Chương 9: Meeting The Healer

The sun was still out when Alexandra stepped past the first house of Lanterne. She would have preferred darkness. Outside the house, a woman was hanging laundry. Alexandra saw her reaction. She couldn't blame her. Covered in blood, and not just her own, she reminded herself that she too would be concerned about a bloodied stranger walking past her home. She ignored the stares and walked—stumbled, really—toward her hosts' house. Her legs were shaking. She needed a break. People were looking at her.

She could hear them whispering to one another. None came forward to help her. Yet, more came to see her. The murmurs grew in number and volume. There were one, then two, then three groups of villagers gossiping as they spotted her. She stopped. A man was blocking her path. Not that tall, but wider than her, his wool coat further reinforced his bulking figure. He stared at her. She met his gaze.

"Who are you? And what are you doin' here?" Alexandra was too tired to deal with this. She was tempted to cast Inflict Weakness on him, but she held herself back. Getting into a fight with the villagers would do her no good. Furthermore, she was still concerned about showing off Warlock abilities. They were wary of her as it was, no need to make it worse.

"I'm Alexandra," she said, her voice less steady than she'd like.

"I was hunting goblins." The man looked her up and down.

"Huntin' goblins? How could goblins rough you up that much?" Alexandra winced. She'd assumed goblins were a real threat to Lanterne. Why else hadn't they dealt with them? But now, having fought them herself, she wasn't so sure. Goblins were weak. The villagers would know that. Training fodder, maybe, or just not worth the effort to clear out.

"I'm not a good fighter," Alexandra answered. The man grunted.

"Right. As if." She was about to argue when Lara came to her rescue.

"John! Don't bully my guest." Lara stepped next to Alexandra, and put a hand on her arm.

"You look like shit."

"Thanks." Lara frowned as she inspected her wounds closer.

"Let's get you cleaned up."

"Lara, that woman is suspicious," John started, "you cannot—" Lara cut him off.

"We'll talk about that after she's healed." John snorted, but left it at that. Lara pulled Alexandra to her house.

"Not making the best impression, here, Alex." She chuckled.

"Not my forte." Lara sighed.

"That's not a laughing matter." She shook her head, taking stock of her injuries once more.

"But not the most pressing either." Outside the house, she spotted her husband crouched in their field of Aetherveil. A new patch of the blue flowers had bloomed, and he was hard at work harvesting them.

"Therion," she called, "go get Bamir." Therion looked up, blue dye smearing his face, and grimaced. He said nothing, nodded, and ran off. Inside the house, Lara helped Alexandra to sit, removed her vest, and used a wet rag to clean the dirt and grime around the lighter scratches she received on her legs and arms. They were only lighter in comparison to what had happened to her face.

"I'm not a healer. But don't worry, Bamir will be here soon." Alexandra nodded in silence, a small lump forming in her throat. There was no avoiding it, she had to meet the priest. On the bright side, a priest of the god of life probably wasn't the worst. Right? She didn't know what sort of gods were worshipped in this world, but it could have been worse. At least, Bamir would be able to do something about her wounds.

"So, was it a success?" Alexandra blinked.

"What?"

"Your quest."

"Ah. Yes. I killed three goblins." Lara sighed.

"You're really not a great fighter. I assume you're in your late twenties, like me. At that age, our attributes alone should be enough to deal with goblins." Alexandra answered with a shrug.

"I guess. I don't know what I'm doing."

"No combat skill?" Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Exactly. Though I got a quest for Sickle Mastery just now." Lara frowned.

"If you're going to fight on the regular, you should look to acquire a real weapon."

"I know. But that's all I have for now." Lara put her rag down.

"We should wait for Bamir. I don't want to make things worse." It didn't take long for the man to arrive following behind Therion. The priest stepped into the room dressed in ample white robes that reached down to his ankles. His gaze rested on Alexandra for a moment too long, his eyes briefly widening before he reined in his expression. He coughed.

"I assume you are the patient?"

"She is," Therion said.

"Sorry to bother you."

"Don't sweat it. Fanon wishes so." Therion bowed slightly, before going back outside to continue his work. Bamir turned back to Alexandra.

"Nasty wounds you got there." He stepped closer, a frown etching itself on his face as he got a better look.

"Goblins?" Alexandra rolled her eyes.

"I know. I suck. Can you fix me?"

"I can't make you a good fighter, if that's the question. As for your wounds…" The healer knelt to examine the gash on her cheeks. For a moment, he was silent.

"Smoothing over the small cuts is no problem. But I'm afraid I'm not skilled enough to heal your face without leaving scars."

"The Hands—" Lara started, before being interrupted by Bamir.

"The Hands are at the service of Saint Hakim, and through him, Fanon. There are naturally people who could heal Alexandra perfectly. I have to apologize, however, that I am not blessed enough to perform such miracles. I wouldn't be stationed here otherwise." Alexandra perked up. She wanted to ask, but restrained herself. Lara sighed.

"There has to be something you can do."

"It's fine," Alexandra said. They turned to her.

"Look, I appreciate your concern, but there's no use arguing over spilled milk. If that's how it is, so be it. I can live with a few scars." Bamir gave her a weak smile.

"For what it's worth, I'm truly sorry about my incompetence. If you do wish to have the scars removed, it should be possible if you find a more skilled healer in the future. Though I must warn you, it will be a lot harder and more expensive than if I could solve the issue right here and now."

"Erm… How much is the consultation today?" Bamir laughed.

"Don't worry, the Hands treat all injuries for free. Maybe you can offer Fanon a prayer, if you feel grateful." He paused.

"However, removing scars falls into non-necessary procedures, which we do charge for at a premium as a way of financing our operations." Alexandra exhaled, noting that she would need to start thinking about a way to gather money. Even before considering the scar removal, not being completely destitute would go a long way.

"I understand, thank you."

"Shall we get started," Bamir asked. She nodded. Bamir grabbed her left arm, raised it parallel to the ground, and passed his left hand over it. It was glowing. His hand. A warm, yellow glow that soothed her pain as soon as it brushed over her wounds. She couldn't tear her eyes away. Bamir moved on to her other arm, then her legs. The healed skin was a little rosy, but aside from that, it was like she hadn't been injured at all.

"Amazing," she whispered.

"This is nothing. Most brothers and sisters of the Hands could heal you without having to go through all that minutia." Alexandra stared at the man. That was already instant healing, how much better could it get? The priest smiled.

"If you saw the Saint's healing skill, you would think nothing of mine." She needed to learn more. Not knowing a thing about the world she was living in was a serious issue.

"Whatever the case, I thank you for your help."

"Saint Hakim has been the best healer in Laika since he was summoned by Fanon a century ago," Lara said, coming to her aid.

"Comparing yourself to him is an exercise in futility." Alexandra froze. Summoned? A Hero? Hakim? That name...

"I'm well aware," Bamir said, still smiling.

"Don't mind my ramblings. Shall we move on to your face?" Alexandra nodded absentmindedly. The timeline didn't match, far from it. Was it just a coincidence? She couldn't just shelve it like that.

"I have to warn you," Bamir continued, "since the wounds are deep, it will be painful." The priest cast his healing spell, the familiar warm light shining from both his hands now. He brought them to her face. She grunted. He hadn't lied. Somehow, without the adrenaline to sustain her, the sensation was worse than when she first got her face mangled. But she gritted her teeth, and endured. It felt like the wounds were being pulled closed from the inside, a deep, insistent pressure that pushed her flesh outward.

She focused on the wall behind Bamir's shoulder and breathed. He worked slowly. More slowly than he had on her arms and legs. She could feel the difference. This wasn't the clean sweep of a hand over a shallow cut. She saw beads of sweat run off his temples. She gritted her teeth harder.

"Almost," Bamir murmured, more to himself than to her. Lara had gone quiet. Alexandra didn't look at her. She didn't look at anything. She picked a knot in the wood of the wall and stared at it and thought about nothing. The pressure peaked. Then it began to recede. Bamir lowered his hands and exhaled slowly. He rolled his shoulders once, flexing his fingers.

"There. The scarring will be visible. A line the width of your thumb on both sides, perhaps," he gestured along her cheeks.

"All benign, of course." Alexandra raised a hand to her face. The skin was tender, hypersensitive to the touch.

"Thank you," she said. Lara pulled a drawer open, and walked closer.

"Here," she said, breaking her silence as she presented a small mirror to Alexandra. She gazed at her reflection. The scars were still red, but they would soon turn white. She sighed. They were larger than expected.

"Well, that gives me a look," she tried to laugh.

"It certainly makes you recognizable." Bamir smiled.

"How do you feel?" Lara asked.

"Fine. I'm a bit tired. But other than that, I feel good." Bamir nodded.

"That's to be expected. On top of everything you did today, healing takes a toll on the body. I tried my best to alleviate the drain on your energy, but there's only so much I can do." Lara went to help her stand up.

"You should lie down. Take a nap."

"You should indeed," Bamir agreed, his smile widening.

"But before I leave you to your rest, I believe there's one more thing we must talk about. I think we both know what I'm talking about…" Alexandra opened her mouth, and closed it. Shit.