Mistwoven Healer

The next morning, when Akari and I depart to go see Candice, our procession has grown by two. Mr. and Mrs. Hayashi are visibly upset when we meet them in the hall just outside the compound, and both show it in very different ways.

Mr. Hayashi is a broad but not particularly tall man with a massive bushy mustache that's so perfectly groomed that I can't help but stare at it. Of course, looking at the man's mustache is much easier for me than looking at his angry eyes or his hands clenched into fists, which doesn't help the matter.

On the other hand, Mrs. Hayashi looks upset in the "I just cried all night" kind of way — her eyes are red-rimmed, and she has heavy bags under them. Despite her disheveled state, she's actually quite beautiful. Standing a good three or four inches taller than her husband, Mrs. Hayashi has youthful features and a willowy frame.

I meet the two out in the hall, Akari and Lucas standing at my sides looking anxious. Lucas, because he doesn't like me being anywhere close to someone looking as angry as Mr. Hayashi, and Akari because she doesn't want to have to do any of the talking.

When Akari seems to freeze up beside me upon seeing the Hayashi parents, I decide to take matters into my own hands and step forward. Giving a quick bow to the two, I smile and say, "It's good to meet you. My name is Serena, and I'm the blue sentinel who's been trying to help your daughter."

Mr. Hayashi's intense glare shifts from Akari to me, making me wilt. "You're the sentinel healer, then? I don't suppose you have any proof of that?"

At that point, three things happen at once, or rather, three of the same things happen at once. Lucas and Akari both instantly step forward at Mr. Hayashi's glare and angry words — overprotective as always — and this time, Celeste also joins in on the party.

Becoming visible on my shoulder, she flairs her wings and declares, [Serena doesn't need to prove herself to anyone!]

I give a mental sigh, as Mr. Hayashi's angry quickly turns to amazement. Celeste, in her haste to defend me, also proved that I was a sentinel by appearing. Still, I just smile awkwardly. I love my ostentatious familiar, no matter how uncomfortable she makes me at times.

"This is Celeste," I say, feeling a touch meek as Akari moves to place herself slightly in front of me as Lucas steps back respectfully once more. "She's the best familiar I could ever ask for."

At this point, Mr. Hayashi finally returns my bow, offering a deeper one than I did. "I apologize for doubting you, Sentinel. Thank you for being willing to aid my daughter."

"So, girls," Mrs. Hayashi says, speaking up for the first time, "could you give us some idea of what we should expect today?"

At this, I gently elbow Akari. This would be a great place for her to jump in.

Beside me, Akari seems to be bristling with energy, and I get the feeling that she'd much rather be fighting the Volcora than doing this. Still, capturing my hand with an anxious grip, Akari starts telling them the plan.

"Well," she coughs, "sorry. First, we'll go to the GDF Headquarters, where Candice is. Then, Serena still needs to finish removing her tattoos so I would expect that to take a good chunk of the day. After that… well, we'll have to decide based on Candice's condition. If she's still a threat to public safety, she'll need to remain at GDF Headquarters until she's under control of herself again."

"And, removing those tattoos they put on her will heal her?" Mrs. Hayashi asks hopefully.

I shake my head. "Right now, I believe the state she's in now is caused by a symptom of the tattoos. In essence, she's infused with unearned power, and that power will poison her mind and body until she earns it. Removing the tattoos will remove the unearned power from her body, but she still needs to earn the power she's already used. Hopefully, that makes sense."

Mr. Hayashi narrows his eyes, "If she's got power in her, how is that different from being a sentinel?"

I offer a sad smile, "Sentinel powers are earned," I explain. "We start off weak and get stronger as we overcome challenges. Candice skipped the overcoming challenges part, so she'll need to do that once we remove the power."

"So, she could keep the power and just earn it like you have?" Mr. Hayashi asks, sounding a touch hopeful.

I frown, "Theoretically… maybe? I think that's what the intelligent Volcora do. It's a dangerous road to walk, though, with the kind of power she has. If at any point she stops confronting challenges, either because she got sick or for any other reason, she'll just find herself back as she is now. The fact that she's infused with the mana that the Volcora use and not what sentinels use is the problem. Easier to just get rid of the power entirely and let her earn what she already used."

Mr. Hayashi looks like he's about to ask another question, but his wife elbows him in the ribs.

"I think she knows what she's talking about, dear," Mrs. Hayashi whispers. Sadly for her, sentinel hearing, even in our rest states, isn't to be dismissed.

After reprimanding her husband, Mrs. Hayashi looks up at us with a regretful expression. "Sorry about him, should we go and see Candice now?"

As Akari and I lead the way into GDF Headquarters, Candice's parents follow us with expressions of amazement as they look around at the roiling activity in the lobby. After coming through so many times, I've forgotten the awe I felt upon first coming through here. Or how nervous I felt when I first met Ashlyn, the kind receptionist woman who I still wave at and occasionally chat with on my way through.

However, I can't help but feel nervous for the Candice's parents as we lead them into the elevator to descend down to the holding cells. It's one thing for me to see Candice in her current state without having known her, but for her parents I'm certain it will be much worse. Part of me is tempted to try and keep them from seeing Candice until I've had more time to work on her, but I'd also never forbid someone from seeing their own daughter.

As we exit the elevator and checking with a few guards who were expecting us, I decide that speaking to Candice's parents is a better idea than allowing them to worry.

"Sorry about having to put her in here," I say as we pass cell after cell. "We don't have the facilities to hold her, and right now, she's a danger to both herself and others. I'm hoping that my treatments will be successful. Otherwise, we'll have to come up with more long-term arrangements."

Walking behind me, Mr. Hayashi strokes his mustache in what I note to be a kind of nervous tick. "And… how likely would you say it is for treatment to be successful?" he asks.

I nod to myself; it makes sense that he's a lot less confident after seeing the conditions we've been forced to place Candice in. Still, I won't lie. "Honestly, sir. I have no idea how likely success is. I'm certain other attempts to remove these kinds of tattoos have been made, but I couldn't find anything official in the Sanctum Collective or GDF records when I checked. The theory behind what I'm doing is sound: excise the mana and perform trials to reverse the remaining corruption. However, it's hard to say what success will look like without any previous cases."

"Can you speculate on likely outcomes?" Mrs. Hayashi asks, wringing her hands together and looking around anxiously.

I shrug, "Again, I can't say anything for certain. However, other than the mana, the corruption, and being a bit banged up, Candice is perfectly healthy. When I worked on her yesterday, I didn't sense anything wrong with her brain other than what seemed to be a lot of mana corruption built up in that area. I'd say the most likely outcome is that as the corruption fades, she'll regain more and more of her facilities until she's back to being herself again."

"And… potential less likely outcomes?" Mr. Hayashi asks, still stroking his mustache.

"Well," I start, frowning. They really shouldn't be focusing on potential negative consequences. "Healing magic works primarily by interacting with the soul's idea of what its current body should look like. If what she was put through warped her soul enough, then my magic would identify things it shouldn't as natural. Like… if you lost an arm and for some reason didn't think of it as an injury, but as if you never had that arm, then I probably couldn't heal it. Not any more than I could heal a tail onto you, anyway. There are a lot of limits and strange interactions, but the basic idea is that if something happened to her brain and her soul views it as part of its current self-image, then I might not be able to remove it."

Akari glances at me curiously as I explain. "Isn't that the same way our soul gems alter us to our ideal self-image? Is that just healing magic?"

"No," I say, shaking my head. "There's a difference between a soul's ideal self-image and their current self-image. Like I said, it's complicated, and I'm probably explaining it poorly. Just know that I think that there's a pretty low chance of something like that happening to Candice."

Not too long later, we reach Candice's cell, and Akari peaks through the barred window for a quick moment before nodding.

"Mr. Hayashi, Mrs. Hayashi, would you please wait outside with Serena for a moment? We'll need to bind Candice so that it's safe to enter," Akari says.

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Then, with that, Akari nods to Lucas, and the two of them quickly open and slip inside the cell door. Once again, I wince at the sounds of Candice's shrieking but do my best to just the noise out of my mind.

Beside me, Mr. Hayashi seems to be doing the same, although his wife is clutching at her ears with tears in her eyes.

As before, it takes only a few minutes of struggling for Lucas and Akari to get the fiercely struggling Candice once more restrained so that we can continue working on her. Once they call the all-clear, I shift, startling the Hayashi's, and lead the way into the cell.

My heart wrenches upon seeing Candice bound to her cot again. As before, she's stopped struggling upon realizing it as a futile gesture, but looking at her, I think I see just a hint of clarity in her bloodshot eyes. Interesting, I wonder if…

Absently, I step forward and briefly touch Candice's shoulder through her shirt. Her network of lights spread out before me, and I quickly identify something I didn't notice yesterday. The amount of corruption around her brain has faded just a little, not gone, just having dispersed around her body a bit more.

Upon seeing this, I immediately form a theory. Why can some of the Reavers be clear-headed with these tattoos but not others? Well, what if the answer lies in the magic being enacted through the tattoos themselves? What if the tattoos on Candice are meant to collect corruption in her brain, while other tattoo designs are meant to keep the corruption away from the brain? Is that even possible?

It would make so much sense, though, and I wonder if the intelligent Volcora perhaps use the same technique on their less intelligent kin. Maybe-

I'm jerked out of my thoughts as Akari wraps her arms around my middle and quickly snatches me away from Candice right before the other girl's teeth snap down right where my hand just was.

I let out a soft yelp, suddenly being reminded why I was touching Candice's stomach when I worked yesterday. "T-Thanks," I murmur to Akari. Even though the bite couldn't have touched me through my shield, I'm still appreciative.

Akari nods behind me, still holding me to her by my middle. Before us, I watch as Candice's parents move in close, and I realize that they've been trying to talk to her while I was investigating my theory.

"Candice… sweety, can you hear us?" Mrs. Hayashi asks from where she sits on her knees beside the cot.

As before, Candice doesn't reply, but I can still see a small amount of flickering intelligence behind her eyes. She opens her mouth as if she's going to say something, but no words come out. Sadly, the intelligence is gone as fast as it appeared, and she thrashes violently in her bonds, snapping at her mother with her teeth.

Looking to the others, I say, "I'm going to start working again; make sure that no one goes near my mist."

Celeste thought up that particular warning after our first tattoo removal. Theoretically, it's possible that I could move the mana out of Candice and into someone else by accident. Best if everyone just keeps clear of the mist to begin with.

Lucas and Akari nod and Akari reluctantly lets me wiggle free from her arms as Lucas fetches me a chair.

Sitting down beside Candice's cot, I find her parents leaning in close, watching me as I lay my hand down on Candice's stomach. "If it's okay with you, would you be able to give me a bit of space?" I ask the pair. "I know she's your daughter, but I really don't want to accidentally get any of the mana in the tattoo into you. Just… try to avoid the mist I'm using to remove her tattoos."

"Mist?" Mr. Hayashi asks, but his wife once again elbows him and drags him a few feet back.

I nod gratefully and get to work.

Starting work on the tattoo's I once more find it taking a great deal of my concentration, enough that I can't listen in on the conversation happening around me. However, even as my entire mind is bent on manipulating the mana, my thoughts wander.

Celestial Equilibrium has, by far, the most potential of any ability I've received other than my living mists. In fact, I would consider it the keystone ability to my entire Celestial Healer path. At the moment, though, I feel like I've been massively squandering what it's capable of.

The only way for me to do more, would be to take Stygian Mana into my own body which… honestly, maybe I could control it. If I were actively manipulating the Stygian Mana that enters me with Celestial Equilibrium, it's possible that I could bring it in, use it, and expel it safely. Despite how risky that feels, that might be the only way to make full use of the ability.

Normally, I would never consider taking such a risk other than in the most dire of circumstances. However… the feeling I'm getting from the Stygian Mana in my mist where it mixes with the Tributary Mana… it feels powerful — like a potent reaction is ready to be triggered if I just knew how to start it. More than that, though, the mana types combined feel like to halves of a whole finally connecting together again, and that when they're combined, things that would previously have been impossible could be accomplished.

The feelings are vague, but I've been taught by now to listen to them. Magic often works through feelings, impressions, and desires rather than cold logic. Not that no logic is involved because it absolutely is, but I've often made more discoveries about my powers just by listening to how I felt about them than by any other means.

Absently, as I think, I remove the last bit of mana from Candice's other arm tattoo and start in on the large one on her back. I hardly even notice, lost in consideration as I am.

I can't help but feel like I'm missing something critical about mana and about magic in general. Why are there two halves to mana anyway? One half where you earn it before, and the other where you earn it after. The way I was taught is that these two mana types are just two sides of the coin that is mana. Either it's one or the other, but never both. So why do they feel like they can go together?

What happens if you mix earned power with unearned power? Do you just get… power? No, that feels wrong. Trials have to be involved somehow, but I don't understand how.

Still, the mana types mixing in my mist both feel like puzzle pieces that were designed to fit together into a whole. So… what happens if I just slide them in together.

Barely pausing to think about potential consequences in my dazed state of concentration, I attempt just this. Taking small fractions of both mana types in my mist, I will them to fuse together into a whole. However, despite mingling closely under the force of my will, the mana types refuse to move closer together beyond a certain point, like two magnets of the same polarity pushing away from one another.

Hmm, I still feel like they can be fused, but I'm still missing something. I'm certain that there's some requirement needed to fuse the two mana types that I'm missing. However, for the life of me, I can't figure out what it might be.

Frustrating, but not the end of the world. I still need to talk to Althia about my path, and I wonder if she would be willing to give me some insights on fusing mana. If I can figure this out, it would be an amazing first step on my path. If I want to bridge the gap in the heavens and show that Centurions and Volcora can coexist without fighting, then showing that I can fuse the two mana types together would be a good first step.

Besides, if I've figured this out, I'm certain that someone like Althia, who's been alive for who knows how long, will have already gained a great deal of insight into the problem. Who knows, she might just give me the solution out right.

I'll just talk to her as soon as I'm done here, I just hope that… Oh.

I blink, looking down, as I sense the last bit of Candice's final tattoo having fallen away. As it does, I feel a shift all throughout Candice's body. Corruption rushes away from her brain and disperses out into her body at large, far more of it than I realized. Wow, almost… huh, ninety percent of the corruption was accumulated in her brain?

Candice blinks rapidly, the glimmer of intelligence I've been seeing in her eyes returning in full force. For a long moment, Candice seems to be trying to collect herself, looking around and giving experimental tugs on her bound limbs.

Realizing what's happening, I smile and send a final healing pulse through her body from my hand to repair all the small injuries she collected while her mind was not her own. Then, I remove my hand from her stomach and smile down at her.

"Candice, my name is Serena. I'm a sentinel healer who's been working to help you. Can you understand me now?"

Shakily, her body starting to tremble, Candice nods. "I-I," she starts, her voice raw and dry. "I understand."

At this, Candice's parents attempt to rush over to her, but I quickly raise my hand to halt them. I need to be certain before I let them potentially get hurt.

"Candice, would you say that you feel… in control of yourself at the moment?" I question.

Candice hesitates before giving a jerky nod. "I feel… angry, but… I don't want to hurt anyone. Not like," she shudders, "not like before."

"So, you remember what's happened since the tattoos were added?" I ask.

Candice nods again, "Yes… it's hazy… but yes. I remember Akari killing all those people… I remember you coming in and healing me… I…" tears well in her eyes, "I remember…" she says, voice trembling.

Offering a sad smile, I pat Candice's hand and turn to her parents. "I think it should be mostly safe now; just be careful. The corruption is still in her; it's just not focused in her brain anymore with the tattoos gone. She should be in control of herself now… I think."

The two parents don't need any further encouragement, rushing over to hug their daughter and free her from the restraints.

Stepping back, I move to stand beside Akari and wrap an arm around her — which she quickly reciprocates. Together, we watch the tearful reunion with Lucas standing near us with a smile.

"I wonder how many people like this are out there," I say softly. "How many families have been broken by the Reavers? How many people turned into monsters against their will? I… I know how to help them now."

"Probably more than we could ever heal," Akari says, also looking at her old friend with a smile. "But enough that at least someone should try."

I shake my head, "I just wish… I don't know. That I could have a clinic or something where I could help people like this. People who just need a little bit of help so they can have a clean start."

Akari looks thoughtful at my words but gives me a squeeze. "I'm sure we'll figure something out. For now, let's go make sure Candice is alright and that her parents know where to take things from here."

Several hours later, all of us step out into the GDF lobby and are greeted by the cheerful sunshine shimmering down from the windows, the sight of which almost makes Candice cry again.

After a lot of talking to her and monitoring her, we all decided that it's probably safe for her to stay in the hotel room with her parents rather than remaining in the holding cell. However, I've still given the family strict instructions that they're to come and see me at least once a week until I can verify that the corruption has burned itself away. Yet, I'm confident that as Candice completes the small trials life always offers, the built-up corruption should leave her system entirely.

That, at least, marks my main part in this as complete, although I know Akari and Candice likely need to have a long conversation at some point. That will be for Akari to confront, however, and I'll only support her if she needs it. Best for her to be able to confront things like this herself so that she knows that, while I'm always here to help, she doesn't actually need my help to confront her demons.

And so, I'm feeling good as we move toward the exit. Right up until I see a tall, muscular Japanese woman stride in through the front doors, looking around with dark eyes that seem to claim whatever they're looking at.

Now, this isn't so unusual, given that more than a few sentinels end up gaining that kind of arrogance. But this one in particular gives me pause, mostly because, as she walks in, she turns to look directly at me.

Without a hint of hesitation, the young woman strides up to our group, with Akari and Lucas stepping forward to shield me behind them.

The woman, who I'm certain is a sentinel at this point, looks right past Akari and Lucas as if they weren't present, her dark eyes locking right on me.

"Are you Serena Solace?" she asks in the tone of someone who already knows the answer.

"I-I am," I manage, looking up at her and trying not to be intimidated — although I wish I was in my assault state. "Who are you?"

The woman narrows her eyes at me, "I am called Nightsong. You and I are going to have a chat, Miss Solace." Her eyes flick to my companions, "Alone," she clarifies, her tone brooking no argument.

Oh good… she's here… yay…