Once Landon and Seth reached an agreement that both were satisfied with—two questions for each hour of instruction—Seth began learning genetics. His lack of vocabulary in English or a biochemical background made the pace at which he comprehended the information agonizingly slow. Landon didn’t mind because it let him ask questions more freely. Seth wouldn’t answer compound or follow-up questions as much as Landon tried to sneak them in unless he ‘used’ multiple questions.

Landon began to develop a basic understanding of the world in which he found himself, which was oddly similar to swords and sorcery books he liked to read, yet different in key ways. The ‘magic’ he saw Seth use was something that the acolyte, but not everyone, was born with. Most people were born with two magical abilities that were simpler than actual ‘essence’ use, and having the ability to use essence magic wasn’t always desirable. People here seemed to place a lot of importance on the ‘birthright,’ and there were usually combinations of abilities that were considered the best for a job. It was apparently possible to develop new magic or magic abilities, but it took great time or great risk. Not to mention, those born with an ability always had an edge over those who developed a similar one during their life.

There were other races, such as the orc tribes that lived in most of this jungle. There were even beast-people, but the way they came about was confusing and slightly horrifying. Animals that lived around people and were large enough could randomly have humanoid offspring, whose children with humans were slightly bestial people. After that revelation, Landon stopped asking questions for a while, regretting his decision to indulge that particular curiosity.

Not long after, Seth asked him a question for once, about a patient who he was unable to heal properly. The disease was obvious to Landon, who briefly explained what it was and where it came from. He used a convenient lump on a nearby tree to better illustrate his point. He then watched as Seth put a hand on the tree for a moment before making a high pitched squawk and taking off back toward his home ‘town’, Lith.

____________________________________________

Levi looked up in surprise when his lesson about church history was interrupted by Seth, back from the jungle early, throwing open the doors to the sanctuary and yelling “DAD!” at the top of his lungs. He reddened slightly when he realized Levi and three acolytes were sitting in the instructional area just to the left of the door. Amber had been sitting about a foot from where the sanctuary door hit the wall and looked like she’d nearly had a heart attack.

Levi briefly healed her ears and slight headache from where he was sitting, before addressing Seth. “Son?”

“Sorry to interrupt.” Seth said, not feeling ashamed in the slightest. “I just figured out something important and I need to talk to you now.”

He was telling the truth, so Levi nodded. “We’ll continue the lesson on the Fifth Ecumenical Council later, but first, Seth, what was the second church to sign the Accord?”

Seth clearly didn’t feel like being quizzed on history at the moment, and Levi was surprised to sense actual anger under the surface.

“Bond.” Seth said with a scowl. “And that’s basically a multiple choice question, it isn’t hard to narrow down.”

Levi hadn’t heard of such questions before, which was curious. He decided to ask about it later and dismissed the acolytes. Seth led him to his front room and sat down, pushing one of the carefully organized folders out of the way. Levi made a mental note of which folder it was, and sat opposite his son in his rocking chair.

“So, what did you figure out in the jungle?” He asked.

Seth leaned forward with intensity in his eyes. “I know what’s wrong with Mom and how to fix it.”

Levi froze. Seth wasn’t lying, or didn’t think he was. But how would he have come up with an answer that had eluded Levi for almost two years in the middle of the jungle?

“Explain.” He demanded.

“It’s called, er, I call it cancer.” Seth said. “It isn’t a foreign essence to break down or something missing to restore. It’s a part of the body itself.”

Though not familiar with the word Seth had used, Levi was nonplussed. “We’ve known that for some time. It’s clear when you look at her Vitality. Healing improves her health overall, but also accelerates the problem.”

“But there’s a way around it!” Seth exclaimed. “The areas that are constantly healing are actually growing; it all started in one place, and if it’s removed, it won't come back once we heal her. It’ll still be gone. We just need to cut it out!”

Levi was inclined to disagree, but he knew Seth had seen the same literature.

“We’ve both read about attempts to use such methods in other similar cases.” Levi countered. “When the wound is healed, the problem comes back. At best the disease progression in the excised area is reset. It doesn’t address the underlying issue, and causes considerable trauma.”

“The example in the text only looks the same to Virtue healing.” Seth insisted. “The example is an autoimmune condition, cancer wouldn’t return if it’s completely removed.”

Levi didn’t recognize the strange words Seth was using, but he was still telling the truth and didn’t doubt himself. What if Seth had somehow figured this out from a tree. Levi had convinced Lola to delay Seth’s Plant essence education for years. He hadn’t seen the point, and wanted Seth to focus on his Priestly studies in his most formative years. If he hadn’t done that and Seth was right about this…

“You do know what we would have to do if you’re right.” Levi stated.

“I know.” Seth said, his posture straightening and tone growing more serious. “But even if it’s horrible, we have to. I know that you’re strong enough to restore limbs, but could you do all the organs?”

Levi shuddered just thinking about it. “Some, but not all. And we’re getting ahead of ourselves. I’m not considering anything further until you tell me how you came to this conclusion and we find a way to test it.”

“The same thing can happen to trees.” Seth explained. “It isn’t as dangerous to them because Plant essence is more robust than Animal essence, and protects their Vital essence. The effect looks the same to Virtue though, and when I cut off the lump on a tree, it could be healed normally.”

Seth wasn’t telling the complete truth, Levi could tell. It was mostly truth however, and he reasoned that some of what Seth said was guesswork.

“And,” Seth continued, “there is a way to prove it. We start by cutting out the mole on Mom’s arm, as well as the flesh around it, then heal it back. It’ll be bad, but not as bad as trying to remove organs.”

It was a good first step, Levi had to admit. A way to test the idea in the least invasive way possible, and worst case, the disease in that part of her body would be reduced for a while. Levi also had an idea of how they might be able to avoid resorting to organ removal.

“Ok Seth, I trust you.” Levi said. “As your mother’s Healer I approve this course of treatment. As a consulting Healer, how do you want to go about this?”

“There’s still an hour or two until sundown.” Seth said with a steely look in his eye. “We’re starting right now. I just need to make a pot of poison tea.”

While abrupt, Levi understood and shared Seth’s drive. They lacked professional objectivity about how to approach the new procedure, but neither cared. The idea with the poison tea was to stop Lola from feeling pain, and the poison could be cured by either of them afterward. Lola was surprised by the sudden new idea, but when she saw how determined Seth was, went along with it. She did insist on brewing the neurotoxic tea, to make sure the effect wouldn’t work too quickly. It needed to reduce sensation immediately, but take time to kill. Otherwise Levi would have to heal it while still cutting flesh.

____________________________________________

That night, Lola was lying on her bed exhausted, holding her arm up to the moonlight. It looked better. Levi was holding her head in his lap and following her gaze.

“Is it really?” She asked.

“Really.” He whispered, voice choked. “Seth was right, he got rid of the disease in that part of your arm. With a tree. When I spent so long not letting him…”

She lifted her cool hand to Levi’s wet cheek, looking up into his eyes. “It isn’t your fault, Lee. You didn’t know.”

He had been so insistent about Seth’s education. She knew he was reliving every argument they had had about it, even the ones she couldn’t remember. That was his third gift that he had earned from his decades of reading books and memorizing their contents. Memory wasn’t a kind thing, no matter how useful it was. There were parts of your life you were better off letting slip away.

“I don’t want to tell him that I can’t finish helping you.” Levi said quietly.

“If you think he cares about you asking for help, then we raised him wrong.” She chuckled. “But I can tell him about your idea tomorrow if you’d prefer.”

He was being irrational, so she would help support him. It was an old dance of theirs, and they had swapped roles many times. She wondered as she occasionally did if they would have been different if they had been married in a Temple of Bonds. Some called it the church of true love, others the church of arranged marriages. In the end, it didn’t matter. She and Levi had been together for over twenty years, and they were happy with what they had. Lola fell asleep in Levi’s lap.

The next day, she found Seth at breakfast and the two headed to the greenhouse together. She could tell he was concerned about her being up and about after yesterday, but she felt somewhat better. Really, Lola was worried about Seth and Levi. She had seen the aftermath of the procedure, and couldn’t imagine having to do that to someone she cared about.

While they were working their way through the myriad plants of the temple with watering cans, she explained what Levi had thought of.

“Instead of cutting out everything.” She said. “He realized that you could find someone to specifically destroy the disease while Healer restores each area.”

“There’s an essence that can do that?” Seth asked. “That sounds like the opposite of what I can do. What do people usually use it for?”

“It is.” Lola said. “Your father is sending a request for one of the Church of Sin’s Judges who practices execution. They take the lives of the worst criminals by destroying parts of their bodies. The more heinous the crime, the slower the death.”

Seth paled. “When will they come?”

She considered. “No more than a month.”

____________________________________________

When Seth returned, Landon noticed that while his words were grateful, Seth kept drifting back to frowns and scowls. Landon didn’t question it too much because Seth had offered to answer all his questions with more detail. He guessed that the patient with what sounded like stage four melanoma must be doing better, but not completely.

Less worried about asking only big things, Landon’s next question was about fireballs, his favorite spell whenever he played a wizard, and he found himself oddly disappointed when Seth didn’t know of anything like that. There was a Flame essence, but as with most essences that weren’t part of the five churches (Bond, Final, Sin, Still, and Virtue, Landon learned), direct use was rare. That was the last question he had about magic at the moment, so he asked about more normal things like geography and culture. The responses he received were more detailed, but sometimes he suspected that Seth had some gaps in knowledge that he wouldn’t admit.

They were on an island, called Daiteka. They were part of the Cruwar Kingdom, which had its seat of power on a nearby smaller island, Ava. The island was only the size of Connecticut, but the only requirement for a ‘kingdom’ here was a ruler with a royal birthright. Ava and Daiteka were part of a huge archipelago called the Shattered Isles, which was the only place people lived, as far as Seth knew. Any expeditions to find new land never returned. Most of the islands were the uninhabited territory of monsters called Ain, including half of this one. Ain didn’t refer to one monster, nor was it a broad term for all monsters. Monsters were creatures with monstrous essence, which could occur randomly. The people that fought monsters and explored dangerous areas were wanderers, not adventurers or something else that would make sense.

Landon felt an odd sense of anticlimax at having everything he had been wondering clarified so simply. He resolved to think of other questions that might have interesting answers in this world that was starting to sound like some kind of fantasy post-apocalypse. In the meantime, Seth’s genetics lessons were finally starting to get somewhere. Having examples he could relate to in his world had helped a lot, and Landon thought that the kid would have made a good cancer biologist on Earth. Oddly, as Seth understood more and more of what Landon was teaching him, Landon could feel an odd sensation in the world around him. It was almost like something slowly crystalizing.