Fuyuko found herself even more nervous approaching Riverbridge than she had when crossing into Danuana from Trionean, which didn’t make much sense to her. The Trionean border guards had been suspicious, and a little bit rude to her. Gil’s presence made them back off, but that had left her feeling frustrated that she’d had to depend on him. It also made her angry that so many people took unkindly to her clan, normal oni seemed to be treated much better in the empire.
The elves had been kind, but in a sort of impersonal way, and she didn’t know what to feel about that. The only one that had taken much personal interest had been the healer at the elven guard post on their side of the border. He’d been able to finish healing her shoulder, but it still felt stiff and weird. When Gil had told the healer he was planning on escorting her to Riverbridge the healer had been happy to suggest that they see the high priest there, some guy named Traxalim.
And now here they were, and Gil was talking to the elven guard on this side of the city. It wasn’t as large as the city she’d grown up in, but it was larger than any place she’d seen on their travel here. Of course, before she’d run into Gil, she’d been avoiding cities, but they hadn’t come to any of the large elven cities as they had followed the road here either.
She was startled out of her thoughts when she realized Gil was saying her name for the second or third time, “What? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”
He just looked amused, “You need to drop your hood before we can go in.”
Right, it was the border of a kingdom and the entrance to a city, they’d want to see faces. With a slight flush, Fuyuko pushed her hood back and tried to not flick her ear nervously at the guard’s raised eyebrow. But he just made a note on his papers after waving them through.
She wasn’t used to keeping her horns and ears exposed outside, and she’d honestly be happier using her hat to create a disguise to cover them up. But part of the training Gil had been giving her on their journey was to use item magic as a backup to her own skills, and he’d pointed out that using disguises when you didn’t need to, tended to create bad habits and made you potentially less credible.
“So, we’re here. What now?” Fuyuko asked.
“First, let’s get your shoulder looked at, you’ve recovered a fair amount but it still shows during your training,” Gil responded as he wove his way through the crowds. It was easy enough to follow him, they were among the tallest in the city, but at least with elves around she didn’t feel as if she stood out as much.
“This Trax-a-something guy? How are we going to see him, didn’t the healer say he was a high priest?”
“Yes, but I know him well, he's approachable even for strangers, and he’ll know the truth of the matter about that local dungeon too.” The information they’d gotten along the way had sounded rather positive to Fuyuko, but something about it was also making Gil grumpy.
The temple complex that he led her to was certainly fairly large, but that was mostly because it contained a lot of smaller shrines as well as the main temple dedicated to the elven gods. It was a little strange to see nothing set aside for Dormire, but there were several other gods she knew, and there was a special altar hidden in the shadows between Mericume’s and Ozuran’s statues.
Fuyuko nearly tripped when Gil casually gestured at the hidden altar, “You should take some time to yourself after we’ve seen Traxalim,” he paused, looking at her expression, then his laughter boomed through the complex, “I may not follow the little one, but I do know that trick. And I would bet that Traxalim does as well.”
“You would be correct,” A dry, slightly raspy voice interrupted them, “In fact, I am the one who built that particular altar,” The speaker was the oldest elf that Fuyuko had ever seen. He still moved gracefully, and there was a sort of weight to the deliberateness of each motion, “Hello Gil, I thought I recognized that laugh. Now, what poor soul are you dragging in your wake?” He looked Fuyuko over, then his eyebrows raised in surprise, “Well, that armor looks familiar.”
Gil snorted, “So she really is back.”
“He,” Traxalim casually corrected, “But yes. In pretty much the same location too, according to my records.”
“And the wives thing?”
“Also true. So I wouldn’t expect any changes on that front. Now, young woman, what is your name? And what has this man done to your shoulder?” Traxalim waved off Gil’s attempt to defend himself against that accusation.
She shifted her weight and coughed, “Er, Fuyuko, my lord. And, ah, Gil healed my shoulder as best he could, I got hurt before we met.”
“Well, letting him heal it was your first mistake,” Traxalim said with a small smile. “but I am sure it was the best he could do,” Gil grumbled to himself and crossed his arms, “And call me Traxalim. Hmm, it only looks a little bit stiff. May I touch your shoulder?” He waited for her nod before he reached out and laid his hand on her shoulder, closing his eyes as warmth spread from his touch, “Tch, it’s a little old for a simple touch-up. Hmm,” He opened his eyes to ask, “Peryton bite?”
“Ah, yes sir,” she couldn’t make herself call the old priest by his name, “attacked me while I was traveling alone, I only noticed in time 'cause it tried to take over my shadow. And, well, I guess I got lucky there.” Fuyuko touched the coin-shaped amulet on her silver chain.
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“She killed it by herself too,” Gil added, “though it nearly got her in return.”
“Mm, well, I can fix this, but it’s going to be painful and a bit messy, I’m going to have to reopen the wound. Are you okay with that?”
She took a little while to think about that, then nodded. “Yeah, I can handle that,” not that she wanted to experience the pain again, but it was better than having the stiff shoulder, “But what am I going to owe ya?”
“Normally I’d just say whatever funds or services you can afford, but I think this time I will simply ask for the story of how you acquired your gear and fell into such disreputable company. Now, if you head down that hall, you should find someone who can get you a sleeveless black shirt and guide you to a room. Change there, and we’ll be with you in a little while.”
She bobbed a clumsy mix of a curtsy and a bow, flustered in the moment despite Gil’s lessons, and hurried off in the direction he’d indicated. She met her first kitsune down the hall, a two-tailed woman with auburn hair and fur that gave her a long black shirt and led her to the small room in question. It had a long, low table with a leather-covered cushion over its length and a pillow on one end. There were also a few chairs, but given the set up she was pretty certain that she was supposed to be on the almost bed-like table.
Fuyuko unbuckled her armor and wiggled it down to hang off of her waist, then slid the shirt on over her head and sat down on the table to wait. She was a little nervous, but it helped that Gil knew and trusted the priest. They’d had time to get to know each other over the weeks they’d traveled, and she trusted his judgment. Mostly. She’d keep her own judgment when it came to what made for a “fine drink”. Even watered down that stuff had been awful.
They didn’t take too long, and Traxalim announced himself by knocking on the door and cracking it open just enough to ask, “Are you changed?”
“Um, yeah, you can come in.”
He opened the door all the way and was followed by Gil and the kitsune woman that had led Fuyuko here, “Do you mind if my trainee helps?”
Fuyuko shook her head, “I don’t mind.”
“Thank you. Now, to be clear, this isn’t your only option for getting that scar tissue fixed, but this is the technique available to me. Some of the other methods may be less painful, but I suspect that you would like to be at your best before you consider going to the Azeria Mountain Dungeon?”
“Yeah, but, um, I thought it’s name was Mordecai?”
“Well, the cores and their avatars are Mordecai and Kazue, and their wife Moriko is their contractor, but as they share a territory and have formed an alliance with Kuiccihan, the dungeon as a whole has been given a separate name. Now, here’s what I am going to do. I know a spell that can reopen the original wound, which will also undo all the scar tissue. I’ll limit it to just your shoulder, as it can potentially open every wound you’ve ever suffered, and then we will immediately heal it. My assistant will be performing the initial healing, and if she can’t complete the job, I will take care of it. Healing magic rarely leaves any scarring, so when we are done, it should be perfectly healed. Any questions?”
Her stomach roiled at the thought of experiencing that pain again, but she really hated the idea of her shoulder retaining that lingering stiffness and the previous healer had mentioned that it could get worse as she got older. “Nah, get it over with.”
Traxalim nodded, then retrieved a thick leather bite-strap from a drawer. It looked fresh, a welcome change from most of the ones she’d seen. “I also have a really sour liquid I can put on it to help distract you, if you like,” He waited for her nod before he took out a vial and added a couple of drops onto the leather before handing it to her. Traxalim stepped to the side, put a hand on her shoulder, and waited for her to bite down onto the strap.
It helped muffle her scream. The sour bite of the liquid helped a little, but this time she didn’t have the rush of fighting for her life. She closed her eyes and gripped the table beneath her as hard as she could, ignoring the awful feeling of ripped flesh and cracked bone, and the hot, thick liquid splashing the side of her face and dripping down her arm.
The kitsune woman yelped briefly, but almost immediately after began casting a spell. Fuyuko’s pain suddenly soothed down to an ache, and a few seconds later a second spell brought it to almost nothing. Fuyuko opened her eyes and looked as best as she could while the priestess began casting a third spell. There wasn’t much left of the wound, and the third spell left nothing but fresh, pink skin. A fourth spell fixed even that, leaving her shoulder perfectly healed. It didn’t do anything for the blood though.
“That looks good, you can begin clean up,” Traxalim told his assistant as he stepped in front of Fuyuko and held out his hand for the bite strap. Somehow he and Gil had managed to avoid getting any of her blood on themselves, despite Traxalim having been the one who caused her wound to reopen.
It took a moment for her to unclench her jaw, and then the strap seemed to stick a little to her teeth, but she pulled it out and held it by one end, offering the other clean end to the priest. He took it and began to turn away, then paused as he examined it. “Hmm, could you show me your teeth for a moment?” She was confused but complied, opening her mouth for him and pulling back her teeth. “Well, it looks like you may not need this sort of treatment in the future.”
He held up a strap for her to see the holes that had been punctured in it in four places, as well as all the other marks. “Your canines aren’t currently large enough to make holes that big. You still have a ways to go, but I think you scratched up the table too.”
Fuyuko blushed and mumbled, “Sorry ‘bout that sir.” Her clan’s bloodlines weren’t entirely predictable, and there hadn’t been a chance to learn much from anyone else since the night her parents died.
“No, it’s fine. I can repair that easily enough. Hmm, you’re fourteen, Gil said? Even for a teen, you are a bit short for an oni, so I would guess that you lean more toward your lycanthrope heritage. I hope that’s not a problem for you?”
“Nah, I was aware I might be a runt,” she shook her head at his expression, “It’s fine, it’s the clan’s terms for the ones who are almost human-sized, but it’s not an insult, just a description. That’s what our Oni ancestors teased our lycan ancestors with, back when they were all trapped in the valley. So I was kind of hoping for being able ta shift. If I remember right, runts either get ta be shifters, or they get cursed magic. But, well, been a lot of years since I heard the stories.”
“I don’t know a lot about your people, so I can’t help you much with that. But the kitsune have their own shape-shifting abilities, maybe they can help if you have any troubles. Now, it looks like we are about done here,” his assistant had been using a small cleaning spell continuously as they talked and most of the blood was gone, “so we’ll meet you out front when you are ready, and you can tell me your story there.” He tossed the punctured strap into a small waste bin and gestured for Gil to join him. The kitsune stayed behind for a little bit to make sure she’d gotten the last of the blood off of Fuyuko, and then she left as well, leaving Fuyuko alone to get changed.