Arie lead the young man out into the forest making sure no one saw them leave. Once they were a good distance from the camp Arie sat down and crossed her legs. She reached out to the animals around her. It took some time because she kept losing focus with Neal's impatient pacing behind her. Finally she found what she was looking for. A murder of crows. Tentatively she called the group to her. There were many animals who could and would resist Wild Magic, crows were one of them. She touched her pouch that she kept on her at all times. Worse comes to worse she could always bride them.
Soon the black birds filled the trees squawking and looking at her and Neal curiously. Neal she noticed was gaping at the huge swarm of black birds.
"You're like Daine. You have Wild Magic."
"I'm not nearly as powerful with it as she is. My power lies in a very different direction, but if I speak to animals they will become more like us. Unfortunately I can't become them like Daine can."
The lead bird dropped down and landed on Arie's knee.
You called?
"I wish to ask a favor of you and your brothers and sisters."
The bird tilted his head so a gleaming eye could stare at her.
What do we get if we do this favor?
"Food, shelter, and protection on your trip."
The bird cawed a sound that was unmistakably a laugh.
If that is all you offer? We have shelter and plenty to eat. Besides, there are Stormwings up ahead that we want to mob.
Arie felt her blood go cold. There were Stormwings ahead? That didn't bode well. She reached into her pouch and drew out a small drawstring purse. When she opened it she revealed the bag was full of brightly colored and well polished stones. The bird froze and eyed the shiny rocks.
"I'll give these to your flock."
Every bird above them stopped their chatter and turned to look at the treasures she held. She pulled out a smooth purple stone that shone like polished metal and placed it in front of the lead bird.
"A gift."
The bird eyed the present hungrily. He poked and prodded the stone with his beak before looking back at the bag.
You'll give us all of those if we do one favor for you?
"I simply need you to take a message to someone at the palace and bring back her response. She will be able understand you like I do."
We know of who you speak of.
Arie gestured to Neal.
"And he will create a temporary protection so you can get there and back safely."
The bird turned to Neal now.
Can he really protect us?
"They want assurance you can protect them."
Neal suddenly looked very uncomfortable.
"I can protect them, but they will have to fly close together. They will see the bounds of the protection. It will shield them from human attacks and predator attacks, so long as there isn't a mage to remove it."
Arie turned back to the crows about to explain and the bird made a squawking noise before he could.
We will do it then.
Arie used her own Gift to show the path that her group would travel on so the birds could find her again. The bird looked up and cawed. Another larger bird flew down beside Arie.
Asuna is our strongest flyer. She will take your message.
After that Arie carefully attached the letter to the birds leg. Then Neal worked his magic on them. Once that was all done the lead bird took the purple stone and took off. The rest of his flock followed, scattering feathers and leaves all around them. When they were gone Neal asked,
"What were the stones?"
Arie showed him the bag.
"They are just rocks that are different colors and were polished to shine."
"What are they worth?"
"They are worthless. They just look pretty."
"Do the crows know that?"
"What a crow sees worth in a human doesn't necessarily value. They like these stones because they are pretty and shiny. So to them they are priceless, where we humans have no real value for them."
Neal peered at the bag.
"So if they have no value to humans, why are you carrying them around with you?"
There was a ghost smile on her face as she walked back towards camp.
"Because they were gift."
Neal followed after her clearly wanting to ask more, but Arie spoke before he could say anything.
"We have someone to heal, so we have no time to waste." When they made their way back there were two people waiting outside Neal's tent. One was Lerant the other was the boy with a lung problem. Both boys were glaring at each other. Arie rolled her eyes. "Concentrate your Gift in your eyes," she told Neal. She could feel his Gift right before he gasped.
"This is amazing! You can actually see into his body," he paused as he saw the same thing Arie had. "Do you spend a lot time around mines?" At Neal's question the boy blushed and ducked his head. He was about to say something, probably going to deny being around a mine when Lerant added,
"There is a closed mine that is sometimes used as a rendezvous."
The other boy glared at Lerant and Arie cleared her throat before either man could make another sound.
"If that is truth, you should strongly suggest that any person you visited there regularly with, needs go visit a healer. However, I don't think that person will suffer nearly as bad as you. You seem to have something else that when added with dust and fumes of the mine have made you especially sick."
The young man looked down at the ground and Arie added,
"I don't care why or even how. I all I care about is no one else gets sick and that you aren't going to die."
He looked up at her completely taken aback as he looked from Neal to Arie. Neal rolled his eyes.
"Let's get this taken care of."
Together the two of them spent the rest of the morning cleaning the young man's lungs. Once they were done they sent him to eat again. When he left two smiling faces appeared in the open tent flap. Sir Kel and the boy who had trailed beside her all of last night. They both had food in their hands.
"I heard you were doing healing." Kel said as she passed the plate she was carrying to Neal and Arie took the bowl the boy handed her. "You'll need your strength. You'll have to pardon my manners, this is Tobe." She indicated the boy beside her. "He is kind of like a squire, without the palace training."
Neal and the boy snorted.
"Tobe is the only one who outside of Kel, can handle that beast she calls a horse. He also is pretty good at watching out to make sure our lady knight is taken care of."
Looking at the young boy's gleaming blue eyes, Arie believe it. There was something else, as she looked him over she could feel a power coming off him.
"Wild Magic," she whispered. Everyone looked at her with curious looks. "Sorry, I realized why you felt familiar to me Tobe. You have Wild Magic. Like me."
The boy blinked at her.
"I have magic?"
"It's faint, but still there. You probably can handle animals very well. They speak to you like people do, yet not."
"Horses and some other animals." he nodded at Kel. "Her dog, Jump, and the sparrows are all easy to understand." Arie saw Lerant out of the corner of her eye. He had been standing waiting since she had been gotten back from speaking with the crows.
"You'll have to excuse me. Thank you for the food." She headed out of the tent taking her food with her. Lerant was still waiting.
"You still want to make that charm?" There was an unsure look on his face.
"Come with me." She started walking back to her tent. Everyone around them was already up and getting packed up to move on. Life moved on, she thought to herself. "Do you know how many lives you might have saved? With the information you gave me."
Lerant shrugged.
"Not really."
"That little scrap of information you gave me could be enough to help track down who we are looking for. Every day he's allowed the run free puts countless lives at risk. People who just want to live their lives." She clenched her fists remembering the damage that had already been done. Her people had suffered and she could only do so much to stop it. Some hadn't survived. She fought back the tears that threatened to choke her. How come the gods didn't put a stop to this, she wondered bitterly. "Thank you so much." She wiped away the tears before he could see them, then entered her tent. The tangle of charms lay on the floor where she had dropped them earlier. She picked them up and began untangling one from the massive knot. Lerant sat on the floor and watched her work.
"You care a lot for complete strangers."
Arie looked up from her work.
"You would have interfered and even fought with me even though you knew nothing about me. Why? Wouldn't it be easier to let it be?"
Arie laughed bitterly.
"My mother taught me that compassion and kindness are a requirement for being a healer. It doesn't matter if the person you are helping is a king or beggar, a priest or a murder. It is a healer's job to help people who are hurt, no matter where they came from, or the past they have." Her fingers continued to untangle the mass of charms until one was free. "Life is the most precious gift of all, and healers are charged by the gods to protect that gift with everything we have. I am a healer, like my mother." She held up the charm to show him. "I believe that sometimes we need to act proactively to prevent people from coming to see us. Besides, you look like you've had enough of being bullied for one life time." She put the charm in Lerant's hand. Doing like she did for Isabella; laying one hand over his hand that held the charm, and cupping the bottom of that same hand with her other hand. This time when she poured her Gift into the gleaming metal she reworked the outline of her sister's magic that she had left for her. Twisting them slightly so it would follow a slightly different guideline. Once she was done she withdrew her hands. He looked at the glowing flower etched into the circle of metal.
"Why a rose?"
"Roses symbolize love, and the different colors symbolize different kinds of love. It takes a certain amount of love to give a piece of yourself to protect someone else. My sister said that since there is no rose with my color, it would be a love for life."
Lerant looked at the little flower carefully.
"Not very manly."
Arie snorted
"You don't want it, give it back."
He closed his hand over the charm and blushed, "No, I don't think I will." He pulled the chain over his head and slipped the charm under his tunic. "You should eat," he nodded to her bowl of food that she had set beside herself. Then he left before Arie could say anything.