I had met Raul about a year before on one of my frequent trips to explore Rosefelt. I was trying to watch one of the performers, a woman who was juggling twelve active blow-stones, a particularly impressive feat since the blow stones were constantly going off course and knocking into each other. This woman was keeping them all in the air with apparent ease however, and the crowd was loving it. I wanted to get a better view, so I pulled my hood tight over my head and attempted to push my way through the pack pool of bodies to a better viewing point. As I was making my way slowly through the throng, my cloak caught on something. I still don't know what it was, whether a belt buckle, someone's outstretched hand, or something else, but I didn't have much time to think about it because whatever it was tugged on my cloak enough to pull my hood down and expose my head for a moment.
I immediately pulled my hood back up to cover myself, but a pale head like mine stands out, and I was worried that someone may have seen. I took a quick glance around, but didn't see anyone looking at me, so I thought I was in the clear. But to be safe I decided that it would be wisest to leave before something else happened, so I turned around to leave. Luckily I was still relatively close to the edge of the crowd, and I made it out without another incident. I sighed to myself, smiling despite the danger I had been in a moment before. Living with risks had always excited me, and back then I felt that I had just escaped a harrowing situation. I imagined myself having been caught, and having to fight and battle may way through the masses, knocking people down left and right. I was weaving through the crowd, avoiding thugs all over the place, every once in a while landing a well placed punch to the nose as I ran past one of them. Then I jumped onto a six foot wall and scrambled onto a roof to make my escape-
Suddenly I was roughly shoved into an alleyway. I fell to the dirt, scraping the fabric of my pants. I quickly looked up to who had pushed me.
"Well looky 'ere. A trit decided to crawl it's way outta th' sewers," Said a hairy face with a disgustingly greasy grin. The sheer size of the man in front of me blocked the way back out to the street almost completely. I looked behind me to see if there was a way out that way. No such luck. The alley ended in a fifteen foot wall that I had no hope of jumping. I cursed my luck, wishing that I had learned how to use Strength type Sights to strengthen my legs so I could leap over the wall.
"Prolly wan'ed to get outta tha' sewer stank." Said a second man, this one thin but tall."But we can't jus' lettem come up 'ere an' dirty up our air, now can we? Think maybe we should teach this 'ere trit a lesson in manners."
While they were talking, I was thinking furiously. I couldn't run, there was no way I was making it over that wall and there were no doors anywhere in the alley. I looked at the two men, thinking that maybe I could overpower the thin man for a moment and make enough of a distraction to escape into the streets where I was confident I could outrun both of the men.
"Maybe if we rough ya up a bit you'll learn ta-" The big man started.
I didn't let him finish, I made a dash at the thin man and tried to grab his shoulder, but surprised by my sudden charge, he took a step back. I grabbed at air, then lost my balance and slammed into the thin man, knocking us both to the ground. I landed on top of him, so I recovered almost immediately, and dove past the still surprised bigger man towards the street and safety. I was just few feet away. I was going to make it! I was safe-
What felt like a ton of bricks exploded into the back of my head. My vision went white with the shock to my brain, and I collapsed on the spot. I couldn't hear or see anything for a few seconds, or maybe it was minutes, I wasn't sure. I eventually felt someone holding me up roughly by my shirt collar. I looked up groggily, trying to focus on the blurry forms in front of me.
"-king trit tackled me!" exclaimed who I assumed was the thin man.
The big fuzzy mass that was holding me up was ignoring the thin man and just chuckling. "The moron tried ta run from a Blaster!" He laughed. Blasters were another term for people that used Projection Sights.
The big guy must have hit me with a Projection, I thought dimly to myself. Not that it mattered at this point. They got me, and there was no one around to help… Or wait, was there? I thought I had just made it to the street when the Projection had nailed me, so people must be able to see me, right?
I turned my head as much as I could manage under the circumstances to search for someone, anyone who could help me. The street was full of people headed to the market at this time of day, and dozens of people were just feet away from us, but nobody was looking at me. Could they not see me?
"M'elp…" I gurgled, trying to get the attention of a man in a dark red cloak passing by. But the man just looked at me in disgust and kept walking, as did everyone else around him. It's not that they didn't see what was going on, I realized, but they just didn't care. Why would they after all? It was just a dangerous Common getting a beatdown. He probably stole something from those men.
My vision was much clearer now, and I could clearly make out the jeering face of the fat man in front of me. He had heard my desperate plea for help, and he had seen how the crowd was ignoring me. Something told me that he had experience with this sort of thing.
"Gotta say, you got sum real guts for a trit," He chortled, "Notta one a' th' others tried ta fight us like yous did. For that, we'll be sure ta only beat'cha half ta death."
With that, he landed a punch straight into my face, breaking my nose and causing my eyes to well up. Another blow that I couldn't see because of the tears landed on my jaw, making my head spin, then another on the back of the head. Then the gut. The ribs. Jaw. Nose. Jaw. Ribs. Ribs. My world became a never ending series of blows to my body and face. My vision had surpassed going white and was fading to black. I dully thought that each blow started to feel lighter, like there was some sort of pad. I figured that I must be going numb as I was losing consciousness.
Am I dying? I thought to myself with surprising clarity. Even though I was almost completely numb at this point, or perhaps because I was numb, I was thinking more clearly than I felt I should be. I couldn't feel the impact of anymore blows, so I figured I must have blacked out. Though I was still vaguely aware of multiple voices shouting around me, they soon subsided.
Thank god. Maybe they'll just leave me alone now. I thought as I sat up.
Huh?!
I was sitting up? But I was sure I had blacked out, and I hadn't tried to move… wait, the fat man was still in front of me, I could see him kneeling in front of the wall I was leaning on, asking me something... Why couldn't he just leave me alone, hadn't he had enough? He kept talking to me, but I couldn't bring myself to care… He started to reach under my arms… He seemed thinner than I remembered… I was looking out at the street over his shoulders… I still couldn't see very well, but things were starting to come into focus as time went by.
I glanced at the side of the head of the man who had picked me up. He had a dark beard with sideburns and streaks of gray that somehow didn't make him look very old. He was reasonably tan and handsome I guess, though I had always had trouble with telling that sort of thing when it came to guys. He said something that I couldn't make out.
"Mruut?" I asked him, my voice slurred. I guessed I was still pretty out of sorts.
The man gave a huge start, nearly dropping me. He was able to recover and catch me just before I fell off his back onto the street we were walking down. He excitedly set me down on the steps of a building near where we had been walking.
"You're awake!" He said as I got settled on the steps. "I was worried I would have to risk taking you to the Medical Center." He said this with a slight grimace. There was no guarantee that the medical clinic would see someone like me today, even if it was an emergency.
Now that I was starting to come back to my senses, I was becoming aware of the pain that was racking all throughout my body in waves. There seemed to be a cut above my right eye that was still bleeding, causing blood to drip down though my eyebrows. I groaned, and chuckled a little at the pathetic whine that came out from between my lips, which just made my ribs hurt even more. I clenched down on my teeth to keep from making a sound and causing even more pain to my tender body.
I decided to try to focus on something other than the pitiful state my body was in. I looked up at the man in front of me. I had been mostly right about his features, though I had only seen the left side of his face. He had some sort of deformation on the right side of his face, sort of like a burn but different, plus very fine robes that were dyed a dark blue with gold trimmings. He was taller than most people, and perhaps a bit overweight, but it could've just been his robes that gave that impression. He looked middle aged to me, maybe in his late thirties or early forties, though the deformity on his face made it difficult to tell. He was looking at me the way that one might look at a small child that had just taken a tumble and busted their lip.
"They really shouldn't have called you that." He said seriously.
I stared at him dumbfounded for a moment. Then, forgetting about my poor ribs for a second, I burst into laughter, startling the man in front of me. He was referring to how the men had called me a trit. 'Trit' was a slur for Commons that basically meant 'unmarked' on account of our pale white skin. As far as insults went, I had never considered it very impressive. Can you imagine being offended by someone telling you that you have clear skin? But words have power because we give it to them, and trit was one of the nastiest words that a person could be called. There was many a child whose mother had made them eat soap for saying lesser words.
Even though it was killing my side, I couldn't help but continue laughing. Here I was, beaten black, blue, plus at least four other colors, and this man was worried that my feelings had been hurt. It was just too ridiculous for my still reeling mind to handle, and my laughs devolved into a coughing fit, which keeled me over, nearly knocking me out for a second time from the pain.
The dark man put his hand on my back, and I began to feel a sort of warmth emanating from his hands. This wasn't the same burning that my came from my uncle's hands, but instead a soothing sensation that seemed to calm both my nerves and my laughter in seconds. I slowly sat up straight.
"Thanks for your help. I was starting to have some trouble with those two." I tried cracking a grin, but my lip had been split by one of the dozen punches I had taken to the face, and all I could manage was a pained grimace.
The man gave me a small smile. "It was the least any decent human being could do" He said, "But I'd like to know exactly what was going on. Why were they attacking you?"
So I told about the events leading up to my beating. The juggler, how my face was revealed, then when I left they followed me and finally cornered me in the alleyway. I kept expecting the man to ask me what I had done to the men, after all, most people don't get beaten to a pulp for no reason.
Not unless they're a Common, I thought bitterly. But he just frowned and nodded throughout my story, as if it was something he had been expecting. When I was finished he sat down on the steps next to me, seemingly lost in thought. Neither of us said anything for several seconds, and I was starting to feel a little nervous. My hood was down now, and there were still people passing in the street, most of them giving me suspicious and dirty looks. I self consciously pulled my hood back up and turned to my rescuer.
"Ummm… I'm sorry sir, but I still don't know your name." I said awkwardly.
"Hmm?" Raul started, "Oh yes of course, my apologies. My name is Raul Du'fort. How do you do…?"
"Donavan." I answered extending my hand to meet his, "Donavan Rex. And as for how I'm doing…" I shrugged, wincing even at that slight movement. Raul started to laugh, but quickly stifled himself.
"I'm sorry, I said that mostly out of habit." He apologized, dawning a worried expression. "You know, we should really see about getting you to a healer. I have a friend who-"
"You really don't have to worry." I interrupted quickly. I appreciated Raul's help up until now, but while he didn't seem to mind my skin or eyes, I still had serious doubts that his lack of prejudice would extend to his friends. "I should really get back anyway." I began turning to leave, but Raul would have none of it.
"Nonsense!" He said cherrily, grabbing hold of my shoulders and steering me painfully towards the inner part of the city, "You owe me now Donny, and as repayment I insist that you come with me so that we can see to your, well, everything."
I started to protest yet again, but Raul cut me short. "Besides, you can hardly go home looking like this. What would your parents think?"
He was right, though probably not for the reasons he thought he was. My bruises were very visible, and even if my aunt and uncle liked to pretend I didn't exist, even they would eventually notice my cuts and bruises. Then they would know that I was sneaking out of the house, and that would be the end of what little freedom I had. I stopped struggling against Raul's grip and walked forward with him. He moved up to my side.
"There you go! I promise you won't regret coming with me. Rhonda is the best Healer on her side of the Tibus Wall!" He leaned forward conspiratorially, "At least, that's what she'll tell you." He winked, then threw his head back in a booming laugh. I smiled despite my pain.
We chatted all the way to his friend's house, and with every passing minute I grew to like Raul more and more. He acted childishly, which I found strange for a man of his age, but it was apparent that he was a very intelligent man despite his demeanor. I ended up telling him about my situation with my aunt and uncle, how I sneak out regularly, but that day was the first time I had ever been caught. As we passed the Tibus, the wall that divided the inner city from the outskirts, I even told him about the little action play that I had imagined right before I got the shit beaten out of me. He laughed, shook his head, and groaned in all the right places. His face always seemed to be brightened by a smile, and I later came to learn that he was rarely seen frowning. I asked him what happened to the men that attacked me, but he just told me that he "convinced them it would be in their best interests to leave". I figured he probably fought them off, or perhaps bribed them somehow, he certainly looked as if he had enough money for that.
I was having a fantastic time talking with Raul, and I realized that I was in the process of beginning my first friendship. This was the first time that I had ever had a conversation with someone on equal terms, and it was like I had been breathing in through a dirty rag my entire life, but suddenly the rag was ripped away and I could taste the world's clean air. I was so ecstatic that I didn't even notice that Raul hadn't told me a single thing about his life by the time we arrived at Rhonda's house.
Rhonda's place was similar to my uncle's house, but noticeably larger and more colorful. My nervousness started creeping back to me, and I self-consciously pulled on my hood again. Raul put his hand on my shoulder.
"Don't worry," He said, grinning, "Rhonda would never turn away a patient for any reason. One of the reasons our relationship works so well." I didn't understand what he meant by that, but before I could think to ask, the door opened and I saw Rhonda for the first time.
Let me start off by saying that my experience with women up until this point had been limited to my aunt and any customer that happened to walk into my uncle's small shop. Because of this, I hadn't really paid much attention to women, and if I had been asked what I found attractive in a woman, I highly doubt I would've been able to answer. It's not that I wasn't attracted to women, it's just that I had never paid it much thought.
But seeing Rhonda standing just feet in front of me filled my young mind with awe, because, quite simply, she was the most beautiful person I had ever seen up until this point. Her tall form was slender, but not slight. She had black curly hair and chocolate colored skin that was as unmarred as mine. That isn't to say she looked delicate though. She had an air of business about her that told me that she was no stranger to hard work, rather, in all likelihood they were next-door-neighbors. She was only wearing simple healer's clothes, a white apron with a gray long sleeve shirt and gray pants, but despite her dull attire, she was radiant. I was only struck out of my daze when she looked under my hood at my wounds.
"Oh God, not another one!" She exclaimed, obviously peeved. She turned a glare on Raul. "I swear, if you don't stop this-"
"No need to get so up in arms Rhonda dear." Raul said, his smile never wavering, "This young man is simply hurt, and I thought you might want to help him, that's all."
Rhonda gave him one more withering glare, then sighed in an exasperated way and turned into her house, gesturing us both to follow. I warily looked at Raul, who nodding affirmatively. "Don't worry son, she's just annoyed because she's been so busy lately, but like I said, she would never turn away a patient in need." He said with a skip in his step. It seemed to me that he enjoyed poking at Rhonda's buttons, but I didn't think it was with any sort of maliciousness. He was just like a child teasing a cat with a stick. I smiled to myself and followed him inside.
The outside may have been similar to my aunt and uncle's house, but the inside was anything but. While my uncle's house was fairly plain, with a couple paintings painted by my aunt hanging on the otherwise barren walls and a few pieces of furniture here and there, Rhonda's house was just a step away from extravagant. The walls had been well painted with deep blue and green paint. The furniture had silk cloths draped over them, and trinkets that seems to be heirlooms of some sort were on top of one of the dressers. I walked through the first room amazed at the apparent wealth, wondering what I would find further in. I followed Raul and Rhonda into a hallway with several doors on either side, each with a plaque with a name. Maybe her family members? I thought to myself. We soon reached a door that said Hr. Sphinks, Rhonda. I suddenly became a little squeamish.
"Umm… aren't we going to a Healer's office or something?" I said awkwardly. I didn't know how I felt about walking into what I was pretty sure was this woman's bedroom.
But Rhonda just gave me a strange look. "This is my office. What did you think it was?" Then, without waiting for an answer, she stepped through the doorway. Raul flashed me a knowing smile and chuckled. He followed Rhonda through the doorway. Not wanting to get left behind, I followed, wondering what fancy decorations would be in this room
However, Rhonda's office was nothing like the first room I had seen, except that the walls were painted the same color. Even that was hidden by several posters depicting the human body or detailing different diseases. The floor had two rows of curtained beds on either side, with a couple that seemed to have patients sleeping in them. Our little group walked to the other end of the room, passing about eight beds on either side, where Rhonda sat down at the large wooden desk that sat there. She turned to sit at the desk when she saw me and Raul still walking behind her.
"What are you doing?" She demanded.
"Well, I, umm…" I stuttered, taken aback.
"You're injured, go sit on one of the beds." Rhonda bustled back around the desk and started hurrying me toward the nearest bed. I started to wince away from her touch, thinking that wherever she made contact would hurt, but in fact when she put her hands on my shoulders I felt a similar warmth to when Raul had laid his hands on my back. This was almost the same, but her warmth was even more soothing, and I even felt as if my fatigue from the fight and the walk to her house was being eroded away somewhat. As I sighed from relief, Rhonda looked at me quizzically.
"Didn't Raul give you first aid before you came here?" She asked.
"He did, but it didn't feel this good." I nearly droned. It felt so amazing I could barely focus on walking. Everyone knows that Sights are inefficient at best at restoring fatigue, so it probably wasn't as incredible as I thought at the time. My body was just so sore and tired that the little bit of help that Rhonda was giving me through what I assumed was a Projection felt like the best feeling in the world.
"I'm obviously not at your level, Rhonda." Said Raul. He tried for a pout, but couldn't manage anything more than crossing his arms and grinning. He gave up this attempt and just winked at her. "There is a reason I keep you around you know."
I laughed along with Raul, grateful for his humor. I glanced at Rhonda, expecting to see a smile, or at least a softening of her eyes, in response to Raul's joke. But Rhonda was anything but cheery. Her eyes were hard, and she was pointedly looking away from Raul. Her Sight had suddenly stopped and then started again, which I knew meant that she had been distracted enough to break her focus from the Sight. Sights required intense concentration to pull off, and while it differs somewhat across all types, every type requires the user to maintain focus on the Sight, whether directly or indirectly. It sounds difficult, but for someone like Rhonda who had been doing it their entire lives, it was no challenge. I couldn't believe that Raul's joke had disturbed her enough to the point that she had lost her focus on the Sight.
I couldn't understand why she was acting like this to such a kind man as Raul. I wondered if there was some sort of bad blood between them? My mind started buzzing with imagined stories of unrequited love, betrayal, family problems, royal appointments that had been abandoned, the idea that one of them (probably Rhonda) was actually a dragon that had turned into a human through a Morph Sight, but wait, Morphs can't change something's mass, so maybe a human sized dragon, yeah that works, so anyway the dragon wanted to start a healing practice…
"Mr. Rex!"
I snapped out of the little box theater that was my mind and looked up at Rhonda, who was looking at me with an expression that was half concern, half annoyance. This did nothing to diminish her beauty, and I felt myself flush a bit. Rhonda seemed oblivious to my reaction though, and continued to glare at me.
"Were you even listening to me?" Rhonda demanded, looking much more annoyed than worried now that my well-being was no longer in question.
"Oh, don't be so hard on him," chuckled Raul, "He was probably daydreaming. He told me he was doing that right before he had some trouble with the thugs who did this."
Rhonda didn't acknowledge that Raul had spoken directly, but she obviously heard him as she asked me, "Do you do that often? Daydream?"
I nodded. "I usually just get lost in thought if something grabs my attention. Usually earns me a slap on the back of the head when I'm working." I half-grinned. Even if it wasn't the best habit in the world, I've always thought of my imagination as a sort of escape from reality. It was worth a few wacks on the head.
Rhonda smiled for the first time. It made her look even more stunning, and I almost missed what she said next.
"Ingenuity can be useful too. I don't think there's anything wrong with it." The smile vanished again as if she had locked it back in its cage, "But I would ask that you pay attention when I'm talking to you from now on."
I sheepishly hunched my shoulders and mumbled an apology. I didn't want to offend this woman, and not just because she was pretty. I felt that even though she came across as cold and a bit rude, she really cared about her patients. She would do everything in her power to relieve even the smallest bit of suffering, and I felt that she was worth respecting for that. I wasn't sure what she had against Raul, but I felt certain that it was none of my business, so I should stay out of it.
As I thought about all of this, Rhonda had brought out a small moving table made of what looked like metal. The table was empty, and I was wondering what she was planning on doing with it, but she just left it next to the bed I was sitting on and moved to my side.
"Take off your shirt," She ordered briskly.
I nearly jumped in alarm at this request, but quickly cooled down. It's not a big deal, I chastised myself, get your mind out of the sewers. I slowly took my shirt off, wincing as it rubbed against my multitude of bruises and fractures. I eventually got it off and Rhonda brought out a metal device that was shaped sort of like a very thick hairbrush, Except that it's bristles were made of rubber, and looked very soft. It had some sort of rubber-like substance on the side closest to Rhonda, and as I looked closer, it seemed to be moving slightly.
"What's that?" I asked curiously.
Rhonda looked up for a moment, then returned her attention to the device. "It's a bonescape." she said simply.
I looked back at the strange contraption with much more interest now. A bonescape was a type of Sight manufactured device that could show the user the structure of bones. It was extremely expensive, and even more rare. Only the best and most expensive practices had something like that. I suddenly became nervous. I didn't have a two sticks to rub together, so there was no way that I could afford a place that had a bonescape.
"Ahh… I'm sorry, but I think I had better go." I attempted to rise from the bed, but Rhonda put her hand firmly on my chest to hold me there. It was just enough pressure to let me know that if I tried to rise it would start to hurt my ribs, but not enough to hurt me yet.
"I think not." Rhonda stated firmly, no question in her voice. "I would never let a patient back onto the street in this condition," She looked puzzled, "and I'm not sure why you would want to either."
I shuffled my feet. I may have been poor my whole life, but it was still embarrassing to admit that it was preferable to leave as beaten and broken as I was then to be even one mor in debt.
"I just… Think that my aunt and uncle will be wondering where I am by now. It's getting kind of late." I lied. My family wouldn't even notice that I hadn't gone to dinner, or even if they did, they would probably be glad for it.
Rhonda seemed half convinced at first, but Raul wasn't fooled in the slightest. "Now, now! You told me yourself that you don't get along with your relations, and they didn't sound like they would be too worried about you when you mentioned them to me. What's really going on? You can tell me." He flashed his signature winning smile.
I started to curse myself for telling Raul so much about me, but then gave up on it. He's just trying to help, I told myself. He had done nothing but help me since I met him, and he barely knew me. He deserved better than my pathetic excuses.
"Look, to be honest, I can't afford this. Thank you for doing everything you have done for me up until now, but I don't have any money to pay for it. I'm sorry." I said, bowing to them to show my respect.
Raul and Rhonda stood there for a moment, unmoving. I was about to take that as my cue to leave when Raul suddenly started howling with laughter. Internally I wondered how he was able to laugh and smile so much. He would probably have had the largest smile lines in Roma once he got older. But my thoughts got sidetracked by Rhonda, who once again placed her hand on my stomach to keep me from getting up.
"This is a private facility Mr. Rex." She said, showing a small smile, "Mr. Menda-"
"Don't call me Mister!" Protested Raul, "I'm too young for all that! I'm Raul! Raul!" Sounding as ever like a small, yet endearing, child.
Rhonda ignored him. "Mr. Menda (Hey!) owns this facility, and unless he has told you otherwise, there will be no charge for my services today."
"Of course not," Huffed Raul, obviously still miffed about the whole name thing, "I wouldn't dream of charging a friend just to fix a couple of broken bones. You are always welcome here in my home." He smiled brightly at me.
I was struck by their kindness. I had lived my life up until now being either ignored or belittled by my family, and beaten and avoided by people who saw my skin and eyes. I had never been told by another person that I was welcome anywhere, much less that I was their friend. It was all too much to take, and I'm pretty sure I would've broken down then and there if I hadn't been distracted by something Raul had just said.
"Wait… This is your house? I thought it was Rhonda's..." I said, thinking back to our conversations. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Raul never claimed that we were going to Rhonda's house, but simply to Rhonda.
"Well, no. Not exactly I suppose." Raul scratched his chin absentmindedly. "This is more like my office. But I spend so much time here that I might as well call it home!" He laughed boomingly. "My real home is really just a place that I sometimes go to sleep or host parties."
Host parties? I thought to myself. I wondered if that was a common thing for him, and if so, how much money does Raul have? It was at this point I realized how little I knew about Raul, and I since he was officially my first friend, I wanted to learn more about him.
"So, what do you do here then?" I asked curiously.
"Oh, nothing exciting," Raul said flippantly, "Mostly real estate management. I wouldn't want to bore you with the details, so let's just say that it involves a lot of sitting around and signing papers."
My curiosity hadn't really been satisfied, but I figured that if it were anything important that Raul would tell me. We were friends after all. I smiled at that.
"If you two have had enough to chat about, I'd like to actually treat my patient now." Rhonda said testily.
Mathias made a flourishing bow. "But of course. I shall take my leave for now. I have a few papers that need signing anyway." He said, winking at me and walking away. I was sad to see him go, but I knew he was probably a busy man if he was the owner of this big office. Plus, he said he managed real estate. I wondered what it was that he managed…
I turned my attention to Rhonda, who by this time had finished looking me over and scanning me with the bonescape and was now standing in front of the small moving table that she had brought over earlier. She held out her hands and appeared to be focusing on something. I was looking at her curiously when the top of the table started glowing softly. My eyes widened as I realized what was happening; Rhonda was using a Form Sight.
Forms Sights were notoriously difficult to use. Forms can be used to create any rem that is made of a solid, liquid, or gas. All Sights require intense focus on what the user wants to accomplish, but Forms were different because they required an intimate knowledge of how the material is made, either by knowling how to make something through personal experience, or by understanding the materials involved and how they go together. The former is more reliable, but if you can manage the second method then it can save a lot of time. Additionally, it would be theoretically possible to create things that otherwise would be very difficult, or even impossible, such as a small model building with the inside furnished and decorated. In this case, it looked like Rhonda was actually using the air itself to Form something, which was quite a feat. But no matter how you accomplish it, it is extremely difficult to do any kind of Form Sight, and Rhonda was making it look like it was no big deal.
The glowing on top of the table faded, and resting on top of it were now a couple rolls of bandages, a clear fluid in a simple glass vial, and a few small strips of what looked like a strange cloth. Rhonda picked up the bandages first and walked over to me.
"Let out your breath for a moment." She ordered. I did so, and she quickly and efficiently wrapped the bandages around my chest and stomach several times. I was worried that they would restrict my breathing since they were wrapped when I had no air in my lungs.
"How do those feel?" asked Rhonda, sounding like it was a question she asked quite a lot and she already knew the answer to.
"Umm, they're kind of tight..." I said, not wanting to sound ungrateful, but Rhonda just nodded, ten leaned forward and touched the bandages lightly. After a moment, the bandages felt different. They were no less supportive, but I found that I was now able to breathe much more easily. I took one big surprised breath.
"What did you-?" I started to ask.
"It's just a simple Form. I increased the elasticity just a bit so you can breathe." She was already walking back towards the table. I gaped after her. One of the drawbacks of Forms is that they can't change the shape of solid materials (that's most likely why she used air to create the materials in the first place), and because of this, the only way to shape something using forms is to break down the parts you don't need, resulting in a kind of dust. But I couldn't feel any dust, which means she Formed it perfectly. She may have called it simple, but she essentially completely changed the material of the bandages to accommodate my specific needs without altering the volume of the bandages. My respect for Rhonda was growing with every passing moment. She had obviously done this sort of thing several times. However, I couldn't imagine there would be that many injuries in an office building, and I wondered how she became so good at her job.
I turned to thank Rhonda, but she was already back at her cart. She was holding The syringe and the small strips of cloth. I swallowed. I didn't like needles, and something told me I wouldn't like where this needle was going.
"Umm, I think that I should be fine now." I said warily, still looking at the syringe.
"Nonsense," Rhonda said in a business like tone that brooked no argument. She apparently realized what was the cause of my hesitation because she said, "It's just a needle. It will be in and out before you even know it."
I had my doubts about that, but I decided it wouldn't do any good to argue over it, so I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes. I sat there for a few seconds, waiting for the pain of the needle piercing my skin. 2 seconds. 5 seconds. I felt nothing. I was just beginning to wonder if Rhonda had started doing something else when she said,
"Okay, you can open your eyes now."
Confused, I opened my eyes. I was shocked when I realized that my right eye (which had swelled up from the cut earlier) had stopped swelling and bleeding. I looked at the syringe in Rhonda's hand and saw that it was now empty. I realized she must have injected the wound with whatever was in the syringe, and that stopped the swelling.
"Keep this bandage on the cut for a day or so." Rhonda said, handing me a small piece of cloth. "It should be fine after that."
I looked at the bandage in my hand and wondered how I was supposed to put it on my face, as it was much too short to wrap around my head. Rhonda seemed to guess my thoughts (yet again) and pointed to the other side of the cloth. I flipped it over and felt that one side was somewhat sticky. I attached the sticky side to my head on top of the cut, and the small amount of pain that I had been feeling up to that point immediately subsided.
"You shouldn't be feeling any pain now." Rhonda said. "I layered some painkilling agent into the bandages."
"Thank you." I said, amazed at the means with which she healed me. I came in this office completely beaten and bloody, but now I wasn't in hardly any pain, and besides the one small bandage on my face, you couldn't tell that I had been injured at all.
"Don't worry about it." Rhonda said, sounding almost flippant. However, despite her apparent disinterest, I noticed a small smile at the corner of her mouth that betrayed her pleasure at my successful treatment. "Just make sure you don't strain yourself too much for the next week or so. Normally I would say to try and come up to the office to get a mark transfusion every other day to finish healing your broken ribs, but I think in your case that might be a bit too risky. I wouldn't want a repeat of today after all."
"You think you don't…" I said with a weak smile. Even if I wasn't in pain anymore, the memory of how close I came to dying still scared the marks out of me.
Rhonda frowned thoughtfully. "Yes well, in any case, I will try to send someone I trust to meet you to give you treatment in my stead. Where do you live…?"
I told her where I would be during my normal days, and we figured out a time and place where I could meet her assistant so that I wouldn't be found out by my uncle or aunt. I thanked Rhonda one last time for all that she had done for me then started to head out the door.
"Mr. Rex!" Called Rhonda. I looked back at her, and saw with a start that Rhonda's brows were furrowed in worry. She seemed unsure of herself for the first time, and coming from a woman who had projected such confidence during this visit, I was suddenly nervous.
"Yes?" I asked.
"Just… Be careful." She said haltingly.
I hesitated with my hand on the door. That was pretty anti-climatic, I thought to myself. Maybe Rhonda was just a bit of a worry-wart, I reasoned. Must come with the territory of being a healer. I flashed what I felt was a confident smile.
"Don't worry Hr. Sphinks," I said, "I'll be careful."
Rhonda nodding uncertainly, but she didn't seem to have anything else to say, so I pushed open the door and headed out.
I walked back down the hall that I had entered from, and I eventually came to the first room that I had seen in this building. Looking at it now, I realized that it looked less like a living room and more like a waiting room or a lounge. I smiled, always glad for a reason to laugh at myself. It's good for the ego.
"Donny!" Shouted a familiar booming voice. I turned to see Raul hurrying out from behind a desk that was up against a wall. I smiled at his somewhat larger form hurrying across the room towards me. I hadn't been apart from him for very long, but I had already been missing his company.
"Listen, Donny, I have something I'd like to ask you." He said, puffing a bit from his short sprint.
"Sure Raul, what is it?" I said curiously.
"I'm guessing that today is not the first time that you have been assaulted like that, and honestly, I'm worried about you. I'd like to be able to rest easy knowing that I'd be able to see you again after today, but I can't do that the way things are now."
I nodded slowly, not sure where this was going. Was he going to suggest that I have bodyguards? That wouldn't work given my family situation and the fact the I often like to take shortcuts across roof and such as I traverse the city.
"I fairly proficient myself when it comes to Sights you know," Raul continued, "I've won a few awards when I was a bit younger, and I've even taught basics to children. I also know quite a bit of melee battle technique, and for what I don't know, I can always hire an expert."
Realization dawned on me as I realized what Raul was saying. My head started swimming with visions of battles and duels, all of them featuring me in the center standing over defeated foes… Because of my visions I barely registered what Raul said next.
"So Donny… How would you like to train with me? Would you like to become a Scio?"