Psychicians

by Laurence Dahners

  ~~~

  The tavern’s dining room was nearly empty. Kazy seated the five newcomers at a table in the corner. They were excitedly commenting on the smell of the bread. Kazy smelled it every day, so she’d forgotten how much it affected people who hadn’t smelled Eva’s cooking before. She sniffed. Must be fresh out of the oven, she thought. This gave Kazy an idea. She walked over to Farlin at the bar, catching up with his accounting. Indicating them with a glance, she said “They’ve traveled a long way, hoping to become students at Eva’s medical school. Eva would want to offer them hospitality while they wait. Can you get each of them a beer and a buttered slab of that fresh bread I smell?”

  Farlin stared at her, looking like he wanted to roll his eyes though he didn’t. After a moment, he said, “Okaaay,” stretching the word.

  Kazy went up the stairs, finding Eva, Vyrda, Daussie, and, to her surprise, Tarc. They were each copying from a separate textbook. Tarc usually claimed to have something more important to do. Eva didn’t push him to study medicine because of her belief that forcing him to do something he didn’t like would turn it into something he never wanted to do. Kazy glanced at the page he was copying and saw he was reproducing a complex illustration. Tarc was a surprisingly good artist. Kazy suspected Eva’d begged him to copy a few pictures and diagrams she considered particularly important.

  Eva was looking at Kazy. She said, “It’s your morning off. I thought you were going to see the new caravan with Grace?”

  Kazy nodded, “I was. But I met some travelers…”

  When Kazy didn’t go on, Eva arched an eyebrow and said, “And…?”

  “Apparently they’ve traveled with more than one caravan to get here…”

  Eva snorted at the difficulty of dragging this out of Kazy. “And…?”

  Kazy grinned, “They want to study under Eva Hyllis…”

  Four pairs of eyes snapped up to study Kazy. Eva’s eyes narrowed, “Cooking? Or healing?” The way she spoke the words dismissed cooking and pinned her hopes on healing.

  “Healing. I told them you wanted to start a medical school. Perhaps they could be your first class.”

  Excitement flashed over Eva’s face and she jumped to her feet to give Kazy a big hug. Moments later Vyrda and Daussie had joined in. Tarc merely watched, though he looked happy enough for them.

  After a moment, Eva pushed Kazy back out to arm’s length. “Wait. Do they have talents?”

  Kazy’s eyes widened, “I don’t know. What did you want me to do? Ask them where the sun is? They’d hardly have trouble pointing at it, it’s hanging right up there in the eastern sky.”

  “Um, no… I thought maybe you could tell with your ghirit?”

  Kazy shook her head, “Haven’t learned how to do that yet.” She tilted her head, “Whether or not they have talent’s an issue, isn’t it?”

  Eva nodded, “I’ve been worrying about it. Obviously, we can teach ordinary people a lot about medicine, but without talents…” She shook her head, “There’ll be so much they can’t do. And, if they become bitter about how we can’t teach them things and start telling people we’re witches…”

  Speaking slowly, Daussie said, “So, are you just not going to teach people who don’t have talents? No matter how smart they are or how much they want to learn?”

  Eva looked like her heart was breaking. “People like that could still do so much. I’ve been worrying about the sanitation here in Clancy Vail.” She shook her head sadly, “I think the town’s really lucky it hasn’t had a serious epidemic.” She glanced around at the others, “Sanitation saves a lot more people than medicine, it’s just that the people who didn’t die in an epidemic don’t know they’ve been saved. And, if they don’t know they’ve been saved…” her voice grew really quiet, “they don’t want to pay for it.”

  Sounding appalled, Tarc said, “So you’re thinking you could teach them how to improve a city’s sanitation, but they wouldn’t be able to earn a living doing it?”

  “Maybe,” Vyrda said slowly, “you could teach them how to be ‘healer’s assistants’?” Seeing a lot of curious looks, she elaborated, “Someone who organizes the patients in the waiting room, making sure the sickest ones get seen first. Who stocks the clinic with supplies and just does the mundane things so the healer can spend more time actually treating patients.”

  Tarc snorted, “Yeah, I’ll bet the kind of people who traveled all this distance to learn medicine would just be delighted to be trained as healers’ helpers.”

  Kazy said, “Well, they’ve got to be going crazy downstairs, wondering why you haven’t even come down to say hello. You don’t have to decide what you’re going to do with them right now, right? You’ll need to interview them and find out whether any of them actually do have talents. If some of them do, perhaps you could just select those for your school.”

  Eva sighed but gained a look of resolve. “You’re absolutely right. Let’s go say hi.” As they all started down the stairs, she stopped Kazy to say, “I’d like to ask you to listen to their minds. Whether they have a talent or not, whether they’re intelligent or not, I don’t want to be teaching… bad people.”

  “What kind of bad are you worried about?”

  “Any kind. If there’s something you don’t like about them, I’m sure I won’t like it either.

  ~~~

  While they were waiting in the tavern dining room, a man served them each a mug of excellent beer and a thick slice of wonderful, freshly-baked, warm bread slathered with butter. Just as Hareh was starting to worry about why Kazy’d been gone so long, a group of people came down the stairwell and started across the dining room toward them. An older woman was at the front. Hareh felt surprised. I didn’t expect Eva to look so… ordinary, he realized.

  Three of the four apprentices looked enough alike that Hareh thought they could be from the same family. An older woman, though not as old as Eva, and a teenaged boy and girl.

  Oh, wow. I think I’m in love! The girl was beautiful, though obviously not stuck up about it. Baggy pants and a loose shirt with uncombed hair suggested she spent little time worrying about her appearance. Get yourself in control, he thought at himself, she’s too young for you! He turned his eyes back to Eva and realized with some surprise that she looked nothing like her cousin Kazy.

  Hareh rose to his feet just before they arrived at the table. He made a little bow to Eva and said, “Ms. Hyllis, we’re so pleased to finally meet you.” Her eyes widened a little, but Hareh plunged on, trying to plead his case before he got interrupted. “We’ve heard of some of your cures all the way over in Cooperstown where I grew up. I and my friends all want to be healers so we saved up our money so we could travel to Walterston to ask if you would take us as apprentices. We were dismayed of course to learn you’d left Walterston, but as we followed you on the road to Clancy Vail, we kept hearing even more stories about your skill.” Realizing he was babbling on so she couldn’t get a word in edgewise, Hareh paused to see if she’d say anything in response.

  To his consternation, she said, “My name’s Vyrda Soh.” Then she turned and held her hand out to the second oldest woman in the little group and said,

  “This is Eva Hyllis. I’m studying under her and I must say,” she smiled, “that nothing you’ve heard about her is probably quite as good as the reality.”

  Hareh turned his astonished eyes to the real Eva. She was studying him intently. She said, “You’re from Cooperstown?”­

  Unusually at a loss for words, Hareh nodded.

  “Do you know Marissa Gaynor?”

  Startled, Hareh nodded, “She’s my mother. Though her married name’s Ruen—”

  His words were cut off when the famous Eva Hyllis took two strides forward to throw her arms around him.

  Squeezing him tightly, head buried in his shoulder, Ms. Hyllis said with a sob, “I’m your aunt! Marissa’s my sister!” She pushed Hareh back to arm’s length to study his face, “How is she? I’m always saying I’ve got t
o ­go see her, but…” she got a distant look in her eyes, “it’s so far.” She looked into his eyes again, “It’s horrible to say, but I haven’t talked to my own sister for twenty years.”

  “She’s…” Hareh’d almost said “okay,” out of habit, but it wouldn’t have been true. “She’s been sick. The local healers say it’s cancer. They shake their rattles, chant their prayers and ask for their money, but my mother doesn’t get better. She’s why I’m…” he swallowed against the lump in his throat, “She’s why I want to be a healer. A real healer.” Heart in his throat, he said, “I pushed my friends here to come looking for you now rather than later because I’ve been hoping you have a cancer medicine I can take back to her?” Earnestly, he said, “I’d come back to attend your school afterward…” His voice croaked, “Whether she gets better or not.”

  Eva Hyllis’s face had crumpled and her eyes welled with tears. “I’ll come with you,” she choked out, then sobbed. She turned to the handsome young man behind her, “Tarc, will you come with me?”

  He nodded…

  The End

  Hope you liked the book!

  To find other books by the author try Laury.Dahners.com.

  Or his Amazon Author page

  Author’s Afterword

  This is a comment on the “science” in this science fiction novel. I’ve always been partial to science fiction that poses a “what if” question. Not everything in the story has to be scientifically plausible, but you suspend your disbelief regarding one or two things that aren’t thought to be possible. Essentially you ask, “what if” something (such as faster than light travel) were possible, how might that change our world?

  I think the rest of the science in a science fiction story should be as real as possible.

  So, in this story, the central question continues to be what even weak telekinetic, teleportation, and telepathic powers would let you do. This story delves deeper into the medical applications of such abilities (which seem endless) and the moral and ethical ramifications of using them (which are frightening).

  Acknowledgments

  I would like to acknowledge the editing and advice of Gail Gilman, Nora Dahners, Clay Boyd, Paul Carroll, H. Jeff Durham, Scott McNay, and Abiola Streete, each of whom significantly improved this story.