Chapter 36

Nico looked between his father and Mama-Afi with such a forlorn expression it almost broke Afiona's heart. :I don't want to go!:

:Sweetie, you have to.: Afiona insisted. :I have to stay here with Papa and help the hurt people.:

:I be good!: Nico pleaded.

:This might have been easier if you had convinced Medren or Stefen to leave too.: Daric observed.

"Nico, I know you want to stay, but there are going to be a lot of hurt people here. I know you Feel the ones we have now. It doesn't Feel good, does it?" Afiona said.

:No.: Nico admitted.

"More would just feel worse." Afiona explained. "That's why I want you to go to Haven. I promise I'll come to you as fast as I can and talk to you every night, alright?"

Nico hung his head. :You don't go to Demon, you come to me.: He said in surrender.

"I will." Afiona promised.

:And Papa stay here and keep you safe.: Nico insisted.

Afiona looked up at her Companion. "I'll keep him safe too."

:And you come home fast.: Nico persisted.

"As fast as we can." Afiona agreed.

:I go.: Nico said with a sigh. :You help the hurt people then come home too.:

"We will." Afiona scratched his ears. "And you be good."

Nico snorted. :I'm almost always good.:

Afiona and Daric exchanged amused glances. "Yes, almost always." Afiona agreed.

:Cuddle now.: Nico declared as he buried his face in Afiona's chest.

Afiona was grateful he no longer tried to sit on her lap to cuddle. Stroking his neck and scratching his ears she tried to comfort him.

:Good thing he leaves in the morning or he'd probably convince me to change my mind.: Afiona said to Daric. :Maybe we should go too, he's just a baby.:

:Afiona, we have a duty to stay here and help where we can.: Daric reminded her.

:Right, bring duty into this.: Afiona groused. "Why don't we go find some toys and you can play in my office while I work." She suggested.

Nico raised his head and looked thoughtful for a moment before hurrying to the cottage and collecting his ragged, Companion shaped toy and his blankie before leading the way to the office tent.

:I'm going to miss him.: Afiona said as she blinked back tears. :They better hurry up and finish this bloody war.:

Nico had his pack of toys strapped securely to his back and a halter on with his star charm attached and was ready to go. Afiona had braided his mane so it would stay neat and groomed him until he gleamed like a young star.

There were three other Companions heading back with their Chosen who would spend months recovering in Haven to keep an eye on Nico. Tika was as nervous as a cat in a dog kennel but she was insisting she was ready to take on the responsibility of the Companions that were still in Haven. Many of the young Chosen had been sent home if it was safe and those left behind were mostly acting as messengers in the north so there were few Companions to worry about.

"Take care of my baby." Afiona ordered Tika.

Tika smiled indulgently. "Of c-c-course I will."

"He's grazing now so you don't need to worry about bottles but you still have to keep an eye on him and make sure he's not just eating flowers." Afiona continued.

"I know. You t-told me l-last night." Tika reminded her.

"Right." Afiona sighed. "You be good for Tika, alright? And I'll try to tell you a story every night."

Nico bobbed his head in agreement and rubbed his head on her chest. :Love you always.:

"Love you always, too." Afiona blinked back tears. "Now get going or you're going to have to run to catch up."

Nico had large crystalline tears running down his cheeks as he obediently followed Tika with his head hanging low.

Afiona buried her face in Daric's neck. :If they don't end this bloody fighting I am going to just leave, I swear.:

:You won't. I know you would never leave where you were needed even if it meant you were in danger.: Daric corrected. :Pull yourself together, here comes the walking corpse.:

:Stop calling him that.: Afiona said as she raised her head and wiped her eyes.

"How do you propose to do your job if you're way over here?" Seviot demanded.

"Go to hell." Afiona growled. "And stay out of my way."

He stopped in his tracks at the fierce expression on her face.

"If I hear one more word from you I will do something I'll regret tomorrow but enjoy today. Am I clear?" Afiona stalked up to him until she was just inches from him.

He took several steps back before his face hardened. "I will inform the Circle of this."

Daric stepped forward and bared his teeth. :Let's race to Haven then and see if you can run faster scared than I can mad.:

He blanched at Daric's obvious menace and quickly retreated.

:We should stop threatening him.: Afiona said as she leaned against Daric's shoulder. She could Feel his anger and frustration at the entire situation and wasn't too surprised he had broken the rules to speak to Seviot.

:You're right, we should make them promises.: Daric snorted angrily. :Everyone else knows you asked Shain to put in an extra candlemark so you could see Nico off. He just had to go and say something. You know, I feel like a little exercise, I'll see to it he's out of your hair for a candlemark at least.:

:Daric, you are not going to chase him.: Afiona said firmly.

Daric heaved a sigh. :Very well, what do you propose I do?:

:Go see if Mia needs your help getting those rookies ready for battle.: Afiona suggested. :This is just the calm before the storm.:

"I have relieved her of duty but she refuses to step down!" Seviot complained to the exhausted looking Healer twice Afiona's years.

Afiona stopped next to the new arrival. "You're in the tent." She reminded him calmly.

He looked at her then at the new Healer. "You're her senior!"

The older man sighed and looked to Afiona for an explanation.

"He disturbs my Healers so I banned him from the tent." Afiona explained as she gestured for two soldiers to come drag Seviot from her presence. "I have some tents pitched and ready for you and the others so you can catch a few candlemarks sleep and some food. After we can arrange a schedule for all the Healers."

"Thank you." He said tiredly. "But I want our patients settled first."

Afiona nodded. "I moved those who could be moved from out of the main tent until the tents you brought could be pitched, thankfully it isn't too hot today. We can put the most critical cases in there and get the others in the shade with some water and out of the way of the rest of the army."

He nodded. "I've heard nothing but good from those who have served here under you. I was surprised since this is your first time in charge of a camp."

"I bet they were surprised too." Afiona said wryly. "Shall we get started bedding everyone down so you can get some rest before the next emergency?"

He nodded. "I'm Healer Leander."

"Healer Afiona." She returned the introduction. "Shall we get to work?"

It took over a candlemark to get those in the worst shape tucked in on cots in the tents and the ones who could wait outside under the trees but it was accomplished with minimal chaos. The bulk of the army was still arriving and pitching tents everywhere the land had been cleared for farming, trampling the fields. There was a bit of a slope down that became the new edge of camp, Afiona had never realized even this camp was placed on a high ground

Afiona had ordered all of her Healers to take this eight-candlemark shift so the others could get a well earned and desperately needed rest. After all, they were, for the majority, younger than the Healers arriving and better able to put in a sixteen-candlemark day and still be at their best the next morning.

Afiona collapsed into her chair and rested her forehead on her folded arms careful not to disturb Healer Leander sleeping on the cot next to the table, the closest thing she could manage to a tent of his own.

"Not bad, girl." He said without opening his eyes.

Afiona raised her head. "Oh, I know. They're a good bunch. I'm proud of them."

"Which is why you've fought tooth and nail to keep in control here?" He asked as he sat up.

"No. If the Circle asks me to step aside or if it's for the greater good I would bow out gladly. My problem is with that narrow minded creep who's been harassing my Healers in an attempt to disgrace me." Afiona snapped. "I've tried to chase him out of the camp but my authority only extends to the tents."

Leander cocked an eyebrow. "So, if I asked to be the Senior Healer at this camp you'd step aside?"

"You want it, you can have it." Afiona invited.

"You're welcome to keep it." Leander laughed. "Hate the position myself. I was glad to hear there was already a competent command structure in place here."

"I better explain everything then." Afiona said as she located her portfolio of patients. "One thing I insist on is a written record."

"When you have a hundred wounded being hauled in you don't have time to write down what you did." Leander protested.

"Oh, I know, but I am more worried about the drug dependencies we've been seeing." Afiona explained. "We have Bard Stefen here and when he can he plays in the tents. I've had my Healers studying him and many can do painblocks now."

"Really?" Leander said with obvious interest. "I only have three who can do it."

"They can do it with a minimal waste of energy so when possible we painblock." Afiona handed him the portfolio. "As you can see we make note of who has signs of dependency on the drugs. We keep the drug cabinets locked and only the supervising Healers on shift have the keys. Of course we haven't had floods of wounded so it's worked for us."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Leander nodded as he read through the lists.

"I have the shifts of Healers staggered so not everyone is exhausted at once. That was Healer Shain's idea, he's my night supervisor." Afiona handed him the previous week's schedule. "In an emergency everyone is expected to pitch in, of course, but I can't just let them work till they drop. We need functional Healers to handle the next day."

"I don't know how long this will last with battles and such." Leander warned.

"Perhaps it would be better if you were in charge." Afiona said worriedly.

"No, no, not necessary. We'll just leave the schedule as a guide line." He said quickly. "How many of your wounded will be back on their feet within a week?"

Afiona considered it for several seconds. "Depends on how badly yours need hands on healing. Most of ours are to the point they can recover nicely on their own. Just a few we have had to worry about and those I want to send to Haven as soon as possible."

"I'm afraid most of mine could use some healing sessions." Leander admitted.

"Hey, Mama-Afi!" Shain hollered and stuck his head in the tent. "Hello sir. Afi, we've got a list for you."

Leander was obviously surprised. "Already?"

"Certainly." Shain flopped down in the chair and handed the pages to Afiona. "Anyone mention she's the best yet? She is. She single handedly took a camp full of rookies that were only here for basic training and made a functioning unit out of them. And those rumors about her being a killer are pure bull. She's the sweetest, gentlest creature alive."

Afiona shook her head. "Aren't you doing it a little thick?"

"Nah." Shain propped his feet up on the desk. "Now since you are busy ironing out the details I got bossy and started the others checking bandages and splints. We also passed out a bunch of games to keep them occupied while the new tents are set up. We do have an even dozen Heralds for you to convince to stay put."

"She can get the Heralds to stay put?" Leander said in disbelief.

"You have to talk to their Companions." Afiona explained. "They'll listen to their Companions."

"Speaking of Companions, the girls over in the barn say they are out of room." Shain informed her.

:Daric?: Afiona called.

:Already on it. If I recall correctly roughly half can be outside so long as they take it easy.: Daric answered. :I'll just make certain they know to not roll or go in the river if they have stitches.:

:That'll be great, thanks.: Afiona looked to the men. "Taken care of."

"How…" Leander looked confused.

"She has mindspeech so she can talk to the Heralds and have them move the Companions." Shain explained.

Afiona was surprised at his explanation but ignored it. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, have you talked to Nico?" Shain asked.

"Last night I told him a story." Afiona said. "He says he misses everyone."

"We miss him too." Shain said with a fond smile.

"Nico being the Companion colt you raised?" Leander asked.

"Raising." Afiona corrected.

"Raising then." Leander said affably. "Where is he?"

"In Haven." Afiona said sadly. "Now that we're the front it's too dangerous for him here."

"But she still makes time to use mind speech to talk to him every night if only for a few minutes." Shain explained. "Even though she can't really afford the energy it takes."

Afiona glared at him. "That is quite enough out of you."

Shain ignored her. "Why don't I give you the royal tour, from bedskirts to bed pans, and explain the rules while Mama-Afi gets those Heralds settled?"

"That would be good." Leander stood stiffly.

"We've been using a lot of home remedies here." Shain said as he stood as well. "You should try the liniment. Works miracles when you're stiff."

"Do you have some handy?" Leander asked hopefully. "I'm not used to riding."

"That we do." Shain assured him and led the way out of the office.

Afiona sighed and stood as well. Stef slipped in before she could leave.

"Swamped again?" He asked lightly. "Need help?"

"Medren and Mia at it again?" Afiona asked.

"The pair of them is driving me out of my wits." Stef admitted. "They're each trying to thinking up the most saccharine love song for some challenge they have tonight. I lay the blame at your door of course. You had to meddle."

"I could use some help wrestling the hard headed Heralds." Afiona said. "Unless you want to play for a while?"

Stefen held up raw, red fingertips. "I played for the arrival."

"I thought I heard a harp." Afiona said as she caught one hand and examined the damage. "Later I'll see what I can do about these. For now we can go see about those Heralds. Don't over use that gift of yours, the Bardic circle would have my greens if I damaged their Master Bard."

"I'm hardly that important." Stefen protested.

"As if I'll believe that." Afiona said as she led the way outside. "Maybe one of the Heralds will have a heroic tale for you. I think one of the battles recently went our way."

Afiona was checking over the Companions when Leander found her again.

"The boy is right, you don't stop even for supper." He commented.

Afiona put down the hoof she was examining. "I ate."

"When?" He challenged.

Afiona started to say only a candlemark earlier but it was after sunset now so it was much longer than that, or it could have been the day before. "Recently." She said finally.

"No one has seen you near the mess tent since before we arrived." He corrected. "The Companions can wait until tomorrow, we have some questions to ask."

Afiona glanced at her current patient. She snorted and butted her head against Afiona hard enough to send her stumbling a few steps. "Guess I've been told." She said lightly. "What kind of questions?"

"Mostly about how you run things." Leander said as he picked up her bag of healer paraphernalia. "I'm afraid of lot of it will be a matter of teaching old dogs new tricks when we just don't have time."

"I was thinking about that actually." Afiona said as she started towards the Healers tents. "There are just too many of us for us to keep my system, and my original Healers are all young so they can adapt easy enough."

"I noticed you don't have specific healers assigned to patients." Leander said. "Aren't you worried that someone might be lost in the shuffle?"

"My Healers are all either fresh into their greens or have been working on specialties so none have the background to be the sole Healer for many of our patients. The supervisor must check over each patient every shift and I have an empath on duty at all times who is expected to watch for any signs of distress. The empaths have sensed several that took a turn for the worse or slipped into comas by investigating what feel like blank spots. Now that I have more experienced Healers I can arrange teams. Have an veteran overseeing several patients with younger Healers to help share the load of hands on healing."

Leander nodded excitedly. "No sense having the younglings folding bandages when all they need is a little guidance."

"Exactly!" Afiona exclaimed. It was clear Leander approved of her methods, which was a relief after Seviot's constant criticism. "I'm afraid I'll need a list of everyone you brought."

Leander groaned. "More lists? Shain showed me at least a half dozen lists this afternoon."

"More lists." Afiona confirmed. "If we make a leather portfolio for each team that would make more sense than one massive one, wouldn't it?"

"I'm glad it's you and not me who has to keep track of all the papers." Leander said sincerely.

Afiona and Leander were still tossing back and forth ideas on how to arrange the collection of Healers at their disposal when they reached the swamped mess tent to find chaos. Isric, one of Afiona's Healers, was being held back by several other young healers as he shouted insults and was trying his level best to reach a new arrival that was shouting to others. She heard comments about lax discipline and poor examples from the older Healers that were standing back watching.

"Mama-Afi!" One of the young Healers pushed her way to Afiona. "You have to talk to Isric before he does something foolish!"

Afiona quickly became the focus of majority of eyes in the room. Straightening her shoulders almost imperceptibly she strode to Isric, who stopped struggling when he saw her coming.

"What have I said from the first day?" Afiona asked him quietly.

"That if you have a problem with someone deal with it in private." Isric answered dutifully.

"Then why are you trying to get into a fight, of all things, in the mess tent?" Afiona asked.

Isric looked down at the ground and didn't answer.

"They were bad mouthing you." One of the other Healers answered on his behalf. "Isric was just trying to defend you."

"Ah." Afiona turned to the Healer Isric had been trying so hard to reach. "Then you broke the rules first."

An angry murmur swept through the crowd.

"Isric, you get laundry duty, you should know better than to lash out like that. I want you to wash every sheet personally from tent two." Afiona informed the young Healer. It was a dreaded duty due to the hot water and harsh soap. There was a group of civilians that were normally responsible for it but it made a convenient punishment. Turning to the other guilty party she was unsurprised to meet a baleful glare. "I know you were apprised of the rules so you have no excuse. You get all the sheets from tent one."

He opened his mouth to protest.

"Don't argue." A younger healer advised. "She'll make it worse."

"I answer to Leander." He said stiffly.

"Correction, you used to answer to Leander, now you answer to me." Afiona corrected. "Now both of you get to the laundry tents and start scrubbing. And Isric, I want to talk to you tomorrow, alright?"

He nodded and hurried from the tent.

"You I want in my office at dawn." Afiona informed the other Healer as she walked away.

Leander was still standing by the door looking concerned. "Not an auspicious start. "I missed what you said to them."

"I gave them laundry duty and reminded them that if they have a problem to handle it in private." Afiona explained.

"What were they fighting over?" Leander asked.

"Me." Afiona said simply.

Around them everyone was sitting back down. Afiona filled a plate and took a seat closest to the door.

"I suppose we should have expected it." Leander said thoughtfully. "Boys are prone to strutting and posing to catch a lady's eye."

Afiona shook her head. "They weren't trying to catch my eye. Apparently Isric took offense to some comments made about my rather notorious past."

"Oh, you mean that traitor!" Leander said in understanding. "Seviot was going on about that too. I wasn't there so I only heard about it in rumor."

"The rumor is fairly close to the truth." Afiona admitted. "I refused to help him."

"Why?" Leander asked. "You don't strike me as the type to refuse to treat someone. You even treated some Karsites today without so much as blinking."

"He was my brother." Afiona said uncomfortably. "We were both bastards, welcome only as long as we didn't rock the boat too much. Because he had no magic and no gifts whatsoever he was basically considered worthless. It really bothered him that me, a female and younger than him, was considered more valuable because someday I would be a healer."

"So, what did he do?" Leander asked.

Afiona didn't notice the half dozen or so other Healers that had fallen silent to listen.

"He beat me." Afiona said simply. "I was about five the last time. When I woke up the Healer declared me damaged which made me worthless."

Leander frowned fiercely. "I can't believe your parents just sat back and allowed that to happen."

"I never knew my mother, and my father couldn't care less." Afiona shrugged. "Afterwards it was actually better."

"Exactly how did the healer say you were damaged?" Leander asked. "I've seen no signs of any damage to your mind."

"I wouldn't talk." Afiona admitted. "Before I was even completely recovered my father and his family died. Herald Vanyel took out the entire lot of them. I was spared because I was a potential Healer, not a mage. Half the servants fled that night. My brother included."

"Did the Healer?" Leander asked, still frowning. A few years ago she would have been frightened.

"I imagine so, I don't remember him after that." Afiona shrugged. "Eventually I went to live with my cousin, Tashir. I didn't see my brother again until not long before I left there for Haven. He was plotting to kill my cousin and pin it on me. I was injured when he escaped."

"I assumed he was the one who injured you. What did he do?" Leander prodded.

"Stabbed me in the lower back. He escaped while the others stopped to help me but there was still enough evidence for Tashir to make a Judgment against him. Attempted murder, assault, anything he could think of. Then last winter Gelird showed up again."

"And he finally found justice." Leander rested his elbows on the table and stared thoughtfully into space. "Sounds like he was a mad man to me. And a sadistic one at that."

"I did try choking him." Afiona admitted. "He fired a crossbow bolt at me, hit Demon with the crossbow, and I just reacted but it was Daric who finally saved me."

:You also stabbed his arm, remember?: Daric

"Understandable, even a Healer has a right to defend herself." Leander said dismissively. "Have to wonder what he did during those years though."

"Nothing pleasant." Afiona winced at the memories of what she had witnessed.

"Why didn't you explain that to everyone?" Leander asked.

"Why should I? They saw Daric pounding him into the snow." Afiona pointed out. "Besides, what's your first thought about a Healer that has had troubles such as that in the past?"

"You have a point." The older, gray haired woman next to her said making Afiona jump. "They would've worried about your stability until a Mind Healer had a look at you. I don't know why it became such as issue though."

Afiona looked around and noticed for the first time how many were watching her like a specimen and blushed.

"There was probably something feeding them flames." An older man commented.

"My choice to heal animals primarily was not appreciated by the Circle." Afiona said.

"You were healing humans today though." Leander said with some confusion.

"That is a necessity." Afiona explained. "Given a choice I still wouldn't."

Leander shook his head slowly. "How we use our gifts are always our choice but I can see how that would be frustrating to watch; like watching a master painter who only whitewashes walls."

Afiona shrugged. "Healing isn't even my strongest gift." She admitted.

"Oh?" Leander leaned forward. "Please don't say it's Firestarting."

"No, I have mindspeech, farsight, and animal mindspeech. All are stronger then my healing gifts." Afiona explained.

"Odd combination." Leander observed. "It's not unusual for a Healer to have mind speech but Farsight is rare, especially strong Farsight. Who taught you?"

"Mostly I'm self taught." Afiona admitted.

"How long have your gifts been active?" The woman on her right asked.

"As long as I can remember." Afiona said with a shrug. She never really wondered when her gifts manifested; they were always just there.

"Makes sense, traumatic childhoods do tend to make gifts manifest early." The older woman nodded thoughtfully. "They should be glad you don't have a more dangerous gift."

:Chosen, the Lord Marshall is looking for you.: Daric interrupted.

"I have to go." Afiona stood a hurried out the door leaving her plate of food nearly untouched.

Behind her the older Healers waited until she was out of sight before they discussed her tale amongst themselves. A few others leaned forward to hear the conversation.

By the time the next shift start everyone had heard at least part of her story.