“Gross.”
“You will not actually see his heart, Siln?. Have you ever seen the Matrix?” Of course I had seen the Matrix, but the fact that he had seen the Matrix was a little odd.
“I’m going to see computer code?”
“No,” Thom said, his patience wavering. “It’s different for everyone, but it won’t be a real picture.”
I looked at him for a moment longer before closing my eyes to focus. Slowly, the red mass of what I could only assume to be Ilyan’s heart came into view. It looked smooth and abstract, like a water color painting.
“Now, find the problem.” Thom’s gruff voice broke through the silence.
“What will that look like?”
“It’s different for everyone.”
Great. Why was he so little help? I searched with my mind’s sight before seeing a dark spot near the base. It wasn’t as smooth as the rest of Ilyan’s heart and looked like a burn. I opened my eyes, surprised when the image of Ilyan’s heart stayed before my eyes for a moment longer.
“What’s the black part?” I asked, surprised when Thom’s eyebrow raised.
“That’s the whole of our problem. When you arrived his whole heart was covered, the exhaustion from your journey had burned him from the inside. I have taken away most of it. Once the last of it is gone, he should awaken within a few days.” Thom moved a bit closer, his hand resting on Ilyan’s forehead again.
“What can I do to help?” I felt more of my magic flow into Ilyan of its own accord.
“You can do nothing. In fact, it would probably be best if you didn’t let so much of your magic mingle with his.” Thom said harshly and I withdrew quickly, moving my hand away from Ilyan’s cheek.
“Why?”
“Well first, because of what you are, and second, because of who you are.”
I sat up straight at Thom’s words, my head almost hitting the shelf inside of Ilyan’s bunk. I wasn’t sure if I should be offended or hurt at Thom’s words, but my pride bristled a bit.
“What do you mean what I am?” I spat, the term made it sound like I was poison.
“You are one of the Drak, Siln?. The Drak do not normally heal those with different magic.” I glowered at him for a minute, hating the limit that my supposed new species was placing on me.
“But, I am also one of The Chosen.”
“Yes.”
“So I should be able to heal others as well,” I countered softly.
Thom looked away from me for a minute before coming to a decision. He placed the palm of his hand against the stone wall and pulled down, pressing hard against the surface. He brought his palm back to me, revealing a few shallow scrapes, one of them bleeding.
“Then heal me, and let us see if it works or not.”
Reluctantly, I placed my hand underneath Thom’s. I didn’t like physical contact with other people, especially with people I barely knew, but Thom seemed to be the same way, so I tried to swallow my pride.
I pushed my magic into him, surprised at how quickly it flowed. I closed my eyes and searched through his hand for the cuts, smiling when I found the dark black amongst the pink watercolor strokes of his skin.
“Now what do I do?” I kept my eyes closed, not wanting to lose the shapes and colors of his injury.
“Think about how your body heals you, about how you can feel it knit your skin back together, about how it straightens and repairs. Use your mind and your magic to do the same to me.”
I nodded once even though I didn’t quite understand what he was saying. I tried to focus on the colors and my magic that moved so close to them within Thom’s body. He had said to think about how my magic knit me back together. That seemed to make the most sense so I focused on it, pushing my magic into the black mass of his injury. I pushed the skin back together, laying it end to end before pushing even more in the hopes of eliminating the wound all together.
“Incredible.” I opened my eyes to Thom’s hand, shocked to see that not only did the blood flow stop but the skin had completely put itself back together. I couldn’t even see so much as a scar.
“I have never seen that work quite so fast before,” his voice was awed, but for once I wasn’t uncomfortable. Instead, I felt a bit proud.
I couldn’t help but smile at my accomplishment, and how quickly I had managed it. Although it was still weird to be referred to as a Drak, the Black Water had undeniably unlocked my ability.
“Now, I can heal Ilyan?” I asked, leaning away from Thom to sit next to Ilyan.
“No, Siln?, it is still not a good idea.” I froze at his words, his tone making it obvious what this was about.
“It’s because of what my Dad saw, isn’t it? Because of who I am?”
“Yes.”
“And, you’re not going to….”