“That innocent curiosity children have is probably the purest expression one could ever find.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

The following day, while Aideen had a spirited conversation with the Queen, the rest of her group was entertaining the princess and the young prince. For a royal household, there were definitely fewer servants than what any of them expected, though that might have to do with the dwarven habit of diligence and self-subsistence more than anything.

Where most royal children would have a horde of servants, guards, tutors, and whatnot accompanying them most of the time, the young royal prince was left free to roam the mansion, though still under the watchful eyes of a couple guards. That day the guards had an easy job as the young prince’s interest was on the rest of Aideen’s group.

As the young prince had mostly lived his life in the mansion so far, he had not seen non-dwarves often, and was naturally interested in the “different” people. Aideen’s group easily entertained the young prince’s curiosity while chatting with the older princess, who also expressed interest in various things they had seen in their travels, though in a more polite and demure fashion.

While the three elven siblings chatted with the princess, Celia and Kino handled the young prince, who was at the moment seated on Kino’s lap and curiously brushing the fur on her tail with his thick fingers. At first the young prince was interested in her ears, but fortunately swishing her tail around in front of his face was enough to attract his attention.

It was not that the young prince was naughty or heavy-handed, but Kino’s ears were rather sensitive areas she’d rather people not touch. By comparison her tail was less sensitive and quite prehensile besides, so she used it to tease the young prince by tickling his nose with the fur at the tip of her tail, making him laugh and then sneeze from the tickling.

Meanwhile, Celia was seated right across from them keeping watch to make sure the young prince didn’t tumble over and fall. Dwarves were rather top-heavy due to their body structure that had wide shoulders and long, powerful arms yet short, rather stumpy legs, and it was not uncommon for younger dwarves to tumble over due to losing their balance.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Áine, Rhys, and Eilonwy regaled the princess with tales of their travels, both with Aideen and those they had undertaken on their own. The three siblings were older than the dwarven princess by around half a century, and they were far more well-traveled in comparison, since responsibilities and other considerations kept the dwarven princess mostly in the royal capital of Knallgant, barring trips she took with her parents.

The way she latched on to tales of their travels and adventures with gleaming eyes made it obvious that the dwarven princess had a keen interest in such matters. She also showed particular interest when Eilonwy related some popular love stories from Ur-Teros and looked as if she wished that she was the protagonist in one of those stories.

While the rest entertained the royal siblings, Aideen had a long conversation with the queen who dabbled in healing herself and was clearly somewhat idolizing her. She could not deny that she had made quite a lot of strides for the advancement of healing in Alcidea, the association of healers she helped found back in Posuin now having grown much larger and encompassing most of the continent.

In comparison, the so-called Guild of Unburdened Healers she crossed back then was nearly gone outside some regions where they still had some local influence. Their members were also mostly reduced to criminals and others who were on the run due to malpractice or other issues that made them no longer able to serve as a healer normally.

Of course, those who benefited the most out of these changes were the common people. Where magical healing used to be the privilege of the rich and powerful, it was now available even in most poor villages, with each village typically having a younger healer or two who stationed themselves there to train under live conditions.

Just because those healers were in training did not mean that their skills were meager, and for the villagers who were used to relying only on poultices, herbs, and other mundane medical methods to deal with their issues, their presence was a godsend. Many people who would have died or been crippled due to lacking proper care in the past survived and regained their full health due to the more widespread availability of magical healing.

Of course, it had not turned to a situation where every medical issue could be solved by a healer. After all, highly skilled healers of the magical sort were still not that plentiful, and even the ones who wished to help people as much as they could, could not be everywhere at the same time. Nor were they omnipotent, as not every ailment could be handled by the same healer.

A bacterial infection that a Death-affinity healer could handle with ease would pose more difficulty to a healer of other affinities, for example, especially if there were no herbal tincture or other traditional medicine effective against it. Even so, the people did what they could, as best they could, and to Aideen, that was enough. They understood the essence of what she taught them and had kept the spirit even after a couple centuries had passed.

Most of these healers who followed her teachings also did something she herself often did, in that they tailored their fees to their patient’s abilities. When they healed some poor villager, they would be content with a warm meal or a night of rest at their place for their payment. On the other hand, when dealing with rich nobles or merchants, they wouldn’t hesitate to charge them a fair price depending on the difficulty of the treatment, unless said person was the rare sort of wealthy person that was loved by many due to their kindness.