The walls of the fort were actual stone walls, thick and twice the height of herself or so, too high to jump and pull oneself up. They were nothing like the wooden palisades of Kriston. Once Alice entered the gate and looked around, the armored guards could no longer just ignore her. "What are you doing here? Where did you come from?" one of the 10 or so guards strewn around questioned her. "I came to request aid. I am from Kriston. It has been overrun by spirits and abandoned." The man stared at her for an awkwardly long time, his face hidden behind the same armor and helmet the guards with Lady Veis wore. She couldn't tell if he didn't believe her, was concerned, couldn't care less, or fell asleep, but eventually he relented. "Follow me."

The guard quickly marched to a nearby building and she tried to hurry after, but she was exhausted. A slow walk was all she could manage and the guard stopped to look back at her. She gave him an apologetic smile that she wasn't sure he could even see considering there were no eye holes in that helmet. He never spoke up as Alice slowly shuffled towards the building.

Thankfully their destination wasn't too far and she reported what she had witnessed to a commander Aston. He was an older man with whitening hair, but he also seemed friendly and to take her seriously. She tried to describe the wavering air in detail, hoping it would help identify the source. He paid particular attention when she talked about the carriage with Lady Veis arriving, but after she described how the knight lady had slashed the spirits apart and moved on to escort the villagers to Ariston they seemed relieved.

"... and then I walked here. It was a long trek and as you can see it wasn't easy for me. Lady Veis said that she offered training here?" Alice tagged the question to the end of her report hoping it would make them more amenable to help her.

The commander considered her for a moment. "Why did you walk through the jungle by yourself? You should know better."

Not expecting to be questioned Alice had to think fast. "I ... ah ... lost track of the group."

Commander Aston raised his eyebrows in disbelieve. "You failed to follow the road?"

Alice didn't know what to say. She couldn't admit to being possessed, or having been possessed. She had her own spirit now, sort of, her ticket to becoming someone powerful. She didn't want to risk it getting sliced up. In the back of her mind she wondered if she was a traitor of sorts, smuggling in a dangerous spirit. The military should be able to handle itself, though they might still blame her and potentially punish her.

"Never mind. Report to the infirmary" commander Aston said impatiently after she failed to answer for too long.

The infirmary was just across the central street. To her left was the gate she entered with the guard back at his post. Or maybe it was a different guard, Alice had trouble distinguishing them when all she saw was the same standard armor. The infirmary building in front of her looked the same as the command building behind her, neither one guarded. To the right were rows of more buildings, all looking the same. Nobody bothered to escort her and she half considered exploiting that in some way, but she really wanted to visit the infirmary first. And who knew what invisible deathtraps these military cultivators had in place to protect themselves.

Once inside, there was a stern-looking woman giving her a short but methodical once over. Alice was about to repeat her story, but a quick "Sit there" shut her up. She sat on the cushioned desk and waited until the woman grabbed some devices Alice had trouble identifying. One was a metal disc that was placed on various parts of her chest for a few seconds. Another, a sort of magnifying glass, was placed on her belly for a minute or so, then her arm. It tingled at first, then Alice screamed out in pain that materialize under the lens.

The woman squinted at her. "What did you do? No, don't tell me. Bern!" She yelled the name out of the door and soon a young man around Alice's age entered. "Diagnose her."

He used the same tools as the woman and sometimes glanced at Alice, sometimes just stared at her chest. Now she was quite content having it covered with her soiled dress. Doctors sometimes made you strip and she didn't feel like stripping for strangers, especially not a boy. "Hmm" he muttered and nonchalantly placed a hand over her chest which immediately exploded in pain just like her arm did before, making her scream out loud. The young man seemed genuinely surprised by her reaction and thankfully the pain stopped even before he had the time to retract his hand. Alice was weary now, having suffered way too much pain twice and not keen on more.

Instead of being sympathetic towards her the woman showed a satisfied smirk. "And this is why you cannot just cheat your way through every diagnostic and treatment. I'm awaiting your report."

Bern pressed his lips together before answering. "Well, there is the ki poisoning."

"Obviously" the woman immediately dismissed. So she did get poisoned! She'd have to question the spirit later.

"Uhh ... slight malnourishment" he continued and looked at Alice inquiringly like he needed a hint, but she didn't know what to tell him. The woman started tapping her fingers impatiently.

"That's it? You truly are blind without your family arts, aren't you? This sort of oversight can cause a squad wipe." The doctor placed the weird magnifying glass back on her belly and Alice almost recoiled from the tingling, but the pain didn't set in. "There, right smack in the middle of her dantian, ice and shadow in way higher concentration than an awakened could possibly have. What does this mean?" She stared at Bern who kept an eye on Alice as he thought. She felt a little bad for the guy and tried to remember what happened. It was the stone she ate that put her in this state, she was pretty sure, so she made a subtle gesture with her lips like she was nipping something. After repeating it again he understood.

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"She ate something ki-infused!" he said with confidence and Alice smiled. Maybe she could make some friends here.

"Wrong!" the stern woman replied. "First, there is no tree spirit in the jungle with ice and shadow alignment. Second, if that was it the ki would be flooding throughout her body, not be concentrated in her dantian. I am disappointed. You have a lot left to learn." Bern lowered his head to the scolding, but also glared at Alice who wiped the smile off her face. The woman continued.

"A higher concentration of ki in her dantian than she could possibly have means a parasitic spirit made it its home. You can make up for your lacking diagnostics performance with superb treatment when you remove it."

Alice peaked up. The spirit had been completely silent the whole time and she herself couldn't tell if it was still there or had left before entering the fort, but evidently it wasn't good enough to stay hidden from cultivators. She had to do something. "Uh ... it's not *really* parasitic. More like ... a mutually beneficial alliance?"

The doctor looked closely into her eyes and for a moment she could have sworn her eye color changed. "Are you sure?" Alice thought for a moment. She got abducted, force-marched through the jungle, ate raw fish and was poisoned. Also the fear of losing the spirit that had demonstrated that it could send feelings to her might just be fake. She could just say she wanted the spirit removed. The fear was gone now and it would not be able to stop her without the cultivators noticing. And that was enough for her. "No, I want to keep it. We have an arrangement." The doctor looked at her a bit longer until Alice shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. "Fine" she eventually relented.

Bern interjected. "What, just like that?" He had a bit of a point. If she was truly under the spirit's control it would have forced her to lie.

"Yes. If she wants to keep it we have no right to remove it. She'd just send it away and join with it again later anyway." Unless Lady Veis was there to strike it down. Better not mention that. "Treat her ki poisoning then. You can do that much at least, right?" Bern grunted affirmatively.

"That is yes ma'am to you! Why do *I* have to break in recruits?" she grumbled and Bern forced out a "Yes, Doctor Carter" which apparently just barely appeased her.

"And you ... what's your name?" she turned to Alice. "I'm Alice. Alice Roth."

The woman gave her a cold smile, about as real as Bern's reply was sincere respect for his superior. "I need you to send your spirit away for a while, a few days probably, depending on Bern's competence. It wouldn't like having its ki drained and we can't have it resist and break my equipment."

Alice didn't really know how to dismiss a spirit, but she thought *hide and come back later* at it and felt it leave her core, phasing downwards through her body. It was an odd and slightly disturbing feeling, but gone too fast to make her uncomfortable. It seemed to go straight into the ground which was probably the best direction to stay hidden or at least out of reach. She didn't know how to get it back, but it would probably find her later.

"Very good. Bern?"

The boy had procured a strange white talisman and was about to place it on her when the doctor interjected. "Not here. She'll crash. Better have her clean up and eat first. Also I will not tolerate the smell of dead fish in my infirmary any longer."

Alice blushed from embarrassment and Bern nodded obediently, but she could tell his mood was sour.

"Dismissed."

Alice followed Bern out of the examination room into a storeroom where he sized her up with a look and picked out clothes for her, a simple light-blue shirt and pants. Alice felt the need to talk to the boy but didn't really know what to say. "So ... you're training to become a doctor?"

Bern nodded and Alice continued. "I didn't mean to mislead you back there, I did eat something bad, I think, but it's gone now." That almost got a reaction out of him and she watched him contemplating something, but in the end he didn't say anything.

"What will happen to me now?"

"You will clean yourself up in the washroom and change your clothes while I go get food." Her stomach grumbled at that.

"Then we return to the infirmary where your ki will be drained so your body can heal."

Alice nodded. Maybe being quiet was how he liked it and she wanted to make an effort to please since she just now realized she'd be unable to pay for her treatment. Doctors were expensive, especially if you got a cultivator treating spiritual issues. Would they just poison her again?

Once cleaned up and in clean clothes, Alice felt a bit better at first, despite the shirt being a little tight around her chest. The water had been cold and refreshing in the moist jungle heat, but soon after she started to sweat again which was unlike her. Only physical labor could do that normally and this was getting even worse, making her burn up. The icy ki of the spirit must have kept this problem suppressed. Noticing her weakness, Bern held her arm in a strong grip, not squeezing her, but she felt if someone were to force her away she'd probably break and rip out her arm before his hand would give way.

She lay on top of the blanket, not wanting to sweat even more, and made an effort to eat the food Bern had brought her. It was actually fairly good, cooked soft meat she didn't know the origin of, roots equally soft and juicy, and a bit of rice on the side instead of being 90% of the food like she was used to. "It's really good!" she praised, but Bern only grunted in annoyance. "Want some?"

He looked at her like she suggested for him to lick the floor or something. "Please just hurry up so I can get back to work."

"I thought this was your work, caring for me. You're making a good servant!"

For a moment Alice thought he'd smack her and she had to remind herself that this was not a boy but an immortal who you do not mess with if you value your life. Or a soon to be immortal. She blamed the fever for her silliness. While the food was good she didn't actually manage to eat all that much and put it down only for Bern to impatiently rip the bowl out of her hands and put it away to start looking through his tools.

"Will it hurt?" Alice asked a little scared. In her limited experience these devices had 2 modes, tingle and causing excruciating pain and she really didn't want the second mode turned on.

"No, you won't feel a thing." Bern grabbed the white talisman he had before and concentrated on it.

Alice watched in fascination but nothing seemed to happen. "So, if I can't feel anything, how will we know it's wor..." Bern put the talisman on her belly and she gasped as it seemed to suck the heat right out of her body. Suddenly she was freezing and regretted not having gotten under the blanket, but before she could voice her problem she fell back and passed out.