Poisoned Well

Chapter 1.1: Damage

"Ah, that you can tell indicates you have the potential to become one, if you wish."

"Wait, what!" said Lianna.  "Mama tested me, many times. She never found any sense in me. I mean, no wari sense."

"She was not a time mage, and so could not teach you to feel wari's flow."

"Well, anyway," Lianna waved both hands in front of her face, "what is wrong with my son? And I don't mean that he's blue. That's only a little more unique than that you are black."

Skel sighed. "I think he was perfectly healthy in that witch's belly..."

Emick's chest turned cold, and Lianna said, "Our taking him out didn't hurt him, did it!"

"No, no, that saved him," said Skel. "Minara attempted to steal little Chadwick's body and his wari and give it to another entity. Chadwick fought back, bravely I'm sure for a dweller of the womb. But his brain burned. If we do not help him, he will never rise above infancy."

"He'll die?" Emick clutched his son to his chest.

"No,"said Skel, "but his fate will perhaps be worse, as his mind will never expand in development. You will learn to tolerate diapering an infant for a few years, and feed him and clothe him. But he will never learn to do these things on his own. He is your heir, but he could never wear the robes as such."

"My daughter is not going to be San, regardless," said Canúden.

"No, that is not her fate," said Skel.

Lianna's lips quivered. "Won't he have something to add to the world, anyway? I mean, there are no useless people, what is his fate?"

Skel's head tilted, and she said slowly, "I do not see his fate at this time, other than to know we can help to heal his mind a little. Only a little."

"What, so he eventually learns to not shit himself?" said Emick. To find that Minara's son was a fool --- Emick was the fool to ever have touched that witch. "I can't be a father to him. An infantile fool with no potential. A blue one, no less."

Lianna scooted away from him and took the baby to her chest. "Everyone has potential. So he won't wear the Robes, so what. Skel said she didn't see his full future, so you can't reject him. No."

"I never said he had no potential," said Skel, gently. "Let us see what we can do for him." She knelt before Lianna and took the baby. "Touch him, all."

"But we're not mages!" said Emick.

"You could be, each one of you. I can use your energy to fuel my wari. Only touch."

"What about Ophia?" said Lianna. "She would want to be part of this."

"She is not currently strong. Let her feed her own child and rest." Skel gestured to Canúden to return his daughter to Ophia; nodding, he returned to the birthing chamber. She continued, "This amount of damage will take more than one touching, anyway. Let us explore his mind and his soul's throne."

Handing his son to Lianna, Emick placed his finger in Chadwick's hand; Canúden returned and grabbed one of his feet; Lianna clutched him to her chest with her neck cradling his head. Skel covered his head wither hand, then closed her eyes. Emick's skin tingled, his blood cooled pleasantly and he sensed an energy from his son. Lianna's eyes widened, as she felt the same energy.

"Now," said Skel, eyes closed and fluttering in concentration. "The base of his brain, near his neck, is undamaged. This is the same brain that all vertebrates share. It guides the beating of the heart, the constant expansion and retraction of the lungs, vision, as well as the twisting of digestion. The throne of his soul lies in the top of his brain. I see scars there. The part of him which remembers curiosity is blocked. Without this curiosity, he will never learn."

"'Remembers curiosity'?" said Lianna.

"Curiosity sets humans apart from all other creatures." Skel opened her eyes briefly to look at Lianna with her liquid black eyes. "It drives us to look at the stars and wonder how they came to be. It also drives us to learn and grow from an infant to a wise old time mage."

"But animals learn and grow," said Emick. "They learn to not...poop... into their food and to otherwise be adults."

"This they do much by instinct," said Skel. "Not thought. Briannel takes care of her pets."

"Who?" said Emick.

"I forget," said Skel, "the stories have been much forgotten by the Gungali people. You might think of her as Nature. She is the Mother of our souls and the substance of the universe. Her yuki,  Yellel, is Time, which carries us forward through our lives." She closed her eyes again. "Do you feel his brain? Is his throne not blocked by char and twisted nerves?"

"I don't know what his throne is," said Lianna. "I guess I can feel that your wari flow seems to stop around the top left of his head."

"I am tracing his nerves, like little branches on a great shrub. Where there is damage, I straighten the branch and clear the block so his own energy may flow. So many damaged branches. I cannot accomplish this all today. It is good we sit, for we soon collapse from fatigue."

"We can go longer," said Lianna. "Please, we have got to heal him."

Skel smiled. "A little longer today."