Starlight (Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Five days. It had been five days since Ro's encounter with Sheanna. And in those five days Ro worked harder than she ever had before. Her days started before the sun was up and well after it had set. She worked with the other healers to fill out orders and requests for ailments and dried herbs. She did this all while healing herself. Her head wound no longer required a bandage and after she realized she needed to pick the riper berries for her tonic it become much more potent. The strongest that Nina had ever seen.

Ro still kept her ribs wrapped up in a tight bandage. She wasn't able to move around as quickly as the other healers, but she somehow managed to double the orders she filled. Ro spent any down time she had talking with Natasha and a couple of the other healers that she had befriended. All of them native-born. There were very few healers that were considered wanderers. Kaihula being one of the few. The head healer was constantly moving. Ro had barely seen him in her time there. So when she saw the healer as she walked into the stock room to grab a handful of crushed mystic pepper vine, she decided to speak to him.

"Hello", she said to him. "I am Aurora. I have not met you yet."

Kaihula's teeth were stark white against his tanned skin as he grin as her, "There is a reason for that, Kuuipo."

Ro cocked her head.

"The healers have been instructed not to help you." The Hawaiian began to close the box that he had been searching through.

Ro nodded. Even though all the healers were given the same instruction, the head healer decided to take it a bit further, "So I've been told."

"You seemed to have managed just fine." Kaihula smiled at Ro and picked up another box.

"Kaihula-"

"Kai." He corrected.

"Kai...would you mind telling me how you got here?"

The healer set the box down on the shelf in front of him and pulled back his sleeve to expose his wrist. Ro saw the familiar Tempest Court brand and the Wildwood brand above it, "I was bought from the Wildwood Court three years ago."

Ro shook her head, "I'm sorry, but that's not what I meant. I meant how you ended up in the Fae Realm."

Kai took a deep breath, "'Ae, I see." He tilted his head back slightly as if gathering memories and then spoke, "I was a PhD student at the University of Hawai'i. I had traveled to Europe to study Filipendula vulgaris or dropwort. I was studying the healing properties of the plant and how truly effective they were. I was in the field gathering specimens when I stepped into the ring."

That was the reason Kai was in the position he was in. He has studied medicinal plants. He had developed talents in plant identification and study. The healer began to search through the box again and pulled out several pieces of the paper that were used for wrapping dried herbs. He placed the box back and turned Ro to leave the stock room.

"I wish you luck with the King, kuuipo." Kai said as he made his way past Ro.

She managed to tell him thank you before he left the room. She turned towards the back of the room and walked over to the shelf that held the dried plants. Ro quickly found the mystic pepper vine and headed back to prepare the cream for curing a skin condition known as the blistering touch. There was a young Fairy no more than five years old that was the son of one of the King's guard. He had been suffering for days and had finally been diagnosed by Nina. Ro volunteered herself to make the cream once she knew who's child it was. She thought that healing the young male would get the King's attention and help her to gain an audience. Ro thought that she would have seen him before now especially after her encounters with Orin and Sheanna, but she never heard any word of him.