"Uh, what the hell happened in there? - And whether you can do it again. There'll be more sick patients tomorrow." 

    "Two of Master Deskyl's Force specializations are senses and working at range; as she was waking up from her trance she noticed the injured people around her and reflexively healed everyone in range of her. She can't usually do that - the two aspects of the Force require different states of mind to use, and being in the right state for healing means she's weaker and less able to defend herself in a fight."

“Oh.”

Marian frowns thoughtfully to herself for a long moment.

Finally she takes a deep breath. “I, uh, I don’t want to push on that, but - I don’t think fights happen here, in the hospital I mean, almost ever? And, uh, no one here has any magic. I guess people in Reno do have a lot of guns apparently. Usually not inside the hospital, but I don’t know how well the Force can defend against that…?”

    "Does the type of gun you mean shoot physical projectiles, ma'am, or something else?"

"They shoot bullets? Made of metal? What else would– oh, do they have, like, laser guns where you're from?" Marian frowns. "I think governments and militaries and stuff have more dangerous kinds of guns, but that definitely isn't going to come up here." 

    "She says she won't be surprised if she winds up in conflict with your government, but if you expect them to treat the hospital as off-limits she'll trust you on that, ma'am - she can defend herself against most physical projectiles without drawing on the dark side but they require a non-standard technique."

Marian tenses up. She starts to say something, then bites her lip instead. 

Deskyl signs to DZ and shrugs at Marian while she translates: "She doesn't plan to provoke them, ma'am, it's just that she's a Sith and governments often don't like them."

"Huh." Marian kicks absently at a pebble on the sidewalk. "Is there - history around that, where you're from? Because it's not like this country's government's ever heard of you." 

And, in Marian's opinion, when it comes to dealings with the US government the best strategy is to be very boring, but it seems like Deskyl probably isn't on board with that plan. 

    "Sith don't answer to governments, ma'am. And - she says that the point of a government is to give powerful people a way to keep from getting in each other's way while they do what they want to everyone else, and she's not interested in playing their game but she's not 'everyone else', either; she expects them to find her alarming once they realize that whether she provokes them or not."

Marian makes a bit of a face at that description of governments. It's not that she can even say it's wrong, it's just...cynical in the way that makes her vaguely uncomfortable. 

She shrugs. "They don't have magic, I guess, but they do have...a lot of rules. That could, uh, make your life pretty inconvenient if you get on their bad side." 

Deskyl nods.

    "She says working at a hospital should be a reasonable way of avoiding that for a while, anyway, ma'am."

Marian nods, looking slightly but not very reassured. She fidgets for a moment. 

"I, uh, I - would rather the government not have any reason to pay attention to me. I'm...not a citizen of the US and getting the right to work here is, uh, already kind of complicated and a lot of hassle." 

    "She says she can avoid involving you officially, ma'am. Is there someone in particular it would make sense for her to talk to about working here?"

"I...guess the ICU manager? She won't be back in until tomorrow morning, though, she works standard business hours." 

    "Yes ma'am."

Deskyl shifts her weight, stretches her arms behind her, and looks contemplatively at the hospital.

    "Do you expect it to cause any problems if she visits the childrens' ICU today?"

"...Hmm? I - don't think so? I've never been there before though, and they're a locked ward, you need a badge to get in - mine might work but I've never tried it and I don't know what I'd say to explain if I had to ask them to let us in. Uh, what would you need to do, do you have to actually go into rooms...?" 

    "She doesn't need to go into their rooms for healing, ma'am, she can do it at range..." Deskyl closes her eyes for a few moments, then signs again. "She can reach most of the ward from outside it, she says. Maybe the whole thing, but it's harder to boost her abilities when she's light-aligned, so she's not sure. And she'll need to meditate first."

"Hmm, let me think what's next to that unit... I think the dialysis clinic is sort of back to back with it? And that's not locked. We might get funny looks if we just wander in, but they should let us, and maybe you could reach the rest of the PICU from there. ...Oh, uh, or did you mean the NICU? First one is kids, second one is eensy-weensy preemie babies." 

    "She'll want to visit both, ma'am, but there's less she can do for prematurity."

Marian nods. "I think the NICU isn't that big, hopefully she can get all of it at once. Uh, how long does meditating take, and do you need a quiet room for it, or something?" 

    "Twenty to forty minutes, ma'am, and she can't hear right now but she shouldn't be disturbed during it. Her room will work but someplace closer to the PICU would be better."

"Uh, right. I think they might have a room nearby for nursing mothers to pump breastmilk. It's legally required." 

    "That will be fine, thank you ma'am."

This promises SO MANY opportunities for agonizing social awkwardness - what is she going to do if someone wants the room for its intended purpose in the middle of Deskyl's meditation - but there's no point putting it off. "Uh, should we go back in now and head over there?"