Ayn's Healing

Chapter 34 - Ayn

The New Year came some chapters ago in the Land, but in the real world, it is only two days old. So a very Happy New Year to all regular humans out there :) and happy reading! 

Sybille welcomes us warmly, but then tells Teresa she should go check-in at the hotel, because I was going to be in the school for a while.

She then invites me to her office and I cringe for a moment because nothing good had ever happened to me in that room. I sit again on the chair where I have had to explain why did I think it was a good idea to set fire to the mushroom shed - because some of them burned with colored smoke and I wanted to see what happened when more colors were combined, that's why- or why did I release a bunch of cockroaches in front of her door - because she had grounded me for the mushroom incident, that's why.

Sybille asks me some basic questions about the circumstances of my glitch, she notes it is very unusual that a green witch is gifted with mind power and that it's also rare that somebody glitches a random strength before they have their wings. Of course it's rare, I tell her. This is me, Ayn, the witch orphaned in a rare dark magic attack, experiencing the rare bond with a male from another subspecies. Despite what my statistics-wielding mate claims, odds don't exist for me. I am the most special snowflake this world has ever seen. Sybille ignores my sarcasm and asks me if I intend to properly train my new power.

"I don't know. I don't know what this will do to my core powers and whether training it will prevent me from getting my wings on time." I tell her quickly the reason why I need her advice.

"Have you been fine-tuning your core powers?"

I am thinking how to answer this because I don't really want to tell her Xander basically hired me as pack witch.

"Yes. Xander - and then Kari - allowed me to offer the healing touch to his warriors when they get hurt in training. I think I have made some some progress in terms of speed and endurance for medium injuries. I am not sure about the complex ones."

"I see. We'll take a look at that later. How about your secondary skills, like communication with forest creatures? I seem to remember you had some trouble with that in school? "

"I improved. I can even speak to my mate's wolf and also use the pack mind..."

"Excellent. A very special skill in this post-Split world." she smiles so awkwardly that for a moment I wonder if the books I had once found in the back room were actually confiscated, or if they belonged to her.

"I won't ask you about potions and remedies because I know that was always your passion, so I assume that is fine also."

Before I can acknowledge she continues:

"I would like you to take the war test."

My blood runs cold because I hated the war test when I was in school and I still loathe the memory of it. It involved practicing the touch in a simulation of a Great War scene. There was a limited time to find one witch victim among tens of barely living bodies of different humanoid species, and heal her. The magically created scene was fairly realistic, including even the flying objects - planes and helicopters - that had been used by humans to spray fire and poisons, and which had since been forbidden to fly north of the Pass Streets or over the Witches' Plains. One had to dodge their attacks also.

When I make my peace with the idea that I will spend one hour in a dark room avoiding fire waterfalls while practicing the healing touch on maimed puppets, Sybille clarifies her request:

"I am not talking about the regular graduation version, but the Advanced level. If you score at least eighty percent, I think you can train your random strength without risking a delay in getting your wings."