The first day was basically her and Neal figuring out who could do what. Most of them that could do healing were also able to look into a person's body once Arie explained how to. A few with the sight got set away because they could see the future or dream of it, those people Arie made sure had a good meal before she sent them on their way. That night she was once again forced to dine with the Lord Imrah and Sir Raoul. The older man seemed to keep an eye on her and did his best to get her to open up. Arie stubbornly kept gave the shortest possible replies that bordered on rude. Often Raoul and other dinner guests seemed to be doing their best not to choke on their food whenever she spoke. At one point Kel even stepped on her foot when it was obvious Arie had been about to say something truly rude. After dinner she would go down and check on her people with Jess, then walk the streets of Port Legann to re-familiarize herself with the layout. Lastly she went to go see SandStorm and NightSky so she could brush and feed them.

The next day Arie joined Lady Kel for practice in the morning, she then began explaining the poisonous disease to her new students that afternoon; how it worked, how it spread, what it looked like in different stages, and what to wear to protect themselves from it. At one point Neal brought out three small glass jars. One had water, another had some kind of spirits in it, and the third looked to be blood. One glance with her Gift showed all three were contaminated the curse that they were fighting. It worried her at first that he had carried these little fragile jars filled with horrors until she also noticed several layers of Neal's green Gift wrapped around the jars and corks. A person would be hard pressed to break the jars, much less open them.

She called everyone over so they could all take turns seeing what exactly they were looking for. The man who had grabbed her the previous day muttered something under his breath as he past her. No doubt it was a lovely comment towards her, Arie thought sourly. Everyone had just finished looking at the contents of the jars when the loud blast of the watch horns went off. Everyone stopped talking and rushed to the windows to see what was going on.

"Sergeant Argus," Arie addressed a soldier in his mid forties with black hair aside from a single thick lock of white hair that fell in his face. "What do those blasts signal?"

"There is an attack at the docks." The man's hand reached for his sword, but he hesitated.

Arie nodded. "Stay here Sergeant if you have healing. We will need all the healers we can get. If not then go, take those soldiers who can't heal, make sure you all keep in mind what I said about how this stuff spreads."

Argus bowed his thanks and then turned and bolted yelling for those soldiers who didn't have a healing Gift to follow him. The Arie turned to everyone who was still gathered around the windows watching to see what was happening.

"Alright," Arie barked out over their conversation. "It's time we earned our pay. Get the garments on and be ready. We will have a lot of work ahead of us."

Arie was surprised that everyone; even those who didn't like her, did as she bid. Men and women slipped the protective garments over their own clothes and made sure everything was tightly secured. Then Arie lead the way down to the hospital. There she found her people from Sea King had donned similar garments to what she and her healers were wearing. They had also prepared stretchers and moved people who no longer needed to be in the clinic into the housing set aside for her people. Healing herbs, salves, tools, basins of clean water, and bandages were laid out and ready for use. Arie could have kissed Abba, knowing the older woman had taken care of all of this the moment the horns had blasted.

Now we wait, Arie thought grimly. It itched at her that she couldn't help in the battle but she also admitted she wouldn't be able to do much, not with everyone clashing together, she would run the risk of accidently magicking an friend as easily as she might an enemy.

After several long minutes there were three short blasts from the horn. A soldier told her that it meant things were all clear. Arie divided her group in half, some to stay and tend the hospital the other half would bring up people on stretchers who needed to be carried. Then they were on their way down to the docks. As they approached Arie could smell the stench of fish that had once when been familiar to her. Now there was an undertone to the fish. Blood.

Arie turned the corner and her Death sense hit like a sludge hammer to the chest. She stopped where she stood and struggled to get breath into her lungs. Eventually she mastered the feeling and was able to look around her. The wood planks were slick with salt water and blood. Bodies were scattered across the docks, many struggled to sit up and move, others didn't stir at all. The dead were being dragged aside by soldiers, some of whom were wearing no protections against contamination. Arie directed one of her soldiers to address those soldiers and have them all report to the clinic immediately. The rest she divided up into pairs to help carry the wounded. Others she put to work collecting the bodies.

Only once everyone was working did Arie move to the blood soaked planks and lay her hands on the blood. Looking through her Gift she could see most of it was thick with the black poison. Now that blood was dripping into the harbor where it could contaminate the fish and water. Anger burned in her stomach and fueled her Gift as she sent it out seeking every bit of poison. Her Gift devoured the blood leaving the wood cleaner than it had been in years. Her Gift went seeking even into the water destroying the blackness where she found it. She thanked the Gods that the creatures of the harbor were smart enough to leave the poison alone and swim away.

She was just finishing cleaning the water when a screech echoed above her. Sharp pain dug into her shoulder snapping her out of her concentration. It was then she became aware that the band wrapped around her wrist was burning her wrist.

Sun's clacked his beak in her ear.

Your warning does no good if you don't listen to it. The hawk reprimanded her.

Arie nodded and winced as the talons pulled free of her flesh. "I'm sorry, I forgot."

Well stop that.

There was nothing Arie could say to him, she merely looked around to find all of the bodies and wounded had been taken away and the area was clean. Some of the stones showed signs of magical fire, so someone had been helping to clear away the blood. Arie sighed and looked up at the sky. Only a few hours had passed this time, but she needed to be careful because she knew she wouldn't always have someone there to snap her out of her trance.

"Time to get back to work."

Sun glared at her. He didn't need to say anything for Arie to know what was on his mind.

"No more Gift," she promised. "Not until I eat something, and give it a chance to replenish at least."

Sun shook his feathers out in a way that could have been a shrug, then he took off, and flew in the general direction of the stable yard where SandStorm and NightSky were housed. Arie sighed and stared up at the hill she would have to climb in order to get back to the clinic.

"Staring at it won't make it any easier," she reminded herself out loud before trudging back up to the road. She kept her gaze fixed on the road as she walked, but Arie could feel the gazes of people hidden away in their homes and businesses. Most of the residents would wait for a while before they ventured out into the streets again. Arie couldn't help but pray no one watching her had recognized her or her Gift.

By the time she made it back to the clinic it was a mad house. People were running to and fro through the pathways between the cots. The dying and wounded were crying out in pain. Thos who were badly infected had to be strapped down to prevent them from attacking other people. Neal and a few others worked tirelessly on those people. Arie even noticed the noble man holding the hand of a flailing woman. He murmured soft words to her as he drew out the sick black goo that clung stubbornly to her.

Arie turned sought out the worst wounded, those that called strongly to her Gift and began stitching and bandaging wounds. She would have to wait with helping Neal until her Gift was replenished. As she worked assistants appeared beside her and did as she directed; holding wounded limbs still for stitching or cleaning wounds that were caked in dirt and blood.

Day faded into night without Arie even noticing. Lanterns were lit around the cots so the medics and doctors could work. Arie had just finished stitching a nasty leg wound when a hand tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to see Jess staring at her, her eyes were filled with worry.

"Whatcha ya need little one?"

"He said you need to rest." Jess was pointing to Neal who sat cross legged on one of the few empty cots, a bowl of what looked like soup in his hand.

When Neal noticed her gaze he waved her over to him and indicated another bowl beside him. Arie sighed, she needed to eat and rest, even she couldn't keep going forever.