11. Irina

Chapter eleven

Irina

I tried to keep my newfound powers secret, but word spread.

In the days following Kels?'s departure, one of Fontaine's citizens arrived to see the rumored Mage Healer who worked in the Medica. Master Rist offered me an apologetic shrug, then ushered the woman and her ailing father into an exam room. By sunset, word of the man's miraculous cure had spread halfway across the city, and people were queued up around the block at the Medica's door.

I slumped against the exam table after the last patient departed around midnight.

"I'm afraid this is only the beginning," Master Rist said with fatherly concern.

I looked up into his kind eyes and nodded but couldn't find the strength to speak. The morrow would come too soon and would likely bring an even longer line.

"Sleep in tomorrow," Rist said. "Before she left, Kels? warned me using magic would tax your body and mind. The others and I will take the first patients who arrive. If an urgent case beyond our skill arrives, we'll wake you." When I didn't reply, he laid a hand on my shoulder. "Irina, are you all right?"

It took a moment to gather my thoughts. "I'm not supposed to be the one with the greater skill here—not yet. I had hoped to grow into that one day, but years from now." My voice sounded small as I continued. "Master, what am I becoming? I mean . . . I've always wanted to be a physiker. It's all I've ever wanted, but this is all so much bigger, so much more . . ."

"Irina, listen to me. You are becoming who you were meant to be." He kneeled and gripped my hands, raising them to his lips for a gentle kiss. "Whether you become a good Healer or the greatest of our time, only the future can tell. Trust your training and trust your heart. Look into the eyes of each patient and know you are making a difference, one person at a time. If you do that, this might not feel so big anymore."

I offered a weak smile. I wasn't sure I felt any relief, but I knew he was right.

What else could I do?

I thought back to the patients I'd Healed that day: an old man with trouble breathing, a woman with stomach pain, small children with simple coughs and runny noses that wouldn't stop. Patients and loved ones entered with fear, wonder, and a hint of hope in their eyes. They left whole, with gratitude and joy in their hearts.

I'd given them that. I'd Healed them. More than just Healing, I'd granted them relief from pain and a sense of peace.

It's what I'd always dreamed Healing could be, what it should be.

Why does it frighten me so?

"Thank you." I kissed the Master's hands as he'd done mine, then stood and nodded. "I'm a little overwhelmed, and very tired. I think I'll take you up on that extra rest."

The months that followed were a blur.

Word spread far quicker than I expected, then exploded further when the local newsmen realized my story would sell papers. I became a staple of the front page, as they described in detail—often exaggerated detail—the latest patients saved by the "Miracle Healer."

That was the nickname the papers chose. Others floating about included the "Living Spirit" and the "People's Mage."

I loathed them all.

"Healer" was the only title I sought.

I tried to shut out the noise and see only the person before me, but those around me wouldn't do the same.

When the royal family became enamored, I knew life would never be simple again.

I was invited to the Palace for an audience with the King and Queen. Her Majesty insisted on throwing a ball in my honor, allowing the Kingdom's nobility to meet their most prominent apprentice in person and help my efforts.

My efforts.

When had this become about me? As much as I tried to redirect the Queen's favor onto Master Rist, she would have none of it. The Crown had a prize in its sights and would not be deterred.

Was I to become another jewel to them? Was my Healing?

I loved the gift magic had given; and yet, each day brought greater fame and felt more overwhelming than the last.

The Master took it all in stride. Never once did he show resentment or even a hint of annoyance that mine was now the sun and his was the shadow. While treating patients, I respected his role as my Master, and he treated me as he did the other apprentices. If anything, Master Rist and I grew closer. He was one of the few who saw . . . who understood.

Half a year passed before I saw another Mage. Kels? had left with a warm embrace, but with no timeline for her return. I had begun to think the Mages would let me finish my apprenticeship before shouldering me with more magical responsibilities.

How wrong I was.

I returned home for a weekend of escape with my parents. The public—even the newsmen—respected my boundaries when at home. Only the rare, serious case above my parents' abilities called me into service while in my family's house, and I cherished my time with them more than ever.

Father and I rocked in chairs on the porch and chatted quietly as three Mages in long blue robes approached. I felt them arrive before I ever saw them approach the porch.

Mages respected no boundaries.

"Irina?" the tall Mage with a square jaw asked, inclining his head.

"You can sense my Light. Why ask?" I hadn't meant to snap, but their sudden, unannounced intrusion into my most personal of spaces was a sharp stone in my shoe.

One of the other Mages, a short, round woman with her hair spun up in a far-too-tight graying bun, pursed her lips as though she'd tasted something bitter. I wondered if bitter was all she ever tasted.

"Just being polite." The tall man smiled, though his voice carried a tone of formality I had never heard in Kels?'s. "I am Grand Mage Johann Malvier. Is there somewhere we might speak?"

I glanced at my father. He quirked a brow, then rose and went inside.

The woman waddled forward and plopped into his seat before Johann could take a step. He gave me another shrug and remained on the ground before the porch's bottom step.

"Kels? speaks very highly of you, and word has spread of the good work you are doing here in the city. We wanted to meet you for ourselves and see how we might help in your . . . education."

Johann sounded sincere, and he had kind eyes; but something in the way he said the word "education" made ants crawl across my skin.

If the Grand Mage made my skin prickly, the other Mages made me want to bathe.

The woman was blatant in her disregard for anyone else. I got the impression she likely treated the Grand Mage with the same contempt she displayed as she scowled over our house and land.

The other Mage—the man—chilled me in ways I didn't understand. The combination of his thin, bent nose and his beady eyes, which sat a little too close together, gave him the appearance of a rodent waiting for me to look away so he could bite. Then I realized it was more than just his shifty looks. Something deep within my chest begged me not to trust him. Deception wafted off him like smoke pluming above a campfire.

Could my magic sense deception? Could it guide me away from those with foul intent?

I focused on Johann and tried to ignore the others.

"Kels? was very kind—and most helpful. She's a skilled teacher. I would love to see her again."

Johann nodded. "I think that would be wonderful. She could become your mentor, if you would like."

I smiled for the first time since they arrived. "I'd like that very much."

"Irina, have you used your magic for anything other than Healing since Kels? left? She told us how you tried but were unable to touch your Light when performing any other task."

I shook my head. "No, but I haven't really tried. When word spread about my ability to Heal, people started coming from all over. I barely have time to eat during the day much less try something not related to patients or Healing."

"What do you know about magic's other powers? Other things you can do with it?" Johann asked.

I thought a moment. "Well, Kels? called a ball of Light and made herself warm as we walked on a chilly night. Both those things would be nice, I guess."

The woman, who still hadn't introduced herself, barked a scornful laugh and traded sneers with Mr. Bent Nose.

Johann scowled at the woman, then turned back to me with a calm expression. "Those are helpful things, yes, but magic can do so much more. Would you like us to give you a little demonstration?"

Now he had my curiosity racing. I stopped rocking and leaned forward. "Of course. I mean . . . please do."

Johann motioned for the woman to join them on the ground below the porch. She glared a moment but rose with a huff.

Johann extended his right hand, palm upward, and a fist-sized ball of bluish flame blazed to life above it. Then he extended his other hand in the same manner, and a ball of water formed. The water wiggled and swirled, then crackled until the whole thing had frozen into solid, spinning ice.

His eyes never left me, though my eyes were transfixed on the fire and ice.

"That's—" I started.

"Silly and childish." The female Mage cut me off with a Telepathic snark in my mind.

"You said that in my head!"

"At least she is not deaf," the nasty woman mused.

"It is time for you to see real power, Irina. Tasha is right. These are parlor games compared to what a trained Mage can do." The thin man gestured to one of the mountain peaks several leagues away, its snowy cap still gleaming in the morning sun. Before I could ask what he was about to do, a deafening blast rang out, and the snow on the mountaintop exploded outward in every direction, leaving dull and lifeless rock where a vibrant carpet of white had lain only a moment before. The naked peak roared as a cascade of avalanches tore down the mountainside.

My hand flew to my mouth, and I gasped. "There are people on that mountain!"

The thin man scoffed. "I sensed no people. Animals, yes, but no people."

"Who are you?" slipped out of my mouth.

I still couldn't believe one man could do that to a mountain .

Johann pulled the thin man back by his elbow and stepped forward.

"I am sorry, Irina. I should have introduced my brother and sister when we first arrived." He spoke in slow, reassuring tones, as if to counter the thin man's strategy of shock and awe. "This is Chandler. He lives in Melucia, about thirty leagues west of Saltstone. He is one of the older members of our order. Tasha," he said, motioning to the woman, "is the Mage-Advisor to the Triad in Melucia. She is also one of the most successful Merchants in the world, specializing in the growth and distribution of herbs."

My brows rose, and Johann smiled. "I thought you might appreciate that."

He stepped back a pace and placed a hand over his heart and bowed. "As I said before, I am the Grand Mage, but my mundane role is as advisor to the King."

"The King? You mean King Melric? Our King?"

He nodded. "I have been the Mage-Advisor to the royal household of the Spires for hundreds of years."

My head began to swim. Hundreds of years? How was that even possible? I'd heard children's tales of Mages and their long lives, but those were just stories, weren't they?

" Hundreds of years?" I whispered.

"Irina, how old do you think we are?" Johann asked.

I couldn't bring myself to speak.

"Tasha will strike me down if I tell her age, so I will say this: There are ten of us, eleven now that you have arrived. The next youngest before you is Danai. He is a little over two hundred years old. The next is five hundred now, maybe even a little older. I lose track after so many centuries."

"And the oldest?"

"Oh, he must be getting close to two thousand by now, though even he never knew his actual date of birth. Such things were not very important back then."

I sat back into my chair. I stared at a point beyond Johann, but didn't see anything. My mind was reeling, and I didn't know how to make it calm, to get it to focus on the present. Nothing made sense. These people, their powers, their very lives.

Then I looked up, and in a hushed whisper, asked the only question that mattered.

"What do you want from me?"

"We do not want anything from you, Irina, but we do want to help you," Johann said. "You are already a wonderful Healer, but that is only a cupful of water next to the ocean of your true potential. We want to help you realize that potential. Come with us, and we will teach you how to master power in ways you could never imagine."

"Come with you?" I asked, startled. "I can't leave Fontaine. My patients are here. My parents are here. My whole life is here."

Johann stepped forward and leaned against the porch railing. His voice remained calm and measured. "Irina, we cannot teach what you need to learn in this place. The others have unique knowledge and skills, and we have tools that magnify and focus power, but we need the safety of our compound to test your limits. You would harm people here if you tried to do too much. My offer is for their safety more than yours."

"I can't." I gripped the rocker's arms. "This is my home. How could I just leave? I'm sorry, Grand Mage Johann—or whatever I'm supposed to call you—the answer is no. I won't leave my parents and my people."

"Irina—"

"Send Kels?, and I will continue learning, but I will not leave my home." I stood and shook my head. "Thank you for coming all this way, but I need to help my mother with dinner. Please go."

"The child has a pair of stones on her, I will give her that," Tasha said.

"Tasha, not now." Johann's eyes flared with azure flame before settling back to their icy hue. "Irina, please consider my offer. Talk with your parents and Master Rist. Tell them everything we discussed. Despite Tasha's inability to remain civil, we are here to help. One of us will return in a month to answer any questions you may have and hear what you think. Feel free to have your parents join that conversation."

"I'm not—"

"Please . . . just think about it. Will you do that for me?"

I didn't understand the warmth that surged through me as he spoke those last words. All I knew was that I wanted to agree, to tell him I would do whatever he asked. I needed to tell him, "Yes," to please him, to help however I could. The urge to see him smile was overwhelming.

As the Mages vanished into a thousand twinkles of Light, leaving me alone on the porch, I could've sworn Tasha's lips curled into a frightening grin.