As the room’s other occupants went about their morning business, the two young women joined them. Brushing their teeth and washing their faces. The latter was mirrored by everyone else, but they were the only ones to do the former. At least in the strict sense of it, as they had the only two toothbrushes of the group and were reluctant to share them with the rest. Not that anyone would have accepted such an offer. The rest had to do with rough linen cloths and locally supplied pastes.
Changing from their bedclothes to their day clothes, the two friends joined almost everyone for breakfast. That was one of the few things this whole situation brought that could have been considered at least remotely beneficial. While they still turned their backs on one another and tried not to peek, the group as a whole lost almost all sense of shame for their bodies, or was as close to not being embarrassed for being naked as one could get in their situation. Even if there were awkward moments at the beginning
Breaking their fast on that day was a quiet affair. They were given plain frumenty and a trifling collection of summer apples. Eating in silence, they tried to ignore the servants who turned up to replace the chamber pots.
Through it all, Ixalia kept stealing glances at Peter, watching for the right moment to approach. She slowed her pace somewhat to try finishing her meal at the same time he did. Not that she had to hold back much as she ate larger quantities than he did, even if he had trouble with the action of eating itself.
Once he was close to finishing, she rushed her own last bites and handed her dish to Sidy, who was waiting to do just that. Her friend passed by Peter and took his bowl to carry to a basin where they washed their dishes. He barely looked up at her as he mumbled a silent “thanks” and turned to go back to sitting under a window by himself, like he was prone to do. Trying to stay out of sight, out of mind and most notably, at least in his own mind, out of the way.
The young medico wasted not a minute and hobbled over with her chair to cross his path. “Peter, can I steal a bit of your time?” She asked hopefully.
He barely looked at her, just a quick glimpse before looking back at the ground with shoulders drooped. Still, in that short peek, she could see a deep sadness in his eyes. They seemed dull and his face resembled a man just waiting for his turn on the chopping block.
“Sure, not like I have much on my itinerary,” he replied just as quietly as he did to Sidy earlier, but then his back straightened a little and he looked at her. “Your office or mine?” He asked, pointing to each of their bedrolls. For just a moment the jovial personality she knew him for was back. Unfortunately, the bright attitude passed just as quickly as it came and he turned away from her once again, his posture slouching even more than it had been.
Ixa’s heart bled for him and the pit in her stomach deepened with doubts. I hope it works. If not, he’ll get worse and I worry what he’d do if he does. Two catatonic people are enough, and gods forbid he goes further. This has to work… it has to.
She managed to get her thoughts under control and replied to him with as light a tone as she could manage. “Come with me to the window please, I could use some better light.”
Following by her side, he couldn’t even help her with the chair and it visibly dispirited him even more. “Checking up on my-” She softly cut him off before he could finish it, since she did not want his mind to dwell on his condition over much.
“No…. Well yes, but only because why not, if we’re already there. I can just as well look you over. But it was not why I wanted to speak with you.”
From his side, she saw his brow furrow in thought. Probably trying to figure out what I could need him for. Seriously, man, you are not useless. And if you were, which you are not, you are still a friend!
When they got to the window, she indicated that he should get comfortable. “So how are your… hands… doing?”
He presented his limbs for her inspection, the crab-like claws were wrapped in bandages. Not to keep them closed, but to pin his fingers to them to keep them from flopping around. The tears would never heal properly otherwise. Even bound his wounds still seemed to be bleeding as several red stains were visible on the otherwise white linen of the wrapping.
“Fine, for the most part. I managed to work out how to move them a bit, but there’s not much strength in them.” Peter said.
Ixalia started unwrapping the bandages, careful not to agitate his tender sores. “Just like my tail then. I can wiggle it, which I couldn’t before, and I can even manage to stand on it now. None of that could I do before. Have you made any mana channels in them?” She finally asked the question she pondered through the night.
“Yes, but only as little as I could get away with. Frankly, I kind of didn’t want to touch them. There’s still what I had in my original hands, if… uhm… bent out of shape.” His voice was a whisper that lost in volume as he spoke, the last few words barely audible.
Ixa finally managed to get the last of the bandages out of the way to look his hands over. It was not a pretty sight. It looked like a peeled banana, if the banana peel were his fingers and the claws were the flesh of the fruit. She cast a few quick spells to determine his condition and then one or two to try promoting healing in the areas where his flesh was torn. She didn’t try to do any direct healing since she’d never done so before on a living patient and didn’t have the guts to try doing so now. The spells she did use she had already had experience with. Moreover, they couldn’t do any harm. They’d use the body’s own mechanisms, speeding them up. It might make him a bit tired or hungry, but nothing worse.
“It looks to be going somewhat well. Not the whole… ehrm… the cuts I mean… even if it’s slower than a normal cut would be. It’s not a normal cut so…” She started blabbering, her nerves getting the better of her.
For the second time that day, the old farmer she knew made an appearance. He tried to place a hand on her shoulder, but thought better of it before he made contact. His voice was firm when he spoke kindly. “I know Ixalia, it’s not your fault. I know you’re doing your best here with us. Might want to take a look at your bedside manners though. They’re pretty shit.” He grinned at her startled expression.
It took her by surprise and she had to take a moment to school her expression. “Yeah… sorry about that, I’m just nervous.”
This time Peter looked a little uncertain “Why is that? You weren’t the times you checked on me before.”
“It’s because of why I wanted to talk to you. Can you do something for me?”
“Sure, if it’s in my power.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“I want you to make a few new pathways in your channels for me.”
His face instantly scrunched up as she made him once again think of his predicament. “I don’t really want to, but okay.” He took a moment to resolve himself, his posture firming a bit. “What do you want me to do?”
She presented her palm to him, fingers spread out and bent slightly as if holding a ball. “Just like my pinkie, index finger and thumb make an almost equal-side triangle, the main channels running through would make a sort of cradle, could you do a facsimile of that in your claws for me?”
He looked from her hand to his own before nodding. “Give me a moment, I’m not that good at it, so it might take a bit.”
She was now the one touching his shoulder to comfort him. “No hurry, take your time. Tell me when you have it.”
Ixalia waited for a few minutes for him to be done, boring her own mana channels in her tail in the meantime. Peter’s forehead was slightly creased as he stared at his hands in concentration.
Once finished, he looked up. “Done, what now?”
“Remember how Ingrem had us run mana at the beginning? I want you to do something similar, bring out a strand of mana from each of those new channels and create a spiral out of them,” she paused at his blank look and elaborated. “Like a three-armed galaxy?”
“Oh, right. Had me confused a bit there. Is that all?” His mood improved slightly for the moment given that he had something to do to distract his mind. Not letting it wander in dark places.
Ixa smiled as she saw him lightening up. “Where the mana meets, bring it back into your hand… claw, sorry.”
It took a few questions and answers back and forth for her to be sure he had it just like she wanted him to. She then guided him into transforming the point the arms of the spiral met at into a circle and widening it as much as was needed.
She completely missed the steps from behind her as everyone else came to watch what they were doing. Anything out of the norm to fight the boredom they all felt for most of the day. She wasn’t alone in not noticing. Peter held his gaze pinned to what he was doing and apart from the two, everyone was silent.
Until a new person joined them. Supported by a walking stick, Helena entered the room and came closer to see what was going on. She greeted the others, but otherwise refrained from talking. At least initially. She had come for a reason though, so after a while she spoke up.
*Can I talk to you all for a moment?*
Ixalia did not even notice that the sentence was spoken in the local language as she replied. “Not now, later.”
Helena looked to Sidy and had her translate before speaking again. *Sorry, but this is important.*
“So is this. Later, once we finish.” Ixa uttered without looking up, so consumed in what she and Peter were doing that she didn’t realize it was Helena talking.
Peter did and he glanced up to meet the woman’s eyes before turning back to his current teacher. “Ixa, maybe we should-”
She was invested now and refused to let anything distract them until they either finished or failed trying. Her ‘healer’s personality’, as Sidy jokingly called it, has taken the wheel. “Not now! Focus Peter, doctor’s orders.”
He had to smile at that, as there was no trace of the shy and nervous girl of just a little earlier left. In front of him was the assertive woman they had all come to respect and listen to, even if she didn’t realize it one bit. “Yes, ma’am.” He threw her a salute with one claw as he got back to working on what she wanted him to do.
The round of laughter that rang out from the onlookers did not distract the pair in the slightest. Helena joined them a second later after she had the exchange translated.
Ten or so minutes later, Peter had a spiral with a central circle going, the mana flowing out the claw, into the pattern, and back into his channels. “Okay, I think I have it, now what?”
Ixalia took a piece of paper and the pencil she made for him out of her bag. “This pattern on the paper, it’s the same as here on this pencil. This will probably be harder than it would normally be, since you’ve got to focus on the spiral a lot more, but in the circle you just made, take the mana and create three new strands, offset by half a rotation from the arms coming in and replicate this pictogram.”
He looked between the two items, his hand and her eyes several times. Her expression brokered no arguments. He had to gulp at the intensity of her insistence. She really turned into a whole new person when she got like this. She’ll make a fine medico one day, he thought as he nodded and got back to work.
It took him several hours to accomplish, but he did manage it in the end. The rest of the group brought them lunch at one point in time, but none of them stopped watching. Other than Zev, who went to take care of Ingrem and Betty.
“Got it… I think. Now what?” Peter gave Ixalia a curious look. He couldn’t fathom what all this was leading to. He was even more curious when she handed him the pencil, which he carefully clamped by one of his claws. It was kind of pretty, with all the carvings and what not.
“See that mana capacitor at the end of it? Fill it. Just a quarter full will do for now.” She directed him. As he nodded to indicate having done as directed, she continued. “Now, guide the mana as you did a moment ago, when you have it, hold it and tell me.”
A few minutes later he had done as asked. “Aaand, done. I think.”
Ixalia beamed at him, her smile as radiant as she had ever smiled. “Cut the strand going back inside off, let the spell finish.”
“I surmised it was a spell, but what does it do, Ixa?”
“You’ll see,” she smiled even wide, if it was even possible. “It should be pretty intuitive.”
He frowned a little, but there was no reason to not do just that, especially since he already went through all of her guidance. With little hesitation he cut the mana and his eyes instantly went wide. “Ixa?”
“Yeeesss?”
His claws trembled a little. If she hadn’t bandaged them again before starting all this, his floppy fingers would have creepily jiggled. “Is this what I think this is?”
Her smile vanished and she looked at him with all seriousness. “What is it, do you think?”
The sudden change threw him off track, so he wavered a little before he started asking. “Can it mov-”
Peter didn’t get far in his sentence before her grin was back and her arm high in the air in celebration. She didn’t exactly shout, but it was close. “A remote controlled pencil! Yes!”
His thoughts were awhirl at the implication and he followed the spell’s feedback to move the floating stationery.
It responded somewhat stiffly compared to what Ixalia knew it could do from her experiments on the previous day, but that could be worked out.
A minute passed without him saying anything. Then another, followed by two more. Her hand dropped and smile faded at the lack of reaction from him.
“Ixa?” He finally asked.
Breathing in deeply, she braced to hear his disappointment. “Yeah?”
He looked away from pondering the pencil and locked eyes with her. “What more can it do?”
Her shoulders finally slumper, mirroring how he looked in the morning. “That’s it.” She replied sadly.
“No, I mean… is it just this, or can it be used with other things?”
“Oh, almost anything, unless it’s too heavy. It’s just a matter of enchanting it. But the heavier, the more mana it’ll take for you to move it.” She spoke hopefully.
Peter flung himself at her as the final words left her mouth and brought her into a tight embrace. Too tight actually. She had to tap his back a few times to stop him from crushing her. “You like it?” Ixa asked, carefully not letting her hopes get too high up, lest they be dashed.
“Like it? Ixa, I…” he held her at arm’s length as he continued, tearing up.. “Yes. Yes I do.” He said as he hugged her again.
Full of relief and such pure unadulterated happiness, she squeezed back. “I’m glad you do. Want me to make you more?”
Peter had trouble speaking through the thick emotions that flooded him. “Please do.”
They didn’t get to enjoy the moment for very long as another person spoke. *Can we talk now?*