Quinn
After roping Vincent, Liam, and a few young men into helping and distributing the new clothing to the males, I asked Maria, Frances, and some of the maids to do the same to the females and teach them to wear the panties and bras.
It was a little later when Eden and Sara came down the stairs, along with the children and their nursemaids. The little darlings were all in their new clothing of cute pants and hoodies and sneakers, and they looked like a bunch of pre- and elementary school children on a field trip wearing matching outfits. They looked adorable. A few had their plushies with them, and Abi and Alex were two of those. I suspected they were not going to part with their beloved toys for the next several weeks.
After quickly finishing my own meal, and while breakfast and the distributing of clothes continued and the hall buzzed with noise, I asked Sara and Eden to take me to those severely injured.
Moments later, I met an elderly couple who everyone called Grandma Ada and Grandpa Keith. They had a grandson named Gael, aged twenty, who had left with Juan, and a granddaughter named Rosie, aged seventeen, who was currently with them and taking care of their needs. As for Gael's and Rosie's parents, they had died from the attack one month ago.
"My lady," Grandma Ada said as she tried to get up.
I hastily motioned for her to lie back as I said, "Please don't. It's fine with you lying there."
She said, "Thank you for making us the food, my lady. It was delicious, the likes we've never had before."
Rosie nodded, her eyes brewing with tears.
I asked, "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, my lady," she said.
Grandpa Keith nodded his head in agreement with his wife and said, "We're alive, and that's what counts."
I said, "Do you mind if I have a look at your wounds?"
"My lady wants to look at my wounds?" Grandma Ada asked, her eyes large, looking confused.
"Yes," I said. "May I?"
She nodded, and I unzipped her sleeping bag. Then I rolled up her sleeves, noting the burned skin, still raw, and it looked painful. Since I suspected it wasn't just her arm that was burned, I said, "Can I see your body?"
She hesitantly nodded, and I undid her worn clothing. I saw that one side of her chest was burned raw like her arm. I said, "I'm going to heal you, Grandma Ada."
Eden, Sara, and Rosie as well as Grandma Ada and Grandpa Keith simply stared at me.
"You can heal?" Eden asked.
"Mm-hmm." I nodded my head. Then I began and released my mana, which glowed and transferred to Grandma Ada. Within moments, her wound started fading and her skin began to regenerate.
Grandma Ada gazed at her skin long and hard, as if she was confused. Then suddenly she burst into tears. "It's gone. I'm healed. The pain is gone." Her body shaking with emotion, she grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it. "My lady, thank you; you're sent here by the deities to save us. Thank you, my lady."
Rosie burst out crying again, even louder than before, as she hugged her grandmother, and Grandpa Keith wiped tears from his eyes.
I turned my attention to Grandpa Keith and said, "I'm going to heal you, too, Grandpa Keith."
When it was done a moment later, he, too, kissed my hand as I said, "It's fine. It's fine. Please don't do that."
Suddenly, there was a commotion as people gathered around, marveling at the miracle of my healing ability.
"Let's move on," I said, and still looking as shocked and dazed as could be, both Eden and Sara took me to my next patient.
This one was a boy of eleven, and he had third degree burns. His name was Max, and I thought he had beautiful eyes. He said, "Lady, the food was nice. I like the crumbles the most and the hot cocoa."
I chuckled and said, as I studied his body that was wrapped with dirty bandages, "I'm glad you like them. Now, I'm going to examine your wound and heal you."
He nodded, his eyes tearing up. His parents, too, apparently, and they hugged each other, waiting for the miracle to happen.
I unwrapped the bandages and noted how severely burned and destroyed his skin was. It was a wonder he could hang on like this for a month without the aid of medications.
I released my mana and started healing, and I watched, as well as the parents and everyone around me, as the burn marks faded, and Max's skin regenerated until it was completely normal. Just as I was done, the boy bolted upright and said, "I'm not burned anymore!" He was so happy that he started jumping up and down.
While the parents hugged Max and cried like there was no tomorrow, the crowd erupted into a frenzy of noise, and I continued healing patients as my audience watched.
My next patients were a woman named Hannah and her two young children Josh and Declan. The boys had severe burn marks on their backs and faces and were crippled from beatings during the raid. As for Hannah herself, she had burns on half of her body from her face down to her feet. Though she could still move around, I knew she was in severe pain. As for the boys, they couldn't walk and lay on the sleeping bags on their tummies.
"The father is Connor Carter, Elio's older brother," Eden said. "He's the captain of the Border Protection Troop. Unfortunately, he's posted at the northern station amongst other soldiers to protect our land from monsters."
I nodded in understanding. So Hannah alone had to take care of the children. Under the circumstances, it couldn't be helped, but I thought that it was still cruel nonetheless that the Norsewood people had to suffer so much.
I said to Hannah, "I will heal you now."
"No, please," she begged. "My boys first. Please, my lady."
I glanced at the boys, facedown on their pillows. Did they get to at least eat properly last night, I wondered?
"All right," I said and turned my attention to the older boy, Josh.
Unzipping his sleeping bag, Hannah aided me in removing the boy's clothing, and once he was naked, I began to heal him, my mana radiating from my palms to his body. Within moments, the burned flesh and his crippling legs were healed, and suddenly, he turned himself around and sat up. He burst into tears and threw himself into his mother's arms. The young brother was next, and after healing him, too, Declan started howling in his mother's arms, too. But of course, that didn't last long because after I had finished healing Hannah and started on the next several patients, I glimpsed the two running around and eagerly gulping down hot cocoa.
I didn't get to see Aldric until well into noon when I had finished seeing and treating the last of the severely injured and we were about to serve lunch, which was Shepherd pie. He looked weary, and I suspected he hadn't had much sleep last night. His hand gentle on my head, he said, "Thank you."
"What for?" I asked.
"For doing all this," he said, looking around the hall filled with people, about quarter already washed and cleaned and wearing the colorful pants and hoodies.
"It's my job as the lady of Norsewood," I said. Then I changed the subject. "Are you leaving for that northern station?"
He nodded. "I'll be back in a few days."
"Then how about I prepare food and other essential items for you?"
Outside under the falling snow, I summoned my magic circle and created six long coaches, much like minibuses, with seats on either side that could fit in at least ten to twelve people. Three would be going with Aldric to the monster subjugation and the other three would be with the civilian rescue team.
"Use our horses from Bedford, too. These coaches will be useful for the injured when you bring them back."
"You really do think of everything, Quinn," he said.
I grinned. Then I summoned the circle and created meal boxes and bottles of water as well as dispensaries for hot drinks, which I knew he liked, a massive wooden hot tub, and piles of boxes containing sleeping bags, new sets of clean, dry clothing and jackets and socks and boots and first aid kits with instruction manuals in the common language, too. Looking at the piles stacked on top of one another out here in the snow, I thought that I always liked to overdo things.
Aldric pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly. "Thank you," he said. "We'll subjugate the monsters and bring everyone back as soon as we can."
When he released me, I asked, "Aldric, I thought I needed to ask before I do anything. Will you object if I make a temporary shelter for everyone?"
"A temporary shelter?"
I nodded. "Something that's more... warm and cozy. This..." I turned to the wrecked manor. "It's not suitable, especially if we're going to be cooped up inside for three whole months during winter."
It'd drive everyone crazy; I was sure of that.
He nodded. "I'd only be too glad if you can build a temporary shelter."
"Then I'll ask Uncle Colt for a suitable spot," I said.
"Mm-hmm." He nodded again, and then pulled me into his arms once more and kissed me on the lips.