A few more patients and the boredom starts to set in again. I wasn't exactly telling the truth when I told Apricot that I was running low on enchanting supplies, but aside from figuring out the runes for electrolysis, I've already accomplished what I wanted to do with that today.

I have a bunch of things on my to-do list, but the only ones I can do here would be mechanical in nature. And, making the bows has more than met my daily quota for mechanical nonsense.

I start to browse through my mental media collection when I remember all the books that I promised to translate for Amelia. They should be perfect for this, just engaging enough to keep me interested, but not so much so that I can't focus on the healing.

It's not like the healing itself is not interesting, but after the first few dozen patients, it got very samey. And, honestly, I'm only here because Elise asked me to. Sure, I like helping people, but dealing with an entire city's worth of chronic diseases is not how I would normally choose to spend my day.

I'm just getting started on The Iliad when a little girl dashes into the tent with a kitten in a basket. The poor little thing has a broken tail but seems to be otherwise healthy, as is the girl herself.

"M-mister healer, can you fix my kitty's tail?" She pleads with wide, tear-filled eyes. "I closed the door on him yesterday, and it's all crooked now, and he cries whenever I touch it." She sniffs after saying that.

"What's your name little one?" I ask after waving off the guard who was about to evict her.

"C-Cassie." The girl answers fearfully.

"Do your parents know where you are right now, Cassie?" She gives the tiniest shake of her head. "Well, don't you think that they're worried about you?" Just then a woman can be heard in the distance calling out her name.

I signal for the guard to fetch the woman and hold the, now panicked, girl in place when she tries to bolt. The woman comes running up a moment later and scoops her little girl into her arms with a relieved look on her face.

"I am so sorry, sir. I told her not to bother the healers, but she snuck away from me." The woman moves to leave, but I hold her back. "Sir?"

"I'm more interested in why you haven't bothered the healers." She has a slight bump on her forehead and a slight bleed in her brain. "You should always get checked out after a head injury, even the smallest one can be dangerous."

"Is mommy alright?" Little Cassie sounds worried. "I'm sorry, Mommy, I promise I'll never run in the house again. You and Patches got hurt because of me." The poor thing is crying in earnest now.

"Your mother is fine, Cassie." I reassure the little girl as much as I do her mother. "She just had a bit of a headache, but it's all fine now. See, there's not even a bump anymore."

"Th-thank you, Sir." The woman dips into a curtsy.

"Mhm, don't worry about it." I wave the matter off and give the kitten a scratch behind his ears. "Now, I hate to be rude, but I do have quite a few more patients to see today."

She curtsies again before rushing off with her daughter in tow. I just smile as they leave, wondering how long it will take them to notice that I also fixed the cat's tail.

...

"Sorrel." Apricot shows up at the tent again, this time with a reluctant look about her. "I, uh... I kinda broke the bow." She holds it up to show me that she forgot to remove the windlass hook before firing.

"Yeah, you could say that." I chuckle and take the crossbow from her; the string is fine, but she destroyed the ratcheting mechanism. "Everything else seems to be holding up alright though, so that's something."

"I'm sorry, I was having a race with some of the other crossbow users." She looks so dejected that I can't help but pull her in and sit her on my lap.

"Don't worry, sweetie. It's an easy enough fix." More like I have to rebuild that part, nearly from scratch, but that's easy enough. "There, as good as new. How have the bolts been holding up?"

"I might need a few new ones." She admits reluctantly. "It took me a while to get used to the new bow, so the first shots may have hit the wall behind the targets. Oh, you should have seen everyone's faces at the big chunks that got knocked out though."

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Heh. Bet they weren't expecting plain wood to pack that much of a punch." I laugh along with her. "So, how's Amelia doing? She's not still playing dress-up with the girls, is she?"

"No, unfortunately." She pouts. "They're just playing board games, and Amelia keeps getting her butt kicked at them by Delilah. What about you? Finally working on those books for her? She says it's about time." Apricot adds with a titter.

"Heh. It's not that I'm forgetful. I'm just, you know, easily distracted." I say and only stop myself from nuzzling her neck because there's a disapproving old woman staring at us right now. "You're all done, send in the next patient please."

"Hah!" Apricot barks out a laugh at the sour-lemons look the woman shoots us before leaving. With a handful of suckers, no less. "Any interesting cases while I was out?"

"A little girl snuck her cat in, and ended up saving her mother's life..." I explain what happened. "...Other than that, it's been pretty boring."

"Aww, poor little kitty." Her concern for the cat makes me smile. "I'm glad you fixed his tail. Mhm, play me some music. I don't feel like shooting anymore, I think I'll just hang out here with you for a while. No, not that." She shakes her head when I bring out the speaker. "Can you play something yourself? You haven't been practicing like you said you would."

"Oh, alright." I give in and replace the speaker box with my guitar. "Any preferences?"

"Something mellow, and a wider chair so I can still snuggle with you." I create a comfy loveseat for us at her command, and she clings to my shoulder as I work through a list of mellow love songs.

...

"Where's the next patient?" I call out softly when a new one doesn't appear after I finish my latest lullaby for a softly snoring Apricot.

"You've seen them all, Sorrel." Elise steps into the tent just then. "The sun isn't even down yet, and everyone has been dealt with. This has never happened before."

"Does that mean I can go home now?" I ask hopefully, while gently strumming the guitar for my sleeping pixie. "No offense, but today has been somewhat on the boring side. I haven't seen anything interesting since this morning."

"Hehehe, of course. And, I suppose I'm somewhat to blame for your boredom." The healer laughs nervously. "Martin and I may have monopolized the less tedious cases, leaving you to deal with the heavy lifting, as it were."

"That's alright; I managed to keep myself occupied." I stroke Apricot's hair with a vine. "And, I'm glad I was able to help, but I hope it's not like this every time."

"Oh, after what you did today, I doubt we'll see even a fraction as many people at the next healing fair." She pauses for a moment. "That or we'll get ten times as many because the word has spread."

"Joy." I roll my eyes and pull out the bit of enchanting that I was able to get finished today. "Could you pass this to Lori for me? I managed to invert the runes so that it can record sound to wax plates. The whole thing still needs a bit of work, but I thought she'd like to have something to play around with. And, I don't know where the Colonel is, but there's a couple bows here waiting for him."

"You really were bored today, weren't you." Elise laughs as I trade the guitar for a speaker and lift Apricot into my arms. "I'll make sure they get them. And, thank you. From me and all of the healers. We always end up having to turn people away because there's not enough magic to go around."

"Like I said, I'm happy to help." I smile and lead the way out of the tent. "Now, what am I going to do with you?" I say to the giant oak tree I grew this morning. I can take care of it easily, but the magic needed to do so is likely to wake up Apricot.

"Actually, the story got around that the tree was helping you heal everyone." Elise explains. "I know that's not entirely accurate, but more than a few people are hoping that it will stick around."

"Oh." That takes me a bit by surprise, but I suppose people will be people. "Well, even in that giant pot it's not going to last very long. Is there somewhere I could plant it properly?"

"They've already set aside a spot right in the middle of the market place." She points out a square marked out by ropes.

"Oh, that should work. And, you might as well come forward, I don't bite." I say to the little boy whose arm I fixed yesterday. He's here with a woman who can only be his mother, but they were holding back for fear of disturbing us.

"We just wanted to thank you, Sir." The woman curtsies and pushes her son into a bow. "I almost didn't believe my boy when he said his arm was broken only for a mystery healer to show up and fix it, but then word got around about what you were doing today."

"Oh, you're very welcome. And here have a lollipop; sorry I didn't have any on me yesterday." I smile down at the boy as he quickly snatches one up. "Now, how am I going to move this thing without waking up Apricot?" I say and set the bowl full of candy on the pedestal from earlier for anyone who wants a piece. "Hmm, could I get a few beastkin guards to help push?"

"Of course." The guard that was watching my tent snaps to and quickly rounds them up for me.

While they're getting arranged, I use my magic as quietly as possible to shift the giant potted plant onto log rollers. Add in a few poles on the side and a couple of levers to get it moving, and then it's just a matter of using storage to shift the end log to the front as the guards push the tree into place.

Once it is in place, I remove the stone and slowly sink the tree into place, letting its roots stretch out and down to support it properly. After everything is in place, I give it a pat on the bark with a free vine as thanks for its help today.

"Thanks for all of your help today, everyone. And, here. Have some more candy, since that other bowl seems to have already vanished." I hand over the suckers before turning to the Healer once more. "Have a good evening, Elise, I'm going to get this one home now."

I kiss my sleeping pixie on the forehead and she unconsciously snuggles up closer to me. The trip back home was uneventful, only a lot more people recognized me as I return the way I came this morning. Minus the hopping from roof to roof, of course.

***