Haley of Galla settled herself more comfortably on her horse as she moved onto the grass.
"Where are you going Haley?"
"I think that is obvious" She says pointing to a dirty stream in front of her.
"And what are you going to do drink it" Haley turns and looks at a middle aged man with brown hair down to his shoulder. She whips her own red brown hair ( same length) out of her hazel eyes, and met his own brown eyes.
"Of course not, I'm not that stupid Blaine, I'm going to clean it"
"You really think you can clean that whole stream." Haley dismounts and pats her dappled gray horse softly on the nose.
"Be nice and wait here Charmer" She whispers. She throws a quick glance at Blaine and then walks over to the stream. She kneels down, taking no notice of the mud that is now on her robe. She slowly places her hands above the water as they start to glow a deep blue green. She whispers a few words and her Gift flows into the river. She closes her eyes and relaxes, her hands still in the water. A few moments later she pulls her hands from the river and dries them on her robe.
"Do you really think you cleaned the river?" Blaine asks Haley leans down and takes a drink from the river. She stands up and smiles at Blaine
"If you would care to try some" She says mockingly, swinging her arms to take in the whole river. Blaine rides over as she is turning and hits her off the head lightly.
"That's enough showing off" Blaine remarks but he dismounts all the same. He walks over to the river as Haley watches carefully. He quickly leans down and touches the water. His hand glows a pale yellow for a moment before he scoops some water into his hand and takes a sip. He stands and mounts his horse again. "Let's go" He turns toward the road, then looks over his shoulder at Haley. She is standing by the river still, holding part of her robe in her hand as she looks up river. Blaine rides over and looks down the river himself. He smiles when he sees that all she was looking at was all the peasants from a nearby town drinking from the river. He moves toward the road again as he says "Why are you surprised you knew they were thirsty."
"I didn't know there were so many" Haley says quietly.
"Well now you know, come we are late in reaching our destination already"
"Your right" Haley slowly moves over the Charmer and mounts up clumsily. 'She's too young to be doing this' Blaine thinks as they start down the road 'She is so powerful at 13 though' He thinks.
A few hours later a large manor comes into view.
"Thank goodness" Haley remarks "My bottom was starting to get sore again" Blaine smiles but ignores the comment.
"Do you remember what this place is called?"
"Of course, Galador right" Haley looks at the far fields which are bare. "What happened to their crops?" She asks
"They were destroyed in a fire remember, when the Scanra first attacked."
"Oh yah, but that was about 2 years ago"
"That doesn't mean they didn't attack again."
"That' s true" Haley remarks. She stares closer at the field "They look like they were set fire to a couple of hours ago, and there is still a battle to the far west" She says Blaine looks and he sees a faint notice of the fire and the battle.
"True, we better hurry in and see if they need us" Blaine looks at Haley as she yawns "And you need to sleep"
"Noooott really" Haley says amid another yawn. They head inside and see a lot of kids hurrying around the stable.
"What are they doing here?" Haley asks
"They are probably the pages from the castle."
"Oh" Haley dismounts and leads Charmer far into the stable "While they took all the closer stalls" She complains
"Do you need a stall?" A girl with long brown hair dressed in the page uniform asks
"Yes please" Haley says following the girl to an empty stall. Haley leads Charmer in and tries to unsaddle Charmer.
"Would you like some help?" the page girl asks
"Why not" Hayle replies. The page moves to the other side of Charmer and helps. When they are all done Haley holds out a hand to the page girl.
"Thank you my name is Haley"
"Your welcome, I'm Selena" the girl replies. Haley yawns
"If you'll excuse me" Blaine says walking into the stall "Haley needs to rest now"
"Not really, you know I need to get used to using this much energy" Haley says
"You used a lot more energy than you think" Blaine says as he walks Haley out of the stall giving a polite nod to Selena "When you cleaned that stream you cleaned all the wells it is connected too"
"Oh" Haley says as she yawns.
"See" Blaine says as he gently leads Haley into the main house. He leads Haley to a nicely furnished room and then leaves. Haley unpacks her night clothes, leaving a clean robe near by, just in case it is needed. (she does this every night) She changes and finishes getting ready before climbing into bed.
Haley awakes to the light shining in her eyes. She sits up and looks out the window as she adjusts to the light. After a moment she gets out of the bed and moves across the room. She lights the fire, trying not to use her gift so she can store it. She dresses slowly in a light skirt and shirt then wanders over to the window. She looks far over all the land and when she is sure that there is no fighting she heads out of the room. She almost walks straight into Selena.
"Morning Selena what are you doing here" Haley asks
"Blaine sent me to bring you to breakfast"
"Oh that's cool" Haley says as they start walking down the hall.
"So why are you here?" Selena asks
"I could ask you the same" Haley says
"You first"
"I have no clue, I was told that I was needed here to help " Haley says,
"Oh, we're here for our annual summer trip, we go to a different place every year and this year we came here to help"
"I see" 'too bad I can't know how I'm going to help' Haley thinks. They are silent for the rest of the walk to the mess hall and after Selena shows Haley where to get some food and where to sit Selena leaves. When Haley is done she wanders until she finds her way outside. When she finds her way to the stable again she sees Blaine moving toward her.
"I need to talk to you." Blaine says
"About?"
"What you are here to do?"
"Yah I was wondering that myself"
"Then come on" Blaine leads Haley inside and to a big conference type room. As they walk in Haley sees a tough looking woman in a sergeants outfit.
"Hello Buri" Blaine says moving toward the women
"Is this Haley" Buri asks looking Haley over carefully
"Yes it is."
"Sit down Haley, we need to talk"
"As I've heard" Haley comments sitting down a couple of seats down from Buri.
"We need to discuss what you are going to be doing while your here"
"I was told that I would be getting a chance to work on my fighting spells"
"Not really" Blaine says
"What do you mean?"
"We need you to be our healer, and help a few pages with their healing." Buri replies
"But.."
"That is your job for now, it's either that or you go back" Blaine says
"Fine" Haley reluctantly agrees hoping that she can fight later.
"Good" Buri calls a servant in "Can you please fetch Selena of Galador and Yuvonne of Kalafir."
"Yes Mam" The servant leaves and their is silence in the room. Haley tries to come up with a good argument but nothing comes to mind. After a couple of moments a young girl, about 11 with blond hair comes in.
"You called" She says bowing like the pages do. Haley notices her outfit is the pages practice uniform.
"Take a seat" Buri says indicating a chair across from Blaine. The girl sits and a moment later Selena walks in, bows, and settles down.
"I have heard that you girls are exceptional at healing" Buri inquires, watching them with a curious look in her eyes.
"Yes" The girls reply
"Do you think you could help regularly with the healing?"
"But where are the healers" The blond girl asks
"They are all over, but a few of them will be here in a couple of days" Buri smiles "Don't worry you won't be alone Yuvonne"
"Good" Yuvonne says with a little relieved smile.
"Is that all we will be doing?" Selena asks
"Don't worry you'll have your own action, you might have to go right to the field to help."
"Oh"
"Haley here," Haley waves at the girls trying to act happy "Will be teaching you some healing techniques"
A couple of minutes later the girls are in the hall, having been kicked out when some soldiers appeared.
"Would you like to start now?" Hayle asks the girls
"Sure" Yuvonne replies. They head outside the walls and Haley asks Selena to lead them to the head healer of the town. After a hurried conversation with the healer Haley and the girls start to work on the soldiers already brought in. Haley shows the girls how to mend arrow wounds and they try it themselves. After they wander through the wounded soldier and the two girls tend to arrow wounds as Haley takes care of critical wounds. After a couple of hours Haley tells the girls to get some food and go to bed, making sure they promise to meet her in the morning. After they leave Haley goes from bed to bed tending to the wounded before the other healer comes back and takes over. Haley gets herself some food then tracks down Blaine with a new question.
"What are you going to be doing while we are here?" Haley asks as soon as she is close enough to talk to him.
"I am going to be helping with their agricultural needs, and helping with protecting"
"Then who is going to be fighting them with the gift"
"No one until another mage comes"
"But I can do it, you know that"
"No, I know you haven't actually performed any of the spells for fighting"
"What do you know?" Haley says stomping off. She goes straight to the stable and after caring for Charmer ( just little things, the servants already took care of most of it) Haley goes to her room and goes to bed.