"Her condition has stabilized." One of the medical doctors working on Kinsey's care breathed a sigh of relief as he cleared out the private room.
Dozens of professionals had come when the maids called for an emergency procedure. Based on the little information they had, and the spotty recollection of the Grand Mage, they were able to surmise that Willem had choked Kinsey long enough to deprive her brain of oxygen. Coupled with the already low oxygen from being on a high altitude platform, cerebral hypoxia was the first thing they initially considered.
They also had to consider intracerebral hemorrhaging from the force of the expulsion of magical energy that protected her.
Kinsey was still glowing a soft white protective film around her body, which seemed to be doing self-repairing on its own. Any attempt by the doctors to relieve cranial pressure with a shunt was blocked by the white light. Her bruised throat was showing signs of rapid healing and her shallow breathing began to regulate to a certain degree.
The gathered doctors were confident that she would make a full recovery, but a Water Mage was called to monitor the situation closely and ensure nothing happened to her.
The majority of the doctors left to continue their work, and only one doctor remained behind. This was the personal physician that the attendants regularly called upon to check on Kinsey during the course of her pregnancy.
All in all, only the doctor, the Water Mage and the two attendants remained in the private room with the patient. Sometimes Anna and Arania would visit the private room, but for the most part they had their own work given by the Grand Mage and would be held up for days at a time.
The Water Mage watched Kinsey closely, because her expertise in the field of healing was second to none. The rate at which Kinsey was healing herself was so far beyond any human she had ever met in the Bastion of Hope, that she could not help but be curious.
"Wait a second..." The Water Mage had previously taken a lecture provided in the Private Sanctum on detecting the latent magical energy around the body as a form of self-defense.
The Water Mage focused her magical energy into her eyes, and after a few unsuccessful attempts, finally activated the conditions to see magical energy. She saw her own magical power travelling through the veins in her body and the circuit that comprised her magical strength.
The air was also filled with a thin film of magical energy, which dyed her vision in grey. Finally, she gazed upon Kinsey and gasped as a small tear escaped down the side of her cheek.
"Such pure energy." Her vision was completely focused on Kinsey's body.
Kinsey had no inherent magical ability, latent or not, but the unborn child that resided in her was filled to the brim with a strong White magical energy. The magical energy could be seen repairing the spine, the trachea and the swelled brain of Kinsey.
As far as the Water Mage understood, this would be the first recorded case of White Magic. As such she carefully documented everything that went on within Kinsey's body, including the innate healing properties of the White Magic and how taxing the process was.
She drew quick comparisons between this newly discovered White Magic and her own Water Magic. Where Water Magic focused on fixing the intended area and then speeding up the body's natural healing ability, White Magic seemed to focus more on creating a magical barrier around the injured area and reversing the damage caused.
The more she watched the White Magic work, the more she could not help but admire what it could do. It seemed to effortlessly create strong barriers in anticipation of any strenuous event, without the person even knowing what is happening. This was all conjecture until the baby was born, but the discovery of White Magic itself was still a boon.
Before she openly submits the study she has done, she first has to get the Grand Mage's and Kinsey's approval. Considering the situation, she understood that it would be a while and sat while recording what went on in Kinsey's body.
Early the next morning.
"Doctor." The Water Mage nodded her head and passed the physician the chart of recorded vitals.
"Kara." The doctor accepted the chart and looked it over. "Higher than normal blood pressure, respiratory difficulties, skin tone flush."
"Her heart rate spiked and she seized in the middle of the night but calmed down after an hour. I administered healing magic until she stopped seizing, which took roughly twenty minutes." Kara advised the doctor.
Kara was well aware of the reason why Kinsey had seized in the middle of the night. The White Magic that the unborn baby used was at it's weakest at midnight. During that time, Kara was forced to suppress the compression of Kinsey's brain against her skull.
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Half an hour before midnight, and half an hour after, the White Magic was at it's weakest and could not continue healing Kinsey's body. Kara's own healing abilities could be considered the top of her field, but such precise work while not seeing what she was doing was not something she could consistently do without her support team. Luckily the White Magic that had waned before came back just before her magical power was fully exhausted. Augmenting her healing magic with the White magic allowed Kinsey's body to continue regular functions before the worst could happen.
"For such a thing to happen while I was sleeping, I am ashamed." The doctor bowed his head to both Kara and the comatose Kinsey.
"There was no way to know such an event would occur, but having me here as a precaution was a great foresight on behalf of the attendants." Kara waved off the doctor and placed her hand to her cheek.
The entire night, before the seizure, she debated whether to tell the doctor what she found out. To withhold information from the doctor was not wise by any means, but it was also not her decision. Unfortunately anyone with the authority to decide was not available to tell her what course to take. This weighed on her heart quite heavily, but she made her determination in the early morning.
"Doctor, I must tell you something." Kara sat up at attention from the chair she had previously been slouching on.
"Pray tell." The doctor replied.
"Kinsey herself has no magical power, but the unborn child does. The child is healing Kinsey which is why when you tried to operate, you could not break her skin." Kara rubbed her eyes while she told the doctor everything.
"Truly?' The doctor looked to Kinsey's comatose body.
"The only way you could know is if you had magical abilities, then you could see the magical energy her unborn baby is circulating." Kara advised.
"So what do we do?" The doctor looked back to Kara.
"We must wait for half an hour until midnight and start the operation. Her brain is still being compressed against her skull and the pressure needs to be relieved." Kara nodded her head toward the doctor.
"Then I will get everything ready for the operation." The doctor was in complete agreement with Kara's assessment.
Even if the doctor disagreed with the assessment, he could not account for the inability to break her skin with a sharp scalpel despite her being a regular human.
The assessment by Kara was accurate based on the circumstances and would not have been implemented without a large amount of thought beforehand.
Kara was also the chief attending physician, as she had the most medical knowledge and practical experience when it came to healing magic. Thus in the Private Sanctum, when it came to healing, her word was law. Despite being in her early thirties, she was widely considered by the humans and the dark elves to be the most skilled and practical Mage even compared to the Grand Mages.
To deprive the other residents of her expertise could be considered egregious, if not for the fact that she was personally attending the mother of the Grand Mage's child.
That same night.
The tools and materials needed had all been thoroughly washed and cleaned, a common practice among royalty and nobles who hated to see even a speck of filth.
Thirty minutes before midnight, the doctors who would be a part of the procedure entered the room in full surgery garb and checked the utensils one last time.
The doctors were on one side of the table while Kara and her support team were on the other. Instead of speaking, Kara and the head surgeon nodded their heads and the surgeon was handed a scalpel.
The doctor slowly placed the scalpel against Kinsey's forehead, where a patch of her fiery red hair had been cut away in order to not obstruct the surgery.
When the doctor applied a bit of strength into the scalpel, the skin stretched taut and would not give. The magic had not fully waned yet, and the only thing the doctor could do was continue applying ample pressure until the magic was gone.
When the magic finally dispersed, the doctor made an incision on Kinsey's scalp and began to remove a chunk of her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain. The Wind and Water support Mages on Kara's team guided the spinal fluid and blood into the metal tray on the side of the operating table.
The surgery continued for almost an hour, until Kara advised the doctor to clean up and sew the wound shut. The White Magic had begun to flow again and was quickly heading through the host body. Once it reached the head, the wound could no longer be properly sewn up and may lead to an infection.
The doctor quickly placed the cut out skull piece back and sewed the wound shut. When the White Magic took over, it forced the sewing thread out of Kinsey's skull forcefully.
The wound closed up in the same fashion as the original cut, and Kara breathed a sigh of relief. It it had forcefully closed the wound there may have been a way for an infection to get through.
"Well done, everyone." The head surgeon removed his gloves and ushered everyone non-essential out of the room.
This was just the first night, but the procedure would most likely need to be repeated several times before Kinsey could be considered safe from the side effects.
Kara and the doctor transferred Kinsey from the operating table back into the bed with the help of the two attendants, whom were previously outside the room while the surgery took place.
"Was the surgery a success?" One of the attendants held Kinsey's motionless hand and asked Kara.
"Yes, but we will most likely have to do it again a few more times until the seizures stop." Kara replied weakly.
Despite it only being an hour of work, everyone involved was thoroughly exhausted. Between the doctors with their precision work and Kara's support team, everyone was ready to get a good night of rest.
"Go ahead and get some rest, we'll call for you both if anything changes." The other attendant patted the doctor and Kara on the back and showed them out politely.
As they left the room, and watched the door slowly close behind them, the doctor looked to Kara.
"Need a drink?" He placed his shaking hand in his pocket.
"Kara contemplated for a moment, then nodded her head.
"Sure." She placed her hand on his shoulder and they headed to the food carts near the teleportation array.
When they arrived, they asked for a couple mugs of ale from the local brewer.
"This one is on the shop." A burly woman with biceps the size of the doctor's head laughed and passed them their two mugs.
"To the Grand Mage." They both toasted.