Chapter 221: Chapter 206 – The Maiden in Silver, Once Again

"How could some bastards even *presume* to place a price on life, and then jack up the price straight into extortional sums? Let it be known from this day onward that any such practices in *my* lands will be answered in this exact way, regardless of who does it." - Nec Aarin, the Bone Lord, on the day he punished an immigrant healer from Elmaiya to a very public week-long corrosion of his body and soul while magics kept him alive for the crime of attempting to form a syndicate of healers in the Lichdom and mark up the prices they charged.

The first thing Aideen did once she left town was to walk a good distance, ensure that there was nobody in the vicinity, and walked into a small forest not far from the roads. She followed her ears, which had heard the trickle of running water, and soon found herself in a glade, with a clear pond in its center, where a few deers were drinking.

 

After she made sure there was nobody around, she undressed, and walked into the center of the pond. The water reached up to her chest there, which was plenty for her needs.

 

She brought out a vial, the sort alchemists used to store potions and concoctions, out of her storage ring and poured a good amount into her cupped hand. The viscous fluid seemed unaffected as she dipped her hand into the water, other than a slight change in color.

 

Then she stored the vial back, and knelt in the water. Completely submerged, she used her hands to slather the concoction all over her body, as she took special care to make sure she got every corner of her face and arms.

 

The concoction quickly took on a darker shade, as it absorbed the skin darkening potion she had used for her disguise from the pores of her skin. She allowed it to remain on her skin, still underwater, for another ten minutes or so, before she began to scrape off the now hardened concoction.

 

Once soft and gel-like, the concoction had since swollen as it absorbed the water around her and the dregs of the potion in her body. It had turned into a stiff, hard, scab-like layer that covered her skin. The slightest movement Aideen made caused cracks to form on it, and she carefully peeled off the gunk from her body.

 

It took her another good five minutes before she was sure she got every piece of the gunk off her. The peeled flakes settled down at the bottom of the pond, where they would naturally decay with time. They were harmless to animals, so she just let them be.

 

When Aideen walked back out from the pond and dried herself, her skin had once again returned to its original pale squallor. It made her stand out even more amongst Alcidea's mostly darker-skinned inhabitants, but this time that was exactly what she wanted.

 

She also dressed in a set of new clothes, not very different to what she had worn when she boarded the ship in Caracan, but in white and light greys instead. If she was about to propagate the stories herself, then she might as well look the part.

 

Where a young traveller, of little difference than most, walked into the forest, out came a maiden in white and greys, colors that made her almost look as if she was clothed in silver under the rays of the sun, with eyecatching pale skin and streaks of silver-gray hair.

 

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Aideen started small. Rather than just take the road straight to her next destination, which was Knallgant, the city under the mountain, capital of the kingdom of Knallzog, she took her time and visited every village near the route she took.

 

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In each of those villages, which for the record tended to be in the poorer side, but not unhappy or too lacking in necessities, she would pretend to be a traveller in search for a night's rest. The villagers easily let her in, even if sometimes the children would crowd around her, curious about her unusually pale skin.

 

At night, when everyone was asleep, she would go to work, and heal everyone in the village from all the minor ailments or old injuries that plagued them, even helped many of the older villagers out of the depradations their old age brought, if temporarily.

 

Then she left a few coins as recompense for her stay, and would disappear before dawn. The villagers would find themselves strangely invigorated, and healthier than every before when they woke up the next day, all while the stranger they took in the day before vanished without a trace.

 

Sometimes, she would run into some who were struggling against diseases her magic couldn't really handle. She aided those by reinforcing their bodies as best she could so they could fight off the illness better. In more severe cases, she even place a vial of medicine by their beds for them. Aideen had made it a habit to carry common medicines with her ever since her affinity changed.

 

At other times, like at one village two days away from Knallgant, she walked into the aftermath of a hunting debacle. A full dozen adults in the village either nursed severe injuries, or were laid out on their beds, their life and death still uncertain.

 

It turned out that they had been assaulted by a large boar while out hunting. Some had broken bones, while an unlucky few had been gored or rammed, and were suffering from internal damages that threatened their lives.

 

The villagers were torn on how to proceed. They had nowhere near the riches that would be needed to hire healers competent enough to handle such injuries. On the other hand, the prospect of how over one-fifth of the small village's adult males would be lost or crippled was a dreadful one to them.

 

Even under such distress, they showed Aideen kindness when she came to their village. One of the village's woman, whose husband was unconscious after being rammed by the boar, allowed her to stay in her house, and even apologized that they could serve no better fare than some simple vegetable soup and stale bread.

 

Aideen was touched by the kindness, and went to work that night as she was wont to do. The next morning, the village woke up to a surprise, as every single one of their badly injured menfolk had fully recovered overnight, including the husband of the woman who had hosted Aideen.

 

It was only later in the day that the woman recalled about her unusual guest, and looked into the room Aideen stayed at to find nothing but a small pouch of gold coins, and a small note underneath it.

 

A note that thanked the woman for her kind hospitality, and to consider everything… as a gift to her kindness.

 

The woman broke down and cried on the spot as she uttered thanks and prayers to her benefactor.

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