##Puzzling Illness

Iatro washed his hands in the sink as he prepared for the challenge. His assistant told him that this would be his most challenging patient yet. Locking eyes with her, he acquired her respect. The beast flapped its wings and raised a right paw. He grabbed a clipboard and began.

"So when did you start having problems?" Iatro asked.

"When the moon was full, I was happy. When the moon was gone, I was sad. My emotions changed with the night," the Sphinx responded.

"You've given me a two week period. Can you be more specific?"

"Flies danced in the night air, but I couldn't dance. A few days later, the humans celebrated, but I couldn't join them." Iatro wrote on his paper a random date.

"So it looks like you've been in pain for about three weeks. Why did you choose to see me now?"

"I come with the rising of the sun. My smell disturbs all. What am I? Iatro paused for several moments.

"You're vomit. So you're throwing up in the mornings, are you pregnant?" he asked. The Sphinx blinked at him in return. It struggled to think of a response in a riddle form. If it wasn't talking in riddles, it was truly ill.

"My body doesn't have the ability to care for what once was. Joy had been a part of my life in the past but not now."

"Okay, not pregnant and post-menopause." Iatro wrote down the response. "Do you feel pain anywhere?"

"What do humans have two of, but I have four. What is something that is not right, but is not wrong? A person cannot go backwards, but this does."

"Okay, so you feel pain in your back left paw. Let me see?" Iatro moved to the back. Her paw was slightly red and swollen. He tapped it gently. "Does it hurt when I do that?"

"What do enthused bride-to-be's say?"

"So you had pain in your back left foot, originally wrote it off. Now, it spread to your stomach." Iatro moved around the fur and found a small gash with green coloring. "It looks like you got a cut, and now, it's infected."

Iatro walked to the cabinet and wrote a script. "You should've come in earlier. Take this script to the mage of your choice. Come back in two weeks. If this doesn't work, we may have to amputate it."

"What do children feel when left alone in the dark," the Sphinx said.

"I don't want to do it either, but it's the best we got." He handed the piece of paper to the Sphinx who grabbed it and walked out.

He held still for several moments until he got a call from reception.

"Uh, when do you want to see the Sphinx again?" the woman asked.

"Two weeks."

"Oh, that makes sense. She kept telling riddles referencing a battle royale game. Should've thought of that. Thanks."

"No problem." He hung up and moved onto his next patient, a hydra who couldn't grow back its heads. His life was hard, but it provided value to the world.

r/AstroRideWrites