The very next day I was feeling much better. Running my hands over myself, I felt no pain, only the salve had dried out and came off as flaky somethings over my skin. I quickly got up and wanted to run a bit before breakfast, but I was stopped by mom before leaving.

"Go rest, Yos, mister Yuro told you to rest a few days, right?"

Yuro must be the priest, I guess.

"I'm all fine mom" I pulled up my shirt to show my tummy, that had been scalded yesterday. "Mr. Priest is really amazing!"

Mom looked a bit confused. "Yuro is usually never wrong about these things." she seems to think a little before continuing "Stay in bed for now, and after breakfast, we'll let him have a look and see if it's fine for you to be out and about already"

I nod and dejectedly return to my bed.

After breakfast we end up with the priest, who we called out from the temple and he also seem a little surprised. After confirming that I am no longer wounded, a smile appears on his face. "Luvia dear" He says in a sweet voice, "There's no way those burns would heal so quickly. I can think of only one answer"

"You mean?"

"Yes, the nature of Yos's gift is self-healing" The priest then makes a guilty smile, as if asking for forgiveness pre-emptively and reveal why. "It would be wise to get an idea of exactly how potent this gift is. One of us should make a deep cut in his hand, and you can come back when it is fully healed" I shudder. That would hurt. I turn to my mom and put on the best begging dog eyes I can muster. Much to my dismay she simply evades my eyes and says "You will have to do it. I can't bear to hurt my son." The priest nods and fetches a dagger from somewhere, then holds my hand against my will and makes a deep cut across my thumb. "Yeooouwh" I wail. The cut is much nastier than what I was expecting, the meat is clearly apart half an inch down. While ignoring my wailing, the priest then proceeds to wrap it with some simple cloth he had fetched at the same time of the knife.

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Surprisingly, when I woke the next day, I could no longer feel pain, and sure enough, as I removed the cloth, all that remained as evidence of the cut was some dried blood. No wound, not even a scar. I must admit even I thought that this would take a little longer.

In our second session with the priest, he seems estatic and proceeds to explain why "Gifts come not only in many shapes, but also in many degrees of strength. And you, little Yos, seem to have a particularly strong gift. I have heard the strongest self-healers can even regrow limbs, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case with you" Oy, don't go chopping off anything to test it now, I think to myself.

As we leave, my mother gestures me to show thanks, to which I say "Thank you, Yuro" but that was apparently a mistake. The priest made a grimace, before saying "It's fine" to my mom. On the way home, my mother hits the back of my head and explains that it was very disrespectful.

"What did I do wrong?" I ask

"You just don't address your elders by their name." is the reply I receive.

I have kind of self-isolated myself, in part because it would be weird for me as a grown man on the inside to spend times with kids, but also because more people may notice I was strange and think I am some kind of monster. Seems that had left.

A few days later is my sixth children's festival, but also Lod's thirteenth, meaning he has become an adult. The festival was very fun, but a week or so later after it has passed, tragedy struck. Instead of my father, a stranger appeared at the door for dinnertime, informing my mother "Karar has fallen in the dungeon". What will happen now, that our one source of income has disappeared?