Metal and Flesh (The Rohvim, Book 1)

14.3 Administer

   Does the copy communicate with the original?

   No. Not unless the original comes back to the victim and gets a full report, no.

   Have you come across many controlled rohvim?

   Besides the occupying army? No. And the reason the copies are so easy to defeat in duel here in the mind is the same reason the controlled soldiers are somewhat easier to fight than a person in full control of their faculties. It is only a copy of a person that controls them and not the actual person. He paused, There is one exception, though. If I were to enter your mind and quickly place a copy of myself to control you, you would be as any other soldier in the occupying army. If, however, I were to take my time with making my copy, I mean really take my time and put all of my intelligence, knowledge and feeling into it, it would not just be any old copy. It could have strategy. It could think independently for itself. It would be much harder to defeat in rohva duel here in the mind, and in real life. And it would be much harder to tell if the person was controlled just by interacting with them.

   Aeden nodded. I understand.

   Good. Now, let me show you a few things about actual healing. It's all about first looking at their bodies in real life to get a sense of where the problem might be in here on the wall, and then knowing how to recognize and fix problems on the wall itself. For example, ...

   The healer proceeded to teach a lengthy lesson on the finer points of rohva healing which seemed to Aeden to take hours and hours, but of course by the time he exited the healer's mind, appeared to have taken less than five minutes. The healer opened his eyes and removed his hand, "Please join me later as the people begin arriving to be healed."

   "You think I won't just hurt them, meddling around in their heads?" Aeden asked, wide-eyed.

   "No. You'll do just fine. And I can clean up any mess you make." He replied, winking.

   "Master?"

   "Yes, Aeden?"

   "Can you help the lord? I mean, is there anything you can do to bring him out of his sorrow? I remember you did something for my mother and me in the Markham estate ..."

   The master looked at Aeden "In his mind, very little. When I helped you and your mother, I temporarily calmed you and allowed you to think clearly. For him, I could do a few things, but they would be just as temporary and almost inconsequential. No, his healing will take place without rohva healer expertise."

  

   Later in the afternoon, people from town started arriving at the house of healing. A line of perhaps forty stricken individuals arrived, some hobbling along, others carrying children or supporting an aged relative. The thirteen worked quickly, and as the people found comfort they blessed their comforters.

   Aeden's first townsperson was a man in his fifties, who complained of rashes and sores. Sitting down together, Aeden placed his hand on the man's head, and entered. As with any who do not know themselves, the mind was misty, dark, and clogged with undergrowth. Aeden located the mind's wall and found the section that the master healer had shown him. The lungs looked fine, as did the blood circulation system, as well as most everything else. One section dealing with extremities seemed to have some odd colors on it-there were reds and oranges where the master healer had told him should usually display greens and blues. He fiddled with the knobs and dials in that section until the lights slowly progressed from reds to greens and blues. A few of the oranges he could not change to blue or green, but yellow he remembered was better than red or orange, so he left it yellow.

   All apparently as complete as he could make it, he exited the mind, and told the man, "Your maladies have been mostly healed. Expect the rash and sores to start disappearing over the next few weeks." The man placed his own hand on Aeden's head and lifted his voice: "May the Creator bless this young man!" He stood, shook his hand and left the room.

   Aeden arose and directed the next person in to the room-an old man, at least one hundred, hobbled in after him. They sat down and repeated the ritual. Once inside the man's head, Aeden could hardly see. After several minutes, as it seemed to him, he finally located the mind's wall, this time arriving at the section containing memories. He looked around for the body section, seeing it twenty or thirty feet away, and started walking towards it.

   The screens displaying the memories distracted him, however, and he stopped to watch. He saw people and places he did not recognize. Landscapes and fields and crops-apparently the man was a farmer. In another he saw a child being born, and in another he saw a beautiful young woman with whom he was holding hands while walking amid the waving corn.

   Aeden walked slowly along, until he came to one of the final screens. He saw the beautiful woman again, though this time somewhat older, and she was cowering. He could see a fist pounding on her. Over and over it struck. Aeden watched, horrified.