Chapter 5: So Close

Jak sat hunched over a book, intermittently jotting down notes in a partially-used notebook that he'd found while scavenging while trying to force himself to concentrate and understand the text in front of him.

A tap on Jak's arm distracted him and he looked down at Mar, who held up a small chalkboard and book to him. Jak smiled down at his young charge and tried his best to shove down any feelings of irritation at yet another interruption.

The chalkboard held the word "apple", or at least an attempt at it in a child's messy scrawl, along with a messy drawing of an apple.
Jak smile again at Mar and gave a small clap and thumbs up, which earned a while grin from the young boy. Jak then pointed at the book, which had the word "apple" in neat print and a picture of an apple.

"Ah." Jak said. "Ahp…" He tried again but failed to produce the full word.

Mar opened his mouth and tried to copy Jak, but just like all the other times before, nothing came out.

Sighting in defeat, Jak erased the word on the chalkboard and flipped the page in the book Mar had to the next word and accompanying picture, giving both board and book back to Mar for the boy to copy down next.

"It would help if you actually bothered speaking to him." Jak heard the librarian mutter. "Lazy."

Jak scowled at the man.

He may not have been fully mute, but that didn't mean that he could speak either. Words didn't come naturally Jak like they did for other people, the most he could manage were a few simple words, and even then, it would feel like he was forcing the words out most of the time. It was always easier to just let Daxter do all the talking.
Of course, that proved to be an issue when it came to teaching Mar. Trying to teach a mute child how to read and write while also being most-mute himself was not very conductive to learning. And Daxter had already proven to lack the patience and understanding needed to teach a child, which was why it was left to Jak while his friend was off doing his own thing in the library. To make things more difficult, Jak was trying to learn things himself while juggling Mar's education.

The people coming to Jak for medical care had not stopped. A couple of times, he had managed to scavenge up some Med-Packs with Green Eco in them that got used up almost immediately, but most of the time all he had to work with was limited medical knowledge he only partially remembered from Samos' lessons. Those he couldn't treat with Green Eco had walked away disappointed with their wounds only cleaned and dressed, and Jak was even starting to run out of the non-Eco medical supplies.
One solution was to start investing in Med-Packs. With how much Daxter was able to haggle from their unexpected clients, the cost of buying them would be covered with plenty of profit left over. And Daxter had started telling their clients to bring their own Med-Packs to use, so hopefully the word would spread.
But even with the tiny amounts of Green Eco in the Med-Packs available, there was only so much Jak could do for the people who came to him. It made him feel guilty in a way, these people came to Jak for healing over going to a proper doctor for some reason or another, and all Jak had to help them was some basic medical knowledge and maybe a bit of Green Eco if they were lucky. It was even worse when the people coming to Jak were clearly in a desperate position, like the exhausted-looking woman who had asked Jak if he could help deliver a baby, then had left with an expression of absolute defeat when Jak had adamantly refused.

So, Jak was doing what he could to fix his lack of medical knowledge.
The last woman that Jak had helped out had bartered letting Jak borrow her Green Pass into Main Town instead of payment, allowing the boys to return to the library for the day and giving them access to learning books for Mar and medical books for Jak.
Unfortunately, there were a lot of medical texts, all of them full of jargon and words that Jak only half-understood. Still, he needed to learn what he could no matter how difficult if he wanted to continue helping the people who came to him, especially considering healing people was their most reliable source of income. So, he found the books on the basics, read what he could, used the medical dictionary that Daxter had found to translate what he couldn't understand, and wrote down notes on what was important to remember.
And it was paying off. From the books, Jak had already learned that he had done a very bad thing by pulling the glass out of the woman's arm that one time, as she could have bled out due to his inexperience in treating such wounds if he hadn't had the Green Eco on hand to heal the depths of the wound. He was still trying to wrap his head around why exactly the woman could have bled out and all the specifics of what was to be done when treating different stab wounds, but at least he knew the major "don't" when it came to the matter.

Even though Jak was learning some things, he did not find it fun and forced himself to keep going, only pausing to check on Mar's own self-study or keep him from running off when the young boy inevitably got bored of staying still and wanted to do more fun activities. Neither of the boys were built for staying still and reading books, they needed to be active.
Eventually, Jak had to give up on trying to force himself to learn anymore. It was just getting harder and harder to retain information and Mar looked ready to have a meltdown if he wasn't given proper stimulation anyway.

Daxter made his reappearance as Jak stood up to leave, stacking all of the books he had grabbed off of the shelves and carrying them over to the shelves he'd originally taken them from.

"How goes the work?" Daxter asked jokingly.

Jak just groaned to show how mentally exhausted his self-enforced study session had made him. Samos would probably be having a field day if he knew that Jak had studied of his own free will.

"Yeah, me too." Daxter said sympathetically.

Jak gave Daxter a doubtful look. His friend enjoyed reading just as much as he did, very little, and unlike Jak, he didn't have to force himself to study if he didn't want to.

"I read stuff." Daxter said defensively. "I learned a lot about the city."

"Then fall asleep." Jak signed.

"Well…maybe just a five-minute power nap." The ottsel admitted.

Shaking his head, Jak looked down at the last book he held in his hand. It was a book on basic medical care and first aid, which was the book Jak had had the easiest time with because it was for beginners.

"Wish could take with." Jak signed to Daxter.

If he could take the book back with them, it'd allow him to continue learning at home, instead of whenever they'd get back into Main Town again.

"Hey, book guy!" Daxter called over to the librarian. "Sir!"

"Yes?" The librarian responded coldly with a small eye twitch.

"Can we borrow this book?" Daxter pointed at the book in Jak's hand.

The librarian regarded the boys and then the book.

"I'm sorry," he said, not sounding sorry in the least. "But the borrowing of books is something only available to the more…trusted members of society." He looked Jak, who was dressed in old and dirty clothing, up and down pointedly.

"What?!" Daxter burst out. "What sort of yakow dung is that?"

"As…trustworthy as I'm sure you are," the librarian said in a tone that made it clear that he meant the opposite. "We can't trust just anyone with such valuable books. Even if you truly do mean to return them, there is no guarantee that you will manage to."

Daxter went to argue some more but Jak held up a hand to silence him. He really didn't want them to get banned from the library because Daxter didn't take getting talked down to.
Besides, though the librarian was clearly judging them based off their looks, he wasn't exactly wrong. Their Green Pass was borrowed, and Jak had no idea when they'd get access to Main Town again. Any books borrowed would similarly be stuck in the Slums.

"Anything we can take?" Jak signed to the librarian.

"He's askin' if there's anything we can take?" Daxter translated when librarian failed to understand Jak.

"Many books in this library have been digitally archived, and can therefore downloaded onto a personal tablet. We do stock some tablets if you want to buy one, if you can afford it that is." Again, the man's tone made it clear that he believed that the boys couldn't.

The boys were confused at how a tablet could store digital books until the man showed them one. It seemed to be a miniature computer, tablet shaped but with a digital screen that showed text like of the page of a book.
Jak and Daxter took a look at the price of the tablet and hissed. They could actually afford it, but it would take most of their savings. And while they were in a better financial position than before thanks to Jak playing healer, they still weren't anywhere close to being able to justify such a purchase.

"Uh, money's a bit tight right now. We'll have to come back for it later." Daxter said.

"That's what I thought." The librarian commented, earning him disgruntled looks from the boys.

After that, the boys left, an extremely bored Mar tugging ahead of them while Jak tried his best to keep a firm hold on the boy.
Reluctantly, they headed back towards the Green Gate into the Slums, meeting the client who they'd borrowed the pass off of on the other side. She held out her hand expectantly and Jak handed the pass over, then she left with a nod of her head.

"I can't believe that we're choosin' to come back here." Daxter complained as they made their way to their hovel. "Main Town is so much nicer."

"No place to stay. Kromzon Guard trouble." Jak reminded his friend.

"Yeah, yeah." Daxter muttered.

He knew that it'd be much harder to find a place to stay in the "rich" part of the city, and that the Krimzon Guard would be much more likely to notice them and have an issue than the Slums. But that didn't stop him from complaining about having to live in the Slums.


Sig grunted in pain as he moved through the city, trying his best not to show that he was injured lest he draw unwanted attention.

"When I find that weasel, I'm going to snap his neck." Sig muttered to himself quietly. "All that for nothing."

It had been a couple of months since Damas had charged Sig with looking for any signs of his kidnapped son, and thus far all leads had led to dead ends.
In an effort to finally find something, Sig had broken into the Security Archive where all the CCTV footage for Haven's Security Gates was kept with the intention of downloading the footage from the time Mar was taken, hoping that the boy would show up somewhere in there if he really had been taken to Haven. For this task, Sig had recruited one of his new colleagues in Haven to help him get into the archive without being spotted. But, when things had started getting risky, his so-called friend had quickly bailed, leaving Sig to face the heat without any back up.
Thankfully, Sig had managed to get away and hopefully without the Guards seeing anything to identify him, though not with nearly as much footage as he'd hoped to retrieve and not without substantial injuries.

Sig needed to go to the hospital, his injuries were too bad to try treating on his own. But the Krimzon Guard would likely be keeping an eye on the hospital and private doctors since they knew he was injured. He needed under-the-radar medical care, which would mean asking his new employer Krew to use his doctor. He should have enough money saved up to avoid becoming indebted to the crime lord. But that could lead to Krew questioning what exactly Sig had been doing to become so injured in the first place, and the Wastelander was not in any position to raise suspicion and risk his employ with the crime lord. But he would have to risk it if he wanted to get the medical care he needed.
But then again, those weren't exactly his only options.

More than once, Sig had overheard his coworkers and other patrons of the Hip Hog talk in low tones about a guy in the Slums who offered medical care for cheap. Apparently, he could work miracles with just a simple Med-Pack, able to treat third-degree burns and deep stab wounds. Though some people had complained that if they didn't pay extra for the use of the Med-Pack or brought their own, he was hardly worth going to.
On top of the healing, the guy in the Slums had a reputation for being quiet, which was a preferable trait for those who got injured through less-than-legal means. Though, he did apparently have a talking pet who spoke for him, like how the blind seer in the Bazar had a talking pet to translate for her.
All of this was kept on the downlow and never talked about when Krew was around. If the crime lord caught wind that there was someone out there offering a cheaper alternative to his medical care, he would likely try to draft the guy into his employ or otherwise make him cease operations to keep himself as the only option that the criminal and impoverished had for medical care. And no one wanted to have their access to cheap and dept-free healing cut off any time soon.

So, Sig made his way into and through the Slums until he reached the boarder between the Water and regular Slums, where there sat a decrepit zoomer shed which was apparently the home of the secret healer. Hoping he had the right place, Sig knocked on the door.

"Geeze! Another one, already?" A loud voice complained from inside.

The door creaked open and a blond teen peaked out to regard Sig. He raised an inquiring eyebrow instead of saying anything.

"I was told a healer lives here." Sig told the teen, slightly confused at the sight of him.

No one had mentioned the healer having a kid, just a talking pet.

The boy sighed and opened the door wider, motioning Sig inside.

Sig had to hunch over to enter the dwelling.
Inside was just as small and rundown as Sig expected, though the healer and his possible kid had clearly done what they could to make it habitable. Crates and planks of wood were stacked as makeshift shelves, the walls and roof were covered with sheets of metal, wood and new grout to cover up what were likely cracks and holes in the original foundation, a single rusty tap that looked like it was made to attach a pipe to had a heavily worn basin underneath it, and there was a mattress in the corner.

Sig caught site of a small form curled up on the mattress and what looked like a young croco-dog next to it before the teen drew a piece of fabric that was attached to the ceiling in front of it, hiding the bed from sight. So, the healer had two kids that everyone had failed to mention.

But…where was the healer?

"So, big guy, what has coming here now and disturbing our peace?" Sig blinked in surprise at the creature that addressed him from on top of a crate.

It was the same voice that had spoken behind the door. The healer's talking animal it seemed.

"I'd rather explain that to the guy who's going to treat me." Sig told the creature.

The creature raised a furry eyebrow.

"He's right over there." He jerked his thumb over in the direction of the teenager, who waved back.

"You're the healer?" Sig question in disbelief.

The kid didn't even look old enough to grow facial hair, yet he was apparently skilled enough in medical care for people to keep coming to him.

"Yeah, he is. What of it?" The creature challenged. "And keep your voice down. If we have to deal with a cranky kiddo who didn't get enough sleep, we're charging you extra."

Sig's eye drifted to the curtained off mattress at the reminder of the other kid in the hovel. He'd barely managed to catch a glimpse of the kid, his sight blocked by the teenager who was likely the kid's older brother.

"I just didn't expect someone so young to be so proficient." Sig explained. "But if you really can help, I'm not going to complain."

The teen, more of a kid really, made motions with his hands, sign language. Sig had already expected it when the others had said that the healer was silent and had a talking animal, but it looked like the kid was mute.

"Like I said, what do you need?" The creature asked, crossing his arms.

"I got jumped by some thugs." Sig made up a cover story. "They got in some good blows, a couple of shots, and I took a nasty fall escaping them."

"Uh, huh." The creature said, clearly not believing Sig.

With how many criminals the boys likely had coming to them, Sig didn't begrudge the boys for not taking his explanation at face value.

Sig removed his minimal armour and boots to show off the damage. His mission had required stealth, meaning that he hadn't been dressed in his usual armour when things had gone to shit, which was what allowed him to get so injured. Though, the lack of his signature armour would likely also help protect his identity when the Krimzon Guard tried looking for him.
The teen frowned, regarding Sig's blaster injuries, feeling his side to judge the damage to his ribs, and also feeling the damage to his legs. The man showed no reaction to the prodding.

The teen signed to his animal companion.

"We're going to need it?" The creature responded, clearly having no issue understanding his friend.

More signing.

"What do you think you can do without it?"

The teen grabbed a notebook and skimmed through the notes on it. He then signed again.

"Yeah, that sounds worrying."

More signing.

"Weren't we planning on buying some anyway?"

More signing.

Sig watched the exchange in fascination. Mostly because he could half-understand what the teen was saying.
A few of the signs that the boy was using were definitely the sign-language native to Spargus, they were too distinct to not be. But at the same time, most of the signs Sig didn't recognise as Spar-sign or the sign-language that people like the seer in the Bazar used. It was almost like the teen had taken the basics of Spar-sign and then built upon it to create his own sign-language.

"Here's the deal, pal." The creature turned back to Sig. "Your injuries are too far out of our wheelhouse without a proper Med-Pack with Green Eco. So, unless you brought one with you, we-"

"I brought one." Sig interrupted, producing said Med-Pack from his bag and handing it over.

It had been a painful detour to buy the Pack, but we needed to make sure that the healer could do the best job possible, and his coworkers had mentioned the kid not always having Med-Packs on hand.

"Woah. This is one of the good ones." The creature commented when the teen opened the Pack.

The teen nodded in agreement, taking out the jar of Green Eco from inside, which was bigger than what was given in standard packs.

"Since you brought a pack of your own, that will knock some off the price, but there will still be a service fee." The creature stated.

What followed was a rather interesting conversation, Sig and the talking animal going back and forth on how much Sig would owe while the teen just sat by and watched. The creature was surprisingly good at haggling, managing to up what Sig had been willing to pay. They shook on the price and then the creature gave his friend the go-ahead to treat Sig.

Sig hissed slightly as the teen began to tend to his worst blaster wounds first. Using water from an old canister that the man hoped meant that the teen had boiled it first.

As the boy worked, Sig took in his appearance. Long blond hair that was limp and loosely tied back with string, green roots, and clearly washed with cheap soap instead of proper hair products. Dirty and worn clothes. Light eyebags that suggested constant uneasy sleep and tiredness. Goggles hung around his neck and there was a stone ring strapped over his chest. Most of it was to be an expected of an orphan living in the Slums.
Though, strangely, the boy seemed to have a fading tan. Most people living in the Slums tended to be much paler.

"So, you got names?" The man asked to fill the silence.

The kid looked at Sig in surprise at the question. Was it the first time one of his clients had asked for his name or something?

"Of course we've got names." The creature drawled. "I'm Daxter. He's Jak."

The teen, Jak, gave a short wave before continuing his work.

"And what about you, big guy?" Daxter returned the question.

"Sig." The man replied. "Is it just you three here?" He then asked.

Daxter regarded Sig warily. "Yeah. But we can more than defend ourselves."

"Never said you weren't." Sig held up his hands in surrender.

Orphans were, unfortunately, not an uncommon sight in Haven, especially under Praxis' strict rule, where saying the wrong thing or being in the wrong place at the wrong time could result in being taken away. They were also very vulnerable in a city that sought to stomp on and take advantage of them. Sig hoped that Daxter was right about Jak being able to defend them all.

Speaking of Jak, the boy finished wrapping Sig's blaster wounds, using a knife to cut off the bandages. Sig was surprised to see that there was still half of the Green Eco left in the jar, with how much better his wounds felt he had expected that the boy had used the entire jar.

Jak next worked on Sig's ribs, allowing the man to see how the boy worked.
The boy scooped some Green Eco out of the jar, but instead of settling above his hand and attempting to sink into it, the Eco instead remained floating around it. Then, when Jak placed the Eco-filled hand on Sig's chest, the Eco absorbed into the man's skin but he didn't feel it start to heal him, though he could still feel the tingle of it within his chest.

Lifting one hand, Jak read a page from his notebook and then signed something to Daxter, Sig able to make out the words "three" and "Eco".

"Looks like you've got three cracked ribs there." Daxter hissed in sympathy. "Jak doesn't think that he can heal them all the way, even with the rest of the Eco, but he should be able to make it better to move around."

"What?" Sig questioned, mind already half-working out what was going on.

Jak clearly lacked the experience to tell what state Sig's ribs were in, he hadn't asked about the pain or used a machine, just felt the area. And even if he had used an entire jar of Green Eco, it would have struggled to reach the ribs to start healing them, let alone less than half of it.
But even as Sig thought that, breathing became easier and the pain in his chest receded as his cracked ribs were healed to just being badly bruised.

If he were someone else with a limited understanding of Eco, Sig likely wouldn't have questioned it. But Sig was close friends with Damas, a Channeler, who had used channelled Eco to help heal him before. So, Sig knew exactly what Jak had just done.

"You're a Channeler, aren't you?" Sig said to Jak.

Jak paused in surprise before nodding.

Sig frowned at how Jak didn't even try to deny it. It meant that he wouldn't have been hiding the fact that he was channelling Eco to heal his clients. The boy was extremely lucky that either no one had noticed until he had, or those who had noticed hadn't blabbed about it.

"Listen, Cherry, that is not something you want people knowing." Sig warned, voice serious.

The boys looked at Sig in confusion.

"Why?" Daxter asked.

"Being a Channeler in Haven is dangerous. Over the years, many have gone mysteriously missing, never heard from again." Sig explained. "Especially this last year. Even people just suspected of being Channelers have started disappearing."

Jak and Daxter looked at Sig and then each other in horror. It didn't feel good to make the boys feel even less safe, but at least it meant that they were understanding the danger.

Jak signed something. Sig recognised the words "what" and "them" and worked out what Jak was trying to ask.

"No one really knows why they disappeared, but we can guess." Sig sighed. "Thing is, the disappearances only really started happening after Praxis took over, and the man is obsessed with control and power. It isn't hard to imagine that Channelers factor into what he wants in some way, whether as opposition or as a way for him to get more power. Either way, letting Praxis or anyone else know that you're a Channeler is a bad idea. There are rumours of a secret bounty out there for hidden Channelers."

It was just rumours but Sig wouldn't be surprised if it existed. Praxis was smart enough to know that a public bounty would cause the public to turn against him in a way he possibly couldn't control.

"So, what now?" Daxter asked, looking lost.

Sig was suddenly struck by the feeling that the talking animal was just as young as Jak was. Neither of them, or the young kid behind the curtain, deserved to be in the position they were.
He was also struck by the need to take the boys back to Spargus on his next visit home, where they'd be safer and have people to actually help them. But he hardly knew the boys, and he couldn't just invite every orphan child he came across back to Spargus, not even if one was a Channeler.

"Just…keep your heads down. Don't let people see you Channelling and you should be fine." Sig assured.

As fine as a teen, his younger sibling and his talking pet could be in Haven.

Everyone was quiet for a while.

"This city sucks!" Daxter suddenly exclaimed.

Jak immediately shushed him, looking worriedly over at the curtain hiding the mattress. There was a quiet whine from the young child but no further indication that they had woken up.

"I won't argue with you on that." Sig agreed after he was sure the kid was still sleeping.

After some further silence, Jak resumed where he had left off tending to Sig's injuries. Using the last of the Green Eco to heal Sig's legs enough for him to walk without further damage.

"Thanks, Cherries. I don't know where I'd be without you." Sig said, slowly getting to his feet.

"Nowhere good." Daxter commented. "Now pay up, our services don't come free."

Sig chuckled and handed over the agreed-upon payment. Then, after a second of thinking, he added a little extra. He couldn't give the boys a safe place to stay, but he could at least give them more money to survive with.

"Have you Cherries visited the Oracle yet?" Sig asked as the boys counted out the lari.

They looked up at him in surprise and confusion.

"There's an Oracle? Here?" Daxter questioned.

"You didn't know?" Sig shook his head in disbelief. "It's just over there, in the middle of the Water Slums." He indicated the direction with his thumb.

"Uh…" Jak and Daxter looked at each other, trying to formulate a response for why they didn't realise there was an Oracle so close to where they lived.

"Well, maybe you should try visiting it then." Sig suggested. "It doesn't speak often and the language it speaks is an old tongue, but maybe visiting it can help you in some way."

Sig remembered Damas talking about how communicating with the Precursor Oracles was how he learned to utilise his Channelling abilities.

Jak offered a thumbs-up to show that he would.

"Well, see you boys around." Sig said, leaving out the door.

He gave one last look into the hovel, from the boys to the curtain hiding the young kid that slept, before closing the door and making his way back to his living space in Haven.
He would have to put off his search for Mar for now, to wait for the heat to die down and give himself time to fully recover, as well as analyse the footage he had managed to retrieve. If the footage didn't give him anything, he'd have to decide whether to try again or search for Damas' son some other way.


Author's note: Please comment

Sig is going to beat himself up when he learns that Mar was right there, that all he'd needed to do was pull back the curtain to see him. If only Jak hadn't put up that curtain to separate Mar from the workspace when clients came over, or Mar was still awake to get curious and come out to look.