A Healer's Destiny

by Katherine J. Sinclair

  Chapter 13

  It was a beautiful warm sunny day and Elah was out walking in the garden, when Dainan asked her to meet him in the library. She was confused as he never asked her to meet him, he would usually just join her. She felt nervous about the meeting and made sure she cleaned up, putting on a blue dress before heading to the library.

  As she entered the library, Elah noticed Dainan was not alone. A man sat in the corner of the room dressed in a white shirt and dark brown pants. She couldn’t see this face as he was reading one of the many books from the library, while Dainan waited in one of the many chairs.

  “Please take a seat” Dainan said, gesturing to an empty seat next to him.

  Elah sat down and stood straight back up when the man put down the book. “Alon” she gasped, putting her hand over her mouth.

  “Elah, it’s been too long” he said, watching her surprised look turn sadness.

  “Why are you here?” she managed to get out and looked across to Dainan who looked calm.

  “The king has requested your presence” he said, watching her slowly sit back down.

  “Oh” she said sadly, knowing this day would one day come but dreaded it.

  “Well I think Elah will need to prepare herself” Dainan said, giving her the opportunity to leave.

  Once she had closed the door she collapsed against a wall and let the tears flow. She was glad to see Alon but more than anything did not want to go back to the kings castle. She had also loved her life at Treriton and did not want to give it up. It was the only place she had felt completely safe in and thought about running away to hide but knew Dainan could find her easily.

  Forcing herself off the wall, she went to her room and wondered what to pack, she hadn’t arrived with anything except the clothes she was wearing at the time. She didn’t want to pack anything she had been given during her time here because she didn’t want to lose any of it. Her mind was a haze as she tried to think about what she would need.

  She sat on her bed thinking about how much she loved her home at Treriton when Dainan entered and sat beside her. “Don’t worry Elah, you have many great things to achieve in your life and you can’t achieve them here” he said, placing his hand on her shoulder.

  “I’m going to miss you and Treriton” she said through tears.

  “I know but you can always visit”

  “Really, thank you”

  He nodded and reached into his pocket pulling out a bracelet and put on Elah’s wrist. “I hope this will remind you of our friendship” he said smiling.

  “Oh, you didn’t have to. I have nothing for you” Elah said, worried she should have something for him since she knew this day would come.

  “Don’t worry, you have given me more than you know” he said, smiling at her. “I’ll send your stuff once you have settled.”

  “Thank you, you have been a wonderful friend and teacher” she said, watching him stand up.

  “We better get you moving” he said, helping her up.

  They walked slowly out the front entrance to see Alon waiting with a beautiful black horse. She turned to Dainan and hugged him, hoping she wouldn't have to let go but eventually she reluctantly released him.

  They both said their final good byes and vowed to visit each other. Alon helped her onto the horse, even though she didn’t need the help and as they left Elah turned one last time to see the building slowly disappear.

  They sat in silence as they rode through the forest. Elah didn’t know what to say to Alon, she was worried she had lost a friend to no fault of her own. She had no idea what to do and wished he would say something. His arm around her waist felt warm and strong and she wished he would wrap both his arms around her and hug her.

  As the sun started to sink, Alon found a place to stop and as Elah helped him put up a single tent she noticed him watching her. She risked smiling at him, knowing it could either start a conversation or cause him to look away making things more awkward. To her surprise he smiled back.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked, pulling out some food.

  “Yes, do you need some help?” she muttered, still unsure where she stood with him.

  “No, it's all pretty much ready to go” he answered, with a shrug.

  Elah found a mat in one of the horses saddle bags and carefully laid it out. Alon brought over the food and sat down next to Elah.

  “Did you enjoy your time at Treriton?” Alon asked.

  “Yes but I did miss meeting you” Elah said quickly, hoping she could ease the tension between them.

  “You don’t have to answer but what happened?” he asked, handing her some food.

  Elah sighed, he did deserve to know. “My mother unexpectedly came for me one night to take me to live with her father but on the way we came across a group of the kings guards. They asked us if we could help an injured man who was near death. I healed the man and later found out he was the king, who sent me to Treriton” Elah explained, as simply as she could.

  “Wow, that’s amazing. I have to admit I was mad at you for leaving without telling me but when I saw you at Treriton I felt sad because I heard the story of the young girl who saved the king” he told her, as he watched her eat. “I wished that girl had more of a choice but knew the wizards would look after her. I didn’t know that girl was you. I’m sorry I was mad at you.”

  “Through all these years, all I wanted to do was to see your smiling face” she said, reaching for her necklace. “Look, I never took it off.”

  “I missed you too” he said, pulling her into the hug Elah had longed for.

  His skin was warm and inviting, Elah didn't want to let go but he reluctantly let go and looked into her eyes. "I can't believe you’re a healer" he said, breaking the silence again. 

  "I know but it's not a big deal" she said, trying play it down. 

  "Well I think it's amazing and not just because it's rare now days”

  "Alon, this gift has caused me nothing but misery”

  "Why do you think that?"

  "I haven't seen my family in years and have no idea when I will see them next. Your the first person from my past that I've seen since healing the king" Elah said, with tears welling up in her eyes. 

  "Oh Elah, we will try and find them one day. Who is your father?" he asked, hugging her again. 

 

  "Jabin" Elah said, as her tears started to flow. 

  Alon held her tighter, he didn't want her to see the expression on his face. For him the ball just dropped, it all made sense. He was annoyed at himself for not putting the pieces together and realised that he was most likely the reason Elah was sent away. His heart sank at the thought.

  As he pulled back, he looked down at her and smiled. “I’m so sorry Elah” he whispered.

  “You don’t have to be sorry, it's not your fault” Elah said, noticing the sadness in his eyes.

  “Yes I do. I don’t like seeing you unhappy”

  “Your so sweet, Alon” Elah said, smiling sweetly at him through tears.

  “I need to go for a walk, I’ll be back” Alon said, finishing his meal and standing up.

  “What’s wrong, Alon” Elah asked confused.

  “I need to find a bush, you know” Alon lied, he needed a minute alone, he didn’t want her to see him angry, mostly at himself for not realizing who she was earlier.

  Once he was out of site he leaned against a large rock and thought about all the different things he missed. Over come with frustration he beat his fist against the rock causing it to his fist to bleed. Looking at his hand he groaned annoyed that if she saw his hand she might want to heal it. Just another thing he loved about her, her kindness.

  After taking some time to calm down he returned, trying to hide his hand, he watched her clean up as he leaned against a tree and couldn't believe how much she had grown. She smiled at him when she looked up to see him, she looked almost content. He felt happy as he watched her walk over, he couldn't have asked for anymore then
to have her back in his life.

  “Are you feeling better?” she asked, wiping back some hair from around his eyes.

  “Yes, thank you” he said, taking her hand in his and brushing his lips against the back of her hand.

  She looked away trying to hide her blush but enjoyed his touch. His lips were soft and left her hand tingling. Not sure what to do, she stood back and smiled up at him.

  “Well, I’m not sure about you but I’m tired, I think I’ll go lay down” Elah said, not sure if that was the right thing to do but she didn’t want him too see how he affected her.

  Alon followed her to the tent and they laid down. It was a small tent and even though they wrapped themselves in their own blankets, there was very little room between them and they were both very aware of this. Elah laid on her side to try and make more room but this just made her uncomfortable. She ended up rolling on her back and enjoyed the warmth his body provided before drifting off.

  The morning came to soon and Elah had to drag herself out of the tent. The morning air was cool and refreshing but she still felt like crawling back into the tent for another fives minutes sleep but knew she had to get moving. Elah enjoyed the quiet and checked on the horse that was happily eating his breakfast. He ignored her when she bid him a good morning but she knew he was just trying to look indifferent.

  Giving the horse a rub, she sent some of her healing energy through his body. She knew they had a long day of riding ahead and wanted to at least give the horse a head start.

  Once they started to ride, Elah noticed Alon was being quiet again and wondered if she had done something wrong. “Are you okay?” Elah asked, not sure if he was even going to answer.

  “Yes” he said, giving her a little squeeze. “I couldn’t be more happy right now.”

  She smiled and relaxed against him. His warm body felt good against hers and she was able to forget her troubles, especially since just the slightest touch from him made her heart flutter.

  “I’m very excited to get the chance to show my home” he said, thinking about the places her could take her.

  “I’d love for you to show me around” Elah said, glad that someone she liked would be around and shuttered at the thought of seeing Averill again.

  As the day wore on they talked about the city and all the different gardens that they could visit. Elah felt content with him but as soon as the city came into view, she didn’t expect to fell her stomach drop. Nothing good had happened there last time and she started to feel anxious. She held her breath as Alon kicked the horse up a speed, drawing them closer to the city at a speed she didn't like.

  They went through the city quickly and when they got to the castle, Alon took her and the horse to the stables. As he walked with her toward the main part of the castle, a young girl approached them.

  “Elah, this is Nissa, she will take you to your room and I’ll come and get you in about half an hour” Alon said, then headed off leaving Elah staring blankly at the young girl.

  The girl had long, wavy black hair and eyes as blue as the sky. “Right this way” Nissa said politely, leading the way.

  As they walked through the castle, Elah started to worry about seeing Averill and tried the best she could to cover her face with her hair. Nissa didn’t seem to notice and walked as quickly as she could through the castle, until they came to a wooden door. Elah held her breath as Nissa opened the door and was surprised to see the room was quite pleasant. It was not as nice as her room at Treriton but was quite large and comfortable.

  Nissa quickly showed her around and left her to have a shower. As Elah stepped back into the room she noticed Nissa had left her a light blue dress and some matching shoes.

  Elah was barely dressed when Alon let himself in. He was wearing clean clothes and looked like he had also taken a shower.

  “Are you ready?” he asked, looking her over.

  "Yes but for what?" Elah asked, putting on her shoes. 

  He smiled at her and held out his hand, “Don’t be nervous, the king is not that bad” he told her, as she put her hand in his.

  He then led her through the halls and stopped at a set of large wooden doors. "I'll wait here for you" he said, opening one of the doors and gesturing for her to go in, much to her dismay.

  She walked into a large library to see the king sitting in an armchair by a beautiful fireplace. He placed the book on a small side table and looked at her for a moment before saying, "My have you blossomed, you must nearly be marrying age."

  "Oh, not till next year" Elah said, not knowing what else to say. 

  "Hmmm, yes. I have called you back because I need your particular skills to assist me" he said, watching her uncomfortably stand in front of him. 

  "What is it you need?" she asked, as politely as possible.

  "I will show you, follow me" he said, standing up and heading toward the door. 

  Elah followed him out the door and Alon joined them as the king led them through another maze of halls and walked straight into a grand bedroom at the end of a hall. He walked straight to a beautiful woman lying in a large bed and kissed her on the forehead. 

  She had long brown hair and even though her skin was pail she looked like the type of woman any king would want as his queen, beautiful. "Elah, this is Milkah, my wife. She is sick and no one knows why. Can you have a look at her?" Ceawlin asked, gesturing toward Milkah.

  Elah nodded and walked over to her and put her hands on her chest. Her hands lit up as she searched the queens body. "I can't see anything but there is a block to her brain, she needs to put it down" Elah said to the king, looking worried.

  He nodded and leaned down to his wife and whispered something in her ear. The queen weakly nodded and the king gestured for Elah to have another look. Elah's hands lit up again as she went straight to the queens brain and straight away found what she was looking for but did a quick look in other areas to ensure there was no other hidden illnesses. 

  Elah looked at the king as she took her hands away. "I can't heal that..." Elah said but was cut off. 

  "What do you mean you can't heal it, what is it?" Ceawlin yelled, causing Elah to stand and start backing away. 

  "No, I can't heal this all at once" she said quickly. 

  "Why?" Ceawlin asked softly. 

  "She has a tumour where the brain meets the spinal cord and if I take it away quickly it could cause greater injury or death" Elah explained. 

  "How long do you need?"

  "I'm not sure but I will need an hour a day with her. She also needs to make sure she spends this time with me even when she feels better. I will let you know when it's all gone."

  "Okay, when do you want to start?"

  "Now"

  "Sounds good, I'll leave you too it" Ceawlin said and got up and left. 

  Alon took a seat in a corner and watched as Elah worked. She felt comforted by his presence having a friend around meant a lot to her but she was still anxious about running into Averill.

  Once she finished, the queen was asleep and Elah quietly headed for the door, with Alon in tow. As they headed down the hall she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in a big huff. Alon smiled at her and asked, "are you okay?"

  She smiled back at him and nodded. "I didn’t want to wake her" she said. 

  As they arrived at Elah's room Alon stopped and looked at her. "I need to go and do some things so I'll bid you a good evening. If you need anything just ask Nissa" he explained, leaning over and kissing her on the cheek. 

  "Okay" was all she could get out. She wasn't expecting the kiss and wondered what she should do but as she was about to kiss him on the cheek, Nissa came out of the room and almost fell over in shock. 

  "Sorry, I didn't mean too, oh dear" Nissa mumbled, heading back in the door. 

  Alon and Elah smiled at each other before Elah followed Nissa into her room. She closed the door and leaned back against it. Feeling exhausted she pulled herself off the door and headed fo
r the bed. She clasped into the soft bedding and began to bury her head into the pillows when she heard a noise behind her.

  She looked up to see Nissa standing in the corner. "Oh, I'm sorry Nissa. Are you okay?" Elah asked. 

  "I'm sorry Elah I didn't mean to disrupt you" Nissa said nervously. 

  "Oh, it's okay you didn't disrupt anything, we just finished working" Elah said, not sure what information to give about the queen, if anything at all. 

  "Oh I thought…” Nissa stuttered, pointing to the door. "You must be hungry, what would you like?"

  "I'm not hungry, just really tired" Elah said, flopping her head back down. 

  "Well I'll make sure I organise something for your breakfast" Nissa said and quietly left the room. 

  Elah kicked her shoes off and rolled to the middle of the bed. She reached up and touched the spot he had kissed her. She smiled at the memory and drifted off to sleep.