Chapter 38: Advent – Chapter 35: Miracle Worker

GamingWolf

After the little girl had taken the feather from Aperio, she turned back towards Laelia. With excitement evident in her voice she asked the woman a question – one that was not answered by the disgraced paladin but instead by Ferio. Whatever her daughter had said caused the girl to whip back around to stare at Aperio before pressing the feather tightly to her chest and bowing quite stiffly.

Aperio couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the actions. Though others might have done the same out of a sense of obligation, propriety, or worry that she might take offense, the little girl was entirely sincere with her gesture of thankfulness. It was not annoying at all, and the fact that her movements were clumsy and clearly not practised brought a fondness to the Goddess’ mind that she did not quite understand.

Her eyes wandered to her daughter on their own accord. A memory, perhaps? It felt like something she should know, but it was another thing she could not recall. Further thoughts in that direction brought with it the signs of the headache she had felt the last time she had tried to remember something that was not there.

Giving the two boys one final look through her aura, Aperio stood up. The rustling of her feathers and dress caused the girl to cease her bow and look at her again, eyes briefly lingering on the blue tips of her lowest set of feathers. She hesitantly looked between the winged Elf and the beds the other children were laying in.

Words were not needed for Aperio to understand what the girl wanted and she stepped aside, giving her enough space to approach her friends. Still clutching the black feather, the girl scurried past Aperio and started to alternately tap the boys. Of course, the two did not react. They were still fast asleep, their minds recovering from the trauma they had gone through while they had been affected by the Rage.

Taking a few steps, Aperio closed the distance between herself and her daughter. Through her aura she saw the girl glance in her direction as the wood groaned under her steps, a puzzled look on her face.

"What did you tell her?" Aperio asked. Even though she had lowered her voice as much as she could, it still had its ethereal quality and carried with it more power than she intended. Will I ever be able to speak normally to people?

"Just that your wings are of divine origin," Ferio replied with a small smile on her face.

Aperio just raised a brow at the statement. It was certainly true that she was a Goddess, and that in turn made her wings something of divine origin, but the implicated conclusions that the statement lead to were false. Not that it matters. Everything they know about me is wrong. She did not necessarily like the idea of hiding what she was, but if the people already reacted to what they thought was a high-ranking noblewoman in the service of a Goddess… Announcing her as an actual Goddess would certainly make things even harder. I guess it is not normal for a Goddess to walk among the masses.

The other people in the room then caught her attention. More had clearly joined while she was treating the children in her Void, and the use of it seemed to have caused a bit of a stir. Though, upon reflection, it was less than she might have supposed.

"Did you tell them where I went?" she asked her daughter, still as quietly as she could.

Ferio did not respond with words; instead Aperio felt the by-now familiar touch of her daughter’s magic brush against the edges of her mind. With the touch came knowledge. It was similar to what she received from her aura, but this time the mana that provided the information belonged to her daughter.

She wanted to say they were memories, but that would be wrong. What she got was a vague sense of what Ferio had said, nothing as detailed as an actual memory. That Aperio had pleaded with herself for entry into her own Dominion to heal the children. It was again true, if not totally correct, but still probably the best possible solution for the current situation.

While Aperio might have been fine with not disclosing her status as a Goddess, Laelia seemed highly uncomfortable with the entire situation. Or does she simply not like the amount of people? Whatever the woman felt, Aperio knew it was time to leave. She had done what she came for and while she did find the little girl's behaviour to be oddly endearing, there was nothing left for her to accomplish here.

"If there is nothing more, we will take our leave." Aperio's voice cut through the last bits of chatter that flew between the members of the group.

Kario opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, seemingly unable or unwilling to voice his thoughts.

"You have something to say, mister Penbrooks?"

The Goddess’ question seemed to convince the man to finally speak. "Would you be willing to heal others? There are people here who we cannot cure. They might not die, but they cannot live their life either."

Ferio was about to speak, but Aperio sent her a mental nudge to keep silent. Her daughter followed the request, albeit begrudgingly. Her response made it clear that she did not believe Aperio should heal the mortals present, a notion the winged Goddess did not quite support. Healing them was not a great effort, not when she now knew how to do it. At least without blessing them.

Closing her eyes, Aperio focused on her aura, trying to feel out every person in the building. While the people present might think of her as a benevolent healer, she also took this as an opportunity to further her control over her own mana. If the truth were known, the others might view such an action as selfish, but in the end it would still help the injured ones. A satisfying result for all.

Her perceptions widened. She could feel the presence of every person. Every injury. Every single tiny imperfection. Many people within her aura's scope started looking around their rooms, trying to spot who was working their magic. The group right in front of her was no exception, also noticing what she was doing. Some seemed to stiffen in shock, eyes wide with the amount of power on casual display. Others smiled, eyes glistening with delight, clearly reveling in the rare, rather magical moment.

One by one Aperio eased her mana into the bedridden Humans. She commanded her magic to mend any and all wounds it found, but not to linger. There would be no accidental blessings today. Just a little help for their own bodies to correct the wrongs they had.

In some people, the injuries were more concerning. It took the form of strange knots of mana, ones that seemed to disrupt the natural flow of it around their bodies. Breaking these knots apart felt distressingly similar to untangling the messy wrongness caused by the Rage, but she knew that it was not the same issue.

There was a brief moment in which she considered bringing all the difficult cases into her Void for easier treatment, but having everyone conscious and looking around was not something she wanted. It might have potentially made the process quicker, but all in all, time was not something she lacked at the moment. One by one, the strange mana-disrupting knots were untied, and when she was done Aperio opened her eyes to a rather flabbergasted-looking group of Humans.

"I have done all I can," Aperio said. "Unless you have anything else you wish to ask of me, we will take our leave."

"I-I.." Kario’s voice trailed off as he looked to the rest of his group for help. Laelia took the chance to make her way to the two Goddesses, and the little girl that had been busy poking at the boys used the opportunity to 'sneak up’ on Aperio and try to get under her wings. The Elf had seen her slow approach and gently lifted one of her feathered appendages so the girl could take refuge from Laelia under the soft feathers.

The ex-paladin, however, was not coming to scold the girl for her actions. Instead, she stopped in front of Aperio and took a knee despite knowing the Goddess was not fond of formalities. Ferio seemed to know what she was doing and covered the smile that had sneaked its way onto her face with her hand.

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Aperio could only tilt her head at Laelia's action. She only knew of a couple of things that would cause someone to assume the position the Human had taken. One was a marriage proposal, something she ruled out as it did just not make much sense. The others were all related to receiving a title of nobility or offering their fealty to someone. Does she want to become a priestess or something?

"Yes?"

"I offer my thanks," Laelia said before looking her in the eyes. "And my fealty. I not know reasons why you do what you did; why chose to return now. But, despite things that happened to me, I believe you represent my beliefs best. So I–" She looked helpless as she struggled to find the right word, looking to Ferio for help.

"Beseech," her daughter said, answering the wordless plea.

"–beseech you to accept me as follower. Paladin in service of you, Lady Aperio."

That she was not supposed to reveal her as a Goddess seemed to be forgotten by whatever had moved Laelia to do what she did. I just healed a few people, that should not be a big deal. ...Or is it? The rustling of her own dress caused her to look downwards and spot a small head poking out from under her wings. Lifting the feathered limb a little to let the girl out she noted with some amusement that she seemingly could not care less for any form of noble behaviour. A welcome interruption from the arguably very formal display happening in front of her.

The words of Laelia also caused the gathered people to cease their own conversation. Some even went as far as to also lower themselves to their knees, assuming what Aperio guessed was a position for prayer. To whom they were praying she had no idea; it was not her, at least. Or is it, and I just don't know how to listen to prayers? Another topic for her talk with Ferio.

"If that is what you want," Aperio replied, turning her attention back to Laelia. "However, the next time that I ask you not to openly reveal who I am, I hope you will remember to do so."

The freshly redeemed paladin's eyes went wide and she was about to bow hard enough to smash her head into the floor when Aperio waved her off.

"I am not mad. I do not mind people knowing what I am, I just find it vexing if everyone always bows and apologises for the tiniest perceived slight towards me." Having said her part to Laelia, she directed her gaze back towards the girl peeking out from behind her. "Do you know her?"

Laelia nodded at her question. "Adopted her and the two you healed."

Giving the girl the lightest nudge Aperio could, she pushed her towards the still-kneeling paladin. "I think your daughter wants to know what you just did."

There was a moment of silence broken only by the tiny voice of the little girl speaking to her foster mother. She was also rubbing her ears, a motion that would not mean much to most but only served as a stark reminder for Aperio. Causing pain with her voice was not something she liked, but never speaking again was out of the question. There has to be another way.

As Laelia talked to her adoptive daughter, Aperio turned to her own. Ferio's face sported a slight pout, almost as if she had expected her mother to be embarrassed by the actions of the paladin. Or maybe she thought Laelia was actually going to propose? "Do I need a temple now? So she has somewhere to live?"

Aperio did not want to keep Laelia in her Void like some pet. She did not want most people to get into her Dominion for that matter; it felt off to take people there. The two boys were an exception, not a rule.

"If you want to, but I would say the [Guides] building is already a temple to you," Ferio replied.

"Oh?"

"It houses Roots, that should be enough. But I don't think that is a discussion for now."

A look over to the group of Humans revealed her words to be true. They looked lost, seemingly unable to process the fact that a Goddess was walking around in their home as if that was the most normal thing to do. Aperio did not know of anything she could say to prove that she truly meant what she said; all she had was her word. That would have to be enough.

"Mister Penbrooks, is there anything else you need of me?"

The man just slowly shook his head, unable to find proper words for a reply. Like the others he seemed to struggle to comprehend what was happening, an action that elicited a sigh from the winged Goddess.

"Will this always happen?" With those words she took a step towards the door before turning back to face Laelia, her first real follower. "I assume you wish to stay with your family for a while longer?"

"If I may," the paladin replied.

Aperio gave her a nod, smiling at the girl hugging her foster mother. Once she noticed the winged Goddess was moving to leave, she lifted her hand with the feather still in it and happily waved in her direction. With a small wave of her own, Aperio made her way out of the room with Ferio in tow. Walking as lightly as she could over the still-groaning wood floor, she opened the door and stepped into the surprisingly quiet night.

GamingWolf

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