After the initial shocks calmed, the needs of her patient pulled Cerise out of her panic. She spoke aloud, prefacing her verbosity with the warning, "I'm still in my Novice class, and not yet into my Intermediate skill ranks. There is a lot I don't know and attributes I still need to grow. I will be talking out my thoughts to give you and me both a chance to judge them before they become actions. And if I seem in need of your insight, I am more than willing to hear you."
The leaves made an acknowledging rustle, not needing words, so Cerise began by sharing the results of her Diagnose skill. Then she explained her own problems with getting lost in healing, and how, with the sheer scope of the Guardian's ailment, that could result in Cerise herself becoming too ill to treat the Guardian wolf. She would also need water and food at some point because this was not going to be the work of a single day.
By that point, Cerise had gathered enough courage to approach the giant wolf and began exercising her skills. As she got closer, Cerise realized her needle simply wasn't long enough to do much for her skill efficiency. She grew distracted into healing, absently refusing meat for food as too much of a bother to prepare, too distracting from her patient.
She did keep speaking, offering up the stream of thoughts pouring from her consciousness, and responding to the whispers she heard in the rustling of the leaves. In part prompted by whispered questions, Cerise opened up her Profile, by now practiced at keeping just enough focus on her Profile to gain the benefits of the attention of the Voice of the World while teaching. Then she began to explain her theory of Healing as actively seeking to restore a prosperous balance to a body.
"Wounds are obvious. Something has been severed that needs to be rejoined. Much of that is learning how to make the joining as neat if the severing never happened. It's a bit of Craft and a lot of knowing what needs to be joined and where and how.
"Toxins are a bit more of a subtlety. Too much of anything is toxic, and timing is important, too. Some ... substances need to be taken together, others separate, and what may be harmful to one whose body is balanced may be helpful to one whose body is out of balance. Tea made from Weeping Ma'alas bark, for instance. If you have aches and pains in your body, the tea will calm them, but if you are hale and drink the tea, it will make your head hurt.
"Heal Disease feels like the catch-all skill, and is the most obvious one for dealing with unhealthy imbalances of the body. When nothing is actually severed, so no wound, and the substances out of balance cannot be separated from the body's reaction, it's a disease.
"If I catch colic developing fast enough, I can Heal Toxins to remove the food that's causing gases to build up in the stomach, and the gases pass without any more need of my aid. But if the food has digested too much, I have to Heal Disease to restore balance to the stomach by removing the gases.
"The Sleeping Sickness is a disease because it is a living, well, a colony of living things that have invaded the body. There are a lot of those small colonies that live in a body, but they aren't diseases because they help to promote the balance of the body.
"The gases in the stomach that cause colic? Those are the farts of a symbiotic colony that live in bellies and help to break food down. Without them, we would have to eat a lot more to gain the same nutrition.
"Sleeping Sickness, though, those colonies don't help. They are mana-munchers that take too much and give nothing back. What I know of it comes from my Diagnose skill, which still has room to grown, but they seem particularly focused on the mana that mammals -- warm-blooded milk-makers -- produce, so they get carried along by ticks especially and other blood sucking parasitic insects without harming the insects."
The leaves whispered and Cerise flicked her attention more fully to her Profile. "Still over a third. This would probably go faster if I had a good long needle, but the one I have will barely help when I move down to his limbs. ... Oh. Surgery skill." And from there, Cerise explained precision application of mana-skills and healing potions and salves, and the limits of mana saturation for most mortal beings.
Light and shadow passed. Cerise ate when she paused to recover her Pools, slept when she could not focus even with full Pools, and Healed at all other times, answering the Whisper in the Leaves.
After describing Surgery, and then her Pools draining from full to a third twice, the Whisper in the Leaves gave her a set of needles in a variety of sizes. Cerise Appraised them, finding them all to be Silverwood Surgical Needles of Epic grade craftsmanship and Legendary rarity. It was the first time her Appraise gave her two different grades for an object.
In use, the Silverwood Surgical Needles far surpassed Cerise's simple steel needle. That was not simply in sharpness and penetrative depth. The needles seemed to amplify her skills, and afforded her more dexterity in the application of her Healing and Cleansing. That sped up the Guardian's healing.
Cerise did occasionally attempt to use her Paralyze and Slumber skills on the Guardian, as that was just part of her Surgical routine. It only worked once, for a few heart beats, long enough for the Voice of the World to announce she had achieved a critical success with her Paralyze skill. That one success raised her skill two divisions.
Because the Whisper in the Leaves, and as they progressed, also the Guardian, seemed interested, Cerise formed the habit of explaining what she was about to do and why before she did anything. In between the explanations, she answered the questions she heard.
Then came the point where Cerise had removed as many of the Sleeping Sickness colonies from the Guardian as she could. Only one stubborn colony remained, somehow thriving at the base of the giant wolf's throat no matter what Cerise did with her skills.
"I'm going to use Mana Sensing and Mana Proprioception together to explore why that last colony is so successfully resisting. I think it's where your natural Mana Pool exists in your body, Mister Guardian, and if that is so, I'm going to need to talk out some plans of approach and see what you and the Whisper in the Leaves think."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
The Guardian chuffed and rolled onto his back, stretching out his head.
Cerise had already gotten a feel for the density of mana in the Guardian, but it still took some time to settle into her senses and understand what she was sensing. Habit now had her talking non-stop as she relayed what she was comprehending. She barely noticed the Voice of the World, and promptly forgot the notice as the way she understood mana shifted into its own experience.
[Mana Sensing] and [Mana Proprioception] advance to [Arcane Senses], Practiced-9.
Something that was not Sight or Hearing, Taste or Touch or Scent, and yet was all of these things awoke in Cerise, filling the world with a nuance and depth she hadn't imagined could be experienced. It was amazing and wonderful, a touch awe inspiring, and best of all, revealed to Cerise the reason why this nasty, stubborn colony of Sleeping Sickness hung on.
She absently caressed her fingers through the Guardian's fur, rubbing along the sides of his neck near his ear in a way that got his back leg kicking in the air with lazy enjoyment.
"Lady Whisper, this is what I'm seeing. The colonies that make the Sleeping Sickness need a body to live in, but they eat mana. Your Guardian is joined to your Silverwood tree here by mana alone. Your tree is also not a mammal. The colony cannot hurt your tree. What it can do is sup on the mana you pour into your Guardian.
"I have two ideas for how to destroy this last disease colony, and it has to be destroyed or the sickness will just come back. I don't know enough about mana or mana bonds to know which is the riskier course.
"The first course is, if you can narrow your bond, give less mana to your guardian while I attack the colony as I have been doing.
"The second is for you to learn my Cleansing skill and push that through your bond. The Cleansing intent mana seems to be poison to the Sleeping Sickness colonies."
The leaves whispered, and Cerise taught a tree how to cast Greater Cleanse.
You have earned the achievement [Wild Teacher].
[Wild Teacher]: You have successfully taught an advanced skill to an aspect of the natural world.
Perk: Wild beasts and natural aspects will sense when you are friendly toward them, improving their attitude toward you.
While the Whisper in the Leaves poured Greater Cleanse through her bond with her guardian wolf, Cerise applied her skill combination, more concerned with defeating this stubborn foe than in the subtle difference to her Healing skills.
Cerise's Pools fell to three quarters full. It seemed they were making no progress, but neither was the Sleeping Sickness. At just under half, the colony contracted. It was just a bit, a small thing, but that was encouragement enough. By the time Cerise was down to the one-third mark, where she usually paused to recuperate her Pools, that slight contraction had continued, the size of the colony beginning to shrink with greater and greater rapidity. Cerise decided to push on, explaining when the leaves asked her that she thought it most important to reduce the colony to as small as possible to prevent the disease from quickly reestablishing itself.
Cerise waited until she was on the edge of collapse to withdraw her Surgical Needles. Her skills could find no more disease within the Guardian, but she remembered how onset times worked with skills, She asked the Lady Whisper to keep up her Cleansing Mana for at least a day, and slept, curled up next to the giant wolf.
----------------------------------------
When Cerise awoke, she saw the moon high overhead, and felt the wolf beside her shift.
«You helped me remember my name,» a gruff, masculine voice greeted her. «I heard you say while you and my tree healed me, that you wish to be a friend of beasts, so as my thanks-gift, I have given you knowledge of Beast Speech.»
Cerise sucked in her breath, then carefully released it, grinning. "That is a wonderful gift!" she said, immediately searching in herself for the new knowledge.
The wolf chuffed in amusement. «You may not be thanking me when you first hear how lecherous some of the birds can be. Yet, it should aid you in walking the [Druid's] path. My tree has gifts for you, as well.»
"Druid?" Cerise asked, even as she followed the wolf's prodding to rise and look toward the tree in the center of the grove.
«If that is the path suited to you, you will learn more in time,» the leaves whispered.
The wolf chuffed a laugh again.
«Approach and claim your gifts, Wild Friend,» the leaves ordered.
Cerise, feeling bashful now, nodded and solemnly walked toward the trunk of the Silverwood tree. Under the boughs of the magical tree, she spotted a lightly used, quality canvas pack. That was interesting for the muted sense of mana that came from it, but the two seeds next to the pack were far more magical.
«The pack contains things of men that have been left in my woods. They are a gift of friendship. The seeds beside carry a part of your reward and a task I would ask of you. For the remainder of your reward, I would bestow upon you a name so all may know you have my blessing, and in the name comes the gift of Sylvan speech.»
"Would I cease to be Cerise?" she asked, conflicted. "And, what task would you have of me?"
«The name I would give you would add to your existing names. The task is to present one of the seeds to the dungeon where you plan to settle. The other seed is sterile, and I have made it into a token of Holding Stasis, though only those who bear my name name may use it so. To all others, it seems a token of Authority, granting you full freedom of my woods.»
Cerise sank to her knees, placed her palms upon the ground before her so her thumbs and index finger formed a triangle, and then bowed until her forehead touched her hands. "You honor me with your generosity, and I will gladly accept your name and your task for me."
You have earned the achievement [Named of Nature].
[Named of Nature]: the hamadryad of the Silverwood Grove has shared her name with you.
Perk: all dryads will recognize you as a natural ally.
Hidden Perk revealed: if you listen, you will understand the speech of woodland plants and creatures.
You have earned the achievement [Blessed by El-Ahrand].
[Blessed by El-Ahrand]: You have pleased the god of Forests.
Perk: You gain Woodland Stride as a passive skill. This skill will wax and wane at El-Ahrand's whim.
Cerise shivered.
The leaves laughed. «Father likes you. Be not disturbed.»
Then the leaves sighed. «There are more who gave of their own blood to swear they are here to escort you back to your family. Would you meet with them? Within my woods, I can prevent them from forcing action upon you, but not outside my domain.»
Cerise drew in a few calming breaths and realized how close she had felt Mykhal was all this time. She gestured in the direction her team sense indicated. "If the men you mean are over there and near, my best friend is among them. He won't be idle if anyone tries to hurt me."
The leaves rustled. «Good.»
The Grove of the Silverwood Hamadryad opened. Cerise rose, collected the pack and the seeds, and bowed again to the Silverwood tree. "Thank you. May your life and the lives of those you love, be long and prosperous."