Resigning from the tavern weighed heavily on Lily's heart. Aunt Carol, behind her gruff exterior, had been a pillar of support in her hardest times. The bittersweet farewell only intensified when Carol announced a free round of beer in Lily's honor on her last night of work.
Overwhelmed by emotion, Lily couldn't hold back her tears as the patrons, many with misty eyes themselves, raised their mugs to wish her wealth and health on her new journey. Even Carol, usually so composed, showed a rare vulnerability. Amidst the tearful goodbyes, Lily made a point to thank each patron personally.
Despite her protests, the customers insisted on leaving her small tips, each copper coin a symbol of their appreciation. Lily stayed until the very end, waiting for the last patron to leave before returning her apron and keys to Carol, and embracing the older woman in a heartfelt hug.
"Thank you, Aunt Carol. For everything," she managed to say through her sobs.
"Oh, stop your crying, silly girl. It's me who should be crying, losing such a reliable helper," Carol quipped, her voice cracking as she fought back her own tears. Then, with a serious tone, she grasped Lily's shoulders, looking her squarely in the eyes. "Are you sure about this, Lily? Silverlight is not cheap, and it's full of dangers."
Lily met her gaze with a resolute expression. "I am, Aunt Carol. I have to try, for Draven's sake."
Carol nodded, her face still showing signs of worry. "Then that's it. We'll help you sell the house. Won't be much, but we'll haggle for every coin," she said, referring to the community's collective support.
"I'll be leaving in a month," Lily informed her.
Together, they cleaned the tavern one last time, a ritual marking the end of an era. Though they would see each other again, it was an emotional farewell to Lily's time at the tavern.
The following morning found Lily punctual at the mendicar's door. The same young apprentice greeted her, evidently burdened with the most menial tasks as the lowest in the hierarchy of Orion's students.
The apprentice showed no more regard for Lily than she had the day before, not even offering her name. Reluctantly, she led Lily through the store, detailing the layout with minimal enthusiasm. The main reception room was modest, furnished with seating and a corner table holding a candle and a water jug with cups. It opened into two other rooms: the treatment area and the house’s functional spaces, including the kitchen, storeroom, stairs, and a backyard. The treatment room was spacious, housing three empty beds, alongside tables and chairs, and connected to two smaller rooms — one for storing potions and materials, and another for cleaning and sterilization, equipped with a small stove, water tank, and table.
Upstairs, a sparsely furnished study room led to Master Orion’s private quarters. The study accommodated a few tables with chairs, a fireplace, some tools in a locked cabinet, and books neatly arrayed on open shelves. Three other students, two men and a woman, were immersed in their books, taking notes, and didn’t spare Lily a glance. Clearly, they were Master Orion’s other apprentices. As soon as the tour ended, the girl rejoined her peers, her attention immediately absorbed by her studies.
Eager to delve into the books herself, Lily knew she must first tend to the house chores, keen on making a good impression. The house, though frequented by many visitors, was impeccably clean, revealing that Master Orion had strict standards for tidiness.
Lily quickly adapted to the house’s rhythm, beginning her duties in the kitchen. She had anticipated being directed by one of the other students on what to prepare for breakfast, but no instructions came. Whether they had forgotten to inform her or were intentionally making her job difficult, Lily wasn't discouraged. She intuitively guessed that Master Orion would likely desire a meal upon waking.
After organizing the kitchen, Lily deduced the day's menu from the ingredients available, making do with what was on hand. She prepared a simple porridge, enriching it with chunks of fatty meat and vegetables. It wasn't tailored to Master Orion's tastes, but she hoped to learn his preferences in time.
Once the cooking was completed, she ventured into the treatment room. With no patients present, she seized the opportunity to familiarize herself with the various tools and supplies. Curious, she meticulously noted each item's location and identification.
Next, she moved to the more routine areas of the house, cautious not to disturb or misplace anything, mindful of the mendicar's temper. By then, Master Orion had risen. Approaching him with deference, Lily inquired about her duties. He commented passively on the adequacy of her cooking, though he pointed out a few changes he desired, which she accepted without protest, silently noting the students' lack of guidance.
Granted permission to clean his private quarters, she embarked on the task with thoroughness, ensuring every corner was spotless. Her diligent work was interrupted by the sound of the front doorbell. The students dashed downstairs to greet the day's first patient – a young man with a deep, gruesome cut across his leg, supported by another who bore only minor bruises. Lily's gaze was drawn to their attire and the weapons at their waists, identifying them as hunters. Even from her vantage point, she could discern the life mana seeping from the injured man's wound.
Choosing Master Orion over the town's more renowned mendicars suggested they were just starting their hunting careers or saving for whatever reason. Orion appeared unphased by the severity of the injury, casually ushering the hunters into the treatment room. He instructed the apprentice who had initially welcomed Lily to prepare boiled water and other necessities. The girl responded obediently, though her face twisted into a frown as soon as Orion's back was turned.
From a discreet distance, Lily found a spot where she could observe without being noticed. Orion seemed disinclined to attend to the patient himself, instead delegating tasks to his apprentices. Lily watched intently, eager to learn from their methods.
As Master Orion issued his commands, the slightly older student began detailing his assessment of the patient's condition. Lily caught snippets of their conversation, mentioning an irregular laceration likely inflicted by a monster, potentially infected but thankfully free of poison.
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While her view of the wound was obscured by the students, Lily's unique sight allowed her to trace the flow of life mana escaping from the injury. From what she could gather, the cut extended from the calf to just above the knee, with the calf area appearing particularly severe. The initial step of treatment, as she had anticipated, involved disinfecting the wound. Orion directed them to boil cloth and soak it in a pungent liquid. The strong aroma even reached Lily, arousing her curiosity about its composition.
The student who had offered the diagnosis proceeded to clean the area surrounding the wound, assisted by a fellow female student. Concurrently, Master Orion instructed another apprentice to concoct a 'minor pain relief' mixture. The student scurried to a cabinet, selecting various dry and fresh herbs, and began grinding them. He then mixed the herbs with boiled water, producing a potion that was swiftly administered to the grimacing man.
The apprentices’ attention was fixed on the patient, waiting until his agonized expressions softened before desinfecting closer to the wound. Orion guided them to select tools that had been sterilized in boiling water. Lily observed as they retrieved a peculiar metal instrument resembling scissors but with a blunt, oddly shaped tip. This tool was used to pry open the wound, causing the hunter to yelp in pain. A second student, wielding a finer-tipped instrument, delicately probed the injury, eliciting further cries of discomfort. At Orion's command, a third apprentice swiftly brought a firelamp closer, illuminating the wound for a clearer view.
Lily strained to catch a glimpse of the student's actions within the wound, standing on tiptoe and shifting her position, but her view remained obstructed. Then she noticed the student extracting something from the wound and placing it onto a plate next to the bed. The process repeated several times, and Lily realized they were meticulously removing debris from the injury. This careful extraction consumed a significant amount of time, prompting Master Orion to instruct the sullen girl who had initially greeted Lily to prepare a 'minor vitality' concoction.
The task proved too complex for the girl, and Orion had to intervene, guiding her in selecting the correct ingredients while chiding her incompetence. He then asked her to swap places with the boy holding the lamp, taking over the concoction's preparation himself. The mixture was complex, involving crushed herbs, others that needed boiling, and a bright green one dipped swiftly in a separate liquid. Under Orion's tutelage, the concoction was swiftly completed and administered to the weakening hunter, whose life mana visibly brightened upon ingestion.
Orion also supervised the preparation of two additional healing remedies. One was a blend of infused liquids and tinctures, while the other was a salve made from a filtered concoction mixed with beeswax. Finally, after painstakingly removing tiny fragments from the wound, the older student ceased, pouring the liquid mixture into the wound. An assisting student dabbed away the excess with a sterilized cloth before applying the salve internally, stitching the wound, and dressing it with more salve.
The complexity of the treatment astounded Lily, involving multiple concoctions and unfamiliar tools. She knew she had to learn about them gradually, taking the opportunity to observe closely during her cleaning duties. To avoid suspicion, she quickly retreated to the kitchen to prepare supper, all the while keeping her ears alert to the ongoing discussions in the treatment room.
The old mendicar dispensed final instructions for post-treatment care to the young hunter, whose companion declined any examination. The patient would need a week of rest before bearing weight on his leg and a month before walking normally. Complete recovery, Orion explained, might take several months. The wound required cleansing and fresh dressings every two days. The cost for the treatment, a jar of disinfectant for cleaning the wound, and extra bandages came to a staggering ten silver coins.
Lily nearly choked upon hearing the sum. Even as she reflexively cleaned her ears, the hunters protested, but Orion countered, stating that such treatment would be twice as expensive elsewhere. He was offering a discount since his students had primarily conducted the procedure. The hunters, seemingly convinced by his argument, reluctantly paid and departed.
By late afternoon, Lily finished preparing supper and approached Master Orion to inform him. He expressed satisfaction with her work and instructed her to clean the treatment room afterward, adding that another student would handle the supper dishes.
Lily began to think that maybe Master Orion wasn't as harsh as she initially thought. She efficiently cleaned the treatment room, postponing her exploration of it until the next day. Seizing the opportunity while the students dined with Orion, she ascended to the study room to examine the books. Although she had permission to do so, she preferred to avoid drawing the students' attention to her specific interests.
In the study room, she bypassed the books left on the table by the students, heading straight for the shelf. The collection was modest, barely twenty volumes, including those on the table. She scanned their titles quickly, each capturing her interest to some degree. However, one book made her pause: "Basic Healing" by Healer Elaine of Bloomridge. The title stood out, emphasizing 'Healer Elaine,' not 'mendicar Elaine.'
Lily's hands trembled with excitement as she opened the book. Time was limited, but she was eager to grasp the essence of the book. It was an extensive collection of treatment plans for various basic wounds and illnesses, enriched with case studies and outcomes. Remarkably, Elaine detailed her techniques, including her manipulation of life mana during treatments. While it wasn’t a skill scroll implanting knowledge directly into her mind, the book offered practical techniques — a trove of valuable information Lily hadn't expected to find so readily.
Eagerly, she delved into the first chapter, where Elaine described treating a child with a severe cold. The text detailed the erratic behavior of life mana in the patient’s chest, throat, and respiratory system. Conventionally, specific herbal teas and rest would aid recovery, but this illness proved unusually stubborn. Using diagnostic artifacts, Elaine discovered the infection was exacerbated by air and water mana, though it was unclear whether this was intentional or accidental. After studying similar cases, she noted a pattern: many with resistant conditions exhibited the same enhanced infection.
Elaine’s treatment strategy combined specialized concoctions and healing techniques. She used fire-aligned herbs, inhaled as smoke, and earth-aligned herbs, ground into a paste and applied to the chest and throat, to counteract the air and water infection. Simultaneously, she employed a tier 1 'clean' spell in the affected areas to assist in purging the infection. The approach required repetition three times for full efficacy. Elaine concluded with an insightful note: while a higher-tier spell might have resolved the illness more swiftly, potentially even without the herbs, her goal was to develop a method accessible to any healer.
As Lily delved deeper into the book, she discovered a section detailing the workings of the 'clean' spell. It described how a minimal amount of life mana could be used to purge some forms of contamination, effectively restoring an object or area to its natural state. The text meticulously explained the casting process, including the specific life mana pattern and the necessary incantation. Lily absorbed the information, reading it over several times, until her concentration was broken by the arrival of someone in the study room.
The haughty apprentice who had initially greeted Lily at the door now stood before her with a look of deep contempt. "What good is it for someone like you to study this book? Do you think you can become a mendicar? Can you even read?"
Lily chose not to respond. Instead, she carefully replaced the book on the shelf and began to walk towards the stairs, her head bowed in an effort to avoid confrontation.
"You should answer when spoken to, maid!" the girl demanded, her tone drenched in arrogance as she grabbed Lily's arm. Her grip was purposefully tight, her nails digging in and leaving a scratch on Lily's skin.