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 require 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 whacks 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 have probably 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 knowing 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 was 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 nodded 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 then, 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 roofs 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?"