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Other magic users have levels to classify their relative proficiency in their arts, but healers are not normally rated using that system. The reason is simple: for the great majority, their spells, if assessed using the definitions applied to elemental magic, are all ‘level one’, with the only upgrade, an enhancement of those same spells when a focus (which healers like Melione use at all times but those like Mireia use only rarely) becomes a necessity due to the nature of the mana stream, being technically ‘level two’.
The miracle we had witnessed, of a healer intoning a magic chant and launching a spell through a magic focus, would be described in elemental magic theory as a ‘level three spell’, but nobody, to my knowledge, has ever heard of a healer using a chant. All Healing magic is done via a simple word of invocation.
Instead of mastering spells of higher complexity as mages do, the upward mobility of a healer lies in a simple, unquantifiable escalation in power. Melione, by that standard, was already an unusual strong healer when I was adventuring with her. She could cast strong healing and did it for far longer than most.
But healers have an upward path open to them other than a simple increase in magic brawn. A healer can acquire ‘divine powers’ and become a healing priestess. Theoretically, that is what Mireia did when she became Rhea’s priestess. But according to Mireia, the Servant of an Elder is actually the Elder’s priestess, and ‘divine powers’ are simply the same pathway as the bond between myself and her.
Normally that bond is forged between the priest and their patron deity. Rather than actually making Mireia her priestess, Rhea is simply ‘borrowing’ her while she continues to derive her powers from me. The mana flow I feel coming through my channel without entering my body is my act of granting my divine assistance to her.
It’s a very strange thought to have. I don’t think I’m fit to be anybody’s goddess.
The gloom was gone and many of the patients were being carried off to normal recovery wards. Between purifying the miasma and curing what she could with divine [Healing], far surpassing the abilities of typical Military healers, Mireia was repairing what the normal course of healing might have taken days to accomplish. The hospital now had room for the new patients flowing in.
It was fortunate that not all incoming patients had to come here. Most had wounds that weren’t operable, such as burns and concussive injuries, that would be going elsewhere.
It was my job to simply be a grease that eased Mireia’s ability to move through the camp, it seemed. I could have been her ‘goddess’ from anywhere, since my channel exists on a spiritual level having nothing to do with location. But Mireia was already known to the hospital commanders, and didn’t need much grease in the first place. I was beginning to wonder why Lydia insisted we come.
No, as much good as Mireia was achieving, that was a silly thought. Lydia had been traumatized by the numbers she heard of the number of wounded, so it was only human that she wanted to help somehow.
<No, My Lady. Although you are not wrong, I did have another purpose,> Lydia stated. <While being fascinated by her work, I had almost lost track of it.>
When Lydia said this, we were nearly done with the second postoperative ward– there were two– and Mireia was nearing the end of her almost limitless capacity. Becoming my Servant had greatly expanded both her power and endurance, but she did have a cutoff point, and I could see her pneuma beginning to flag. Fortunately, we were at the last patient in the ward.
“Mir, pace yourself and don’t overdo it,” I cautioned.
As Mireia nodded in response while continuing to cast, I responded to Lydia. <What purpose? Mir is at her limit, so we will be leaving soon.>
<This location was in need of Mireia’s skills, so I was waiting until she finishes,> she explained. I wondered if that was an excuse, because she’d just admitted to almost losing track.
<It really is the reason I waited. I was looking for a different sort of patient. In your conversations with Theobald, he mentioned the ‘burn ward’. A place for healing burn victims should be a good place for you to go next.>
I frowned, looking with [Fairy Sight] at Mireia’s flagging pneuma. <That might be a stretch. I suppose I could carry Mireia if she goes past her limit…>
<Mireia can rest, My Lady,> Lydia said firmly. <We shall be exercising your powers>
I caught no images from her with that statement, so I had no idea what ‘powers’ she intended for me to exercise. I had learned a few light spells from Mireia, and picked up some Healing magic that I wasn’t allowed to cast, and that was it.
But I trusted her and told Theobald, “As soon as we are done here, take us to that burn ward you mentioned earlier.”
Mireia looked up at me with an expression that said she wanted to retort, then stopped herself, pulled in a breath, nodded and went back to her work. I could reconstruct her thoughts easily. She wanted to say she was too tired to take on the burn patients, then resolved herself to suck it up and go a little longer, then turned her mind back to the patient.
“You’ll be done for the day when you finish here, Mir,” I told her while suppressing a laugh. “I simply want to visit the patients there.”
“I can probably do a little more,” she said with an uncertain voice.
“Let’s hold your last drop for emergencies, My Lady,” I told her firmly. “It’s not good for you to run yourself out.”
She gave me a blank look as she finished, then smirked slightly and said, “You really shouldn’t be the one telling me that, My Lady. Although I guess you don’t remember doing exactly that.”
I grimaced slightly at her complaint. I didn’t remember my fight with Shindzha, but I certainly had been lectured about it by more than one concerned loved one. Including Mireia.
So, my only retort was, “What applies to me applies to you as well, so behave.”
“Hmph,” she said with a cute little smirk.
The burn ward was as disturbing as I feared. I’ve never dealt well with disfigured human faces. Fairies and vampires both have a strong fascination with beauty, which makes the destruction of it more disturbing to us than to humans. Although I know that humans tend to have trouble looking upon the badly maimed as well.
But Mother insisted that I not have a cold and uncaring heart that turns away from the afflicted. She had brought me many times as a child to hospitals that she supported to ensure I understood the pains that humans must endure, and she had even done through great effort what few fairies have sufficient desire to do, cultivating the ability to cast Healing mana. That’s why I know she would certainly have her soldiers’ backs here, no matter how scarred they had become. I was resolved to be her reliable surrogate for them.
That’s why I forced myself to show only a benevolent face to my fallen warriors as we entered.
Mireia sighed as she walked along the beds beside me. “I’ve already done as much as I can for most of these soldiers, My Lady. I’m afraid burns are very difficult to cure with [Healing] after the first hours after injury have passed.”
Flames often show up during combat with demons and demonic beasts. Dragons are the best known example, of course, but quite a number of demonic beasts use fire, and demons often enslave monstrous beasts with fire weapons as well. But humans can catch and harness fire-breathing monsters too, and recently, the rebel side had begun bringing beast handlers into combat in large numbers. The battle had produced some new patients.
“Oh!” Mireia said as she noticed such a new patient. She rushed to the bedside of a man with sergeant stripes but very little that was recognizably human remaining on his face. He was clearly a new arrival. The nurse attending him was using enchanted mana spring moss to dab at his burns, trying to remove dirt stuck to them with its cleansing properties, so he didn’t currently have any bandages.
With distress, I saw that he had no nose. His eyes and his outer ears also were completely gone, and his hair up to the crown of his scalp. The smell of burnt human being clung to him, too. He must have caught a flame weapon directly in the face.
<Oh, so terrible,> Lydia mourned. She sounded like she would faint if she could. <It’s worse than a leper nearing death.>
I caught a flash in her head of a horrific disease that I don’t believe is found on Huade. I certainly hope it isn’t, considering the image in her mind.
“I think I can manage a little more,” Mir said, with uncertainty creeping into her voice.
She absolutely couldn’t, I saw with one glance using [Fairy Sight]. She had nothing like enough to make a difference for this man.
“Mir, stop immediately,” I ordered as I felt the stirrings of Healing mana in my channel. She looked up at me and stopped.
“You can’t,” I stressed, then turned to the confused nurse and stated, “I am Lady Tiana Pendor, at your service. Please continue your work and forgive the disturbance. She is a healer, but she has already worked her way through two postoperative wards. She mustn’t stretch herself further.”
The woman’s eyes filled with awe when she heard my name, but, as a good professional with a job to do, she recovered quickly. And, as a personal aside, I approve of how she turned away from me and returned to cleaning the wounds rather than stopping and making a fuss because of who her visitor was.
With a nod, she stated, while keeping her eyes on her work, “I know Lady Mireia, My Lady. She has helped us here before. I am grateful for your visit.”
“May I know your name?”
“I am Nurse Eldis, My Lady.”
<My Lady, this is what we came for,> Lydia stated, composing herself. <It is now time for your lesson.>
“My…” I started, and caught myself and retorted, <My what?>
<What you shall need for this lesson, My Lady, is an abundance of Dark mana,> she stated. <You possess the spell that can heal this.>
I simply stared at the patient as the nurse and Mireia both watched me with confusion, while I wondered how to respond.
<I cannot cast [Healing] without hurting my babies,> I reminded her.
<You cannot use Healing mana, My Lady. I distinctly recall saying ‘Dark mana’.>
<But how can Dark mana help?>
<While I dreamt, the goddess taught me certain Dark magic spells that are known to Shindzha, your hellspawn Servant. They included a spell which you learned from her only moments before you collapsed and lost your memories. You cast it back upon her, saving her life, so it is known that you can cast it.>
“My Lady?” the nurse wondered.
“Please be patient, Miss Eldis. I am thinking,” I told her, and continued to stare at the patient, mostly because I wasn’t sure what would show in my eyes if I looked at either Eldis or Mireia.
<Only moments?> I asked, a bit worried. <Are you certain that casting this magic had nothing to do with my memory loss?>
<It definitely did not,> she declared without hesitation. <And the goddess was adamant that I teach you this particular spell, My Lady. She wants you to learn more, but this one you need for your own safety, as you cannot use Healing for the time being.>
I swallowed, then nodded. <Right. I’ll be counting on you, Teacher.>
<Quite,> she replied with amusement. <First, you will need your fan.>
I had received it back from Mireia after she did the purification. My confidence was non-existent, but Lydia’s faith in the Goddess, who it seemed was a deity she had already believed in, even in her previous world, rang too strongly inside me for me to doubt her. I took out my fan and opened it.
