Interlude 10: A Concerned Friend
Ophelia paced impatiently by the wall as she waited. It was already over ten tocks past the time when they were supposed to start training.
It wasn’t like Kyo to be late like this. While the girl may not have been the most skilled of warriors, she definitely had the grit to one day become one. No matter what grueling task given to her, she would always work through it without complaint. Skipping training without a word didn’t seem like something she would do.
After another tock of waiting, the spearwoman set out to go look for her wayward trainee. The two most likely places she expected to find her were the mess hall and the woman’s bunks. Along the way, she stopped to wave at the day’s expedition party as they headed out.
From the middle of the group, Salvador waved back. It was a bit disappointing that he wouldn’t be joining the day’s training, but work took priority. Perhaps there would be time after the party returned.
Ophelia watched as the artificially handsome spearman left through the main gate before continuing on her way. The first place she checked was the mess hall, as it was the closer of the two buildings. Unsurprisingly, the little mage wasn’t in there.
The same couldn’t be said about the bunks. On Kyo’s bed lay a girl-shaped lump of blankets. Irritated, Ophelia tore away the sheets.
“Rise and shi-” She started before taking a look at the fitfully sleeping mage.
The girl did not look good. Her slender limbs were trembling feebly and her breath was coming out in ragged gasps. Even more worrying, the girl’s normally dark skin was unusually ashen and covered in angry red spots.
Wrapping the poor girl back up in her blanket, Ophelia carried her out of the room as gently as she could. Even through the fabric, it was impossible to miss how warm the little mage was. It felt more like holding a little piece of the sun rather than a person.
Luckily, it didn’t take long for her to reach the doc’s house.
“Oh, looks like you’ve got a present for me.” Doc Lorence remarked as he set down the mug he had been drinking from. “Who’s this and what seems to be the problem.”
“It’s Kyo… and she’s not looking good.” Ophelia replied, laying down her burden on one of the beds.
“I see, let’s get a look at her... Oh no.” Some of the color drained from the healer’s face as he looked at the girl. “There is a cleaning station over there. I’ll need you to use it before you go. Be very thorough and avoid getting close to anyone until I have a chance to get a better look at you later.”
Ophelia didn’t have a chance to reply before Lorence got the unfocused look of someone using their mental interface. She didn’t really need him to give her any more details. His face already said everything she needed to know.
Whatever Kyo had, it was very, very bad.
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The world was a chaotic mess.
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I could barely make sense of what I was seeing.
Amid the twisting trees and swaying bushes, I ran. The trees didn’t care. The screaming bushes probably cared quite a bit.
I had to watch my step. I didn’t want to accidentally crush any of the little Norberts scrambling around. They all grumbled and complained as they scurried about beneath the bushes.
I tromped up the back of a dragon’s tail as Salvador danced by with a trio of Grunes. The dancing grunes had to stop and help Liam with carving runes.
All around me flew fruits and fish, twisting and changing with each pass. Shapes and colors danced round and round, growing ever more confusing until the world faded away.
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It was hard to tell how long I was lost to my feverish dreams. The last thing I clearly recalled was staggering my way back towards the bunks. After that were bits and pieces where I tried to puzzle out where I had ended up instead. It took me much longer than it should have to figure out that I was in the healer’s building.
After that, it did not take me long to figure out why I was there. I was absolutely miserable. Everything hurt and nothing seemed to want to work as it should. I wasn’t even able to sit up.
My senses were less than helpful. I was both way too hot and absolutely chilled. Even lying still, the room spun around me in ways that made focusing on anything but the cloying ache in my bones a futile effort. Whatever words the healer said to me ended up as nothing more than a jumbled mess of sounds. Time seemed to pass by both in an impossibly slow crawl and in sudden, unpredictable jerks.
Agonizingly slow though it was, I did eventually start to regain my senses. I was able to once again somewhat focus on the world around me.
Quite a few people visited the healer’s building while I lay shivering on a bed in the corner. The healer repeated the same series of actions on each visitor, examining several places before sending them on their way. It seemed like everyone in the entire camp ended up going through that door at one point or another.
Regaining my wits wasn’t all good news. No longer distracted by feverish delusions, I was made painfully aware of all of the symptoms of the illness that gripped me. Worse than the aching of my limbs and the fogginess of my mind were the terrible red spots all across my body. Never in my life had I ever been so horribly itchy. The time I fell on a large ant hill under a cluster of blistervines couldn’t even compare.
The healer, who I eventually learned was named Lorence, soon became one of my favorite people. I wasn’t sure what was in the cream he put on my skin, but it provided incredible relief. It was enough for me to be able to pay attention to more than just my suffering.
Lorence always seemed to be extremely cautious when helping me. He always wore a sheet of fabric over most of his face and would always head directly to the disinfecting station immediately after interacting with me.
One other thing I noticed was that a line of runes ran between my bed and the rest of the room. I was fairly sure these were the same runes used to disinfect things, but I would have needed to take a closer look at them to be sure. That, unfortunately, was going to have to wait.
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The one good thing about lying in bed all day was it gave me plenty of time to think. I spent my days looking through the mana forms in my codex and trying to imagine new ways to put them together.
The spell that proved most interesting was the one Salvador showed me. The way that some of the mana forms could repeatedly copy other mana forms had a lot of potential uses. The first thing I could think of was my water gathering spell and its extremely finicky little pieces that needed to be repeated a hundred times. I was sure there were countless other uses as well.
Helpful though it probably would have been, I didn’t risk using my simulation boon. I didn't think it would make my condition worse, but I wasn’t willing to put it to chance.
On what my interface helpfully informed me was my sixth day after falling ill, the healer considered me sufficiently recovered to return to the woman’s bunks. I was still very weak, but it felt good to finally be able to move on my own again.
It was good timing, considering that I had another new boon to test out.