“Heal me?” Melain blinked up at her.
“I don’t know how much you know of sorceresses, but we can heal most injuries, yes. Speed the recovery might be a better way of putting it, I think.” Brynn had never had to explain to anyone what a sorceress did. The people of Paega’s household and mostof Hylden had no problems seeking one out. “I won’t know for sure until I try, but I think I will be able to mend it.”
Melain looked to someone at her side, another woman who might have been a sister for all they looked alike. The other woman nodded, though her eyes stayed on Brynn.
They didn’t trust her. Not yet.
“Thank you,” Brynn said. “May I touch you?”
“Yes,” Melain consented, jaw tight.
Brynn rested one hand over the other woman’s ribs. As soon as she did, she could feel the truth of what Melain had said.
“Can you give your child to someone else for a moment?” Brynn asked.
Melain appeared anxious, but the woman at her side took the baby. Melain looked to Brynn, outright fear now in her eyes.
Brynn was going to make sure this risk paid off for Melain. She pulled on thekaalready within Melain’s body and gentled it into place. She could feel where bones had been cracked and the cartilage bruised. Brynn guided the pools of energy into their correct spaces.
A bodywantedto be whole—that was what most people didn’t understand. It just needed help knowing the way sometimes.
Something snapped into place and Melain gasped, grabbing Brynn’s shoulder for support. There had been a broken rib. That explained it.
“Hold on,” Brynn said softly. “Almost there.”
“What are you doing to her?” someone demanded.
Brynn ignored the voice and kept working. This wound was already several days old, and some healing had already taken place. It wasn’t hard to finish, guiding the broken pieces of Melain’s body back into wholeness.
Melain gasped, leaning against Brynn. She looked up at the sorceress, eyes wide.
“How is it now?” Brynn asked. “Can you test it for me?”
Melain stood, one hand going to her side. She twisted slowly to the right, then to the left. She looked back to Brynn. “It…I can breathe.”
Brynn nodded with a small smile. “It might be tender for a few days after this, so be as gentle with it as you can.”
Melain bowed to Brynn. “Thank you, lady.”
The child Melain had handed off squalled and whined, reaching for his mother.
Brynn’s chest wrenched at the sound. Her hands shook, fighting the impulse to search for Osbeorn.
“Oswiu.” Melain took her son back and he snuggled against her as she bounced him up and down.
The name was even similar. Why did the name have to be similar?
Brynn forced herself not to look at the little boy. Not now. She didn’t want to break down crying.
“Are you sure you’re alright, Mel?” the woman who’d held the baby asked. She shot a glare to Brynn, outright hostile.
“I’m fine,” Melain assured her. “You can check me over when we get back to your house.”
For some reason, that only made the other woman glare harder at Brynn.
People were staring at them. More than a few whispered back and forth, but that was fine. Brynn wanted this story to spread. It was better for people to hear about what she could do than for her to tell them.
Melain shifted her baby in her arms. “I might need more healing for this one once he learns to walk,” she said in an attempt at humor.
