Light's Grace

"Well," Karin said, flames already wreathing her fists, "so much for stealth."

Guards poured out of the barracks, shouting orders and lighting torches. I counted at least a dozen armed men converging on our position.

"The lab," I said. "We need to reach that Sephis before they can move it."

"On it," Kaguya said, her Sun Quill blazing to life. She drew a series of barriers in the air, solid light constructs that materialized just as the first crossbow bolts flew our way. The projectiles sparked harmlessly off her shields.

Karin didn't wait for the guards to reload. She launched herself forward, but instead of her usual direct assault, she shaped flames into steps, running up a spiral of fire toward the lab's second-story window. "Ken, incoming!"

I compressed light beneath my feet and launched upward, hard light platforms appearing and disappearing as I bounded after her. Below us, guards scrambled to follow.

"Impressive," Blackwater's voice called from the courtyard. "But you're too late. The specimen is already prepared for transport."

Through the lab window, I could see workers frantically disconnecting the tubes from the suspended Sephis. The creature writhed weakly, its crystalline growths dim and flickering.

"They're killing it," I said, shaping a hard light spear and hurling it through the window. Glass shattered, and I dove through the opening.

The lab workers scattered as I rolled to my feet. The Sephis hung in its tank, barely conscious, ichor leaking from dozens of extraction points. Up close, I could see what the creature had once been beneath the corruption.

"You bastards," I breathed. "It's just a bird."

"Was a bird," Blackwater said, entering through the lab's main door with four armed guards. "Now it's a very profitable source of controlled contamination. Do you have any idea how much the settlements will pay for 'enhanced' preservation?"

"They're paying you to poison them."

"They're paying me to make their food last longer. The side effects are... manageable. Just like my tonics were manageable for the nobles." His smile was cold and calculating. "A little weakness, a little desperation, and suddenly people become very reasonable about selling their assets."

"Including Lady Anastasia," I snarled.

"Ah yes, my greatest failure. Though I suppose I should thank you for that intervention. It led me to this much more profitable venture."

Karin smashed through another window in a shower of glass and flame. "Ken, whatever you're planning, do it fast. More guards coming."

I approached the tank, placing my hands against the glass. The Sephis inside stirred weakly, one crystalline eye focusing on me. Beneath the corruption, I could sense something familiar. Life. Pain. Fear.

"I'm going to try something," I said. "Cover me."

"Try what?" Kaguya asked, dropping through the skylight and immediately sketching defensive barriers around us.

"Purification." I pressed my palms flat against the tank. "If corruption is just twisted life, maybe I can untwist it."

"That's impossible," Blackwater snarled. "Sephis corruption is permanent. Everyone knows that."

"Everyone's wrong," I said, and poured light into the tank.

The effect was immediate. My radiance flowed through the glass and into the creature's corrupted flesh. The crystalline growths began to pulse, then crack, then fall away like shed scales. The creature's writhing became more purposeful, more alive.

"What are you doing?" one of Blackwater's workers gasped.

"What should have been done from the beginning," I said, intensifying the light flow. "Healing instead of harvesting."

The guards raised their weapons, but Karin was already moving. She shaped flames into whips that wrapped around their crossbows, the wood igniting instantly. "Kaguya, lock them down!"

Instead of simple barriers, Kaguya drew a complex geometric pattern that materialized as a cage of solid light around the guards. They hammered against the constructs, but her hard light held firm.

"Ken," she called, "the tank's cracking!"

Stress fractures spider-webbed across the glass as my purification intensified. The Sephis inside thrashed as the last of its corruption burned away, revealing something small and golden beneath.

The tank shattered.

I caught the creature as it fell, expecting to be holding some twisted remnant of Sephis horror. Instead, a small yellow bird lay in my palms, bedraggled but breathing. Its feathers were bright as sunshine, unmarked by any trace of crystalline growth.

"A canary," Kaguya breathed.

"Impossible," Blackwater said, but his voice had lost its confident edge. "Sephis corruption can't be reversed. It's been tested, proven—"

"Your tests were wrong," I said, gently stroking the bird's head. It chirped weakly and tried to flutter its wings. "You never tried to heal it. You only tried to use it."

The canary looked up at me with bright, intelligent eyes, then sang a single, pure note that seemed to fill the entire lab with warmth.

"We need to go," Karin said, glancing toward the door. "More guards are coming, and some of them look like they might actually know what they're doing."

I tucked the canary carefully inside my jacket. "Agreed. Kaguya, can you make us an exit?"

"Better than that," she said, her Sun Quill tracing an elaborate pattern in the air. "I can make us a highway."

A bridge of solid light materialized, stretching from the lab window to the compound's outer wall. "Run."

We sprinted across her hard light bridge as guards below shot crossbow bolts and threw spears. The constructs held firm under our weight, though I could see Kaguya straining to maintain them.

"There!" Karin pointed to where Marcus waited with the wagon beyond the tree line. "Almost home free."

"Not quite," I said, looking back at the compound. "Blackwater's not going to just let us walk away. Not when we've destroyed his entire operation."

"The grain shipments," Kaguya said suddenly. "He said they were prepared for tomorrow. If he's already sent contaminated supplies to other settlements..."

"Then we haven't solved anything," I finished grimly. "We've just made him desperate."

As if to prove my point, a horn sounded from the compound. Not an alarm horn, but something deeper, more ominous. A summoning call.

"What's that?" Karin asked.

In the distance, shapes began moving through the forest. Large shapes, too big and wrong to be human.

"He has more Sephis," I said. "Wild ones."

"How many?" Kaguya asked, her bridge flickering as her concentration wavered.

I shaped light into a lens and peered into the darkness. What I saw made my blood run cold. "Too many. He's been collecting them, building an army."

Dozens of corrupted creatures emerged from the woods, ranging from twisted animals to grotesque humanoid shapes covered in crystalline growths. All of them were moving toward us with predatory intent.

"The bridge won't hold all of us if those things climb up," Kaguya said.

"Then we don't let them climb," Karin replied, flames roaring around her fists. "Ken, any brilliant ideas?"

I looked at the canary nestled against my chest, then at the army of Sephis converging on our position. An idea formed, reckless and probably insane.

"Maybe," I said. "How much light can you two handle channeling?"

"What do you mean?" Kaguya asked.

"I mean, if I shared my power with you, could you create something big enough to stop an army?"

Karin's eyes lit up with understanding. "You want to link our abilities."

"I want to see what happens when healing light meets creative genius and controlled destruction."

Kaguya nodded slowly. "Link our abilities together. I can work with that."

"Trust me," I said, extending my hands to them.

They took my hands without hesitation. Light flowed between us, and suddenly I could feel their abilities as extensions of my own. Karin's flames became channels for purifying radiance, while Kaguya's constructs gained the power to heal as well as protect.

"Now," I said. "Show me what you can really do."

Karin grinned and launched herself off the bridge, but instead of falling, she rode a spiral of golden fire that carried her above the Sephis army. "Let's see how you like this!"

She spread her arms, and purifying flame rained down like a gentle storm. Where it touched the corrupted creatures, their crystalline growths began to crack and fall away. Some collapsed as the corruption holding them together dissolved. Others staggered backward, confused and suddenly free.

Kaguya's constructs multiplied and spread, becoming a vast network of healing light that swept through the forest. Her barriers became chambers where newly purified animals could recover safely, while her weapons became tools that severed corruption without harming the creatures beneath.

"It's working," I breathed, watching as the Sephis army transformed before our eyes.

But not all of them.

The largest creatures, those too far gone for purification, turned their attention from us to the compound. Blackwater's horn had summoned them, but without the corruption controlling them, they were no longer following his commands.

"Oh no," I said, watching as a massive corrupted bear began tearing through the compound's walls. "We may have overcorrected."

"The workers," Kaguya said, her constructs shifting to create evacuation routes. "They're still inside."

"Not for long," Karin said, diving back toward the compound. Her flames became rescue beacons, guiding panicked workers toward safety while holding the largest Sephis at bay.

I leaped from the bridge, shaping hardlight platforms to carry me down into the chaos. The canary in my jacket chirped urgently, as if trying to tell me something.

"What is it?" I asked, and the bird sang again.

This time, I understood. The canary's voice carried something beyond mere sound. Pure life, untainted by the corruption that had twisted it for so long.

"You want to help," I said, and the canary bobbed its tiny head.

I cupped the bird in my palms and lifted it toward the chaos below. "Then sing."

The canary's voice rose above the sounds of battle, clear and true. But this wasn't just a bird's song anymore. Somehow, it carried my healing light, amplifying and focusing it beyond anything I could manage alone.

The effect rippled outward from us in waves. Sephis creatures stopped mid-attack, their corruption dissolving like mist in sunlight. Workers who had been injured found their wounds closing. Even the compound's damaged buildings began to repair themselves where the song touched them.

When the last note faded, the forest was silent except for the sound of normal animals returning to their homes. The Sephis army was gone, transformed back into the creatures they had been before corruption claimed them.

"Well," Karin said, landing beside me with her flames dying down to a gentle glow, "that was unexpected."

"The song," Kaguya said, studying the canary with scientific fascination. "It acted as a focusing lens for Ken's power."

"More than that," I said, gently stroking the bird's feathers. "It remembered what purity felt like. What life was supposed to be."

The canary preened proudly, then settled comfortably in my hands.

"So," Karin said, looking around at the peaceful forest, "what do we do about Blackwater?"

I turned toward the compound, where the apothecary was standing in his ruined courtyard, staring at the wreckage of his operation. His guards had fled, his workers were either unconscious or running for their lives, and his profitable Sephis was now a small yellow bird that showed no interest in producing corruption.

But he wasn't alone.

A well-dressed young man stepped out from behind the main building, nervous and clearly wishing he could be anywhere else. Noble bearing, soft features, expensive clothes that looked out of place in the ruined compound.

"Who's that?" Karin asked.

"I don't know," I said, studying the stranger. "But he's definitely not one of Blackwater's usual thugs."

The young man looked between us and Blackwater, wringing his hands. "This... this isn't what you said it would be, Cornelius. You said it was just preservation methods, nothing dangerous."

"It was preservation," Blackwater said smoothly. "The side effects were minimal and manageable."

"Side effects? You've been poisoning people!" The nobleman's voice cracked. "And those... those things in the forest. You said you were just storing grain!"

"Who are you?" I called out, but before he could answer, the sound of hoofbeats echoed from the forest road.

A group of riders emerged from the treeline with city guards in official armor, led by a figure I recognized even in the torchlight.

"Lady Anastasia," I breathed.

She rode into the compound with grim determination, her guards fanning out to secure the area. When she saw the young nobleman standing with Blackwater, her face hardened with a mixture of fury and disappointment.

"Edmund," she said, dismounting. "I hoped I was wrong about you."

"Sister," the young man said miserably. "I can explain"

"Can you?" Lady Anastasia's voice could have cut glass. "Can you explain why my investigation into Blackwater's finances led me to discover payments to someone using your Guild access codes? Can you explain why you've been helping the man who nearly killed me?"

"Wait," Karin said, looking between them. "This is your brother? The one you said was being manipulated?"

"The very same," Lady Anastasia said, never taking her eyes off Edmund. "I'd hoped he was just being used without his knowledge. I was wrong."

Edmund's shoulders sagged. "I needed the money, Anastasia. Father cut my allowance after your... after what happened with Blackwater's tonic. I was desperate, and Cornelius offered me a partnership. He said the grain operation was completely different from the medicine business."

"You helped the man who poisoned me," she said flatly. "Because you needed spending money."

"I didn't know it was the same scheme! He said this was just food preservation, harmless innovation"

"Did you ask? Did you investigate? Or did you just take the money and look the other way?"

Edmund fell silent.

Blackwater, who had been watching this exchange with growing alarm, suddenly laughed bitterly. "The boy's telling the truth about one thing. He was too useful as an ignorant pawn. Noble connections, Guild access, and just enough desperation to avoid asking inconvenient questions. Perfect for my needs."

"You manipulated him," I said.

"I gave him what he wanted money and status. The fact that he chose not to investigate where it came from is hardly my fault."

Lady Anastasia looked at her brother with a mixture of sadness and disgust. "I came here to arrest Blackwater and hopefully prove you were just an innocent dupe. Instead, I find you're a willing accomplice."

"Anastasia, please"

"Guards," she said firmly. "Arrest them both."

"We give them both a choice," I continued, addressing my companions. "Confess to the Guild and help us track down every grain shipment and every bribed official, or we let the settlements know exactly what they've been party to."

"Think they'll cooperate?"

Blackwater looked up as we approached, his face cycling through confusion, recognition, and pure terror. "Wait. You're... you're Ken? THE Ken? The Greatest Healer?"

"That's what they call me."

"But I thought..." he stammered, backing away. "The stories about miraculous healing, bringing people back from the brink of death... I thought it was just marketing! Clinic propaganda to drum up business!"

"The healing is real. What you did to that canary, what you did to Lady Anastasia, what you've been doing to innocent people – that ends now."

Blackwater's eyes went wide as dinner plates. "You actually can heal anything. Dear gods, what have I done? I've been torturing a creature in front of the one person in the world who could..."

He turned to run, tripped over a piece of debris from his destroyed lab, windmilled his arms dramatically, and toppled backward into a conveniently placed water trough with an enormous splash.

Edmund watched in horror as the guards approached with shackles. "Anastasia, please, I'm your brother"

"You stopped being my brother the moment you chose to help the man who tried to murder me," she said coldly. "Guards, take them both."

Blackwater surfaced, sputtering and covered in algae. "Please don't turn me into the Guild! I'll cooperate! I'll give you everything!"

"Both of you will," I said firmly. "And you'll face justice for what you've done."

◇◇◇◇

An hour later, we rode back toward the city with Lady Anastasia's guard contingent. Blackwater and Edmund sat bound in a prison wagon, having provided complete lists of grain shipments, bribed officials, and political connections under Lady Anastasia's stern questioning. The canary perched on my shoulder, occasionally singing soft notes that seemed to ease the tension in the air.

"I have to ask," I said, riding alongside Lady Anastasia. "How did you know to find us here?"

"After you saved my life, I started investigating Blackwater more thoroughly," she replied. "Following the money, tracking his property acquisitions, cross-referencing Guild permits. When I discovered someone using Edmund's access codes had helped facilitate this operation..." She shook her head. "I hoped he was just being used without his knowledge. I was wrong."

"You tracked us down to give him a chance to prove his innocence?"

"I tracked you down because you deserved to know the full scope of what you'd uncovered. And because Edmund deserved to face the consequences of his choices, whatever they were."

"What are we going to name it?" Kaguya asked, offering the bird a crumb of bread.

"It probably already has a name," I said. "We just need to figure out what it is."

The canary chirped and flew to land on Kaguya's notebook, where it began pecking at a particular word she'd written.

"'Grace,'" she read aloud. "You want to be called Grace?"

The bird sang a happy affirmative note.

"Grace it is," Karin said, gently stroking the bird's head with one finger. "Welcome to the family, Grace."

"What about Edmund?" I asked carefully.

Lady Anastasia's expression was hard. "My brother made his choice when he decided money was more important than family or justice. He'll face trial like any other criminal."

"And your father?"

"Will be... disappointed." She looked back at the prison wagon. "Edmund always was Father's favorite. Perhaps this will teach him that enabling weakness isn't the same as showing love."

Grace settled down for the ride, tucked safely between us as the city lights grew brighter ahead. Tomorrow we'd have to deal with the Guild, track down contaminated grain shipments, face political consequences for destroying Blackwater's operation, and ensure both conspirators faced proper justice.

But tonight, we had a new family member whose song could amplify healing light in ways I'd never imagined possible, and Lady Anastasia had gotten the justice she deserved – seeing both conspirators captured and held accountable.

The clinic was going to need a perch. And Blackwater's systematic poisoning scheme was finally at an end.