Wow. Emily absolutely gave her that script, didn't she, and Evelyn is not going to involve herself and is keeping a careful poker face but the thing it's hiding is a smile, because apparently she's very impressed with, and fond of, Emily right now. This is probably going to come across as intensely concerning to everyone involved and that's not actually a good thing, but still. 

"I understand," says the nurse with the same fake bright smile. "But we're here to help you, and keep you safe, and that's easier to do if we know just a little bit about what's going on with you. That - looks like it must have hurt."

"She just say she not going to tell you." This nurse is not very bright, is she. Alfirin stops looking at Iomedae and looks at the nurse the same way she looks at particularly dumb four-year-olds trying to eat snails.

This nurse thinks she's a child. Children sometimes say "I won't tell you" and then tell you five minutes later when they've calmed down.

Paladins? Don't do that. 

Evelyn really can't imagine that the fact that it would have hurt seems at all important to Iomedae. 

She...almost doesn't want to say anything, because it feels slightly like betraying Iomedae, who just said that she doesn't want the faceless system that has complete power over her life to know any more about her. But it seems more important than that to end this line of questioning in a way that doesn't make things 1000% worse. 

"I think it's probably a - religious cultural practice, from her home," she hears herself say, which is not actually the thing she expected to say, she hadn't quite formed that thought fully until it was out of her mouth.

(Though it's kind of the obvious theory, Iomedae's single strongest character trait by far is being a holy warrior of God, and carving some sort of iconography into your own flesh isn't not a holy warrior-esque sort of thing to do. It's more confusing that it's not a cross, but Evelyn does not at all want to join the interrogation right now and ask about that.) 

She clears her throat. "Anyway, I - don't think it's a good idea to ask a lot of questions about it right now? Her religion is - very personal to her."

That is KIND OF AN OUTRIGHT LIE, going off the last several days, when Iomedae has been loudly making her faith the topic of most conversations, but - it feels like the right thing to say, in this context. It feels like the way Iomedae is trying to approach it, now, and her wariness makes Evelyn sad but Evelyn is still going to do her best to support the thing Iomedae wants and needs right now, which is clearly to NOT BE INTERROGATED. 

The nurse nods, thoughfully. For a second. 

"Iomedae, one of our most important jobs here is to make sure that you're safe, and that other children are safe. Whatever happened here, however you feel about it, and there are a lot of ways you might feel about it, you wouldn't want it to happen to younger children, right? You wouldn't want anyone to get - infected injuries, diseases that can happen when you cut yourself - and you wouldn't want them to be scared and in pain. If you tell us about what happened here, no one is going to be mad at you. We're just going to make sure that kids who have - injuries like yours - get the medical attention they need."

"You don't have to talk about it. You certainly don't have to say anything personal. But this is - not a safe practice, and I need to make sure it's not going to happen again, and that it's not happening to other people who it's our job to keep safe."

(Wow, the 'say something so annoying I am tempted to respond' strategy almost worked on her. That's kind of embarrassing.)

"Maybe we can come back to this later."

"I am freed in three years."

Man. Evelyn is...kind of pissed off right now, actually, and for reasons she's not sure she could explain even in the privacy of her own head, because on the surface of it, trying to ask questions about a kid's horrifying probably-ritual-scarification (is that the word for it?) is super reasonable, but - auuuuughhhhhhh. 

She's actually really proud of Iomedae for not - well, 'rising to the bait' is a deeply uncharitable gloss on it, the nurse is clearly being sincere, but it really must have felt that way to Iomedae. And getting into an argument about religion in the pediatrician's office is not going to go anywhere good. 

(Probably the nurse isn't going to draw concerning conclusions from Iomedae's word choice about when she leaves foster care? Lots of kids feel kind of that way about it.) 

She kind of wants to smile at Iomedae but that might be weird, if the nurse thinks she's colluding to keep Iomedae's secrets from the rest of the fostering team.... Okay, on reflection, that's an insane person way to think about it, for one thing she's not even doing that, she's - conveying all the important facts, just. Judiciously. And smiling to reassure a stressed and upset kid is a really normal thing to do, right? 

She tries to catch Iomedae's eye and offer her a small smile. 

Evelyn is being unexpectedly helpful and Iomedae appreciates it. 

"All right," says the nurse, frustratedly. "Alfirin, can we do a physical examination for you as well?"

(...Evelyn is planning to tell the nurse, in private after this, that she's going to gently ask Iomedae about it at home later, in an environment where she feels safer. She's not sure if this particular nurse just...hasn't encountered the actually-extremely-common problem of kids in foster care not being even slightly willing to open up to strange adults who they see no reason to trust.

And, like, she will gently ask Iomedae about it. ....Very very gently and with no pressure. And being judicious about how she reports anything Iomedae says. And possibly waiting until she has a few more days of English vocabulary and slightly more of a sense of stability in her life.) 

"...Yes? Is do a physical examination when you ask about scars? I have one an animal bite me and one I play with tool when I a baby and one I reach into fire but that one better now, maybe not very a scar." She points them out as she mentions them.

" - yes, that's part of what we look at in a physical examination, though we also look at many other things. The only part of the examination where we need to look at your whole body is to look for injuries you are hiding, because some children hide injuries. Thank you for telling me about your scars." Those kinda sound like the result of neglectful parents but to be fair sometimes good parents have a toddler who just cannot stop trying to injure themself. 

After Alfirin is determined not to have horrible ritual scarification and both girls are confirmed to not be hiding any recent injuries they can put their clothes back on. 

"The doctor will come in in a little while, and he's going to look at your reflexes, your eyes, your ears, your nose, your mouth, things like that. He can demonstrate on the doll too. Then after we've checked if you girls are physically healthy, we will do a behavioral health screening, where we talk about how you are feeling and how these changes in your life might be affecting you."

"What is a reflexih?" From context she assumes it's a part of her head that she has two of but she can't think of any more of those.

"It's the way your body responds automatically to inputs. For example, if the doctor bops your knee with a hammer, your leg will move by reflex, before you have time to think of moving it."

So when she says 'look at your reflexes and eyes and ears and mouth and nose' what she means is 'hit you with a hammer and then probably do things to your eyes and ears and mouth and nose.' "Yes ma'am."

....Evelyn is pretty sure these kids with their deeply concerning history are going to be picturing a completely different mental image than the one the nurse actually means!!! 

"It's a very little hammer," she adds quickly, making a hand gesture. "It's rubber, so it's soft, and they don't bop you very hard, it isn't supposed to hurt."