Interlude: Familiar Faces (Patreon)

“So, who’s that?” Maggie asked, desperately trying to keep her voice composed and her face impassive. If she wasn’t confident that there was no magic involved, she might have assumed that Jade had some sort of aura that caused headaches on contact. It would explain why Maggie had instantly felt a tightness in her skull when Jade, alongside another woman, appeared in a dark corner of her office, looking far too pleased with herself.

“Maggie, meet Lisa. She’s not terribly interested in combat, but she has some talents I believe your community will likely consider important,” Jade introduced the other woman, making Maggie raise an eyebrow. The introduction could mean anything, especially coming from Jade. The insane woman might consider the ability to flay or flense a man important, or it might be the ability to raise people from the dead, cure disease or accomplish some other impossible feat. Only Jade knew what was going on in her head, though at times Maggie wondered just how true that was. Maybe even Jade didn’t understand the convoluted paths her mind took, instead simply plucking out the occasional gem of sanity. It was terrifyingly plausible, making Maggie shudder in apprehension.

“That’s nice…” she tried to stall instead of allowing her apprehension to show. “But what does it mean?” she asked, realising that stalling wouldn’t help. And that she’d likely fail to cover up her emotions anyway, as Jade could be terrifyingly perceptive, at least if the mood struck her. Or she was incredibly lucky, which wasn’t any less terrifying.

“You remember what I told you about Weylon and his ability to wield Ice Magic, quite powerful but rather clumsy and almost crude?” Jade asked, and Maggie noticed that the woman, Lisa, looked up with an expression that should have turned her eyes green. Whatever connection there was between Jade and this Lisa, Lisa was coveting any shred of Jade’s attention, craving it desperately. Even just mentioning another person, one with powers similar to hers, was enough to ignite something in the woman. 

“Lisa here has similar powers, only hers are over Earth and Water, not Ice. She’ll need to practise, but I don’t think she’ll be accidentally dangerous,” Jade added, making Maggie look at Jade with a slightly apprehensive expression on her face. 

“Accidentally dangerous?” she asked, savouring the words as she considered the implications, “So, only dangerous if she wants to be? Even with that combination and what you consider ‘quite powerful’? We can’t just rebuild houses on a whim, you know?” 

“And she can’t tear them down, certainly not accidentally. But once she has mastered her powers, she could help rebuild them on a whim. Or provide all the irrigation your fields need, which I consider another advantage. She just wants to stay safe, be fed and protected, and, in turn, she offers those advantages,” Jade explained, making Maggie realise a few plausible explanations. 

Though every explanation only raised additional questions, some of which Maggie wasn’t sure she wanted answered. For example, why was Jade working to keep this Lisa protected? And why was Lisa looking at Jade with an expression Maggie could only describe as lustful, at least when Jade wouldn’t notice? There was so much to unpack there; it might as well be a suitcase. But it wasn’t a mess Maggie wanted to have any part of, though it looked like she might have no choice. 

“You wish for her to remain here? Safe, fed and protected, as you call it?” Maggie asked instead, glancing at Lisa, who had yet to say a single word. As if the whole thing didn’t really concern her, adding yet another issue. If it continued like this, they might as well turn it into a magazine, given the number of issues. 

“Sure,” Jade nodded, “I mean, she can do things you people will benefit from, and she can benefit from what you can provide. Win-win for everyone involved.” 

The expression on Jade’s face was, at least to Maggie, quite transparent. She wanted to wash her hands off this mess, though Maggie wasn’t quite sure why she was so insistent on this. Maybe there was more to it, but, at least for now, Maggie couldn’t do much more than nod and accept it. Unless she wanted to go against Jade, something Maggie wanted to avoid if at all possible, especially with Lisa and her glowing eyes standing next to her. Which might be the point, given the looks of desire and adoration Lisa was shooting at Jade, to install another layer of control in her community. 

Or it might be for some completely different reason; who could really know? Maybe not even Jade knew all her own reasons. 

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Jess was quietly humming to herself. The last few weeks had been comparatively relaxing, ever since she had reminded Lady Jade about the sheer volume of work left to do on the hospital and the people around here. People needed to have their bodies checked, especially the expecting mothers, to avoid complications. Giving birth was no walk in the park, even with the system aiding the process. But it wasn’t just them who needed regular care, treatment and preparation. Accidents happened, and even with the much sturdier bodies people had since the system had altered them all, some people needed help.Healing magic was a blessing in so many ways, and far too often it was a literal blessing. Bestowed upon those worthy by the grace of God, or at least by the grace of a deity. In Jess’ case, she was fully aware that the magic she wielded wasn’t hers. It was fundamentally different from the magic that Lady Jade and those she taught called upon. To borrow a comparison, Jess had the menu of a delivery service. Jade knew how to cook. It just was not the same. But that didn’t mean that Jess wasn’t able to provide useful services, though she occasionally regretted that. Especially when her services were needed in the dead of night, when she wanted nothing more than to burrow into her pillow and sleep. It was another fundamental difference between Jade and her: one was happy to be awake all night and sleep during the day, and the other was not. Jess wanted to sleep at night, all night, every night. “What is it?” Jess asked, her voice rough with sleep, her hair wild and the look on her face promising a surprising amount of pain given her usually friendly disposition. “We found something,” a young man, maybe in his mid-to-late twenties, told her, “Or rather, we found someone,” he continued, while Jess was trying to recall where she had seen the guy. She thought his name was Leonard or something like that, but she wasn’t sure. And it really didn’t matter; he was at her door, dragging two confused people in his wake. “They say their names are Alice and Xander, but they are rather confused. Something about missing time, how it should be the dead of winter or something like that. They seem to believe that it’s the middle of January, a few short weeks since the Blessed City has fallen,” Leonard added, making Jess perk up with curiosity. This was something new, something interesting, something beyond the usual trauma she had to deal with. She just had no idea what it was, but she was quite eager to find out. “Wonderful,” Jess sighed, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to get to bed just yet. And even if she could, she wouldn’t be able to sleep, not with a mystery dropped off at her doorstep.“Let’s get the two of you checked out,” she declared, guiding the pair into a side chamber of her house. It wasn’t terribly large, but it was comfortable, a gift created by Lady Jade herself. The pair following her looked around wide-eyed, taking in the magical marvels. “Now, you said you don’t have any memories past mid-January? There can be a multitude of reasons for that; I’d like to start by investigating your physical condition, just in case the issue might be contagious. Then, if I’m unable to discover the issue that way, I’ll start working on your minds, followed by asking somebody else to help with your souls. Is that acceptable to you, or would you prefer a different course of action? If so, please explain it to me, so I can see if it’s feasible,” Jess explained, partially using a mental script she had developed for other patients.“Could you first explain what all this is? We are both feeling a little lost and fairly unsettled right now. We don’t even know how we got where we were found; it’s as if there’s a massive gap in our memories, and neither of us like that feeling,” the woman, Alice, explained, looking at Jess with far too much hope and expectation in her eyes. Not for the first time, Jess wished she had the much more versatile magical abilities of Lady Jade. But she could only work with what she had, no matter how big a stretch it was. Though, sometimes, all the magic in the world wasn’t as useful as a few kind and patient words. Which was where Jess was a lot more capable than Lady Jade. “Let me explain how we got here, after the Blessed City broke. We can try to fit your experiences into that framework, and maybe we’ll be able to figure out where your time disappeared to.”