully developed. Her tail flukes, while they had changed their orientation on her tail to fit the up and down motion from which she swam, were about the same size they'd been on the "holy animal," which was smaller than Karen's full size. Thus while Karen could move fairly well for short distances, it was a bit unbalanced and she ended up gripping Doctor Manius's arm as she started to move down the hall.
"Easy there," Doctor Manius said to her, "the rooms where we help allow new merpeople to progress through their transformations is not right next to the hospital's dining hall..."
"Hospital?" Karen asked him.
"Yes," Doctor Manius nodded and gestured to the doors they passed as they moved through the hall. There were some that were closed with some kind of rock/seaweed/coral type structure. As Karen watched one nurse approached one door and the door seemed to automatically shift away, which surprised her. Doctor Manius meanwhile continued, "Most of what is done here relates to those that have landed on the island... or the waters around it and have become merpeople, but we do have a modest town that is around the island as well, and while you may look forward to a long life, that will depend on you staying healthy and not getting hurt. For merpeople are still mortal."
Karen caught that his voice fell off a bit at the end and then remembered something that he'd said to in one of the first check ins hat he'd made with her as her transformation into a mermaid began. The silver and black tailed Doctor Manius was a widower and had lost his wife, which struck at some of Karen's pained memories at the loss of her husband and really only being left with Taylor as the closest part of her family. She'd gotten on reasonably well with her in-laws, even after her husband died, but she was never as close to them as she was to her husband. She could only hope that Doctor Manius had loving family and friends that would have helped him, just as Rose and Taylor had helped her.
"I'm sorry..." Karen managed. Her mind thinking that she'd pushed the doctor onto some bad memories. A part of her was interested, as Manius did seem to remind her of her own deceased husband in some ways, but she wasn't going to press on anything. Particularly while her primary goal related more to being with Taylor.
"It is okay," Doctor Manius gave her a small smile, "friends and family were there to help when my wife died... got me through my grief and even redoubled my desire to help people transition into a new life."
"And that's why you run the hospital?" Karen asked.
"I do not run the hospital," Doctor Manius laughed, thinking at how Taylor and Sam made the same assumption earlier, "and I don't even run the full wing that you're in. We have a female doctor on staff and she and I work in shifts. Our responsibility is to coordinate and help all new merpeople adjust physically to their transformations. And it gives them the chance to then start new lives."
"How often does that happen?" Karen wondered, "do people thank you?"
"It's not super common in any one area in our world," Doctor Manius answered, "as the storms that run the connections between the human world and our world are magical in nature and move about. And sometimes the portal will not go to the same area on your version of Earth. The group that I last oversaw was a group that had been on a cruise from Kyushu in what you call Japan, and there was a fairly decent number of them... but their ship sank on arriving and most of the people on the ship ended up getting turned when the holy animals were drawn to them at sea. One girl made it to the shore and we tried to converse with her that once on the island, she wouldn't be able to return to the human world... both because of certain rules that we must follow and how those portals between our worlds work... but she was afraid... and... it saddens me that I couldn't ease those fears."
They moved forward a bit more down the hall, and Karen was grateful for the doctor's help.
"But ultimately, those that were on that ship did come to understand the sorts of limitations that would come as a result did accept what happened and did thank me for the help we provided them," Doctor Manius finished. "And my partner in this wing did tell me when your daughter and her friends went through their transformation, the one that had been afraid transformed with them and seemed better when they left with Princess Amara."
That brought about some relief for Karen. She remembered meeting the princess with Kat and accepting the invitation and she found the mermaid princess to be rather understanding from what little time they'd been together. It was something that when tied to the story Doctor Manius had just told was something that left her feeling a bit more optimistic with things. At the same time, Karen had some feelings of attraction to Doctor Manius, though she wasn't going to say that out loud, and thus she didn't want him to feel saddened by anything. Particularly when he'd also been helpful and compassionate to her as she was going through her own transformation.
"So... how many end up coming to this island on a regular basis?" Karen wondered as she looked around and noted that some of the nurses or custodial staff members did notice her swimming with the doctor escorting her out of the room. She thought she saw some frowns of disapproval and some shakes of the head with a knowing smile.
"I would think about twenty a month at this particular facility," Doctor Manius answered, "though that can change... and because the storm portal that most often brings humans to our world moves around your world... it can also move around our world too. There are other islands with other kingdoms in our world as well. And that can be hard to track or predict. Yours and your friend's arrival was more in connection with what those merpeople that are either strong in magic or have been well trained in it. And while that can be more predictable and controlled there's also a decrease in scale. Princess Amara could open a portal for you and Kat, but not one to encompass a whole ship, even a small yacht like the one that brought your daughter and her friends."
"Makes sense," Karen managed, as that sounded like the reasonable thing to say in the situation, though there was no real way she could understand the powers in magic that merpeople had.
Doctor Manius seemed to chuckle, which gave Karen some indication that he knew she'd only said that because it seemed reasonable. Though as they rounded one corner to then go down a level and toward the dining hall, there were more recognition by some of those that they moved past in the halls that seemed to be surprised to see Karen moving about outside the room which she'd originally woke up in. Doctor Manius waved them down as they moved on, but Karen still got the sense that they were upset over some things. Before they left one stairwell to enter the hallway that would actually lead into the hallway that would actually lead into the dining hall, Karen managed to kick back a bit with her tail and pulling both into a pausing halt.
"Are you okay?" Doctor Manius asked, his hands drifting to feel along Karen's spine and checking to make sure there were no nervous twitches or fractures that might indicate that Karen's desire to follow her daughter had lead to injury.
"I'm fine..." Karen spoke, "physically, anyway. But people seem to be looking at me oddly. I mean, I'm sure I'm not done changing... but I'm not going to sim off on you."
"I'm sure," Doctor Manius answered, "as you did come in accordance with the request your daughter made through our government... but the transformation from human to merperson is not always easy. Normally we would not let transforming humans out of the rooms like the one you and Kat were in. You are developing and changing. Adapting to a new system of balance and that won't be perfect until your tail flukes grow to their full size and your additional fins start to grow in, and this can take a few days to complete. There's thus the worry and concern that you would be injured before you are ready. There can also be worries that your body and the holy animal will reject each other and thus lead to serious danger for both of you. It doesn't happen often... but it can happen."
"Thus why Kat and I are monitored?" Karen spoke.
"Yes, if anything goes wrong, we can step in and assure healing major harm," Doctor Manius spoke, "but you're approaching the point where the fear of "rejection" would end... and because your circumstances are a bit "special," there is some knowledge that you will have those close to you for help. And your daughter and her partner can escort you back to the room after you've eaten... so, things should be fine. Thus it isn't normal for the staff... but isn't necessarily something that hasn't been seen before."
"I don't mean to put you under any pressure," Karen began.
"It's no pressure," Doctor Manius spoke, "and I'd imagine that in your position as a loving mother... being there for and with your daughter is important, regardless of her age. In that, you are quite lucky. Not everyone is so lucky to have children."
With that they continued on. As they came into the dining hall, they found Taylor and Sam seated at one table. As they entered, Sam raised one hand and waived to them. Taylor didn't catch on immediately, but when she did notice that Karen had managed to get an escort out of the "transformation room" Taylor smiled...
+++++++++++++++++++++
While Sam moved back to the buffet line, that looked like something that was a bit of a step up from a high school cafeteria, Karen then settled into talking with Taylor. She hadn't heard much on what her daughter and boyfriend were talking on, but for the most part the two had seemed fairly friendly, as they often seemed to be. Though much of it was more to be there to sit with and talk with her daughter and in some ways to catch up with Taylor in many ways.
"So... have you gotten yourself a date, yet?" Taylor asked to her after a moment.
"Huh... what?!" Karen blinked.
"You and the doctor, have you asked him out yet?" Taylor asked with a smile.
"What... no..." Karen answered, "that'd be improper..."
"But he's polite, and he makes you smile," Taylor responded, "I could see that when he went back to his rounds."
Karen felt the blood rush to cheeks with a bit of embarrassment. Taylor only smiled and continued, "and that actually makes me happy... You know that."
"I know," Karen managed, "and between you and me... a part of me is attracted to him. But right now, it'd still be improper. Technically until I'm finished changing, I'm a patient under his care. There are some details at present would make that improper. Maybe when I'm done changing, I could work up the courage to ask... but for now, it would be better to wait."
Taylor only shrugged, but let that go for a moment.
"How is Rose?" Karen then asked, "from all that I've heard she and Nate are happy... and engaged..."
"Yeah, Nate asked her while we were going through our transformations," Taylor nodded, "and she happily said "yes." Of course then we learned that Nate is long lost prince here. And while they have no problem with Nate marrying Rose... they're actually quite supportive... there is some degree of jitters on their part. Probably because neither Nate nor Rose ever saw themselves as a future King or Queen."
"Really?" Karen smiled to Taylor as Sam began to return to the table with another tray of food, "because I seem to remember a pair of young girls who would play princess every now and then."
"We were ten!" Taylor declared with a bit of a shriek which turned some heads and making her float back down with some embarrassment.
"Have I missed something?" Sam wondered as he presented the tray of food to Karen, "a lot of it may look different in some ways... but oddly enough, a lot of it tastes like things we'd eat on land. Like chicken and so on."
"Wouldn't fish taste like fish?" Karen wondered, "I mean people do eat fish."
"That might be something a bit beyond us," Taylor answered, "as there are some animals, corals, and sea plants here that are practically identical to animals in Earth's oceans and then there are animals here that are unique and distinct to this world only. And some might be mammals..."
"Kenny could probably go through the various animals from a guidebook for this world," Sam added, "though that might just be a very basic comparison on the sea life and wouldn't relate to how they taste."
"Interesting..." Karen commented and looked down at what Sam had brought over to her, "does it taste good?"
"Seemed good to me," Sam managed.