The Teacher

Pain Fog

Once inside, with Gloria following closely and closing the door, Finn moved to the closest chair in the kitchen and sat down, her exhaustion making itself known in the tingling of her fingers and toes. Gloria eyed her curiously a moment before she went to make a cup of coffee for each of them. Into Finn's cup, while the pot burbled and dripped, she poured a packet that Clara had given them. Finn muttered a thank you, or she was pretty sure she did, but the world was hazy and all she wanted to do was sleep.

"Besides the medicinal coffee is there anything I could be doing for you?" Gloria asked and Finn startled from her near sleep state to look at the younger woman who was setting her coffee on the table in front of her.

Finn shook her head and lifted the cup to her face, inhaling the steam before sipping at the brew. "Giving myself time to heal is really the only option, I just don't have the luxury at the moment."

"No spell?"

Finn smiled sadly. "No spell. Or rather, no spells that I'm willing to pay the price for." She took a deep draw from her coffee, feeling the spells that Clara had imbued the medicines with flow into her and remove some of the pain at least. Finn stared out the window a moment, seeing the old growth forest outside. Across from her Gloria seemed lost in thought, a troubling one based on her knit brows. "What are you thinking?"

Gloria glanced up, startled. "Oh, I was trying to think of something I could do to help you. Use the info dump, you know?" At Finn's nod she continued. "But I keep coming up against something that reminds me of a closed hard cover book. It's solid, and I know I should be able to open it but I can't." Finn smiled gently, the girl had been making tremendous progress in her role as the Chronicler, less as a fire mage but that was to be expected. To hear now, after so many years, that someone had found Finn's own Chronicle was less worrisome than she had thought it would be.

"You've found my Chronicle. I don't want it read while I'm alive, so you can't open it. That's all." Finn said after a moment's consideration. Gloria looked at her.

"But if there's an answer in it-"

"There's no answer in it I'm not aware of, and none that would correct my current problems." Finn said firmly. 

A knock at the door interrupted whatever Gloria had been about to say and Finn frowned, turning to face the front door. She grumbled and the door became transparent, revealing a human shape on the other side, bundled up against an apparent deluge of rain. A flash of lightning made the figure hunch further into it's protective wear and Finn frowned.

"I can't see who it is, can you go check please?" She asked Gloria, who stood to answer the door. "I thought I had the door anchored away from people, so whoever it is must be looking for me specifically."

Gloria went to the door, Finn watching carefully. When the younger woman opened it up there was a growl of thunder that kept Finn from hearing what was said. Gloria ushered in the person, who promptly flipped her hood back. Finn smiled a greeting when the women turned to look at her.

"Vivien, been a bit. Welcome." Finn said, and Gloria moved into the kitchen. Finn waited for the girl to summon a chair, she sometimes managed it and sometimes not but the practice in manipulating the house was needed either way.

Vivien stepped into the kitchen and planted her fists on her hips to glare at Finn. "I tell you the timeline has shortened and what do you do? You go out and pick more fights. Are you trying to get yourself hurt?" Vivien stopped to scrub tears from her face with both hands and Finn patted the chair that Gloria had managed to force to appear just before Vivien's outburst.

"I'm doing my job Vivien." Finn said gently. "I know you love history, and I know that you see the patterns changing. I agree, there isn't as much call for the Hunter as there used to be, but that doesn't make my job any less dangerous when I'm called to do it. Hell, lately it seems like it's more dangerous." Finn frowned a moment. "What brings you here though? Just came to yell at me?"

Vivien shook her head and rummaged in her sweater pockets, finally pulling out a small box with a runed lid. She set it on the table and lifted the lid as she answered Finn. "No, I've been trying to get to you since I saw you last, but this is the first time I've managed to get a door to work right." She set down a jar of salve, a bottle of white pills, and a vial of a yellow fluid. "I got these from the doc for you, he said he won't give you more without you coming in to see him for an update though."

"Are you sick?" Gloria asked and Vivien blinked, her face going pale.

"Nothing for you to worry about." Finn said calmly. "Just the cost of aging."

Gloria narrowed her eyes and Finn knew she was using the Chronicler's ability. Finally she frowned and shrugged. "Just seems like there's a lot of people offering you medicine."

Vivien, her colour recovered, turned to face Gloria. "There's a lot of people that would offer her more if she'd take it. A lot of us owe her." She held out her hand. "I'm Vivien, by the way. I'm a nurse by day and an alchemist also by day."

Gloria took her hand. "I'm Gloria. Apparently a Chronicler, a fire mage and confused as hell."

"The Chronicler." Vivien said with a half smile. "There's only one."

"I haven't been able to figure out why though." Gloria blurted and Finn sipped her coffee as the younger girl turned red. "It seems like it would be a bigger job than just one person is all I'm saying."

"So Finn is working you hard then?" Vivien said with a laugh. Finn was too tired to join in, but a smile twitched her lips all the same. She downed her coffee and stood.

"I'm sorry to kick you out so fast, and if you and Gloria want to visit for a bit you're more than welcome," she said to Vivien. "I'm wiped out though. Good night."

As she left the kitchen and made her slow way up to her bedroom she heard Vivien point out that it was still so early. A moment later Finn was snug in her bed and just about to drift when she heard a tapping at the base of the stairs. She sat up and listened a moment, confirming that someone downstairs wanted her attention. She stood and moved stiffly back to the top of the stairs and looked down to  where Vivien stood below.

"What's up?" Finn asked.

"I've been dealing with Apollo a lot lately, and I know you don't like them, but I'm sure he has something he could give you to help." Vivien said and Finn frowned. "Any port in a storm right?"

Finn nodded and moved back to her bed. "I'm the storm, not the ship." She muttered as she let sleep slip her from the pain into a land of dreams.