'Ah...'
Siel looked open-mouthed at the man, sitting there with his strange cloak-hood still covering most of his face.
It was the healer he'd convinced. The one who supposedly had exceptionally strong healing magic.
The younger tower magician stood still for a moment. He then looked over his shoulder at Arin, raising his brows in question.
Arin nodded at him in what he hoped was an encouraging manner. He'd have given him a thumbs-up if he thought the boy would understand what it meant.
In any case, Siel had already dealt with that guy before. He'd do a better job of communicating with him.
The boy's mouth set in a determined line, and he turned back around to face the man.
'May I know what you are doing here, sir?' he asked.
The man's hood-covered head tilted slightly to one side. 'Merely seeing to the very task I was hounded about, all evening long. By you,' came a deep, hoarse-sounding voice from behind the fabric.
Siel shook his head. 'No, what I mean to say is that, well... I don't mean to offend, but I'd much prefer if you were healing several people at once, rather than focusing on... on a single individual. You know, as you'd promised to -'
'I am well aware of what I'd promised,' rasped the cloaked healer, and Siel stopped speaking immediately.
Arin's brows pulled a bit tight at that. He knew that the younger tower magician was just trying to come up with an excuse to get the man away from Elara. But, for some reason, it seemed to him that...
Siel was slightly afraid of the man.
Or, well, not afraid, exactly. Just less... comfortable... than usual?
Was that it? Or was he just overthinking things because the boy wasn't happily yapping away as he usually did?
Maybe the kid was just tired...
Arin continued watching silently from the back. The younger tower magician seemed to stiffen his shoulders before opening his mouth to speak again.
'Good,' he said. 'Then I'd like if you could bring me along, to show me the results of your efforts. After all, what I promised -'
The strange healer held up a gloved hand, and Siel fell silent again.
'One should know when to speak, if at all,' said the man.
Arin's frown deepened slightly.
Rude little...
He took a couple steps forward until he was standing right beside the younger magician, and towering over the seated healer with his height.
He didn't know how exactly the kid had convinced this healer to help them out, and had no clue of what had been promised to him in return. Even so...
Looking coldly down at where he assumed the healer's eyes to be behind his stupid cloak, Arin opened his mouth, and in the most Rin-like, dispassionate voice he could muster, said, 'One should know to honor any deals they've made. One should also remember that these things go both ways.'
There was silence as the cloaked healer lifted his head higher, presumably to get a better look at him through the fabric of his stupid lowered hood. However he was seeing, it didn't seem to go both ways, and all Arin could see was the same, solid stretch of fabric as he stared back.
At that point, just wear a damned mask! That way, at least he'd have a face to look at!
Arin seriously didn't like not being able to read this man's expressions, or even see his eyes. Regardless, he kept looking back expressionlessly, like he couldn't care less about whatever the man would have to say to him after that.
After a few more seconds, the man seemed to sigh softly. He the pointed behind himself at the numerous mattresses in that direction, and rasped, 'I've put them to sleep. An ordinary sleep. After a few hours' rest, they shall all awaken with enough strength to sit up and communicate. In this manner, over three hundred villagers' survival has been guaranteed.'
...
Three...
Three hundred!?
Did he say three hundred? Already?
In just the few minutes since he'd gotten to work, he'd saved over three. hundred. people!?
Arin had to work really hard to keep himself from gasping in pleasant - and also just surprised - surprise. After a moment of thought, he also had to hold himself back from releasing a sigh of despair.
He seriously hoped he hadn't managed to offend a healer of such capabilities. Was that why Siel was being so careful with his words?!?
If this man left before the rest of Silvershade had been saved, he had no doubt he'd be turned into bird feed by the surviving villagers, tower magician or not.
In spite of it all, Arin's face somehow managed to remain impressively impassive, as the healer continued to speak.
'More shall follow. As many as my magic can manage. I honor my deals, tower magician. I... understand... how such things work.'
'I merely happened to discover something that roused my... ah, curiosity, let's just say...'
Arin's eyes flickered down to the girl lying on the mattress by them. The now-familiar, drawn face. The gasping breaths, and the tightly shut eyes.
Elara, whose condition was clearly very different from that of the other villagers.
Elara, who very clearly, was still caught in the unending sleep.