"Ah so you're finally awake. Ya took your time there 'Mr Nero the Hero'."
Groggily he raised his eyebrows to roughly make out a female healer busy casting a spell that was in the process of realigning the bones in his arms and said, "Please, please tell me they aren't calling me that."
She replied, "No of course not, I am. In all fairness most of the Ilfvan like you, but that smile of yours is not doing you any favours if a hero is your goal. I'm your healer by the way, the name's Shuri."
"I was smiling again?"
"You mean that isn't intentional? Wow you really have got to reign that one in." She chuckled.
She left his side once the spell had finished, to retrieve a potion. His sight began to become less hazy and he watched her move around the room. She pulled back a strand of shoulder length maroon hair from her tanned face and tucked it behind her ear, revealing something that made Nero recoil slightly. Sharp green pupils.
'Calm down.' He told himself, 'It is a perfectly normal eye colour.'
His reaction didn't go unnoticed by the healer who asked, "Is everything okay?"
"Hmm? Oh yes sorry, just thought of something a bit unpleasant." His vague reply caused her to continue with the matter.
"It's perfectly normal to have slight trauma from a fight to the death, especially the sort of thing you've just experienced. I'm sure it must have rattled you." She said, coming back with a vial of viscous blue liquid.
"Umm yeah, well uhh I suppose it might have." His hesitant response, further increased the confidence the female Ilfvan had in her theory.
Satisfied that she wasn't pressing other matters, he tried to best to banish those memories of his 'friend' to the back of his mind.
"We do have spells that allow for a type of mental healing." The nurse told him.
"Really?" His interest piqued.
"They do only work for instances three days after an event, so you'll have to tell me if you'd like for that to be arranged. Do you think you would be interested?"
Disheartened he glumly replied, "Oh, uh no, I think I'll be fine."
"Okay well that's your choice I am going to have to get this down you now." Gesturing at the vial in her hand Shuri sat down at his side.
Nero opened his mouth and gulped down the viscous liquid. "Blehh! That ... stuff is ... awful!" He spluttered.
The healer giggled at his childish reaction. "How would the hero's admirers respond to seeing this side of you?"
"Oh quit with your teasing." He managed still coughing.
Pondering on the notion, she said. "I'll think about it but I think we both know what my answer will be."
Their eyes met for a short moment before both lost all composure and the burst out laughing, which ended in another coughing fit for Nero sending Shuri into further hysterics.
"Aren't you meant to heal me instead of I don't know killing me?" He rasped, ripe with sarcasm.
"Ah I'm sorry. You see you are my first patient in this entire thing, been a bit lonely to be honest. You se we were allowed only three healers, or as they called them 'medics' and so the Ilfvan leaders stationed one for the high class, one for the lower stationed and me the last one for anyone outside of that system, or as one would put it, an outlaw." She smiled slyly expecting some sort of reaction from her patient, however was disappointed when none came.
Then after a while he sighed, "Well that's how it is huh? Still stuck up as ever, such a 'proud' and 'noble' race. Yet even in the face of extinction we still look down on each other as lesser beings, all ninety-seven of us warriors so far, barely any of us were given a choice, but we still fought. Fought for this damned species on this damned world. How could we be anything but equal?"
"Holy shit dude that is deep." She flicked his forehead. "Focus on the healing process, not on cooking up some kinda extestential crises."
Shuri moved down to work on his legs and cast another spell. A red light, warming yet carrying much authority as it enveloped the targeted area, burst forth from her fingertips.
Nero looked on in fascinated awe as his legs started to straighten out and renew in their original pale hue. He then took the opportunity to ask about a topic Iré always shied away from:
"Hey Shuri what exactly are Solar attributes?"
A little taken aback the spell nearly dissipated. "Wait you don't know about blessings from our star? I'm healing you with one for Medeis sake."
She thought for a while and then responded: "Well okay so, you know that at a certain age an Ilfvan will receive some sort of ability from the red sun that looks over Medeis, right?"
He nodded and she took a sharp thoughtful breath before continuing. "Okay so these abilities are classed as Healing type, Offence type or Defense type. Then they follow some sort of elemental base such as Water, Light and most prominently Earth which includes anything from the manipulation of plants to being able to hurtle rocks at stuff. Of course there are others but they are extremely rare so have been aptly called 'anomalies' or dark sun blessings."
The spell finished and his legs were completely recovered, yet Nero still had a rather pained expression on his face.
"I don't understand though, I was taught that you unlock your Solar attribute before the time you reach your 20th rotation of life. By my count I am Twenty-two. Does that mean I just don't get one? Ever?"
"There has never been recorded an Ilfvan without magical powers of some kind. But there are a few instances where they've manifested much later in life, especially in times of dire need. Who knows? Maybe you will aquire your attribute sometime in this war."
"Yeah. Maybe."
Her words somewhat comforted him, after she fixed a few more of his bones and patched up any prominent gashes, Nero was as fit as he has been the previous sunrise.
He rose from his bed and thanked her for her hard work, and went to leave.
"Nero!" Shuri called after him. "Come back in better condition next time! And you better win this whole damn thing you hear me?!"
He kept walking back turned to her and raised his fist. "I'll try." She never saw the smirk that had retaken residency across his face, 'Of course I'll win, who else will teach those pretentious assholes?'