The next day dawned bright and cold despite still being in the midst of summer, hinting at harsh winters to come. Laurel woke early enough to prepare some of the materials she’d bought the previous day, infusing them with mana and creating a salve she could give out if needed. She set some bandages and jars on one of the counters, and lit a few lamps along with the small stove in the corner to warm things up. The kettle went on for tea and she was ready to open.

At this point Adam stumbled down the stairs and into the shop carrying a sign with “Healing Available” written across it, and an unfamiliar symbol drawn below.

Seeing Laurel’s confused look, Adam explained, “Standard symbol for doctors for the folks who can’t read”.

They puttered around the small shop for a bit, glancing up whenever someone walked by. The small room had never been so organized. An hour and another pot of tea later, they both looked up as they heard the door start to open. Two boys entered. The taller one appeared to be thirteen or fourteen, and the other looked somewhere around eight, though it was hard to tell as he was standing mostly behind the older child. Both had the dirt-smudged clothes and wary eyes of children that were not sure where their next meal would be coming from.

“Hello,” Laurel said, doing her best approximation of gentle. It wasn’t convincing. Both boys looked poised for flight, and she didn’t want to scare off the first patrons for their little venture. “Are either of you in need of healing?”

The older one looked back and forth between Laurel and Adam with cautious eyes. “My brother”, he finally said, as he nudged the smaller boy out from behind him. “His arm got hurt last week and it's getting worse.” Now that the boy was more in view, they could see some bandages on his left arm, loosely wrapped by inexpert hands and grimy from living on the streets.

“Let's take a look,” Laurel said.

“We can’t pay.” The older boy gritted out. The admission looked like it cost him some pride. Costly when you didn’t have much else.

“That’s alright” Laurel said, “we aren’t looking for money”.

The boy narrowed his eyes, “What do you get out of it then?”

Laurel paused briefly, and decided to go with a pared down version of the truth. “We’re looking to get the attention of the people in charge. You’ve heard that some people can do magic?” The boy nodded slowly. “Well I’m one of them. I can help teach people lots about magic, but no one will listen to me yet. So we decided to start helping out the regular people, and hoping people in power start to notice.” After the little speech Laurel realized she was a bit nervous to see how this child would react. Spelling it out made it clear that a whole lot was riding on hope.

“Should we get started?” she asked. She gestured at a couple of seats she’d set up earlier that the boys could sit in. The older boy led his brother to one of the chairs and stood behind him with hands on the smaller boy’s shoulders. They weren’t terrified any more, but the elder brother’s eyes never stopped moving.

Laurel came over and joined them, smiling at the younger boy. “I’m Laurel. What’s your name?” she asked him.

“James” he said, and “this is Eric”, he indicated his brother behind him.

“Alright James” she said, I’m going to take the bandage off and then use magic to take a look alright? It won’t hurt, but it might feel tingly or cold.”

James held his arm out, shaking but still willing to try. As Laurel unwound the bandage she could see the wound was inflamed. Only a bit red and angry-looking, not terrible yet, but it would fester if untreated. “Wow, this looks like it hurts, you must be very brave.”

James puffed out his chest in response as Eric squeezed his shoulders. Laurel let a trickle of mana flow into the boy, through his body and back to her, carrying information about where the body’s natural process had been interrupted. He was malnourished, and had been for some time. The more immediate problem however was as expected, the infection in his arm.

“I’ll be able to heal the arm,” she said.” It will take a little while, and it will feel a bit like putting your arm in very cold water.” She let her mana trickle back in, only instead of merely observing, she directed one strand to boost the boy’s natural response, and another to attack the inflammation. They sat in silence for several minutes, and both boys made shocked noises when they saw the red tinge fade from Jame’s skin. After another ten minutes of the process, the wound had closed and she pronounced him healed.

Both boys were staring, wide-eyed after the first real example of magic either of them had seen. “Tell your friends to stop in if they need some help and we’ll see what we can do, okay?” Laurel said.

Eric nodded fervently. “Thank you so much, I didn’t know what else we could do.”

“You’re welcome” she responded.

The boys hustled out. Once she was sure the door had closed behind them, she looked over at Adam, who had quietly observed the whole thing. “Is there no free healing for children?” She asked him. By and large Merista had seemed like a country that wanted to believe itself fair, and she was surprised there was no system to account for cases like the boys’.

“Higher up the hills there are hospitals that might help, and the king will pay for doctors to come through the lower wards a few times a year, but the next one isn’t for another few months. Is that something your people would do?”

“Not really,” Laurel admitted. “Similarly, we’d have public healing stations but not that many. Never enough healers to send them out like that. I guess not everything’s changed since I was put to sleep.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“If we can establish the sect here we can teach and provide regular access to healing for the lower districts.” Adam whipped out a pad of paper to write it down while Laurel went back to tinkering with a mana crystal she had manifested while meditating the night before. She wanted to replace the lamps in the store and the light from mana crystals reminded her of home

They had a steady drip of visitors throughout the next few days. Children and teens with various injuries and illnesses from a life in the Flats. Nothing was beyond Laurel’s skill to heal, thankfully, and Laurel and Adam tinkered on their own projects in the downtime between visitors.

As the light was slanting through the front windows nearing dinner time, they were interrupted by a woman walking in. She was not as gaunt as the stream of street kids they had seen, and her dress was of a higher quality, though the hem and elbows were showing signs of wear. Smooth dark skin said she was younger than either of them by a wide margin, but the signs of stress were evident in the pinched expression on her face and nervous glances around the room.

“Hello, we were just about to pour some tea, would you like some?” Laurel asked as she wandered over to the small wood stove. The woman tentatively nodded as Laurel busied herself setting out cups and pouring. “Now, what can we help you with?”

The woman rearranged her conservative navy skirts and sipped the tea before replying. “I hear you have been offering healing to those in the Flats? ”

“That’s correct. Is there something that ails you?” Laurel said. With elegant posture and a head topped with meticulous braids, nothing seemed wrong with the young woman, but not all afflictions were easy to see.

The woman looked over at Adam scribbling away in the corner and back to Laurel, then sat up straighter, if that were possible. “My name is Annette Rada, and I believe I may, in fact, be of assistance to you. You have noble goals, but will need someone to organize and schedule your time if you continue to pursue this course. I have secretarial experience and knowledge of the Flats, as well as the more affluent districts of Verilia, which I can leverage to reach whatever goals you have for the future. In return, I ask only a modest salary and access to healing services”. After this speech she raised her teacup again to her mouth, and Laurel caught the slight tremble in the young woman’s hand.

“Give us a moment to discuss” Laurel said, rising and gesturing Adam to join her in the back.

“What do you think?” she said.

“We don’t really need an extra person for what we are trying to do here.”

“You’re right, this is mostly a means to an end. Though we should definitely continue with the healing when we build the sect. It won’t hurt anything to hear her out.”

Adam peered at her more closely. “You were the kind of kid who wandered around collecting injured stray animals weren’t you?”

Laurel let out a loud laugh. “Hardly, but one of the best things about being a cultivator is the ability to fix some of the little problems that you find. Eventually we’ll need more staff right? She can take on some of the logistics while you get to focus more on the archives.” That got Adam’s attention and he grudgingly agreed to consider it at least.

They returned to the anxiously waiting young woman.

“Alright Annette, so tell us your story. “

Annette took another fortifying sip of her tea and began. “My family lives about a third of the way up the hill. My father works in one of the major foundries, and my mother did some seamstressing out of our home while looking after everyone. Things were good, and my brother and I were all able to find jobs after school. John works as a shiphand for a trading company and most recently I’ve been working as a secretary to Lady Constance Fairhaven.

“My father started coughing more and more, starting a couple of years ago. He’s ruined his lungs with decades in the foundry supporting the rest of us. John and I have been chipping in as much as we can for healing tonics, but he needs more than what the doctors can do. Now that he’s too sick to work, we can’t keep scraping together enough for the treatments along with everything else.”

“I heard from a friend that you are willing to heal, and if it works, I’m happy to work off the payment.” Annette looked lost as she finished her story. Her posture remained perfect and her face serene, only her fingers clenched in her skirts betrayed how desperately she needed help.

“How about this: we’ve basically finished here for the day. When it’s convenient for you, I’ll visit your father and see if I’m able to help. From there we can talk about your long-term plans and if you’re still interested in a job.” Laurel said.

After a round of tearful thanks, they arranged for Laurel to visit for tea the following rest day. Once Annette was on her way, Adam once more brought up the rather noticeable lack of work they had to give her.

“We have the money to pay, and eventually we’ll need people to help administrate the sect. She wants to work with us and obviously isn’t afraid of the magic aspect.” Laurel defended.

“Fine. I just don’t trust anyone in bed with the nobles.” Adam said.

She sighed. “We’ll give it a few weeks as a trial and go from there.”

When rest day came around, Laurel made her way up the city to a middle-class housing district. The homes were cared for, but had also been weathered by years of sea air and harsh winters. She saw fresh coats of plaster and blossoming herb gardens, but any hard edges had long since been smoothed out by the wind and rain. Following the directions from Annette, she made her way to a row of narrow houses built with their walls touching, and approached a green door on one end.

The door opened to reveal Annette, the dark rings beneath her eyes even more pronounced than when Laurel had last seen her two days before. She bustled Laurel into a charming living room, containing a woman that could pass for an older version of Annette. Her hands and eyes said she was capable, if a bit frayed around the edges. Next to her sat a sickly man with a kind smile. They all exchanged pleasantries while Annette passed out cups of tea. When the small talk was over, there was nothing for it but to get to the real reason she was there.

Laurel looked at Annette's father and asked permission for an examination and explained the process.

“Of course dear” he said, holding out a trembling hand. Laurel gripped it gently and started sending a thread of mana through his body. Instantly she could tell this was far beyond healing the minor injuries of the street kids in the Flats. The damage to this man’s body was extensive and had built up over decades. His system was close to giving out entirely. After almost 20 minutes of silent examination Laurel leaned back and tried to find the words to explain what she had seen to this family looking at her like she was their last hope.

“I won’t lie to you, it's bad. Probably a bit beyond my normal limits.” She started. Annettes face fell and her parents looked resigned. “However the situation is not without hope. I don’t have the ability to heal the damage entirely, or in one session, but I believe with regular treatment you will see significant improvement. ”

“Why multiple sessions?” Annette’s mother had been mostly quiet up to this point and looked afraid to hope her husband might get better.

“There are too many toxins and too much scar tissue in the lungs. My form of healing uses some energy from the rest of the body, and Mr. Rada does not currently have much to spare. Even if we could heal all the damage immediately, the shock could lead to something else giving out. It also gives me some time to research the best methods.”

The whole family was wide-eyed at this explanation, clearly not in a frame of mind to hear about the theoretical underpinnings of healing magic. Nor was Laurel really the best person to educate them on the topic. “My usual methods involve speeding up and strengthening the body’s natural healing processes. I’ll need to do some reading to figure out the best approach in this case. How about we do a small session now to make you more comfortable, and set up some time to work on the healing every one or two weeks?”

Mr. Rada extended his hand again. He had been the calmest through the process, having come to terms with his situation, but he was willing to try for his wife and children.

Laurel again grasped his hand and began the healing. It was a far more delicate process than what she had been doing for the cuts and broken bones of the poor Verlians who came to her. She let the smallest stream of mana she could control flow into his hand and up his arm, then down into his lungs and heart where the damage was the most severe. Tiny beads of mana were used to stimulate healing in small patches, careful to avoid changing too much all at once. She slipped into a light trance and barely noticed the change in light signifying it was now late into the evening. When she felt there was no more she could do without his body acclimating she released his hand. Awareness flooded back in.

“How do you feel?” She stretched her neck to relieve the ache from hunching over for hours.

“Good! Like I just had the best night’s sleep of my life.” Mr Rada replied. Hearing voices, the women hurried back into the room.

“Excellent! If it works for you all, I can come back at the same time next week.” She was met with a round of smiles and tearful eyes. “Annette, if you still would like to discuss a job opportunity, stop by the shop sometime in the next few days.”

“I’ll be there.” Annette promised. With that and another round of thanks, Laurel left and made her way slowly back to her rooms, contemplating the foundry work that left Mr. Rada in such a state, and wondering if there was something to be done.