Disclaimer: The esteemed Mercedes Lackey owns all pertaining to Valdemar, Velgarth, Heralds and Companions. I do not.
A/N: What do you do when you're blocked? Go back and do a rewrite of one already written!
Chapter 4: Healing Truths
It wasn't that much later, if the angle of the sun was anything to go by, that I returned to myself, sitting slightly stiff in my bed. The first thing I noticed was that my bruises were gone. Not just faded but gone. Ok, I could live with that. The second thing I noticed was the non pounding of the brain casing. Ahh, to feel human again. I stretched, popping joints and a few stray muscles back into place. So, now I was ready. First though to find some clothes. I stood, still feeling a bit wobbly, but definitely better than when I had got up the first time. I looked around and saw the armoire in one corner. Alright then, I quickly walked over to it.
Aha! There they were. My bag was in the bottom. But it wasn't really my bag. It looked like a hiker's back pack with all of the aluminum supports removed and tie closures instead of the zippers it had. Oh well, I shrugged and picked it up, tossing it easily on the bed. It was way too light to be holding the stuff I'd had in it. So, I opened it and began digging through.
There were my changes of clothes, extra socks, underwear, and my extra blanket. But no matches, lantern, camera, film, binoculars. All of it was gone. Huh? Only the high tech stuff was gone. Everything that could be "transferred" had been. All my clothing, my two water bags (hate canteens I'd bought these at the local reservation), my moccasin hikers and most of my first aid kit were still there. Well, that certainly puts paid to my ideas of getting pictures of Valdemar and taking them back with me. Maybe even a snapshot of a Companion. Wouldn't that be something? Oh well. I pulled out my jeans and a fresh top and got dressed. Ahh that felt good. Jeans that fit well and a sport top with built in sports bra. At least the elastic survived the shift. So. On go the clothes off goes the nightgown. Now definitely more comfortable. I grabbed the brush that had also come and ran it through my hair. I'd give anything for a mirror. So time to go exploring. I looked through the room first.
Bingo! Mirror hidden in the top drawer of the bedside table. I picked it up and looked at myself. Not too bad considering I had fallen down a mountain. My face was not injured at all. So, brushing out my hair, I found something to hold it back after I had braided it tightly.
Of course, it failed to get noticed by me that just a few short hours -wait measurement switch, new reality, remember?- a few short candlemarks ago my head was ready to fall off and I could barely walk. In fact the heavy, tight braid I had pulled my hair into wasn't causing me pain at all. I could get used to stuff like that.
Done there. Now. I repacked my bag quickly and slung it over my shoulders. My boots were on my feet. I had things packed. I cleaned up what little mess I had made: armoire door closed, side table straightened and mirror put back. So that done, I made the bed real quick and peeked out my door. Nothing, hallway empty. Good.
It also failed to come to my notice that the hall shouldn't have been empty. Ever been in a hospital? Even in the deepest night there is someone roaming the halls. This was evening, so dinner was plausible but not everyone would go at once. That's just silly.
I quickly slipped out of my room and latched the door softly behind me. So, on to the outside. I stole across the floor, whisper quiet. To the outside door. I looked out. No one on the grounds that I could see. But my black clothes would serve me well. The sun was setting in the west creating deep shadows along the buildings. I slunk out of Healers and into the deep shadows along the wall.
Around me, the warm air danced, teasing me with the scents of horses, summer grasses, and herbs in the gardens. Flowers perfumed the air, giving a lightness to the area that it didn't seem to have. In fact, standing there next to Healer's Collegium, I could feel the weightiness, the seriousness of what went on within those walls. It was a pretty odd feeling actually.
Crouching a bit so that I could not be seen through the windows, I stole in what looked to be the direction of the gate. So! Get out of the Palace, into Haven and get lost in the crowd. Out one of the gates and get direction to Errold's Grove. If I was gonna be stuck in Valdemar, dammit, I was gonna be where I wanted to be. Good plan huh?
Remember what I said earlier about the best laid plans? You better believe it, the hands of Fate decided to intervene yet again. Right in front of me in the form of old Stone Face. "Going somewhere are you?" He said stepping out of the shadows and right into my path. He wore a scowl looking down at me. Honestly, if I hadn't grown up with my seven brothers and a mother would could stare down a raging bull, he would have had me shaking. As it was, all I did was quiver a bit.
I held in a squeak of surprise and instead swore very fluently under my breath in the languages my dear military brothers had so nicely taught me. (Not really, but you find out a lot hiding from them and hearing them curse. I don't think I ever learned what the words meant. Don't really think I want to either.) "Alight so I was under guard. Can't blame a girl for trying to get away can you?" That head injury still seemed to have a hold on my tongue though my head felt just fine.
All he did was take my arm and direct me back to Healers. 'Stupid fricking Heralds.' I knew this was going to be a disaster! When we got back in, there was my Healer from earlier looking at me and tapping a foot. You know I hate that pose some women take? Anyways she was standing there looking at me, waiting for some explanation. I just sighed and walked meekly back into my room. I do mean meekly. She scared me more than Stone Face did. Mainly because she was a Healer, who was frowning, and looked highly annoyed with someone. Mainly, me.
After setting down my pack I turned to face the people who were becoming my jailers. They looked at me until the Healer pointedly looked between the door and Alberich. He nodded and left, closing the door softly behind him. 'Well, thanks for that!' I thought to myself. The last thing I was going to do was strip in front of him. Herald or not! The Healer looked at me until I sat down. I did, still grumbling to myself in my head, where I was pretty sure she couldn't hear. They have ethics about that right? She stood there watching me. "Take off your pants. I want to see how you've gotten up and around so quickly with the injuries I know you sustained." I almost winced. She sounded like my mother when she got ticked off.
I grumbled, but complied. Pealing off my jeans, I showed her what she hadn't expected to see, perfectly healed legs with no trace of bruising, scrapes or anything else. She inspected my legs very closely. (Almost too closely if you get my drift, made me a bit twitchy.) I pulled up my jeans when she was done. "Satisfied?" I asked, nastily. (Have I mentioned I'm usually a cranky person when with adults?)
"No," she said, shaking her head. "There is no way you should have been healed like that. Not that quickly and not without Healing which I know no one gave you." She looked at me crossly. "So how did you do it?" She sounded a bit put out with me. Like any of this was my fault! So I said the first thing that came to mind.
I shrugged, buttoning my pants. "Divine intervention?" I asked only semi serious. She snorted obviously not taking me seriously. Well, it was as good an explanation as I had! After all, I'd never actually been Healed before. Certainly not while I was meditating!
She opened the door and nodded to Alberich, obviously seeing no other explanation forthcoming. Like I had one. He nodded back and came back into the room. He looked me up and down and then took my arm again. I barely had time to grab my bag before he dragged me out of the room and towards a low building I assumed from descriptions was the salle. But Alberich wasn't the weapons master anymore Jeri was, at least as far as I knew. Ok, so why was he taking me there?
Not only was he taking me, but I really hate being manhandled. Or girl handled. Or any other type of handled. I didn't struggle though. Alberich actually frightened me. I wasn't about to try out his reputation. No need for this girl to have that demonstrated upon her person!
Our arrival at the salle dragged me out of my thoughts. I wondered if it was just going to be him and I alone, or would there be others waiting for us? I could hear a voice out around the side, calling over the sound of blade on blade. What's-her-face, the noble born Herald, must have been giving lessons. So who was inside waiting for me?
I saw the Companions watching us with interest. I wondered which ones were the ones I had named earlier. Who was who? Alberich just pulled me along. Who the hell did he think he was anyways? I was getting tired of being yanked around, again, once my wandering thoughts came back to the present. Then, I thought about it. This was Stone Face, Knives, the man who had a reputation down near Exile's Gate as one tough mother who had never had to pull his sword yet. So I went meekly along. No need to get myself killed right? Well, not yet at any rate.
He dragged me into the salle and into the backroom, which, if I remembered correctly were still his rooms. He opened the door and pushed me inside. I stumbled a bit crossing the threshold and went to open my mouth about the rough treatment, when my mind finally caught on to all the figures in white sitting around. They were all gathered about, some standing, some not. So I stood there as well, arms crossed, awaiting the interrogation. Alberich closed the door behind us and pushed me into a chair, leaning against the door. No escape there.
Have I mentioned I don't like being handled. I may have been small (at five-five and a mere one-forty, I was small) but a little respect please!
"I caught her trying to sneak out." He said softly, though I was sure the whole room heard it. Their eyes all turned to me. I kept my mouth shut. It seemed the head injury was wearing off. If they wanted answers, dammit, they could ask for them.
"Well, Sarana, I must say you have arrived here under some unusual circumstances." One of the figures in white, though hers was rather a bit more ornate and a skirt and shirt, rather than the pants the others wore. She had to be Selenay. I saw the others from my room earlier and bit back a groan. Could I fake polite? "So why don't you tell us all you understand, about your situation." She was being very polite. So I guess I had to fake it.
I looked around the room. The lounging figure of a rather large cat caught my eye. The guy next to him wore robes of the priestly persuasion. I knew who they were. They'd work. "Altra, would you do me the kindness of invading my head for a bit while I explain things?" I turned to look at Stone Face. He'd have to do. He was the only one I remembered could do the second level. For what I had to say, I wanted no doubts at all. "Herald Alberich, the second level truth spell if you would be so kind." Then I sat back and began to explain.