The longer I walked with Andrei, the more rejuvenated I felt, as if he gave off a healing energy that encompassed everyone around him. I almost felt back to normal as he asked, “Have you seen the portrait gallery?”
“There’s a portrait gallery?” I couldn’t keep the hope from my voice. I had never seen pictures of my parents. What little I knew of their features were from Nana’s stories when she pointed out what we shared.
He knew what I was asking and held out a hand, directing me. “This way.”
He led me through the winding corridors that I still hadn’t mastered and into a grand space. It was smaller than the Great Hall but still vastly bigger than anything in Fairhaven. Instead of the stone I’d grown accustomed to, this floor consisted of wooden planks laid out in a hexagonal pattern. There was limited seating, just a few benches upholstered in turquoise. And portraits covered every inch of wall space, ranging from miniatures to life-size canvases.
“This space is used for more intimate celebrations by the royals,” he explained. “The last time it was used was for a royal wedding.”
I looked at him sharply.
“Yes, your parents’ wedding. It was a wonderful day. A wedding is always a wonderful celebration, but when it is between mates, well, that’s another thing entirely.”
“What do you mean?”
“There are many bonds in the universe—between parent andchild, between lovers, even between godsparent and godschild—but the mating bond is something special. Two halves of one soul joining together. It is a beautiful ceremony.”
I wandered away from him, focusing on each of the faces. Some of them were familiar, a shared feature here or there. A woman caught my eye, her black hair full of curls, eyes the same as mine staring back at me. I started to walk closer, but I saw something in my peripheral vision, and my breath caught. Two figures stood together in a large central portrait, and I was transfixed. I let out a small sob as my knees grew weak. There was a loud screeching sound, and a bench came to rest against the back of my legs. I sank onto it, staring up at them. He had the same eyes as me. And dark hair like me. She was blonde, but her hair was straight like mine. I stared at their features, finding the parts I’d gotten from him, from her. Andrei simply sat next to me, a comforting presence.
“Nana said my mother was a healer,” I ventured. I didn’t know how long he’d been my grandfather’s partner, but he clearly had been present at my parents’ wedding, and had mentioned that first night that he had known them.
“Rose was right,” he said quietly. “And to answer your unspoken question, yes, I knew Mireya well.”
He paused long enough that I glanced at him. Sadness mixed into his usual amiable expression. “Not a day goes by that I don’t miss them, both of them. I knew your father very well too. But Mira was my star pupil.”
I stayed silent, hoping he would continue telling me about them.
“Mira had a rare gift. Similar to mine, she had all of the healing channels—body, earth, and soul. Most healers have body and earth, but a true soul healer? That is rare indeed. Someone who can see the soul and rescue parts that attempt to stray away. But more than that, she was kind. She always put others first, always with a smile on her face.”
I blinked as tears welled up.
“The soul channel is tricky,” he continued. “For some, it givesinstinctive knowledge of a person’s nature. For others, it may give prophetic dreams. But for healing, it relies on the secrets of the soul, and banishing those that risk the soul’s integrity. Watching Mira perform a soul healing was inspiring. Luckily, she wasn’t called upon to do it frequently.”
He continued on, telling a story about one man who had been so far gone in turmoil that people had feared for his life. In a last-ditch effort, they had sent for my mother. Never one to turn down a person in need, she had traveled leagues away to visit with him. And she’d saved more than just his life—she’d saved his soul.
That was what made the hufen so devastating—the darkness destroyed the soul, the intrinsic part that made someone who they were, eating away at it, bit by bit, until there was nothing left but an empty shell.
The tears were streaming down my face now.
Andrei handed me a handkerchief but did not judge. “I see both of them in you,” he said quietly. “But your strength of spirit is all Mira. She would get that same determined expression on her face. She never backed down from what she believed was right—neither of them did. Even when it made things… complicated.” Something flickered across his face, a shadow of old pain or frustration. “Your grandfather didn’t always agree with them, or Violet,” he began, but then seemed to catch himself. “But that is not important now. I would like to teach you the basics of using your body channel to heal.”
With the portraits of my parents looking down on me, I could only nod.
“I know you have been training your fire channel. Fire and body can work together. You can cleanse the body of a sickness with fire. It’s not the most delicate way to do it, as you simply burn the sickness out of the person, but if there’s no other healer around, it’ll do the trick. My hope is to give you skill enough that you can do a basic healing, if ever required. I understand you have knowledge of earth healing?” At my nod, he continued. “Healing the earth is similar tohealing the body. And many healers here do have our earth channels. We also use compounds from the earth. We wear green to honor Erde, as well. But we are aided by our body channels.”
He explained how to bring up my body channel and hover it over a person with a sickness or injury. Combining that channel with the earth channel could help inform how to heal the issue, as many sicknesses and injuries could be healed with gifts from the earth.
But the real trick was to know when a person truly required magic to save them. That was when a body channel keyed to healing was needed.
“But if someone has their body channel and the healing gift, why wouldn’t they just use it?” I asked him. “Why rely on potions and compounds if you can just heal and make it like it never happened?”
“Ah, that is a good question.” He shifted back on the bench. “Have you noticed the energy expenditure every time you use your channels?”
The memory of just how drained I had been earlier came rushing back.
He nodded, clearly seeing the answer on my face. “Healing is just like that. It takes from your energy reserves—physical, emotional, and mental. There is a cost to us to use our healing powers. And as every healer knows—use too much, go too far, and there’s no coming back. You can spend your entire life force healing a patient if they are severely injured. So most of us choose to use the earth’s powers first, which are strong in their own right, and save our life force for the truly dire cases.”
He lapsed into silence, and I found myself thinking about the idea of expending your entire life force to save something. About the ultimate sacrifice a healer could make.
