The Good Doctor

She woke again somewhere inside a building. She could hear a tapping and grinding sound as well as smell herbal aromas. She stirred awake and groaned. “Don’t get up.” A gravelly woman’s voice demanded. Ariana looked over to the source of the voice. She saw a woman’s back turned to her. “You passed out from exposure and magic exhaustion,” the woman explained.

Ariana was puzzled. “Are you… a doctor?” The woman glanced over her shoulder. “Only one for miles. They can’t say much about who I choose to treat.” She turned to lean over Ariana, holding a strong-smelling paste over her mouth. She was middle-aged, with slightly graying hair back in a messy bun, a mild tan, and eyes that had a slight violet glow in the dimly lit room. “Eat this.” Ariana opened her mouth and took the paste. It was incredibly bitter. “And this.” The woman held a bottle containing a glowing blue liquid. Ariana hesitated for a second, then took the bottle and drank it. She felt a rush of energy go back through her.

“Never seen your folk suffer from magic exhaustion before, ” the doctor mused, “not an adult anyway. Casting is like breathing for your kind. It’s almost like you’ve never cast magic before.” Ariana turned to her side. “I haven’t.” She admitted. “My first time using it was two days ago. Although… once I figured it out, it did feel pretty natural.”

The doctor raised an eyebrow as the glow in her eyes faded. “Do you know where you are?” Ariana shook her head. “I woke up in the forest two days ago. I… I died before. I tried to save my son. I was told he lived, but now I can’t find him.” The doctor nodded. “I’ve seen the leaves you’ve been handing out. I haven’t seen any demon children about, so I don’t think he came this way. Either that or he’s good at hiding.”

Ariana frowned. “He’s not a demon, I’m sure of it. We were human before this. I died, so I became a demon, right? He’s still alive, so he’s a human! That’s how this works, isn’t it? It must be, that’s the only thing that makes sense.” The doctor sat back in her chair. “Hate to break it to you, but it doesn’t work that way. Demons are the people of Indrock, our neighboring country. We’ve been at war with them for decades. Humans don’t become other things like that.”

Ariana was confused. “I… I’ve never heard of that place… so, what country are we in now?” The doctor leaned forward again, resting her chin on her hands. “Wildenrun. The village is Loomholm. I think I’ve figured out your situation. You’re an Outworlder.” Ariana sat up a bit, confused. The doctor continued.

“From time to time, people come from out of the blue, claiming they’ve died and woke up in a strange place, like you. They have little to no knowledge of the world but are gifted in some way. Their claims of other worlds lead us to refer to them as Outworlders. I’ve never heard of an Outworlder being a demon. They’re usually humans.”

Ariana was concerned, and it showed on her face. “Am I not human?” The doctor smirked and chuckled a bit. “If you were before, you aren’t now. The races that walk the earth are humans, elves, orcs, demonfolk, beastfolk, and dwarves. You are decidedly not human. Humans and elves are at war with the demons.” Ariana looked down. “I guess that explains why people have been so hostile towards me…” The doctor nodded with an “Mm” of understanding.

“In any case, I won’t charge this time,” the doctor explained, “but my services usually don’t come free. Try to keep an eye on your magic. If you start feeling sluggish after casting, you’ve done too much. Get a blue potion or call it a day. Am I understood?” Ariana nodded. The doctor nodded back. “Oh, by the way, you can keep the dress.” Ariana was confused. She looked down at herself and saw she was wearing a plain brown dress laced in the front. “What? When did you… I mean… thank you.” “Don’t mention it.” The doctor offered her hand. “Mirabelle. I have a son, too. His name is Lloyd.” Ariana smiled and took Mirabelle’s hand. “Ariana.” They shook. “My son’s name is Alex.” Mirabelle nodded. “I’ll keep an eye out for Alex.”

Ariana left Doctor Mirabelle’s house to see that the sun was setting. She had a lot of new information to parse through. Knowing now that the people of this village viewed her as the face of the enemy, she realized how hard it would be to gain their trust. She would also have to be more careful about how she used her magic unless she wanted to pass out again. Then, if she did pass out or something worse happened, how would she afford the doctor? All of this compounded by the fact that Alex might not look like she remembered…

Come to think of it, she thought, she didn’t know what she even looked like now. She looked around the village. One of the buildings had a large window. She approached it nervously and checked her reflection. She saw her white hair and amber eyes. She was initially quite shocked. As she explored her face, preening and prodding with her hands, she determined that the shape at least was the same. Overall, her body seemed to be the same shape as it was; she’d just changed colors. She felt that at least Alex might look the same shape, too. This brought some relief. She stepped away from the window.

She thought about her situation as she left town to return to her camp. When she arrived, she saw boars rooting around it. One of them was chewing up the tomato plant. She panicked and started running at them. She waved her hands quickly in a circle, forming a water ball, and tossed it towards the boars. She hit one and doused it. The boar squealed and ran off, two more in tow. Ariana groaned as she inspected the plant.

She used more magic and a gentle touch to repair the plant and cultivate more tomatoes. She then swept up the seeds from that morning’s tomato breakfast and pushed them into the soil. As she did this, she thought about the boars. They would probably come back unless she did something to keep them out. She sat and focused. With her right hand flat, she swept it down, around, and up in a scooping motion, followed by a swirling, wafting motion. This urged a bramble from the ground that rose slowly to the height of her plants. She encircled the plants with these brambles.

Satisfied that this would help, she retreated into her tent. Looking up, she noticed several gaps in the leaves. Also, they were growing upward. She thought for a moment. Her hand rose upwards. She fanned her fingers to expand the leaves, then twisted her hand sideways, pushing down slightly. The leaves reoriented themselves to resemble shingles. She then bowed her arms out slowly, and the tent domed out. That should settle any rain, she thought, and the extra headroom was nice. She spent the rest of the night molding facades out of leaves until exhaustion overtook her. She slept.

In the morning, she woke again. She looked over to the facades and sighed. Soon, she thought. He can’t have gone too far, right?

Ariana gathered up the facades she could and slid them carefully into the pouch at the front of her dress. She took up one of the tomatoes and ate it. As she ate it, a thought came to her. If she could grow this from one rotten tomato, what else could she grow? Asking that woman at the market stall for anything sounded like a bad idea, but surely she wouldn’t be opposed to giving up rotten food. With this in mind, she set out again for the village.