The girl obliged Majaumahada's request, sliding off of the horse with some difficulty as she struggled to keep the boy steady. She lowered him down carefully, evidently straining against the weight of his unconscious body. Majaumahada lead the way into her cottage, leaving the door open behind her. The girl followed, dragging the boy. Majaumahada lead them to the treatment room. Her apprentice watched them enter, half concealed behind a doorway. Majaumahada dismissed him with a small wave of her hand, and he disappeared from sight. The girl had not noticed him.

"Lay him down here," Majaumahada advised calmly, motioning to a low, padded table in the center of the room. The girl did as she was told quickly, desperation barely concealed. She watched Majaumahada's movements helplessly.

Majaumahada turned toward a small cabinet and reached in, removing the objects she needed to do her work. The girl stood by restlessly. Majaumahada set her tools by the boy's side and began to remove the bloodsoaked fabric he was wrapped in. She could see now that he had two wounds, one on his chest and a deeper one in his side. She would have to treat his side first.

"What are you waiting for?" The girl asked, agitated.

"Hush." Majaumahada ignored her, gingerly peeling back the wet layers. When she had finished, her hands were tinged with blood. She placed a hand on his bare chest. Finally, she could feel him. His life force was weak, but it was present. She felt it struggle against his wounds and loss of blood. It was losing, but it was there. That was all the reassurance she needed.

With a small knife, Majaumahada cut away what fabric remained in her way. The girl started toward them at the sight of the knife. Majaumahada glanced at her and sighed.

"Why don't you wait outside, child?" The girl began to protest, but Majaumahada silenced her with a look. She could afford no distractions. "I am trying to help him."

The girl exited wordlessly, looking behind her cautiously. Majaumahada turned her attention back to the boy. She breathed in deeply, placing her hands on the wound in his side. His blood enveloped her fingers, sticky and hot. She closed her eyes and began to channel her energy.

She could feel his life force accutely. She could feel her own. She felt the buzzing of the life around them, the flowers and insects and girl just outside the door. She sensed the excess. Gathering the essence within herself, she commanded it with the practiced confidence of an expert. She moved it through herself, to the tips of her fingers, and into the boy's body. She felt movement in the wound beneath her hands as it slowly stitched itself back together. She fed energy into the boy's wound, until eventually the bleeding slowed. A growing exhaustion was building within her, forcing her out of her trance. She cut her energy off from his.

The wound was much better now, but the effects would be temporary. The gash in the boy's chest could still kill him, even if the one in his side did not. He would live for at least the next few minutes, though. Majaumahada sighed, walking to a bowl of water and cleaning her hands off. Then, she sprinkled a dark powder over the boy's wounds. That would fend off whatever diseases may have been growing in those wet fabrics. She reached across the table and dipped her fingers in a jar of ointment she had taken from the cabinet. She applied it to both wounds. Then, wiping her hands on a rag hanging off the side of the table, she took hold of a bundle of flowers.

They were large flowers, picked recently as they reached the climax of their blooming. Majaumahada's treatment room was lined with bundles of fresh flowers, though the species differed. Some had medicinal properites. Others did not. All would be useful to her now. Holding the flowers in her hands, she attuned herself to their life force. Flowers retained some energy even after being picked. She drew their energy from them, gratefully drinking in as much as she could. The flowers wilted in her hands, petals darkening and shriveling up. After drawing from three bundles, she was ready to continue treatment. Many minutes later, she emerged.