Nosal tried his hardest, but he was finding it very difficult to keep up with the rapid footsteps of his senior before him as they navigated the endless hallways. He wanted to stop and look at the decorations that were so fascinating and fantastical to the boy that lived on a rustic country Ranch. At home there was nothing more other than a portrait of his mother, his father’s old half-plate and the books they owned to look at or enjoy.
How long are we going to walk? And how much carpet does this house even have? he queried to himself, as he started to suspect that the manor he was inside, was a lot bigger than it’s perceived visual dimensions from the outside. But before he could ask a question, of which he wasn’t even sure he should if he didn’t want to be left looking silly, they had arrived at their destination.
For before him, Flowing-Reeds had abruptly turned into and opened a doorway that was identical to the legion of doors they had raced past before. The poor boy was left feeling even more nervous before he entered the room, for he wasn’t even sure if he was going to be able to find his way out if he had to retrace his steps. But he continued on regardless.
Inside, he found the dining room to be brightly lit with many tall windows and the longest table he had ever seen in his life. It was probably nearly as long as his whole house back at home. This was presumably the dining table, for it was laden with the previously cooked food at one end. Somehow it left Nosal feeling slightly sad to see the majestically long table only used at the fraction of it’s potential. The disparity between the tiny corner laden with food, compared to the massively longer empty stretch reminded him of a particularly bad harvest year. In his memory, the Fire-locusts had desolated a whole field of vegetables but left a tiny corner that sat beside the orchard untouched just like this dining table somehow.
Wait a second…. How does it even stand up? the boy wondered, before bending down to pull up a corner of the tablecloth.
“A-Hem!” exclaimed Flowing-Reeds just as Nosal was feeling satisfied by the sight of a forest of table legs underneath the covers. Her interruption startled the small boy and caused him to lightly bang his head as he struggled to straighten up.
“Sorry, I was just-” he began trying to explain himself to the seated Desert-Kobold even as a red flush began to crawl up from his neck and onto his face along with a musk of fear. What came over me? I must look so stupid! Came his chagrined thoughts.
“Never mind what ever it is you were doing…SIT,” his senior commanded as she tapped upon the table setting that was beside her.
Feeling nervous and embarrassed once again, Nosal rounded the head of the table before passing behind Flowing-Reeds. He continued behind her even as she sat ramrod-straight before pulling out the chair beside her and sitting down. He noted how comfortable it was and how the wood was intricately carved even as he swung his dangling legs, but this quickly came to a stop.
“Uhhh-hmmm!” exclaimed Flowing-Reeds once more to catch his attention before casting a sideways glance down at Nosal with one arched eyebrow. She did all this whilst snapping her fingers once more.
To Nosal’s utter shock and fear, the golem that had been standing beside the door and gone unnoticeable by him the whole time moved into action. It detached itself from the darkness before leaving the room as quietly as a Dewphid at dawn before it was quickly out of sight.
Once it’s unnaturally soft footsteps that were muffled by the carpet was gone down the hallway, Nosal deflated and released the breath he didn’t know he was holding.
But before he was able to compose himself once again his senior asked him, “So how do you feel about the work that you’ve done this morning?” She did so whilst pouring herself a glass of blue-colored juice from a glass decanter before taking a sip, as she waited for his reply.
“Honestly It was really hard, I didn’t really expect that much work… will there be more?” replied the nervous boy immediately.
As if she had not expected the answer, his senior took some more time to mull over what he had said, as she began to fill up her plate with some of the breakfast arrayed before them.
“Hmmm.. it’s good that you realize it early on… being apprenticed to master Xerneg does have its ups and downs, but make no mistake, the work ahead of you will be hard,” she finally commented to her junior once her plate was full.
But Nosal was able to detect the hint of pain that was in her voice, and it left the boy in a contemplative silence as he wondered what the future had in store for him here.
“So why do you do it?” he asked with a musk of fear, after having spent some time summing up the courage to do so.
“Because even if he’s been the only teacher I’ve ever had, Master Xerneg is the best at what he does. Which is to teach you how heal,” was the immediate reply given back in turn.
This left Nosal feeling slightly taken aback, for he was expecting the normally taciturn and measured answer from his senior instead of this passionate retort.
Silence reigned between the two in the dining room once more. But Nosal was able to discern that it was a yearning one, one that was expecting him to fill.
What should I say? It’s so awkward and weird…. Wait aren’t they different classes? How does that even work? He thought to himself as he rushed to find something to say.
“But isn’t master Xerneg a Hepdicun?” he asked nervously.
“Heb-di-can,” interjected his senior as she corrected him.
“Yes a Hebdican that’s what I meant to say… but you’re a water mage.. so isn’t it different spells and classes between you and him?” asked the boy, finally able to struggle out the words he wanted.
The Desert-Kobold beside him turned down to look at him. Before she had only talked to him without directly looking as she addressed him, which he found slightly annoying. But now that he had her concentrated attention as she stared directly down at him with her withering, predatory and canine face, he found the previous arrangement to much more favorable.
But like melting spring snow, a tiny smile cracked on her cold visage.
“It’s good of you to ask these questions, Master has always said that there is never a bad question if you learn from asking them,” she state with the small smile still on her face.
“And to answer your question, it’s not about the spell or the class. Even a soldier can become a healer without the magical abilities to use as a crutch, as long as they have knowledge,” she continued as she turned away to look into the flickering flames of a candle. It was one of many that sat upon the multitude of fancy candelabras on the table.
“So I’m here to learn knowledge?” Nosal asked nervously as he too, followed her gaze as stared into the flame.
“You’re here to learn what it means for someone to be ill,” spoke his senior as she grabbed onto the lighting fixture before bringing it closer and placing it on the table between herself and Nosal.
To his utter shock and fear, the Desert-Kobold then slowly runs her hand over the naked flames. Her unprotected and furry hand immediately catches fire and becomes a small ball of flame whilst she remains unflinching at the sight. The Desert-Kobold then proceeds to slowly hold it upwards and flat between them as the flames licked her fingertips to the sulfurous smell of burnt hair even as she casually places the candelabra back with her other hand, with her eyes locked on the flame on her hands the whole time.
“Then you will learn how to fix these illnesses. Such as this minor burn,” she calmly states without any hint of pain in her voice, even as a look of utter terror was on the face of the only member of her audience. This was because her clawed fingertips were now left absolutely bald and her fingers just a angry red welt of blackened and blistering skin as the flames slowly licked down her hand.
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“It can be through your spells,” she continued to deadpan as a blue glow enveloped her hand and immediately quenching the flames. It crawled up her burnt fingertips, with the flesh,skin and hair slowly knitting back underneath wherever it crept. But the spell only covered her hands and crawled up to second joint of the fingers before disappearing and leaving her fingertips still charred and burnt as Nosal watch on in fascinated horror.
“Or it can be through knowledge,” Flowing-Reeds finished her demonstration as she dunked her fingertips into the chilled jug of blue colored juice she had poured herself a glass earlier. She did so for quite a while with Nosal still gawking, still flabbergasted, before she took out her hand and placed it on the table beside her plate. Then she reached over with her other hand into a nearby salad bowl, before retrieving and placing some green slices of Hastenbers over her burnt fingertips on the table top.
Seeing that she still had his rapt attention, Flowing-Reeds then inhaled a large breath through her nose for dramatic, effect before continuing her lesson.
“You see, in this case I have alleviated the feeling of pain through the use of the cold water and at the same time, I have constricted the flow of blood to the effected area, thus I have reduced the swelling. Now after I have cooled down the area I have applied the Hastenbers due to its anti-inflammatory properties…. also the Hastenbers is scientifically proven to fight bacteria and improve circulation,” she explained to Nosal her reasoning behind her first-aiding procedure as she gestured with her free hand.
Seeing the look of disgust on his face slowly morph into one that she recognized, she grinned before asking “Any questions?”
“What is anti-flanayory?.... and, and what’s bacteria?” her junior asked back nervously even as she finished healing the tip of her fingers magically before placing the fruit slices onto her plate.
“Well you see inflammatory means something that causes your body to swell up, such as that burn from before, and bacteria are the-” she began to explain before the large doors leading into the room burst open.
Entering the room was the large and grey Hedican, the one and only Grandmaster healer of Pancreedy whose name was Xerneg. Surprisingly the healer was not wearing his usual enchanted, exquisite and blue robes, but instead he was sporting a frilling white shift that used enough materials that it could easily pass off as a curtain.
The Grandmaster Healer beamed an enormous smile that cracked through his green beard to reveal his dazzling white teeth at his two awaiting students before him. He then quickly adjusted his lower set of glasses before plodding slowly over to the head chair in his furry red slippers.
Sitting down with the horrible groaning of the chair underneath him, he then held up his pudgy arms to the ceiling with his shift falling down to reveal the grotesque flabby fat arms underneath.
“GOOD MORNING TO YOU TWO!! AND WOW!! What wonderful students I have under my care! So studious to be discussing bacteria first thing in the morning… but it can wait until after I’ve had lunch because it’s such a crass topic…. Anyways! How was your first morning with us Nosal?” He exploded with his booming voice in a sing-song manner and a twinkle in all four of his green eyes behind his glasses.
The young Capyban boy was left slightly reeling at the surprising welcome, but he quickly composed himself before answering, “I’m wonderful, thank you.”
To this reply the Hebdican’s face slowly creased into an impossibly large smile, before breaking off into laughter. “HAHOHAHOHOOOOO! What a funny kid! You do not need to lie to me boy… HAHAHOHO! I know that working in my kitchens is not for the light of hearted…” he finally manages to squeeze out through his bellowing laughter that constantly sent his massive body into quivering ripples.
“And I hear that Flowing-Reeds over here… is quiet the meany,” he adds in a raspy whisper along with a conspiratorial wink with both of his right eyes behind one big pudgy hand acting as a barrier to conceal it from his senior student that sat beside him.
The old Healer’s smile widens at the little smirk that itches on the corner of the young Capyban’s mouth before he leans back into his chair and slowly taps a finger on the tabletop.
“ANYWAYS HOW BOUT WE DIG IN!” shouted Xerneg suddenly as he lifted his hands into the air once more.
The sudden declaration left Nosal reeling back into his seat, but the boy was glad to see that no one else had noticed as they were busy with breakfast. So the boy followed suit as he begun to pile some food onto his plate.
Originally he had built up quite the appetite working, but the mad whirlwind of events this morning had caused his appetite to wax and wane. Just as he was grabbing himself a rasher of bacon, he spotted Flowing-Reeds slowing lifting Hestenber slice that was skewered on her fork up to her mouth.
Maybe I won’t be eating a lot this morning, he thought with disgust as he sighed to himself before deciding to have a light breakfast.
Before him was a glass filled with water, a big puff pastry, a slice of crispy bacon and some white Groundfrit and Chitpulka egg salad. Looking down to the side and Nosal was able to see that his senior had roughly the same amount of food on her own plate. But as soon as his eyes roamed further to look at his Master’s plate, the sight left his jaw hanging open.
For the old healer was constantly piling more and more food with one hand atop a disgusting mish-mash mountain of food in front of him that had long eclipse the plate underneath. The excess tablue of gluttony was something the little Rancher Capyban boy had never seen in his life before and it left him the most shocked off all the events that he had seen that day.
As the Hebdican continued to hoard food like a Rainmouse in Autumn, his other hand shoved it into his mouth that chewed messily before swallowing. It reminded Nosal of how Kaholin calves would suckled greedily upon their mother’s teats, without any restraint. He was left mesmerized watching the food disappear into the green beard that was caked in detritus like some mossy, hobo-whirlpool.
“You get used to it,” his senior whispers as she leaned in closer to him, before leaning back and resuming her own breakfast.
The little Capyban was left feeling even more shocked as he looked at her with an even bigger frown on his face. How is this normal to you? he wanted to say in disgust but was only able to twitch his mouth.
At the head of the table, the Hebdican suddenly began to choke on something that left the large grey Healer rumbling in a dramatic fit. It was as if he were a comvulsing grey meaty-volcano that was about to erupt and barely covered in a large napkin.
It grew worse and worse, with the Healer’s face slowly turning a beet red, with Flowing-Reeds continuing as if nothing was out of the ordinary to Nosal’s surprise.
Finally with a quaking burp the choking hazard was dislodged. The unidentified morsel of food was ejected and sent flying through the air. It sailed across the room before wetly bouncing a few times off the table and coming to a stop as it crashed into the lip of Nosal’s own plate with small dollops of saliva slowly rolling off it onto the tablecloth underneath.
“Oh would you excuse my manners! Could you be a dear and pass me that delicious little bit please?” Xerneg then proceeds to ask nonchalantly.
Nosal was left in shock, but mechanically complied as he skewers the giblet on his fork before handing it to Flowing-Reeds beside him. He watched on as she then passes it up the table to their Master, who then plopped the escaped snack back into his mouth by extracting it off the fork with two pudgy fingers. He did so before happily smacking his lips and morbidly resuming his meal with gusto.
The meal continued on in silence with Nosal left staring at his food. The poor boy’s appetite having been absolutely obliterated by the display earlier.
“Now what were you talking about Flowing-Reeds?” Xerneg asked his senior apprentice even as he slubbered some more food out of his mouth and onto the table.
“Nothing master,” she replied without even looking up as she calmly sliced the ham on her plate before her into more manageable bites.
“Hmmmm is that so?” Xerneg asked back once more before slurping down a whole omelet that would be enough for three people.
The room slowly fell into the silence once more except for the horrible sounds that was emanating from Hebdican as he continued to butcher his breakfast.
Nosal was left feeling sick and looking down at his meal, for the little boy was now feeling slightly peckish again but afraid he would throw up if he even tried to eat.
The Hebdican continued to eat and eat, even long after his senior apprentice had finished her meal and sitting patiently and staring out the window that sat across from her as she waited on her Master.
Finally the Healer released another quaking burp, before timidly pretend to set his cutlery that he had barely used during the course of his meal. For he was finished with breakfast with the feast from earlier long gone down his gullet.
Nosal was left slightly wondering how it was possible that his new Master was even able to fit such a load inside him, but he was still mainly left in shock and disgust after the meal.
“What a wonderful meal that was!*Buuurp!!*” exclaimed Xerneg with a large smile on his face.
“Well now I guess we should get to work, Flowing-Reeds you can head off to the library, I have set out some materials and past failed cases from the hospital for you to read before lunch, then you can go and begin the said lunch and mull over the materials after which I want you to give me your opinion. Nosal you can follow me,” the Healer then shot out before he too, shot up from his chair.
“Yes Master!” Flowing-Reed quickly answered him before quickly jumping out of her seat, snapped her fingers and rushing out the room.
What the Realms is happening? thought Nosal to himself as his stomach rumbled in complaint.
The Hebdican then quickly turned to follow the retreating figure of his senior apprentice with his night shift bellowing around him.
But at the door, Xerneg turns around to find that the Capyban boy was still in his seat and stumbles on the edge of his night-shift before finding his balance once more by grabbing onto the door handle.
“What are you waiting for boy!? Follow me! And you can bring your breakfast with you!” he shouts back with another smile creasing his green food-laden beard.