After an arduous trek, Kantuta successfully got the crippled Siquioce to the area of Solano Town, a simple settlement in the space between the forest and the plains. Using the last of her strength, Kantuta carried Siquioce through the curtains of a healing house, where she plopped him down on the floor. "Excuse me," she panted as she looked at the receptionist lady, "I need some help. My friend has been poisoned by a creature from the lake, and he needs some help!"
The receptionist, who was a sky-blue bird woman, responded, "Lucky for you, Dr. Werdsmann just returned from his research trip; he can treat your friend right away." She got up and motioned towards a wooden door behind her, "Right this way, please."
Unwillingly to carry Siquioce any further, Kantuta released him from his spell and had the Samanian follow her to the treatment room.
Inside the aforementioned room, the adventurers met an anthropomorphic, brown goat that was wearing a green turban and sitting at an oak desk. Looking up from his diagram of a miscellaneous creature's anatomy, he asked in a gruff voice, "What do you need?"
Kantuta pointed at Siquioce and answered, "My friend here has been poisoned. Can you heal him, please?"
Dr. Werdsmann crossed his furry arms, "Depends. Lay him out on that table over there.
Kantuta had Siquioce, who could not understand the doctor's words, do as the goat requested, and the Samanian laid on a long wooden board as he groaned in pain.
Dr. Werdsmann proceeded to inspect Siquioce's body, checking every part of him to find the source of his trouble. When he got to Siquioce's tail, Dr. Werdsmann said, "Hm, bazocto ink. This won't take long." He then put his hands together, spit in them, and administered an open-handed strike to Siquioce's behind, causing him to let out a startled cry. Despite the pain he felt, Siquioce's poison quickly dissipated, and he felt much better.
"There you go," said Dr. Werdsmann as Siquioce got up, "Try not to get involved with bazoctos next time. Your pal was only a few moments away from kicking the bucket."
Kantuta bowed in respect, "Thank you, Dr. Werdsmann, you're a lifesaver! And yeah, we'll be careful."
The goat held out his hand and responded, "That'll be 300 leks."
In a somewhat irked tone, Kantuta replied, "Oh, of course." She then reached into the pocket on the chest of her robe and gave the doctor 300 tiny silver coins. Doing a quick wave, she said, "Have a good day." She then left with her ally, leaving Dr. Werdsmann to scoff and continue studying his diagram.
"Wow," said Siquioce as he walked alongside Kantuta, "That guy was really skilled. All he did was hit me and I felt better!"
Kantuta responded, "Yeah, healers like him are quite the fascinating sort; they've altered their biology so that they can produce healing substances of any kind, which just happened to be spit for him." She grumbled, "I just wish that someone would alter his attitude…" She shook her head, "Anyway, your poison is gone, so that's that. Also, now that we're in a town, I can get to work teaching you that technique I was talking about. Now all I have to do is find a cauldron…"
Kantuta had Siquioce follow her through the settlement as they both looked for a magic-conjuring pot. They eventually found one at the side of a house near the edge of the town, where Kantuta said, "Ah, here it is! Thankfully, it's already filled." She pulled out the mallaunas and dropped them in the cauldron before doing the usual conjuring process. However, instead of keeping the magic in her staff, she instead thrusted the stick at Siquioce, causing his body to flash blue with energy.
"Hey," asked Siquioce as his head buzzed gently, "What did you do to me?"
Kantuta answered, "I just gave you the ability to use a technique that I like to call the Aqua Shot. In order to use it, basically do what you did for the other water-related tricks, but make sure to inhale while you're doing it. Once you're ready, just spit everything out!"
Curious to see what his companion was talking about, Siquioce went through the process of closing his eyes, envisioning water in his mind, and taking a deep breath. To his surprise, instead of air filling his cheeks, there was water instead. Once his mouth was full, he spit its contents onto the ground in front of him, causing the dirt to erode a bit.
"That's it!" congratulated Kantuta with a thumbs-up, "Now you have a way to defend yourself. It would be nice if you could execute that attack faster, but you'll likely end up doing that when you become more experienced."
Siquioce smiled; he liked the idea of utilizing what he was familiar with in such a dry world. Wow, he thought, I really am lucky, meeting such a helpful person as her…
As Siquioce admired his friend's usefulness, Kantuta looked at a flyer plastered on the side of another wooden house, saying, "Oh? What's this?" She looked over at the paper and read, "Breaking news: an orc is currently attacking Boturd Village. Any help is appreciated in handling this threat. Anyone who manages to conquer this fiend will receive an 1,000 lek prize." Her expression turned sour, "Orcs…the scum of the earth. Of course one of them is attacking a poor, defenseless village." She looked at Siquioce, "We should take this on. What better way to test out strength than wiping this brute off the face of the planet?"
Siquioce rubbed his arm and said, "I don't know, Kantuta, didn't you say that my Aqua Shot was for defense?"
Kantuta retorted, "This is different! A threat like this demands immediate action! Besides, we'll both get something out of this: the villagers will likely give me some good ingredients as a reward and you'll get more practice for the attack you learned. So, how about it? Are you in?"
Siquioce thought about this offer for a moment before answering, "Okay, I guess I'll try it…"
Kantuta smiled, "Glad to hear it! Okay, follow me; I know the way." As Kantuta walked away, she looked behind her and said, "Also, you really have to learn how to walk by yourself; I can only handle carrying you for so long. After all, what will you do if I'm not around to help you? So, it's best to develop your movement skills right here."
Siquioce sighed, "I'll do my best…"
Nodding in affirmation, Kantuta said, "Great. Okay, then, let's go!" She then proceeded forward, leaving Siquioce to follow after her with clumsy steps.