Disclaimer: I own nothing. Mercedes Lackey owns everything. I just write about it for fun.
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Chapter 4: Awakening
"Kill her!" the Priest cried. The Clan began to chant. "Kill the demon! Kill the demon!" Kira tried to run, but she was surrounded. A pathway opened through the chanting mob, and two lines of people moved through, carrying lighted torches. They began a chant of their own: "Burn her! Burn her!"
As they grew closer, the leader swun her torch close to the brush piled at Kira's feet. In the flickering light, she recognized the face of Trian, her best friend.
Kira awoke with a start. What was happening? She'd been dreaming, she knew that, but she couldn't remember the nightmare.
"So, you're back with us, are you?" said a pleasant voice above her. Kira opened her eyes. A smiling woman with the pale skin of a kallis, a Clan-less one, sat beside her. Kira glanced around. She didn't recognize the large room she was in. Where was she? Why wasn't she at home? Dimly, she recalled riding a horse – had he brought her here? What on earth was going on?
"I'm sure you have lots of questions," the woman interrupted her confused thoughts. "If you'll just tell me a few things about yourself, I'll start explaining while you eat breakfast. I'm sure you're starving."
Kira realized she was ravenous, but it would be incredibly impolite to say so. "Not really," she began, but her stomach growled noisily, cutting her off. Kira ducked her head in embarrassment, a blush staining her dark cheeks.
The woman laughed. "Don't try to lie to a Healer, child," she advised, still chuckling. "You should be hungry if we did our work right. But your meal won't get here for a moment, so let me introduce myself. My name is Deena. Who are you?"
"My name is Kira," she replied. "My Clan lives in the mountains a few days journey from the Valdemaran border."
"Do you speak Valdemaran?" Deena asked, switching languages effortlessly.
"A little," Kira replied, startled by the question. "We were taught for trading."
"Good," Deena said enigmatically, returning to Hardornen. "Let me help you sit up. Here comes your breakfast."
A young woman in pale green robes carried a tray over and set it in front of Kira. She smiled, not speaking as she bustled off to the next bed. Kira looked down at the plate before her. She had only expected porridge, and perhaps a little fresh fruit, but the tray held a bewildering variety. The bread looked like it had been burned, and it had greasy yellow stuff smeared on it. The milk tasted disgusting – what kind of goats did they keep here, anyway? There were other things she didn't recognize, but she didn't dare try any of them, sticking to gruel and fruit. She was still hungry when she finished it.
"I'll get you some more porridge," Deena announced, taking the tray before Kira could protest that it wasn't necessary. When the woman returned, it held only a larger bowl of porridge, more fruit, and some water. Kira began to eat again, this time more slowly.
"Now it's time for those explanations I promised you," Deena said, sitting back down. "Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to tell you everything, but someone will explain the rest to you tomorrow. The first thing you need to know is that you are no longer in Hardorn. You crossed the border into Valdemar several days ago. This is Haven, the capital city of Valdemar, and you are in the House of Healing, which adjoins the Healer's Collegium and is part of the Palace complex."
Kira's hand froze halfway to her mouth. Not in Hardorn? The capital of Valdemar? But … But … She couldn't think. Deena continued to speak, apparently oblivious to her shocked confusion.
"You came in two nights ago. We Healed your arm for you – you don't need a broken arm on top of trying to adjust to a whole new culture – and let you sleep. That's why I was so glad you know some Valdemaran. It's going to make it a lot easier for you to get used to being here."
Kira was far beyond mere confusion now, and her mind wasn't focusing very well. She looked down. Her left arm was totally normal, and she could have sworn that it was broken. "What do you mean, you Healed my arm?" she heard herself saying. She blushed, signing an apology for interrupting.
Deena didn't seem to notice. "Didn't you have Healers?" she asked Kira.
"The Priest knew herb-lore," Kira answered, wondering what the woman meant. "But no herb I've ever heard of could heal a broken arm in less than a month."
"You're right, there isn't one," Deena replied. "But if you don't know about Healing … Well, I'll explain it to you." She settled herself more comfortably in her seat. "You know, I'm sure, that your body has ways to fight of disease? If you get hurt, it can generally fix the problem by itself, over time?"
Kira nodded, unsure where she was going with this. Everyone knew that your totem spirit fought off evil spirits that wanted to hurt your body. What did that have to do with anything?
"Well, normally the body does that very slowly, because it has so many other things it has to do at the same time. Sometimes it almost shuts down entirely so that it can concentrate on fixing whatever's wrong. That's why you sleep a lot when you're sick. What some people who have the talent, or Gift, can to, is to go into a trance and make the body fight off the disease or fix the problem faster than it would be able to do on its own. When I helped Heal you, I used the strength of my body and other energy to help your body to fix your arm, so that it had enough strength to Heal it quickly and still keep you alive. Does that make sense?"
Kira nodded, awed. This woman was very powerful, to be able to touch her totem spirit and use its strength consciously. She must be like a Priest, only not as mighty because she was female. Men were always stronger in the spirit realm.
"All right, then I think it's time for you to go back to sleep. Your body has to recuperate from all the work it did." Deena helped Kira lay back down. Within moments, Kira was deep in slumber.
* * *
"Hey, Tam, wait up!" Deena called, jogging down the hallway to catch up with her friend. Herald Tamara turned to see who was calling her.
"Deena!" she answered, walking back. "I was just looking for you! My class just ended, so I've got the afternoon off. Let's go shopping!"
"Shopping, shopping, shopping," Deena grinned catching up. "Is that all you ever think about? I've got a problem need your help with."
"Sure," Tamara answered, beginning to walk again. "What's up?"
"It's the new Trainee, the one Layvan brought back. You heard about that, didn't you?"
"Of course
I did. Is she OK?"
"Well, we Healed her all right, but we can tell that she's blocking some memory. If that's what she needs to do, that's fine, but those blocks tend to unravel at the worst possible moment. We're not sure exactly what will happen when she breaks through, but we think it'll be bad. And I don't dare pry; she's very shy, from what I could tell. But what I need at the moment is someone to explain things to her. She's from the mountains in Hardorn, and she hadn't even heard of Healers when she got here, let alone Heralds and Companions."
Tamara pursed her lips. "I see what you mean. That does present a problem. I can certainly explain things to her, but the whole blocked memory thing … This really isn't a good time for that."
"Is it ever?" Deena sighed. "Anyway, I don't dare bother the Queen's Own with all the worries she's got, but you're a Mindspeaker …"
"And you figure that she might let something slip that I could Hear that might help us figure out how to help her?" Tam smiled. "Sure, I can do that. When do you want me?"
"Well, she went back to sleep. She shouldn't wake up until this evening. So, if you still want to go shopping …" It was Deena's turn to smile as her friend grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door.
"What are we waiting for?" Tamara exclaimed excitedly. "Let's go!"
