C48: Potentially Good News

The following day, Cera found herself somewhat tired, though she had experience with not sleeping for considerable lengths of time.  Apparently, her new body wasn’t used to that, however.  She sighed before going downstairs, then out of the city, once again planning to experiment for most of the day.

It’d been a while since she met with Laura, however, so she planned to do that as well as evening came.  Fortunately, there were, once again, no major issues with her experimentation, though she also still did not get the results she was hoping for.

As she arrived at Laura’s home and entered, however, she was surprised to find that the woman had a letter for her.  Apparently, she’d been waiting ever so patiently for Cera to return, and had repeatedly pushed her parents to try to help her.

At Laura’s insistence, she immediately opened the letter and read it.  It appeared that the woman’s father had tried going through his contacts, and had found one who owed him a favor and knew a fairly well-known mage who’d gone to the academy at the capital and was well-regarded there.

The message stated that she had one chance, and that if she failed, she would likely end up maimed.  The man who’d been convinced to meet her had stated in no uncertain terms that he would not stand a waste of his time, or an attempt to abuse his reputation.  He’d been told she specialized in defense and had unique skills, and put forth a challenge - she was to meet him, and he would attack her, and if he deemed her skilled enough, he would give his support, though he wouldn’t help beyond writing a single letter.

Cera actually had to consider that for a few moments.  While she was pretty good at defense even in her weakened state here, she, and the others in the guild, were not highly-trained experts like this mage would be.  That meant that he’d be able to throw around much more power than she could, and likely much more refined as well.

Laura, during this time, was practically bouncing and trying to look at the letter, which Cera folded and put into a pocket before simply informing her that her father might have helped her, but she had to prove herself first.  As she spoke, she decided for herself that she’d at least try, and do her best.  The letter included how to contact the mage in question, a Martin Loren who lived in another city that was, fortunately enough, on the way to the capital from here.

It would be a while before she would go, however, as she still needed to work on her biological manipulation more, and continue doing what she could to teach her students as well.  She spent a while going over more advanced techniques with Laura, then headed home for the day, planning to go directly to the mages’ guild tomorrow and spend some time doing a little research before teaching.

The following day was exactly as she expected, though she did take a quick detour to the hospital to ask them to try to get the man they’d found to be ready in two days.  To her surprise, they stated that he was actually back in the hospital due to an infection, so she could come by later in the day instead.  Naturally, she accepted the offer and even stated that she’d do her best to fix the infection as well.

As she’d expected, her students were eager to see if she was correct in her belief that she could restore missing digits, and were willing to head to the hospital as soon as she met with them.  Not long after, they were in a curtained-off area with the man, though it was incredibly crowded with them all there.

The man frowned before gesturing at his arm and complaining, “Something bit me, and now my arm’s infected on top of my missing toe!”

Cera simply examined the indicated wound before shaking her head and remarking, “We should be able to get you out of here today; that isn’t as bad as I thought when I heard you’d been back for an infected wound.  And I can’t guarantee full function will be restored to your toe as I don’t really know how to grow nerves back, but I’m confident in reconstructing the rest of your toe.”

With a frown, the man growled at her that she was using words he didn’t understand, but that he’d be happy as long as it was back and his balance wasn’t disrupted anymore.  Naturally, Cera was glad that she wouldn’t be out five copper, even if it wasn’t a terribly difficult amount to handle anymore.

She swiftly summoned an ice scalpel and got to work on the man’s arm, temporarily disconnecting the nerves so he wouldn’t feel pain as she removed the infection and healed it, then reconnecting them.  After that, she had him shift around so he could easily raise his leg, then stuff a pillow under it to keep it in place.

As she got a look at it, she realized why he was having trouble.  Even though it seemed small and useless, the little toe was actually quite important for balance, and having it gone like that would be incredibly difficult until one adjusted to it.  Using the same scalpel, she cut loose the flesh that had grown over the stump.

The man hissed in pain, and she promptly had to apologize, having forgotten to disable the nerves this time.  Once she’d fixed her mistake, she began explaining what she was doing to her students as she got to work creating bone, careful to get the joints correct before working on restoring the flesh and blood vessels.  It took a while, but eventually, she was happy with her work, and asked the man to try standing.

After a bit of shuffling, he managed to stand, frowning for a moment before remarking, “It’s weird, not feeling it, but it somewhat works; it’s a lot better than it was before, at least.  Thank you, Miss Healer.”

Cera nodded to the man, then informed him that he could simply pay the fee for the infection, and then he’d be good to go.

As she and her students left, the man carefully walked around the bed a few times, though she didn’t stay focused on him for long.  Eventually, they made it back to the mages’ guild, and she discussed her ongoing experiments attempting to find a starting point for spacial magic, and her hopes that she might find something soon.

She’d been halfway expecting it, but the rude one informed her that he’d be leaving after today, as he didn’t think it was worthwhile to stay when she didn’t have anything set in stone to teach them.  It was unfortunate, but it wasn’t like she’d expected this to continue forever.

Cera simply made a mental note that she wouldn’t be making as much money, then resumed sharing more details of what she’d done during the healing earlier until it was time to return home.

Fortunately, there were no unpleasant surprises this time, and she was able to have a nice dinner before heading to bed.