She walked up the large hill to the gate, where two guards were relaxing. They seemed startled to see her, and one of them asked curiously, “Can we help you?”

Jade smiled cheerfully at them, nodding and pulling out her school pass. “I’m just heading to classes.” The guards frowned, but one of them took her pass. She brushed his weathered hand as he did so, happy to see a new blinking dot.

The guard stared down at her card as if trying to figure out if it was a forgery while he absently tugged on his well trimmed dark brown beard. He looked like he was probably in his forties if she had to guess, and she met his much lighter brown eyes as he said gruffly, “You realize classes started at eight o’clock? It’s almost nine.” He was obviously disapproving of the fact that she was so late, now that he’d verified her pass was real.

She just smiled innocently at him. “Oh, I’ve been excused from the fitness classes.”

Guard number two, who had light brown hair and looked much younger than his counterpart, was now also frowning. “No one gets excused from the fitness classes. It’s an important part of the academy training.”

She smiled at him, then took her card back from guard number one. “Well, I’m sorry to prove you wrong, but I’m the exception. You’ll just have to get used to seeing me come later.”

Guard two grabbed her arm, now glaring angrily. “You will show up at the same time as everyone else. Fitness training is mandatory.” She was getting angry now, because he was gripping her hard enough to bruise. Concentrating on a magic she’d never used before, she imagined herself using shocking grasp on his hand, and he yelped, pulling his arm away as she felt the magic flash out of her. “Did you just use magic on me!?”

She was glaring now as she spoke calmly. “Yes. And if you could do more than ten kinds of magic, maybe you’d have been exempt from fitness training as well.” Looking disdainfully at the bruise on her arm, she touched it, healing it and watching in satisfaction as the already purpling skin went back to normal. Looking back up at the guards, which guard one was now looking at her warily, and guard two just looked pissed, she continued. “If you ever lay a hand on me again, I’ll do more than shock you.”

She was mad. It was the first time a person had ever laid a hand on her with the intention to hurt her in her life. She should probably be scared, but she found he wasn’t nearly as scary as when she felt helpless in front of the mesmer. Fuming, she turned to guard one as she asked, “Which way is the infirmary?”

Guard one looked both wary and confused now. “But didn’t you just heal yourself?”

Getting more annoyed by the minute, she snapped waspishly, “I’m here to heal the students after their fitness session ends. Now if you two would stop delaying me and give me directions, I could go help the people who need it.”

Guard one, who after a quick glance at her notifications, she figured out his name was Terry and guard two was Aaron, gave her directions almost numbly. She nodded to him, then turned to Aaron as she said in a quiet, but menacing voice, “I’ll give you some time to think over the choices you’ve just made. Perhaps you’ll never have to deal with the consequences, but I want you to think about it. One day, perhaps your life may be in danger. You’ll need a healer, and they’ll call someone. Maybe it will be me. If that happens, your life will rest in the hands of someone you tried to bully and physically harmed.”

She smiled slowly, then turned to walk away, her voice carrying to them. “Think about it.” Before she’d turned, she could see Aaron go white as a sheet. Was she the bully now? Maybe. Would she still heal him if he really was injured? Probably. It had only been a bruise, after all. Nevertheless, it left a bad taste in her mouth.

Deciding that she was just going to move on from the encounter, she smirked and sang softly to herself, “I don’t want no scrubs. A scrub is a guy who can’t get no love from me…” She kept humming the rest of the song as she walked, and soon enough there were students pouring out from various directions. She glanced around, realizing the classes had let out.

Picking out one person who looked like they’d had a pretty hard fall, she followed him because he seemed to be headed in the direction she needed. She smiled sunnily at people as she passed, and they seemed to look at her fresh faced smile with curiosity, since unlike them, she wasn’t covered in sweat.

And then she was there. Glad she’d chosen to follow the boy, because she might have otherwise missed the unassuming building in front of her. Only two stories, it wasn’t all that large, but there was a small stream of injured students entering. Walking in, she noticed that they’d formed an orderly line and were waiting to see a middle aged woman at the front desk as if it was the most natural thing.

To her surprise, she didn’t recognize any of the students, which meant that the injured were not first years. It made sense, since she figured out the first years might not have known exactly where to go yet, while these veterans had booked it over in order to get treated first.

Smiling cheerfully, she walked past the line, and one of the guys in it called out, “Hey, get to the back of the line!”

She glanced back at him and smirked, saying simply, “No.” He looked dumbfounded at her audacity and she used that opportunity to finish making her way to the front, where she caught the attention of who she assumed was the resident healer.

The woman had wispy gray hair that curled around her head wildly. She’d obviously tried to pull it back earlier, but fully half of it had already escaped. Her kind blue eyes were still shrewd as she asked simply, “Is there a reason you’re cutting in line?”

Jade nodded, saying simply with an innocent smile, “Yes, actually. I’m your new assistant.”

It seemed to take a moment before she stopped healing the guy in front of her and processed what Jade had said. “Wait, you’re Jade?” When Jade nodded, she frowned and said simply, “You’re late.”

“Yes, I was supposed to be here earlier, but the guards at the gate didn’t like the fact that I didn’t go to the fitness training, so I had a little trouble getting past them.” The healer looked a little disgruntled at her explanation, then nodded and waved her around the desk.

“Very well. I’m Baroness Scylla Tremont, by the way. Have a seat, and let’s see what you can do.” Jade smiled and rounded the table, and she could hear the whispers relaying what had just happened rushing down the line, and a few of the disgruntled faces lightened when they realized she was a healer and not cutting in line.

“Next.” Her clear voice called the next student forward, and a scrawnier boy came forward, moving aside his mop of brown hair to reveal a nice goose egg on his forehead that accompanied a nice bloody lip. Scylla motioned for Jade to touch him as she reached forward as well. She said simply to the boy, “I’m going to let Jade heal you, but I’ll be monitoring to make sure nothing goes wrong.” He looked more relieved that he wasn’t being completely left to the newbie, and Jade softly touched his goose egg.

In her mind’s eye, she noted his injuries, seeing that several of his teeth had been loosened as well. She smiled comfortingly at him as she said quietly, “Don’t worry, your smile will be good as new in a moment.” He seemed confused, and then she infused him with her magic. That moment of confusion made him still long enough that she erased all traces of his injury, and a few seconds later she let go, ignoring her new blinking dots from both him and Scylla.

He looked surprised, then asked, “Is that it?”

Scylla nodded, looking mildly impressed. “Yes, that was one of the fastest healings I’ve seen, and very clean. She did a very good job.” Jade grinned, and Scylla shooed the boy away. Looking at Jade, she asked quietly, “How long did you say you’ve been using healing magic?”

Shrugging, she replied so softly that Scylla had to lean in to hear her. “About five days now. But I grew up around doctors most of my life, and we had much more advanced science. So I’m very familiar with how the body works and the different things that can ail someone.”

Nodding, Scylla looked thoughtful, then gestured to the next two students in line. “Both of you, come forward. Jade will help one of you, so we’ll get through this line twice as fast.” Grinning, Jade nodded, and Scylla added in an aside to her. “If you happen to need help, just let me know.”

“Will do.” She smiled at the student in front of her, then asked happily, “So, what happened to you?”

Most of the students were skeptical about being healed by her at first, but after the next few went away quickly and fully healed, even that stopped. After around half an hour, all the students had been healed and they were left alone in the infirmary. Scylla smiled at Jade as she said simply, “Thank you for the help. That was much faster than usual.”

Jade grinned, nodding before she asked. “You’re welcome, but where are the first years?”

Scylla looked surprised, then laughed. “Ah right, your friends?” Jade nodded and Scylla smiled. “They’re probably fine. They usually take it easier on the first years the first few days. They were probably mostly running rather than doing the more strenuous exercises or obstacle course.” Well, that made sense.

Jade glanced around, looking at the various rooms that they hadn’t even touched. They’d literally helped everyone at the front desk. “What do you use the rooms for?”

Scylla looked where she was, then said simply, “Oh, that’s in case they come while I’m not here. I usually only stay until lunch, when I do a second round of healing for anyone who injured themselves in weapon training. After that I leave the school and head around the wall, so anyone who comes in after that has to wait until either I can be called or Mike can come in.” She looked thoughtful. “Although now they can probably be sent to you as well. If I remember right, you’re going to be on campus?”

Jade nodded. “Yes, I’ve got room 2A in the Magnus Crafting Center as my workroom. I’ll be in classes, but if they wait for me outside there, I’ll be able to help them between classes, or they can find me in whichever classroom I’m at there if it’s really serious.” Jade smiled happily, then seemed to remember something. “Oh! I should probably actually go there now. I need to pick up my weapons before I go to class.”

“Get going with you then! I’ll pass the word on.” Jade smiled and nodded, about to run out when she thought of something, then turned back.

“By the way, maybe this is petty of me, but if a guard called Aaron comes in and complains about his hand, it’s because I shocked him for bruising me. Please tell him that if he wants it healed, he owes me an apology first.” She hadn’t shocked him too hard, but she had made sure it would be numb and somewhat unresponsive for at least two days or until he got it healed. Sure, she wanted him to reflect, but she wasn’t about to let him off easily either.

Scylla’s eyes narrowed. “You said he bruised you?”

Jade shrugged and nodded. “He grabbed my arm really hard to stop me from walking away. He was trying to bully me into going to the fitness classes for some reason. He seemed really angry that I’d been excused from them.”

Scylla looked thoughtful, then shooed her out. “Very well. Off with you! I’ll see you Wednesday, if not sooner.” Jade grinned and nodded, then paused, considering hugging the kind older lady, then deciding against it for the moment. There was time to get to know her better before that became a thing.

She smiled, and considering who the woman reminded her of, she said softly, “Until we meet again, fair fortune be yours.” Grinning, she opened the door and stepped out into the sunshine, pulling her sunglasses off of her hair and back onto her nose. Humming Hedwig’s theme, she took light steps towards the crafting center to grab her shiny pointy things. It was time to see if she could avoid stabbing herself...