ou hand the tweezers over to Kasumi and begin to make a little magic. A few extra syllables here to describe a target other than the "default" of personal, a twist of will there to add the mana necessary to carry the matrix of the spell to its destination and keep it operating - and then you reach out, hold one hand in front of Kasumi's eyes, and cast the spell of magical detection. And then you cast a second, somewhat more complex spell, which will allow Kasumi to more closely examine wounds, to more accurate results.

When you lower your hand, there is a subtle glow in Kasumi's brown eyes that was not present a moment earlier.

She blinks. "Oh my. I... is it supposed to look like this?"

"That depends," you reply. "Are you seeing clouds of light and shadow around people? Threads of different colors, like a rainbow made of lightning?"

"Yes."

"And when you look at my hand," you continue, holding it back up, "can you see the blood vessels through the skin?"

"...eww." It would seem that, ninja trained or not, she's still a little girl. Even so, a moment later, Kasumi nods. "And yes, I can."

You nod, lowering your hand once more. "Then it's normal."

"What you're looking for in your father's wounds will appear deep black," Briar advises, "almost solid, compared to his own aura. Expect an emotional and physical chill when you look at the fragments, especially from the larger ones."

Kasumi lowers her eyes to Shiden's unconscious form, and inhales sharply. "...I see them," she says softly, with an appropriately-timed shiver.

"We'll start here," Briar tells her briskly, "with one of the smallest pieces. I'll numb the area so that you can remove the shard, and as you draw it out, I'll patch up the wound behind it. Take as long as you feel you need, and focus on avoiding the major vessels, even if you have to inflict more damage to the flesh; I can repair that sort of thing much more easily than I can restore blood."

The young kunoichi closes her eyes for a long moment and takes a deep breath. When she opens her eyes again, they are as bright with unshed tears as they are with your magic, but her voice and hands are steady. "Alright."

And she sets to work.

You watch for a time, paying attention to Briar's instructive words - calm, methodical, never stopping - as she patiently guides Kasumi through the removal of the bomb fragments. The words to several spells hover on your lips, magic meant to draw forth poison and other foreign matter, prevent disease, seal wounds, and restore blood - which, as Briar noted, is a fairly expensive bit of sorcery. Whatever discount she would get for her specialization in the healing arts is likely countered by the mana she'd have to pour into the spell to affect a patient so many times larger than herself. Though you are ready to leap in at a moment's notice, it proves unneccessary; if Kasumi's hands are slow at first, they remain steady, and with each bit of bloodstained steel she draws forth, her confidence and her pace increase just a bit more. Piece by piece, wound by wound, Shiden's battered body is gradually restored to at least the seeming of wholeness.

Gained First Aid F-

Much that you - and certainly Briar and Kasumi - might wish it otherwise, those nearby are not idle while the two healers work. The ninja in white has managed to put one of the attackers down with a certain inescapable finality, and from what you can see, hear, and sense with your ki, the combined defensive work of the three adults has disabled a second hostile shinobi.

Gained Ki Sense F+++
Gained Listening F+++

That still leaves four battle-ready enemies in the hall, and the achievement hasn't been without cost. As you watch, Ayame flings the last of her readied knives, after which she is forced to reach awkwardly across her body to a half-concealed pouch for reloads. The pouch in question would have been ideally-placed for quick retrieval of weapons by her right arm, but it's not nearly so helpfully-positioned for access by her left; that's going to badly slow down the kunoichi matron's rate of fire. Lu-sensei doesn't seem any different from when you arrived, until you look a bit closer and realize that he is breathing deeply and actually shedding a single drop of sweat - you've never seen him do either before, even after you ran for your lives from Beryl's shadow-giant the other day. As for the man who's been holding the doorway all this time, he's clearly taken the brunt of the enemy assault; his white uniform now sports a great deal more pink and red than it did when you arrived. Altria doesn't appear to have been harmed at all, though from the impacts you've heard, her shield has probably picked up a few scratches. Maybe. Magical weapons and armor can be remarkably resilient.

As for the remaining bad guys, they seem to have pulled back down the hall, beyond your immediate visual range. You can dimly sense their ki signatures off to either side, but not with enough clarity to determine how badly injured they are compared to your adult guardians, or what they might be up to. On a side note, the noise sliding through the cracked glass from the arena below tells you that the fight is still going on, though perhaps on a slightly smaller scale than when you left.