Page 160 of Alchemised
“Both of them?”
Helena didn’t look up as she nodded.
Pace didn’t move for a moment but then recovered. “Let’s get you out of these muddy clothes and see what needs to be done.” She led Helena towards one of the private rooms usually reserved for the high-ranked members of the Eternal Flame, shooing away anyone who came towards them.
Helena had always appreciated how professional Pace was. No matter the circumstances, she was unflappable. Helena’s hands were too swollen and cold to manage buttons or clasps. Pace didn’t say a word about all the mud that spread to her apron and sleeves and hands as she helped Helena undress.
“It’s a novelty after all the blood,” she said dismissively when Helena tried to apologise, squeezing out a wet cloth. “Now let’s get you clean, and see what the damage is. Elain will be the best choice for your hands.”
Helena tensed, but there was nothing to be done. Once the bruises were visible, Pace would realise that Helena had not sprained her wrists by tripping, and Elain, while the most competent trainee, was a terrible gossip.
Pace paused the instant Helena’s throat was clean enough to make the bruises ringing it unmistakable. Before Helena could think of anything to say, there was a knock on the door.
Pace pressed her lips together and went to answer, her body blocking out the hospital ward beyond.
“What is it, Purnell?” Pace said.
A hushed voice replied, “Message for you. Said it was urgent.”
Pace took something and then shut the door. She unfolded, read, and then ripped up a slip of paper as she walked back to Helena.
“I have instructions to send you to your room. Immediately,” Pace said, her cheeks a furious red. “But I think I can get you a little cleaner first.”
Once she was clean, Helena was bundled up as though she were hypothermic, and Pace accompanied her to the Alchemy Tower. Crowther was waiting as they exited the skybridge. Pace stiffened at the sight of him.
“Matron Pace,” he said. “What can I do for you?”
Broken blood vessels stained Pace’s cheeks. “I came to be sure that Marino is being looked after.”
Crowther’s eye twitched. “Of course.” He looked at Helena. “I presume, then, that you’re in a condition that requires healing?”
Helena had been considering the question. “If I have my left hand treated, I think I can manage the rest after that.”
“I’ll send for someone. Stay out of sight until then. Matron, you’re dismissed.” He turned and walked away without another word.
Pace didn’t return to the hospital; instead she went with Helena to her room, and stayed even after Helena was in her bed.
“You know, I knew a few healers when I was a midwife,” Pace finally said, sitting down at the foot of Helena’s bed and looking around the room. “City-trained doctors didn’t care much for working in the mountain villages. The ones I knew didn’t always call themselves healers, they just thought it was intuition. They were mostly older women who’d thought for a long time that they had a good sense for bodies. When I was told there was a healer coming from the mountains, I expected someone my age.” She finally looked over at Helena. “You’re so young. You don’t even know how young you are. You’re sacrificing things you don’t even comprehend the value of.”
Helena’s emotions were a tangle inside her. “No one’s forcing me to do anything I didn’t—agree to.”
“What have you ever said no to?” Pace asked. Before Helena could reply, she continued, “You think a man like Crowther hasn’t noticed that?”
Pace might have said more, but the door opened, revealing Crowther with a young girl beside him.
“You may return to the hospital, Matron,” Crowther said pointedly, holding the door.
Pace patted Helena on the knee and stood, glaring at Crowther as she passed. Crowther closed the door firmly before turning to Helena.
“This is Ivy; she’ll do as instructed to get your left hand working.”
The girl stepped forward. She moved haltingly, like a deer, but her eyes were sharp and foxlike. She was perhaps fifteen, but Helena doubted she was even that. She’d never heard of a vivimancer so young. As Pace had said, typically it manifested later in life.
The war had prematurely aged people in all kinds of ways.
Ivy didn’t say a word as Helena gestured at her left wrist and explained in the simplest terms what she thought was wrong with it, what needed to be done, and what to be careful of. Helena had never been healed by anyone except herself, and she shot several panicked looks at Crowther as Ivy reached out and touched her arm.
The girl was startlingly adept with her vivimancy, but her resonance was not subtle at all.
