“Well, thank you for the favorable impression,” I answered as I watched the guard, who despite my lack of attention was well built with a sharp yet rough face. He picked up the man who seemed to be his brother. The gentleness I saw in his movements certainly alluded to a long relationship, as far as I could imagine.
Langford chuckled again as we began to move through the trees at a much slower pace than I had entered them. Long dead leaves crunched under my feet and bushes were opened by the movement of our legs. “What is it you are headed to Talis to do?” the red haired companion I had found asked. Admittedly I was still uncertain where Talis itself was. Or really much about this world in general.
“To continue my work,” I answered with as much confidence as I could muster. I was anticipating the approach of evening, for the respite from conversation. Despite my enthusiasm it seemed nowhere close. Typical.
“You plan to heal the people of Talis?” Langford seemed almost surprised, and yet, before I could answer his eyes turned to the ground as he spoke. Those brown eyes almost seemed to glimmer out of the corner of my own eyes. “With your expertise, and this is my own opinion after seeing how you work, I cannot imagine that you will lack for work. In fact, you may very well put a great many physicians out of business. It will not end well, without support.”
I sighed as I turned my eyes towards the sky and tried to avoid the glaring light of two suns. “I had a… well a dream. In it, the goddess asked me to do this. To heal people.” I shook my head and turned towards Langford as he lifted his. Let it be known, I’m not the most sociable of people. “I can’t argue with it, because I’ve always wanted to heal.”
Langford’s eyes widened in surprise and he started chuckling lightly, as if he were admonishing himself. “You’ve discovered your calling, or as the people here might call it, your Metier. Only in such cases will a god speak to any of us.”
I shook my head in silence as I continued the walk. My calling? I can’t say it was something so grand as the thing I was meant for, but it was something I had set my heart on years ago and I can only assume the goddess had chosen me because of that. Not my ability, or my knowledge, but my dedication. I am far from the best doctor, and I will never be the best. I enjoy it, that’s what matters to me. “Perhaps.”
Langford didn’t respond, in fact he made no noise, and when I looked at him his eyebrows were low. His face had fallen into a frown that seemed as if he was talking to himself in some fashion. Were I one for the wiles of a man, I might have enjoyed the sight of him but I was far more interested in magic and the walk before us.
The bodyguard, Bevin if I remember right, finally spoke for the first time in a few moments. “Milord, milady, we probably need to go.” His gaze, as I looked towards him, was locked onto the man in his arms. Admirable, I have to admit. Far less concerned about us than he was about his brother.
Langford turned his eyes back towards his bodyguard and nodded, “Indeed.” He stuck out his hand as soon as we came to the road and, to my surprise, the odd black portal from before appeared as his eyes locked onto the corpse of whatever that beast had been. Within moments, as the boxes and random items strewn along the road stretched and disappeared, it vanished. Without a single word, they both began to walk down the dirt road and left me in my stupor for a few seconds.
I looked towards the original carnage. The books, boxes, and other scattered items were now gone leaving only the broken pieces of the carriage. Even the beast was gone, and the broken horn was gone as well. At least that answered my question if the chant was necessary. Despite the questions in my mind, I quickly turned to follow them.
Langford began to speak as I got close, “Finding another carriage will be difficult, Serell is a rather small town. In the mean time, while I may not be able to instruct you on the magic of your aspect, I can at least tell you of the uses of various aspects.”
I nodded as I caught up to him and began walking alongside him. “What exactly is the spell you used?”
Langford raised his hand and the portal appeared, though nothing happened as far as I could tell. His other hand gestured towards it, “This is my own particular spell, though you might as well consider it my aspect as well. I can only cast this spell, no others.”
I frowned and stared down at his hand again, “What do you mean?”
“The Blessed are people granted an aspect by the gods themselves. Each god has various aspects they represent. Each one combines with the others in a different way to create a spell. My spell, Overgrowing Hearth, is of Earth, Nature, and Light magic. However, I cannot use other spells of those aspects. Each Blessed has different spells they can control. Some control many, others only one.”
“But why though? It seems inefficient to only let you use certain spells,” I looked down towards my own hands with a furrowed brow.
“I certainly have no idea,” Langford shook his head, “But Blessed with a single spell are unique. Our single spell is far more powerful than it might be under other hands. My Hearth is able to store much larger amounts and much larger items than other Blessed, for example. Who knows what you can do.” Langford gave me a smile, though I couldn’t bring myself to answer with the same.
“So there’s a benefit to being a ‘Blessed’ like you? But what about the others without that handicap?” Langford looked at me and laughed again before turning his eyes towards the sky.
“Blessed with the ability to use other strengths are rare, and even then, they aren’t valued as greatly. They require far more effort and ability to match a Single Blessed. So rather, being one like myself is far better,” he grinned at me as his red hair danced in the soft wind of the woods. “Or so I like to say. I’d be of much greater use to my family if I wasn’t like this.”
I stopped and watched him walk ahead of me. Blessed were mages, and being a single spell mage was better because you were stronger? Yet, the only example before me seemed to despise himself for that fact. I could stand here and question why, even ask him, but yet… I can’t say his personal feelings on something I knew so little about were my business.
Yet… This man had taught me about this world. He had let me, a stranger, do something outrageous and still spoke to me. I can’t say I wasn’t touched by his odd trust in a complete stranger yet at the same time it was putting me off. Perhaps he thought there was something to gain from it. I doubt he expected me to keep that bodyguard alive, but that was the only way I could repay him.
“I’m sure your worth is something you’ll discover one day or another,” I answered honestly as we walked, my mind racing through all the possibilities of the case I found myself with. Would infections be the same or did bacteria function differently? It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to assume they did, otherwise the goddess wouldn’t have picked me. However, whether or not the symptoms were the same was something I’d have to look into.
“I have a question, Sir Langford,” I asked, as we followed the bodyguard ahead of us in slowly.
Langford’s eyes darted around, his eyes kept to the forest around the woods. His hand was kept on the hilt of the sword at his waist. “Yes, Doctor Angevin?”
“What exactly did you mean by support?” I asked slowly, watching him. If he felt the need to be wary, then I needed to keep an eye on him as well, just in case.
“By that I mean monetary support, primarily. I’m sure you understand that I cannot offer my support as of yet,” he answered as his eyes darted to the other side of the road.
“Of course. I wasn’t expecting support to begin with,” I admitted. The goddess hadn’t given me anything, besides the ability to speak the language, perhaps to read or write it as well. I assumed I’d have to make it by own merits.
“Then perhaps we can come to an agreement, Doctor.”
“What kind of agreement?”
“Assuming you can save my other bodyguard, I’ll provide you the funds to start your work in Talis, if in exchange you’re willing to train apprentices when we send them.”
“I make no guarantees, Langford, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try my hardest.”
“Of that,” Langford chuckled, “I can assure you I have no doubts.”
