Book 2 Chapter 14

“There… How does that feel?” Maria asked as she removed her hands from the old woman’s back, still feeling her sigil tingle from the use of her blessing.

The old woman let out a relieved sigh, “Much better dear,” Before sitting back in her bed with a peaceful expression. “You really are a miracle worker. My back has not felt this well since I was a little girl.”

“Good, that’s what I’m here for.” Maria said with a laugh as she started to collect her things, packing up the herbs and poultices she had brought with her.

“The Life Spirit chose well when it blessed you didn’t it.” The old woman continued, chatting happily.

Her words caught Maria by surprise, drawing out a cough as she mumbled an agreement.

“It’s a shame the Water Temple didn’t find you first, you would have made such a great priestess. Coulda helped straighten out some of those crooks. Are you sure you don’t want me to introduce you to my Grandson? He’s your age you know?”

“Ah, yes…” Maria deflected carefully for the fifth time that day, “I don’t really have time for that right now…”

“Psh… Another old woman nearby interrupted, “Always time for romance, love, especially for a young woman as pretty as you. Forget about her Grandson, unlike him, my grandson owns his boat. He’s a nice young man and would take good care of you…”

“Are you trying to say your grandson is better than my grandson!” The first woman yelled, temper flaring. The other ladies nearby were soon dragged in as the fight grew louder and louder.

“Now, now…” Maria said trying to soothe the old woman, “You don’t want to strain your back again right after I fixed it up for you, do you?”

The old woman gave a humph as she calmed a bit, but was soon bickering with her friends again, arguing about who’s grandchildren were cuter. Maria took the chance to escape before they dragged her back into the spotlight once more. She carried her things down, feeling nostalgic about the time she spent with her grandma as she went to look for Tirr…

It had been a week since they had arrived in Lutel. After their discussion with Nerida, they had been staying in the Water Temple during the night and traveling to different hospitals in the city during the day. Thanks to the rumors Nerida had spread beforehand of the other spirts, it wasn’t hard for them to explain where they got their power from, though it was awkward for as the Holy Priestess had warned them not to tell people Tirr’s true identity just yet.

Currently, they were at Uda’s house, a hospital specializing in elderly care that they had come to a few times now. The elderly there were always quick to welcome them and quickly treated the two of them like adopted grandchildren.

“No way!”

A loud yell interrupted Maria’s thoughts as she entered the common room, where Tirr sat listening with some of the other old-timers from around the hospital. In the middle stood an old man wearing a captain’s hat, a pipe in his hand as he spoke with a gruff voice.

Tirr had been bored with how slow Nerida’s plan started at first, wanting to speed up the process by directly naming himself and showing off his blessing. She had warned him that empty claims without having worked for a base of trust would just make things harder. Yet he still chafed under the restrictions.

However, after visiting with the old people here, he was drawn into the stories and adventures of the old sailors, until soon he was looking forward to the visits.

“It’s true,” The old captain answered as everyone listened in, “A wave taller than even the water temple and large enough to swallow all of Lutel! Came outta nowhere as we tried to fight off the storm. We were helpless, it swallowed us up like we weren’t even there and smashed my ship to pieces. We were lucky to have been thrown free quickly or we would have faced the same fate as the ship was torn to timber…”

“A wave bigger than Garm…” Tirr muttered looking at the wolf pup he carried. Garm looked back at him curiously wondering what his master wanted.

“Of course, it was bigger than your pup there,” Some of the other old men laughed, “Not many waves are that tiny.”

“How did you survive then?” Tirr asked, frowning in disbelief.

“I was sinking into the water, about to lose consciousness, when I felt something grab me and start pulling me up. When I woke up, I was on the beach nearby with all of my crew. All of us alive and well. I knew it had to have been the water spirit who sent its messengers to help us. My first mate even said he managed to catch a glimpse of them.”

“Messengers…” Tirr muttered still dubious.

“They’re real alright,” Another man spoke up, “Seen them myself, sometimes they’ll come along your boat just to play. Jumping about and spraying water as they go, before sinking back to speak with the Water Spirit once more…”

An urgent knocking at the door interrupted the stories, and they looked over as one of the city’s guards entered quickly, pushing past the hospital's staff before they could open it.

“How many beds do you have?” he asked, between heavy breaths.

“Sir?” Uda, the owner of the hospital asked, having heard the disturbance. “Can I ask what for?”

“Sea Beast attack just a couple hours from here… They’re bringing in the wounded by the dozens.”

“Dozens?” Uda asked paling, “We’re just a small elderly hospital…”

“Ready any beds you have…” The guard said before preparing to run off, “They’ll be bringing them in soon…” The guard left, running off to warn the next hospital as they looked at each other in worry.

“Sea beasts?” Tirr asked curiously.

“Aye, the old captain said, frowning deeply. “Just like the inland Beasts you’ve probably heard of. Sometimes the sea creatures can mutate too. It's rare for them to attack so directly though.”

Tirr rubbed his chin, thinking, before turning to Maria with a smile, “Maria,” Tirr started confidently, “I found a way to speed this up…”