Disclaimer: I don't own nasty fevers that show up along the Border, but I own what happened next.

Anyway, where are we, chapter 27? Now that it's summer, I have more time to update, which is good, because two months between updates isn't all that great. The plot is going somewhere, I'm sort of creating all the loose ends that will eventually tie into my ending, so be patient and all will become clear. I needed to get Karissa both incapacitated and in Haven, preferably in the House of Healing, and, short of illness, it's not so easy to find a legitimate way of injuring a Herald and Companion. In this way, we also got to meet the Herald currently riding the Holderkin circuit, and he will have a part to play later.

In this chapter, we must bear in mind that like Heralds and Bards, some Healers are rather pig headed, although they are all essentially good and helpful people. Just a thought.

Fireblade: Mostly, what's going on with her is her utter inability to allow anyone past her barriers. She also especially doesn't like Healers. We'll get to some more detailed flashbacks about her past in the future, I think.

Tenshi: Thanks! Heh, she'll find herself waking up halfway through Hardorn or something one morning if she doesn't watch herself.

Wizard: Glad you're still reading, yeah, I've been busy with finals and things, but now school's out, so I'm "studying for regents" AKA writing fanfic.

Raynsong: Yup, the Holderkin are plotting nasty plots up there, but I'll sort Karissa out eventually.

Oceanmate: Yes, Karissa is richly deserving of much attention, and I know I haven't updated in a while. For a quick recap, although in a few chapters all will come clear, Karissa doesn't like Healers because when she was young a very close friend of hers died basically before her eyes and she can't help associating Healers and all related symbols with death and misery. She also has an obsessive refusal to be physically or mentally close to anyone and she dislikes feeling helpless, something she also associates with Healers and Healing. As for Treet, although he's a natural Mindhealer, that's not really a path he can go down, since I'm trying to stay on target for a canonical ending. He can and will help Lirain in the future but that will never be his true work.

M3m0rii: Heh, Karissa is one of my favorite characters. Of course, I like them all, so yeah. Glad you're still reading.

Anyways, onwards to the next chapter. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm sort of running out of chapter names, but I'm doing my best. This chapter might even be a fairly long one. I officially sweat blood and tears over this thing trying to make it both believable and dramatic and everything this chapter should, by rights, be. I'm not sure how I did, but I guess we'll find out, because I'm just going to dump it online and not edit any more.

Chapter 27: Arrival

It was a busy day in the House of Healing, even by Treet's standards. The benches which lined the entranceway, usually filled with Healers trying to catch some sort of a nap, were almost all empty, and the somewhat forced utter calmness which, in the House of Healing, was a sign of too many people working on too many patients at the same time, filled the air.

Efficiency, as always, was still the watchword of every Healer in the building. When a Herald was brought in with a bad fever, having been transported all the way from the border, nobody stopped to question this. The nearest free Healer who specialized in fevers and illnesses of all sorts was brought and the new patient was settled into a room.

When the dusty and disheveled Healer who had accompanied the Herald on her journey pulled aside the Healer who was now in charge of her case on his way to her room and informed him of exactly why the Herald had been brought all the way to Haven, the Healer in charge gave him a disdainful look and proceeded into the room anyway. When he emerged a few moments later looking rather disgruntled, he dispatched a messenger. The messenger came back in short order with the senior –and only- Mindhealer and her Trainee. This might have been remarked on, had anyone the time or inclination. Since they didn't, it passed almost unnoticed.

This veritable troop of Healers proceeded into Karissa's room. Rith, never the type to waste words, immediately assessed the situation with a practiced eye.

"Her shields are remarkable, actually. Perhaps we should get her to teach the knack to the rest of the Collegium," Rith laughed.

The dour Healer who had, much to his dismay, found himself in charge of this case, fixed Rith with a glare that utterly failed to quell her. Although he appreciated all that Heralds did for the Kingdom, he rather hated treating them, as they tended to be thoroughly exasperating patients. It looked as though this one would be no exception.

"All I know is that nobody can treat her until someone does something about those shields," the Healer said resolutely.

"It would do better if she were conscious," Rith said. "I'd prefer she deal with the shields by herself, but I imagine she may need some convincing."

"Shan't neither. Don't want to be Healed," Karissa muttered darkly, apparently conscious after all.

"She's been like that all the way here, apparently," the Healer said resignedly. "Perfectly unconscious, but if anyone so much as attempts to Heal her, she'll move land and sea to make her opinions on the subject known."

Rith mentally studied the problem from all angles, which garnered an exasperated snort from the Healer.

"Do you have a suggestion, Healer Thanel?" Rith asked icily. The two of them were not on the best of terms. She saw him as a heavy-handed bungler and he thought her an over sentimental, emotional busybody.

"Her shields can't be too strong for a trained Mindhealer. Shatter them and have done with it," Thanel said irritably. Although his Healing Gift was strong, his Empathy was somewhat less so, and it had turned him rather cold. He usually kept himself away from the more complicated cases, having the good sense to know when he was outclassed.

Rith almost swore at him. "How could I do something like that? Would you have me violate every oath I ever took?"

"You do it all the time to those new Trainees. Doesn't seem to do them any lasting harm," Thanel said callously.

At this comment, even Lirain sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth, forbearing to comment on the subject of lasting harm. If there was one thing that could push Rith into a blind fury, it was an insensitive comment on the subject of her work with new Trainees.

Rith firmly reined in her rising temper; she had no desire to upset the patient. Thanel did good work, but he had no understanding of the finer points of the human mind. There was no malice in him, and much honest wish to help others, but sometimes…

"For one thing, I advise that you keep your opinions away from matters you know nothing about, as I do not take anything of the sort so lightly as to do it 'all the time'. In the second place, do you have any idea how much power is contained within those shields you so casually dismiss? If I shattered them, all of that power would backlash through her mind and if she was lucky enough not to be killed by it, she would have the mind of a mushroom for the remainder of her existence and all of us would have to answer to her Companion and to the King, at the least."

Rith spoke calmly by now, almost dispassionately. She, of all people, couldn't afford to allow her temper free reign. Thanel, on the other hand, was flushed and poised to deliver Rith a set down, unaware of how close she was to the edge. Before he could, however, Rith steered him out of the room. "You yourself sent for me, Thanel, which makes this patient as much my responsibility as yours, and I will not have you upsetting her with your displays of temper. Take yourself off and find a less complicated case to meddle with, there is certainly no lack." With that comment, Rith closed the door in his face and moved to stand beside Lirain. They both looked down at the patient.

"Well, first thing is to treat the symptoms, who knows how long it will be before we can figure out this muddle and get someone competent in here," Rith said briskly.

They moved almost , making no complaint about performing duties not technically theirs, and an idea suddenly occurred to Lirain. "Send for Sera and Treet," she suggested. "Treet knows her and if anyone can get past this mess, it will be him. Sera is experienced enough to make sure he does no harm and he may well do some good." She tried to couch her statement with detachment and almost succeeded. She tried not to realize how vulnerable the usually unassailable Herald Karissa truly was, just as she steered her mind away from the subject of Treet. The strengths of a Mindhealer lay precisely in their human compassion, but detachment was a necessary quality to cultivate as well, she told herself sternly.

Rith, ignoring Lirain's obvious emotional distress for the moment, considered the idea. "That has merit, actually." Lirain and Rith left the room after a few reassuring words to Karissa, who was still obstinately insisting that she would have nothing of any Healers. After finding someone to carry a message, Lirain went off in search of one of her other cases, sternly refusing to bump into Treet.

Treet and Sera, although they should have been the busiest of all, were in fact idle. The Healers currently working had drafted mostly everyone else, but Treet and Sera had been left to deal with any sudden accidents that came in.

Treet sighed. He wondered if Lirain was as busy as he was. They hadn't talked since that night, although he often had the sense that she was very close by, simply out of sight. They weren't fighting, exactly, but he knew she disapproved of his visit to his family. He would be leaving in a few days. When he came back and she saw that nothing bad had happened to him, she would come around, Treet told himself firmly.

Sera, who had responded to a call from another Healer, came running back with the message that they were to take over a difficult case from one of the others. She sent Treet running after the necessary medicines, after briefing him that the patient was a Herald who had fallen ill on circuit with some sort of a fever.

Treet mechanically headed off to fetch appropriate potions and bring them to the correct room, wondering why this unknown Herald had been brought all the way to Haven for treatment, if it was only a fever. Usually, patients with infectious illnesses were moved as little as possible to prevent contamination, and Healing one of them was not generally an overly complicated task.

Treet had his back turned decanting a potion to induce calm rest and reduce headache and fever. As he turned with the potion and approached the figure lying on the bed, he found himself staring directly into a face he recognized, hard edged even in unconsciousness, fringed with ice blonde hair which had been allowed to grow a little, and eyes which he knew, when open, would be a pale blue. The skin, usually pale despite Karissa's active life, seemed full of an unnaturally high color.

Treet staggered backwards in shock, only long practice keeping the potion in his hand from shattering on the floor.

"Tretin, she needs you," Sera said in a tone that could only be identified as command. Sera had known from the beginning, as she made it her business to know whatever might pertain to her Trainees, that Treet knew the Herald being brought back from the border. Ordinarily, she might have spared him, but she knew of his close association with Karissa and also knew that only a Healer with a close tie would have even a leaf's chance in a hurricane of getting past shields of the sort Sera had been appraised of. There was also the small fact, which Sera had learned from Rith immediately after Treet had become her pupil, that Treet was a strong natural Mindhealer. This would do nothing but help the case and to Sera the patient always came first, even at the expense of her own or another Healer's well-being.

"You have no room for sentimentality," Sera continued in a hard voice. "You know how she feels about us, and her shields reflect that feeling in no uncertain terms. Her condition was stable but she has endured being moved here and the weather isn't exactly pleasant, if you hadn't noticed. You'll have to do what you can with her."

Treet's face reflected a deadly uncertainty. He had never done a full Healing by himself, much less on someone he knew, someone he cared about.

Sera's voice softened a little. "I know the stakes seem high to you now, Treet, but the stakes are always high." She took the potion from his unresisting hand and held Karissa's head as she drank it, which Karissa did after the realization that her hand wasn't strong enough to push the mug away.

Treet took a deep, centering breath as he had been taught, trying to close out Karissa's panic, which she was sharing with the entire room, barriers to the contrary. Treet was glad that Sera had insisted that he learn the rudiments of Healing in each discipline, in case something like this came up.

He reached for Karissa's hand, holding it as she tried to pull away. Physical contact tended to make Healing easier, as it created a direct conduit for the energy which needed to flow. Treet was barely himself now, he was apart from fear and uncertainty, he was simply a Healer.

As Karissa felt the deft touch of his Gift, she began to thrash wildly, expending what energy she had left and breaking Treet's concentration. Sera contemplated restraining her and discarded the notion almost before it was fully formed.

:That potion of yours isn't going to do the trick, child.: Veria thought at Treet with exasperated amusement which covered a deep fear for her Chosen.

:Who: Treet, although not a Mindspeaker, formulated the thought clearly in his mind and waited.

:Veria, of course. I'm going to knock her cold. Yes, I can, although it isn't exactly encouraged, and I can keep her completely unconscious until you're through, which leaves you with only her shields to contend with. I'm afraid I cant do much of anything about those.: Veria explained.

A few seconds later, Karissa went limp and the spikes of emotion which had been emanating from her mind faded, a relief to both Treet and Sera. Refusing to allow himself to be distracted, Treet took Karissa's now unresisting hand again.

He didn't have to look for her shields; they bumped into him, bristling with hostility and defiance.

He did the first thing he had been taught to do when treating a Heraldic patient. He formed a small glowing ball of his Healing Gift and proffered it towards the shields, imbued with his sincere desire to help and aid. The shields, if anything, bristled at him even more.

'I am a friend,' he told them wordlessly. They offered back only disbelief. He didn't even have to think. It was as though he knew exactly what to do. He offered the taste of the Waystation where he had unsnarled Karissa's nightmare, the scent of their long days together upon the road. He offered the memories of stories shared and questions answered. He offered their friendship, built hastily but on firm ground, and after an agonizing moment of deliberation, the shields relaxed just slightly. It was enough for him.

With deft mental fingers, Treet probed Karissa's body, looking for infection, which he quickly found. To his eye, it looked as though she hadn't fought it off at all. Her body's defenses lay tired and limp while the fever took over.

The first thing Treet did was inject new vigor into these defenses, feeding them with his own energy and sending them out to fight for him. Then he began to rally them into the worst pockets of infection to destroy them, one by one, crushing the small lives which choked Karissa's own.

He was almost consumed in his passion; he could barely feel Sera diligently feeding him her own energy when his began to falter. He couldn't directly pass Karissa's barriers to help with the Healing, but he fed her body so much energy that it did the job it had been neglecting with enough enthusiasm to make up for its lapse.

The glowing pockets of infection which, outside of a Healing trance, would have terrified Treet utterly, began to fade, leaving behind only a faint miasma which would leave Karissa too weak to move from bed for the better part of a moon, as Treet was unable to pass her shields enough to fully burn out the infection and so had had to channel all the energy he had used directly through her body, which would have to do the rest of the job on its own.

With an exhausted sigh, Treet broke the trance, swaying on his feet. Veria loosed her hold on Karissa, who then slipped into a more natural sleep, aided by the potion and her exhaustion. She would awaken after a long sleep still ill, but fully able to maintain consciousness and in no further danger.

Sera patted Treet on the shoulder and told him he had done an admirable job, but he barely heard her words. All of the calm he had experienced while actually Healing had fled, leaving him feeling empty and cold. What had he done? How could he continue to do this, never knowing who he would see next, what pale pain-tightened faces would next appeal to him for help he might not be able to give? He knew Karissa's nightmares almost as intimately as she herself, how could he risk causing something like that? Would it be better to never Heal at all, never to risk faltering and failing?

He knew, deep inside, that it was hypocritical of him. By now, he had assisted in the Healings of countless strangers, although he had never taken the lead role before. Yet, how could he know whether he would do more harm than good, some day?

He began to look forward, with desperate passion, to leaving, to visiting his family, to time alone to decide what he would be. Every time he thought he was secure, every time he thought he finally knew, without a doubt, what he would become, something had to slip between him and his certainty once more.