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“The town has not been abandoned,” Amara continued. “Thankfully I was accompanied by three powerful healers who have already completed an initial triage and are working among the populace as we speak. Our role is to discover the source of the infection, and I believe we have done so.”
Her eyes slipped momentarily sideways to rest on Nina.
The girl’s mother pulled her closer, looking worried. “Are you suggesting my daughter infected the entire island? She’s never even been into the town!”
“No, but she has bathed regularly in the stream,” Amara said gently. “You may not be aware that this stream merges further down with the river that runs past the town and which is used by the townsfolk as their main source of water.”
“They’ve been drinking downriver of this stream?” As a healer, Isolde didn’t need any further explanations to be horrified.
“The people in the town have no idea anyone is living in the forest,” Costas said. “It won’t have occurred to them that someone might be contaminating the water upstream.”
“And we didn’t realize the stream ran past the town,” the matriarch murmured. “We never thought we were doing any harm…”
“When I get back to that dolt,” Isolde hissed through her teeth, her expression furious.
“Who do you mean?” Amara asked, instantly alert.
Isolde relaxed. “Oh, he didn’t mean any harm.” She sighed. “The most recent addition to the forester population is a young couple. They both have strong elements seeds, and the husband kept going on about how much easier it would be to source water for their crops if there was a closer stream. A few weeks ago, he decided to divert a small portion of the river. Between the two of them, they had the strength to do it, and he was convinced there was no harm done.”
“And this is why elements mages are taught to be so careful about interfering.” Amara gave her own sigh. “And this is why all three affinities are so important. Elements mages won’t think of this sort of consequence unless they have healers to remind them.”
“Is that where the stream came from?” the patriarch exclaimed. “We were pleased to discover it, but we couldn’t imagine where it had sprung from.”
“I’m amazed only Nina is sick,” Isolde said. “Are you sure none of the rest of you have any symptoms?”
The rest of the family hurried to assure her of their health, but I agreed with Isolde. It was strange.
“I think you should all come back to the town with us,” I said. “That way Master Hayes can examine you. He has far more experience and training than I do.”
To my surprise, Isolde readily agreed. “I would like to meet this master for myself. While I was born with a powerful seed, the training I received was limited. I couldn’t compare with a Tartoran master mage.”
“How soon can you be ready to make the journey to the manor?” Amara asked, gazing around the table.
Several murmured conversations broke out, and it was soon decided that everyone would leave for the manor in an hour, with the exception of the childless couple. They would stay to prepare the house for a period of inoccupancy before taking Isolde’s carefully written out directions and setting out to contact the other forester families.
“No one will force them to move into town,” Costas said, “but they should at least come to see the situation for themselves. And if any of them are activated healers, we could really use the help right now. Naturally they won’t want to leave their families behind unprotected in the case of a reinfection, so they are all welcome at the manor.”
After that, the conversation gave way to a flurry of activity and movement as everyone prepared for departure. Nik took one look at the chaos and suggested we wait in the garden. We didn’t have the chance for private conversation, though, since Amara and Ida accompanied us.
“Are we really free to go back to Tartora without taking the whole island with us?” I asked once the four of us were alone. It seemed too good to be true.
“I won’t be entirely easy until I’ve seen how Isolde and Costas manage,” Amara said. “But I feel optimistic. This really is excellent news for both the epidemic and the island as a whole.”
“Of course we can’t leave until the epidemic is over,” I said. “But does this mean we don’t have to wait the entire winter? We won’t need a ship large enough for the entire population anymore.”
Amara shook her head. “I wish we could go back earlier. I feel uneasy about what might be happening in Tartora in our absence. But I don’t think it’s possible. We don’t need to take a lot of people now, but we’ve also lost Costas. I don’t think we would have made it here without his assistance, and that was after encountering a single storm. One elements mage isn’t enough to make that journey in winter—especially not when I’m unfamiliar with the route. It’s just too far.”
I slumped, disappointed. But I couldn’t remain downcast for long. My situation had improved beyond all expectation. I was no longer separated from my master. I was able to hand over responsibility for management of the epidemic to more experienced healers. And now we had even found extra healers to assist. There was no reason for me to get discouraged about being temporarily stuck on the island. Tartora might not have experience with Grey, but they had warning and a whole host of powerful mages. It was foolish to think they were in desperate need of me, or even Amara. They would survive one winter without us, and we would clearly be busy enough here, even with Isolde and her healers.
It took more than an hour for everyone to be ready in the end, and I was more than eager to get moving again by then. I knew my impatience wasn’t achieving anything—after completing a major healing on Nina during my rest day, Amara wouldn’t let me anywhere near the town until the next morning—but I couldn’t help my desire for action of some kind. Even if I couldn’t help, I wanted to know what was happening with the epidemic.
Ida had departed ahead of the rest of us, heading for the town instead of the manor, so it wasn’t a surprise when we arrived at the manor’s door only steps ahead of Hayes.
“Ida told me,” he said immediately. “You’ve found more healers?”
The combination of exhaustion and hope in his eyes made my heart sink.
“Deaths?” I asked, and he quickly shook his head.
