Ms. Sanyel found Cerise as she was returning from emptying her bladder the next morning. She put her hands on Cerise's shoulder, looked her up and down, and asked, "How are you doing?"
"Tired, mana sore. I can keep Triage up, at least right now. I want to check in with their [Healer], and see how he fares. Maybe even get some insights from him."
Ms. Sanyel smiled. "Well, you did good yesterday. The Knight-Commander, when he signed the receipt of goods, added service pay for your family and our Quartermaster. As you're not on contract to the consortium, you'll need to collect those receipts yourself."
"Okay," Cerise said, a bit clueless why the caravan master was telling her this.
"So, how many levels did you get yesterday?" Ms. Sanyel asked.
Cerise blinked. Then she pulled up her profile. "Four. Four class levels! And Triage is maxed! And I have my Cleanse Aura!" Cerise started laughing.
She had also brought Arcane Healing, Pain Block, Diagnose, Stabilize, and Heal Wounds into Practiced. Her Surgery was on the cusp at Beginner-9. Her Potion Brewing was close to maxed. Of the rest of her general slotted skills, Blades, Appraise, General Anatomy, General Craft, Mana Proprioception, Animal Handling, and Mana Sensing were in the Practiced rank, and had all received at least one division increase the day before.
"In all adversity, there is opportunity, and it would seem your family is quite brilliant at seizing opportunities." Miss Sanyel smiled as she said that.
Mana sore Cerise might be, but her Stamina had recovered. Both Pools felt ... tender was the best way Cerise could think to describe them. She was careful as she ran with Michael, and skipped staves practice to head over to the Highway Patrol's camp.
Their [Healer] was watching over their own weapons drill, and grinned on spotting her. "Miss Cerise! I'm surprised to see you about today!"
"Eh, I'll be resting a lot as I can for the next few days, watching how my Pools respond. But the health potions and Surgery worked so well together I gained seven divisions! If I had a better way of getting the potion to the damaged areas, I think we would've done it even better.
"And speaking of better, I expected you to slur for another day or so. May I use my Diagnose on you?"
"Please do," the older [Healer] said.
Bruised Brain: Physical trauma has caused inflammations deep in the brain.
Treatment: Rest for one to three weeks.
Prognosis: Permanent memory loss of random events within one week of the injury. Due to patient situation, treatment adherence is not possible, and potential for reinjury is high.
Alternative Treatment: Ingest by volume 1 fist of Minor Healing potion twice daily for one week. Rest immediately if patient becomes dizzy or disoriented, and ingest one fist by volume of Minor Healing potion.
She relayed what her Diagnose skill told her, and added, "I only saw a healing potion for the first time yesterday, and my skills seems to need to know of something before I can see it as a treatment option."
They had a pleasant, professional conversation, during which they took care of the introductions Cerise had not had the time for the day before.
The Honorable Mister Ethrick took Cerise around to check on all the patients from the day before, and a few were in need of another minor bump from her Heal Wounds skill.
Despite her efforts to cleanse around wound sites, a few patrollers had gained wound fevers, which Cerise treated under Ethrick's guidance. Her Heal Disease skill bumped up to Beginner-8 as she eagerly learned from the more experienced [Healer] and immediately applied that knowledge.
Sir Fenrick checked on them, and Cerise very politely, to the best of her knowledge, thanked him for the receipt for her services. The hoity-toity squire was with him and watching her with as unnerving a focus as the near dire draft beasts had shown the monster eggs. Without the urgency of the wounded to see to, Cerise was feeling even more self-conscious under the young man's regard.
She considered her manners of the prior day, and realized an apology was due. "Good Sir?" She haltingly addressed the squire.
Sir Fenrick clapped the squire on the shoulder and said, "Heral is an Honorable Mister at present."
"Honorable Mister Heral, I apologize for the offense I gave you yesterday. I did not speak with the respect due our difference in strata." Cerise accompanied her apology with the waist deep bow.
Heral's jaw flexed as the intensity of his scrutiny only grew. "Are you recanting what you said?"
Cerise squared her shoulders. "How I spoke, Honorable Mister, was impolite and for that, disrespectful. The content of what I said was, and is, truth, and I will not shame myself before Solaris by recanting truth."
Sir Fenrick was glaring at his squire, but the young man did not seem to notice. Instead, he said, "I do not know if it is respectable on my part to accept your apology. The example you set yesterday helped me gain a division in my core skill, something I have not been able to achieve on my own for the past two years. You confuse me," he admitted.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Cerise shrugged and held up her palms. "Mama tells me that's the start of understanding?" She tentatively offered. "I don't really like either the feeling or the answer, either if it helps."
Heral blinked at her, surprise wiping the intensity from his face, and then he threw back his head and laughed. Cerise noted that Sir Fenrick's anger had poofed into excitement when Heral mentioned leveling his core skill, though he quickly donned a mildly pleasant, mask-like facade.
Nobles.
Cerise really didn't want to deal with them anymore.
----------------------------------------
By the time Cerise got back to the caravan, they had lost a full day to aiding the Highway Patrol. The cattle seemed happy enough for it, and her mother and the Quartermaster now had a reason to discuss alchemical recipes. Ms. Sanyel was glad for the assured sale made and goodwill earned. Even Gohren was happy with the delay, as it gave the migration of goblins more time to get away from their path.
She fell asleep in the back of their cart, barely rousing for cold roast at their usual late day stop. When they got to their campsite for the night Cerise stumbled through Triaging the cattle after taking care of Daisy.
Her parents urged her to rest, for which she hugged them, and then kept on doing her chores. Mykhal joined her. He was quiet, and he shot her a few glances, as if to reassure himself that she wasn't about to fall over, or run away or something.
After the chores were done and before they left, Cerise reached over and pulled her friend in for a hug. "I've missed you," she said.
He hugged her back and said, "Yeah. I've missed you, too."
Cerise spoke into Mykhal's shoulder. "Isn't it weird? We see each other every day, but there's just no time to talk anymore. I know we're almost to the end of Miss Sanyel's route, and we probably won't see them anymore after this, so I want to spend as much time as possible learning from them and helping out to thank them for all the opportunities. But, I miss you."
He petted her hair and chuckled, and Cerise felt some of the tension in him relax. "I know," he said. "Elar wants me to write him when we get settled, and I'll always be grateful to him for what he has taught me, but he's not you."
That made Cerise laughed. "Can you imagine? Elar the [Healer] and Cerise the [Scout]? It would be so weird!"
Mykhal laughed with her, but he grew serious again and held her at arms length so they could lock gazes. "After yesterday, how are you?"
She gave him a wry smile. "Tired, and," she glanced around, then leaned in close. In a small, soft voice not meant to carry beyond them, she said, "level 12! It was insane! I had to fight my skills to keep them from draining me! Their [Healer], Ethrick, said it's the hardest trial of being a [Healer]. The whole thing about [Warriors] wanting to war and [Cooks] to cook? I didn't think it was the skills. I thought it was the people."
Mykhal gave her his, "well, yeah!" face, and she laughed. He smiled, briefly, but that seriousness was still there.
Cerise rested her hands on his forearms, leaning in a bit to his hands, still resting on her shoulders. "What is it?"
"I'm getting there," he said, mock frowning at her, then sobering again. "The cyr was a [Profaner]."
Cerise's smile, her attempts to embrace levity, stopped. She nodded. "Sir Fenrick said as much. He said the word from the capitol is that he broke the covenant binding dungeons in Druerjan, and the king stripped him of his titles and ordered Arlthane Nagister to kill him. We need to find out what the dungeon covenant is, or was, so we know how it's changed. The king is still negotiating a new one."
Mykhal shifted. It was a small thing, a tell that had more to do with the intuition of good friends than any actual shiftyness on his part.
"Were you afraid I wouldn't be your [Healer] anymore?"
He started to sputter, caught between denying her question and downplaying it. Then he really looked at her baffled expression, sighed, and dropped his hands. Ducking his head into his shoulders, he looked down at his feet. "I heard some of the patrollers saying their Knight-Commander was going to recruit you. And there was a patroller that caught up with us not long after we left, and, I was worried."
Cerise shrugged. "No one said anything to me about being recruited, and neither of us is old enough. You saw Gohren's face, everyone's faces, when the caravaneers found out we're still youths."
An expression of mixed frustration and relief took over Mykhal's features. "Yeah, there's that, but you healed their whole patrol. That counts for something."
"A receipt for services rendered," she agreed. "I'm going to find a smith that can make hollow needles. A syringe? And razor blades, and curved needles, clamps, small ones."
"What?" Mykhal asked. "A sringe? And you don't need to shave; why razors?"
"Sy-ringe," Cerise absently corrected. "And a small, very sharp blade for when I need to cut to fix a deep wound so it does less damage. The more direct the healing, the better the results. If I get good enough I might even be able to fix old wounds."
He bonked his forehead against hers, but gently. "You're weird," he said, echoing one of the first things they'd ever said to each other.
"Of course! All the most interesting people are!" She echoed back.
He laughed, and the world was just suddenly a brighter place.
"Oy! You scrumbling bumblerfoots! Dinner's on!" Cerise's father yelled out.
She stuck her tongue out and said, "Race you!" even as she took off, using her Quick Steps to get a leading start.
"Ha!" He yelled, flashing by her.
Cerise stopped next to her father. "Wonder when he'll figure out that we're walking back without him?"
Her father laughed and ruffled her hair. "You like him?" he asked, nodding in the direction Mykhal had sprinted off in.
"Best friend!" Cerise answered, wondering why her father had to ask.
"Not that like," her father said. "Do you like him? For courtship."
Cerise stopped and tilted her head to the side. "I'm not ready for babies. When I am, Mykhal would be an awesome dad, but that's not for years and years!"
Her father stopped her and hugged her. It was a weirdly emotional hug, and when he let her go, his eyes were suspiciously wet.
"Eh, and Mykhal wonders where I get my weird from," she said, making her father laugh.
Cerise
Race: Human
Age: 13, Youth
Total Level: 12
Class(es): [Arcane Healer Novice]
Social Strata: Commoner, Freeman
Pools:
Health: Moderate
Stamina: Good
Mana: Good
Attributes:
Focus: High
[Arcane Healer Novice] (12)
Arcane Healing: P-4
Heal Wounds: P-3
Heal Toxins: B-2
Heal Diseases: B-8
Triage: P-9
Stabilize: P-6
Diagnose: P-5
Pain Block: P-6
...
...
General Skills
Slots: 2, Used: 1
Acting: P-9 (I-9)
Animal Handling: P-3
Appraise: P-2
Blades: P-1
Cleanse, Greater *†: P-2
Cooking: P-9 (I-3)
Cyphers: B-7
Drawing: P-4
General Anatomy *: P-2
General Craft *: P-8
Hunting: B-6
Logic: P-9 (I-3}
Mana Proprioception *: P-4
Mana Sensing *: P-3
Natural Weapon Combat: P-2
Oration: P-7
Potion Brewing *: P-7
Quick Stepping: B-8
Research: P-9 (A-4)
Scribing: P-9 (A-8)
Staves: B-3
Stealth: P-0
Surgery *: B-9
Skill Unlocks
Mana Sight
Mana Scent
Mana Hearing
Tame Monster
Dull Pain *
Paralyze *
Lend Vitality *
Sense Life *