by J. P. Larson
So I did something I'd done before. I lit up the top of the tent. Then I added more balls of light to the top of some of the nearby structures.
That got some attention.
"My house is burning!" one man said. "She lit my house on fire!"
"Your house is unharmed," I replied. "It glows with the same light as I have placed upon my tent. But if you find it distressing and fetch a ladder, I will climb up there and take the magic away again."
"Can't you do it from here?" he asked.
"I'm sorry. I can throw my magic from here, but then, just like if it were a ball, I must go pick it up in my hand if I do not wish to leave it there."
"So if I don't find a ladder for you, my house will glow like that forever?"
"No, only a day or two," I said. "It fades."
"Use your magic to fly up there!" a woman suggested.
"Oh, now wouldn't that be grand magic!" I said. "Magus Eva, do you have that ability?"
"I wish I did," she replied.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I can cast the light spell, and I can cast a great many healing spells. Flying is beyond me. But if you're really upset about the spell, then I truly am sorry. No one has complained before."
The man moved closer, looking between me and the top of his house.
"You're a small thing," he observed.
"That I am," I agreed. "Good healing comes in small packages."
He smiled for a moment at that. "It won't hurt the house."
"Not at all. Here." I cast it again and then placed it on my hand so my hand glowed. "See? Want one?"
He clasped my wrist and looked at my hand, then gingerly touched the glowing light. "It's not even warm."
"Sometimes I make jewelry," I said. "It is difficult for a sorceress to wear real jewelry, but I can do this." I made another light spell and Eva held still while I applied it to one lobe then turned her head so I could do the other.
"That might keep her awake tonight," said the woman who suggested I fly to the top of the house.
"It might if I didn't turn it off before bedtime," I replied. "At school, I used to put the magic on the end of a stick and then I could carry it around like a candle, but it didn't flicker or start a fire if I knocked it over."
It took a few more minutes, then one of the women admitted she had a chronic cough and asked me if I could cure it.
"I can take a look," I said.
"And what does this look cost me?" she asked dubiously.
"Not a thing," I said, "beyond a few minutes of your time and perhaps a smile afterwards. The queen pays us, ma'am, whether we cure your ailments or not. I'd rather cure them than not. Everyone wants to feel useful. So really, you'd be doing me a favor."
Eva overheard that and grinned at me. The woman recognized the attempt at manipulation as well, but she grumbled good naturedly and let me draw her into the tent.
"What's your name?" I asked her.
"Fremara," she replied. "What's yours?"
"I am Adept Kia," I said, "but you may simply call me Kia. My friend is Magus Eva. Now, Fremara, I'm going to take a look at you with my magic. I'm sorry, but you won't see a thing. You might feel a small tickle, but please do not be disappointed if you feel nothing."
"Do I have to take off my clothes?"
"If you have anything else you want me to look at, then perhaps. But for a cough, I will take a peek right through your clothes. It is quite scandalous, wouldn't you say?"
"Why you cheeky girl," she said, but she smiled before coughing.
I extended my magic, a simple little "take a peek" spell. Her lungs were clouded, testament to the cough. I didn't care for the look of it, not at all. While I was looking, I checked out the rest of her. For a forty-year-old woman, other than her lungs, she seemed to be in good condition. When I was done looking, I withdrew my magic and told her that without mentioning her age.
"I am worried about your lungs," I said. "I can clear them out, but I worry the original cause will return. This could be nothing, a winter cough. How long have you had it?"
"It came with the worst of the gales this past winter," she said. "And it hasn't gone away since."
That actually offered some relief to my concerns. It wasn't chronic, although the duration was definitely a problem.
"Fremara, I am a blunt person, and I think perhaps you would appreciate that."
"What's wrong with me?"
"As I said, it might just be a winter cough. I can help you clear your lungs, and you should feel better. It might last, but it might not. I wish we were able to stay, and I could keep an eye on you for a week or two, but we're only here until lunch, then we must move on. I have more patients in other villages, and I do not know when I might be back this way. Fremara, if the cough comes back, it could be very serious. Very serious. Do you understand?"
"I understand serious," she said. "How serious."
"With care from a magus healer, not bad. But there is no magus healer here, and the closest are at the school outside Nalori. If it comes back, then you must travel to the school and appeal for help."
"I couldn't afford a trip like that!" she said. "And I couldn't afford to pay a healer."
"The magi at the school would help you without charging you," I said. "They may ask for you to help teach some of the students."
"A student would be my doctor?"
"Possibly, but it would be with a magus looking over her shoulder. Fremara, it might be nothing, even if it comes back, and it might clear up on its own. Or it might kill you. So this is what we're going to do. I'm going to clear your lungs. And then I am going to leave you with a letter. If the cough comes back, then you will either travel to Nalori and visit the healers at the school, or you will post my letter to the school. Do you understand?"
She cocked her head. "Are you trying to cheat me?"
"I am charging you nothing but a smile, and I imagine you can afford that. The healers at the school may charge you with cooperation in teaching the students, but I imagine you can afford that, as well. Now, if the cough stays away, I want you to send me a note and let me know, so I don't worry. You will remember my name?"
"Adept Kia," she said. "Yes. Send the note to Northmere School of Magic."
"Exactly. They will hold it for me."
She cocked her head. "Magi have a certain reputation."
I smiled. "Oh?"
"For arrogance."
I laughed. "Ah, yes. That reputation. It is well earned. Do I not strike you as arrogant?"
"No, you do not."
"I should work on that. I wouldn't want to spoil the reputation of all magi by being too nice. Perhaps I should scowl more." I put on a scowl, and Fremara laughed.
"Now, let's see about clearing your lungs out. When I did my looking around, you probably didn't feel that, but this you will definitely feel."
"Will it hurt?"
"No, but it is going to feel very, very odd, and your lungs may tickle." I paused. "If you have too much difficulty holding still, I can cast a spell that makes you relax, but it is disconcerting the first time. It is a spell that Magus Eva enjoys casting on me with great frequency."
"You need healing frequently?"
"No. She enjoys tickling me, and the spell makes me very, very relaxed."
Fremara laughed again.
"All right. It will take me a moment to prepare this spell. You should ignore my unusual antics." And then I began building the spell. This was a common spell to cast, but it was amongst the more complicated healing spells I used, and it took nearly two minutes to prepare. Finally I turned to her.
"All right, my spell is ready. Is my patient ready?"
She nodded. I collected one of my ceramic bowls to receive the contents of her lungs, and then I sent my spell into her.
She gave a startled expression then opened her mouth. I encouraged her to bend over the bowl, and then, without coughing on her part, her lungs began to empty into the bowl. It took fifteen or twenty seconds, and then I ended the
spell. She leaned back, gasping for a moment, but even from here, I could tell she was breathing better.
"I didn't like that," she admitted. But she took several deep breaths. "But I can breathe far more easily."
"Good," I said. "I'm going to take another look now." And I did. Her lungs looked better, but I wasn't at all confident they would remain clear.
I set the bowl aside. I would clean it out before the next patient. Then I collected paper and wrote a note to Quartain. "Senior Magus Quartain, I have examined a patient from Livendar named Fremara. She complained about a cough, and when I examined her, I discovered her lungs were clouded. I have cleared her lungs, but I may not have eradicated the cause. She will post this letter if the cough returns. Please find a way to help her come to you for more thorough healing. Kia."
I inserted it into an envelope and addressed it before handing it back. "If the cough comes back, and you cannot find your way to the school yourself, post the letter."
"You beg a favor on my behalf."
"Yes, Fremara, I do. As long as I am a healer of Ordeen, this country will deny healing to no one in need. But the magi are few, and the villages are many. We cannot be everywhere. Now, do you have anything else you would like me to address?"
She looked at me raptly, smiling. "No, Adept Kia," she said.
"Well then," I said. I helped her down from my table and escorted her to the tent opening. "You can do something for me." I pointed her to Eva. "Talk to Eva for a moment, and then tell your fellow villagers I didn't scowl much at all and that you feel better."
She turned to me and hugged me. At first when patients hugged me, it had surprised me. Now it didn't, and I returned the hug warmly. Still, every time it happened, it was hard not to cry a little.
Fremara released me and then looked into my face. "Have I hurt you?"
"When I grew up in my tiny village, much smaller than this one, the other children felt I was weird. I am so small and weak now; you can imagine what I was like when I was twelve. 'Worthless' was the kindest term. Now, I am happy I am able to help people."
She smiled. "You are going to ruin the magi reputation for sure."
"I'll work on that," I replied. I sent her on her way then took care of cleaning the bowl I had used, applying magic to the task. By the time I was done, Lunia asked if I were ready for my next patient.
After that, I entertained a slow but steady stream of patients, some of them coming from the immediate houses, others from the nearby farms. There were all the typical ailments of a fishing village like this, with the most prevalent issues being the various injuries a hard life produces as well as the issues of age. I sold two jars of my salve for the price of the jars and dipped into my casks for three others who couldn't afford even the price of the jars but had other containers to use.
"You do not charge for your salve?" asked one wizened woman.
"Doctor K insists her salves are for all in need," I said. "The jars are dear to her, as she must buy them from a glass blower. So she must charge for those."
"Doctor K is a real person?" she asked.
"Yes," I said. "Can I tell you something in secret?"
The woman leaned closely and nodded.
"She is a friend of the queen herself," I whispered conspiratorially.
We spent longer in Livendar than Eva had budgeted, and when finally we were packing the tent, I apologized to her.
"I would have rushed you if I thought I should," she said. "These people needed you. Perhaps you could spend less time with each of them, but I don't think you should. I spent the entire day talking to the villagers, including your patients. They told me a great many things. None of them require further investigation, but if there was something here to investigate, I am quite sure I would have heard of it."
"If we had a regular circuit like I did in Renway, I would not need to spend so much time. But they come to me so nervous. They may never have seen a magus before, or if they have, it was Magus Erin, and you know how she comes across." Eva nodded knowingly. "They are nervous, and they aren't always willing to tell me enough to find the real cause of their troubles. Some of the old ladies are more than happy to talk about how their feet hurt, but in a village like this, most are very stoic, and it can take time to draw them out."
"You spent a very long time with that first woman."
I explained that one, finally saying, "I am afraid it is another wasting disease, caught early. Eva, how could I rush her? She might die if she doesn't trust us enough to travel to the school."
"Kia, I am not Magus Byseen. Spend the time you need to spend. We have two jobs here, and yours is at least as important as mine. If we catch whiff of something requiring my attention, that might change. If you ask to stay in a single village for two weeks, that might be problematic, but even if it becomes necessary, we can make it work. You didn't ask to stay here for Fremara."
"If she has the wasting disease, then a week wouldn't be long enough, and she must go to where she can be seen every day for several weeks. We could stay a week to watch her, but she can tell if the cough comes back, and I told her what she must do if it does."
And so, shortly after that, we were packed and heading to Yarmore, the next village, arriving much later in the afternoon than we would have liked. But we assembled the tent, and I again sought to charm the villagers. And slowly, patients came to see me.
But the next morning, when we arrived at an inland village called Hazelwood, there were already patients waiting for me. As we rode into town, one called out, "Are you the healers?"
"Adept Kia is the healer," Eva replied. "And she will see you as soon as we can assemble her tent."
I turned to Eva and she grinned. "You work your magic, I work mine."
"What did you do?"
"I gave the villagers at Yarmore our schedule and asked them to spread the word. I guess they did."
After that, drumming up patients was much easier than it had been. Word spread out in front of us, and if we didn't have patients waiting as we pulled in, they had heard good things about us. I still needed to put some effort into reassuring them, but things moved more smoothly.
Still, our trip down the coast took about twice as long as Eva had originally planned. Twice more I asked if we needed to change what we were doing, and she said, "No."
And so, I was happy. I wasn't able to give all the patients all the attention they required, and I left more than one patient with long-term care instructions and hopes the instructions would be followed.
It was two and a half weeks later before we arrived at the southernmost portion of our trip along the coast, and from there, we turned inland. A day later we reached a village called Glenwood. The villages were all melding into each other, one after another, but at Glenwood, we encountered something new.
Glenwood had a village green. Not all villages did, but Glenwood did, and we were invited to set up our tent right on the green. This was common in the villages with a green, and thus we promptly set to our task.
We had just gotten the tent erected when a contingent of villagers approached us. "Here are your patients, Kia," Eva said to me.
As the group grew closer, I realized by the body language it was two contingents; one consisted of a fifty-year-old man and a twenty-year old man who could have been the older man's son. The second contingent was clearly a man, his wife, and their nineteen-year-old daughter.
"I don't think they are here for healing," Loralai muttered.
They came to a stop perhaps a half dozen paces away, the two contingents offering space between them as well. There were a lot of furrowed brows and a few angry looks, and the villagers had an odd look about them. I couldn't have explained it, but they almost looked hungry, but for what, I couldn't tell.
"Magi," said the one man. "Greetings."
Eva stepped forward a small step. "Greetings, residents of Glenwood. I am Magus Eva. This is Adept Kia. Loralai and Lunia are our swordswomen. Adept Kia is here as a healer, but we are also h
ere for any other needs you may have. What can we do for you?"
"Good day, Magus Eva," the man said. "I am Nickor Donetouch. I am the mayor, although I have few duties. Resolving this dispute would normally be one of them, but one of those involved is my son. And so, as we heard a pair of magi would be visiting our village, we have waited for you in hopes you may judge this case."
"I see," said Eva. She glanced at me.
"Is this what you do?" I whispered to her. She nodded.
She looked around. "I presume the entire village knows about the dispute?"
"Yes," Nickor said. "Gwenda has been somewhat vocal in her complaint."
"And this is Gwenda?" Eva asked, gesturing to the young woman.
The other man answered for her. "I am Roland Quicknight," he said. "My wife, Nysteria, and our daughter, Gwenda." Then he pointed at the young man standing five paces to his right. "That ruffian despoiled our daughter!"
"A serious accusation," Eva said calmly. "Is there somewhere we may meet and discuss the issue?"
"The school," Nickor offered. "There are no classes today."
"Lead the way," Eva said.
"Should I stay here?" I asked.
"No, Adept Kia," Eva said. "I find it likely I shall require your counsel."
Oh, goody, I thought. An issue the town couldn't resolve without us, and she wanted my counsel. "I'd rather heal people," I muttered under my breath.
Three minutes later found us, and what appeared to be most of the town, packed into the small schoolhouse. Eva entirely wrested control from Nickor, tasking Loralai and Lunia to maintain order and then asking for a rearrangement of the furniture to better suit her. She demanded paper and writing implements.
Eva took a seat at a table at the front of the room, asking me to sit next to her. She slid the paper to me. "Take notes. Make sure you get the names of anyone who testifies and at least a summary of what is said, as best you can. Interrupt if necessary."
I nodded.
"This is a serious charge," she said. "It is poorly presented, but if this turns ugly, I want notes to send to the queen."