Chapter 11 Bare Feet and Battle Flags
I carry the patient chair outside, trying not to look as nervous as I feel. Nella has already picked her spot.
Nella watches me position it on bare earth, away from the stone path, her expression carefully neutral. She's already removed her boots, her bare feet planted in the dark soil.
"The floor inside wouldn't work." I settle the chair where she indicated and step back. "Earthtouch needs direct contact with the ground."
"I know what it needs." She approaches the chair but doesn't sit. "I spent three years learning to ignore the absence of it."
Cali appears from the herb bed and observes from a safe distance, her tail curled around her haunches. Lyra stands near the garden wall with a cup of tea, close enough to help if needed.
"Same rules as with Luca." I take my position beside the chair. "Any moment you want me to stop, I stop."
Nella sits and presses her bare feet firmly into the soil. Her toes curl, gripping dirt like she's afraid the ground might disappear.
"What will it feel like?" Her voice stays flat, but her hands grip the chair arms.
"I don't know." The honest answer. "Luca said warmth. You might feel something different."
She nods once and closes her eyes. "Do it."
I rest my hand on her shoulder and let my awareness sink into her.
[SKILL ACTIVE: Soul Mending (A)Target: Earthtouch (Suppressed)Seal: Present, different construction than previous patient.Different patient. Pay attention to this seal, not the last one.]
The seal around Nella's ability feels tighter in some places, looser in others. I trace the edges, looking for the spot where pressure gives.
There. Near what feels like the connection point itself, where her gift should meet the earth beneath her feet.
I ease against the thin section. Not forcing. Just offering space.
Nella's breath catches, her fingers digging into the chair. "Something's moving."
I hold my magic still beneath my palm. "Good or bad?"
"I don't know yet." Her jaw tightens. "Keep going."
The thin section gives slightly, like a door cracking open. Something flows through the gap, not warmth exactly, but pressure. Weight. The sense of depth that comes from standing over solid ground.
Nella gasps and her feet press harder into the soil.
"I can feel it." Her voice breaks on the words. "The garden. The roots. Everything underneath."
She's crying, tears streaming down her face while her whole body trembles. Her feet haven't moved from the earth.
"How far?" I pull my hand back slowly, giving her ability room to settle.
She's quiet for a long moment, eyes still closed, breathing slowly. "The wall. The herb bed. Not much beyond this bed." Her brow furrows with concentration. "It's weak. Like listening through water. But it's there."
[SOUL MENDING (A)Restoration: Partial.Sealed ability: Accessible.Earthtouch: Degraded but functional.Range estimate: Approximately ten meters.The seal is cracked. Her ability found its own way through.]
Cali approaches Nella's feet with careful steps and sits directly in front of her.
Cali lifts one paw, then places it gently on the soil. "Can you feel where I am?"
Nella's eyes stay closed. "You're lighter than you pretend to be. And you just shifted your weight forward."
Cali's whiskers twitch with approval. "Acceptable. Don't tell anyone about the weight."
The notification hits as exhaustion washes through me, familiar now after Luca's treatment.
[LEVEL UPGREGORI | Archmage: Archon, LegendaryLevel 35 → 36 | Tier 2 of 4Maximum HP: 1,880 → 1,920Maximum MP: 15,500 → 15,800INT: 360 → 364 | WIS: 316 → 320Unchanged: STR 18 | AGI 26 | DEX 118 | LCK 24Second partial restoration.
Different patient, same careful approach.The levels are nice. The results matter more.]
Nella opens her eyes and looks down at her feet, still pressed into the soil. She hasn't moved them since she sat down.
"I want to test it." Her voice is steadier now, determined. "Before I trust that it's real."
I move the chair back so she can stand. "What kind of test?"
She finally lifts her feet and examines the dirt between her toes. "Something that proves I'm not imagining the sensation. Something with other people, where I can't cheat."
Thea arrives after Lyra fetches her with an armful of faded flags, red and blue fabric soft with age. She drops them on the garden wall and grins at Nella with unearned confidence.
"I heard you need a test." She pulls a red flag from the pile and waves it. "Village defense drill. Right here, beside the garden. Everyone who wants to play picks a side, hides their flag, tries to capture the other team's."
Nella eyes the flags with suspicion. "That's a children's game."
"It's practice." Mira appears behind her apprentice, looking considerably more dignified. "The village hasn't drilled in months. People are nervous about the watchers. This gives everyone something useful to do."
"And lets you test your range with actual targets." Thea is already sorting flags into piles. "Low stakes, no pressure, just finding people before they find you."
I watch Nella consider the offer. Her pride wars with her need to know whether her ability actually works.
"Fine." She takes a red flag from the pile. "But I'm not running."
"Nobody asked you to run." Thea hands her a second flag. "You just have to sense. Luca can do the running."
Luca has emerged from the house in time to hear his assignment. "What am I running from?"
"Everyone." Thea presses a red flag into his hands. "Same team. You defend, Nella detects. I'm on the other side."
The drill assembles by mid-afternoon, a dozen villagers spread across the green beside Royal Health. The space is small enough that Nella's range should cover most of it, large enough for actual strategy.
Thea establishes the rules with the authority of someone who's organized this before. Blue base near the well, red base by the garden wall. Capture the other team's flag and return it to your base. Physical contact tags people out for thirty seconds.
"Nella stays at red base." Thea positions her near the garden wall where her bare feet can press directly into grass. "Call out what you sense. Your team acts on the information."
Nella lets the flag hang at her side. "And if I sense nothing?"
"Then you learn something useful about your limits." Thea moves to join the blue team. "Either way, you get another turn."
[Earthtouch: Available.Practice targets: Neighbors.Try not to insult anyone by guessing their weight.]
The whistle sounds and chaos erupts.
Marcus the carpenter charges toward red base with three villagers behind him, his approach about as subtle as a falling tree. Nella's eyes close and her hands press against her thighs.
"Four people." She points without looking. "Coming from the well. The big one is in front."
Elena intercepts Marcus before he reaches the flag, tagging him with a triumphant shout. He accepts his thirty-second penalty with good humor and retreats to count.
Beside Nella, Luca has positioned himself in front of the red flag, his shield on his arm. The tiny barrier won't stop anyone, but he keeps trying to produce it anyway.
"Two approaching from your left." Nella's voice carries across the green. "One circling behind."
Luca spins and spots the flanking attacker, a young woman from the bakery who freezes when she realizes she's been detected.
"How did you know?" She backs away as Luca advances.
"I have help." He produces the shimmer above his palm, barely visible in the afternoon light. "And practice."
The shimmer holds for five seconds before fading, but it's enough. He reaches around the shimmer to tag her wrist. She retreats laughing, and Luca returns to his position.
The drill continues, attacks and defenses, captures and recoveries. Nella calls out approaches with increasing confidence, her range stretching to the edges of the playing field. Luca's shield grows slightly more stable with each attempt.
Then Thea makes her move.
She's been hanging back, watching patterns, waiting for the moment when both teams are distracted by a skirmish near the center. When everyone's attention is elsewhere, she sprints for the red flag with speed that surprises no one who knows her.
"Thea." Nella's voice is sharp. "Fast. Coming straight at you."
But Nella's warning comes too late. Thea reaches the flag and snatches it, already turning to run.
Luca intercepts her three steps from the base.
He plants himself in her path and raises his palm. The shimmer appears, larger than before, almost the size of a dinner plate. It wavers but holds.
Thea stops, eyeing the barrier. "That's new."
"I've been practicing." His voice is strained with effort. "Put the flag back."
"Make me." She feints left.
Luca shifts the shield to follow, sweat beading on his forehead. The barrier flickers, stabilizes, flickers again.
Elena arrives behind Thea and tags her shoulder. "Got you."
The flag drops. Luca's shield collapses. He stands there breathing hard, a grin spreading across his face.
"That actually worked." He stares at his palm like it belongs to someone else. "For almost ten seconds."
[Barrier Projection: Improving.Duration: Approximately ten seconds.Tactical application: Successfully defended a flag.The shield is still tiny. It stopped Thea anyway.]
Nella hasn't moved from her spot near the garden wall. Her bare feet press into the grass, her expression focused.
Then her head turns toward the treeline.
"Someone's there." Her voice drops low enough that only I can hear. "Just beyond the game boundary. Standing still."
I follow her gaze to the nearest brush, just outside the little playing area. Close enough for her to feel.
I step beside her, following the direction of her hand. "How many?"
"One." Her brow furrows. "They just moved. Backing away."
Suki appears at my side, her ears already oriented toward the spot Nella indicated.
"I'll check." She's moving before I can respond, slipping between villagers with silent speed.
The drill continues behind us, cheers and laughter as someone captures a flag. Luca is showing Marcus how to hold an imaginary shield, demonstrating the grip while the carpenter mimics the motion.
Minutes pass. Suki returns, her expression frustrated.
"Gone." She brushes a leaf from her sleeve. "Same as before. Nothing but pressed grass."
Nella's feet haven't moved from the ground. "They were there. I felt them."
I look at her bare toes pressed into grass, at the concentration on her face, at the ability she thought was gone forever.
"You sensed them before anyone saw them." I set my hand briefly on her shoulder. "That's exactly what we needed."
She doesn't smile, but something in her posture eases.
We spotted someone before they came any closer. For once, they didn't get the whole evening to watch us.
I watch Nella test her range again, calling out the positions of villagers still playing the game, and wonder how long our new advantage will last before they adapt.