As Kairo stood in the street, he thinks about the countless live that have been lost because some god found it displeasing at the time. Kairo remembers the stories that he read about gods, gods that stopped wars, healed thousands and brought peace. Then it hits him, he begins to question his own world, he notices that in the outcome is always the focal point of the story, never the proces. "He was right", he said with a disappointd look on his face. They only ever talked about the gods after ther miracles,never before.He knows that if he wants more information, or maybe even a way to stop this, he has o get his magic back. So, Kairo, decides to visit different places where magic is used. He follows the woman who lost her son to the clinic in the lower ward.
The infirmary was quieter than Kairo expected. Kairo stood just inside the threshold, uncertain. The building sat far from the temple district, close enough to receive sanctioned aid, far enough to be ignored when schedules grew tight. Stone walls, narrow windows, no banners. Nothing that demanded reverence. "You're blocking the light". The voice was calm, mildly amused. Kairo stepped aside quickly. "Sorry".
A woman passed him carrying a basin of water that steamed faintly despite the cool air. She moved with practiced ease, her ash coloured hair pulled Kairo, the same way a black pulls in everything around it, her robe was plain, sleeves rolled up, hands stained with blood like a killer.
She paused after a few steps and looked back at him.
"You're not injured areyou?," she said. It wasn't a question. "No," Kairo replied. "I'm looking for a place to learn magic, anykind".
Her eyebrow lifted slightly, but she didn't press. "Then you're either early, lost, or about to make my day more complicated". She gestured for him to follow her. Inside the infirmary opened into a long hall lined with beds, separated by hanging cloth. Some beds were empty. Others weren't. Kael felt the familiar tug in his chest as magic stirred, responding not to his will, but to proximity. So many outcomes here. So many that mattered, yet because of a selfish god, they all did. "I wonder if she has noticed?, noticed that all her efforts to save a person could be in vain, because a god doesn't want it or is too lazy to act".
The sound of people forcing themselves to breathe evenly, was all Kairo could hear. "I'm Seris," the woman said as she set the basin down. "I keep people from dying when the timing is inconvenient".Kairo almost smiled. "That sounds… exhausting.","It is," she said without complaint. "What's your name?" she asked,"Kairo".
She nodded once, filing it away. "You can help if you want. Or you can stand there looking like you're deciding whether to run". "I don't run" Kairo said, "Good" Seris replied as she hands him a pot of food to share. He smirks and leaves, as he's leaving she tells him that "Everybody runs at least once in thier lives...The trick is knowing what you're running from". Kairo asked, "Do you?". Seris tries to answer but is interuppted by one of the nurses, "Seris, that farmers leg is bleeding again". She handed him a bundle of clean cloth. "You want magic, watch and learn".
Kairo obeyed, "Kaeto, apply pressure on his leg and those srawny arms for something". Kairo obeys again applying pressure, "My arms aren't scrawny... and my name is Kairo". Seris kneels beside the elderly man whose breathing rattled like loose stones. As Kairo continues to press the cloth gently against a wound, he felt it again. That resistance. The sense of a line drawn just beyond reach. He didn't even activate a spell, the mere thought made his chest fell tight.
Seris notices Kairo's behaviour. She claspes her hand, "What are you doing?", Kairo asks. Series asks for silence, a green glow emits from her hands, "Healing magic?, but how". The blood stops and wound begins to close, but it closes fully. No collapse mid healing, her magic works. "How?, is sh affiliated wth a god?", Kairo wondered. She rests on a near-by bed, he sits beside her, "How did you do that?". "Do what?", Seris asked, as she tries to catch her breath. "That spell, why didn't it...", "...collapse", as she cuts him off.
"You felt it, didn't you?" she said quietly, "The way things hesitate."Kairo looked up sharply. "You know about that?"
"I've heard stories about it," she said. " Stories, that if one needs magic they must first acquire permission". She tied off a bandage with efficient fingers, "This ward fills fastest after festivals. Kairo frowned, "The strongest magic would come from the strongest god". "Yes," Seris said. She glanced at him, measuring. "You're not from here", "No". "Then where?" she said, Kairo refuses to answer.
They worked in silence for a while. Kairo followed instructions, careful not to reach for magic no matter how loudly instinct screamed. Every patient felt like a test. Seris straightened and washed her hands, "You can stop now". Kairo stood, "Why do you stay?". She dried her hands slowly. "Because if I don't, who will". Kairo studied her. "You don't sound afraid", "I am, I always am".