Whilst I was making my supper last night I was interrupted by a repetitive, rapid knocking at my door. I answered to see a young woman standing there, she was obviously distraught and was carrying an infant swaddled in a shawl, he was crying, his face ruddy and tear stained. I ushered them into my spare room which I have now prepared as a treatment room for my growing healing practice. Immediately she stepped into my home I felt that same chill, a presence ever growing and with bad intent. I felt on edge, could I catch this... whatever it was from those seeking solace from me? I shook such thoughts from my mind, these people need my help and I'm sure I'm helping, but not totally healing them as Errak and his daughter had later seemed to confirm. I thought again of their strange demeanour when I last visited them.
The woman told me in a breathless, shaking voice that the child is her sister's, she was minding him whilst her sister had rushed to the nearest healer in Bree for a salve as he had seemed off colour that day. I administered a tincture as I had with the previous infant and applied the last of the oils I had previously prepared to my hands and placed them upon the child. The child responded much the same as Errak's daughter did, he quickly calmed and seemed better of his ills. I really need to go to the old forest for more supplies, my journey west had been planned but demands for my services had curtailed it, I have to venture out there now as I've used the last of my healing supplies that seem to calm this 'malady'. If anybody else urgently needs my healing skills in the interim I wouldn't be able to help, it doesn't bode well.
I recalled that whilst healing Errak's daughter I had, by the bye noticed Errak had a wound, a gash, which had prompted me to lay hands upon him to heal him as I sensed the foreboding emanating from him also. The woman told me her name, Savia, I had seen her about the town at times, she is very striking and so easy to notice in a crowded market place. She is a very attractive woman with very light, long blonde hair and a flawless complexion, I recall admiring her appearance on passing before. Upon asking whether she had any wounds herself she said she hadn't and didn't know of any reason the child could have been injured, he just seemed 'off' which prompted her sister to go to the dispensing healer. She briefly rolled up her sleeves to demonstrate her skin was intact by showing the top and bottom of her arms to me. I instinctively reached out to touch her arms, my hands still anointed with the healing oil, she recoiled and quickly pulled down her sleeves.
Savia seemed extremely anxious to get her nephew home and as he had apparently recovered well after my healing applications I gladly took her coin and bid her farewell, the unwelcome feeling of foreboding remained whilst they were in my house, it hung in the air like a bad smell.
It was a while later, after I had eaten my meal that I noticed a large drop of fresh, red blood on the rug by the front door, clearly defined as a footprint. I knew for certain that the child wasn’t badly injured, I had examined him. I searched for more bloody footprints, there were none, just that one by the door and judging by the outline it was made by someone, or something leaving my home. Was his aunt lying to me about having no injuries or was she being very brave and trying to put the child's welfare first? I mused whether she couldn’t afford the coin to heal herself?
I will ask around tomorrow when I visit the market place, I am concerned that this woman needs help and is unaware that she may be in danger. The question that wouldn't leave my mind seemed trivial but tested me, why did Savia come to me and not to the same healer her sister had gone to, he would have been far nearer to them than venturing out to my remote home?
