32: High Champion
Ludak led Cerise into the Lunarian hospital attached to the Temple of the Gods. She carried a pot of water and jug of the freshly made Minor Healing Potion with her. Her mother accompanied them, and along the way the Fors-el of Fortuna who had originally showed them to the Herbal Lab, a Lun-am of Lunaria, and a Venator-am of El-Ahrand joined them.
After a rushmark of navigating through hallways and courtyards, they arrived at a room from which poured a noxious odor of rotting flesh. The Mort-el who had met them on the steps the day Noq-el blessed Cerise was leaning against the wall by the archway leading into the room. He straightened on seeing them, then blinked at spotting Cerise. A bright smile lit his face and he clapped his hands under his chin. "Miss [Blessed]! Such a pleasure to see you again!" Then a look of epiphany widened his eyes and dropped his jaw. He drew in a long, happy gasp and tapped his fingers over his gaping "O" of a mouth. His gaze darted between Cerise and the room, and slowly his expression relaxed into a sultry, joyful smirk.
The Lun-am asked, a touch crossly," What are you doing here, you old crow?"
"Going where my god wills, naturally. Don't worry, I wasn't told to bring my mortician's robes." He winked at the Lunarian priestess before sweeping an amused look over the other priests. "I believe we all have business on the other side of this arch. Let's not delay."
"Please," the Fors-el said, looking to Ludak. The Healer dedicate led the way inside.
The room held a man that felt to Cerise's Arcane Senses like Mid Summer sunshine. He lay in a wide single bed, propped up to sit with special made pillows. A table extended over the bed, supporting a book presented for reading in a special holder. Illness had taken mass from the man, leaving skin that should have stretched over muscle to hang from bone. Despite the tang of Bruise Balm in the air, Cerise ached with sympathetic pain for the endurance of agony visible to her [Healer]'s gaze.
The man glanced up and asked, "What brings you back so soon, Ludak?" Then he spotted the priests and his face fell. "Is it my time, then, Gamais?"
The mort-el snorted. "I rather think not, my favorite little sun ball! I get to bear witness today! Please don't let me hold things up!"
The man swept his gaze over the new occupants of his room and stopped at Cerise and her mother. She felt the blaze of mana as he Identified them. "Ban Silverwood, I am honored, if confused, to know why you would choose to visit me."
"The ban Silverwood name is new. Fortuna has been smiling on my family, so we came to see how we might properly pay our respects. As Mama and I were finishing our service, Fortuna introduced us to Ludak and led us here. My [Healer] class is rare and I am not a dedicate of any god. There are skills in my class that don't even seem to be Uncommon among the other [Healer]s I've met. I will need to use a few diagnostic skills to determine if I can aid you. If you consent, I will use my skills and inform you of my findings. Do I have your consent?"
He raised an eyebrow. "What is the cost of your care?"
It saddened Cerise that people immediately asked that question, but she did also understand it. She gave her answer. "Pay it forward. Whatever debt you feel owed at the end of my aid, don't pay it back to me; pay it forward in kindness to the people you find in need of Fortuna's smile. I did, after all, come into her house asking how I might thank her for her kindness, and here we are."
The man dipped his head. "Please proceed," he requested.
Ludak moved the book to a chest of drawers along one wall. Cerise set the water and potion on the table it had just rested upon. She focused on synergizing her Triage, Diagnose, Arcane Senses, and General Anatomy skills as she examined the man.
"You mana is like sunshine, and your mana body should radiate light, but there's a dark mana around your spine. Not shadows, to be clear; but dark mana eating your light. It's similar to Sleeping Sickness, and ... there. Okay. I see what the cause is now. Yes, I can help. I would very much appreciate having a [Healer] well versed in spinal injuries near to hand.
"The dark mana belongs to a very small parasite that has attached itself to your spinal column. That parasite is still in a juvenile state, but appears to be nearing adulthood. I'm not sure what will happen when it matures, but my intuition is that it needs to come out before that happens.
The Lun-am growled, "Parasite?! We already identified it as a curse!"
"Do you have any kind of mana sense and Diagnose?" Cerise asked the priestess.
"I do!" she snapped, offended.
Cerise ignored that, turning to the man. "May I have your consent to show her through our skills what I'm seeing?"
He nodded, an interested gleam in his gaze. "Please do."
Cerise looked back to the priestess, gesturing her to come closer. "If you cannot follow the focus of my skills, then look near the interior side of his spine just below his bottom ribs."
The woman frowned, but used her skills. After a moment, she pulled her head so far back on her neck that she appeared to lose her chin. "That is a parasite! And a mana eater! That's why this curse is such a bloody pain in the--!" She stood up and stomped out of the room, yelling at the top of her lungs.
Cerise looked up at the man, shocked at the priestess's display. He returned her look with one of amusement and burgeoning hope. As she watched, hope overtook amusement and tears beaded up on his lashes.
"You can help me," he said the words as if he didn't know if he was asking or stating them.
"I can," Cerise affirmed. Then she explained. "What I can do is called Surgery. It is a contrary [Healing] skill because it involves cutting into your body. Healing works best the more directly it is applied." Cerise brought out her set of surgical needles. "I will block as much pain as possible and use Paralyze on you to prevent you from moving during the surgery. " She held up the fattest of her needles. "The parasite is about as big around as this needle, according to my skills. I will be using Greater Cleanse to get it to unlatch, but depending on how the parasite is attached, there may be damage to your spine. That's why I would like an expert in spinal injuries present. Bluntly stated, I can get the parasite out, and you will be alive at the end of the surgery, but I cannot guarantee that you will walk again."
The man nodded. "Whenever you are ready, begin."
Ludak suggested the use of a masseuse table when Cerise described the position she would need to put her patient in, and then quickly got one, and a few other [Healer]s to stand ready to Lend Vitality. The Lun-am returned with another priest, a Lun-el, making him do the same bit of discovery.
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The other [Healers] were informed of the diagnosis and looming treatment, and were eager to see a new kind of healing. The Lun-el was introduced then as her spinal expert. Cerise called on a few of the gawking [Healer]s to help thoroughly Cleanse the room, the masseuse table, and the patient.
The patient asked why the cleaning, and Cerise said, "Think of your body like a city. Your skin is the outer wall, and walls keep out most of the monsters, right? In this case the 'monster'," and she held up cupped hands as she said "monster", "is infection. Surgery will involve putting holes in your skin, the walls of your body, and cleansing everything means there is less chance of the cause of infections to take advantage of the breach." The other [Healer]s nodded along.
Then they transferred the patient to the table. Cerise made sure he was as comfortable as he could be. He wore only loose pants, his upper body bare for the procedure.
Cerise wrapped an absorbent bandage around her forehead, knowing that as she burned her Stamina she would sweat. She didn't want the distraction of Cleansing to keep the sweat out of her eyes, or off her patient.
And then she began. She described what she was doing the entire time, as she had done for the Whisper in the Leaves and her guardian. She asked her patient to describe the sensations he felt as she carefully advanced the first needle into his back, stopping twice to apply Healing potion and guiding it with her Heal skill to address small nicks in the larger blood vessels.
"I'm almost to the parasite. Can I get someone to take over Block Pain? It should be the full whammy, disassociated from the body level. Not the Lun-el, though. If you would please begin monitoring his spinal health?" Cerise directed the other [Healer]s with an absent focus.
The Venator-am stepped behind Cerise and intoned, "[Hunter's Aim]." Then she stepped back.
A surge of competence filled Cerise, and as soon as everyone was in place, she drove the surgical needle forward, into the parasite, and withdrew it.
Her Greater Cleanse skill rose to Intermediate-1 while she peeled back the barbs sunk into the patient's spinal cord, then prevented them from catching on any other part of her patient as she extracted it. An instinctive aversion reminiscent of her hatred for ticks prompted Cerise to keep the parasite, a Talamayan Curse Bearing Worm according to her Identify Skill, encased in water after the extraction. The mort-el produced a rune-scribed black jar, opened it, and presented it to collect the worm, which was thinner than an eighth-nail, but two hands long.
Noq-el's Blessing whispered encouragement, so she deposited the parasite into the proffered jar.
Then she and the Lun-el began to patch up as much of the damage as they could. At first, he snapped an angry glare at Cerise when she reinserted her freshly cleansed needle. Then she asked him to direct his skills through it, and angry turned to excited. Cerise dribbled small amounts of healing potion down the needle and went to work on fixing the tissues around the spine. The Lun-el soon began to appropriate the potion she was using so she just had him tell her when to apply more, adding, "The Surgery Skill favors using small drops spaced out for lessening the risk of alchemical sickness. It lets the body acclimate to the mana passing through it via the potions."
After a rushmark, Cerise had done what she could, but the Lun-el was still working. She warned him before she started cleansing his own sweat build up and got good at predicting when he would ask for more potion.
Three rush marks later, the Lun-el swayed back. Serious faced, he said, "I've done all I can to repair what the curse blighted. Time and Solaris's favor will be needed for a full recovery."
Cerise nodded and put her Block Pain skill again. "I have the pain block. Please release." When she felt that the only foreign mana in the patient belonged to herself or Triage type skills, she slowly reduced the pain block, asking the patient at each step down what he felt. She reminded him that she still had Paralyze up so he shouldn't be able to move anything.
"Haven't forgotten," he said. "It's strange that I never realized how much I talk with my chest. And my jaw."
She got the path of the needle nicely healed, enjoying with a craftsman's delight as the entry wound pinkened, then paled, and then faded away.
"I'm taking Pain Block and Paralyze down. I'm going to then run through another diagnostic check, and let you know the results. Barring the need for any immediate actions, I'm going to use Slumber on you, because you may not feel it right now, but your body has taken a beating and needs some quiet recovery time." Cerise then suited actions to words.
After the Diagnose, she said, "The Lun-el did an amazing job reconstructing your spine and your mana body where the curse worm ate it. You mana pool has suffered damage, but that can be recovered. You should be bed bound for at least a week. I'm going to try to get you to sleep for a full day. After that, first three days you have someone help you do reclining exercises to restore muscle memory. Two rushmarks of exercise, two hours of rest, four times a day, and get your natural sleep. After that, if everything looks good, you can try walking about. It's going to be a while for you to recover your Might and Endurance. Especially at first, you have to listen to your body or you will do damage to yourself that will impede your recovery. Any questions?"
"Could you write that down?" he asked.
"Absolutely."
"Thank you, Miss ... ban ... Silv ... er...." He was asleep before Cerise used her skill. She still used it anyhow, to help him stay asleep.
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El-ahrand's priestess was gone by the time Cerise had the presence of mind to thank her for the support spell, and the Mort-el had taken off as soon as he capped the lid on the worm.
As soon as Cerise finished writing down the recovery treatment, she told the two Luns of Lunaria, "These are the instructions my skills point me to. I realize I'm still a Novice rank. By all means, adjust these as your greater insight and experience leads you to."
Fortuna's priest stepped up. "And now your service of thanks-giving is done, so let me reunite you with the two misters you came with."
Cerise smiled, looking around to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. Her gaze swept over the sleeping patient, and she realized she hadn't gotten his name. She used a quick Appraise to rectify that.
Name: Marsen of the Order of the Dawn
Race: Human
Strata: High Champion, Dedicate of Solaris, Freeman
Class: [Champion of the Dawn] Legendary, Expert
Health: Excellent (Depleted), Bruised
Stamina: Good (Depleted), Low
Mana: Good (Depleted), Very Low
An Expert? Under the illness, he barely looked old enough to be her father!
Well, anyhow, she had her needles. The pot and the potion belonged to the temple. The room was cleaner than when she entered, and the patient healthier. She gestured for the Fors-el to lead the way.
Her mother was uncommonly quiet as they returned to the section of the Temple of Gods dedicated to Fortuna. Mykhal and her father were also being led by a Fors-el, who happily turned them over to Cerise's guide. He took them to the exit. Before he left them, the Fors-el turned to her mother. "Did you see?"
"I did," her mother said, her voice rough.
Cerise's whole family looked to Mother Bergin in alarm. Her mother ignored them and bowed deep enough that she had to brace her hands on her thighs. "Thank you."
The priest pointed to the sky, winked, and left.
Her father asked, "What was that about?"
"There was a High Champion of Solaris. Cerise healed him. I--. Well. Surely, if anyone would know how to find her, it would be a High Champion. Right?" There was that look in her mother's gaze. It was the yearning, pained look she got whenever the miscarriages or her elder sister carefully weren't talked about.
"You didn't--!" her father asked, cutting himself off.
Her mother shook her head. "No! No, I ... I want to--." She stopped and breathed. "I don't know what I want, but surely she should at least know where we are!"
"Bergin," her father signed.
"It was nine years ago! Nine! She's an adult now! They can't just turn her out!"
"Bergin," Her father said again, compassion and pain in his own voice. "That wasn't what we sacrificed for."
Her mother's shoulders slumped.
Her father continued. "When we're back to our rooms, we'll write a letter. We will be careful not to break our oaths, but we will fill it with truth, and we will see how the dedicates of Solaris value that truth."
"What just happened?" Cerise asked, even as her mother's dejection turned to squared-shoulder determination.
Her father shook his head. "Nothing we can talk about until you're of Age."
Cerise's eyes rounded. "Sissa?" she breathed.
Her father flicked a glance at her before ostensibly ignoring the questions to slide an arm around her mother's shoulders. He led the way back to the Hirsel's estate.