Page 63 of The Keeper of the Kingdoms

“No,” she said hurriedly. “No, never.”

I smiled. “Good.”

She looked pensive, so I let her sit with her thoughts for a moment. She’d been through so much. She had a lot to process.

“How is Nyx doing?” she asked after long moments.

“He’s okay.”

“Are you two okay? I had to separate you at the festival.”

“Actually, yes. Seeing you close to death was a wake-up call for both of us. We talked last night. I think he has a long way togo, but he is starting to see the effect he’s having on those of us around him.”

“He needs our help if he is going to get better. I need to research everything we discussed, and now I’m stuck here,” she huffed, already frustrated with being laid up.

“You can’t do a thing to help anyone until you’re better, so focus on that first.”

“That’s easy for you to say. And it’s not just that. It’s everything else that will suffer, too. How can I just rest when there’s medicines to make and patients who need me? I’m going to be letting everyone down.”

“You are not the Goddess, Kiera. You are a fae who needs care as much as those you want to provide it for. You can’t give it if you don’t accept it first. Things can wait.”

“I’m honestly not sure if they can. We were already stretched to a breaking point. Things would never have gotten this bad if the Forest Kingdom council would allow more healers to come to the cities,” she lamented.

“Why won’t they allow it?” I frowned, puzzled. “Surely they train healers so that they can heal all fae, not just those in the Forest Kingdom?”

“They do, but they feel they lose their best to the rest of the realm if they don’t protect the bloodlines, so they only sent a quota. And the demands are much greater now than they used to be. The population has grown and we aren’t granted more healers in accordance with the growth. So each healer has more work than they can realistically handle and we are pulled in so many different directions. It’s exhausting.”

“That’s terrible.”

She saw the concern on my face and hers softened. “Sorry, I’m just complaining because I’m frustrated. I love my work, honestly.”

“Don’t be sorry. I like learning about your work. What kinds of things do you have to do other than treat patients?”

“The core of our work is patient treatment, but that is comprised of constant learning and relearning, research to find new, more effective treatments, and then applying the knowledge using spells as well as mixing medicines. But it’s the other things that consume our time. Patient care is essential but takes away from our research time. Prep work for potions is time-consuming. Even gathering ingredients is a big time suck and can be extremely hazardous, hence why I’m laying here wasting my day.” she laughed without humor.

“So healers spend half their time doing essential work, which takes away from the even more essential work they should be doing?” I clarified.

“Exactly.”

“Something needs to change, it seems to me.”

“I don’t disagree, but without a whole lot more healers, nothing can.”

I pondered this for some time. I felt like everything in this realm was done the hard way, not the smart way, and I really wanted to shake it all up.

“Can’t other fae do some of that work?” I suggested, thinking it not for the first time.

“Not without healing magic.”

“Don’t we all have a little of that inside us?”

She looked at me quizzically. “We all have hints of a lot of things in us, but if it were that simple, we could all do anything. It doesn’t work that way. There is a reason the Forest Kingdom protects the healer bloodlines so fiercely. Only those with pure healing magic can do this job, just like only those with the bond can be flyers and ryders. The magic needs to be strong enough.”

I conceded that most aspects of both roles could only be fulfilled by those with enough magic, but there were roles within them I was sure could be given to any fae. I was already working on a plan to bring in other types of flyers to the military divisions for different roles. I hadn’t discussed it with anyone yet. Therewas enough to worry about right now. But when things were a bit easier, I intended to present my scheme to Nyx.

Flyers of other orders bonded with ryders and produced enough magic to serve the kingdoms. Not just dragons. Sure they weren’t as designed for battle as dragons, but messages had to be sent, the injured had to be returned to the cities for treatment. Units needed weaponry moved and let’s not forget scouting could be better done by any order other than huge conspicuous dragons.

And the ego of dragons to think they were the only acceptable battle force! I was certain all the flying orders could prove themselves in their own way. I was convinced we could be doing things smarter, not harder. And I was beginning to think that philosophy could be applied to other disciplines, such as healing.