closed RP: a fab reunion in the Hospital Wing (Francis, Camilla, Richard, various HW staff)
One thing after another after another, these days. Henry disappearing; Richard disappearing, then reappearing; now this, Richard apparently ill. Camilla had found him in a corridor, unexpectedly, and his memory seemed somewhat impaired. Then he'd gone pale, and started to perspire. Against his protests that he was fine, that he just wanted to have a drink with her and Francis, Camilla had insisted he should get medical attention.
If she were to be completely honest with herself (which was not Camilla's forte), she might have admitted Richard probably didn't need to go to the hospital wing. A drink and a nap would have done fine. Camilla just didn't think she could take it if anything else happened to any of her friends, not on top of everything that had already happened and was continuing to happen. And Richard really was her friend. Maybe she wasn't the best correspondent in the world, but she'd kept in touch with him over the years and the thousands of miles between them: nothing extravagant, just cards on holidays and birthdays, but more than many old friends managed so long after college had ended. She did have a genuine interest in his well-being.
As she led him along -- leading him by the hand, yes, as though he were a child; as though he couldn't be trusted to take care of himself if she didn't forcibly bring him along to the infirmary (and, well, this was Richard, maybe he really couldn't be trusted to take care of himself) -- she talked quietly and calmly, describing her recent trips to London, the shopping trip with Susan, the more extended stay recently. Tacitly she excised any mention of Henry from the latter, more to spare herself than out of any concern what Richard might have thought about it. She told him about the things she'd seen in the British Museum: the amphorae, the kouroi, things in which he could be expected to take some remote scholarly interest.
She said nothing deeply personal, and nothing that touched on their vital group of friends, other than a reassurance that certainly she'd owl Francis as soon as the doctors had a look at Richard.
When they arrived, though, Camilla found even that wouldn't be necessary. Francis himself was already in the hospital wing. "What happened? She let drop Richard's hand at once and darted to Francis's side. Her immediate thought was Bunny.