*Klang*

*Whump*

“Ow…” Mumbling with my face pressed to the ground, I spit out a wad of dirt. Above me, Elina awaits, her black-gloved hands showing me no mercy. The possum mask is actually a fearsome sight. It’s long snout and sharp teeth give her a savage appearance as she watches me. Her method of training is much the same as Romy’s…namely beating the crap out of me. “You and the Secthead really must get along.”

“Mmm?” She stiffens but it’s half-hearted. She seems distracted. “Did Romy train you like this? Heh, I’m not surprised. However…it doesn’t make any sense…”

“What doesn’t make any sense?” I ask. Not being able to see her facial expressions is really becoming a pain. I hate being in the dark to her true intentions. At this, she shifts her head up a little. The possum snout tilts to the sky.

“You…don’t make sense.”

“What?” I ask, nonplussed. At first, I think she’s referring to my Foresight. I thought I was keeping my usage to a minimum so it shouldn’t have been that strange?

“You’re too weak.” Elina says. Ok…didn’t expect that. She holds up her hands. “I’m not insulting you. I’m not the Secthead. But seriously, if Romy really has been training you for as long as you say, and you are who you are…then this doesn’t make any sense. There’s no way your talent for Qi usage can be this low!”

“Huh?” I scratch my head. “Sorry…it’s just how I am. Am I really that weak?”

“Well, your magic isn’t. If anything, that’s freakishly strong. But physically, you’re barely above average by Rainstopper standards…I don’t get it…how can this be?” Pacing in circles with her weird, irregular gait, Elina looks a bit like a spider. Outside her hut, we’ve been sparring, or as she calls it, learning the path of killing, but it’s been going poorly. After a long minute though, she unexpectedly stops. “Wait! Come here, Myrr!”

“Okay…?” I go to her hands. To my surprise, she claps both of them to my temples on either side of my head. Behind the mask, her eyes close. It’s disconcerting having the long, saw-like snout of the possum mask in my face, but I don’t complain. I can sense…something happening. This tingling sensation, a small warmth blossoming from her gloved fingertips into my brain. Normally, I’d back away, but I trust her, to an extent. What’s she looking for?

“I…don’t believe it. I was right!” Her sudden exclamation causes me to yelp and break way from her hands. However, Elina does not mind. She’s lost in revelation. “Meirkeep…that’s it. The only explanation. But how did it get so deep without killing you…unless…a flesh wound?”

“Did you find something?” I ask. Elina nods seriously, locking eyes with me. “What is it?”

“You’ve been…poisoned, Myrr.” She says. Seeing my sudden unease, she quickly grabs my shoulders. “Relax, it’s not fatal. If anything…it’s been with you for a very…very long time. That’s the only way. Tell me, were you ever wounded when you were a baby? Particularly…by an assassin’s blade! I know it’s hard to remember, but this is important. Try to remember!”

“I…wounded?” Searching my old memories, which I have an unusually good record of, considering I was conscious since birth, I try to think of it. “Perhaps when Jarrold Westblade…no…I don’t think he hit me…”

“Jarrold Westblade doesn’t use poison.” Elina interrupts when she hears me. Oh, I forgot, even though she’s a healer, she’s also a Rainstopper. Everyone seem to know about him. “No…it wouldn’t be him. He’d just kill you and be done with it. No, keep thinking. It would have to have been when you were very young. A wound that wasn’t very big, tiny even. Else you’d be dead.”

“Mephis always protected me…there wasn’t anything like…” I pause, realizing that I probably shouldn’t have talked about my relation to the Blood Warlock, but Elina makes no noise of protest. “I was born…and then we escaped…I mean I fought some wild beasts but I never took on assassins myself…unless-“ My face is itchy. The hand on my cheek stops scratching. I realize that there was one time I was touched by a blade. But it wasn’t a dagger! “Actually…right after I was born…I think an arrow hit me. Right here…just barely nicked my cheek. That can’t be it…can it?”

“Let me see.” Elina leans in and cups my cheeks between her hands. The warm leather smells pleasantly of herbs, but not the same ones as Romy. It’s more medicinal, harsher, yet also comfortably healing. That tingly sensation comes again. “It’s here! This is it! That damned bastard…I’ll never forgive him. He really used poison…I mean even given the circumstances…Yuel condemn him!”

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“I’ve really…been poisoned?” I still can’t believe it. “And this is stopping me from using Qi?”

“Oh absolutely. You must have received just barely any dose at all. But I can feel it. The effects have spread throughout your body at this point.” Elina’s voice is heavy. “It’s a miracle you can even fight at all. But I don’t believe it. For an assassin of Meirkeep to consider using such a despicable technique on a baby…he really has no honor at all!”

“Umm…so…you can fix this right?” Though I feel uneasy, and a bit sickish thinking about this poison which apparently has been running through my veins for years, I suppose I should be happy to know why I suck at fighting with Qi. When Elina doesn’t answer, I grow uncomfortable. “Y-You can fix this, right!?”

“Err…” Her response causes my heart to sink. The hand on my cheek drops away, but not before stroking me gently with a fingertip. “I’m sorry, Myrr. The poison was applied so long ago, at such a young age. I told you, the longer a problem exists, the harder it is to heal. This poison is old…very old. Healing it would be…look, on the bright side, the fact that it was applied in such a small dosage probably saved your life…”

“Elina…?” I’m beginning to get dismayed. Elina’s gangly, unnatural posture softens and she regards me quietly. “You really can’t fix me?”

“I…no…let me think…” She takes a deep breath. Her hand comes out as if to comfort me, but drops away. The air atop the Cliffs of Sisyphus feels awfully cold right now. “I…I may be able to heal you. Actually…yes, I definitely can. But the thing is…the poison they used…Tears of the Weeping Rose…it’s exceedingly rare, and difficult to deal with. If I did heal you…not only would it take months…but the real problem is that…” She pauses and I impatiently grab her sleeve.

“Tell me!” At my insistence, she sighs.

“Well, the problem is that at this point, it’d wipe all physical conditioning you’ve received since birth.” Elina mumbles as if she has dirt in her mouth. Pityingly, she reaches out and pokes my forehead. “All the training you’ve done with Romy, any accomplishments you’ve made, all the work you’ve put into yourself…it’ll disappear as if its never been. Keep in mind, I don’t just mean your muscles. Tendons, sinew, bone, and worst of all, the link between your sense of touch….your nerves…and your brain. You’ve worked hard to train them to sync together and react quickly in a battle situation. After I heal you…you’ll have to start from the very beginning.”

“Oh.” My response is perhaps the only thing I can say to such an answer. So it will all disappear? All my hard work…every beating I suffered…it would all be for nothing? Still somewhat shocked, I ask her for the alternative, “And if this poison remains in me? Will it kill me?”

“No. I doubt it. But your development physically will forever be hindered. Tears of the Weeping Rose is a poison which attacks the Meridians, focus points where Qi gathers and is controlled. It’s an insidious poison which is rarely used because people with strong Qi will simply dispel it long before it takes effect. But on a child…or worse…a baby…it’s quite effective.” Elina’s voice is quite sympathetic. Any false cruelty she had during training has been replaced with an almost motherly concern. “I…I suppose the choice is yours. But regardless, whatever you choose, it should wait until after the Trials.”

“…” My lack of response causes the atmosphere to turn even colder. I’ve really been poisoned since birth? Who uses poison on babies? Unless, it was also meant for my parents? Meirkeep…what a truly disgusting bunch of people. They really wanted me dead. But they failed. Even if this body never reaches its potential, my magic will give me the power to get them back for this. Those bastards really…

“Myrr? It’s okay…whatever you choose. You’ll still have magic.” Elina seems to think that I’m devastated by this knowledge. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m not sad…I’m furious. I guess…there’s no choice then. I’ll need to switch focus earlier than expected.

“I’ll stay with the Rainstopper Sect after the Trials. And wait for healing.” Closing my eyes and squeezing them shut, I try to convince myself that this was always the plan anyways. “As for our training…I’ll keep it up for two hours a day. But the rest of the time…I’d like to myself.”

“W-What?!” Elina is flabbergasted. “Two hours? What do you think we can possibly achieve with that? Myrr, even if the results aren’t great, if you want to even have a hope of taking on Janus, you’re going to need to train with me day and night!”

“No…you don’t get it.” I sit back down in the dirt and smile. My carefree look stuns Elina. “I was hoping to learn more about physical fighting while I had the chance to train, but if all my work is just going to be reset, then there’s no point in training my body beyond maintaining its current level. I was never going to beat anyone in a contest of physical strength in the first place.”

“But then…what are you going to do?” She asks, still confused. “Do you plan on using magic? I can’t teach you anything but healing magic. Magical studies, even at a university, take years. Without a teacher, what can you hope to accomplish on your own?”

“I would like to learn some healing magic from you actually. If you’ll teach me.” I peer up at the sky, remembering that stormy night when Romy showed me just how far the distance between us was. Stopping the storm. Cutting the rain. I’m not there yet. But I will be. Glancing back at the anxious healer, I ask her for one last favor. “I need your help on one thing actually. Can you take me somewhere secluded? And make sure no one sees what I’m doing? I want to be alone when I train.”

“Naturally, I can…” She sighs when she sees how dead set I am. “But you really only want me to teach you healing magic? At the very least, we can fight…I can help you experiment…you know real combat training is the most important thing-“

“Later maybe. I need time to figure a few things out first. Can you take me now, actually?” I cut her off. Holding up my arms, I wait for her assistance. With a shake of her head, she reaches down and slings an arm around my chest and crouches down. As with shoot off, I can hear the doubt in her voice,

“I hope you know what you’re doing…”