“Are you sure you can do it?” Nettal’s mom asked. “You are still getting better yourself, aren’t you?”

“Mom, I’m fine already,” Nettal responded. “You just said those kids won’t be able to get better without me and Lotty’s help.”

Her mom sighed and brushed some of Nettal’s brown hair out of her face. “I know. I’m proud of you, you know that?”

Nettal smiled and looked away as the tips of her ears started heating up. “I know,” She whispered.

“Ok, Addie is about to leave with Christena and Mr. Owlcharge. Once they do, I’ll start bringing the town’s children up here, one at a time. Make sure you drink the water I brought up!” Her mom’s purple Viollow tweeted in agreement, puffing out her chest feathers in the process.

“I will,” Nettal replied.

After that, her mom left the room, and Nettal watched as the door gently clicked and closed.

“Are you ready, Lotty?” Nettal looked into her bonded’s sparkling green eyes, full with the promise of life.

In response, he sent Nettal a series of feelings and images, they consisted of Lotty watching his mother heal him all the times he got hurt in the forest or swamp. Then, the feeling of determination bled through their bond.

Though it wasn’t proper language, Nettal was already starting to understand the way her new bonded communicated. This time, he seemed to be saying that he had watched many different types of injuries being healed, and he felt confident they could use those lessons to heal everyone today, too.

Nettal nodded her head. Even though he didn’t speak the Borian language, he still seemed just as smart as any other person she’d met. He just talked differently.

Sometimes, Nettal wished he could talk more properly, like the way Addie said Squishy could talk. But, Nettal tried to push away those intrusive thoughts. Even though they had only been together for a few days, she already loved Lotty— they already shared a soul bond, after all. It would be best if she didn’t compare him to Squishy due to some silly jealousy.

Closing her eyes, Nettal focused on the new magic coursing through her soul bond from Lotty. She was still new to it, so she wanted to make sure everything was still running smoothly before she healed the first child.

If it was just observing her soul shell, her mom had taught her how to do that in preparation for her bonding initialization ages ago. She watched the green magic flow up and down her soul bond. Some of the green motes of light traveled up into her soul shell, and some of them traveled back down over to Lotty’s side. The ones that moved back and forth between the two of them seemed to grow and become stronger.

Her thoughts drifted, and Nettal’s left hand moved over to her right ring finger. She played with the ring on her hand, spinning the cool metal around gently. She had tried taking it off a while ago, but it wouldn’t budge. She almost would have thought the ring symbolized something more, but it was on the wrong hand for that— which was relieving. Nettal didn’t know what she would do if a dragon was trying to steal her away like in the fairytales. She was curious about this Dragon, Sen. He seemed like an interesting fellow.

The door cracked open, and Nettal opened her eyes and watched as her mom walked back into the room. Trailing behind her was a child wrapped up in a bunch of plant fibers, floating up off the ground and suspended in midair.

Somehow, Nettal wasn’t nervous, a fact that she was grateful for. In her spare time, she would often go to the town’s clinic and help out around there as a sort of nurse in training. She often helped out the nurses with various small tasks and the occasional broken bone or pregnancy. So, this situation actually wasn’t so strange to her. She had been around sick patients several times; however, this would be her first time treating a patient without any professional supervision. Well, if she went there now, she and Lotty could certainly do a lot more than just help set a few broken bones.

The child started floating over to Nettal from her mom’s direction. Her mom placed him down gently at the foot of Nettal’s bed, where all the vines started unraveling, the smell of earth and grass floating up as they moved. It revealed a young boy, perhaps six or seven with short brown hair and peacefully closed eyes.

For a moment, Nettal paused and wondered why she hadn’t ever told Addie that she liked to help in the clinic.

Then, Nettal continued reaching her hand out to place on the boy’s forehead.

Maybe she felt a bit embarrassed about going to the clinic, and that’s why she’d never talked to Addie about it.

Nettal gently placed her hand down on the boy’s forehead. She gasped as images, sensations, and emotions all flooded into Nettal at once, and she withdrew her hand hastily. She cradled her hand against her chest as she breathed heavily.

What was that?

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Taking a moment to calm her breathing, Nettal again forced her hand down to touch the boy’s brow.

All at once, an overwhelming torrent of sensations flooded back into Nettal. It felt like the anxious tossing and turning that happens when you can’t go to sleep. It felt like being in an uncomfortably warm room. It felt like having your insides baked without being able to run away.

Just as suddenly as they had started, the sensations stopped, and the room around her came back into focus. She hadn’t even realized the room had seemed to disappear for a moment.

She followed her extended arm out with her eyes and saw her hand being held up in the air by her mom.

“Are you ok? Are you sure you can do this?”

Nettal released a shuddering breath. “I can do this, Mom.”

“Your whole body was shaking.”

“Oh.”

Even Violet seemed to be looking at Nettal with concerned eyes.

Lotty stood up from where he was lying at the side of the bed and gently hopped up into Nettal’s bed. His hooves depressed deeply into the blankets and mattress. He walked over to Nettal and laid down right by her side.

“Reassurance. Images of a gigantic deer remaining calm regardless of her emotions. A bridge, connecting the healer to the patient. Reassurance.”

“Lotty says I’m feeling the emotions of this boy when I try to heal him. He thinks I should just try to stay calm through it all.” Nettal said.

That must be Nettal’s other power, she realized. Some kind of empathic connection with those she was trying to heal. But that was so odd. These kinds of powers were supposed to work together. How was she supposed to heal someone if she was distracted by all of their pain and suffering?

“That must be hard. How about you take a break?” Her mom asked her with concern.

Nettal tried to straighten her spine and readjust the pillow she was leaning back against. She crossed her legs underneath the bed’s blankets and brushed the hair out of her face.

She could do this. It would be just like helping a patient while he screamed in her ear due to the pain. No problem.

Nettal took a deep breath in, then put her hand back down on the boy’s head.

Immediately she felt the boy’s emotions as her own. She felt singes across her very being and winced in sympathetic pain.

Nettal called on her magic, trying to fight through all of the pain. It wasn’t her pain she tried to tell herself. But, the restlessness from the boy bled over to her— like a feverish sleepless night.

She pushed her magic out through her bond and down into the boy. That part, at least, was easy. The process came instinctually to her, no different than moving an arm or a leg. She willed it, and the magic responded. She watched as the first motes of her magic coursed through her and began to touch upon the boy’s soul.

Aching burns coursed through her soul, but she couldn’t move. There was nowhere to escape. The burns writhed almost with a mind of their own, and no matter how hard she tried, her body sat paralyzed. She was trapped in a nightmare, without the relief of being able to wake up.

Consciousness slipped away from Nettal’s mind, and the torrent of pain ended.

She blinked her eyes and found that her upper body had bonelessly flopped down onto the bed. Her hand was no longer touching the boy. She groggily sat up and slowly straightened her posture, using her hands to push on the mattress and stay upright.

“Nettal!” Her mom rubbed Nettal’s hunched back in soothing circular motions. “Are you ok?” she said more gently.

“I’m ok. How long did I pass out?”

“Just for a second or two. Just catch your breath for a moment.”

Relaxing into the soothing rubs on her back, Nettal just focused on breathing for a bit. She felt something wet rub against her right hand, and she looked over to see Lotty bumping his wet nose against her.

There was something incredibly warm about having Lotty and her mom in here with her.

Alright, if she had this much support, there was no excuse not to do her best. Nettal began moving her hand toward the boy again, determined to help him as fast as possible.

Her mom caught Nettal’s shaking, outstretched hand and stopped it. “Nettal, stop for a second.”

She looked up at her mom’s face.

“You are still recovering. You can’t help any of these kids if you don’t take care of yourself, too.”

Except, Nettal had already had more than two days to recover. These other children were still suffering and she was the only one who could help them.

“I can do it, Mom.”

Nettal’s mom sighed. “I’m proud of that determination you have, but stop being stubborn.” The last few words came out in a harsh whisper.

“Just slow it down. When you feel like you are about to pass out, take a break. You can heal them over a few minutes. They aren’t going anywhere.” Her mom squeezed Nettal’s hand.

Frustration welled up in Nettal and she bit her lip. She had to do better than this.

Lotty sent more reassurance through their bond. “Magic moving slowly. The body healing steadily with diligent care.”

Nettal closed her eyes and let out a breath. When she opened them again she said, “You two are right. I’m sorry for rushing into things.”

Her mom smiled. “No need to apologize, let’s just take it slowly, one healing session at a time, ok?”

“Ok, Mom.”

No longer in a desperate rush, Nettal took her time and moved her hand directly above the boy’s head. She took in a deep breath and readied her magic. Then, she slowly brought her hand down, touching against the boy’s clammy forehead.

Again the torrent of burning aches and pains pushed their way into Nettal’s mind, but she slowly, calmly pushed her magic out and into the boy. She kept that up for a few moments, but his pain became too much for her and she moved her hand away.

She closed her eyes and nodded her head while she tried to catch her breath. This would work. Just taking it one step at a time.

Though his face didn’t change, Nettal got the feeling that Lotty was smiling at her with his eyes.

“Good, just keep it slow and steady,” Her mom reminded her.

Once she was ready, Nettal put her hand back on the boy and poured a bit more magic into him. This time, his pains seemed to be a lot better. Though he was still aching, it was more of a sore ache than the biting deep pain of a fresh burn.

After that, it didn’t take long to fully heal the first child. The more healing she gave to him, the less feedback pain Nettal felt. In fact, she realized that by feeling his pains, she could more easily pinpoint where all the damage was. She felt a burn on the surface of his soul shell and directed her healing magic to that spot. Through the emotional and physical feedback, she watched as his soul healed in real-time. Maybe that’s what the point of her second power was! To find the pain and direct the healing in those spots.

She started to feel the boy’s restlessness turn into a gentle sleep once his soul finished healing. Like this, Nettal would heal the children. One at a time, without rushing. She was still recovering herself, after all.