Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Do I Get Healing Powers, Too?

It’s a grim tableau.

Lamant stretched out on an examining table, bleeding from the mouth, coughing up blood.

Three hyper vigilant healers working on him.

My fellow beasts and I gathered around our tamers, our family. Looking on, helpless.

Minette prevailing upon the healers to DO SOMETHING and asking questions.

Vedette and Kaline holding each other, trying to comfort each other. Kaline trying to be strong, impenetrable at times, and Vedette acting as if Kaline is made of glass.

Maartenwitz, summoning strength from within, standing by offering everything he can think of, from a glass of water to a prayer to the Healing Gods.

The only one absent is Niall, who opted to stay behind and comb through Lamant’s study for clues, especially those that would seem to indicate a curse at work. Peridot stuck with him, ready to assist him however she could.

I hope they find something. Maybe we all should have stayed behind, too, to hunt for clues. On the other hand, we didn’t detect anything when we spoke to him earlier. Too absorbed in our quest. Tunnel vision. We were oblivious!

Demos swipes at me with his paw, hard enough to sting but not gouge. [Stop that caterwauling. You’re going to upset everyone.]

I bare my teeth. [I can caterwaul if I want to.]

[Fine, then go out of this room and do it!] Demos snaps his jaws shut, inches from my cheek.

Lobo wedges between us and pries us apart. [This is no time for your quarreling!]

Gussie’s wings beat the air, trying to intimidate us into behaving. [Lobo is right. I tire of you always fighting!]

Chastened, Demos and I brush up against each other and lick each other by way of apology.

I make an overture of peace. [The Master will be fine.]

Demos sticks his nose up in the air and puffs out his fur. [He is a Riddlehoeven. He is head of our house. Of course he will be fine.]

[We should have seen something. Why didn’t we?] I flick my ears. My whiskers feel itchy, probably from stress. [We were so bound and determined to go-]

[Stop that.] Lobo bares his teeth aggressively. [That is HUMAN thinking. Always fretting about what is in the past. The present moment is all that counts.]

[Lobo is right.] Gussie is earnest, her big parrot eyes seeming to pop out with how earnest she is. [We can brood just like a human about what we might have done and waste hours and hours, or we can be here in the present for our tamer family and for each other.]

They’re right. Of course. Little do they know that I didn’t lose my human need to brood over my perceived mistakes when I reincarnated.

[He’ll be fine.] I raise my ears and tail and look less woebegone. [Master Riddlehoeven is strong. Do we know what it is yet?]

[I’ve been trying to hear, but they all just shoo me away.] Gussie flits about, a bundle of nervous energy and feathers, with no outlet. [If they’d just tell us something. If we had an oracle…]

Of course. An oracle.

System? Is Lamant going to make it? PLEASE say yes. Was he poisoned?

[Your friends are right, Blaze. Making yourself crazy with regret won’t do anybody any good. Your family needs your comfort now, not your panic.]

Thanks for grounding me. I feel more based. Now, tell me about Lamant!

[I don’t know if he will make it.]

What? This makes no sense! Compute something else! This does not compute. You are the System. You know everything!

[I cannot say whether or not Lamant will live because there are multiple story paths at this point. Multiple branches.]

Well, which ones lead to Lamant getting better? There has to be something we can do!

[New Quest: Save Lamant.]

Now we’re talking! System! What is wrong with Lamant?

“Poison.”

The word rings out, coming not from the System, but from one of the healers, a dark drow elf with long wihite hair in several braids. Normally, drow elves prefer the underground and the shadows, but this elf always wanted to heal and likes the sun, from what I gather. And he also has a loud voice for such distressing news.

“Poison! Lamant has been poisoned! How?” Minette’s voice is unnaturally calm. “Who did this?”

“Stay back, Mistress,” the drow elf healer tells her. “We are still examining him.”

“Master Taba,” Minette begins. “That is my husband. I need to be by his side.” She smells like pepper and turmeric in her controlled. fury.

I growl, low, and turn to Demos. [Who is he? I didn’t really notice any of the healers before when I’ve been sick or injured. Who does he think he is?]

Demos grunts. [The chief healer, for the household Carimium Taba. He’s decent, I suppose. Never had any complaints, except his hands are always cold. Typical drow elf. But he always seemed competent enough.]

Lobo woofs. [We’ll see about that.]

After trying to spy on the treatments, Gussie darts away, an orange and red missile shooting back to us. [He’s certainly not very accommodating! Won’t even let me near Master Riddlehoeven.]

My eyes flash. [We’ll get him later. Did you overhear anything else from the healers?]

Gussie sounds frustrated. [Nothing. And I TRIED. Believe me.]

Master Taba deals with Minette in a way that reminds me of every doctor I disliked as a child in the human world. “You’re of no use to him. You’re in my way.”

The other healers try to blunt his sharp edges. “We’re doing everything we can,” one of them says. “Just step back, Mistress. You can be close by, though. He needs you.”

“Absolutely not. She’ll make it worse,” Master Taba huffs.

Vedette shouts, “You work for US. How dare you speak to my mother like that?”

Kaline’s face is full of crimson fury, and her anger floods me like a lava flow. “Who do you think you are?”

“I’m the chief healer–”

I growl, letting out my fury, and rush at him. So does Lobo. Demos joins in, a three-pronged attack. Not to be outdone, Gussie dive-bombs him so he’s forced back.

Minette faces off against Master Taba. “I assume your stubbornness is because you are trying to provide the best care for my husband, so I will overlook it and we will stay back. But in future, remember that nerves and emotions are raw, and my daughters are watching.”

“They don’t need to be here, or the beasts,” Master Taba says, turning back to his patient.

Looking down his nose at Master Taba, Maartenwitz clearly has no use for the man right now. I am liking Maartenwitz more and more, and he’s not even the doctor! “Mistress Riddleoheven SHOULD be by his side. So should his daughters. And the beasts are thought to have powerful healing energy.”

System, is that true? Do I get healing powers, too?

[You can acquire Healing Mastery as you level up, but Maartenwitz is right. That will teach you to judge people by appearances!]

Very funny, System. But I suppose I deserved that. So, Maartenwitz is right about beasts healing their tamers. Specifically, how do beasts heal them?

[Oh, it’s not limited to their tamers. You can channel healing energy THROUGH your tamer, and Kaline being a natural little healer–]

WHAT? I’m sorry, System, could you repeat that?

[Kaline has some healing abilities that have remained untapped. They’re subconscious, really, because she is so young. But she does have the potential. This is where the bond between beast and tamer can work miracles. Vedette has some of those abilities too. And Minette.]

What about Lamant? Can Gussie use their bond to heal him?

[Now you’re using your head!]

Meanwhile, Master Taba has backed down. While Minette, my Kaline, and Vedette stay back with us, Master Taba and the other healer don’t object to them being reasonably close by so that Lamant can sense their presence and feel supported.

But we can do so much more than support him. Maybe we can use our energy to help heal him! I communicate my idea to Demos, Gussie, and Lobo.

Gussie is off like an arrow shot from a bow. [I knew that healer didn’t know what he was talking about, trying to keep us away!]

Demos and Lobo rumble in agreement, trying to sound as healing and boosting as they can. Vedette and Minette lean in, holding up their hands and focusing on Lamant. Violet and golden vapor slowly materializes from their hands and drifts toward Lamant quietly, unseen by Master Taba, who has tunnel vision mixing antidotes. He also doesn’t notice Lobo and Demos sending tiny puffs of vapor as well.

“It would help if I knew what this poison was,” Master Taba mutters. “There are many poisons and curses that could cause these symptoms such as unconsciousness and coughing up blood, but I must know which one afflicts him.”

“Master Widdershins should be back any moment,” Minette replies, impatience in her voice.

[Kaline!] I nudge my Young Miss. [Let’s try healing your father together. Even if we don’t know what’s wrong, it’s worth a try. Do like your mother and sister are doing!]

A tiny pause. Kalen sounds resolute. [Of course, Blaze! I’ll do anything to save my father.]

Time to be a healer!

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