The Journey Forward | ONC 2023 Version

5. Healer

After four days of riding together, I realized I was draining Jing's energy. It took me three more days before I understood enough of the book my mother had given me to stop. And then, I discovered Jing had a temper.

"What do you think you are doing?" Jing grumbled as she pulled the horse to a halt and leaped off his back so she could glare at me fully.

"I don't want to leech all of your power," I admitted. By the timing of the outburst, I guessed the cause of her anger and slid off the horse to stand in front of her. I still had yet to learn to mount or dismount gracefully.

"Do you think you, who has not yet achieved even the first level of cultivation, could drain me of my heart stone's energy without my control? I am a level three warrior with a decade of cultivation behind me. I can protect my heart stone."

"But don't you need that energy? Won't I bring you down to level two or something?"

"If you did this for years, maybe, but not for a few days or even months." Jing stomped the ground in frustration. Jing's anger focused on me and her desire to protect me, yet her words hinted at hurt pride. A bubble of amusement floated through my chest and threatened to push a smile onto my face.

"I just don't want to take what is not mine," I stood straighter and pushed back my irrational enjoyment of Jing's temper.

"It is my gift!" Her hands flew through the air with frustration, then landed on her hips. For a moment, Jing had every appearance of a schoolmarm disciplining a wayward student.

"It's too much," I protested. Not even my mother had given gifts without expectations. I couldn't fathom what Jing would gain from funneling me her hard-earned cultivation. The start of a headache pushed against the back of my eyes as I tried to understand her selflessness. I had overreacted, and my hands floated to my face to cover my confusion and embarrassment. Jing took a deep breath and grabbed my arms, forcing me to look at her.

"In my life, I have met only one healer," Jing explained. "When I first reached level three, my father brought me to a battle as a servant to the general. My cultivation was enough to allow me to serve safely, and he had no sons to send into battle." A pained frown marred Jing's face, and I knew more she was not ready to tell me.

"I don't know how the healer came to be at the battle. My master had been both surprised and grateful at his arrival. So few wandering healers existed then, and one arriving felt like a miracle."

"The current Emperor allows healers more freedom." Angel's voice answered my confusion. "The previous Emperor was a scholar and not a thief, he required every healer to register with the imperial service, and very few were allowed to risk themselves at the front."

"And the current Emperor doesn't require this?"

"No, when he took power, he dispersed most of his father's stable of healers. But all Emperors covet the strong, so the most powerful healers remain in his service."

"Angel, that almost sounds like an opinion."

"It is not, but I will adjust my attitude."

"Don't. I like it."

"He almost sacrificed everything to save the soldiers dying on the battlefield." Jing's continuation of her story distracted me from my conversation with my Keeper. "The tide turned as the healer brought those soldiers back from the brink, and they returned to fight. If it hadn't been for cultivators like me, who could feed him little bits of our heart stone's strength, many men would have died. Had it not been for the healer's companion, gifting him with as much energy as he could spare, the healer would have died before he could save the next wave of wounded."