“We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.”

J.K. Rowling

I awoke to face a united front from my elders. The most surprising fact was that they were all there for breakfast when I entered the room. Of course, it was much earlier than they were usually up, but they got up to catch me before I disappeared for the day; generally, it was just me up first. My traits of vitality and endurance meant that I had even more energy than the usual boundless energy of kids. Lady Acacia seemed to lead the group, but I was startled to see that the bishop and compass knight had joined them at the table. They had got mother and father onboard as they talked happily before my arrival. Mother had thawed somewhat toward the church with the expulsion of Priest Aravan from Wester Ponente, while Father had never been as diametrically opposed as she had been brought up in the faith as he was.

“We gathered here this morning to discuss your training program.” She started the dialogue. Except for Dad needing time for sailing with me, they had bowed down to Lady Acacia, knowing best when it came to preparing the two of us for court.

“I thought that it had already been decided, mornings with Namir and afternoons with yourself,” I said. Sure, I had ended up faceplanting into the water on my first attempt at running over it, but I had also gained two new skills. First, it was working as far as I was concerned. My faulty understanding of physics and how their rules could be bent or outright broken by my mana meant that I would never have thought it possible without their example to emulate.

“Yes, that was the original plan; however, with the Bishop's and his knight's support, we have an addition to the daily routine. You will also be working with them midday before coming onto me.” She explained.

“Why?” I asked, concerned that my already full timetable was getting even busier. As well as surprised that she would give up any of my time to foreign influences that she did not invite.

“To heal up.” Namir grinned. He was much like Arawn in many worrying ways. However, so far, no particular painful injuries have been inflicted other than bruises to my ego.

“To heal up?” I raised an eyebrow. Now that had taken me a long time to retrain. Muscles did not always do what I wanted just because I knew how they should move without practising it first. If they were amused at my antics, they did not show it.

“To heal up.” She confirmed. “The bishop has generously offered to teach you how to heal. The first part of which is experiencing the healing.” Lady Acacia explained. “Before then, attempt it yourself. This will allow you to push harder in the morning, learn during midday and turn up to my lessons fresh-faced and bushy-tailed. Do not think that I have not noticed a certain exhaustion when you have been attending my most recent lessons. Etiquette lessons are not something that I will allow you to sleep through.” She added critiquing my tendency to doze off or nap through the boring parts of the lessons. I learned a lot faster by doing than by listening.

Inwardly I was shouting in excitement. Since my first brush with what passed for health care on this island, I dreaded getting sick or injuring myself. However, with the bishop's teaching, I would no longer have to worry about that. Even better, I had not even had to argue, compromise or exchange favours to get it.

“Looking forward to your lessons, your grace.” I bowed respectfully before my curiosity got the better of me. “Will Sir Jacques be there as well?” I asked, commenting on his current presence at the table. Family and tutors, he was the odd one out.

“Where the bishop goes, I go.” He rebutted before adding, “But in time, I might have something to teach you as well.” He said somewhat evasively. “You have enough to focus on for the moment.” He referred to the three tutors I already had. Four if you counted Arawn and his lessons. Six if you count my parents and their skills. There was only so much time in the day.

“When do we start?” I asked, eager to start the lessons in healing even if I was less keen on the bumps and bruises I would have to acquire to practice receiving the healing.

“I see no reason why we cannot start now,” Namir said, standing up, keen to continue passing on his legacy to the young prodigy that was myself.

“The boys won’t have arrived yet, and we have a significant new number of free men to find positions for.” I hedged. This sounded like a reasonably intensive program, and I had yet to finalise how we would best employ them with Aleera.

“I’ll give you an hour; then, I expect to see you outside.” Namir declared. “Otherwise, I will have to come and find you.” He added ominously. I doubted I would enjoy that if he was anything like my Arawn.

“Right, right.” I grabbed some food and dashed off to find Aleera, Des and Sinis. I might be short on time coming up, and there was no point in wasting it. As I left, I could hear the conversation between the adults starting up once more as they had a leisurely breakfast without me, who rapidly swallowed the food I had only had a moment to pilfer.

Once I had woken up Aleera, we rushed through our plans for the extra hands, ensuring everyone would have something to do: idle hands and all. We could diversify and adjust as they got to know them better. It also depended on what metier they hoped to unlock through the light of the Lodestar at church.

Then it was back outside to face Namir. However, he was not alone, with Arawn watching nearby, along with the Bishop and Knight. We ran through our morning routine of exercises before my cousins arrived, and it devolved into a melee of skills. Namir started us all with the same assault course he had constructed: running, jumping, swimming and climbing. Bits of it had become surprisingly easy with my skills, so he employed my cousins to make it harder. Each one that failed became another obstacle on the course challenged to block the survivor's progress. As always, it often became more of a melee event rather than a race.

Then it would be back to weapons skills working with different groups on different skills but expecting me to circulate among each group. It meant that I was always on the back foot working with less training against my peers who had more. Still, the adversity of the training meant that it was doing wonders for my skills, and my stats or rather my traits, helped me keep up with my larger older cousins.

After that came various challenges, from duels to capturing the flag, defending the hill or striking the target. Every day he would add another challenge to the repertoire of events while continuing to work on the old. Today though, we had witnesses, so he stuck with the methods we had already tried while expecting more from us when we challenged them. I could not help but eavesdrop a little when passing by.

“Thoughts?” The bishop asked his companion.

“Green. But making rapid progress under Namir’s supervision.” He briefly outlined the abilities and progress of our cousins. The boys were keen to keep this to themselves until their magic was unlocked and they could access the same lessons as their sisters.

“Do you not want to take a more active role?” The bishop asked him.

“Not yet. Namir can teach this just as well as I can. If not better. Besides, we are waiting for the armour to be made and for him to learn some level of healing before I attempt to teach him anything.”

“Anyway, our time will be short enough as it is with you attempting to teach him healing. Give him time to learn your lessons first; then, he can attempt mine.” He said. I wondered what he was referring to specifically and how his training would be different from what we were going through now.

“Yes, well, times are nearly up.” He noted the sun’s progression through the sky. It was nearly straight above our heads and signalled the end of the training session and the beginning of lunch to any who managed to beg, borrow or steal food from the kitchens if they had not brought their own.

“Children, if you would gather round.” He addressed the crowd of cousins standing before him, listening to his every word. It wasn't easy to tell if they were genuinely interested or simply happy to be taking a break from the morning’s training. Either way, they had always attended church and were naturally a little more respectful than we had been brought up toward the clergy.

“Semi-circle line.” Namir barked, with us all rapidly falling into line. Rather than find ourselves decorated with another line of paint. Our mothers had been less than pleased at that element of the training and now insisted we were the ones to face getting the colour out of our clothes when we got covered.

“Our guest today has a gift for all of you.” He paused to build the tension. “Healing.” I realised that while I had been forewarned of their plans, the rest had not been.

“For all of us?” questioned one cousin.

“Yes. Now hurry up. Lady Acacia was quite particular that this should not take any time out of her lessons, but while I am healing each of you, I would like Kai here to place his hands on you as you pass by. Another part of his lessons. And I will teach the whole time, so I expect you to be quiet once we get going.” He explained their role in the process. I was pleasantly pleased that I would not have to suffer all the injuries to get used to the process.

“For free healing, I think we can keep our mouths shut”, the comic cousin shouted. However, he was quickly shouted down by another. “You couldn’t keep your mouth shut if your life depended on it.” To the chuckles of the remainder.

“That’s quite enough, Kai.” He gestured for me to join him, working our way down the line.

Now that they had lined up, we moved along the line, placing our hands on each one. Again, the bishop wanted me to get a feel for what he was doing while he did it.

“In the light of the lodestar. . . he started.

While I laid my hands on just as he had, before he began outlining his steps and the skills he utilised to recreate the magical healing miracle, I was startled to release that it was more complicated than it had looked initially. The system and its skills only solved some problems, and there was a process.

“First and foremost, you need to sense their body. Then, I push my mana through my hands and into their body. Note that the higher the level of the individual, the harder it will be to push your mana into their body to find the problems.” He outlined the first step. “With practice, this will lead to the skill Diagnosis.”

Having extended my senses using my mana alongside his, I watched their body to see how they moved and interacted with the extra mana the bishop added.

He continued his lesson, “The mana will obviously dissipate with time, but while it is there, I can use it to see if there are any breaks in the flow or any other irregularities to the storage. I am looking for breaks or tears in what should be smooth lines of flow. Having found any breaks or tears like this one here,” he gestured to a specific point on a cousin’s leg where he had received a thump in the morning exercises, and a bruise was just now coming up. He calmed the ‘patient’, explaining that it was “Not a large tear by any means, no more than a bruise.” Stopping the boy from shifting in concern. Once the issue has been identified, mana can be applied through skills directly to the area needed rather than trying to fix the entire body.” He took me carefully through each step as he did them. I wondered why I had never considered medicine an area to practice using my old-world knowledge to gain a skill or two.

I was no doctor or even a nurse, but A-level biology, modern hygiene and a first aid course or two was going to a far higher level of understanding than the average townsperson and possibly even more significant than the Bishop’s understanding if he was relying solely on the movement of mana to detect and direct his healing.

We gradually worked through our cousins, who moved off to lunch before tackling my bumps and scrapes from the morning training. The practice, or rather the observation of all of my cousins before focusing on me, meant that I had plenty of exercises to help me understand what was happening within my body as he applied the same skills to me. When we finished, it was time to make my way up the hill to the girls' lessons on magic and more. First, however, the bishop’s lesson left me contemplating my more comprehensive knowledge and its applications that I had failed to consider before.