Thread: Life's Journey (The_Gladiator & darkangel76)

Taurean continued to paddle, from all outward appearances oblivious to her words and actions. But looks were deceiving he was aware of her every action. He could feel her hands, the shape of them as they pressed against his torso. The left slipping in under the side of his leather armored vest to press to directly over the injured ribs. Even though it was not flesh to flesh, he could feel her touch distinctly. Her other hand had only found its way to the armored vest and he could feel the pressure from that hand but not so much its shape. One would think healing like she was attempting would require direct skin to skin contact, but no, the magic did not mind if one had on a thin tunic, like what was under her left hand, the thick leather armor as under her right hand, or even if he had been wearing thick metal plate armor. Although For a split second there, Brandon wondered what it would be like to feel those slender hands on his bare skin. Just for the briefest of seconds, before the control that was Brandon reasserted himself and he shut down all such thoughts. She could probably feel the flexing of his muscles as the paddled under her touch, a repetitive motion that stilled for the briefest of instants as she first placed her palms against him. The analytical portion of his mind rationalized her actions. If he was injured he would be less affective at saving her, and she most obviously wanted to be saved, to be kept safe. This was the cynical assassin in him who could not conceive that a big portion of her reasons for healing people, as was the calling of all healers, was to reduce suffering and to help people. A true healer healed because they could, because it was their calling. A healer did not care if they got paid or other such trivial meaningless factors. A healer had once tried to explain it to him. Brandon had merely laughed at the fellow and handed him a purse of gold for his services. He would be beholden to no one he would not owe anyone anything for a kindness done to him. So it was that he justified her actions in his mind. This was her way of repaying him for saving her, so he would owe her nothing for her assistance because she owed him for saving her life. Never mind that it was part of his assigned duty, she did not know this. Brandon watched as the glow began to form around her hands, it was different for every cleric, the glow taking on a color that fit the god or goddess and sometimes even the aura of the cleric. The color white for a priestess of Brigantia made sense, for it was night, and during the hours of the dark, the face of the goddess was that of the moon goddess, Taurean could not bring to mind her name. He knew only the slightest bit about Rhonwhyns faith, but for the most part what knowledge he had had been enough over the years. He opened his mouth to curse her for causing the light, for doing this now in the open when they were both still vulnerable. He closed it again as she moved subtly, his cloak, that she wore, falling around her to shield the glow from any potential watchers. His head nodded once in approval, perhaps she was not as nave as he had initially thought. Taurean could feel the heat of her magic flowing into him. Many healers healed in different ways. He could feel her energy and thoughts focused around his ribs. The healing was controlled in part by her will and in part by the magic, which automatically sought out the worst damage. He felt for the briefest of instances her mind brush his, an action that probably was intended to remove his pain, and the pain caused by the healing. His natural shields were tight and the gentle probing was rebuffed. He would not so easily let her into his mind, even to do such a service to him. To him it was a testament to her inexperience that the magic and her will hadnt punctured his shields. A very powerful healer could have punched through his mental barriers, or coaxed their way in. High level healing often involved the removing of the others pain by taking it into oneself, becoming a conduit for the pain to then dissipate. Having rebuffed the magics request to remove the pain, Taurean was left with the searing heat and burning pain as the magic flowed into his ribs forcibly mending the damage that had been done. He felt the bones grate together as the one rib that was broken knit itself back together. He knew as she pulled her hands back that she had not healed everything, but the sharp pain of the broken rib was gone, and it was all reduced to a dull ache rather than the sharp breath stealing pain of before. Her eyes flicked up from her work and for the first time their eyes met. The cool gray of Brandons eyes was not visible in the night, but his eyes did seem to glow red, the telltale sign of infrovision. That first look for the first time possibly giving Rhonwhyn a clue to whom or at least what Taurean was. For of the goodly surface races, elves and dwarves were best known for the heat seeking sight, and it was more than clear that Taurean was no dwarf. Taurean gave a curt nod, Thank you. Was all he said. He gave no information as to how her healing had helped, whether it had been welcomed, just a simple acknowledgement of what she had done. Something about the healing process, Taurean did not really understand how, he was no healer, would have told her how successful she was at healing him, so he felt no need to provide her with information about it. He merely accepted the help and continued to paddle them downstream. However, though he would not say so aloud, he was glad of her assistance, for they were nearing more difficult waters and he would need his strength and full range of motion. Even now he could hear the increasing agitation of the water, as it lapped harder at the boat and the banks as the river began to narrow, the current picking up speed.