Perian shrugged and didn’t look particularly apologetic. The description of what had happened before certainly suggested that Perian would put himself at risk to try to keep others he cared about safe and well.
“I’m assuming that you’ve fed recently and regularly?” Trill asked.
Perian laughed. “You assume correctly. Brannal takes very good care of me.”
“The other way around,” Brannal assured them.
Trill really liked these two.
“Molun, how about you take a seat so you’ll be more comfortable,” Trill suggested.
He obediently sat down, Arvus and Brannal taking two of the other chairs, leaving Perian and Trill standing near Molun.
“Now, I’ve always been taught that you need to touch in order to heal, but given what you’ve done for the Prince, I’m not actually sure that’s true—or at least that it’s not necessarily true for you. But I think it’s still a good place to start.”
Perian nodded. “I spent a lot of time with Molun and Renny and Kee when I wasn’t touching them, but I also touched Molun a lot, especially once he was injured. Less touching Renny, but we sat near one another and hugged and stuff, so I can’t say for sure. Once Molun was hurt, I felt like I needed to be constantly near him, and I was usually cuddled up to him or holding his hand. But I don’t know if that wasnecessary, like you said. It might also have been me panicking about the whole terrible injury thing.”
Trill smiled. “Well, you did such a wonderful job that Molun is still here with us right now, and let me tell you how his injury doesnotslow him down where it counts.”
Molun preened, Brannal groaned, and Perian laughed. Arvus just looked amused.
“That doesn’t surprise me in the slightest,” Perian said happily.
“It always helps me to remember that. When you’re healing, I mean,” Trill clarified. “We’re working on fixing a physical injury, but we’re not actually changing anything fundamental about the person. It might go below the surface, of course, but it’s all about the body.”
Perian had a serious expression on his face now, like he was really taking in everything that Trill was saying. Trill had never been a teacher before, and he hoped he got this right. But given that Perian had already been instinctively healing people, Trill wasn’t too worried.
He continued, “The great thing about the body is that it always wants to be well. It will do what healing it can on its own, and really, we’re just enhancing that, making it go faster and insome cases, sort of… smoothing out something that didn’t heal right.”
“How do you convince the body to do anything, though?” Perian asked.
“Much the way you already have,” Trill said with a shrug. “You imagine it the way you want it to be, and then you give it the energy to do it. Like I said, it’s more like we’re giving it a boost to do what it wants to do anyway, so it’s not like we need to understand every detail of how the body works.”
Perian looked very relieved. “Yeah, that’s, uh, definitely not something I know.”
“But you want people to be well. You want to make them better.”
“Of course,” Perian said immediately.
“Exactly. And that’s why I’m confident that even if you and I don’t see or do things exactly the same way, it’s close enough to work.” He flashed Perian a smile. “Now comes the fun part: time to touch Molun.”
Molun grinned a huge smile, and Perian laughed.
“Touch him where?”
“I have suggestions,” Molun said brightly.
“It doesn’t actually matter,” Trill said, trying to stay focused but unable to suppress a grin. “No matter what Molun is about to tell you.”
“I have some very receptive areas,” Molun tried to tell them with a serious-sounding voice.
“Uh huh,” Perian said with a roll of his eyes but a very fond expression. Looking to Trill, he asked, “It really doesn’t work better if you touch the injury?”
Trill tilted his head back and forth. “Well, yes and no. It’s maybe a little bit faster, like there’s less far for the energy to travel? But the whole body is connected, so the energy would get there regardless. And, I mean, some injuries are inside.”
Perian made a face. “Oh, yes, it’s so much better when Molun’s insides stay inside him. I don’t know how the doctor did it.”
He’d gone a little pale, and Trill realized that hadn’t been very useful, and he hastened to move the topic on.
