"Sun overhead, streets filled with piss and shit. Ah what a wonderful afternoon it is."
"You could stand to be a little less sarcastic."
Ryth rolled his eyes at the man standing aside him.
Ryth was slight, wiry and not too big at 17, but the man next to him easily stood at 6'2, with wide shoulders and bulging muscle.
The man had circle brown hair, but a surprisingly sharp jawline that mirrored Ryth's drew attention. His nose was a bit too crooked, obviously a broken nose hasn't been treated quite right before.
"Well it's true isn't it? People just dump everything onto the streets. At least in the Woods you don't have people aiming pisspots at your head."
"No, but you do have monsters trying to kill you. How's that going by the way?"
"Aaah... well. Goblins are annoying, and I'm not allowed out thanks to a spider nest that needs to be exterminated. But overall I'm doing good! Not any close calls really..."
(Yeah right! I've nearly died so much that it's a miracle I'm here! But if I tell dad that he might go to mom, and since I lied about telling her I even awakened...)
His father smiled. "It's good to hear you can handle yourself. So what's your plan until the nest is gone?"
"Well Fion, that old grouch I told you about, might have an interview with a herbalist for me. Actually it was kinda odd, cause part of getting it for me was checking to make sure you were a carpenter."
His dad nodded. "Maybe he dislikes certain sorts of people? Don't mention who your mother is, just in case. He might hate nobility or the more-fortunate."
Ryth snorted. "I never got fortune from being the son of a noble, just a lovely family curse. Anyways, how are Liv and Tara?"
Joseph once again didn't comment on Ryth's refusal to call Tara "mom" or even "mother" despite Serviana having never been around.
"They're good, Liv seems to be having a recovery stretch right now."
"I'll see if I can figure out a way to help her out dad."
"Son... the doctors could never do anything. No Healer, Doctor, Herbalist or Cleric have ever been able to heal your sister. If it's even possible, you'd need an Apothecary quite likely."
Ryth froze mid stride. "What makes you say that?"
Joseph took another few steps before realizing Ryth was no longer beside him, and turned around with a quizzical look.
"Well it is said that Apothecaries are the most proficient healers you could ever look for. So y'know... only makes sense?"
Ryth nodded, walking along, but he heard not another word his father said as he sunk deep into thought, head down low.
~ ~ ~
"Hey Liv!"
A thin girl with fair features lying on a cot sat up in agitation; "Ry?"
She looked at the tired teen with his weary smile and her father behind him.
"Ry!" She lunged our of bed, and Ryth quickly stepped forward to catch her knowing she wouldn't make it all the way.
"Hey, relax there! You shouldn't go jumping about!" He scolded her, but his tone was filled with warmth.
He picked her up easily, noting how light she still was. (Still sick... she's on the better half right now...)
He hugged her, and the older woman further in the room noticed a faint golden light come from his hand against her back.
Ryth didn't know where the injury or sickness truly came from inside her, other than it slowly wore away his sisters health and stamina to the point of near-death on a few occasions.
He sent his mana throughout her as a thin wave, and sensed where the energy was naturally drawn in to heal.
However it only filled her vitality as a temporary energy boost, with no specific point to absorb...
Her entire body greedily took in the healing energies to try and vainly heal it's weak lifeforce, a candle trying to pull from the sun.
(Because it's the family curse, not a sickness...)
Ryth sighed, pushing her back onto her feet to take a good look at her.
Livia was clearly someone who ought to be beautiful, with small and thin features as if a pixie or fairy from the stories.
Her hair was a red brown and rich like chestnut, and her skin ought to be a healthy pink with full features and curves into a shorter than average frame, petite yet well endowed in a not-overbearing way.
Yet reality was cruel in her thin arms and stomach, in her pasty complexion and hair robbed of luster. The most alive thing in her were her bright green-blue eyes, like pools of aquamarine water.
Ryth smiled through the grimace struggling to the surface, and picked her up as easily as you might a bundle of sticks.
After placing her back in the cot he looked at the book she'd been looking at.
"Ah, the tale of the Saintess is it?"
"Mm-hmm! She was kind, brave, and beautiful! A healer who brought together the kingdoms to resist the demon king and slay him!"
Ryth laughed bitterly on the inside. (Yeah? How could a healer do anything useful themselves? No doubt the heroes she gathered were the true driving strength... maybe she seduces them? Only useful through her looks? Like heroes need a healer...)
Ryth hid the cynicism he felt, trying to let Liv hold her hero tight.
"Hey Ry! If you became the next Saint, you'd be able to slay demon kings too, right?"
Ryth felt his smile grow stiff, but pulled through.
With a gentle smile; "Maybe I could Liv. But the Saints are always women, and I'm just a regular old healer. Now rather than slay some demon king, I'd rather do my best to help you."
Ryth stood, and turned to Joseph.
"I made a little, but not too much..."
Ryth handed over a small bag of what he knew he could spare.
It was only about half his gains from the venom he sold to Fion, but he knew he'd need money to last through the nest extermination...
The guards wouldn't let him out of the gates to the wilderness, the forest, and without that his income, meager as it was, was shot through.
"I don't suppose you know anyone willing to take a cheap but simple healing? Anybody nearby who doesn't want to pay for a proper healing?"