The two locked eyes, each refusing to break away. An icy chill filled the air as they silently engaged in a battle of wills. As sweat beaded on Juniper's forehead, Leif eventually looked away, trembling and timid. "S, Sorry, I don't swing that way"

"What?" Caught off guard, Juniper's face reddened as they struggled to process what Leif meant. They opened their mouth, but seemed to lack more words than, "Swing...?"

"Er, you know, like," Leif said frantically. He threw his hands up, pleading with his eyes as he implored Juniper to understand, his words flowing freely from his mouth like water from an overflowing cup. "I'm not into guys. Not that you aren't a looker, I mean, you definitely have that whole 'beautiful man' vibe down, but I like girls more. I mean, only. I only like girls."

The color drained from Juniper's face as they suddenly realized Leif had mistook their stare for one of admiration. "What! No, I just," Juniper said, averting their eyes to the ground. "I was just looking at you! When people talk, they look at each other."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get you flustered. I have a bad habit of running my mouth, as you no doubt could tell." Leif scratched his chin as he continued to avert Juniper's gaze.

A sudden thought occurred to Juniper. He is cute when he looks like that. Immediately, they banished the thought. No! This was some weird stranger. Besides, Leif clearly thought Juniper was a man. It felt too awkward to correct him now.

"A, Anyway! It seems like you are doing a lot better now." Juniper tried to change the subject. They stood up and dusted their pants off. When they turned their attention back to Leif, he stood up as well, towering over Juniper by a few heads. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Leif. I suppose this is where we go our separate ways."

The questioning look on Leif's face challenged Juniper. It seemed he wasn't quite done with them yet. He asked, "Would you like me to walk you home? I'm all better now, besides, it would be embarrassing if I had to rescue you twice, right?"

Ugh. "Sure." Juniper wilted at the prospect of having to socialize anymore than they have already. "I live by the edge of Hearthwood, so it won't take very long."

"Sounds good!" Leif walked over to the howlers. As he did, Juniper gasped as they realized all the howlers were still alive. Their surprise caught Leif's attention, but he merely grinned. "Want to see something cool?"

"Huh?" Before Juniper could ask anything, Leif put his hand on one of the howlers. His hand began to glow a soft, blue color as the howler's body began to change.

Red, smoky wisps of energy began to coalesce around the howler and whipped violently. Like its fur color, those red wisps betrayed its inhuman nature. Leif didn't react to this strange phenomenon. Instead, he kept his palm on the howler's head, and those crimson wisps began to get sucked towards his hand. As they reached him, the red wisps dissipated into motes of light and vanished as if they had never been there. During this process, the howler's body began to physically change back into a wolf.

Once it was all said and done, the wolf lay asleep peacefully at Leif's feet.

"Cool, right?" Leif turned back to find a gawking Juniper.

"How did you do that?" Juniper was suddenly by Leif's side and grabbed him by the arms. They shook him for answers as they asked, "Was that a spell you just used? Are you a healer? If you are a healer, how did you fight those howlers? I thought maybe you were a physiker! If it's not because of you being a healer, is it because you're an elf-"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Woah, woah!" Leif gently brushed Juniper's grasp away and took two steps back, hands raised with palms out. "Hold on, Juniper. I can only answer so many things at once. I have to maintain some air of mystery, right?"

"Why?"

"Because," he said as he bat his eyes at them. "I have to maintain some of my appeal." Juniper groaned. He chuckled and said, "I am a healer, I'm just really strong. When you are a healer, you can't heal yourself, right? So I figure I should make sure I can take any hits that come my way. It's not too hard to stay fit when you're on the run."

"You're on the run-"

"And secondly, I'm not an elf." Leif interrupted as he looked Juniper directly in the eyes. "I'm a half-elf. It's a common misconception people get about me, so no worries." He leaned in and explained it gently, letting Juniper get a good glance at his baby blue eyes. "You can tell, because my ears aren't obnoxiously long. My mom is 100% human."

"I see..." Juniper felt like they were just scolded nicely by the teacher. They watched in silence as Leif seemed to heal each and every howler of its affliction.

This was a feat that has never been done by anyone before, removing the curse from a bloodfiend. It was believed by everyone that the Calamity King's curse was so powerful no healer has ever been able remove the affliction though many tried over the years. Juniper had read that some healers have even died trying to cure the cursed beasts as their mana would go out of control just as if they were bitten. The best solution so far has just been to kill them on sight. Adventurers have been eating well thanks to many requests consisting of dealing with bloodfiends, a task most commoners weren't capable of even as a mob.

"So, are you... using a spell?" Juniper tried to pace themselves this time.

"Hmm, I am," Leif nodded, finishing the last howler. "But it really isn't something other healers should attempt... You could say I'm probably the only person who can do this."

"Ah... I was hoping you could teach it to me, maybe," Juniper said with a sad sigh. Their dejected look must have struck a nerve with Leif, because he had a hesitant, pitiful look in his eyes for just a moment.

Leif said, "Well, I can't teach you how to cure bloodfiends, but I could teach you a healing spell! You are a healer too then, right?"

"I am. but how much is that going to cost me?" Juniper's shoulders slumped further thinking of the last time they tried to learn magic from passing adventurers. They always charged exorbitant prices. "I could pay you a gold, maybe..."

"Well... do you know any spells?" Leif asked in a way that made it clear he was trying to gift Juniper the spell rather than take any money from them. "Since we saved each other's lives it just seems like bad manners to handle this in the usual way."

"Uh... Well, I know stitches." Juniper said the last word in the ancient tongue. "It's just a cantrip, so it isn't anything special. My dad taught it to be a long time ago. It just stitches things without a needle, so you just need your implement and whatever you are stitching together. He used it a lot for his job."

"Stitches, you say? That sounds like it will be really useful, actually. As you can see," he said gesturing to his clothing. "I'm in copper-chic right now. I've been worried I'd have to ditch this coat since its falling apart. So, if you give me stitches, then I'll give you heal. Sound good? Or do you already have that?"

"Yes! I mean, it sounds good. Is that okay?" Juniper blinked. Heal was a spell that could restore even moderate sized wounds back to normal. As long as the wound is fresh, anyway. If Juniper had access to that spell, then they could spend less resources on treating wounds and focus more on illnesses and the like. Their eyes glinted at the possibilities.

"Of course, I'm a guy of my word. So," Leif held out his hand. "Let's begin."