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She did so and River placed his hands over hers and gripped lightly. Unlike with Nora, he felt nothing but the usual warmth of a shifter. Her temperature was slightly low, but given how her metabolism had slowed—and would remain that way until she found her fated one—it was completely normal.
Closing his eyes, River took a second to gather magic into the center of his chest. Then he imagined it flowing from his hands into hers, running along her major veins and arteries, to her heart, and the outward to her legs and up to her brain. With his magic coursing all through Grace, he then went to work guiding through her body to her brain's visual cortex. Reversing the usual pathway of sight, he went from the visual cortex to her thalamus; both seemed undamaged or impaired. Next he went through the optic nerve—also in good health—to the retina.
As he arrived at the retina, River knew he'd found at least part of the problem. A series of rod and cones in the retina detected light, color, and all the things that made up vision. Many of the cones—responsible for color and brighter light vision—were damaged or missing. Grace did possess many rods—responsible for black and white and low light vision—and most seemed to be healthy, but many of them had weak or no connections to her ganglion cells, which were the previous step in the vision process.
He could strengthen and partly repair the weak connections with magic, which might give her some shadow and light patches instead of complete darkness. Although without healthy cones, Grace Black would never be able to fully see. Ever.
And since research was still ongoing when it came to regenerating such types of cells back in the future—the regenerative abilities of zebrafish were talked about relentlessly, so even River had heard of them—there would be nothing in the past he could even offer on an experimental basis.
Determined to finish his examination of all parts in the vision process, he discovered her lens was fine. And while there was a little cloudiness due to congenital cataracts on her cornea, he could clear most of that up too, increasing the amount of vague shapes she could see if he healed what he could.
However, he wouldn't do it without talking to Grace first. Not to mention he'd need to prepare and map out what he'd do to repair the damage, and that would take time. Healing magic could seriously fuck up a person more if not harnessed correctly.
River retreated until he flushed his magic out of Grace's body. He squeezed her hands once and released them. "I'm done."
"Well?"
"Will you promise to listen to my full explanation before asking questions or even reacting?"
"Aye."
"Okay, well there's a combination of good and bad news. The bad news is that you'll never be able to fully see. Certain parts inside are missing, and I can't create new ones. As for the good—I can make minor repairs, which should result in you being able to see vague shapes, especially in low lighting. However, they won't be detailed, and extremely bright light could be too much at times, to the point you'll have to wear special glasses on sunny days or stay inside. And that's it, so ask me whatever you want."
For a second Grace sat and plucked at her skirt. He'd laid out a big fucking decision at her feet. She could either remain in the known and continue as always, or be faced with a new way of seeing the world, and have to learn how to adjust or maybe even how not to resent the partial restoration of her vision.
Going from blackness to even a little sight would be frustrating as hell, and patients sometimes grew depressed at the change rather than reveled in it.
Regardless, the decision was ultimately the wolf female's. And so he waited.
Grace finally cleared her throat. "Even being able to see some light and shapes could be helpful, especially in new places I haven't yet memorized the layout of. However, how dangerous is trying to fix me?"
He hated the term "fix" because it implied something was wrong with Grace. But he wasn't about to argue semantics. "I'm a fully trained fae witch doctor, so there's little risk. The only possible side effect is a negative reaction to magic flowing into your body. However, you seemed to handle my examination well. And if you sleep normally and wake up with no adverse effects, it'll tell me you don't have a magic allergy."
Very few paranormals did, although humans sometimes had extreme reactions to magical healing energy.
She threaded her fingers through each other, released, and did it again. The poor shifter female was nervous, but he wasn't about to rush her.
Eventually she replied, "Aye, I want you to try. When is the soonest you can attempt it?"
"Tomorrow afternoon. That way I'll know for sure your body won't reject my magic, and by then I'll have determined my magical procedure and steps."
She nodded. "You make it seem so easy. However, none of the previous doctors ever suggested such a thing, let alone gave me options."
"I don't know everything about doctors in this time. But I'm from the year 2022, and training is more structured. Even if I don't specialize in the eye or brain, I have the general training for minor repairs. Plus, I studied some texts here, and they're sparse on details for photoreceptors—those bits I talked about needing so a person can see. Most of the research work came long after this time period. There are probably only a handful of doctors in 1890 who would be able to search and possibly diagnose the way I did for you."
She cleared her throat. "In that case, don't I need permission from the fae witch Dark Lord for you to use future knowledge?"
Grace Black might've lived in a remote area of Scotland, but she seemed to know her shit. "Yeah, but he already said it was okay."
She let out a breath. "Good. Now that I've made the decision, I'm impatient to go through with it."
He stood. "Then we should all retire to our rooms to rest and prepare. Or at least you should go to bed soon and I'll do the same after I tell your brother what I discovered."
She rose and put out a hand. River took it, and then guided her by the shoulders toward the door, careful to avoid any furniture.
As soon as he opened the door, Everett stood there, his eyes narrowed, and barked, "Well?"
Grace answered, "He can help a wee bit, but not much. I'll let Dr. Vale explain it. Nora, will you help me get ready for bed? My lady's maid won't arrive until tomorrow."
