I woke up with my head resting on Velatha's shoulder. She was still sleeping peacefully with a goofy smile on her face. Her hand, on the other ... hand, had wandered down and was currently grabbing my butt. A quick look the window showed that it was still early. I gently untrapped my left arm and pulled Vel into a hug, she stirred slightly and threw her other arm around me but continued to sleep like a log otherwise.

I gave her a small peck on the lips and settle back in for a few more minutes of sleep.

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After breakfast, I gave Vel one last hug and headed towards the school area. Kids, especially younger ones, were prone to injury and accidents happened during training as well. It was common to have a healer on site to take care of those.

The school was part of a larger complex which served as a general community center. It also held the village library, which was accessible to everyone. However, new books were somewhat hard to come by. Not the physical medium itself, a good craftsman could produce an empty book fairly easily thanks to magic, but content. The occasional brave trader brought some or an ambitious villager wrote one in their spare time. Liscura had gone through everything interesting long before I had arrived.

I waved to the head teacher, Meriel, and went for the small infirmary. I checked that everything was stocked properly, potions were refilled and medical supplies were ready. The room had two beds with a privacy curtain between them, a small desk for the healer, and cabinets filled with supplies.

I pulled two volumes taken from the healer's private collection, one on anatomy and the other on alchemy, and set them down on the desk. Next to them, I placed a small notebook to scribble down ideas and formulas. Days as the school healer were usually fairly boring and were a prime place to study, which was why it was almost exclusively staffed by apprentices.

"Good morning Liscura," Kilyn, the intermediate class teacher, said as she came into my office, "how are you feeling today dear?"

"A bit tired," I said with a yawn.

"The night is meant for sleeping," she said with a teasing smile.

I hid my blush behind my book. Vel and I had been … very enthusiastic last night, probably a bit too much.

"How can I help you?" I asked, very obviously changing the subject.

"Salihn is skipping again," she said, "her and her band of rascals."

Salihn was a well known hellion in the village, along with her two friends Folen and Nym, they created chaos and kept the guards on their toes. Since she knew where the line was, it was mostly tolerated.

"You want me to impress upon them the importance of attendance?" I asked.

"You always seem to leave an impression," she said with a grin full of mischief.

"Try to avoid injuries while I'm away," I said.

"Good hunt Lis," Kilyn gave me a salute.

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Salihn and her little band were known to hang out in the willow courtyard. The large weeping willow which gave it its names was a heaven for kids to play in. I opted to travel there by the rooftops, a manner favored by guards and scouts, and a good way to flex my parkour skills. Traversing between buildings in this way was exhilarating and a fun fast-paced puzzle. Liscura had mapped the best routes over time but the village was ever changing.

I jumped and grabbed a wooden strut, the move would have torn the arm off a human but was no effort for me, I hoisted myself up and used another wall to reach the next roof. I could see the willow nearby and Salhin talk to her friends. I quietly approached the edge of the roof and pushed my senses towards them.

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"Alrighty boss," I heard Folen say, "what are we doing today?"

"I heard from my mom that the kitchen is preparing Crystal Deer meat today," she said.

The group started to whisper among themselves. I had an inkling of what they wanted to do. Crystal Hawk was a delicacy and they wanted to snatch some for themselves early. I dropped to ground level and snuck closer. I knew my stealth skill was much higher than their perception.

When I was close enough, I dropped stealth. I saw Nym's eyes widen as he spotted me.

"What are you three plotting …" I said quietly.

"Scatter!" Salihn shouted.

The three little rascals all ran in different directions.

The game was on. I took off after Salihn, if I got my hands on the leader the rest would fall in line fairly quickly. She had already disappeared in the small alleyways between building, their small twists and turns would have given her a small advantage in losing me if I hadn't been using my tracking skill.

At the first corner, I jumped and kicked against the wall to reach roof height. There, corners made little difference. I continued to follow her track, the small boot marks she left in the dirt, disturbed bushes, the small of freshly trampled grass, every step she took led me to her. To the inevitable.

I used the wall of a two story building to redirect my path. Salihn had made a fatal mistake, she had taken a long alley with only two entrances. She was almost to the next intersection when I dropped in front of her.

Her eyes widened and she tried to reverse course at the last moment but I jumped forward and grabbed her by the stomach.

"Damn," she deflated.

"Nice try but you'll need more than that to lose me," I said as I jumped back to the rooftops. I kept her along my side like a sack of potatoes. I made myself fairly obvious and only a minute or so later, on the way back to the school, Nym and Folen made their appearance.

I brought the three of them back to Kilyn. Their shiver at seeing the usually cheerful teacher wearing a stern gaze was worth a chuckle.

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"Big sis Lis," Lusha burst into the infirmary crying, "Len got hurt!"

I grabbed the medical bag and picked up the blubbering Lusha. She was around four, part of the lowest grade where it was more akin to a daycare than formalized teaching. Lensha was her twin sister and the pair insisted on calling most of the older girls 'big sis' no matter their familial relation.

"Where is she? Where is she hurt?" I asked.

"She fell … from the bars … hurt her head," Lusha said between sobs.

I made way for the playground at a quick pace. It was located at the center of the community area, with a good access to all the other places. The cries of pain from Lensha were audible from fairly far away.

When I reached the area, I put Lusha down.

"I'm going to heal your sister, don't worry," I said.

Alenia, the teacher, was desperately trying to calm everyone down. I could see the relief on her face when I stepped next to Lensha and unfurled the medical bag.

"Everyone, move away," she said, "let big sister Liscura do her job. She will help Len."

I pulled the crying Lensha closer.

"It's alright," I soothed her.

I gently ran my hand along her scalp to find where the wound was inside her blood soaked hair. The small girl fidgeted slightly under my ministrations but calmed down significantly. Head wounds tended, in most cases, to look much worse than they were. I parted the hair and found a long thin cut. From what my diagnosis skill told me there was no fracture.

"It's nothing," I said, "just a small scratch. You'll be fine in no time."

I took out a roll of bandages and some disinfectant. I patted the blood away to get a better look. There was a small amount of dirt in the wound and I used a small pair of tweezers to get the worst out. Next I dabbed a cloth soaked in disinfectant on the wound, much to Lensha's displeasure, and applied a topical cream with a gauze. The cream was a very weak mix of healing potion and antibiotics, it would help the wound heal faster and keep it clean. I finally wrapped a bandage around her head to keep everything in place.

"And all done," I said. "Now, for being such a good patient, you deserve something," I pulled out the last, and most important item, from the medical bag.

A small treat.

I handed it to Lensha who quietly took it and started to much on it.

"And your sister too," I handed another treat to Lusha, "for being brave when her sister was hurt."

"Thank you big sis!" The small girl hugged my arm with a big smile.

"I'll keep her in the infirmary for a while and get a proper healer to look her over," I said to Alenia.

The teacher nodded and started to corral her class. I picked Lensha up and went back, on the way I flagged someone to fetch a healer. Once in the infirmary, I settle the tired girl in one of the beds and kept an eye on her.

At the end of the day, it was only a small scratch and Aleria used a cleansing spell on the wound to remove any possibility of infection.