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Chapter 5: A home is where your bonds are

Magna looked about ready to drop and, in all honesty, Nova felt rather bad for the poor mage. First, he'd gotten Luck out of the dungeon. Then, he'd come back and carried Nova out. Finally, he'd pulled the important artifacts into a sheet he'd found in the treasury and lugged those out, too. Then, he'd gone back for all three of their opponents and dragged them out, as well. They each had a fire cage around their chests, their grimoires confiscated safely in Luck's bag. After all of that work, the boy took a small break, before heading back down into the dungeon and carrying as much gold as he could in different chests and sheets, making a sizeable pile next to the two injured teammates.

"Can you guys call for Finral?" Magna asked, wiping the sweat from his brow. He had dropped off another pile of wealth, before heading back into the dungeon. "Could really use a cart or something, if the Wizard King wants all of the treasure from inside."

"No problem!" Luck grinned, waving at the fire mage who only huffed, resuming his taxing work.

"Soo," Nova began, turning away from the three enemies she'd inspected for injuries and to the lightning mage. "How exactly do you call Finral?" She asked, tilting her head. Luck fished out a small plaque from his pouch showing it to her.

"Got these at the market some time ago," he told the girl. "It's a mirror plaque, so if you break one the other one receives the same kind of damage. We told Finral to wait for the crack and then open a portal to our location once more." Nova nodded, peering out into the hot desert.

"But, he's going to have to cross the desert to come to us," she said, shielding her eyes from the particularly violent gust of wind.

"Indeed, he will," Luck chuckled, breaking the plaque with a rather innocent expression on his face. Nova couldn't help but laugh.

Nova found herself rather restless in the next couple of days. In her short life, she'd never really been majorly sick. Sometimes a cold or a virus would take her down for the count for a couple of days. Generally, though, she'd always been a healthy child. Once, she'd broken her arm. Only once. She'd been helping the miners with the new tunnel for some extra yul, when a cave-in had occurred, one of the falling rocks making a clean break on her radius. She'd gotten it checked out, bandaged and put in a sling in mere hours, before being back out in the field, working. Her injury had been classified as minor. Some men had lost their legs that day. One man had died. Her broken arm had been an easy fix and a quick one to heal. A mere month of her arm in the sling and she was back climbing trees and causing mayhem.

But, her legs were a different story entirely. Owen had told her that healing with magic meant forcibly making the cells reproduce at a higher rate. It was a taxing process, taking its toll on the body. Since the injury wasn't life-threatening, he left her legs to heal on their own. This meant that she had Mary or Elizabeth helping her bathe, go to the bathroom and get dressed. She also had to have her meals brought to her, as well as some books to keep her company. Long story short, Nova was ready to blow a fuse by the end of the week.

She'd managed to weasel some information out of Mary, while the girl was working to clean up her room a tad. Luck had been admitted into the Healing Tower, sitting bored just a few floors under herself, causing trouble whenever he could. Mary had cursed whatever deity had given the boy an electrical affinity. He zapped patients, started fights, zapped healers and started arguments. It was a never-ending stream of mayhem from the boy. He was classified by Mary and Will as a 'dislikeable', which meant that they almost always played rock-paper-scissors and the loser had to treat him.

A full week had passed when, finally, something changed in Nova's new routine. She had been reading a book on plants surrounding the Capital and their uses, a notebook on the side where she collected her findings and ideas about which herbs she would check out when she got the clear, when her door burst open.

"Miss Nova!" Magna, in all his slicked-back hair glory entered the bedroom, looking around curiously. "Haven't really settled in, have you?" he asked conversationally, choosing to ignore the chair next to her bed and instead plop down next to her. Nova moved to give him more space and the boy surprised her by flopping over to his back, settling his head right next to her torso on the pillow.

"Feet off the sheets," Nova grumbled, making Magna grin mischievously. But, he obliged, toeing off his boots and then putting his feet up again comfortably. "I don't really have many things to put in the room."

"Well, we'll just have to rectify that one of these days," Magna grinned, looking at her upside down from his position. His arms were folded under his head, one elbow digging into Nova's side rather uncomfortably.

"What can I help you with?" the girl sighed, closing her books. She could tell that trouble #1 wouldn't let her do any decent work if he had any say in it.

"Well, it's payday!" Magna cheerfully commented. "And, the Wizard King gave you the same sum for a successfully completed dungeon which he gave us, so I figured you'd wanna join me and Luck in some shopping?"

"Luck and I, and I can't. I still need to keep weight off my legs," Nova corrected absent-mindedly, before adding the cause of her semi-crazed state. There was no way Owen would let her jeopardize her legs on account of a little shopping trip in the center.

"Well, you're in luck, then," Magna shot up in the bed, turning to her excitedly. "Miss Mary told me that if you agreed to come, we could take one of those wheely chairs and bring you in it."

"A wheelchair?" Nova asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that new thing Miss Elizabeth has been working on for the amputees," Magna nodded eagerly. He had that crooked grin on his face which Nova had come to associate with either a good fight or some mischief he was planning. "I mean, they need someone to test drive it anyway. So, it's a plus plus all round."

"I suppose I could-"

"Perfect!" the boy jumped off her bed eagerly, grabbing his boots and rushing for the door. "I'll tell Miss Mary you agreed and she'll be in to help you get dressed in a bit. Then we can go do some proper coin-spending!" And, before Nova could protest, the boy was gone.

She took the books on covers and carefully made sure her rush to move them away from the typhoon which was Magna didn't get any pages crinkled. As she was placing them on her nightstand, the girl realized that her chest was full of some kind of a different feeling. An elation, if she dared call it. A grin formed on her lips when she realized that she would, finally, be let out of that room and back into the sun.

"So, he managed to convince you?" Mary asked as she entered Nova's room, much more quietly than Magna had.

"He had to do very little convincing," Nova admitted with a laugh.

Nova was flabbergasted to find Luck joining them on his own two feet. He was using a single crutch, hobbling along with Magna's slow pace easily. But, for someone whose femoral artery had been sliced open just a week ago, he looked like a man reborn. She didn't ask, but she would bet that Owen had healed his leg with magic, at least partially. Her patch-up job had been rather rushed and messy.

Magna didn't take them to a neighboring city, but rather to the center of the Capital, where there was a buzzing market of knickknacks and various delicious-smelling foods. He and Luck spent their time talking about the mission, how they liked the Black Bulls and their captain, a formidable man in their stories. Nova was content to keep quiet and listen, simply, enjoying their occasional banter. She was comfortable in the wheelchair, a wooden contraption Elizabeth had been working on to ease their patients' movement after a difficult injury. It had a cushioned seat and was rather spacious, despite the few issues it had with movement and the wheels getting stuck.

"How are you liking the Healing Tower, Miss Nova?" Magna asked, pulling the girl back into reality and away from salivating at the stand with chicken in some kind of sauce which they were passing by.

"It's really nice, though a bit hectic," Nova answered honestly. She didn't feel like she had to put on airs with the two boys, which made her all that much more comfortable. "We have regular patients and then the Knights who drop in and cause absolute mayhem with their injuries."

"Oh, I can recall," Magna laughed, reminding Nova that he had been in the Tower himself not too long ago.

"Can any of you guys fight?" Luck wanted to know with an eager smile. Nova nodded.

"Will and Mary have passed the Knights' Exam," she replied. "Will is in the Azure Deer Squad, but he doesn't usually get called in much. There is some kind of a deal with his captain and Owen, so that he can perfect his healing first and then get more integrated in missions. Mary is in the Blue Roses. She passed her exam three years ago and often gets called on tasks for the squad." Nova couldn't help trailing off as she eyed another stand of food, her stomach rumbling and reminding her how she hadn't eaten anything besides a rather small breakfast. "I'm not sure about the rest of them."

"You gonna take the exam again?" Luck asked, making Nova snap out of imagining some nice vegetable soup in her hands.

"I… don't know…" she replied, looking at her hands. She was afraid of taking the exam again. The memory of standing in front of those captains, their expressions stoic as they gave her no offers was still too fresh. Even if she could use the cursed scalpel to some degree in battle, it wasn't enough to pass, in her opinion.

"Well, she's got a year to train," Magna shrugged. "There's really no need to rush! Besides, helping us out on missions works out just fine." He laughed loudly, catching quite a few looks from the passing people.

"Guys, can we get some food?" Nova finally decided to break their walk, not able to stand all the delicious, tantalizing smells around her. She just wanted some food.

"Where did you think we were going?" Magna laughed again.

"We're going to show you the best place to eat, Nova," Luck's face appeared next to hers, before a telltale buzz of lightning zapped her, right in her behind and made the girl jump in her chair.

"Oh, for Wizard King's sake!" the teen exploded, turning in her seat to glare at the lightning mage. Though, by his expression, a little too content and innocent for that discharge to have been accidental, she instantly knew that she'd made a crucial mistake.

"What's wrong?" Luck tilted his head innocently, his eyes telling her oh-so-you-can-react-if-I-zap-just-enough.

"Nothing," Nova huffed, not willing to give in to his teasing again. She focused on the sight in front of her with a stony expression.

"No fair," Luck pouted, but she wasn't falling for it. That boy got off on the rise he received from his victims and Nova refused to be another one in the long line of people frequently zapped merely for his amusement.

"Give me food, you two scoundrels!" Nova whined, shamelessly at that point, the comment accompanied by her stomach rumbling in agreement. Magna and Luck laughed in unison, not caring about the whispers about the Black Bulls kidnapping people which followed them through the crowd.

"So, wait, explain these stars to me again?" Nova had forgone all courtesy as soon as their food had arrived, deciding that if the boys were going to behave like they were at home, so would she. The girl didn't bother chewing and swallowing before talking, instead speaking through her food, much like she would back in her village. Her mother would certainly blow a fuse if she could see Nova now, in the company of two Magic Knights, eating messily as she argued across the table.

"Each squad gets stars from the Wizard King for a well-accomplished mission," Luck told her, also speaking through his food. When Magna wasn't paying attention, the blonde boy swiped some of his sauce, smirking deviously. "You get them for assisting in combat, working in fields where there aren't enough people, getting supplies where they need to go, and so on."

"We didn't get one cause we had you on our mission," Magna added, his fork waving in the air, a piece of freshly roasted meat on it. He dunked it in his sauce, only to see there was less of it than there had been. "Luck, you little-"

"But, why would your captain agree to me going with you if he knew you couldn't be rewarded for the mission?" Nova ignored the quickly approaching argument, trying to distract both Magna, who was ready to flame up, and Luck, who eagerly awaited the reaction to his little prank.

"We don't really care about the rewards in our squad," Magna shrugged.

"Indeed, we're always last, according to Finral," Luck nodded sagely. Nova tilted her head to the side, chewing through her sandwich of thinly cut spiced meat and various vegetables. The boys had been more than right in their choice of food stalls, the grub was heavenly. And, cheap as dirt, to boast.

"Then, next time you ought to go without me," the girl told them, just as Luck was attempting to zap Magna in order to get the other mage mad. When he momentarily paused, then flexed his fingers, electricity sparking, she knew that she had merely delayed the whole thing. Quickly, Nova grabbed a piece of garlic bread from the basket in the middle of the table and threw it at the boy's face, hitting him square in the forehead.

"Ooooh, Nova-" Magna started, formality long forgotten, but it was too late for him to finish those words, or add anything else to her previous statement for that matter. Luck was simply too quick to grab a piece of cucumber from his plate and toss it at Nova, landing it in the between her breasts. There was a short moment of silence, before the blonde chuckled and mayhem ensued, food being thrown everywhere by the three people present.

Nova's legs got better and better, making her able to move around on her own pretty soon. She was eager to resume her work with Elizabeth, visiting the regular patients and helping out in the reception room at the tower. There seemed to be an endless stream of injured Magic Knights for her to practice her medicine on. Though, practicing medicine was a questionable term for what the girl did. She was almost always accompanied by at least one senior healer, even when simply testing for diseases in their makeshift lab. Well, if one could call the secluded part of the herbal yard on the roof a lab, even. It mostly looked like a mess the garden had thrown up.

Regardless, Nova embraced the hectic healing methods of the residents of the tower. Will was the best when it came to making salves. He showed her how just adding a bit more of one ingredient could completely change the texture, making it suitable for one or the other type of the wound. He also taught the girl how to pack her salves so that they wouldn't spoil on the road.

Mary was their resident expert on bones. While one really wouldn't expect that from the small, plump woman, she was one terrifying force of nature when it came to broken bones. She fixed them with her hands, without any magic, though many speculated how she did, in fact, somehow incorporate her abilities into the skill. Nova knew, the first time she saw the woman pull apart a broken arm and set the ulna and radius in a single, precise motion, that she herself would never be able to do that. Yet, she's learned how to differentiate between a break and a crack within a week of watching Mary at work from her wheelchair.

Elizabeth, who could only be called Lizzie by Owen, was less of a medicine woman in the recent years and more of an inventor. Will swore how she was the best when it came to any extremely contagious conditions and other exotic bugs, but Nova had yet to see her expertise at work. She generally followed Elizabeth around, especially after she'd shed her wheels in favor of a single cane, and the girl had only seen her mentor do routine work. The healer did everyday house calls, dealt with easy injuries at work, checked in on an occasional chronic patient and other than that, spent a lot of time in her own room, working on new inventions to ease their mundane tasks, like the wheelchair.

Nova had yet to meet Timothy, even after a month of being at the tower, but she didn't mind that one bit. When she asked about the last member of the team, everyone else got a very peculiar, not too excited, look on their face.

"You know how there's that saying?" Mary had said once when Nova asked about the mysterious, never to be found, healer. "A mother must love her crazy child?"

"Not really?" Nova's eyebrow had risen at the way Mary's expression had turned sour. The woman hadn't stopped working on hanging the laundry, though.

"Even if the mother's child is bonkers, she's still going to love it, because it's in her nature?" the healer had explained. "That's how we love Timothy, like a mother loves her crazy kid."

"O-oh," Nova had nodded, resuming her work of tying small bundles of rosemary together and then hanging them to dry.

But, despite the uncomfortable topic which nobody wanted to talk about, Timothy, Nova's life at the tower had become rather familiar. She'd rise early in the morning, do her chores at the herbal garden, then get some breakfast and visit the regular patients with Elizabeth. When it was about time for lunch, she'd arrive back at the tower, where Mary and Will would take over her education after a quick meal. In the afternoon Nova would have some free time before dinner, which was usually occupied by Magna or Luck, or both at once, who seemed to think that after each and every scuffle they should come to her for patching up. After managing to throw the two boys out, Nova would get dinner and then write down all of the important details of her day in her little medicine book.

It was nice and comfortable, and Nova made sure to tell that to her mother and father in her letters home. Though there wasn't much to remind her of home at the Capital, and her only contact with her parents were letters, the girl felt oddly at peace with her new surroundings and routine. It felt familiar somehow, like a good dream that she didn't really want to wake up from.

Nova was walking back to the tower, lost in her thoughts, arms heavy with all the groceries she'd purchased, when she spotted him. It was a Magic Knight, wearing the short cape that belonged very obviously to the Crimson Lions, hopping from one foot to the other in front of the tall tower doors. He had pale blonde hair, tied in a very short ponytail, which only made Nova think how Luck would look with that kind of a hairstyle. Though, when he turned, the girl saw that he had a certain baby face kind of look and visage, which was more than memorable.

"Are you here for a healer?" the girl asked, pulling one bag higher on her shoulder, so that it wouldn't slide down, as she climbed up the few steps to the tall doors.

"Remi Beaumont, of the Crimson Lion!" the young man, Nova guessed about her age, saluted her as if she were the Wizard King himself. "I'm here to report that there is an incoming platoon of injured Knights coming! They're coming! They're on their way here!" He stopped talking, eyes scrunching as he realized that he'd repeated himself a number of times, before actually looking at the bewildered girl in front of him. "Can I help you with those?" the young man asked, looking much more relaxed and his voice becoming a rather pleasant tone, now that he wasn't shouting his head off.

"Um, sure, Remi Beaumont of the Crimson Lion," Nova giggled as she handed him a couple of bags, enjoying that he blushed profusely. "Shall we enter and get ready for that platoon?"

"Yes, ma'am," Remi nodded eagerly, still a little red in the face. Nova couldn't stop giggling as she pushed the doors open, letting them both get out of the warm sun. "It was open the whole time?" the Magic Knight asked in shock.

"Oh, yeah," Nova nodded, leading him up the stairs and towards the common area. "We keep it unlocked, in case there's an emergency. You could say that we literally always have our doors open," the girl giggled, showing Remi where to put the bags. "I'm Nova, by the way. Nova Goldin, and I'm the newest member at the tower."

"It's very nice to make your acquaintance, Miss Nova." Remi lavishly bowed to her, and Nova felt like a true noblewoman for a brief second. "My Captain and comrades will be in your care." She shook her head, greatly amused by the unusual Knight.

"Let's go downstairs and get the beds ready," Nova led Remi back to the ground floor and started preparing the space. "How many people are we expecting? Were you injured at all?" While asking the routine questions, Nova thought back to what she knew the other healers said they would be doing. Mary was visiting a patient outside of the Capital, so she was out of action. Will had mentioned that he'd be in the hills, gathering more herbs which they didn't grow in their garden, so he could help if he came home early. Elizabeth was likely in her room, so Nova knew that she'd need to ring the woman before the Knights arrived. And Owen, he was nowhere to be seen, as was the usual case with him. Undoubtedly the Wizard King kept him busy.

"There are seven of us, including me," Remi replied, making the girl shake her head and refocus on the matter at hand. She would have to do triage until Will arrived, and pass the more urgent cases to Elizabeth. "I wasn't injured badly, just a little cut on my side. That's why I was sent out first. Our Captain was the worst, as far as I saw, Miss Nova. He fought an entire platoon of Diamond Kingdom invaders on his own."

"Do you remember what injuries he sustained? And do you know his blood type?" Nova went to the cupboard, getting bandages and supplies, arranging them carefully on trays near beds so that she could quickly access them later. "Please, sit down, Remi."

"Cuts and bumps, mostly," the Knight shakily replied, plopping down on one of the chairs available by the beds. "I saw a bad gash on his stomach and he was having trouble breathing." Nova grabbed some suturing kits and filed away the fact that the man probably had some broken ribs.

"Alright," she turned, walking to a shaking Remi, who looked to be coming down from his adrenaline high. "Show me that wound of yours? I'll work on it until your platoon arrives." As Remi took off his shirt to show his injury, Nova walked to the small lever by the door, pulling the one she knew would ring a bell in Elizabeth's room. Then, the girl went to work.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the update :)

A little food for thought: I've been re-watching the anime and I realized that Luck is actually quite smart xD It was always my hc that he was a rather clever kid, but if you pay attention, in the fight with Elf Dorothy, he is the one who comes up with the idea of summoning real Dorothy. Also, he always has all the explanations at the ready for Asta. What do you guys think?

Reviews:

Tora3:
Thanks! Hope you enjoyed reading :)

AmericanNidiot:
Hahahaha there will be more moments of 'mind in the gutter' don't you worry xD I don't know why, but I always think of Luck as someone who is a little romance oblivious xD
Hope you enjoyed reading!