Song of Loss and Hope

Chapter Eight

Five days later I hadn't seen Draven anywhere again. But Silas was there everytime I looked behind me, at least it felt like he was. He clearly did not like me nor did he trust me.

I have been moved from working in the kitchen to the infirmary which I am glad of. Verena, the head of the kitchen team did really scare me. Not that I would ever admit to that. The downside was that I now have to use my power which I did not want. But I figured it would help nobody if I was just drowning myself in bad memories all day. Although at night they never left me.

At least once every night I woke up. Panting, the image of my soulless brother or my dead parent or Myra in front of my eyes. When I got to sleep after that it mostly just were a couple hours.

I slept with the dagger that I brought with me from the last  night at my old home under my pillow. It gave me a sense of safety.

At my new work I did not had to heal big wounds. Firstly they wanted that I get more familiar with my powers. Considering I got them not a month ago. And secondly there weren't that many injured people

Mostly I learned with Eira, another healer here. She was really nice to me and explained which herbs are best for what healing process and wound. And altough I did not really need it to heal somebody it felt nice to learn more about the process of recovery and how it can be effected, positively and negatively.

Right now I was talking with Eira about the patient we treated before. It was a little boy who fell over a stone and broke his arm.
We first had made him comfortable and gave him something against the pain before we had further moved on. She told me 'If there would be blood you could use for example Yarrow powder to stop the bleeding." which I tried to keep in my mind. Later she had also told me, for wound healing the plant Calendula was also quite good.

Then I healt him. The soft pink glow not startling me as much as before. The feeling from healing slowly becoming natural the more I did it.

"You are learning really fast.", Eira comlimented me. I chuckeled "Well, I don't really have anything else to do." And that's the truth. Besides working here I just ate and slept. And used the bathroom of course. It was a welcomed change to learn something new.

The days already gotten to be routine.

"Still.", she smiled at me. "I still remember when I decided to become a healer. All the techniques and herbs were overwhelming me." She giggled at the memory.

"Maybe it's because of your power. It comes naturally to you.", she thought out loud.

I shrugged. "Maybe."

It was already getting late outside. The lamps inside throwing a yellow glow on us while we packed the utensils away. We talked some more, well more she did. In comparison to be she had no problem talking about her past.

She and her family are living in this camp since she was seventeen which was thirty years ago. It had become her home.

She told me about the time she lived here and its people. It seemed as if everybody here came along with everybody else. Almost no fighting ever. No doubt it has something to do with Dravens power of compulsion. I mean when you can control that nobody will rat you out, you could also make them live in peace when you are at it. A peaceful rebellion is much more efficient than one with much drama and fighting.

When I asked Eira why she thought nobody fights here she just shrugged. Same reaction she had when I asked her about the leading cadres power. She did not really now much of it. The only thing she knew for certain was:

"You should keep distance to Draven." Why, she could not elaborate which did not seem to bother her that much. Was this the outcoem of his manipulating? I am relieved that he could not do it on me.