Soul Treatment

THEY PLACED the wares on a table outside of the room, and proceeded down the corridor with a lantern. After descending the winding stairwell, their footsteps were softened by woven burgundy runners that muffled every shift and creak.

The halls of the apothecary were quieter than Aisling expected, but it was because the eastern wing of the Research Ward consisted mainly of dormitories and private offices above. Below ground were archives, libraries, and other quiet spaces to contemplate and formulate. They were reverent almost, lit by lanterns whose enchanted rocks glowed in gentle amber pulses, like fireflies breathing in unison. Shadows curled behind carved balustrades and arched doorframes, the air warm with the faint scents of dried petals and simmered tonics that lingered.

They passed rows of alcoves where shelves overflowed with glass vials and neatly bundled herbs, each labeled in delicate calligraphy. Prayer beads hung beside them, swaying faintly whenever a draft slipped through the mortar-thick windows.

Every now and then, Aisling glimpsed a wall tapestry depicting flowers. Among them she recognized rudbeckias, zinnias, and gloriosa daisy petals woven in threads that shimmered with residual mana.

It made the apothecary feel less like a fortress and more like a cathedral built for the healing arts.

Aisling and Sirius traveled back down to the sitting room, then across the vast main hall, where some of the apothecary sisters were diligently striding by the bright lamps lining the walls.

Some walked with enchanted clipboards floating in front of them.

Some were standing to discuss the results of a patient.

And some could be seen completing paperwork at desks scattered throughout the corridor that led into the west wing.

The Clinical Ward was as busy as ever.

The pair continued their walk through the ward’s sitting room, and then up to the second floor.

The hall curved into a broader corridor lined with doors bearing plaques with various sisters’ names who’ve earned their place amongst senior elixirists.

Sirius paused before one of them that bore a symbol of cupped hands with an orb floating above them. A familiar name was engraved beside the symbol, allowing him to exhale with relief.

From within, a calming presence lingered. It anticipated for someone to arrive, because the moment Sirius knocked, the door opened.

A young woman with glossy black hair and transparent veil that hung evenly down to her waist stood in front of him with a warm smile. Her amber eyes widened in warm foresight, as she exhaled, “Sirius.” She stepped towards him, arms outstretched.

“Hey, Chisa,” he greeted, embracing her.

Their hug lingered a bit, but they soon pulled away. Chisato scanned him up and down, and adjusted her round glasses. “It must already be around that time of year again.” She then noticed Aisling standing behind him. “Oh, pardon me, sister,” she quickly addressed, posturing up and placing her right hand over her chest. “My apologies, I thought we were alone.”

“Oh, no, you’re fine!” she replied, placing both hands over her chest to slightly bow. “My name is Aisling Ó Ceallaigh. Nice to meet you.”

“Kurokawa Chisato, Senior Elixirist.” She curtsied in her burgundy dress with black frills. “But you may call me Sister.”

Her eyes widened. “Wait, you’re my sister?”

She raised one eyebrow, then glanced at Sirius, who clarified that the honorific was a title to address members of the Elixirium. “And vice-versa. An apothecary sister often refers to others as brother or sister, even though they’re not related.”

Aisling nodded. “Oh, okay then. For a second there, I was thinking about how cool it would be to have a sister!”

They entered her office, whose doorway was adorned with a string of consecration charms, and found an examining bed, a desk with a chair, a cabinet, a bookshelf, a sink, and a wall-mounted icon of a crowned statue watching over the room.

“How was your journey in the mountains?” Chisato asked, opening the cabinet with her white Bishop-marked right hand to retrieve some potion bottles and a notebook.

As someone who grew up with him in Pallethorpe Village, Sirius freely explained his experiences. From uncovering the rose door and unearthing Aisling to the sudden emergence of soul feeders, Chisato was made privy to all of it.

She glanced over at his new companion sitting in the chair and nodded. “I see. So it sounds like going back to the capital will give you the explanation you’re looking for?”

Sirius sighed, “That’s what we’re hoping for.”

Chisato frowned, and set a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Most apothecary sisters would tell you to find comfort in His Holiness, but I know you. I know Lucien. I know how much the last six years have taken from you, and you still haven’t received the justice you deserve.”

Her words were touching, serving only to reinforce his next statement. “Yeah, I’ve lost my faith in his plans, Chisa. I can only rely on my wits and the clues we uncover.”

“Don’t forget about your friends. A lot of us still appreciate your guys’ sacrifice back then. You saved our lives.”

His tone softened when he asked about how everyone was doing back home. She explained they were well—his and Lucien’s family too.

“Trixie actually started working at the Iris Apothecary in Kubra. And I think Bernard said he was gonna start expanding his blacksmithing business. Desmond and Celeste got married last month. And since Jaylin works in construction, he made the finishing touches to our clubhouse.”

“Wow.” He smiled. “It seems like they’re all making a path for themselves. I’m happy for you guys.”

She nodded. “Your sister also set off on her pilgrimage a couple weeks ago.”

“Adhara,” he muttered under his breath. “She’s the only one from my family that held no resentment when I left. How is she?”

“I’m not sure of her attitude for you now,” Chisato explained honestly, sanitizing her hands in eucalyptus oil. “But she’s doing well. Loves reading and exploring.” She smiled. “I wonder where she got that from?”

He chuckled, removing his shirt. “Glad she kept her sense of adventure. Mirzam couldn’t really do that. What’s he up to?”

“Your brother decided to work in manatech repair. He’s working in a small facility with a friend.”

“Mm, I see. So his dreams of the Gearschron Cabinet were botched after all…”

“Don’t blame yourself,” she advised, helping him tie his hair into a bun. “He’s doing really well, and is actually highly recommended in the village.”

“Still, I knew how important it was for him.”

They were quiet for some moments as she continued making preparations for treatment.

Sirius then clenched his fists, hesitant to ask about the next person on his list. But pushed for it anyway. “And Tahira?”

Chisato paused in her mixing of potions by the desk, and pursed her lips. She knew that she didn’t have to mince words with Sirius. He wanted clarity, not comfort, so she told him plainly, “She’s engaged, Sirius.”

A beat of silence.

Something inside him hollowed out. “To who?” His voice was steady, but only because he held every trembling piece of himself in place.

“His name is Farris Yousefi”

Sirius nodded once, then again, trying to make the motion feel natural, as if it didn’t scrape him from the inside. His face stayed rigidly neutral, refusing to betray even a flicker of the pain twisting through his chest. “Who is he?” he murmured, though the words tasted like ash. “How’d they… end up together?”

Chisato exhaled slowly. “He’s from Quadcore Crystara’s Suryala Village, but they met at the same university in Kyverra City. When she brought him to Pallethorpe, her family approved and so did his. They recently announced the engagement to close friends. Naturally, our class was invited to the banquet.”

His throat tightened. “Is she happy?”

“Yes,” she answered, barely a whisper.

Sirius swallowed hard, then nodded again, his composure ready to crack in the silence before he spoke. “Then… all is well.”

But the words had no weight. Just an empty offering from someone trying not to bleed on the floor.

Aisling, who had been quietly observing from her seat, felt her chest pinch. She didn’t know Tahira, didn’t know the story, but she felt the shift in the air around Sirius.

The grief he refused to name, the ache he tried to hide.

And without meaning to, she found herself curling her fingers together in her lap, wishing there was something she could say that wouldn’t intrude or feel foolish.

Chisato lingered a beat longer, her expression warm with the familiarity of someone who had seen him break, rebuild, and keep walking anyway. Then, with a small, purposeful breath, she brushed her palms together and straightened. “Alright,” she murmured, voice careful but nudging, “we should start the treatment.”

The shift was subtle, eased rather than forced, and Sirius responded almost by instinct, rolling his shoulders and letting the routine give him something firmer to stand on. He stood to remove his trousers, only to freeze, coming back to reality when he caught Aisling staring with wide eyes, her face reddening. “Uh, r-right,” he stammered, flushing almost as deeply. “So… this is what I meant by private.”

“I’ll–I’ll step outside!” she squeaked, nearly tripping over her own feet as she hurried to the door.

Chisato calmly reached past her to the door, but left it ajar. “She’s cute, that one is.”

Sirius sat upright on the examining bed in his undergarments while Chisato carried out the customary assessments. She placed two fingers against the pulse-node of his neck, listening to its rhythm in tandem with the rise and fall of his breath. She checked the clarity of his eyes with a small crystal lens, examined his ears for stray mana-pulse scarring along the eardrum, and tapped along the meridian points of his arms and legs to gauge his reflexive mana response.

All of it was standard rites before administering a soul-flow correction.

She fed Sirius a spoonful of marigold and lemon balm extract to help calm his psyche and sharpen his mana flow. After uncorking a vial of moonwilt blossom oil, its cool perfume rose softly in the lamplit room, she warmed the oil between her palms, then instructed him to shift onto his stomach.

Lighter brown scars streaked his back, faint yet unmistakable, while one thicker mark stood apart—an enduring reminder of the punishment he endured upon returning home.

Chisato frowned when she spread the ointment across his upper back in slow, practiced strokes meant to relax the muscles around the mana conduits. She could only imagine the physical and mental suffering he endured that day. As she kept working her thumbs along either side of his spine, she paused. “How interesting,” she murmured. “I was expecting the usual knot, but it’s carrying a heavier node this time. You must’ve released a large amount of mana recently.”

“Yeah, I used a large spell in the mountains to ward off soul feeders,” he clarified. “I felt the pain immediately after.”

Chisato nodded, and continued. Her touch shifted, more precise now, pressing along a narrow line between his shoulder blades. “It’s a good thing we’re your first stop on your journey back,” she stated, massaging the area. “If this had settled any longer, it would’ve restricted the mana flow. Larger spells would’ve drained you twice as fast, and you’d have to start relying on potions to compensate. But then your body would forget how to replenish its mana naturally.”

“It’s that bad?” he gasped. “I didn’t know, and couldn’t even detect it like that.”

“Well, our Bishop-class abilities differ between medical and scholastic, you know.” She took a deep breath. “Okay. Now try to relax. I’m undoing the knot.” A faint warmth spread beneath her palms as she manipulated the trapped mana, coaxing it back into alignment.

Aisling peeked at the process, noticing the visible pain in Sirius’s face.

He grit his teeth as he dug his fingernails into the soft bedding.

“Breathe, Sirius!” Chisato instructed, sweat beading at her brow. “Don’t constrict it. Let it flow.”

He panted and could feel his chest tighten and his body induce a surge of pain. But it was this tension that drained from his back little by little.

With each painful breath, a small knot in the bigger node came undone, and the mana flow returned to normal.

“There,” she exhaled, her arms heavy like lead before dropping them. “That’s much better. Are you okay?”

He grunted, hanging his head over the bed. “That was more painful than last time.”

She wiped her forehead and neck with a cool rag. “I’ll say. It almost felt like fighting that giant creature from the invasion.”

Wobbly-armed, Sirius struggled to sit up, but she helped him along the way, then wiped his face with another cool rag. “Thanks,” he panted. “At least the hard part’s over.”

Chisato handed him some water to drink, and took a moment to recover before quickly jotting in her notebook. “While you’re here, I may as well do this now, and then look at Lucien’s tomorrow. I’m sure his arm is in the same condition as yours, but we’ll see.”

Sirius held his right arm out to her. Just like his back, while the burn he and his friend sustained from the creature in the proving grounds was healed, its effects still flared around this time.

All Chisato had to do was rub some cream onto it, and advised Sirius to apply it once a week to keep the sharp pain from flaring. She then knelt to examine his legs. His right was normal, and pressed along the outer line of his left knee, gently rotating the joint. His wince was small, but not small enough to escape her notice. “I thought so, unfortunately,” she sighed, and then wrote in her notebook. “Whether it was gonna be one or both, the strain has crept into the jointwork.” She rested a hand just above the knee, her expression shifting to something more resolute than worried.

“It started flaring up during our descent,” Sirius explained. “Didn’t think much of it at first, but after you freed the knot, I could clearly feel the pain just now.”

She adjusted her glasses. “Walk with me.”

He exited the room with her, and told Aisling they were going to walk up and down the hallway beside Chisato.

The senior elixirist observed and noted he could easily perform the same.

Even after jogging and running, Sirius’s capabilities were fine.

“Okay, now race Aisling down the hall and back.” They glanced at her, who counted, “Three, two, one, go!” and they raced.

Being nimble and light-footed, Aisling proved slightly faster.

“Well,” Sirius panted, placing his hands on his hips. “I’m definitely out of practice.”

“To be fair, you just came out of treatment,” she recalled. “We’ll have to race another time when you’re at your best!”

“You’re on!”

Chisato giggled. “But for now, Aisling wins. Better luck next time, Sirius.”

He smiled. “Yeah, good match.”

“Anyway, there’s nothing wrong now, but you guys walk a lot, so that’ll flare up the pain if rests aren’t properly taken. I’m gonna give you another ointment to apply.”

They stepped back into her office, the lamplight soft against the polished jars and hanging charms.

Chisato fetched a small tin from her desk and uncapped it. “For your knee. It keeps the mana from pooling in the joint.” She scooped a tablespoon of it, and applied the first dose for him, working it gently into the tender spot with practiced fingers. “Use it when you apply your arm cream. That should keep you steady through the season.” She recapped the tin and set it into Sirius’s palm. “But if you run out of that, our smaller clinics should have the ingredients to make it.”

As he dressed himself, Chisato worked on refining her notes during the examination. “Thanks for everything as always, Chisa,” he acknowledged, “but I have another request, if you have the time and energy.”

“Of course, Sirius.” She looked up from her writings. “What is it?”

Sirius gestured for Aisling to come closer, wondering, “The mana flow within her is blocked off differently than mine it seems, and we were wondering if you knew anything about it.”

She placed a hand by her chin, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully. “Interesting. Let’s have a look.”