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I hate when anyone asks that. How can I promise not to get mad before I know what’s coming? But Sorsha always convinces me to make an exception somehow.
“I’ll try my best.” I smile, but she still looks uneasy.
“Okay. You know how I told you about the Prince’s sick daughter last week?”
I nod. “Yeah. And I told you it reminded me of some things from the historic accounts.”
“Yeah, with the electrical impulses and how they used minerals to repair the body.”
“Yes. Although those books are probably more legend than fact.”
“Maybe. The thing is, I told Talan about what you told me. And he offered to tell Prince Taurek.” She pauses and looks at her hands. “He’s in Cygoth to see if the Prince wants your help. It just all happened so quickly, and the next thing I knew, he was gone.”
“Oh, Sorsha.” I’m silent, trying to make sense of what’s happening. “I don’t know anything about medicine. I’ve read things in books, but I don’t even know if they’re true. I doubt I can do much.”
“I mean, they’re rooted in real things, right? And hardly anyone else has ever read them. And you’re better than scientists with the elements. And then there’s your history…”
I give her a dark look. Illness defined my identity for so long as a child that I bristle at letting it define me as an adult, except for playing a role in healing it.
Since I grew up in a sick bed, I’d always wanted to learn the art and science of medicine to find cures for diseases, but it’s not anything I ever had the means for. I never want to be on the other side of illness again.
She doesn’t back down. “You know what it’s like to be desperate for answers when your body fails you.”
Even though she’s right, I’m reluctant. The job’s too big, and the costs of failure are too high.
“I’m sure others know a lot more. And what if I do the wrong thing and get blamed? I could get banished. And what if it doesn’t work? That’s on top of how long I’ll be there, whether I’ll get paid…”
“I didn’t think it through that far. I just know Talan left this morning. But maybe they won’t be interested.”
An unfamiliar whoosh and electric hum from outside pierce the quiet.
“You think it’s Talan?” she asks optimistically, but I have my doubts.
When I look out, I’m shocked to see the royal shuttle, which by all accounts isn’t supposed to even work. It bears the seal of the Thane of Mountain Kingdom, a stylized crown of several metals perched on the peak of Taro’s Point.
“Sorsha. What do I do?”
“Invite them in. I’ll put on some flower tea.”
“I’ll tell them you’re the one they’re looking for, okay?” She waves her hand dismissively and scurries to the kitchen, leaving me to speak with the two Kiphian guards. They wear sumptuous, blindingly white silk uniforms threaded with thin filaments of silver fibers.
I’m allergic to anything with the slightest hint of airs. These guards practically put me in a state of anaphylactic shock.
“We come by royal decree of His Majesty Prince Taurek of Cygoth. Are you familiar with a healer by the name of Zaya?”
“Yes. I’m very familiar. Although she’s not a healer, just a simple artisan. But please, come in.”
They nod and agree gruffly.
Their seven-foot frames dwarf Sorsha’s modest house. I’m praying she gets back with the tea soon. Being mated to an important Kiphian, she has far more experience kissing ass with representatives from the capital than I do.
“We went to the home of Zaya but failed to find her. So, we came to the source of our information.” He looks at me, uncertain. “And you are Sorsha, Talan’s mate…?”
Just then, Sorsha glides in balancing the tray of tea, while her two small children run in front of her in brightly colored smocks smeared with clay.
“Welcome! I’m Sorsha.” She places down the blue and yellow tray, which I made as a gift for their mating ceremony. “I’ve made tea. Have some.”
They each grab a mug, which are comically small in comparison to their large hands.
