In short order, after making sure there were no new patients waiting, the two found themselves in one of the three treatment rooms the infirmary possessed. Slipping off her white lab coat and hanging it on the door, Tiffany obtained a scalpel from one of the medical tool drawers in the room and hopped up onto the exam table. “Now don’t worry,” she assured Ashley as the girl’s eyes popped as wide as saucers, “I’m not planning on mutilating myself just to test your ability. I’m just going to make a small nick in my arm, and then, I’m going to talk you through an alternative method of using your power.”
“Are… are you sure?” Ashley asked nervously, the grip on her bag’s strap tight enough that her knuckles were white.
She can’t do it in this condition, Tiffany thought, she’ll just end up doing what she always does and push as hard as she can when she heals. “Okay, let’s try this; I want you to take five deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Don’t rush it, just breathe.”
After a moment’s hesitation, the girl started the breathing exercise as she’d been directed, with the doctor’s own breathing deepening sympathetically in an echo of her student’s. By the time she’d completed the fifth breath, Tiffany could see that her grip had relaxed significantly and the tenseness visible in her shoulders had eased. “Wow,” she exclaimed softly as she opened her eyes, “I feel… better,” she said after struggling to find the right words, “calmer.”
“Good,” the physician nodded. “Now, what I’m going to want you to do is not push when you use your power. Every healer’s ability naturally wants to come out of them and essentially fix whatever is wrong in another person. You don’t realize it, but subconsciously you’re constantly blocking your power from getting out. What you need to do is instead of taking that power and shoving it out as fast as possible, just release it and let it flow like it naturally wants to.”
Having been slowly nodding her understanding thus far, the last part had Ashley frowning a bit. “But, how do I release it without pushing. I don’t know how to do that.”
“Simply let go,” Tiffany explained as she brought the scalpel up to her forearm and made a small, shallow incision that was just enough to ooze a little blood. “That warmth you feel in your chest, that’s your power activating. When you heal my little cut here, instead of mentally pushing at your power I want you to envision it as a gently flowing river stopped by a dam. In your mind, lift that dam just a bit and allow the power to take its natural course down your arm and into your hand. Do you think you can do that?” she asked with a gentle smile.
Clearly still nervous, the girl nodded and clasped the doctor’s outstretched hand in her own. For a moment, Ashley stood with her eyes squeezed shut, clearly trying to do everything she could not to push at her power. Unfortunately, based on the fact that the cut was not healed in the slightest, it was pretty clear to the experienced healer that the girl was fighting against herself. “Ease back Ashley,” she coaxed gently. “Just release the dam and allow it to flow. You don’t have to do anything but let go.”
Slowly, in increments so small it would be difficult to track the progress, the strain around Ashley’s eyes eased bit by bit until the lids lay gently closed instead of squeezed shut. The moment that happened, Tiffany felt a faint trace of warmth in her arm and saw the cut cease to bleed before slowly closing in on itself and sealing. A moment later, the wound was gone and her arm was completely blemish free.
“Good,” Tiffany said, still maintaining that gentle, coaxing voice, “now, just ease that dam back into place. Don’t worry about some of the river getting through while you do it; it’s okay if it does. Just ease it back into place and don’t slam it down.”
The doctor noticed a small bit of tightening of the girl’s closed eyelids, but it only lasted for a moment before they opened so wide they nearly popped out of her skull. “I did it,” she whispered in complete, abject, and utterly disbelieving amazement. “I did it!” she repeated, this time in a joyful scream while leaping happily into the air.
The exuberant jubilation was infectious, and Tiffany found herself grinning right along with her student. “You did great,” she said in compliment before getting more serious, “but don’t think it’s over. Your natural instinct right now is still to push at your power instead of letting it flow. It’s going to take a lot of practice to flip those instincts, so for right now I don’t want you using your power outside of our lessons unless it’s a life or death situation, okay?”
While it was clear this directive went against the girl’s basic principles of helping others, Ashley seemed to see the wisdom in what the doctor was telling her and nodded agreeably. “So, is there some kind of in-between letting my power flow naturally and pushing at it? Your cut healed a lot slower than when I usually heal someone.”
“That’s because you weren’t putting everything you had into the healing all at once,” Tiffany explained as she led her back to her office. “If you dump a truckload of healing energy into a wound or illness, of course it’s going to heal almost instantly. Letting it flow you like just did is slower, but obviously you’re able to maintain it for a lot longer without passing out. There are intermediaries,” she affirmed, “where you can shift and adjust the… flow to heal at varying degrees of speed. You’ll actually need to do that depending upon the injury or illness you’re treating.”
“Why is that?” Ashley asked with a curious tilt of her head that had her brilliant hair spilling down her arm like a waterfall of crimson.
“Well, if you treat a patient with significant physical injuries, the natural flow of your healing energy is simply too slow. While you’re healing one injury, the others are overloading the patient’s system and they might die before you can heal the rest. That’s why,” she said firmly when Ashley’s face paled, “when you get the basics down, I’ll teach you how to adjust or modulate your healing energy so you’ll be able heal someone faster without overtaxing yourself and passing out.”
Nodding her understanding, the lovely redhead smiled gratefully at the physician and took a step towards her before stopping, her expression clouding over slightly. “Ummm, Dr. Howard,” she said quietly, “I don’t know if you know about what happened to me when I Awakened, but I was pretty scared to come meet with you yesterday.”
“Oh?” she replied curiously, “Why is that?”
Taking a deep breath, Ashley looked up into her eyes. “When I Awakened, the doctor who treated me at the hospital… he did horrible things to me. After that,” she continued, ignoring the physician’s gasp of horror, “I was pretty scared of any doctor. So, when I found out one was going to be teaching me, I almost went to Dr. Wellman to tell him I couldn’t do it.”
“But you came,” Tiffany reminded her gently.
“After my friends convinced me,” she nodded. “I know it probably seems stupid…”
“There is absolutely nothing stupid about something like that making you afraid of physicians,” the doctor insisted, resting her hands on the girl’s shoulders. “For you to come here despite your fears, shows strength and courage, and don’t let anyone tell you different.”
Lifting her eyes to the woman’s, Tiffany saw them shining with unshed tears despite the smile on the girl’s lips. “Dr. Howard,” she asked in a slightly watery voice, “would it be okay if I hugged you?”
By way of answering her, the physician drew the young woman close and initiated the requested hug. There was hardly a moment of hesitation before she found herself being hugged in return. “I’m a hugger,” Ashley said in a muffled voice against Tiffany’s shoulder.
“Nothing wrong with that,” Tiffany said before easing her back to arm’s length. “Just remember what I told you, no healing outside of your lessons…”
“Until I get better at it or it’s life or death,” Ashley finished for her with a smile. “I won’t.”
“Good. Now go on, your lesson’s over for today.”
Nodding, Ashley practically danced ou
t of the office, pausing to wave and call out, “Bye Dr. Howard,” before rushing out of the infirmary.
Chuckling softly, Tiffany sat down at her desk and brought up a progress report form on her computer. Leaning back in her chair, she ran her fingers through her short, nut brown hair as she contemplated the best way to describe Ashley’s breakthrough. In the end, she simply wrote down that the young woman had succeeded in understanding the basics of her ability, but more lessons would be required to solidify them.
Once the report was completed and saved to the girl’s file in the school database, Tiffany contemplated the best way to continue the girl’s education of her gift. There was no doubt in her mind that she was probably the most powerful healer on the planet, but with that power would come the knowledge that even she couldn’t heal everyone.
Tiffany remembered how difficult it had been for her to come to that same realization. Heartbreaking was probably the best word to describe it, knowing that there were so many sick and injured people in the world and she could only help the tiniest fraction of them despite her fey gifts. That particular lesson would be devastating for Ashley. Even though they’d only had two lessons, it was quite clear that the girl had a gentle, tender, and loving heart that could easily be bruised or broken despite the strength she had shown thus far.
That was something the physician simply wouldn’t allow, and she vowed then and there that she would do everything she could to ease the lovely girl into the knowledge and understanding with an absolute minimum of heartache.
Tearmann Institute, Newfoundland, Chomhrac Field
When I’d first been told what the name of this multi-purpose athletic field was, it sounded like absolute gibberish to me. Chomhrac, what the hell did that mean? Well, being the fact guru she was, Kitty had immediately looked up the answer for me, and the answer was simple: Combat. Now, that struck me as more than a little odd. Considering Tearmann was supposed to be a place of safety and sanctuary for fey high school students, why would they name their athletic field using the Irish word for combat? Not that I was complaining or anything. I was actually kind of looking forward to learning how my ability to shift into a wolf could be better weaponized… for hunting purposes, promise.
As I strolled towards the small cluster situated in the center of the field, I noticed a boy racing around the paved track surrounding it. I was no expert or anything, but based on the way his movements were almost a blur and he was damn sure moving faster than anyone I’d ever seen, I was guessing his gift was speed. As he passed the staff member waiting at what I assumed was the start/finish line, the man clicked what looked like a stopwatch and pumped his fist in the air.
“You just shaved point nine seconds off your time,” he crowed proudly.
“Ya… yay,” the boy gasped breathlessly while resting his hands on his knees in an obvious attempt not to pass out. The only reason I was able to hear that weak and sarcastic jubilation was because he was upwind. If it had been the reverse, I doubt even my heightened sense of hearing would have caught it from that distance. But, since I was downwind from pretty much everyone on the field, I was able to hear not only him, but our instructor talking to the other assembled three students.
“Okay,” Mr. Earnest said with an excited clap of his hands, “We didn’t really do any serious work on shifting yesterday because I wanted to get to know you guys a little first so I knew what I was working with. Today, we get started on the fun stuff,” he told us with a grin before glancing my way. “Ah, Aiden, there you are. I was starting to wonder if you were planning on skipping our second day.”
“Sorry,” I apologized with a sheepish smile, “I wanted to be sure Ashley was okay before I headed over.”
“Well, now that you’re here, we can begin. Now, all of you possess a different kind of shifting ability,” he said as he began to pace in front of us like some kind of general addressing his troops. “Because of that, each of you is going to have a slightly different learning curve when it comes to your abilities. For some of you, it will come pretty easily. For others, it may take a bit longer for you to really get the hang of it. Just remember,” he admonished with a smile, “this isn’t a race to see who masters their ability first. Shifting into one alternative form is easy, multiples are a whole different story, and some of you fit into the second classification.”
It could have been my imagination, but I swore that he glanced deliberately at me for maybe a split second before continuing to address everyone. “Additionally, each of you will have your own, unique requirements for shifting. Because of that, there are probably times when I’ll be holding specialized classes for those individuals.”
“Ummm, Mr. Earnest,” a blonde girl named Katherine ‘call me Kate’ asked hesitantly, “what kind of unique requirements are you talking about?”
While the other two students mumbled a ‘yeah’ or a ‘how come’, I sighed and dropped my head. “It’s because I have to be naked to shift,” I admitted glumly.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t actually all that embarrassed about it. In the months since I’d Awakened, being naked in front of someone else was starting to feel just as natural as being fully dressed. I suspect it was the wolf in me establishing a stronger presence since wolves didn’t exactly wear clothes, but the human part of me still maintained the lion’s share of control and thus, modesty.
What kind of embarrassed me and caused a certain level of jealousy, was the fact that I had to get naked in order to shift while the other three students had no such requirement. During our little introduction yesterday, all three had pretty well established that when they shifted, their clothes shifted with them or just flat out disappeared until they returned to human form. That meant they could shift at the drop of a hat while I would need several seconds to shed my clothes before I could shift… unless I wanted to potentially destroy whatever I was wearing at the time.
When I peeked up through the curtain of my hair that had fallen forward, I saw exactly what I’d expected. Kate, the only other girl in the group, looked absolutely shocked. Whether it was because of embarrassment for herself or for me, I couldn’t tell. The guys… well, other than Mr. Earnest, they had the pretty much expected reaction: instant boner. Not only did I see them shifting their pants uncomfortably, but their wide, shocked eyes and the lust scent that started pouring off of them really didn’t leave much doubt to what was going on in their heads.
Only Mr. Earnest seemed undisturbed by my revelation, likely because he was already aware of it from my student record. “Well, since you decided to volunteer the reason,” he said with a slight smirk, “yes.”
“So, how can she even be a part of this class?” a rather tall boy with shaggy hair of the dirty blond variety demanded. The lust scent that he’d been putting out had quickly dissipated and had since been replaced by something I wasn’t expecting: challenge scent. “The three of us can all shift without needing to take our clothes off,” he said in what sounded suspiciously like a scoff. “Why should we have to stall our own training because of her?”
He tries to dominate.
No shit, I snapped at my wolf.
The challenge must be answered.
While that might sound kind of vague, I knew exactly what my wolf was talking about and frankly it worried me. This guy, I think his name was Eddie, was trying to establish himself as the top dog in our little group. I wasn’t sure yet if he had his own animal guiding his actions or if he was just being a misogynistic dick. Whatever the reason, he’d pretty well tried to establish himself as above the rest of us.
“And how exactly would we be stalling your training Mr. Jones?” Mr. Earnest asked in a deceptively casual tone that I didn’t buy for a second.
“Well, if she gets one on one time with you, that means the rest of us are out a day’s lessons. That’s not exactly fair.”
“And the rest of the time,” I growled, pretty fed up with this guy’s attitude at this point, “I’m stuck watching you three shift to your h
eart’s content because I don’t want to flash anyone.”
“I don’t mind you doing some flashing,” quipped the other guy, an average looking boy by the name of Vinnie.
“All right,” Mr. Earnest said, lifting his hands to try and establish some kind or order.
Unfortunately, Mr. I-think-I’m-cock-of-the-walk was already on a roll, and I doubt he could have stopped. “Look little girl,” he said with a wicked grin that left no doubt anymore he was challenging me for dominance, “why don’t you just step aside and let some actual shifters better themselves.”
By this point, my teeth were already on edge with this jackass’s attitude. When he went all caste system about fey shifters, it took everything I had to keep from just lashing out. As it was, my wolf was snarling and gnashing her teeth in anger, and I was only just keeping her under control. “What did you say?” I asked in a very careful voice.
While Vinnie and Kate clearly understood what was happening now, Eddie was just too high on his horse to see just how badly he was fucking up… and I’m not talking about upsetting Mr. Earnest. “All of us can shift into multiple forms,” he said, puffing out his chest proudly, “and don’t need to get naked to do it. From what I hear, you’ve just got one.” That last part was said in such a condescending way there was no chance of mistaking it for anything other than an insult.
By this point, I could feel my blood start to boil, which was a really bad thing because it meant my rage form wanted to come out and play. I’d been challenged on several different levels now, and both my wolf and my rage form were demanding I accept it. Normally, I might have been able to push them both back, maybe do a little bargaining to settle them. Unfortunately, it had been so long since I’d been able to hunt that at the very least there was no stopping my wolf from coming out at this point. Her instincts demanded to be obeyed, and unless I wanted to lose total control and possibly go into rage form, I had to just go along with it.
Marking Territory: An Awakened Novel (The Rising Storm Book 1) Page 5