First Healer Zarren Quail
“How is my son?” at least she had the decency to act concerned after what she had done to him. I gave my harshest glare at this woman. She wasn’t phased in the slightest. She kept calm and stared back intently at me.
“He is alive, for now. We have a rotating team of healers watching him and keeping him alive after what you did,” I replied. We had to break out the medical support equipment that the Dwarven Healers were always talking about. Barbaric machines, but there was no other way to keep the child alive. “I am in charge of his care. I am First Healer Zarren Quail one of the people managing this Institute. Come to my office, we are going to have a chat.” I didn’t wait to see if she followed me and went straight there.
I took a seat at my desk, and she sat across from me. The Supreme Warlady Elena Burnstock, one of the most, if not the most feared beings in existence. I didn’t care about her body count. Or any of the other rumors about her. What I disliked her for was for experimenting on her child.
“I dislike you, Elena,” I said and waited to see what she would do, not bothering to use her titles. No one dared to touch the Five Star Institute of Healing. But there were always exceptions. We might all die today, but that was fine. I would not betray our core principles, the ones this very Institute rested upon.
“I sometimes dislike myself,” she calmly replied. Despite her stoic nature, she was clearly capable of self-reflection. I pulled off my enchanted glasses and rubbed my eyes. If this were anyone else, I would have them taken into custody and punished for what they had done, even a legend. The one thing that even the most stubborn of Healers agreed on was no experimenting on children. Our list of actual rules for full members was quite small, but the rules we did have were very important.
But handing out an appropriate punishment was impossible with this woman. I put back on my enchanted glasses and she stood up and bowed deeply. “I accept full responsibility. Please ensure my son’s health.” Well, at least she understood that she was out of her depth here. She might be a genius at killing things, but her talent in the healing skills was practically non-existent. Only a few basic skills from what my glasses could pick up. A dabbler at best. After a few seconds she sat back down and continued to stare at me.
“The only thing we can do is wait, for however long it takes the Alchemical toxicity to leave his soul,” I replied.
“How long will that be?” she asked.
“I have three senior healers looking over the case now. Based on the blood tests for Alchemical toxicity, it could be anywhere from three months to a year, depending on if the rate of expulsion speeds up or slows down. I will be reviewing whatever they come up with to narrow that timeframe and the treatment plan. A 9,000 on the Rumbart scale of Alchemical toxicity should be impossible. The cost of your son’s care isn’t going to be cheap.”
“I can pay,” she replied.
“Yes, you will. I have priced out the necessary care he will need for an entire month. The cost would be difficult for anyone but you. And know that our services are closed to you personally forevermore. We don’t take kindly to experimenting on children,” I replied waiting for her to start yelling. I slid across a sheet of paper detailing the immense number of resources that were being poured into keeping her son alive.
“It wasn’t an experiment. I wanted him to get stronger,” she replied.
“You say that, but you chose to proceed regardless of the risks. I have spoken with Healer Castelle. You are lucky someone of his ability was there with you. Anyone less qualified than him and your son would be dead,” I said.
“I know,” she replied without any discernable emotion.
“No more Alchemical products, or anything else for your son. He can make his own decisions when he is older, much older. But for now, absolutely nothing. What you have done…the information is going to be sealed. While I doubt anyone else will ever replicate what you did, it is unacceptable,” I calmly said.
“I understand,” she replied and picked up the sheet of paper. I saw her eyes go slightly wide for a moment.
“This is the cost for a month?” she asked with a bit of shock.
“Yes. Four full time Senior Healers rotating in to constantly apply their skills. A member of the Five Star Council, to review the treatment plan and to work on a solution. Lab testing to provide more detailed information. Dwarven medical devices to keep your son’s body functioning. And one Ritual of Protected Rest, so your son’s mind can actually sleep. We haven’t had to do it for almost a century. Normally it is used for extreme torture victims who have been broken mentally,” I explained.
“I…I didn’t realize the outcome could be so bad,” she said. This time I picked up the hesitation in her voice, but it went as quickly as it came.
“What you have done, has never been done before. Now, the bill? While I hate to make a point of this, if we heal your son and you run off with him, there is nothing we can do,” I replied.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I was saving this, but it should cover my current debt and then some,” she replied and pulled out a blue monster core and set it on my desk. I put it away in my spatial storage.
“I will have it assessed, and the value placed against the cost of your son’s treatment. That should probably cover a month and a half if I had to estimate. Now comes the hard conversation, Elena,” I said.
“And that is?” she asked while staring directly at me, giving off a calm appearance.
“Your authority and supervision of your son,” I stated.
“While I will let you chastise me, do not overstep your place,” she declared. This time I felt a very acute sense of danger coming from the woman in front of me. But I would not back down. The first thing we taught all Healers was to have a spine here at the Institute.
“My position is the First Healer of this institution. We have endured since before the time of the Eldarin Empire. Even the Eternal Emperor could not make us fully submit to his whims. Even when the Eternal Emperor forced all the healers of this Institute to bear witness as he forced my predecessor’s soul to be mutilated, not a single Healer of this Institute submitted to his tyranny or overwhelming power. Not even when four more Senior Healers were subjected to the same horrible fate did we submit. That is where this Institute earned is name from. While there have been dark points in our history, we will not condone medical experimentation on children,” I replied harshly.
“If you try and take away my son or turn him against me. There will be no more Five Star Institute of Healing. I will not torture you, I will just kill you all. You will keep him alive and fix him as quickly as possible. Anything beyond that you do not have the authority or strength to object to,” she said.
Looking at her, I knew she would destroy this place without hesitation. Time to take a step back and compromise, no matter how distasteful I found it. “Then your word, you will give no more Alchemical products to your son. We do not use children as test subjects,” I stated while staring fiercely at her.
“Very well. On my honor and word as Supreme Warlady Elena, I won’t give any more Alchemical products to my son Justin,” she replied. I relaxed at that. There was a knock on my door. Without waiting for me to refuse them, the door opened.
“Quail, what a marvelous case you brought me. Never seen such soul turbulence before. And the history, two green soul fruits, an unsanctioned Alchemcial product from the Last Bastion, this is shaping up to be the case of the year, possibly the decade,” Second Healer Sebastian declared as he walked over. “Who is this lady?”
“This is the patient’s mother,” I replied. Before I could give her full title Second Healer Sebastian continued.
“Oh, you are the idiot who almost killed your son. Well, it is simply quite exciting,” he said and saw Elena close her eyes and focus on her breathing. She had far more control than I had ever imagined. “Surprised you didn’t toss her out of the tower or the window after what she did.”
“We were just discussing things when you interrupted us. Now do you have progress on the case or do you just like hearing yourself speak?” I asked with a lot of annoyance.
“Progress of course. I am smarter than you and the rest of the Healers here after all. That Healer Castelle, good documentation and background, made it a lot easier to figure everything out. Definitely Alchemical toxicity exiting the soul, and since the soul overlays the body, that is where it is going. Now, this might seem crazy, but I say we break out the Eldarin old soul compressor we keep in the basement.”
“That is a torture device, that we only held onto to try and figure out how to deal with soul injuries. It isn’t meant to be used on a living being,” I replied in a deadpan tone.
“Exactly! Squeeze the soul to force the Alchemical nonsense out, then let it snap back into place without binding it. We would use half of it. Unless you want to authorize me to access the soul skills you keep tucked away,” Second Healer Sebastian said.
“Will it work?” Elena asked.
“Maybe. But it is the only thing we can do besides wait. Its not like we will deform your son’s soul. Just compress it as much as possible, hopefully pushing out the Alchemical nonsense faster,” he explained.
“Do you know how long this issue will last?” she asked Sebastian.
“Nope. Best guess is three months to a year based on the declining toxicity rates. Never been a case like this before to compare to. But with that Mega Elixir and the super high toxicity, I would say half a year to nine months is most likely,” Sebastian said.
“That long? Do what you need to do. I have no objections,” she replied.
“Sebastian. The patient’s health comes first. Don’t let anything happen to him,” I said.
“Ah, got it. Don’t worry. Now I just need to dig that soul compressor out of storage and give it a test run. I need two homunculi, and a team to record results,” he explained.
“Do whatever you must. I will cover the cost,” Elena said. She wasn’t uncaring, she was just far too stoic in the face of adversity. I wanted to say something, but I knew it wouldn’t matter at this point. Second Healer Sebastian had many faults, but he truly was a genius of Healing, being able to figure out the really tricky cases like this.
“Excellent. Always love it when I have free reign on a project,” Sebastian said.
“Do not pad your numbers. I will know. We will be treating this case without any nonsense, out of respect for the Supreme Warlady Elena here. Do. Not. Cause. Trouble,” I declared while staring at Second Healer Sebastian he wasn’t to play any of his usual games with this patient and especially his mother. I knew he liked to pad the bills he gave rich patrons to support his medical research. If he sensed someone as rich as Elena, he might go overboard which would cause problems.
“Oh, got it. Well off to get the torture, I mean the medical device,” he said and quickly left.
“You Healers are an eccentric group. Very willful,” Elena said.
“We don’t accept anyone who doesn’t have the courage to stand up for themselves no matter how talented. Otherwise, people like you would dictate to us, not the other way around, even when this is our profession,” I explained.
“As long as my son is fine, everything can be discussed. If he dies, there is no need for discussion,” she said and stood up. I stood up as well as she left my office without another word. I really hated powerful people, but they were the ones with the complicated cases and could pay the expenses that accumulated at this Institute. Funding was always tight.
While I said I would turn her away, the other four towers would no doubt accept her if she showed up. Even with her history. A customer was a customer after all. I might have talked tough bringing up the Eternal Emperor, but my predecessors would have probably folded if he had handed over money instead of threats. Time to make sure that the kid actually stayed alive so his mother didn’t go on a rampage and level this place.