The three entered a clearing where a teenage girl was picking herbs. "Purai," Jericho called out to her.
"Ah! People!" She jumped and hid behind a nearby tree, leaving the herb she was picking up half-plucked. "They know my name. They are probably after me for some mistake I made again." She breathed to herself.
"That went well." Jericho observed.
Ken crouched down. (Lux, your face is really adorable right now, go over there and look at her like you want something. When she responds to you try to bring her back out here.)
(I have a handsome regal face. It isn't adorable. Well it was a cute face when I was a small kitten.) He replied.
(You are a kitten again, remember?)
Lux looked over his body again. (Oh right! I became little again. I'll go act nice and bring her back over here.) The lynx dashed to where she was hiding.
Soon a teenage girl's voice was heard. "Aww you are so cute!"
Ken was feeling glad that wasn't him being called cute.
Lux nipped at her pant leg and tugged.
"You want me to come with you?"
Lux let go of the pant leg and walked a few steps before turning around to make sure she was following. After confirming, he ran back to the party and mewed happily.
Purai followed while staring at the small creature. When it stopped and mewed she looked up to see a big lynx that looked half human. "Oh, you poor beast!" She cried out and turned back to the small cat. "Is he your brother?"
Lux tilted his head. (Ken, I don't understand human speech. What is she saying?)
Ken shook his head. (She is asking if I am your brother. And well, I guess you could say I am your older brother are since I used sacrifice and you somehow absorbed some of my blood.)
(Yay! Brother Ken! I like that better then thinking of you as my master!) Lux purred as he mimicked the nodding motion he had seen the others do.
Jericho stepped into her view. "Hello Purai."
"I don't know who that is." She hastily replied. Her body tensed.
The bard chuckled. "You can calm down. Lillith sent us to check up on you and make sure you were alright. She was worried about you after the incident at her aunt's place."
"Yeah," she drearily replied. "I'm doing fine. Lilly is a sweet kid caring about me like that." She crouched down and petted Lux.
"You say that, but your actions say otherwise." Jericho said.
"I don't think I am cut out to be a natural healer." She replied.
"Why not?" Princess asked.
The healer gave a sad smile. "I'm always making mistakes. The other day I accidentally used a mana herb instead of a stamina herb in a specific ointment and got chewed out. Today I brought the leaves of a plant instead of the root. I want to help people but I don't understand all the fancy wording Trina keeps using. I can't keep the herb's complex names straight. Like that one;" she pointed to the half dug up plant with large leafs. "That is a plant called Silverroot. It is a great plant for specific types of ailments but in order to know which ailments it treats the name is something crazy like Curaticus Sledoominous, or was it Curaticus Sildominous. Those are both very different plants by the way. Not only that but I have no clue what a Yang Link Vessel is."
"How long have you been trying to learn?" Princess asked.
"Two weeks. You think I would stop making mistakes by now." She berated herself.
Jericho placed his hand on the young healer's shoulder. "I am a professional instrument player. I have been doing it since I was small. Even I still make mistakes. You can't expect perfection or instant growth. You will fizzle out that way."
Purai frowned. "Save the speech, I've heard it all before. Practice makes perfect. Slow and steady wins the race."
Jericho shook his head. "Actually I was going to tell you different advice that seems much more logical."
The healer sighed. "Go ahead then. Share with me your Zen wisdom oh great instrument player." She said sarcastically.
Just as Jericho was about to open his mouth; Princess stepped between the two. She was upset that the girl was being unpleasant towards her brother. "Listen well then." She said in a fierce tone. "Practice doesn't make perfect. Something my mom used to always tell me is practice makes progress. We aren't meant to be perfect we are just meant to improve. Most inventive ideas came from mistakes and they are necessary for us to grow better. A famous quote from someone a long time ago said that he doesn't view things as mistakes but happy little accidents because even an accident can become a good thing."
Purai took a step away from the fierce girl. "But,"
Princess glared. "No buts. They stink. As for slow and steady wins the race? You kidding right? Unlike that stupid story that has been around since ancient times, you will make better progress running when you have strength, continuing even when you fall, and resting when you need rest. If have a never ending grind of slow and steady then the monotony will eat away at you. If you don't rest you will burn out. If you don't run, you won't get stronger. If you don't continue after you fall, you will remain on the ground."
The healer frowned as she thought. "Thanks." A smiled appeared. "That is the first intelligent thing I have heard from people in a long time. I'll try to remember that." She turned to look at the animal she was petting. "By the way, what are your names and these two's names?" She pointed to the two felines.
"I'm Dancing Princess. This is my brother Jericho the Bard. That is my friend Ken, as you can see he's a bit cursed right now. The little guy you are petting is Lux." The dancer replied.
"Ken and Lux, good names." She smiled. "Princess, Jericho. Do you want to be friends?"
Jericho nodded. "I would like to be friends but I thought you didn't like us."
She sighed and slumped. "I'm sorry; I can be a bit prickly sometimes when I'm upset. To be honest I don't think I will be going back to that village. I want to go out and explore. I want to learn more by experiencing things and I am tired of being yelled at for every single mistake I make."
Jericho nodded. "That may be for the best. But if you are going to leave, you should at least go say goodbye to Lillith."
"Yeah, I owe it to Lilly to at least say goodbye."
[Purai has sent you a friend request. Accept?]
The bard and dancer accepted the request.
(What about me?) Ken meowed.
The healer looked over. "I haven't forgotten about you. I think I have a way to remove your curses. But I am not confident in my abilities."
Ken reached out before remembering his touching curse. (Can she understand me?) He asked.
Princess looked at the unresponsive healer. "I don't think she can understand you Ken. I'll translate for you."
Purai looked over to Princess. "You know what these two are saying?"
"Yep."
"Can you ask Ken if he would like me to try and break his curses even if I am not confident in doing so?"
(Ken?) She asked.
(Please try, the fur under my armor is really itchy right now. Even a partial or defective cure would be nice.)
"He said he would be really appreciative if you would at least try. Besides, Lillith said you are really good at it." Princess reworded her friend's statement.
"Alright." Purai scanned Ken over a few times. "Can you tell me what curses you have?"
(Cursed Touch, Evil Aura, Cursed Form, Unholy Corruption, Cursed Skills, and Monsterfication,) Ken listed and Princess translated.
Purai thought for a bit as she continued scanning her patient. "If I am seeing this right, his curses are around the lower end of adept, right?"
Ken gave a nod.
The healer frowned. "Then a normal curse removal tonic wouldn't be very effective. My skill isn't strong enough for that. However…" Her eyes lit up as she thought of a brilliant idea. "If it is that, it should work! Can you help me pick that silverroot? It is one of the main ingredients I'm going to need."
"I'll help" Jericho replied. "What do you need me to do?"
"Move the dirt away from roots. Be gentle and try not to damage them."
They dug and carefully extracted the plant.
"I have a favor to ask." Purai bluntly said.
"Sure, a reasonable favor is something we would gladly help with." Jericho asked. "You are willing to help us cure our friend."
"Can you guys help me get past the satyrs? I can't get past them on my own."
"Sure, as long as you don't mind us trying to find a non-violent way to do it."
The healer pulled up the plant and looked at the man in front of her. "That sounds really nice. I'm up to trying it like that. I have to log off soon and go celebrate my grandfather's birthday and then because of the game patch being uploaded tomorrow afternoon, I won't be able to get back online until tomorrow night after it is finished." Purai measured and cut off a large chunk of the main root and put it back in the ground. "A new one will grow faster if it is replanted." She explained.
"Excellent. You attempt to cure Ken's curses. Then, even if it isn't a success, we will help you get past the satyrs then when you log back in, after saying goodbye to Lillith."
"Alright. I'll let you know when I am back." She pulled a small table out of her inventory and carefully separated the root, stem and leafs. She placed them into bundles and sent most of them to her inventory. She pulled out a stone bowl and started to grind down the leafs with water.
Princess stared at the impressive sight. "I can't believe you have only been doing this for two weeks. You are really good at it!"
"Thanks." The healer replied. She drained the juices into a bottle. She pulled out a few more herbs and performed similar processes until the container was mostly full. She put on a cap to stop the bottle and shook it until it turned milky white. "Now for two last steps."
© J Eranoth