"Riaku, let's go back. I like the lake view but it isn't the best place for an examination."

"I'll be alright," the prince replied. "Nothing that won't heal by itself."

Syryn was scandalised by the avian's words. "You're relying on natural healing for this? What barbaric practices have your healers been carrying out at Nua?"

"Barbaric?"

"What else should I call it then? Advanced healing? Prince Riaku, you shouldn't have such a cavalier attitude towards injury. You have no idea how fragile humans and avians are."

"You worry too much."

"You think so? Then I'll tell you what I think about your attitude, your highness. Pig headed men like you put on a manly front and ignore your injuries. The alch- ah healers like me are then troubled with the task of working with life-threatening infections, gangrenous limbs, and all sorts of nasty repercussions that wouldn't have come up if those pig-headed manly men took their medicines and got treated at the right time."

There was a nod of approval from Emi.

"Brother, let him have a go at it."

Riaku was shaken by Syryn's words but he remained stubborn. "This is the way it has always been done, Emi. It is the price paid by each successor."

"And they've all died young, brother. I know you follow the ways of our ancestors but a little change won't hurt you."

Syryn couldn't make sense of what they were talking about. What backward customs were they following and what did it have to do with Riaku's injury?

"I didn't need a healer last time. I won't need one today."

"Wait, wait! you're telling me this has happened before and you just left it to heal naturally?" Syryn interjected in a shocked tone.

"This isn't his first time but it's the worst I've ever seen," Emi replied. "Brother Riaku never went to another healer after he was chastised for dishonouring the ways. He was then sent out without any healing."

"That's enough, Emi." Riaku gingerly pulled his arm out of Syryn's grasp. "You will accompany me to Leiri after an hour's rest. Wen, you're in charge of security till we return."

"Your highness, please allow me to come with you." Wen kneeled before Riaku. He was worried about the prince's injury and of what unforeseen dangers they could meet on their way.

"Fei will accompany me," Riaku replied. "I will fly easier knowing that your eyes are guarding these grounds."

Wen had to swallow his protest and accept the duty that the prince had given him.

"Riaku, how about I bind your arm so that infection doesn't set in? I won't take long, I promise." Syryn couldn't let the avian off like this. He had to do something about the arm. He looked to Emi for help.

"Brother, binding your wound isn't a sin. Please let Syryn take care of it."

"Your highness, guard duty will be much easier if I know that your life will no longer be in danger," Wen pitched in hurriedly. "Please allow Syryn to help you."

Riaku stared at the three people who were teaming up to corner him. "Alright," he relented. It was a small victory for the guards.

---

Syryn folded back Riaku's sleeves and examined the sheared off skin on his arm. He hadn't noticed it before but there was a pattern to the shearing. Parallelly sliced grooves could be seen over the parts where the skin hadn't been torn off. The grooves were thin and evenly spaced. Fearing that he might spook the reluctant prince, Syryn did not ask about how he had received the wound.

He pressed a thumb to Riaku's wrist and counted his pulse rate, then he checked the temperature of his palms. The dignified prince waited patiently while Syryn did all this.

"Rei, bring the water over here," he told his assistant.

Cooled saline water was used to clean the arm that was covered in flakes of dried blood.

"Does it not hurt you?" Syryn asked as he patted the arm dry very gently with a clean cotton cloth.

"Yes, but it is bearable."

"You dont have to punish yourself with pain. What do you gain from it?"

Syryn uncapped a large jar filled with green jelly. Next to it was placed clean cotton sheets he would use to bind the wound.

"This is punishment for my failure," Riaku gravely told him. "It is only right that I suffer through it."

Syryn then used a clamp and a cotton pad to apply a pungent liquid all over the exposed layer of flesh. A small crease on his forehead let Syryn know that the prince was feeling the burning sting of it.

"I think you've suffered enough by losing that much skin from your arm," Syryn told the prince. "What a disaster this journey has been."

"Without your courageous actions, we would have lost more lives."

Syryn shook his head. If he hadn't warned them of danger in their path, they wouldn't have changed directions. Maybe Soka wouldn't have had to die. There were too many ifs and maybes in this scenario.

"You can thank me by cooperating with my treatment," Syryn replied. "Rei bring the paste and apply a thin layer over every inch of his arm."

The guard walked over with a tray in his hands. On the tray was a clay pot where a newly cooked batch of herbs was cooling.

"Tch," he made a face at how slowly it cooled. Syryn conjured a thin layer of ice on the sides of the clay pot. He could feel the judgemental stare of Rei through the mask. Some medicines were highly sensitive to abrupt changes in temperature. This wasn't one of them but it was generally inadvisable to take such shortcuts.

"It's fine," Syryn smiled sheepishly at the assistant. "Sit here and apply it."

"Why do you not display your palm crest?" Riaku asked Syryn.

"I dont have one."

Rei's masked face turned up to look at Syryn.

"You don't have one?"

"I am not a healer."

Riaku accepted Syryn's declaration without reaction. "You are a self-taught healer then?"

"I am not a healer! I'm a practising alchemist." Syryn directed his words especially to Rei who was silently staring at him.

"But you're one of Elysium's best healers. I am privy to the difficult cases you've solved for sick people who couldn't be cured by conventional means."

"Who told you?" Syryn asked the prince. He had been dying to know this.

"Regardless, you're excellent at what you do. You are a competent healer," Riaku informed him.

"Rei what are you looking at? Get back to work." Syryn then turned to Riaku. "We'll talk about this later. Don't think I won't ask you again about your source of information."

"Elder Toka will not be pleased," Rei said to Riaku as he spooned a dollop of red onto damaged skin.

"He won't have to know that Syryn doesn't have a crest," came Riaku's reply.

"He might demand to see it, prince. Elder Toka is not kind towards foreigners. I worry that he might cause you trouble when he hears of a foreign healer tending to the dowager queen."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"Who is this elder Toka and why does he care about who treats your grandmother?" Syryn asked the prince.

"Elder Toka is the chief royal healer of Nua. He has been the primary healer to my grandmother for many years but his methods are outdated. Under the pretext of serving the dowager queen, the esteemed elder refuses to retire with dignity as befitting someone of his age. I have submitted a petition to have him step down but my father does not agree with my opinions about the old fool."

"Ahan, can't you just assassinate him and make it look like he died of some advanced geriatric condition?" Syryn innocently asked.

"For all the years that he has served my grandmother, we cannot murder him."

But I can, Syryn thought. And that thought died when he remembered Rowan's advice.

"Okay, so I'll lie and say that I lost my palm crest in the fight with the golem."

Rei was halfway done with applying the mixture to Riaku's arm. "We must ensure that he does not grow suspicious of your credentials."

"Were you suspicious?" Syryn asked Rei.

"No," it was a light, almost playful sound.

"That's right," Syryn smugly told him. "I may not be a healer but I know enough to pass off as one."

"You should take the test and earn your crest," Rei advised. "It's a simple task for someone as knowledgeable as you are."

"I'm doing just fine without a crest. If I get one, I'll be forced to operate under the oppressive rules of the healer's guild."

"I'm surprised they haven't given you trouble already," Rei said. He was done with applying the mixture. The assistant received a fine linen gauze from Syryn and applied on it a layer of green jelly. The plant-based jelly was included to ensure that the gauze would not stick to the healing skin.

"There's no rule that says I can't practise without a crest." There were heavy disadvantages to not aligning with the guild but none of it mattered to Syryn. He had used his skills to prove his worth and it was enough for the desperate and secretive patients who sought him out. The alchemist had started out by prescribing alternative medicines to the customers that visited his potions establishment with prescriptions in hand from their healers. When his recommendations were found to work better than the others, Syryn was visited by returning patients. And thus he had become a healer with some reputation amongst those that knew about him.

"Nevertheless, be prepared," Rei warned him. "A big tree attracts the woodman's axe."