Sunset will do, and she has no complaints, she's well aware she didn't call ahead. Her son's feeling a little unwell, is there a recommended doctor?

"- I don't know, ma'am, but Matron will, I'll tell her to come now and then I'll fix the bath for you?"

The girl runs off again, and comes back with the older woman in tow, who politely offers Carissa a little leather coin-purse. "Your spending-money, ma'am. And if you need someone to run errands for you since your staff aren't here yet, we can send the kitchen-boy? Oh, and Malia says your son isn't well, I'm sorry to hear that. We can send for someone from the College of Chirurgeons, Master Dobs was the best but he retired and moved south with his lady, so I'd just send one of our boys over and ask who they recommend." 

"I'd be very grateful." She toys with the wedding jewelry, absentmindedly. "And perhaps you could join me and tell me a little bit more about the city? I haven't been here before, and I will confess being robbed in broad daylight did very little to help me orient. I didn't expect my errand here to be difficult."

The matron seems slightly taken aback to be asked, but flattered too, her cheeks turn a little pink. "Why, of course. I can have some tea brought over for you as well. Just let me take care of sending someone over to the College."

"Thank you."

The servant-girl drains the bath through a spigot in the bottom; it takes her multiple trips hauling buckets and chucking them out the window into the back gutter; at one point a voice swears loudly back up at her through the open window. 

The matron comes back, trailed by another young woman in a bonnet carrying a tea-tray, and confirms having sent a runner over to the College of Chirurgeons. The tea set is old and definitely not as nice as anything in the palace in Cheliax, but it's fine; the tea itself tastes different, more astringent even with milk; there's a cake of sticky brown sugar and a spoon to go with it as well, and hard little biscuits on a platter.

"So," the matron says over her own cup, "what sorts of things did you want to know?" 

"I'm here looking for my nephew. He's Allereth's age -" a head-jerk indoors. "My sister's son. They moved here four years ago. He's mage-gifted, he was getting little sparks and lights even then. I'm taking my son to study with Urtho and I wanted him to get the chance, too. But - that's all I have to go off. My sister and I were estranged, her name is Aptsya but she was going by something easier for the locals to pronounce, I don't know her husband's name, just that he -" vague hand-wave - "worked a trade. Our parents were horrified. Where do mage children study, here? What would my nephew's education be like, is he even going to want to come with me? Do you have any guesses where they might be living, if they're, you know, used to nice things but spending down their money..."

She shows no recognition at the name 'Urtho', and frowns a little at the other names, nods along sympathetically at the right parts of the story. "Oh, hmm, let me think. To be honest," she leans in closer, and seems a bit embarrassed, "I don't think any of the good schooling for mages is here in Predain. I'm not sure what that looks like in - Cheliax, that was where you said you were from? Anyway. You want to be a learned doctor, sure, our College is the best in the known world, but we don't have great academies of magic or anything. I hear Tantara down south has some, don't know much more than that, though. Here I think it's apprenticeships, usually, or the King's Guard or his Majesty's Court. Pays well, to be a mage for His Majesty, but they're," and again she makes a face, "they're - not nice men, if you get my drift, I must say I hope your nephew didn't. My cousin's girl was a mage, though, went off to apprentice to some wizard in the countryside. If you like I can go to her house tonight and ask who, and where?" 

"I would appreciate it. And honestly, that's what I'd heard, about the magic education in Predain, it's why I want to find my nephew and take him south with me, but I didn't want to assume I'd heard right. Tell me more about the College of Chirurgeons, though? Nothing to do with my mission exactly but I never knew Predain was known for it, that's not something we have in Cheliax at all."

The matron doesn't actually know that much about the College but is nonetheless delighted to talk about what everyone sees as their capital's main attraction. The College is revolutionizing the art of medicine! Instead of herb-women with no training, they have the best texts in the world, and their surgeon-scholars contribute new treatises every year. They (and again she blushes and look embarrassed) cut up cadavers - it's supposed to be a great honour, when one dies in their public charity hospital, to have one's body used to further the art. So they know the human anatomy very well and seek to understand the root of all diseases, and they have alchemists hard at work on inventing new potions and remedies. She isn't herself learned so can't say much, only that Master Dobs was oh so learned and clever, with his big black medical bag and his reference-book, and when her eldest daughter had a, well, you know, female problem, after giving birth, he sewed it right back up and she healed fine. 

Well, if you don't have magic healing it's probably the next best thing. She tries to act terribly impressed. 

On a more unpleasant topic, the robbers on the road - she was menaced by some even before the occasion where she was pickpocketed - she knows she's a magnet for them, even with the jewelry concealed, but still, is that - normal? Is it an unusually terrible year?

The matron winces and again looks very embarrassed. "Drought two years in a row, ma'am, lots of shiftless young men with nowhere to go and the King's men won't take them. To be honest I pity their souls. Don't reckon they know better. It's always been reckless to travel without hiding your valuables or bringing a guard, of course, the King's men can't keep the peace outside the city and - well, even inside it, sometimes you're better off not calling for them. But - yes, I don't think it was quite so bad five years ago."

Tragic. Maybe if they got some mages they could do more about the weather, though it's not her specialty. Tantara, with the good schools, is...south of here? How far?

She's not sure. It takes a week to get a message down to the border by fast horse, though partly that's because the road isn't very good, and then Tantara itself is big and she doesn't know where the mage-schools are, but probably in the big cities further south than that. 

This seems like everything Carissa could hope to learn on the questions of most interest to her so she occupies the rest of tea asking the woman about the history of the inn, and how long she's run it, and what her children are up to.

The matron is still confused why such a fine lady wants to talk to her, but it's rather flattering, and she's happy to talk about those subjects. 

While they're finishing up tea, the doctor from the College arrives and introduces himself as Master Laites. He's tall, a bit stooped, with greying hair pulled back in a knot; he's wearing a dark robe and carries a leather satchel. 

Carissa's son is sleeping right now and she'd rather not wake him before he's ready but in the meantime she's so curious about doctors, they don't have them in Cheliax at all. What does a medical education involve? What sorts of things are herbalists and midwives and so on terribly wrong about?

He seems taken aback to be asked, but decides not to take offence; instead he sits down and starts explaining how they study the anatomy and physiology of humans, what changes when people are sick versus healthy, and so they're coming to understand what causes illnesses, or prevents injuries from healing well. 

A few minutes into this, Ma'ar wakes up, and pokes his head out, wrapped in the coverlet off the bed since he's still not wearing his clothes. (He didn't especially want to put them back on, now that his body is clean they seem disgusting in comparison.) 

This is a doctor, recommended by the lady at the inn. Reportedly Predain has the best college of physicians in the world, she's learning all about medicine. They don't really have it in Cheliax but maybe they should start; it seems like the kind of thing the King would be interested in funding. 

Ma'ar isn't that pleased by the introduction of another stranger to their nice quiet rooms, and he's confused why Carissa would bother getting a doctor all this way, it's not like he's seriously sick and he feels all right now, just tired. But he obediently accepts Master Laites' directions to go sit down on the bed and be examined. 

Master Laites does a thorough physical examination, which Ma'ar holds still for even though he haaaaaates having the strange person he doesn't know at all touching him, and in weird un-comforting ways, peering at his scalp and the whites of his eyes, palpating his neck and his wrists and ankles, examining his fingernails closely and tapping his chest to listen to the sound, it's all very odd.

Master Laites then sits and thinks for a while before turning to Carissa. "How long has he been sickly?" 

"Not very long, just since we got here." Probably lying to the doctor will interfere with his ability to give a useful diagnosis, but she can hardly tell him the truth.

"Huh. Is he particular about food, or does your family follow one of the temples with dietary rules...?" 

"At home we don't eat anything from animals."