"Healing is one of the most difficult areas of study. While there are areas one can find skilled healers who have studied matters of the flesh, it is this Author's opinion that too much trust is put in the Pantheonic Healers.
While those skilled in the Divine Arts or Blessed by the Amber Moon are not uncommon, the lack of comprehension of their own craft is frankly disturbing.
Too many priests only recite motions and words to cast their spells without knowing the how or the why. Unlike Mages, who spend more time studying the flow of Mana than using it, asking a cleric why this 'spell' does that is a waste of time.
Even worse, while Aura Manipulation allows for fantastical feats of strength and durability, it cannot repair damaged flesh, meaning the world of curative arts rests solely on the backs of ignorant masses."
~ Excerpt from Restricted Book, "Magics and The Divine: A Study."
Author Unknown
When I felt the boot hit my mostly undamaged ribs, it woke me up a lot quicker than any alarm clock I've ever owned.
I let out a strangled gasp, lifted myself onto my arms, and vomited water on the stony shore of the river. It was deeply unpleasant.
I then felt a presence quickly kneel beside me, and I heard a familiar voice.
"Forgive me, Chosen, I didn't know you were injured!"
I rolled onto my back and looked up at the glowing princess Aurelia.
She looked scared and anxious, and damp, but there was definitely a glow about her. Red mostly—some dashes of orange too.
That fall must have really rattled me. Or the stress of this world had finally gotten me to snap.
The princess continued to ramble, but I was only half paying attention, trying to organize my thoughts.
"It's just the… well… I've never seen them like this. I didn't want to disturb them."
I licked my lips and forced words out.
"Why… are you glowing?"
Aurelia's eyes widened.
"You can see them?"
I said, and tried to pull myself into a sitting position. As I tensed my abdomen, pain exploded across my ribs, but I gritted my teeth against the agony until I was sitting with a knee up.
I went to stand, and Aurelia, who had seemed lost in contemplation of the pine trees lining the river, reached out a hand as if to help, then pulled it back sharply.
"Ow!"
I decided that standing was a future problem. Then I frowned and looked at the princess. She was wringing her hands like she was burned.
Then the familiar glare returned to her face, this time a thread of curiosity woven through it.
"How are you getting them to do that?"
"Get who to do what?"
"You've got to be joking. THEM!"
Aurelia gestured wildly, waving her hands around me.
That's when I took a good long look at my surroundings.
There were little reddish motes of light EVERYWHERE. The biggest ones were the size of golf balls, their outlines fading into smoke.
Strangely, I didn't feel anxious about such an obviously supernatural phenomenon. I felt… warm?
That can't be right. Even if I was asleep for a couple of hours, it wasn't nearly enough time to dry completely.
I raised a hand up, and one of the smaller-sized lights drifted down from the cloud of its brethren.
I felt the heat radiating from the light, but it wasn't unpleasant. Especially with how my body was coated in a nice layer of bruises.
Which I had begun to notice.
Ow.
"Well?"
I looked up from the little dancing light back at Aurelia, who stood with her arms crossed. She seemed less angry and more impatient.
I tried to be direct.
"Well, what?"
She huffed, and her tone remained indignant, but there was definitely curiosity there, too.
"How are you getting the Wisps to swarm you like that? Are you a Conjurer? I don't remember any stories about what your affinity for magic was, but if you had so many spirits contracted, why didn't you just use them back at the— Are you even paying attention to me?"
It took a lot more effort than I thought it would to focus on Aurelia's ramblings instead of the literally magical balls of magic, and I guess my stolen glances hadn't gone unnoticed.
In all fairness, the 'spirit' has been joined by three others and has started doing some kind of limbless conga line around my hand.
"Sorry to disappoint, Princess, but I've never seen these… 'Wisps' before."
Aurelia bit her cheek and mulled it over while I waved a hand through the cloud of spirits.
She seemed to accept the statement, letting out a sigh of resignation.
"If you insist."
I nodded with what I hoped was a sagely demeanor.
"Indeed, m'lady, I do insist."
She rolled her eyes at that one.
As I looked back at the flock (herd?) of luminescent marbles, I saw Aurelia wince in pain out of the corner of my eye. She looked at her fingers and let out a low hiss as she gingerly examined them.
I frowned.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Aurelia grimaced as she hid her hand behind her back.
"I'm fine. Now, are you going to dismiss your fiery retinue? Or are we going to sit here until someone has the common sense to comb the shore for our bodies?"
Fiery?
I stood up on shaky legs and wobbled for a moment. I braced myself, but I stood nevertheless.
As soon as I was standing, my fan club started to prance with more gusto, but I had a fairly good idea of what was happening.
"Shoo! Scram, you little pests!" I shouted.
The Wisps didn't exactly speak, but the crackling noise they emitted sounded distinctly offended.
I flailed my arms until the luminous cloud finally began to drift off, looking less like magical spirits and more like a swarm of flaming gnats.
Once the swarm—and it was definitely a swarm—had fully scattered, I limped toward the princess and caught her by the forearm.
"Hey! What are you—" she started to protest.
Just as I'd guessed, those little firecrackers had left a map of angry red burns across her hand.
I gave her a hard look, but Aurelia pointedly ignored me, choosing instead to find the cliffs across the river suddenly fascinating.
"It doesn't look too deep," I offered, trying to be helpful, "but you should really get some water on it instead of trying to hide it."
She didn't take the advice well. She yanked her hand back, her expression souring into a glower.
"I haven't required a nursemaid for fifteen years, Chosen," she snapped, "and I certainly don't intend to start using one now."
I raised my hands in surrender.
"Fine. When your hands get all blistered, and you start whining, don't say I didn't warn you."
Aurelia began to sputter, unable to form words.
"Whine? Are you joking? I'm perfectly capable of bearing the pain of a little scalding."
I scoffed and crossed my arms.
"Says the princess who could barely walk down some stairs."
"That's a perfectly reasonable reaction!"
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.
"Whatever. I'm not arguing about this."
I limped over to the tree I used to climb out of the river and sat down on its trunk with a grunt of pain.
Looking down, I lifted my mostly dry shirt and winced. Scouring my left side was a nasty scrape, almost a gouge. The skin there was raw and bloody, and wrapping around the rest of my chest was turning a fancy shade of purple and yellow.
I stifled the rising bile in my throat and lay back on the tree, which was only marginally better than the rocky riverbank.
I closed my eyes and tried to think about what we were going to do next.
Then I heard rocks shifting as someone walked to the river edge, then a light splashing.
When Aurelia walked over to me, I cracked an eye open.
She had a somber expression and was fidgeting with a ring on her right index finger. It had some kind of seal, but I couldn't get a good look before she hid her hands again.
Aurelia took a deep breath, and I decided to cut the issue off sooner rather than later.
"I'm sorry–."
"I'm sorry–."
We stopped after interrupting each other. Then I broke the silence first with a chuckle that Aurelia used to continue, her words coming out in a rush.
"I had no right to snap at you, Chosen. You were only trying to help."
I shook my head.
"Nah, I was being an ass. I'm just cranky after being woken up. You have every reason to be mad at me."
Aurelia wrung her hands again, this time not in pain or shock.
"Let me apologize!"
I shook my head.
"Nope."
The princess's mouth opened in shock.
"What do you mean by 'No'?" She exclaimed.
I tried to rise again, and this time, Aurelia was able to help me up with no disruptive burning.
We stood face to face, and I explained.
"Until you are out of danger and I can stop feeling guilty about being such a defective chosen one, you are not going to apologize for snapping at me when I'm being an obnoxious."
She let out a most unladylike snort at that.
"That's the second most idiotic thing I've heard you say."
I grinned, then my face fell as something occurred to me for the first time.
"Hang on, what happened to Reinhardt?"
Aurelia pointed into the tree line.
"He was setting up a campfire last I saw, something about the damp being bad for his old bones." She winced. "Don't tell him I said that."
I nodded.
"Well, I should at least get some firewood. The least I can do is help the most helpful in this Trio for once."
Aurelia rolled her eyes, which seemed to be a recurring habit of hers. As we limped away from the stream (with me doing most of the limping), A thought crossed my mind.
"Wait, what was the stupidest thing I've said?"
Aurelia paused, putting a hand against a nearby tree.
"Hm?"
"You said that was the 'second stupidest' thing I've said. What was the first?"
The princess tilted her head quizzically.
"It's fairly obvious."
I gave a little chuff of indignation at her remark.
"Well, maybe everyone isn't as critical as you."
Aurelia didn't look convinced.
"I think if you repeated what you said in front of any man, they would agree with me. And not just because I am nobility and they are duty-bound to do so."
I frowned.
"Are you being sarcastic?"
The noble decided to continue onwards.
"HEY!"
She kept walking.
"Just because I'm crippled doesn't mean you get to abandon me!"
"I have faith in your great powers, Chosen One!"
I muttered under my breath.
"That girl is going to be the death of me."
So we continued deeper into the forest, unaware of the stalker we had collected.