A while later after I had tried, and failed, to get Osiris to eat without issue, he was still laying on my sofa. He had fallen asleep, and I sat on the edge of my bed watching him and thinking. He had seemed afraid when I told him what I was. That didn’t necessarily make much sense in my mind, though.

The Tosk were the aggressors in the war. They were a revolutionary movement that had formed in the southern lands of Arienne, spurred by the Church of Toskaraia. Arienne was a land of religious freedom, and did it’s best not to meddle in the affairs of various religious groups. That was probably why they hadn’t done anything to counteract the revolutionaries before the war began; they didn’t know what exactly was going on. The cult had somehow managed to convince a large portion of the populace to follow them to war, to “bring glory to our queen”. The queen being Toskaraia herself, the “Dragon Queen”, who had supposedly granted the Dragonkin their forms and abilities after a deal made by the first Dragonkin centuries ago. Sometime toward the midpoint of the war, Arienne’s forces were put on the defensive, and the king, King Hemric, called for aid from the Druids. Even with our assistance, Arienne still lost the war, the Tosk had support from other kingdoms that bolstered their numbers. That was why I was confused; even after we joined the war, the Tosk, especially the Dragonkin who fought on the front lines, were still stronger. Admittedly Druids were fierce warriors, the more experienced among us could take on two or three Dragonkin at a time, I could even manage to go toe-to-toe with them, given proper planning and tactics, but the majority of the time it took two or three of us to take down one Dragokin. Perhaps he had not fought on the front lines, and all he knew of us were stories told by those in power. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the current king and the High Priest caused rumors to spread about us, and the people of Arienne who didn’t fight with the Tosk, that claimed we were monsters of some kind.

Whatever the reason, in the end it didn’t matter that much to me. I was here to heal him, If I can heal him, and earn my freedom. Freedom to go wear I didn’t know. Maybe Finir, the kingdom to the north, would take me in.

Finir was the birthplace of my mother, the homeland of the Elves. And they had always been friendly to Arienne, and I didn’t think they had any dealings with the Tosk during the war.

None of that would matter though, if I failed to heal the man on my couch. Coming out of my thoughts, I decided to have a look around. I hadn’t gotten a good look at his room earlier and I was curious about it. Getting off my bed, I went through the door separating our rooms, making sure to be quiet about opening and closing it as to not wake Osiris. The channel I had used to drain the water still cut through the floor, I didn’t have enough energy left earlier to reshape it. Summoning water and heating a pot were simple tasks. Remodeling a building, even in such a small way, was not. Especially after already nearly overexerting myself. The soiled sheets and blankets still covered his bed. Duana had said some soap and a wash basin would be brought up tomorrow for me to wash it. The servants weren’t allowed to wash them as it would’ve been a risk of spreading the disease.

Agsidil was no more infectious than most ailments, but once it was contracted, there was no guarantee it could be cured. It took root in the lungs, causing you to rot from the inside out. It was an ugly, painful death. It was also quite slow, though given I didn’t know how long ago Osiris had contracted it, I couldn’t be sure how much time I had to find a cure.

The bed itself was placed against the middle of the wall opposite the door connecting our rooms. It was flanked by two bedside tables, atop one lay a thick leather-bound book. Picking it up and reading the title, I discovered it was the Church’s holy text; “The Word of the Queen”. Within were the stories that told of Toskaraia, the land she resided in, the first Dragonkin, and so on. Putting the book back down, I continued looking around and found another, smaller book on a desk. This one had no label, so I took a peak at what was inside. It turned out to be a journal. When I realized that, I quickly returned it to it’s place. I was curious, and make no mistake I had no respect for his people or him in particular, but I respected his right to privacy. Not seeing anything else of interest, I opened the door to the balcony and stepped out, crossing over to the far railing and looking out.

Beyond the blossom trees and the wall surrounding the outer premises of the castle lye the city Arienne itself. The city’s four quarters were arranged in a loose circle with the castle at it’s heart. From where I was standing on the west side of the castle, I could see The Pearl and The Grey District, usually referred to as the slums. The Pearl was the wealthy district of the city. Many of the nobles of Arienne and now Tosk have their homes there for when they need to visit the city. The Grey District, in stark contrast, was the poorest of the quarters. Shady pubs, seedy brothels, and other such establishments made up most of the district, along with various “shelters” for those without homes. The two districts were separated by a thick stone wall that was actually an extension of the castle’s exterior wall. The wall was erected after the less savory Arienne nobles made a fuss about it.

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It was about sunset, bathing the city in an orange glow that looked rather lovely. Lost in my thoughts again, I startled when I heard a ragged cough come from my room. He’s awake then. Returning to my room, I found him struggling to sit up. There were a few flecks of blood on the loose sleep shirt he wore.

“Lay back down Osiris, you’ll only make it worse by trying to move.”

He startled at the sound of my voice, sending him into another small coughing fit. When he finished, he tried to turn to me. Rolling my eyes, I said:

“Osiris, please lay back down. You’re not helping anything.”

He winced at something which seemed to cause him to listen to me. He laid his head back down on the arm of the couch, and I took him in, chewing my lip. One of his wings was laid on the floor, while the other was haphazardly draped over him. His tail was rather comically tucked between his legs pointing upward. I get why he doesn’t lay on couches now. It was only then that it occurred to me that, quite frankly, I had no idea where to begin treating him. I cleaned him up and gave him a cleaner environment to rest in for the moment, but beyond that I was unsure. I had never treated Agsidil before, nor had I treated anything like it. A thought came to me.

”Osiris, is there a library open to the residents of the castle?”

”Yes… it’s on the floor above us.”

That was both good, and bad news. If there was a library, that meant there might be books I could look through on Agsidil. I had no doubt the other healers that had been employed to fix the issue had thought the same, but maybe there was something there they couldn’t do. Some healing art only a Druid could perform. The bad part was that, if I was restricted to the floor we were on, there was no way I could get to the library to do the research I needed to. Maybe I could ask Duana about it tomorrow. They might allow an exception if I need to go up there for my task.

”How long have you been awake?”

”Maybe ten or fifteen minutes.”

“Did you try eating any more of the bread?” The rest of the bread loaf brought up earlier was sitting on a plate on the stone ledge next to the sofa.

”I… got a bite down.”

A bite was definitely better than nothing.

“Do you need water?”

”Please.”

I exited my room, looking for a servant. Spotting Philip again, I called over to him.

”Philip!”

Turning to face me, he bowed his head.

”Yes Miss?”

”Can you bring me a cup of some kind?” Thinking of another issue, I hurried to add “And a set of bedding for Master Osiris bed?”

”Of course Miss.”

With a dip of his head, he was off. I might not be able to clean the bedding tonight, but I could replace it with something clean for him to sleep on. Philip returned a quarter of an hour later with a wooden cup balanced atop fittings for Osiris’ bed.

“Thank you Philip.”

Taking the items from him, I returned to Osiris’ room and set about replacing the fittings. When that was finished, I took the soiled bedding out onto the balcony, because I had nowhere else to store it, and brought the cup to the railing. I began willing water to come to me from the river again, but this time I slowly applied more and more of my will until I had just enough to accomplish my goal. A steady stream of cold water filled up the cup. There was a problem, I realized. Being that this was river water, it probably wasn’t the cleanest, and, if anything, would only make his condition worse. I knew that if I brought the water to a boil, it would get rid of the dangerous elements, but I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to do that. The cauldron I had earlier had been taken back to the kitchen after I was done with it, and I wasn’t sure applying the same tactic I had used on it would work on the wooden cup. It was at that moment I realized how stupid I was being. Osiris’ had a glass goblet on his bedside table, I had seen it earlier when I was looking around. Bringing the cup of water inside, I poured it into the goblet and began willing that to heat up. I again hedged my power until I had just enough to begin warming it. After a few minutes, the water was boiled and I willed it to cool back down. Bringing it to Osiris, I gave him glass and he took a slow sip. As he drank, I began talking.

”I put a replacement set of bed fittings on your bed. You can sleep in there tonight. The soiled ones will be cleaned tomorrow. I’m going to try and see if I will be allowed to go to the library and research your condition to see what I can find.”

”The others already tried that.”

”I figured as much, but I can do things they couldn’t.” Or at least I hope I can.

He was silent after that prouncement. I did notice it seemed a bit easier for him to talk after he had a drink. When he finished his glass, we began the arduous task of returning him to his room and his bed. It took nearly three minutes, but eventually we succeeded. That done, I closed the door connecting the rooms and laid down on my own bed. As tired as I was, I didn’t sleep much that night.