AUTHORS NOTES:

Thank you so much for the reviews everyone! I'm loving seeing everyone reading my story and would love it even more if you could leave me a quick review, letting me know what you think of it! Why not do it now? Just swipe to the bottom and post the review, then come back up here and read this chapter?

I know the last one was quite small, but the ending was the perfect spot, this one should be longer.

Veor Hrdenda: Thanks for the reply! I'm loving questions! Haha! I started playing Dungeons and Dragons Basic and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (1st edition). Then moved onto 2nd Edition. Finally I played mostly 3rd Edition, homebrew. I read a 4th edition rule book when that came out and threw it down in disgust (this is a lie, I gently put it back on the shelf.. Then stomped away in disgust) and haven't even bothered looking at 5th ;-) But I digress… Yes! For simplicity sake, most of the spells based upon elements are now elemental spells and are directly affected by the caster's seeming. You're right that fireball is now Elemental Explosion with a fire mage's spell resulting in the traditional Fireball (plus continuing fire damage), for Sharein it will be an explosion of 'negative energy'... It's basically a homebrew of D&D magic and how it all works… but you're not wrong suggesting that it's "I just did magic in the story how I want coz I can" ;-)

Archer1eye: Hahaha…. We'll see if it's a scolding or not ;-) I must admit I was a bit undecided on how this would work out and it wasn't until I was halfway through a paragraph that I'd realised I'd already decided.

Slyksylva: It might be a while though ;-) I'll get there as quickly as I can though :)

Yorukakusaku: Thank you so much for the favourite and follow! It means so much =D Arigatoo Gozaimasu!

Chapter 35

30th Day of Late Winter 768 n.c

"I'm so sorry Sharein," were the words that greeted me even before I had properly opened my eyes.

Attempting to open my eyes proved to be a bad idea, the javelins of light that pierced through those gaps in my defences went straight into my brain. Pain exploded in the back of my head.

I moaned and clutched my head in my hands. Even the sound of my moan and the movement of lifting my arms seemed to make the pain increase. I rolled a little and realised that I was lying somewhere soft, Malkarov must have carried me down to my bed.

"It hurts," I managed to eek out, sounding pitiful and wanting nothing more than Mother to appear with a wet washcloth to put on my forehead.

"I'll be back in a moment," Malkarov said and I heard him run out of, whichever room I was in, wherever I was? I had absolutely no desire to find that out at that time, content to keep my eyes closed lest the drum beating orcs in my head decided to beat louder.

I may have fallen asleep again, because the next time I opened my eyes there was not such a painful light trying to sear a hole through my head. I let out another pitiful moan and Malkarov was gently lifting my head and had put something to my lips.

"Drink Sharein," he whispered, "it will make you feel better."

I opened my lips and allowed a slightly sticky liquid to pour into my mouth. I swallowed it down in three gulps, and felt a warmth spread through my entire body. As the warmth spread up to my head it wiped away the pain entirely, leaving me feeling almost as good as new. I opened my eyes to see a very concerned Malkarov hovering over me.

The ceiling beyond him did not resemble the ceiling of my bedroom and I furrowed my brow in confusion.

"Where am I?" I croaked out.

"You're in the temple, in Sister Tera's rooms," he explained, "she will be along shortly."

I began to lift myself up onto my elbows and it felt a little strange. I lifted the blanket a little and looked down, confirming that I was naked. I looked at Malkarov.

"Sister Tera," he said, putting his hands up and stepping away, "you've been asleep for an entire tenday. She took your clothes off as there was no way for you to… ah... control your body."

"A tenday?" I asked, incredulously, at the same time glad that Malkarov hadn't undressed me but also embarrassed that Sister Tera had and what she'd had to do and… clean. I put that out of my mind as much as I could.

Malkarov nodded, "We held off on the plan to investigate the kobolds for a day so that I could keep an eye on you but did it the day after instead. Do you remember feeling dizzy, headaches, faint?"

I pouted a little at hearing that I'd missed out on the investigation and was eager to ask Malkarov questions about it, "Ahm… I remember the headaches first then the black spots and finally the dizziness."

Malkarov slapped a hand over his face and let out a groan, "didn't I warn you about magical exhaustion?"

"No," he said with finality, "it's my fault and I'm very sorry for it. I should have asked you all the way along how you were feeling, to look for the signs. The headaches are a warning, but as you can just as easily get a headache for another reason they are often discounted. But the dizziness is your final warning, the warning not to use any more magic until you've rested. You can't be healed from magical exhaustion, you must sleep it off. Sometimes for a day or two and sometimes for a tenday. The potion of healing I gave you just removes the headache that you are left with after your body has healed."

That all made sense; in the excitement I had just ignored the things my body was telling me or at least I didn't understand what my body was trying to tell me. I should have definitely paid more attention or told Malkarov.

"You're awake!" came the greeting from Sister Tera as she walked into the room, "How are you feeling?"

"I feel okay, much better now," I replied, failing to look her in the eyes, "as good as new."

"Excellent," she said, "you're my first case of magical exhaustion and I was hard pressed to remember what I was taught back at the college."

She looked disapprovingly at Malkarov, "wizards in the Guild tend to look after themselves and don't let us near them. For now, you can go busy yourself and we'll get Sharein dressed and see if she can be let out of my care."

Malkarov hastily let himself out as Sister Tera fetched my clothes from a shelf near my pallet, "I washed your clothes after they were first soiled. I wish Malkarov had told me sooner that the condition could last many days.'

She must have noticed my blush, "oh don't worry Sharein, you've nothing I haven't seen a hundred times or more, let alone when I look in a mirror. One of the first things we are taught when training to be a Sister or a Brother is to separate our healer side and our personal side. Do you remember when Kara and Jara were born?"

I nodded, I could vaguely remember it all. The whole process was very scary and confusing.

"Do you remember your Mother soiling herself?" She asked.

I thought about it, but couldn't really remember. I shook my head, it wasn't something I was really paying attention to; not when I started off holding mother's hand and giving her sips of water or later when I watched in rapt fascination at Kara's head stretching and coming out or when I held her as Mother birthed Jara.

Sister Tera smiled as she helped me stand and began to help me get dressed, "That's okay. Most women when they give birth do, in fact it's fairly rare not to. Babies often come out with a bit of their mother's feces and urine on them, not to mention the blood and other fluids. If I didn't have my healer side, it might be hard to look a new mother in the face afterwards at a festival or such. What happens when I do my duty as a healer, stays there and I forget about it all of the rest of the time."

"What about…" I began, but stopped and only continued when Sister Tera prompted me to continue, "what about if they're really attractive?"

"It's sometimes hard, I will confess," she replied, "but as a healer, I'm not attracted to anyone. I leave that for the other me the rest of the time."

"There!" she said. "You're all dressed and standing by yourself."

I blinked in confusion, with the discussion and my thoughts I hadn't even noticed! My trousers, that were fitting perfectly, were baggy and loose. I felt my arms and down my sides; my arms felt a bit skinnier and I could easily feel all of my ribs. Oh dear, I must look like skin and bones!

"You could do with some fresh air and you should definitely have something to eat," she said to me, "you are alright to go. But if, after you've eaten you start feeling dizzy or lightheaded at all make sure to sit or lie down and send Malkarov to come and get me."

I nodded to her in understanding and made my way outside, before I opened the door my stomach let out a huge growl of hunger. I looked down in shock, then looked at Sister Tera and we both started giggling.

I found Malkarov outside of the Church.

"You've been released?" he said, as if I were being kept prisoner.

I laughed, "Yes, I've served my time. Sister Tera said that I was alright, but that I need to have something to eat."

"You haven't eaten in a full tenday," Malkarov replied, "how about we walk down to the Pig and Wheelbarrow?"

I agreed enthusiastically and we walked at a sedate pace down to the Inn. Missus Rose greeted us enthusiastically and with a note of surprise.

"It's so good to see you up and about my dear girl," she said, giving me a hug, "your parents will be so relieved when they hear. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, I am feeling much better thank you," I replied, "although I am exceedingly hungry."

"Of course," she said as she bustled off towards the kitchen, "I'll fetch you both something to eat right away! Have a seat, have a seat!"

We took a seat near the fireplace and I realised once I had lowered myself down that I actually felt very tired. I wondered whether I would have enough energy left to stand back up again, I was that exhausted. Malkarov's eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"I'm alright, just exhausted," I said, "I suppose that I haven't eaten for a tenday, I'm bound to feel this way."

"You'll feel much better tomorrow," Malkarov said, "I can remember when I exhausted myself, I was tired for the first day but much improved on the next."

"You exhausted yourself?" I asked.

He laughed, "every wizard does during their apprenticeship. It's a good warning for later in life. Exhaustion with a lower level spell is much easier than exhaustion from a more advanced spell."

That made sense. Obviously the more advanced the spell, the more power they use and the more power you expend when you don't have any left, the nastier the exhaustion.

"What happened with the kobolds?" I asked after a moment of thought.

"Ah!" Malkarov said and visibly prepared himself to tell the story, "We went out to your parent's farm and followed the direction they came from. It was a bit difficult to find their tracks, but we did eventually. They went into the forest and up to a small hill there, covered in grass and sticking up almost as high as the trees around it. On the other side of the hill, there is just bare rock and no grass. We discovered that the tracks led to a cave there. We hid and watched until night time when we saw three or four kobolds come out of the cave and disappear into the forest in search of food. We considered the small number that went out scavenging and came to the conclusion that the group must be very small and thus not such a great concern of ours. Some advocated doing something about them there and then, but it was decided in the end, to return to town and inform the town council. We were on our way back, when a kobold came out of the forest ahead of us and we were both a little surprised. I managed to cast my Tongues spell, which allows me to speak and understand almost any language and was able to communicate with the kobold. It told me that they used to go to an altar in the forest to pray, every night to their cave god, for food. Every night they would come back with enough food to feed the whole tribe. Recently though, their tribe has grown when another tribe joined them. They prayed to their cave god, but he had stopped listening to them and did not provide them with enough food to feed all of them. Some argued that they kick out the other tribe, some argued to wait and make a sacrifice to the cave god. A group of kobolds ignored everyone else and decided to raid your parent's farm and bring back a cow to feed them all. When only one returned, the rest of the kobolds denounced those that had gone out and kicked out the one that had returned. It appears that they have no interest in venturing forth into Easthaven, or even near Easthaven again."

They prayed at an altar in the forest? Did they pray to Shard and was she giving them food? With Shard gone to petition Tenebrae, was it my fault that the kobolds were now starving?

"Come now Sharein," Malkarov asked, sounding concerned, "you don't look very pleased by this news, is there something the matter with it?"

"No, no. I am exceedingly happy with the news, I'm…" I said, before I was hugged rather violently from the side without any warning except a simultaneous announcement of "Sharein!"