“Sure, often helping people out would not gain you anything, but to plant some seeds of goodwill is always a worthwhile endeavor, in my opinion.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

Much like Aideen had expected, some of the guards were also infected by the plague, though mostly in the early stages of infection. Their better physical conditions also allowed them to handle the illness better, but if left untreated, they would have spread the plague to the rest of the guards, and doomed many of them as well.

With Aideen’s help and the concoctions Kino made for them, most of the infected gradually improved in condition. A few of the older or weaker ones were too far gone to fight off the disease on their own, however, and would have probably died if Aideen was not there. With Aideen present, she simply repaired the damage to their bodies faster than the disease could break them, and while they went through some close calls and had to deal with a longer period of recuperation, none of them died in the end.

By the time Aideen was done with her treatment a week later, all the ailing villagers and guards were hale and hearty again, immune to the plague after their ordeal with it. A few of the villagers and many of the guards had escaped the plague altogether due to smart practices like keeping to themselves, and thus were still susceptible, but Aideen left the concoction’s formula behind.

With its help, even if they caught the plague, chances were good that they would make it as long as the concoction was administered early enough.

None of the guards gave a damn about their orders to not let anybody out of the village by then, all too aware that allowing Aideen to go around would save far more lives than to force her to stay there. They all agreed to turn a blind eye to her coming and going, as did the villagers who agreed not to report her presence if asked to keep the guards from being punished.

Of course, once the thing died down they would probably sing songs about her, but that was a matter for another time.

Originally, with plagues such as the one Aideen encountered in the village, a skilled healer of the Death affinity could have handled it much better. Such healers were well-versed in detecting and recognizing the tiny organisms that were often the cause of such plagues just by how they resonated with their magic, and could tell them apart from other such organisms that were naturally present in and around a person’s body. They could then selectively target and eliminate just the harmful ones as it merely took the slightest brush of Death magic to exterminate such things.

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While Eilonwy was of the right affinity, however, her path of magic led towards a different direction as she specialized in the manipulation of undead instead. As such she found herself to be of little help – though she convinced Aideen to allow her to join them in the later villages since the plague was not a very dangerous one to them – to the others in this situation.

The three of them skirted around the eastern region of the Shahdom as they went south, and lent their aid to each ailing town or village they came across. Most welcomed them, with the soldiers on guard allowing them in “at their own risk” without much fuss. Some were more stubborn, and at times they had to resort to a bit of violence to get in, often leaving the obstinate soldiers knocked out with a bruise on their head and little memory of what happened.

While the detour and all the healing they had to do added months to their timeline, it was a minor issue. It was expected for the roaming agents to at times go off schedule in case they had to deal with a local situation, so their schedules were always on the flexible side. Besides, they were not expected to be back before at least half a decade or so anyway.

Naturally, Aideen’s feats did not go unnoticed, although she was long gone by the time the powers that be in Jarah got wind of her presence. With both the soldiers – who were grateful for her help – and the people she saved all indebted to her though, there was little they found out about her other than that she went to the south.

It had also not taken long before some people put two and two together and concluded that the wandering healer who seemed insistent on not naming herself yet was capable of working miraculous feats was likely the Silver Maiden in disguise. Even though Aideen disguised herself, there was no hiding her affinity since anyone familiar with the different ways healers of different affinities approach a case would notice it.

Similarly, there was simply no other wandering healer who was capable of such near-miraculous feats who was known to the people, which was perhaps the more damning evidence. Hard to pretend to be someone unrelated when it was obvious that she was trying to hide her identity and there was no other known person that fit the profile.

It was something Aideen had come to accept as a given by that point. The disguise was meant to allow her to work in peace while she was there, and less as an actual way to hide her identity long-term.

As they neared the southern border, the border between Jarah and Vusila, it was not difficult for Aideen’s trio to find passage with a caravan that happened to be headed for the Empire. Due to Jarah’s submissive attitude towards Vusila, the latter had considered the former nation as a non-threat, and as a result trade progressed quite smoothly between them.

Which meant that Aideen’s group faced no difficulty entering the Empire as visitors from Jarah as they went there openly as passengers in a caravan.