Residual Hate 4
Chapter 4
Instead of staying in the entrance, they went upstairs to continue their discussion. The two rooms Faylin had reserved were side-by-side, identical from the two twin-sized beds to the shape of the window facing the doorway. Being an inn that served richer clientele, the rooms were extremely clean with lush coverings, and Adeliva soon found out that the beds were as soft as they looked. With a smile on her face, Adeliva started to bounce on the bed, testing it.
“Ryu, can you sit still for a second?” Hitori asked after a moment, smiling as she sat next to the now-still child. It was nice to see the girl act her age. “Fay, could you lend me your voice for a moment?”
“What do you want me to do, all powerful teacher-mine?” He asked immediately, his easy smile never faltering.
“I want you to show me how good you’ve gotten at healing.” Hitori slowly started to unwind the bandages on Adeliva’s feet, sometimes separating the threads with magic when the blood glued two layers together. “First, soothe the nerves on her feet and purify the wounds. Then, try to speed up the body’s healing processes.”
“It doesn’t look like she has enough reserves for that.” Faylin pointed out, crouching before the bed to get a closer look at the girl’s feet.
“I’m not weak!”
“Nobody said you were sweetie.” Hitori said soothingly, removing the last of the bandages. Faylin exhaled sharply when he saw the full extent of the damage. Hitori had managed to reduce the swelling and shrank the sores; but they were still full of puss and oozed blood every once in awhile when Adeliva walked too much. Since she always forgot to tell Hitori when her feet hurt, they bled quite often. “I know.” Hitori continued, meeting Faylin’s clear blue eyes confidently. “But I can make sure we don’t use too much. Do you trust me?”
“Of course, ‘Tori.” Faylin sniffed. “I know you’re more powerful than I and you are my teacher.”
“Ryu?”
“Of course I do! You saved me!”
“Thanks love. Fay?”
The man nodded, clearing his throat. When he opened his month afterwards, it was to sing:
”Stands of fire,
Interwoven yet frayed-
Dampen your burn
And release the tension.
Let it go, let it flow.”
As Faylin spoke, Adeliva felt the pain in her feet subside, a network of fire reduced to embers. Her mind suddenly felt so much lighter as the stress she did not acknowledge lessened. She curled up next to Hitori, resting her head in the focused thread mage’s lap. She felt even better when the other girl started to play with her hair fondly, though Hitori’s gaze never strayed away from her feet.
Hitori closed her eyes, releasing most of the veils over her magical vision. This was deeper magic than what she had done earlier that day: she needed to see the path of energy through the body through the tissue, nerve and blood pathways. She had the power to see all of the connections for a limited amount of time, one she usually avoided using because it severely lowered the effectiveness of her mental shields. “Fay!” She barked, not losing her focus.
He understood.
”Sweet heart,
Be strong and swift;
Nerves,
Enjoy your well-deserved rest;
Defenders,
Sweep away the enemy-
The bringer of Illness and Infection,
Sweep them away and let
Health and Vitality
Take their place.”
After repeating the last three lines three times, he hummed a little, keeling his magic active. Once the strain lessened, he looked at Hitori. The woman gave a barely perceivable nod, the air around her thrumming with power that sang in Faylin’s ears. He spared a quick glance at his patient and was half-surprised to see that she had drifted off. ‘Between the lack of pain and the strain on her body beforehand, it makes sense.’ He mused, going back to his task.
“Oh flesh, torn asunder,
Re-knit thyself for another
Become smooth and tight,
So take thou’s initial guise
And be pleasing to the eyes.”
The tissue beneath the skin started to reform layer by layer. Faylin kept humming until Hitori gave him a short nod.
”Oh skin,
Return to thy task,
Be a body guard
Be a cover against threat.”
He hummed the words again, taking care to take the proper amount of time for each assumed syllable. He could feel Hitori’s magic channeling the remains of his own, bringing only the necessary amount to a certain destination without letting it spill over. By the time he was done his part, he was sweating from the effort; Hitori was not.
“How powerful are you really?” He asked her, watching his mentor carefully.
Hitori didn’t actually hear his words since her attention was on rebuilding her barriers before she lost her regular vision. “Isn’t she cute when she sleeps?” She mused when she had refastened the veils properly. She could still see Faylin and her own magic around Adeliva, but instead of it being as bright as the sun; it was more like tentative candlelight.
“When did you learn magic?” Faylin tried to pry again.
“I’m still learning.” Was Hitori’s non-answer.
“Hitori...” Faylin said compellingly.
She gave him an amused look, aware of the tendril of magic that snaked around his words. Since she was aware of it, it was easy to deflect. Her student had the grace to look abashed. “My first feat of controlled magic was on my seventh birthday.”
“That’s young!” The song-mage exclaimed.
“It was either that or go mad.” Hitori shrugged.
“What’d you do?”
“Unimportant.” She yawned. “So when’re we eating?”
“Kara usually has everything cooked in an hour. Why don’t you take a bath and meet me downstairs after. She’ll be sleeping for a few hours at least. Why’s she all skin and bones?”
“Found her in a village near that waterfall you told me about. They were using her magic freely “
“What?”
“Black opals have the potential to hold a lot of magical energy. A man in the village, her uncle, used their blood bond to drain her magic and stuff it in the opal so he could use it.”
“That’s horrible!” Faylin exclaimed indignantly. “Where were her parents?”
“Dead. So’s her uncle now.”
“You killed someone?”
“She did.”
“How? She’s so small!”
“Magic. If you kill the mind, the body becomes an empty shell and dies.”
She left a thoughtful Faylin in the room, unaware of the effect her words had on the song-mage. She only wondered where Kalan was when she was halfway to the inn’s bathhouse.
*~*
Kalan was actually out buying a new set of shoes for Faylin’s horse. If it had been Kamatari’s or Hitori’s, he would not have bothered, but his Lord could not be trusted with such a practical task. Faylin simply did not have the experience needed to spot quality work or the patience to barter.
He did not know why, but there was a funny feel to the horseshoe in his hand. The hardness, colour and shape were all normal, but the feeling of wrongness was too important to ignore.
“The inside’s full of magic.” A deep voice said from his left, sounding bored. Kamatari stepped around the other man quickly, putting his hand over the horseshoe Kalan was holding.
Suddenly, the guardian could feel the difference in weight and he started to swear under his breath. “This wouldn’t’ve lasted more than a few hours, if that!”
“Or thereabouts.” Kamatari agreed. “And then we would’ve had to listen to that ninny whine for a few hours until we found another blacksmith who’s probably in the same thieving ring as this one.”
“Thank you sir.” Kalan said heartily, his grip on the horseshoe strengthening as he struggled to control his temper. He hated cheats, especially craftsmen who used magical means to try and deceive him. “I think I’ll have a talk with the fellow.”
“Leave that to me. Swindlers are under my jurisdiction and you’re too honest to get much information out of him. Go back to the inn and keep an eye on the idiot and Hitori for me.”
“She’s back?” The man smiled, relieved. The woman would be able to stop the small war his Lord and the swordsman seemed determined to continue.
“Yes.”
Kalan’s smile became a little strained as he noted the sourness in the other man’s voice. “You suspect something?”
“”I don’t like the stray she picked up.”
“Stray?”
“A mind witch. Try to keep Faylin from scaring her, she already killed a man by accident.”
It was Kamatari’s use of Faylin’s given name that gave his words the most weight. In the past couple years of traveling together, it had only happened a few times when either Hitori or Faylin had been in grave danger. “And Hitori?”
“I’ll take care of Hitori’s safety.” You’ll have enough trouble with that twink of a noble. Now, scat already.”
“Yessir.”
*~*
After she had a proper bath with warm water and soap, Hitori felt much more optimistic about the world. The stress on her body caused by mental exhaustion seemed to melt away, leaving her mind clearer than it had been in a good while. Since rescuing Adeliva, she had struggled to maintain constant control over her mental shields, a necessity for keeping her mind intact with the girl’s random magical outbursts. It was not that the girl was not trying to control her magic because she was, desperate for Hitori’s approval; but there was just so much of it so suddenly that it kept slipping through the girl’s fingers and out into the world. ‘Maybe Kamatari will help her mediate. He refused to help Faylin out of principle, but Ryu’s cute enough to weasel through his defenses.’
She left the baths wearing fresh clothes and a fluffy towel around her shoulders to catch the water from her hair. It was not long before she found Faylin in the dinning hall.
“You look a lot more presentable now.” He bowed, extending a hand with a flourish. “Care to join me for dinner, my dear Hitori?”
“Hasn’t ‘Tari beaten that habit out of you yet?” She took his hand, blushing a little.
“He tried.” Faylin chirped, kissing the back of her hand, his soft lips barely touching her skin. The scent of bath oils made him smile. “But I shall always be courteous to the ladies.”
Hitori laughed, pulling him into a hug. “I’ve missed you Fay.”
“As have I.” He hugged her back, closing his eyes. She was the first person to ever try to befriend him without expecting money or status in return.
He gave her the package with a gentle smile. “I have something for you.”
Bewilderment in her eyes as she looked at him and the present in turn. “Why?”
Surprise. “You don’t need one? We’re friends after all.”
“That’s why I don’t understand why I would need a present? The only thing I need is your friendship, you’re a fun fellow to be around Fay.”
“Why do you call me Fay?”
“It’s a nickname.” A confused but indulgent smile. “I give nicknames to friends. You don’t like it?”
“I do.” He shook his head. “I really do. It’s just the first time… that anybody called me anything other than ‘Faylin’ or ‘sir’.”
Surprise and indignation this time. “Well, Fay, I don’t know who you’ve been hanging around with your whole life but now you’re with me.” A kiss on the cheek. “And I’m going to teach you how to live.”
“And about magic?”
“Yes, but mostly how to live. First thing, friends don’t need to be formal with each other. Second of all, you can talk to me about anything. Thirdly, the greatest gift for me is to see you smiling happily.” She cupped his face in her hands, smiling at his surprise. “Happiness shared is one of the greatest powers in the world, magic can’t compete.”
“Than you don’t want this?” He asked.
“Sure I do.” She took the scarf out of his hands, and wrapped it around her neck properly “I love presents.”
“You don’t make sense, 'Tori.” He told her with the start of a smile. It was the first time he called someone by a nickname.
“I make sense to me.” She winked at him.
“As have I.” He said again, his thoughts coming back to the present.
Prologue ^-^-^ Chapter 1 ^-^-^ Chapter 2 ^-^-^ Chapter 3 ^-^-^ Chapter 4 ^-^-^ Chapter 5 ^-^-^ Chapter 6
Instead of staying in the entrance, they went upstairs to continue their discussion. The two rooms Faylin had reserved were side-by-side, identical from the two twin-sized beds to the shape of the window facing the doorway. Being an inn that served richer clientele, the rooms were extremely clean with lush coverings, and Adeliva soon found out that the beds were as soft as they looked. With a smile on her face, Adeliva started to bounce on the bed, testing it.
“Ryu, can you sit still for a second?” Hitori asked after a moment, smiling as she sat next to the now-still child. It was nice to see the girl act her age. “Fay, could you lend me your voice for a moment?”
“What do you want me to do, all powerful teacher-mine?” He asked immediately, his easy smile never faltering.
“I want you to show me how good you’ve gotten at healing.” Hitori slowly started to unwind the bandages on Adeliva’s feet, sometimes separating the threads with magic when the blood glued two layers together. “First, soothe the nerves on her feet and purify the wounds. Then, try to speed up the body’s healing processes.”
“It doesn’t look like she has enough reserves for that.” Faylin pointed out, crouching before the bed to get a closer look at the girl’s feet.
“I’m not weak!”
“Nobody said you were sweetie.” Hitori said soothingly, removing the last of the bandages. Faylin exhaled sharply when he saw the full extent of the damage. Hitori had managed to reduce the swelling and shrank the sores; but they were still full of puss and oozed blood every once in awhile when Adeliva walked too much. Since she always forgot to tell Hitori when her feet hurt, they bled quite often. “I know.” Hitori continued, meeting Faylin’s clear blue eyes confidently. “But I can make sure we don’t use too much. Do you trust me?”
“Of course, ‘Tori.” Faylin sniffed. “I know you’re more powerful than I and you are my teacher.”
“Ryu?”
“Of course I do! You saved me!”
“Thanks love. Fay?”
The man nodded, clearing his throat. When he opened his month afterwards, it was to sing:
”Stands of fire,
Interwoven yet frayed-
Dampen your burn
And release the tension.
Let it go, let it flow.”
As Faylin spoke, Adeliva felt the pain in her feet subside, a network of fire reduced to embers. Her mind suddenly felt so much lighter as the stress she did not acknowledge lessened. She curled up next to Hitori, resting her head in the focused thread mage’s lap. She felt even better when the other girl started to play with her hair fondly, though Hitori’s gaze never strayed away from her feet.
Hitori closed her eyes, releasing most of the veils over her magical vision. This was deeper magic than what she had done earlier that day: she needed to see the path of energy through the body through the tissue, nerve and blood pathways. She had the power to see all of the connections for a limited amount of time, one she usually avoided using because it severely lowered the effectiveness of her mental shields. “Fay!” She barked, not losing her focus.
He understood.
”Sweet heart,
Be strong and swift;
Nerves,
Enjoy your well-deserved rest;
Defenders,
Sweep away the enemy-
The bringer of Illness and Infection,
Sweep them away and let
Health and Vitality
Take their place.”
After repeating the last three lines three times, he hummed a little, keeling his magic active. Once the strain lessened, he looked at Hitori. The woman gave a barely perceivable nod, the air around her thrumming with power that sang in Faylin’s ears. He spared a quick glance at his patient and was half-surprised to see that she had drifted off. ‘Between the lack of pain and the strain on her body beforehand, it makes sense.’ He mused, going back to his task.
“Oh flesh, torn asunder,
Re-knit thyself for another
Become smooth and tight,
So take thou’s initial guise
And be pleasing to the eyes.”
The tissue beneath the skin started to reform layer by layer. Faylin kept humming until Hitori gave him a short nod.
”Oh skin,
Return to thy task,
Be a body guard
Be a cover against threat.”
He hummed the words again, taking care to take the proper amount of time for each assumed syllable. He could feel Hitori’s magic channeling the remains of his own, bringing only the necessary amount to a certain destination without letting it spill over. By the time he was done his part, he was sweating from the effort; Hitori was not.
“How powerful are you really?” He asked her, watching his mentor carefully.
Hitori didn’t actually hear his words since her attention was on rebuilding her barriers before she lost her regular vision. “Isn’t she cute when she sleeps?” She mused when she had refastened the veils properly. She could still see Faylin and her own magic around Adeliva, but instead of it being as bright as the sun; it was more like tentative candlelight.
“When did you learn magic?” Faylin tried to pry again.
“I’m still learning.” Was Hitori’s non-answer.
“Hitori...” Faylin said compellingly.
She gave him an amused look, aware of the tendril of magic that snaked around his words. Since she was aware of it, it was easy to deflect. Her student had the grace to look abashed. “My first feat of controlled magic was on my seventh birthday.”
“That’s young!” The song-mage exclaimed.
“It was either that or go mad.” Hitori shrugged.
“What’d you do?”
“Unimportant.” She yawned. “So when’re we eating?”
“Kara usually has everything cooked in an hour. Why don’t you take a bath and meet me downstairs after. She’ll be sleeping for a few hours at least. Why’s she all skin and bones?”
“Found her in a village near that waterfall you told me about. They were using her magic freely “
“What?”
“Black opals have the potential to hold a lot of magical energy. A man in the village, her uncle, used their blood bond to drain her magic and stuff it in the opal so he could use it.”
“That’s horrible!” Faylin exclaimed indignantly. “Where were her parents?”
“Dead. So’s her uncle now.”
“You killed someone?”
“She did.”
“How? She’s so small!”
“Magic. If you kill the mind, the body becomes an empty shell and dies.”
She left a thoughtful Faylin in the room, unaware of the effect her words had on the song-mage. She only wondered where Kalan was when she was halfway to the inn’s bathhouse.
*~*
Kalan was actually out buying a new set of shoes for Faylin’s horse. If it had been Kamatari’s or Hitori’s, he would not have bothered, but his Lord could not be trusted with such a practical task. Faylin simply did not have the experience needed to spot quality work or the patience to barter.
He did not know why, but there was a funny feel to the horseshoe in his hand. The hardness, colour and shape were all normal, but the feeling of wrongness was too important to ignore.
“The inside’s full of magic.” A deep voice said from his left, sounding bored. Kamatari stepped around the other man quickly, putting his hand over the horseshoe Kalan was holding.
Suddenly, the guardian could feel the difference in weight and he started to swear under his breath. “This wouldn’t’ve lasted more than a few hours, if that!”
“Or thereabouts.” Kamatari agreed. “And then we would’ve had to listen to that ninny whine for a few hours until we found another blacksmith who’s probably in the same thieving ring as this one.”
“Thank you sir.” Kalan said heartily, his grip on the horseshoe strengthening as he struggled to control his temper. He hated cheats, especially craftsmen who used magical means to try and deceive him. “I think I’ll have a talk with the fellow.”
“Leave that to me. Swindlers are under my jurisdiction and you’re too honest to get much information out of him. Go back to the inn and keep an eye on the idiot and Hitori for me.”
“She’s back?” The man smiled, relieved. The woman would be able to stop the small war his Lord and the swordsman seemed determined to continue.
“Yes.”
Kalan’s smile became a little strained as he noted the sourness in the other man’s voice. “You suspect something?”
“”I don’t like the stray she picked up.”
“Stray?”
“A mind witch. Try to keep Faylin from scaring her, she already killed a man by accident.”
It was Kamatari’s use of Faylin’s given name that gave his words the most weight. In the past couple years of traveling together, it had only happened a few times when either Hitori or Faylin had been in grave danger. “And Hitori?”
“I’ll take care of Hitori’s safety.” You’ll have enough trouble with that twink of a noble. Now, scat already.”
“Yessir.”
*~*
After she had a proper bath with warm water and soap, Hitori felt much more optimistic about the world. The stress on her body caused by mental exhaustion seemed to melt away, leaving her mind clearer than it had been in a good while. Since rescuing Adeliva, she had struggled to maintain constant control over her mental shields, a necessity for keeping her mind intact with the girl’s random magical outbursts. It was not that the girl was not trying to control her magic because she was, desperate for Hitori’s approval; but there was just so much of it so suddenly that it kept slipping through the girl’s fingers and out into the world. ‘Maybe Kamatari will help her mediate. He refused to help Faylin out of principle, but Ryu’s cute enough to weasel through his defenses.’
She left the baths wearing fresh clothes and a fluffy towel around her shoulders to catch the water from her hair. It was not long before she found Faylin in the dinning hall.
“You look a lot more presentable now.” He bowed, extending a hand with a flourish. “Care to join me for dinner, my dear Hitori?”
“Hasn’t ‘Tari beaten that habit out of you yet?” She took his hand, blushing a little.
“He tried.” Faylin chirped, kissing the back of her hand, his soft lips barely touching her skin. The scent of bath oils made him smile. “But I shall always be courteous to the ladies.”
Hitori laughed, pulling him into a hug. “I’ve missed you Fay.”
“As have I.” He hugged her back, closing his eyes. She was the first person to ever try to befriend him without expecting money or status in return.
He gave her the package with a gentle smile. “I have something for you.”
Bewilderment in her eyes as she looked at him and the present in turn. “Why?”
Surprise. “You don’t need one? We’re friends after all.”
“That’s why I don’t understand why I would need a present? The only thing I need is your friendship, you’re a fun fellow to be around Fay.”
“Why do you call me Fay?”
“It’s a nickname.” A confused but indulgent smile. “I give nicknames to friends. You don’t like it?”
“I do.” He shook his head. “I really do. It’s just the first time… that anybody called me anything other than ‘Faylin’ or ‘sir’.”
Surprise and indignation this time. “Well, Fay, I don’t know who you’ve been hanging around with your whole life but now you’re with me.” A kiss on the cheek. “And I’m going to teach you how to live.”
“And about magic?”
“Yes, but mostly how to live. First thing, friends don’t need to be formal with each other. Second of all, you can talk to me about anything. Thirdly, the greatest gift for me is to see you smiling happily.” She cupped his face in her hands, smiling at his surprise. “Happiness shared is one of the greatest powers in the world, magic can’t compete.”
“Than you don’t want this?” He asked.
“Sure I do.” She took the scarf out of his hands, and wrapped it around her neck properly “I love presents.”
“You don’t make sense, 'Tori.” He told her with the start of a smile. It was the first time he called someone by a nickname.
“I make sense to me.” She winked at him.
“As have I.” He said again, his thoughts coming back to the present.
Prologue ^-^-^ Chapter 1 ^-^-^ Chapter 2 ^-^-^ Chapter 3 ^-^-^ Chapter 4 ^-^-^ Chapter 5 ^-^-^ Chapter 6