Chapter 21 One and the Same
One and the Same
Never in her thirteen years as a healer had Desi met a patient as stubborn as Alissa. She used to believe the old men in Nyfrel were a handful, but Alissa could be worse than all of them put together.
“I’m sick of this stupid potion. It tastes like vomit. Can I have some wine instead?”
“Desi, will you please leave me here in peace with Freyah and take Eldric with you? I can’t stand you two checking on me all the time.”
“Desi, what is your price to let me leave this tent for an hour? I’ll do anything.”
Those were some of the things the healer had to put up with since they came into her life like a hurricane.
Eldric had stormed into her medical office with an unconscious Alissa in his arms, panicking.
The red-haired woman behind him was screaming for help.
From that moment, they had turned her usually calm, peaceful routine in Nyfrel upside down.
Although she felt exhausted, both physically and mentally, she enjoyed their company for the same reason it drained her: they brought excitement despite the chaos.
Nyfrel was one of the largest cities in Heldraine, but unlike all other towns in the realm, it was mostly occupied by elderly citizens.
Desi used to believe that working as a healer and magical researcher would bring excitement to her life.
At the beginning of her career, she imagined it would be all about healing gruesome wounds and fatal diseases, and that had been her reality back when she lived in Golheim.
However, in this place, she mostly treated common symptoms such as coughs, heartburn, and other ailments that come with age.
When Alissa came in, almost lifeless, Desi secretly felt a tingle of excitement deep inside her, thrilled to finally handle an interesting, different treatment.
She had healed other patients with Ferrugia before; it wasn’t a lie that half of her patients had been successfully cured, but she intentionally left out the important note that she had only treated two people infected before, and one of them died.
Mentioning that would have been useless.
She was all Alissa had at the moment, so why not boost her confidence in her recovery a little?
A patient’s state of mind often directly affected their recovery.
With that approach, she had seen Alissa’s fever ease and her muscle spasms disappear little by little.
It was like magic, the very reason she had chosen to become a healer in the first place.
Desi could only imagine what it must have felt like to really wield magic as people did once upon a time.
Eavesdropping wasn’t a habit for her, but even Desi had to admit she did try spying on her new guests out of curiosity every now and then, as events like this never happened in Nyfrel.
What could have possibly happened to bring them there in such a disastrous state?
She vividly remembered jumping from her chair, startled by the armed strangers drenched in blood invading her workstation.
The man hovered protectively around his friends with the intensity of a mother bear ready to attack anyone who approached her cubs.
The sight was initially terrifying, but surprisingly, she had come to enjoy her time with this odd group of people.
It felt good to have someone to care for again.
It was a relief to discover that her motherly instincts were still intact after so long spent in a state of numbness.
Those instincts, which had faded in the absence of her children, were something she thought she had lost forever.
Desi wasn’t only a mother without her children, she was a wife without her husband and a daughter without her mother.
That had become her life since she was forced to leave her family behind to serve the Kingdom of Heldraine elsewhere.
It’d been four years since she’d last seen the people who made her heart beat, and since then, she had stopped living to just begin existing.
Life in Heldraine wasn’t always easy, but even during tough times, her parents raised her with strong principles of ethics, honor, and love. It was the kind of love felt by parents who had been blessed with a baby after years of struggle to conceive.
Desi was an only child, and although her family had no ties to royalty, she often felt like a princess because of the way she was pampered.
Desi used to sneak into her father’s workroom to pick up some of the jewelry he crafted and wear it in secret for a while.
She would stare at her reflection in the mirror, adorned with sapphire necklaces almost as big as her head, and feel invincible.
She never learned whether her father was unaware of her mischief over the years or if he pretended not to know because he enjoyed seeing her confidence boost when she wore them.
Knowing her father the way she did, she suspected it was the latter.
And so, surrounded by this world of arts and crafts, Desi lived a good, comfortable life up to her teenage years.
After all, the people of Heldraine used to be able to afford a wealthier lifestyle two decades ago, before King Luwrel increased the tax rate and the mandatory contribution from all citizens to the realm exponentially.
Back then, people could afford to buy jewelry, silver instruments, and clothing.
Now, people could only pray that after paying the taxes, they would have enough left to feed their children every day.
Unfortunately, after many years of financial struggle, her father became one of the countless people in Heldraine buried under monstrous, unrealistic debts to the Crown.
The debt inherited from him after his passing four years ago plunged her family into a nightmarish arrangement that shaped her current life.
To settle the debt and avoid imprisonment, she agreed to serve as a healer in Nyfrel, far from her family.
This meant saying goodbye to everything she knew—her home, her family—to endure a dull, solitary existence in a place she disliked.
After all this time alone, she found herself laughing for the first time.
Whether it was from Alissa and Eldric’s playful banter or Freyah’s spontaneous, nonsensical poetry, it dawned on her that she had nearly forgotten what true joy felt like.
That realization came after she accepted Freyah and Alissa’s invitation for a "girl’s night," which turned out to be an excuse for them to change their hairstyles for no apparent reason.
Eldric had dropped off a bag full of colored powders he had bought at the market earlier that day.
He was promised that these powders, when mixed with the right amount of chlorine, could change hair color to virtually any shade.
The exact gram weight combination for each powder and the amount of chlorine needed to achieve various shades were meticulously noted on a dirty napkin.
The poor man had to beg his friends to be reasonable and choose a discreet hair color.
If he hadn’t, Alissa and Freyah would have easily opted for bolder colors, like pink or blue.
“How are the potion-making lessons going?” Alissa asked as she prepared the color mixture she had chosen for herself.
“It’s great! I already know how to make potions to help with coughing and heartburn,” Freyah answered with a smile.
Desi sat behind Freyah, brushing the red strands of her hair. “Freyah is a great student. Not only because she is dedicated but because she has something that most people don’t realize is key to being successful at this job.”
“And what is that?” Alissa’s pride in her friend welled up inside her chest.
“She’s resilient, but most importantly, she’s curious.
Being a magical researcher is a science.
Of course, there are common potions every healer knows, but a lot of our work is about trial and error.
It’s about gathering what nature gives us, testing combinations, and failing time and again without giving up.
” Desi sighed. “Imagine how many of our ailments remain incurable simply because we haven’t yet discovered the right combination to heal them. ”
Desi pursed her lips. The passion she once felt for her job had been lost somewhere along the way. She didn’t know she would ever recover that part of herself.
She shook her head, sending the thoughts away. “My kids’ favorite part of watching me work used to be how the colors of the potions changed when combined.” A sad smile brushed Desi’s lips, her heart heavy with their absence.
Alissa was surprised by her admission. “I didn’t know you have children, Desi. How old are they?”
“My girl is eight, and my boy is ten,” she said, dipping her fingers in the black powder mixture to apply it to Freyah’s hair.
“You should bring them here sometime. I’d love to meet them.”
“They’re not here. They’re in the capital.” Desi cleared her throat, and Alissa realized being apart from her children hadn’t been optional for Desi either.
“How long has it been since you last saw them?” Freyah asked.
“Too long.” Desi unconsciously pulled Freyah’s hair harsher when the emotions became overwhelming.
“You know, I have a daughter too, Desi.”
Surprised, she turned to look at Alissa. Desi had never suspected Alissa was a mother, probably because she looked very young or could be somewhat immature at times.
It wasn’t easy for Alissa to confide in people the things she fought so hard to keep buried, but still, she felt comfortable sharing them at that moment.