The very next night, Ember knew it would be different than the day before from the very moment Merida, and they were out of the wood.

For this time around, people behind a barricade were waiting for them, guns at the ready and pointed at them.

"Weapons Down! Chill! It's the Comfort Maiden! Let them pass!" A man commanded.

'Comfort Meaden?' Ember repeated quizzically, though only Merida could hear her.

It's a play-on-word. Meaden means a young woman or a means of transport, which is either the first of its kind or undergoing its inaugural travel. And I guess they chose the Comfort adjective cause we eased the pain?

"This way. We have the wounded ready for you." The commander said, escorting them to one particular house, which was indeed with wounded people.

'Why did they gather them all in the same place? Aren't they afraid the wounds would fester?' Ember asked, disbelieving.

It's an improvised field hospital. They probably disinfected everything inside. You won't like the smell inside.

'I will trust you on it,' Ember said, not bothering even crossing the threshold.

You are lucky you don't have to see this. It's even worse than yesterday. Forget about healing. I might have to stabilize some of those instead.

'What do you mean by "stabilize"?' Ember asked, as she felt the system translation wasn't of any help.

I mean, prevent them from dying. It's not quite as hard as reanimation, like with the Air Elemental, but close enough.

'So more people would need follow-up healing in the next few days?' Ember asked for confirmation.

Understatement of the day. Try weeks instead.

Merida retorted, to which Ember winced at the thought. It had been her idea, but that was a lot longer commitment than she expected. She ruminated the thought and let her partner do her work until she walked out of the house, dead silent and obviously already strained from magic overexertion.

"You should stay." The man said, welcoming. Though Ember knew the offer wasn't made out of kindness. They needed a healer, and so far, Ember knew Merida was the only one available.

"I can't. I have a mission." The doll responded dismissively before gesturing Ember to hurry up and leave before they tried to keep them around by force.

"What mission?" The man said, taken aback.

"Tell your men to think it through and ask me tomorrow." The living puppet shouted as they left.

'Why did you tell me to think it through?' Ember asked as she ran, finally enjoying herself after having to wait for so long.

It implies commitment. So they know they would have to get involved if they asked for it again.

'Make sense,' Ember concluded.

But it was only their first stop of the night. It turned out that people had banded up all over the city, seeking safety in numbers and forming neighborhood militia to protect their families and properties. Paradoxically, while it did offer some semblance of security, reducing the number of injuries, it had failed to work as a proper deterrent against very determined and prepared raiders, increasing the severity of said injuries and the overall death toll.

Each group knew who they were before they trespassed in their territory. All of them had come up with different names to call them, including 'Healer Musher,' 'Tiny Heroes,' 'Healing Titch,' and comparatively creative names. But first and foremost, all of them seem to have gone with the exact same idea of grouping all the wounded in a single place, reducing Ember's contribution as the beast of burden pulling the cart for Merida.

But at least this new efficiency level had allowed her to reach their goal this night and get to the police station before it was too late. So after this odd night, Ember was not surprised to find the place still illuminate, with policemen guarding the door, weapons at the ready, and cautiously stepping closer to meet them as Ember came to a halt.

"State your identity, business, and reason for coming here." One policeman ordered, pointing their weapon up and down at Merida.

"Name is Merida, previously known as Jane Doe," The doll replied, "And this is Ember, my loyal companion. We came here seeking for help in exchange for our services."

"Yes, that's right. The chief mentioned you. And I recognize the dog." The man said as he suddenly recognized Ember in the dark.

And so did Ember know he was closer. He was Tired. However, she did not recognize the other one.

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"Mercenaries are not welcomed right now." He finally added menacingly, gesturing them to scram.

"I think there is a misunderstanding here." Merida tried to temporize and calm things down, "I came here to offer healing AND ask for help. I won't ask for any payment, and all I want in exchange is five minutes with your chief."

Though just in case, she hopped down the cart and gestured to Ember to take her distance, which she gladfully did.

The man responded by pulling out a flickering screen from his pockets and talking to it:

"Chief! There is that freaking doll at the door claiming she can heal Baxter and requesting for a meeting."

Only noises responded to his call, and he was about to respond when Ember recognized the voice of Treat Guy, although she couldn't decipher what he said. But the man diligently translated for her:

"He said okay, but no magicking until he says so." He did not add 'Or else,' but his gun emphasized that part of the talking for him.

"I'm all yours," Merida said, walking in, leaving Ember behind.

★☆★

"So let me get it straight." The chief officer started to summarise:

"After that stunt with the governor, you walked into my office, confessing your system-sanctioned good-natured ambition to overthrow four States' government, declare independence and enforce a new hardcore environmental policy putting Green Peace activists to shame, which, if successful, would trigger a new world order, all of these, without having the faintest idea what you have been doing?"

"Hmmm... Yes, Sir?" Merida replied tentatively.

And then, the man started laughing hysterically.

"Sorry," the chief said he recovered, before adding laconically: "Nerves."

I'm sniffing magic all around the building.

I think they have some sort of shield in place.

Ember said through their link, to which Merida replied:

'It's magic dampening. Don't worry. It won't prevent me from escaping but might cause quite a lot of fatigue.'

"You know, I should throw you in a cell and forget about the key," The chief officer said honestly, "But I also heard some rumors about a little healer in town yesterday. And I recently realized that I could be very understanding when it comes to cultural misunderstanding. So I'm going to let you go, ask you to keep helping the city as a personal favor and quietly look the other way. You may go."

Merida stood up and walked to the door when the man added:

"You know, while I consider myself a true patriot, I would rather see this country fall than become a militaristic dictatorship. So you never know... I might talk about this with a few people."

It was not quite a promise of help, but Merida did offer him the mission, and he did NOT turn it down. So Ember thought there was hope he would come around. It was at least a better outcome than she had feared.

Now, all that was left was to heal a policemen and then heal some more people on the way home.

It was going to be a long night.

★☆★

The third night finally saw the number of casualties and injuries drastically fall. People finally realized that whatever they thought they had been fighting for was not worth wasting their life away. The barricades had grown. The militias were fully armed. But even the most fearless gangs had taken a break to lick their wounds.

There was also the fact there were no food or weapon left to steal, unless they were willing to fight to the death for it.

But except for the few travelers that came seeking refugees here, there was essentially no resupply coming. Even if roads weren't blocked, there was no fuel, no nothing: Only an endless supply of wood from the local industry, the hydroelectricity, which was still working, and whatever food and drinkable water that could be gathered locally.

It had been a waking call for a lot of people to calm down and think about the future.

Which was also when Merida had started preaching their vision of the future, introducing people to the mission and giving them some hope and purpose beyond the grim of survival. For Montana was the perfect place to kickstart this kind of project, as there were already plenty of natural reserves, forest, and water aplenty. They just needed to do some bit of engineering, working with nature instead of against it this time, as their mission objectives stipulated clearly.

The system recognized the sapients' ability to care and support other species and decided to give them new incentives, promising similar rewards that it offered Ember to all system users willing to commit to the mission.

And it was rapidly determined that pollution and global warming were not the main focus of the mission, since lighting a fire was already considered as such by the system, and humans could not really do without it. What the system wanted however, was a fully repopulated ecosystem that would seamlessly encroach upon the formerly urban biome, effectively creating new niches for plants and animals alike.

Ember had no idea what it was all about, but that was for the humans to figure out. Her role, however, was to support and protect. Her meager role in helping Merida heal people might count, but as the doll pointed out, she needed her magic to grow stronger if she wanted to protect anyone from anything.

Fortunately, their plan to hunker down, having been amended, also had its perks, meaning they did not have to wait for spring to get access to the plant Ember needed to tier up. And so they were back home, early in the morning, Merida fervently preparing some mixture from powdered mushrooms and dried leaves that were supposed to help her reach the appropriate state of mind to unlock yet another facet of her magic.

"Done!" Merida exclaimed finally, hopping down from the kitchen table with the ball in hand.

"I won't lie to you. I don't have access to proper alchemical recipes anymore. So best I could do with the knowledge I have are tried and true hallucinogens. It will help you connect to one emotion-based magic in your dreams. I don't know which one.

What I know is they will test you. That test will completely differ from what you experienced when you unlocked mind magic, which might give you an edge cause of your innate talent. And you have to succeed cause this hallucinogen is mildly toxic. You would have to purge your body for weeks before you get a second try if you fail. So just don't. Any questions?"

Ember shook her head. Not that she didn't not have any questions but Merida already stated clearly that the only ones she really wanted answered were also the ones Merida could not help her with anymore. At least Merida had grown talkative once again after all those extended human contacts and kept doing so even though they were alone together. It was kind of comforting.

"So just eat. You don't want to go through this with an empty belly." The doll advised. "Then take your dessert and go to sleep." She said, pointing at the hallucinogen. "With all the food, it will come to effect slowly instead of all at once. When the effect wears off, you will be pulled off whether you want it or not until you learn to control it. So the slower, the better."

Gorging herself with food until she got a nice round belly was the easy part. Eating the distasteful dessert, however, was an atrocious experience. Whatever those things were, it would never have crossed Ember's mind to eat those if it had not been for Merida's insistence it was the only way with their current resources.

Then, she lazily climbed her late owner's bed which she had claimed as her own, took her time finding the right spot, and let her thoughts wander until sleep finally claimed her.