THE BLOOD LOTUS (On Hold)

Chapter Three:Invitation

'I am thinking of starting a small group of soldiers loyal not to any man but a cause. Upholding justice.Though I would like to give them full executive powers,I fear they will arise as new tyrants. I would love your thoughts on how to solve the conundrum'

-a snippet from a letter written by Forneas the Uniter to his beloved queen Sonia

The next week passed by in a flash and he managed to forget about the wax seal.Soon it was the day Aran turned sixteen.It was an important day for him. This was the day he became a man.

He woke up to find a small clutter of gifts under his bed. There were three neatly wrapped ones and one untidy package. He knew whom that package belonged to. He grinned as opened Tim's present first.

It was small and light and inside he found a large milky green gemstone,the size of a walnut. He supposed it was beautiful,but he did know what to do with it. Still,it was a grand gesture on his friend's part. He knew that the stone could have gotten Tim a few silver coins. So he wrapped it back and carefully placed it his desk.

The other gifts were more utilitarian. Lola's present was a book about commonly found herbs and their uses. Though he doubted he would apply the information in the book,he smiled at the lovely message from her on it's front page. It read:

I wish you hadn't grown up. I was starting to like you. Now, inevitably like all men ,you will turn into an idiot. Still,one can always hope.

Love ,Lola Mcnyver.

The second package belonged to Neel. He had given him a brand new set of woodcarving tools with Aran's initial marked into each one of them. It was beautiful and he had to tear his eyes from them and move on to the last package.

He felt dazed for a few minutes after he opened his grandmother's present. He had to reread it a few times to be absolutely sure. She had given him a certificate from the traders guild that registered him as an official member of the guild. He could start is own shop under the banner of the traders guild.

This was unbelievable. Getting the traders mark was extremely difficult.It verified that the person wielding the guilds mark was a master craftsmen. He had no idea how she had managed to procure it for him.It would earn him a ton of customers,not to mention high paying ones.

He ran downstairs to thank his grandmother for the wonderful gift not caring if she was still asleep.
"Nana,this is great. How did you-" he stopped short as surprise overtook him. It was not his grandmother. Sitting at her work table in the front room sipping coffee was Lola.

He glanced at her bedroom as he climbed down and saw her deep in conversation with a woman slightly younger than Lola.She was as tall as a man and was wearing a tight fitting uniform like attire.Her thick black cloak gave her an extremely impressive look.

But that was not what begged his attention. It was the emblem stitched on her tunic on the left side of her chest.

There was an awkward pause as he simply stared at it.
Lola cleared her throat and said in an amused tone:"Stop staring at our guest. It is impolite"

Aran burned with embarrassment. Was that how it looked? Him staring at the ladie's chest. From the corner of his eyes he saw Lola's mouth curve up.

He took the empty seat next to the healer,giving her a worried glance.
"What happened?Is it Grandma? Is she unwell?" his eyes flickering back to his grandmother. She seemed a little anxious,but appeared well enough.
"No. She is perfectly fine. This has to do with you."she said totally calm, sipping her coffee.
His eyebrows shot up in surprise."Me? What did I do?"
"Before I answer that ,tell me, do you know the purpose of a Healer?"she said her eyes staring out the window through which sunlight was pouring in.
He was bewildered by the sudden change in topic. He thought about it for about a minute " You heal people" he said lamely.
She gave an involuntary chuckle at that.