Chapter 4:

Chapter 4: Cost

Silent Night


The pounding winds outside echoed in Damien’s ears as the Dark Lightning abated. He fell back in his seat, gasping for breath as his insides burned.

How many hours had it been? How many feedings? The pain was so intense he had lost count. But it must be nearing the end, right?

Damien could barely make out Sora’s face through the blurriness. Just a little longer and you’ll be okay, little one…

“You’re not looking very good,” Leilandry said. “She’s taking more from you every time.”

“I’m fine,” Damien growled. He coughed down a mouthful of tea. “What? No potion this time?”

Leilandry shook her head. “Too much will be like poison. I can’t give you more.”

Fine. Damien wouldn’t rely on her. He could do this on his own. Sora’s smiling face gave him all the strength he needed.

“I won’t fail again… not this time…”

“Fail?”

The surge of alarm that shot through Damien pushed away the fatigue. Had he said that out loud?!

“That’s…”

“You said ‘fail’, and ‘again’,” Leilandry said, narrowing her eyes. “Is that related to that ‘thing’ you need to atone for?”

“I already told you it’s none of your business,” he hissed. “Do you make it a point to pry into all your patients’ pasts?”

You aren’t my patient. And considering the attitude I’ve put up with until now, the least you could do is let me know what trouble you’re dealing with.”

“Trouble? I’m not in any sort of trouble.”

Leilandry leaned back in her chair and took a slow sip of tea. Her eyes carried the surety of someone who could see into his heart, and that unnerved him.

“You’re not from town, are you?” She asked.

Damien was so caught off-guard by the question he answered without thinking. “No, I’m not, but- wait, what?”

“You and I have never met. But you came here looking for me. Not any old doctor, you knew me by name. You knew where I worked, and you knew that I would treat a vampire. You know quite a bit about me, don’t you, Damien?”

“That’s… I just…” Damien was too drained from the feedings to come up with an excuse. Had she planned this? Waited until he was weak and then…

“I’ve wondered all night why someone like you would raise a vampire child without knowing the first thing about how to care for her. You came to Silvalley because you knew I could help Sora if anything happened to her, didn’t you?” She prodded.

Resigned, Damien could only nod.

“So why did you wait until now to darken my door? You live close enough to get here on foot, so you could have brought her in for a checkup. I can see you aren’t as irresponsible as that, which tells me something else kept you away.” She narrowed her eyes. “Are you in hiding? Running from something?”

“That’s… it’s not…”

“It is my business,” Leilandry interrupted him, pulling him over the table by his collar. “Because you’ve brought her to my clinic. If you’re a wanted man, that is something I need to know, or else you’re too much of a liability to keep helping.”

Damien clenched his jaw and summoned strength he didn’t know he still had. “You’re bluffing. I can see it in your eyes… you won’t just let Sora die.”

Leilandry's glare lasted for a long time. She sighed and let him go, slumping back in her seat. “…No, I won’t. Still. I have a right to know if I’ll have to start looking over my shoulder for whatever it is you’re running from.”

“Everyone has things they’re running from.” Damien coughed, his mouth bitter with blood. “Things in their past that chased them to the present. We all try to hide them, and you’re no different.”

“Wh-What?” Leilandry seemed shaken by the accusation, renewing Damien’s confidence.

“Healing Mages are deified in Shadowveil, am I wrong? And yet, you came to Saekoria. You fought in our war, tended to our sick and injured, and now here you are in a ruined town eking out a meager existence treating veterans and elderly,” Damien continued. “And that tells me that you’re the one running from something.”

“That’s…” He had her! “…You’re right,” she admitted, lowering her eyes in resignation.

“See?” Damien might have been weakened, but right now he felt triumph. “We all have things in our past we want to keep secret, things we don’t want to talk about. You wouldn’t like me prying into your matters, so why don’t you shut your mouth and mind your own damn business?!”

He slumped back in his seat and fell into a coughing fit.

Leilandry stewed in silence for a while. “...No, you don’t understand." She raised her head, desperation watering in her eyes. “I-I… you’re right, I do have things I don’t talk about, but I never said I was against telling you.”

Damien stopped coughing and turned to the doctor. “What?”

“If you want me to talk about my past, if that will help you trust me a little more, then I’m fine with it.” There was a gleam of resolve in her eyes Damien hadn't seen before.

“I… I don’t…” Damien didn’t know what to say. Why would she tell him anything? He was a total stranger to her, but she was willing to let him get this close?

How could she open up so readily?

Leilandry must have taken his silence as acceptance.

“How much do you know about the caste system of Shadowveil?”

Damien shook his head.

“There are two kinds of elves. Pureborn Light Elves, like me, and then the Nightcursed, with dark skin. Pureborns are the upper strata, while the Nightcursed are treated like vermin due to their inferiority.” She spat out “inferiority” like venom.

“Back when I lived in Shadowveil, the divide between Pureborn and Nightcursed was something I took for granted. I accepted it, fact and fair, and turned my eyes away from their plight. I was a practiced healer, you see, and my position elevated me far above them. Then one day, everything changed." She paused. "A little Pureborn girl was tree-climbing down by the river, and fell in. Several of us rushed to her aid, but it was a Nightcursed laborer, scarcely more than a boy himself, who dove into the rapids and carried her to safety.”

What she described sounded sweet, but her words held such disdain that they made Damien tense.

“Everyone was relieved that the girl was safe. But the Nightcursed, in his hurry to save her, had sliced his leg open on the rocks of the bank. His wound was so deep the water ran red. I knew I had to do something, so I did.” Leilandry wore a wry smile and gazed upon her glowing green hand. “Because of my magic, he was able to keep his leg. How lucky for him.”

She took a long sip of tea while Damien choked on the silence.

“That was when I lost everything,” she finally said. “You see, using Healing Magic on a Nightcursed is taboo.”

“Taboo? Why?” Damien couldn’t see the sense in prohibiting Healing Magic from part of the population.

“Oh, it makes perfect sense.” The doctor’s bitter laugh filled the room. “A Pureborn can’t go around healing Nightcurses! Then other Healing Mages might start, and before you know it the Nightcurses could get it into their heads that they actually deserve to be healed when they get sick or injured, like they were actually people! And we can’t have that, no, so to discourage such disruptive actions, I was… made an example of.”

She drained her cup and smashed it against the wall.

“I was stripped of my titles and property and forbidden from practicing Healing Magic ever again. I was the greatest Healing Mage in Shadowveil, and they would rather my talents wither and die for the sake of perpetuating the system.” Bitter tears filled her eyes. “And that boy? He was put to death for his insolence. How’s that? ‘Leilandry the Fool’.”

Damien couldn’t believe what he’d heard. “That… That’s ridiculous. Just because you healed an injured child?!”

Leilandry nodded. “Thus spake the high council. I could have just done nothing, and all it would have cost was a leg. I’d be living high in the dawngroves right now. But no, because I couldn’t ignore an injured child, I’m an outcast and that boy is rotting in the dirt.”

Her eyes were wet as she met Damien’s gaze first time since her story began. Damien didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know why she’d burdened him with this, but all he could do was apologize.

“No, it’s fine,” she said, shaking her head. “The past has passed. What matters is saving the lives I can save now. Life is life. Pureborn, Nightcursed, human, vampire. You said before, I won’t let Sora die, and you’re right. Not when I can help her.”

It was that admirable reputation that had brought Damien to her doorstep in the first place.

“And it’s because I don’t want her die that I need to be honest with you.” The weight of her voice was different now, filled with wariness and doubt. “If Sora finishes the Pah-Nath… you’ll die.”

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