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Connak holds the elder man’s head steady as he instructs the guard to be gentle yet sturdy while they take on all his weight. I work my fingers down his spine. My hands heat and cool, heat and cool, with each mended fracture of his spine.
But it’s not enough.
We ease the elder man onto his back, and shift places. The hunter-turned-temporary-medic cleans punctures and gashes while I check for bigger problems. I run a healing hand around his head again, searching for anything that feels unusual. Not with touch, but power and intuition, closing my eyes as I seek the trauma.
I just can’t find the usual abnormalities. None of the internal issues I’m sensing are new or caused by their attack.
There is nothing left for me to heal.
The man’s eyes roll open, gray as a thunder-filled sky. “My son?” he wheezes. “My baby.”
“He’s in another room,” I reassure him. “Selmar is with your son.”
“My baby,” he repeats.
“His granddaughter,” Connak whispers.
“She’s with Raf,” I tell him. “We’re doing everything we can for both of them.”
The corners of his lips lift slightly, and his frail face goes slack. His chest freezes, tenses, as his breathing stops.
“No pulse,” Connak tells me. “I can’t find it.”
“He’s gone,” I say and sigh. “He was dying already. The attack just weakened him too much for his body to handle when it was already in overdrive.”
“That's it?” the guard asks in disappointment and frustration. “All that, and he dies? You’re just going to stop?”
I hang my head as I walk to the cabinets. My feet seem stuck to the ground, each step heavy with the impending devastation of telling the elder man’s family of their loss.
“Disease was eating away at his body before this,” I quietly clarify. “I can’t heal everything. I was only really able to take the pain of the injuries away.”
“That’s why he awoke?” the guard inquires.
“No,” I respond, fully facing them. “His love for his family did that. He couldn’t let go without knowing they were here, too.”
I cover him with a clean linen before I walk to the sink, scrubbing my hands and arms to wipe away the blood. I’m needed in another room by another patient who just lost their father or grandfather, though neither victim is in a proper state to get bad news.
I turn to the guard. “After you wash up, I need you to see if they have any other family. If they do, bring them here, but don’t tell them anything. That part isn’t your job.”
“How do I find them?”
“Ask Talodus,” I advise him. “He’ll know by now.”
The guard scoots out of the room as Connak washes his hands. “I’ll go to Selmar. You can check on Raf.”
“Yeah.” I sigh. “Thank you, Nook.”
He nods, his expression downcast, likely mirroring my own.
“No!” Ada shouts, and we both run out of operating room two and into the doorway of bay three. “No!”
“I’m calling it, Ada,” Raf gently says, pulling her away. “We’ve tried everything. This is all we can do.”
“Why can’t I heal her, Raf?” she implores, her voice broken and hollow as she mourns a stranger. “I should be able to—”
“You did,” he reassures her.
Ada leans against the wall, bloody hands hovering in front of her face. “She was talking to me. She was smiling.”
