She pointed silently to our right. Through the trees, I caught the movement as human hunters, armed and alert.
"Scavengers," she mouthed.
Rogue humans who preyed on their own kind and would certainly have no mercy for a weakened mapinguari. In my condition, I couldn't fight them off.
Kalyndi motioned for me to follow her, veering left into denser underbrush. My bulk made moving quietly nearlyimpossible, but she guided me through with remarkable patience, finding paths I would have missed.
When my legs gave out, she found us a sheltered hollow beneath a fallen tree. As I sank down gratefully, I realized how completely our roles had reversed. The protector now needed protection.
"You're good at this," I said as she checked our back trail.
"I wasn't always a healer." She settled beside me, just close enough that I could smell the herbal scent that clung to her skin. "My father taught me to track and hunt before I could walk."
"What happened to him?"
Her face shuttered. "Monsters happened."
The silence that followed felt heavier than my pack.
"Not all of us… " I began.
"Don't." She cut me off. "Just don't. Not now."
I nodded and closed my eyes, conserving strength for the journey ahead.
The terramares came into view as the sun set on our fourth day of travel. The human settlement was smaller than our villages but well-organized, with gardens surrounding clay and timber buildings.
Children spotted us first. Instead of running in fear as they normally did when I approached, they raced toward us, toward Kalyndi, with cries of excitement.
"She's back! Kalyndi's back!"
Adults emerged from buildings, faces lighting up when they saw her. Then darkening when they noticed me stumbling along behind.
An older woman pushed through the crowd. "You found it? The shadowroot?"
Kalyndi nodded, shrugging off the pack I'd insisted on carrying through the settlement. "Enough for all the sick children and some to spare."
The cheer that went up was deafening. Hands reached for Kalyndi, pulling her into embraces. The crowd passed her around while I awkwardly stood at the sides of the celebration.
A small child, only four, stared up at me without fear. "Are you sick too?" she asked, pointing at my bandaged side.
I crouched down, wincing at the pull on my wound. "I was. Your healer made me better."
The girl nodded solemnly. "She's making my brother better too."
The child's mother snatched her away, eyeing me warily.
I straightened and followed the crowd to what appeared to be their medical building. Inside, children lay on pallets, their skin pale and marked with the telltale purple spots of the forest fever.
Kalyndi worked quickly, preparing the shadowroot into a tincture. I watched from the doorway as she administered it to each child, speaking softly, encouraging them to drink the bitter medicine.
The reverence with which the terramares people treated her was striking. This wasn't just respect for her healing skills. This was love. They loved her. And watching her gentle competence, I understood why.
I was resting against the side of our assigned dwelling when they arrived. Three officials in the sharp uniforms of Magnus Terra, the human government that collaborated with the monster council.
They barely acknowledged me as they strode past, heading straight for where Kalyndi was checking on patients. I struggled to my feet, using the wall for support, and followed.
"Healer Kalyndi," the lead official said. "Your success with the medicine retrieval is noted. However, we're here for your three-month assessment."
