Tessia? Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to distract you. I think I was dreaming...
He was delirious.
– Hold on, she urged. Don’t give up yet.
– I’ll never give up on you.
Turning her mind back to the damage, she considered it carefully. There must be some way to mimic this healing magic. She tried to send magic into him, but could not shape it into anything but heat or force. Something nagged at her. Jayan’s words echoed in her mind. “Help me.” She would never forgive herself if she could not save him. There must be a way to do what his body was doing. “Help me.” Or at least speed his body’s healing up...
Wait... Perhaps she didn’t need to copy his body, just give it more magic. Boost the healing process with a lot more power. Drawing magic, she sent it in a gentle, unformed flow to mingle with that already flowing from him to the wounded areas of his body. It became part of that flow, was shaped in whatever mysterious way his body shaped it for healing.
That’s it!
She had doubled the flow, and saw double the effect. Now she sent greater amounts of power in, and saw the healing increase rapidly. She concentrated on the rents in the tubes and watched them slowly shrink and close. She sent power to the torn pulse paths and felt a rush of triumph as they all but snapped shut. The general damage to his insides from the toxic liquids was more subtle, but soon she could feel a sense of rightness return.
As she channelled power into him she began to feel the way his body used the magic. She understood it in an instinctive way that she could not have explained to another. Perhaps if I somehow memorise the way this feels and flows, I can apply my own magic to a non-magician and heal them, too.
Soon the damage within his abdomen was all but gone. She concentrated on the tear in his skin, boosting the magic until flesh drew close to flesh and knitted itself together. But even as she saw the scar tissue form, she knew that he was not completely healed.
He had lost a lot of blood. Delving deeper, she wondered if there was anything she could do to replace it. Healers did not agree on which organ produced blood. But if he rested, ate and drank some water perhaps his body would recover by itself.
– Tessia?
– Yes, Jayan?
– I felt that. I felt you healing me. I wasn’t imagining it, was I?
– No. I’ve found it. The secret. It’s—
– Don’t tell me.
– What? Why not? More people need to know. In case you’ve forgotten, we are both still in the middle of a war, stuck on our own in a city of people who want to kill us. If I die this discovery will be lost.
She felt a wave of emotion from him. Fear. Protectiveness. Affection. Longing. All mingled, yet something else.
– Don’t talk about dying, he told her. You have to survive this war. I’ve waited too long and it’s almost over.
– What are you talking about?
But she knew even as she asked. She felt it leaking through the cracks of his self-control. Even as she recognised it and felt astonishment, she felt her own body respond in a way that no healer had ever been able to explain in a satisfactory matter. One of the mysteries. One of the more delightful mysteries, her father would have once said. What was the heart for but to pump blood? Why then did it do this other, inexplicable thing?
And why me? Why not some rich woman? Some pretty apprentice?
– I love you, he told her.
Sweet joy rushed through her. But there was a distinct smugness about his words. He’d sensed her feelings in return, and was pleased with himself for doing so.
– Turns out I love you too, she replied, communicating her wry amusement. Of all the annoying people in the world.
– Poor Tessia, he mocked.
– I’m sure as soon as we get back to Imardin you’ll be off flirting with rich, pretty girls. Maybe I shouldn’t tell you the secret of healing. It’ll make you even more appealing to them.
– More appealing than I already am? He didn’t pause to let her retort. Actually, you are right. It would be safer if another person knew.
So she told him, and when she was sure he had grasped it she withdrew her mind from his body. As she opened her eyes she felt a hand slip behind her neck and draw her down. Jayan rose and pressed his mouth to hers. Surprised, she resisted a moment. Then a shiver ran through her, not cold but warm and wonderful. She kissed him back, liking the way his lips moved against hers, and responding in kind.
I could get to like this.
She almost protested when he let her go. They stared at each other for a moment, then both began to smile. Then Jayan’s smile faded again. He pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked down at his bloodied clothes, then grimaced and put a hand to his forehead.
“Dizzy,” he said.
“You’ll be faint and weak for a while,” she told him.
“We can’t stay here.”
“No,” she agreed, standing up. Looking round, she saw that the fire in the house nearby had almost burned itself out. “Let’s hide in there until morning. Nobody will bother entering because anything valuable will have been burned, and the walls might fall in. I can protect us with a shield.”
“Yes. This is the main road, after all. We can keep watch, and come out when someone we know passes by. It might take a while, but someone is sure to come along eventually. Where’s your bag?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter, though. If I can make this healing work on non-magicians, I won’t need cures or tools any more.”
He nodded, then rose to his feet in stages, first sitting up, then rising into a squat, then leaning over, and finally straightening. As they started towards the house she felt a wave of tiredness and stumbled. Healing had taken more magic than she’d realised.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Jayan asked.
“Yes. Just tired.”
“Well, wait until we get inside before you fall asleep, won’t you?”
She gave him a withering look, then let him lead her into the house.
Anagging thirst dragged Jayan out of sleep. He opened his eyes and saw charred walls bathed in morning light. They looked no softer than the surface he was lying against. His body ached. There was a pressure on his arm. He looked down.
Tessia lay curled up against his side, asleep.
His heart lifted and suddenly the hardness of the wall and ground wasn’t so unbearable.
I should have waited until the war was over and we were safe, he thought. But she was there, too close to my mind, and I couldn’t hide how I felt.
Yet he couldn’t bring himself to regret anything.
She loves me. Despite all the stupid things I’ve said. Despite me pushing her away. He realised he hadn’t expected her to. That he’d thought that, when they returned to Imardin and he gathered the courage to let her know his feelings, she’d turn him away.