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I was discovering that I could tell fairly consistently what sort of thoughts Lydia was having, at least in a general sense on the surface, so I knew she had just resolved herself somehow, as we entered the headquarters tent at last.
Sadly, it wasn’t a good time to ask her what her resolve was all about. As the ranking person in our party, I had to pay attention to the room, and the officers turning to face us. The activity continued after we entered, as most seemed not to have noticed us.
I would expect a couple women in Atian visiting dresses, flared with multiple petticoats, accompanied by a royal knight escort and maids in train, to elicit more curiosity, but those crewing this room were clearly very busy, and even more clearly, very tired.
I singled out the ranking officer, who was one of those who had actually noticed us, curtseyed toward him and declared, “I am Tiana Pendor, Colonel. Might I have the pleasure of your name?”
My last name did not change upon marriage for two reasons. First, I’m the heiress of the Duchy. And second, Rod has no surname to change it to, anyway. The Royals of Orestania have only their names and an appellation. He used to be “Roderick Secundus, Prince of the House of Atius and Son of His Majesty, Owen the Second, King of Orestania”, and now he is “Roderick Fraternus, Royal Prince of the House of Atius, Viceroy of the South and Brother of His Majesty, Gerald the Fifth, King of Orestania.”
In the military, he would have the surname “Atian” on the payroll, but nobody is going to call him that.
Here in Pendor, in the Duchy’s records, he is just “Prince Roderick, Lady Tiana’s husband.”
That’s all. Since he has no last name, that’s his full, official name here. And once I am duchess, he will become just “Roderick, The Prince Consort.”
Apparently, when my father was Duke, my mother was “Princess”.
Well, ironically, she was a princess of fairy, anyway. I guess we’re carrying on some sort of family tradition, here, since Rod is already “Prince”.
The colonel in question looked shocked for just a moment, then seemed to notice Mireia and Sir Topas, which no doubt served as a confirmation of my claim, since she had been here before. He snapped to attention with a well-executed salute.
“My Lady!”
A lieutenant nearby also went to attention while calling loudly, “Her Ladyship Tiana is present! AttenTION!”
Which of course brought the whole room to an immediate halt.
I did my best not to show my embarrassment, since in the military I had never been anything but a mere royal knight squire with an acting rank of brevet lieutenant, which is as close to random nobody as you can be in the army and still be something resembling an officer.
I did not return their salute though, as neither was I a serving royal knight anymore nor was I a military officer. I was their civilian commander in chief, so my job was to acknowledge them in that fashion.
Giving them all my curtsey, I commanded, “Be at ease, all of you, and please return to your very important work.”
While sending glances toward each other, the personnel in the tent went back to what they had been doing. The colonel dropped his salute and stated, “I am Colonel Adet, Commander, 107th Hospital Company, My Lady.”
I nodded. “I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Colonel Adet. I believe you have met Sir Topas and Lady Mireia already. This is Lady Halet of the Royal Knights.”
The two Pendor house knights had stayed outside the tent entrance and I didn’t introduce the maids. It might sound obnoxious or snobbish, but that isn’t done in a formal setting.
“My Ladies, Sir Topas,” he stated, inclining his head toward them in turn. Then, returning his attention to me, he asked, “To what matter do I owe the great pleasure of your noble company, My Lady?”
Which was an awfully flowery way to ask, What do you want? And it might read like sarcasm, but I think he was speaking quite sincerely.
I smiled and nodded. “We heard about the wounded who are incoming due to the battle yesterday in Gattes. Lady Mireia has proffered her assistance to your people in the past, so I brought her around to do so again.”
<And you can help, as well,> Lydia chimed in suddenly.
I almost blinked with surprise, but managed to control my face. I asked her, <What?>
<I’ll explain later.>
Could I really?
When she was teaching me magic, Captain Sirth told me I was able to cast [Healing], but she said it would be better for me to wait until my little monsters were out of my womb. The Healing mana would cause them pain, because of its corrosive effect on miasma. Apparently I just tolerated it whenever I did it. But Lydia seemed quite confident I could help. I wondered what exactly she had in mind.
The colonel summarized the situation. They had riverboats steaming up-river and four flights incoming, all loaded with patients. The frantic activity we witnessed when we entered was mostly them trying to figure out how to handle the sudden influx. They had not had such an influx before; when they first set up the hospital, the medical personnel arrived to treat the wounded who were already on hand.
They had never worked out a process to receive new wounded. Lady Mireia became very upset when she heard this.
“Is that why your emergency room is the parking lot?” she demanded. “Are you going to receive patience in the rain if a storm comes?”
Her sudden feisty attitude surprised me a little. She’s normally such a sweet, placid soul. Although I’ve certainly noticed some serious fortitude hidden away beneath her mild manner.
“My Lady, we put the triage here because it’s central to the hospital, but there are no tents that will fit that space…”
“And it’s too crowded and about to get much more crowded, yes?” she stated, cutting him off with her chin raised. “And have you considered yet how far you’ll have to move the patients to reach it when the riverboats arrive? The birds might be able to land in front of this place, but the boats cannot. The landing is some distance away from here.”
He blinked, as if he was drawing a blank.
Had he seriously not thought of that yet? This man was a colonel in the Pendorian Army!
As he fumbled his way through a reply while trying to regain the initiative against an angry girl, Lydia spoke to me and I paid attention to her, instead.
<Everyone in this room looks like they haven’t slept for a long time, My Lady. Perhaps they’ve been awake since yesterday. Have Lady Mireia cast [Restoration].>
<Huh? What’s that?>
I knew that Rhea had made her learn about all the basic spells, and when to use them, so it would be one of those, but I had never heard of it.
She explained, <[Restoration] uses Healing mana, so you mustn’t cast it yourself. You must have Lady Mireia do it. I don’t understand such matters well, but I can see in your thoughts that their work is vital, and the healers depend upon them. They need their whole spirit, My Lady. [Restoration] will invigorate them.>
I turned to Mireia, but felt complicated with the idea of just commanding her, so instead I asked, “Would you be willing to cast [Restoration] on the personnel here?”
“My Lady?” the colonel inquired with confusion. Then tried to argue, “Surely, My Lady Mireia’s healing would be better spent on the wounded!”
Ignoring him, I noted, “The doctors and nurses are likely working in shifts, but these staffers running the hospital appear as though they’ve been on task since yesterday. I fear their decision making has become greatly impaired.”
“My…” the colonel cut off as my eyes flicked sharply his way. He finally remembered who he was arguing with.
Mireia nodded, also not looking the colonel’s way, and replied, “I think that sounds like a very good use of my abilities, My Lady.”
I heard her response with a little relief. I had feared it might be a strange thing to ask, since I don’t actually know what [Restoration] is, but she seemed to consider it reasonable.
Mireia immediately told the colonel, “Please excuse me, Sir,” and reached out for him. However, she hesitated, frozen for a moment, then turned and asked me, “May I borrow your fan, My Lady?”
That surprised me. I had learned the other day that she uses a short willow wand as a focus for Light magic, but practices ‘laying on of hands’ when she heals. Did she mean to use my fan as a focus?
But as I pulled it out, I gave it a good look for the first time and realized it might just be an extremely high-quality magic focus! I had thought it was just a stupidly luxurious fan, and I wondered at myself for buying it, when I’m not normally given to luxuries.
After I handed it to her, she told the colonel, “Please have everyone stop what they are doing for a moment.”
He turned to the lieutenant nearby and nodded, and the junior officer in turn barked, “Everyone, give Lady Mireia your attention, immediately!”
The room stopped again, and all surprised eyes turned toward my cute Servant, who looked a trifle intimidated suddenly. But she resolutely held up my fan and intoned, “Heaven’s anthem of blessing / Breathes upon the weary. / Restore their hope and strength, / [Area Restoration]!”
I felt a sudden cocoon surround me, wrapping me in a mysterious force. I can’t describe it but I could definitely feel it. At the same time I felt a rush of [Healing] through my channel, and felt the complex form for the spell within my mind as that mana transformed and flowed elsewhere instead of entering my mana pathways. It only entered the world through me but never actually traveled through my body before escaping elsewhere.
I recognized in my [Fairy Sense] that elsewhere was Mireia’s pathways. It blossomed through her from the fan, shining with bright white light as the magic flowed from it into everyone else in the room.
The mysteriously unidentifiable, inexplicable cocoon prevented it from reaching me.
The next moment after the magic finished saw the pressure bearing down on everyone’s shoulders suddenly vanish. They all straightened a bit, their eyes filled with astonishment and their pneuma visibly strengthening in my [Fairy Sight].
I don’t think this was a spell anyone in this room had ever heard of, before. I certainly hadn’t. Of course, I never even heard of [Restoration] before this, but this, a spell requiring a focus and a chant, would be level three magic.
And I had never, ever heard of a third level [Healing] spell.
Forcing myself not to stare at her in astonishment, because I felt like I needed to maintain my dignity as her Mistress and the Lady Heiress of the Duchy, I turned to Mireia and stated in the silence, “Thank you, My Lady.”
Then I turned to the room and raised my voice to tell everyone the same words I had given them before. “Be at ease, all of you, and return to your very important work. My soldiers are depending upon you.”
My words broke the [Petrification] spell that seemed to have been cast upon them, and they quickly resumed their work.
Resuming my normal voice, I said to the colonel. “Now, Colonel Adet, returning to our conversation. Should we consider the best location of the triage with respect to the incoming riverboats?”
He blinked, put his mind in order, and nodded briskly. “I see your point, My Ladies. I’ll begin the arrangements to move the triage to the river landing immediately.”
Mireia added, “With tents, in case of rain. I noticed several had been removed already.”
“Absolutely,” he confirmed.
And I added, “In the meantime, can you consider the best place for My Lady to practice her skills today and grant us permission to go there?”
“My Lady, I wouldn’t presume to tell you where you can go in your own duchy!” he protested.
“I’ll not trod on the authority of my unit commanders within their units, Colonel,” I told him sternly. “Kindly grant your permission or tell me why not.”
I hate nobility who walk in and pull rank on military commanders. It caused too many situations to turn sour during my time in Lang Doria. Fortunately, I suspect most of the nobles who did that would be on the rebel side now.
The colonel’s eyebrows raised, then he nodded. “Permission granted. I’ll have Lieutenant Theobald direct you.”
