Skill Acquired: Healing Magic!

Thalia looked over where Alara was standing, waiting for a retort, but instead saw the princess holding a shallow breathing Yotaro. Tears were streaming down both sides of her face and her mouth was turned down into a dramatic frown. That sobbing expression reminded Thalia of her dear friend again, and in her mind she pictured a young boy holding an injured small cougar cub that was laying next to its dead mother. That young boy was Elias Elding, who as a man became the first Elding king. Though Alara and Elias were generations removed as family members, Thalia couldn't help but notice the similarities. Thinking about the woman who was her fated mate in a vision, and one of the people she loved being similar caused Thalia's heart to ache. She had truly loved that boy, but his loss had destroyed her spirit and she feared Alara would do the same if she found her way into Thalia's heart.

She was hesitant to get emotionally involved with Alara for fear of betrayal or losing someone she had become close to again. Seeing her, a person raised to believe that any creature from the dungeon was evil and insignificant, crying over the injuries of her familiar made it impossible for Thalia to completely shut out her feelings. 

She was starting to like Alara as a person. Her ability to look past her upbringing and form her own opinions and show care towards the dungeon creatures was truly a unique trait which demonstrated the princess's honesty. To Thalia, honesty and trustworthiness were some of the most important traits for a person to have, and she had always been drawn to those types of people. Thalia saw the mimic breathing shallowly, but was not terribly concerned. Yotaro was strong, his injuries were minor and could be easily fixed. Alara's vulnerability moved Thalia to try and comfort her. She kneeled down behind Alara and wrapped her arms around the princess's back in a tight and warm hug. Thalia pressed her face against Alara's back and whispered, “Don't cry princess. Yotaro will be just fine. My familiar is one tough cookie. It would take much more than that to severely injure him.”

Thalia felt Alara's shoulders slump as she relaxed into the hug. Between sobs, the blonde beauty replied, “But… I…I…wish I could do something to help. I feel like I only slow you down. First the fall and now your friend is injured. All because of me!” 

Thalia remembered Alara's rune and wanted to try something. She moved to kneel in front of Alara, and hand-over-hand, guided her to hold Yotaro in cupped hands. In a kind voice, Thalia asked, “You said you wanted to help right? The fact that you have a rune makes me think that there must be something more to you than either of us know. Have you ever tried to use magic from a different element before?”

Still sniffling, Alara answered, “No, I'm an Elding. They knew my affinity was for lightning from the start. Why?”

Thalia smiled gently, “If you want to help, heal Yotaro's wounds. I'll walk you through it. If you are marked I'm fairly certain you will be able to use more than one type of magic.”

The princess cleared her throat and exhaled, “Ok, I'm ready. Teach away. Pretty sure this isn't going to work but if it does, I'll owe you again.”

Thalia placed her hands under Alara's and in a calm and even voice began her instruction, “Close your eyes. Let your mind and body relax. Healing magic uses water, so you need to think about the fluid nature of water itself, the way that it ebbs and flows is how your mana should behave. Now concentrate your mana in your palms and continue envisioning the rise and fall of the tide.”

Alara pictured the small lake that was just beyond the palace gates in her town. She thought about the way the water moved to and from the beach. She could feel a cool sensation running through her palms. It was much different from the aggressive and hot sensation she felt while wielding lightning. She felt Thalia's hand let go, and she opened her eyes, confused that her teacher had let go. “Wait Thalia, why did you let go?”

“Look down princess.”

Confused, Alara looked down at the weasel in her hands. Glowing water was flowing around Yotaro, the princess scrunched her face. “Now you’re just showing off! How are you even doing that without touching him?”

“Alara, it's not me using the healing magic. It's you. All you actually.”

 Alara's eyes got big and her frown turned into a delighted, and wide smile. Thalia doubted she could ever make a smile that big herself, but she did start to giggle lightly, placing her delicate hand in front of her mouth.

“What's so funny, priestess?” Alara asked with a snarky expression.

Thalia cleared a tear from her eye, and gave a breathless reply, “ You're so cute!”

Alara became quiet as her face became red and her eyes darted away from Thalia to Yotaro. Her glance was hyper focused and she avoided all eye contact with Thalia, in such an obvious way it made Thalia laugh a bit harder. Both became silent as Yotaro let out a huge yawn and proceeded to scurry up to Alara's face and lick her nose. He pressed his little furry forehead to hers “Thank you for healing me Princess,” a deep male voice echoed in Alara's head and she couldn't help but jump back while looking at the ferret in his intelligent eyes.

“Yotaro you can speak!” Alara said with a shocked and goofy expression.  

Yotaro turned his fuzzy black head to the side, puzzled, “Of Course I can speak. Why in the world would you assume I didn't? Is it because I'm from the dungeon? Idiots from the dungeon can't speak?”

Alara waved her hands back and forth, “ No no no. That's not what I meant. I Just thought you didn't because you have never spoken to me before….” Alara pouted, her bottom lip jutting out and tears forming in her eyes. 

Thalia thought to herself  “she's way too cute!” She got up from kneeling. Brushed off her knees, and congratulated princess Alara.  “Good job Alara! Learning to heal as fast as you did is truly impressive. I have a proposition for you. Since we will already be stuck together for quite awhile, why don't you become my apprentice? It's been many centuries since I have seen such talent and it would be a waste not to see your true potential. What do ya say?”

Alara was stunned. Growing up as a royal she had plenty of instructors and teachers, but all of them had only complied due to the king's orders, never voluntary. To have someone offer to become her master, of their own free will, that meant something bigger to Alara than words could describe. As Thalia turned to walk away, Alara grabbed her by the wrist and twirled her around. In a single jerking motion, she pulled Thalia into a warm and close embrace. The priestess was hesitant, but being in Alara's arms felt so natural that she quickly caved and returned the embrace, digging her face into the princess's collar bone.

“Yes. Absolutely 100 times over yes. Thank you so much for this opportunity. It means so much to me.” Alara whispered hoarsely, choking back tears of joy.  

Thalia picked her head up and traced Alara's rune with her fingers. “I guess this makes it official then. We are now a team,” Thalia brought Alara's ear down to her level and whispered into her ear so closely that Alara could feel the heat of Thalia's breath tickling her ear. “I have to be honest with you. We haven't cleared this area yet. We are being watched right now. I am sure it will attack as we move towards the exit.” Thalia looked into Alara's eyes one last time before turning towards the presumed exit. That brief moment of eye contact was enough to make both of their faces burn bright red. 

That embarrassed feeling had distracted both women enough that the stone spike shooting out of the floor caught them both off-guard.  Without a second of hesitation, Thalia spun the princess around swapping places with her. The spike then impaled Thalia through her lower back and out of the center of the abdomen where her belly button should have been. Blood immediately began gushing out from around the stone spike. Thalia groaned and coughed up a massive amount of blood before grabbing onto the spike and keeping it in place.