“Y-you have to be joking,” Shaya stuttered, trying to recover from the shock, “Five hundred gold for a spell? That’s... that’s more than I’ll ever make.”

She looked down at Quill, overwhelmed by her failure to heal him earlier. If only I had paid more attention, maybe I could have made a difference back then. But now...

“Does the cost include your time and services?” Shaya rambled on, “I’m learning Jade magic...how long will it take me to be able to cast the spell myself? I don’t want Quill to live with a mangled limb-”

“Calm yourself, child,” Bari scolded, “I’m not trying to rob you – the cost quoted is for reagents alone. I don’t charge for my services when an animal is involved.” She sounded offended. “If curing illnesses and restoring bodies were cheap, the world would be a very different place.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Shaya said, taking a deep breath while running her fingers through her hair. “I can’t afford that in the least – is there something else we can do for him?”

“Of course, you near fainted before I could continue,” the older woman said, shaking her head, “your empathy speaks well of your character, but a Jade mage cannot afford to spiral into anxiety.”

Shaya nodded, biting back her frustration.

It’s not Bari’s fault I’ve been insulted for most of the day. She’s actually trying to be helpful.

“Please, go on. It’s been a long day.”

“Aye, I remember my first day here too,” Bari said, “As for our friend here, if you cannot afford the full regrowth, we will want to amputate the limb. Don’t look at me like that,” the woman said, seeing Shaya’s eyes go wide, “this will still be better than him dragging the leg around and risking infection. He won’t be a battle-ready companion, but he’ll still lead a good life. Even with the full regrowth his growth will likely be notably stunted by his injuries.”

“As long as he gets to enjoy life, I don’t care that he can’t fight by my side. Though,” Shaya said, giving Quill’s head a scratch, “he’s done quite well for himself in battle even in his current state. How much will the amputation cost?”

“Ten gold.”

The full bounty I just earned.

Shaya sighed, growing more crest fallen by the second. “Can I ask how much stabling him will cost?”

“Five electrum a month.” Bari was watching her with interest now, reading her emotions and thoughts.

Half my monthly stipend.

This is insane, why did I think taking in an exotic animal would be easy?

Did I think he’d just get to grow up and be my personal mount, tearing through my enemies?

Gods, I can be such an idiot at times.

Quill nuzzled into her hand, guiding it to where he was most itchy.

“There is an alternative, but I suspect you won’t like it,” the Asharan offered, “I could purchase him off you and take care of him myself. At least until he’s well enough to be adopted to a family that can afford to give him a good life. Given his injuries I could only offer you one hundred gold for him, however.”

More money than I’ve ever seen in one place, but Lumir told me that even wild gryphlets cost close to one thousand gold coins – with most costing way more.

But, I’m thinking about this the wrong way. I’m a sanctioned mage now, the jobs and bounties that will be available to me will offer WAY more money than I’ve been able to make thus far.

“I’d like to keep him, I think I can handle the costs.” Shaya replied after mulling it over. “When can he get the surgery?”

“Right now,” Bari spread her hands wide, indicating the lack of activity around them, “it’s a quiet day and it shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

“That’s great,” Shaya said, smiling down at Quill, “I want to get this guy feeling comfortable and settled in as soon as possible.”

“You said you’re the one who healed him?”

Shaya nodded.

“Then I take it you’re here to become a Jade mage?” Bari said, waving to someone behind Shaya.

“I’m primarily an Amber, but my Esper can channel Jade as well. I am taking Intro to Biomancy ,” she rubbed her companion’s belly while it was exposed, earning her the gryphlet’s strange combination of a purr and beak grinding, “since I want to make sure I can heal my friends and comrades when needed.”

“Brave choice, given the Empire’s strong encouragement on monochromaticism,” the older woman smiled, tying back her white hair, “but you will find no judgment from me.

“Now then, these are my assistants – Jora and Sereli,” she gestured to the two Vayeiran women that approached the altar, whose family resemblance was only reinforced by their nephilim blood. Neither were much older than Shaya, “While you will not be needed for the procedure, as your professor for this semester, I would encourage you to stay. Watching live surgeries is part of the curriculum, and, if you enlisted, you would do well to get used to seeing your friends in... less than ideal states. You may be called upon to perform something similar in much worse conditions, so you’ll want to be prepared.”

Gods, do I even have the brain power to get anything out of this if I do stay? Or the emotional reserves left to watch someone cut Quill’s leg off?

Shaya shuddered and Quill opened his big eyes to look up at her, his rumbling stopping as he sensed her distress. I can’t just leave him though, he’ll be more scared without me around. Quill cocked his head at her, his scarred, milky-white eye looking at her out of concern.

She took in a deep breath before responding. “I’ll stay. And sorry, I’m not normally like this.”

“Don’t mention it, we all get emotional when our friends are harmed – especially innocent creatures. Stay close for a moment, keep him calm.” Bari said to Shaya, then gave Sereli a nod.

“Vathaea,” the woman invoked with a whisper, laying her hands upon Quill. The Esper that appeared was a graceful woman clad in wintry blue and green robes, not much larger than her invoker, with snow white skin, ice blue hair, and eyes that were solid orbs of blue-black like the deep ocean. “Grant this creature deep rest.”

“It’s okay, buddy, you’ll feel better than ever in a little bit.” Shaya smiled down at her friend, petting his side.

Sereli’s eyes filled with waves of Azure energy that evaporated as her spell finished, putting Quill to sleep. She maintained contact with the gryphlet as he snored, bracelets with Azure aethercyte slipping down against her hands and glowing as she drew upon them to help maintain her spell.

“Step back now,” Bari instructed, stepping forward with a thin obsidian knife with Jade aethercyte in its pommel. “Feel free to ask any questions as you observe. We’ve done this procedure a hundred times and won’t get distracted by them.”

Shaya stepped back, steeling herself for the procedure.

I came here to grow, this is how it begins.

Bari invoked the name of her Esper in a deep, guttural language that Shaya recognized as Asharan, but nothing manifested. Jora’s Esper, Xanneiros, was similar to her sister’s, but was a taller male in warmer spring tones and colourful robes that mimicked a blooming flower.

Shaya only took note of them cursorily, her eyes glued on Quill as the operation began in earnest. “Why use a knife at all?”

“Good question,” Bari spoke as she worked, “at its core, healing magic focuses on returning the body to what it considers to be its natural state. Any changes to the body made by Jade magic tend to be temporary, and require a greater investiture of aether to make the body ‘think’ that the change is permanent.”

“So, using the knife lets you avoid working against the body’s inclinations,” Shaya mused, “does the minor healing you’re doing as you go along also represent a smaller change for the body to accept? Therefore, taking less aether to make permanent?”

“You’re close,” Bari took a moment to wipe sweat from her brow while Jora and her Esper kept Quill’s blood from spilling out from the wound, Jade aethercyte on her bracelets glowing. “In situations like this, resulting in a drastic change, we avoid making it permanent with aether. Time will make that happen for us, and this lets us use up less aethercyte.”

“Ah, that’s where the cost comes from then?”

“For this surgery, yes.” the older woman returned to work, “the regrowth is a thaumaturgic ritual spell that requires rare reagents – hence the far greater costs.”

Shaya nodded and kept watching the surgical process. She felt her tension easing as the three of them worked away on her friend, each coordinating with simple words or gestures as needed. They paused on occasion to wipe sweat from their brows and Shaya helped by fetching them water from a nearby barrel. As time went on, Shaya watched as their eyes grew more and more bloodshot as they continued to channel aether without break.

There’s no way I could channel this much aether, yet.

“Can this surgery be performed by one person, if needed, on the field?”

Bari grunted in response, asking for a moment while she concentrated on her current work, “You enlisted to come here then?”

“Yeah,” Shaya replied, “there’s no way I could afford it otherwise. My... father’s a duke, but it’s a reclamation project in Kelahk still.”

“Wait, Heirosoth,” Bari looked up as something dawned on her, “your father is Lumir Heirosoth?”

“Adopted, yeah. You know him?”

“He was a friend of a friend, a long time ago.”

“He knew my mom, which is why he adopted me when... well, after my awakening meant the Imperial orphanage system couldn’t just keep me around for slave labour anymore.”

Bari shook her head in disgust, apparently aware of the state of the local orphanage, then went still. Her brown and jade flecked eyes locked onto Shaya’s, “You’re the daughter of Phaedra and Devi?”

Faint recognition flicked across Jora and Sereli as Bari mentioned Shaya’s mothers. The sisters looked between Shaya and the now tense Bari with curiousity.

“I’m Phaedra’s daughter, yeah,” Shaya said defensively, “I don’t acknowledge the other one for obvious reasons.”

“Phaedra’s not the one who carried you.” Bari’s eyes narrowed as she went cold.

It was like a slap to Shaya’s face, and she bit back a bitter retort.

Thanks for going out of your way to find a donor with the same cursed bloodline, mom.

I really appreciate it, really.

Couldn’t have just stopped at the giant-blood, eh?

Bari shook her head and returned to work. When she responded to Shaya’s earlier question, she did so without the warmth or excitement that was present in her tone moments ago. “No, even I don’t have the experience or raw power to perform this kind of surgery alone and in poor conditions. This grove is even purified, which means that Jora and I don’t have to channel Jade to protect against infection. In the field, you want to prevent the patient from bleeding to death or causing more harm, then perform the surgery when you can withdraw to camp.”

The rest of the surgery passed by in relative silence, Bari’s sudden shift in attitude throwing a wet blanket on Shaya’s curiousity. The entire operation took under an hour, but the second half of it felt like an awkward eternity to her. As the sky began to darken, Shaya’s stomach growled at her negligence of it.

She moved away from the grove and sat down on a tree stump, pulling out some jerky and hard tack to munch on while the professionals finished up. The interesting part was over, anyway, with the group double checking the stitching and sealed wounds on their patient.

Bari carried Quill to an open patch of grass and set him down, while Sereli dismissed the sleep spell and her Esper. The young woman sagged as her Esper vanished, drained from maintaining a spell for so long even while drawing on the aethercyte. Bari and Jora kept their Espers at hand, watching as Quill stirred as he slowly woke from the deep slumber.

He gave a quiet, confused squawk as his eyes fluttered open. Concern infused his calls as he looked around at the people near him, calming only when his eyes fell on Shaya. With an effort, he climbed onto his three legs, but toppled over after trying to take a step.

“Should he be walking so soon?” Shaya asked, rising.

Bari held out a hand, halting Shaya’s movement. “He’s fine, just groggy from the deep sleep and famished from the healing magic. Hold out a treat, we need to see how he’s doing.”

Shaya popped the rest of the jerky into her mouth and pulled out some of the salted fish. Quill climbed back to his feet and took a tentative step towards her, stopping as he wobbled for balance again. He didn’t fall this time and, step by step, he made his way over to her, snuggling into her and giving her a chiding “Wark!”

“Sorry buddy,” Shaya said, feeding her eager friend, “they made me do it.”

Lying on his side, Quill held the salted fish in his one remaining talon and took chunks out of it. Jora watched him with interest, straightening as the weight of concern was lifted off her shoulders. Bari watched as well, but her eyes moved between Shaya and Quill, no longer certain what to make of them.

“Will I be able to see him?” Shaya asked her.

Bari sighed, “Of course, you can come by in the evenings. You’ll also be able to see him during Mounted Combat – assuming I overheard you correctly – I teach that course here.”

Shaya was no longer certain what she thought of Bari teaching any of her courses. At first, the thought of learning from someone who dealt with the same discrimination as she did would be welcome and let her explore the Asharan half of her heritage. Now though, Shaya’s origins made Bari very suspicious of her every move and action.

“Go wash up and head home, girls,” the older woman said to her assistants.

After they left, Shaya looked up at her again. “I’m not like her, you know. Regardless of her being my ‘real’ mother.”

“We’ll see.” Bari said, “I’ll take your payment inside, then you can get on with your day.”

Quill already snored in contentment, beak covered in shredded fish, and Shaya extracted herself without waking him. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Quill. I hope you sleep well and like it here.”

Bari watched her the entire time, warring with her own thoughts and judgments.

I’m not like her, Shaya thought to herself, I’m not.