They began to make their way toward the infirmary. Michael and Ollie drew a fair amount of stares. Michael in his now patchwork armor, and Ollie in his garb that made him look like he was ant to be painted on the side of a van.
"So, you clearly made it to Old Hu okay, but joining the knighthood? How did that happen?" Michael asked Lance.
"The journey here was difficult. I've never travelled alone before, and the roads have been getting more dangerous as the rift problem grows. Luckily it wasn't as severe then as it is now. Once I made it to a small town on the border I made a formal introduction to the local lord using the family na of my grandmother rather than my father. The lord there sheltered for the night and gave directions to the capital where my cousins live. On the way I found myself stumbling into a number of problems that I couldn't ignore. Bandits preying on the vulnerable, rifts not yet tackled by patrols. I found myself frequently distracted by them and unable to make my way as directly as I would have preferred."
"Christ, mate. You may as well have stayed with us," interjected Ollie.
Lance laughed. "I found myself thinking the sa a few tis, but eventually I was able to reach the capital and make an introduction to my family there. It was tense for , as I wasn't sure that they would accept , but Da Bina rembered my grandmother and welcod . Shortly after I tried to join the army as a soldier, but when they saw my training they referred to the knighthood. I expected to squire for so ti, but apparently so of the actions I'd taken on my way to the capital had beco a bit more widely known. Between that and my experience sealing rifts I was knighted almost imdiately and put to work."
"You take any ti to rest in the anti?" asked Michael with a bit of concern in his voice.
"I spent a good amount of ti with my cousins and Da Bina's neighbors. Delia, the Lady of the Manor next to Bina's, had over for tea frequently as well. I'd forgotten so of my manners from being away from other nobility for so long, but she schooled in a few things."
"She schooled you, eh?" asked Ollie with a smirk.
Michael gave him a light elbowing.
"I'm glad things have worked out for you, Lance."
"Well, your blessing helped more than once, though I didn't realize it at the ti. A crossbow bolt once exploded just before it hit my head and another ti I could swear a horned man's spear turned to the side at the last mont."
"I'm glad the gods looked after you."
Lance nodded. "I've actually prayed to Seras once or twice. When things seed particularly hard. It was comforting. Not sure if she helped directly though."
Michael shrugged. "They're an odd mix of subtle and direct. Usually direct in my case though."
They reached the infirmary. Unlike the temporarily converted buildings Michael had grown used to, this was clearly ant to be an infirmary, or perhaps a hospital would be a more accurate description. There was the single line symbol that Michael had grown used to representing dical help back in Stent carved in stone on the wall.
They walked inside through the door and saw a squire working hard to scrub the floor. Behind him there was a long room that fit a number of beds that could be separated by a curtain, but on the other side there were a number of small private rooms as well. There were only three or four dics working from what Michael could see, but they were all wearing bright red and seed immaculately clean, even wearing red cloth masks around their mouths.
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One of the dics approached them.
"Are you okay? Was soone hurt in training?"
Lance shook his head. "No, we were sent by the Captain to speak with Carn. Is she available?"
The dic shook his head. "She's with a patient at the mont, but she'll be available soon if you'd like to wait."
Lance nodded, and before Michael could ask he held up a hand to him and asked himself. "My friend here is a healer of injuries, may he help those here?"
"I can heal diseases and toxins as well," said Michael.
Lance raised an eyebrow. "That's new."
The dic frowned. "We have no cases that would require imdiate healing. So n with a flu that has been going around, and a few sprained and broken limbs. Carn usually reserves her own healing abilities for priority and ergency cases and I presu she'd ask any visiting healers to do the sa."
Michael raised his right hand, feeling divine power grow in it as it began to glow and spread divine energy around the room to feel the illnesses and injuries around himself. It was as the dic had said, mostly minor injuries that needed so care, but no ergencies. He healed all of them simultaneously anyway, as well as a small nick on the right hand of one of the dics, and a badly stubbed toe that Lance had given no indication he was suffering from. He even healed a dislocated shoulder in a room in the corner that he presud was who Carn was with. In the case of the n with the flu he brought a bit of divine fire to bear to burn the virus from their bodies in a single blazing instant. It was over in only a mont, and Michael smiled at the dic in front of him as he finished.
"I'm a bit of a special case."
The dic blinked so of the blindness caused by Michael's hand from his eyes and looked over to see the other dics talking to very suddenly better and confused patients.
He frowned. "Ohhh, that's going to really piss the doctor off."
"She doesn't like when sick and hurt people get better? Seems a bit backwards to ," said Ollie.
Michael wasn't fixated on that so much as the fact that the dic in front of them had just used the word 'doctor' in English.
"Oh, that part isn't what she'll be angry about."
A door slamd open at the far end of the hall, and a short woman wearing the sa red uniform as the rest of them with short hair tied back and tan skin stord her way toward them. She stared at each of them for a mont, and when her eyes hit Michael he felt the brief recognition of soone divining him. She stared at him for a few monts, blinked, cursed, stared a bit more, then looked him in his eye.
"You just healed my patient from across the room without even seeing him. I just spent fifteen minutes numbing the bastard and was about to pop his arm back into place." She looked across the room to see a number of the other patients out of their beds and she walked toward them, cursing a bit more in what Michael recognized as a mixture of Spanish and Hu. Lots of putas were being thrown around.
"And you healed everyone else at the sa ti?" She returned and poked Michael in the chest with enough force to make the armor make a muffled tinking sound. "You. Are. Bullshit. I spent fourteen years becoming a doctor. Left my ho, studied in that shithole where all the idiots live, and then I died because an idiot brought a gun into an MRI room and then I arrive here, work my way through decades of indenture, find that I'm able to heal people with magical nonsense, learn an entirely new system of dical treatnt with new plants and animals, and you are able to co in and just what? Wave your hand and boom! Everyone's all better!?"
"I an, he didn't really wave it, just sort of raised it," said Ollie.
She ignored him. "You're a taker. I can tell from your titles. Were you a doctor before you got here? A nurse? A fucking orderly?"
"An office worker."
"And how the fuck did you manage to heal everyone at once? That would have on my ass for days."
"The gods have blessed with a number of gifts."
"Gods? What the fuck are you even talking about? The divine? The locals barely ntion it."
Michael shrugged. "They're back, and I'm spreading them."
Her eye twitched. "This world is bullshit."
Michael shrugged. "Our world was too."
"True, but it was my bullshit and I was used to it."
"Fair enough."
"Do you at least feel bad for having all that unearned power at your beck and call?"
"Not at all. It lets help people."
She paused, gritting her teeth a bit. "Dammit. That was the exact right thing to say."
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