Today, Nia had come here with breakfast made for Lady Heidi, so that she had a way to meet her. The security at her place was very tight. By the look of it, she was on par with village chief Tomashi.
While she was waiting in the hall, Nia noticed the symbol hidden beneath the screens over the wall. It seemed faded but she could see it completely. Strange part was that the symbol was only half. Yes, just half. A whole circle left for a symbol, but only half filled with symbol of healer.
[Healer symbol, if you want to search, there are many. JIN HO uses symbol of white lotus flower. Nia knows it because JIN HO forums have symbols for all the common professions and lifestyle skills ]
She was wondering about it when she heard the answer to the unvoiced question.
"It is symbol of partial healer."
Lady Heidi had graced her presence to the hall. Other than the fact that she was very old, so old that osteoporosis had bent her back completely [Technical speak alert: When women reach menopause or in their late fifties, due to hormonal changes, bones and heart are affected more. The previously strong bones become weak-a natural ageing process- this is called osteoporosis. But, due to hormonal changes, this change will appear exaggerated in women, so the chances of bent back are more common in them.], she looked like a kind grandmother who sneakily gave candies to all the kids.
Her clothes wear even more refined than that of Chief Tomashi. Nia could not help but wonder, how the Chief's wife or daughter felt about this situation. [Stop thinking odd things, Nia]
"A partial healer?" (Nia)
"Ummm,"[sort of sound denoting assent. If you find an alternative for it, do let me know.]
"Why use such symbol? You heal, therefore you are a healer. Why just use half symbol of it? Why call oneself partial healer?" [Nia, you have guts to talk like that in front of an Old Lady. Anyway, don't you already know the details as you chose her as your mentor?]
"The other half is left blank to denote that the person is capable of doing other things too. Partial healer is used to show that their healing capacity is not on par with normal healers. This point has to be explained before we start healing. As our capacity to heal is less, if we have not explained before, we will have to face a mob and few dead bodies who died while getting treated."
"This symbol is sort of insurance, then. Why is other half left empty? can't it show the person's skill in other aspect?"
"Like what? You want to go around, telling that you are a ghost doctor, a poison doctor, or something like that and ask them to get treated because you know some healing too? If you want, you can show your other profession, but most of us like to leave it blank."
Afterwards, Lady Heidi had her breakfast. Nia managed to impress her in some ways[Don't ask me, it was a painful sight. I will not describe it] so she decided to teach Nia her ways.
Nia wanted to be part healer, but now she turned into a witch. Yes! A Witch! Don't assume witches are trouble when they are in a bunch, thus they are weak when fought singly. Lady Heidi is perfect example of how strong a witch could be.
Witches in this game were like combo of druids,seers and shamans. They could do precognition, rain hexes and curses, bring chaos or they could just pray and heal. These people followed teachings of Goddess Mother Aneetha, a truly minor figure in JIN HO myths. She was remembered only by her followers. Her worshipers were less in number. She had no temple, no priest or priestess. She had no church, no pope or angels. If they had a calling, they would follow her, thus her followers were truly a small number.
Goddess Mother Aneetha was a homebody till she had to take weapons and reap life , not for her sake but for others. Thus it was common that her followers would do other day to day things and follow her steps only a part of their lives.
This relieved Nia. So, she could still find a class and progress.[Nia's luck is GOOD!!!!] This also explained why the half of symbol is left blank. Few people would not learn any other thing, being happy to live like normal ones.
The witches used multiple weapons to cast their skills. The staff was multipurpose one- could cure or curse. Nia could now used daggers, knifes etc as cursed items. For precognition, she got a basic seer set- a cup of turtle shell and pair of runestones. So, now she could answer only type of questions with yes or no answers.
Lady Heidi comforted her though. As she became stronger, she could use other seer items without worry. She could use items of druid or shaman too. All in all, a profession which could use multiple weapons, but the effect would vary.
After learning few basic curses, hexes and healing spells, Nia went to the next pit stop. She was on time. Chatting with Lady Heidi had given her few extras but eaten up time in 4 hours of extra stats.