The world through Kairoptic eyes wasn't just seeing; it was understanding on a level that bypassed language, bypassed infantile cognition. As Eirlys knelt beside the unconscious forms of Lucien and Charlotte, her hands hovering just above their battered bodies, I, nestled securely in Mira's arms, perceived not just the act, but the intricate mechanism unfolding.
One moment, Lucien and Charlotte had been terrifyingly still. The next… wholeness. Color seeped back into Charlotte's cheeks like watercolour on parchment, chasing away the alarming grey. Lucien's chest rose and fell with a deep, rhythmic certainty that hadn't been there before. The ragged edges of the wounds Jet's beat down had caused were simply… gone. Not scarred, not patched, but absent, as if they'd never existed.
My Kairoptic vision, still buzzing faintly from the sudden surge of… something… struggled to parse it. It wasn't sight, not exactly. It was like knowing the structure of things, the blueprint beneath the skin. I'd seen the jagged tear in the tapestry of Lucien's shoulder, the threads of energy around Charlotte's side. Then Eirlys touched them, a soft, hesitant contact, and a warmth like liquid sunlight, something pure vital flowed from her. My vision flickered, overwhelmed. I don't how to put it, it wasn't like reconstructing or anything ; it was remembering. It found the pattern buried beneath the damage, the original score of their bodies, and played it back at an alarming speed. Muscles wove themselves together like silk threads pulled by unseen hands. Bone fragments slid home and fused, seamless. Injuries resolved into perfect harmony. And then, a faint, lingering glow settled over the healed areas, a protective seal that hummed with the same vibrant energy before slowly fading into the background hum of their natural vitality. It was breathtaking. Terrifyingly fast.
Mira's arms tightened around me instinctively, a tremor running through her. I felt her breath catch, a sharp intake that ruffled the downy hair on my head. Her voice, when it came, was hushed with awe and disbelief. "How did you do that?" she breathed, her gaze fixed on the peacefully resting forms of Lucien and Charlotte. "How you healed them, I mean. I'm not… I'm not exactly someone that's knowledgeable in these areas, but I've seen things. I've seen a bit of healing magic. I don't think… I don't think it happens that fast." She finally tore her eyes away, looking directly at Eirlys, her curiosity a palpable force in the clearing.
Eirlys flinched, as if Mira's focused attention was a physical touch. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, her fingers trembling slightly. Her gaze darted everywhere. A blush bloomed across her pale cheeks. "I-I-It's… it's not m-magic," she stammered, her voice barely above a whisper, melodic yet frayed with nerves. "Not l-like you m-mean. N-not mana."
Lavender pushed off the wall with a grace that contrasted sharply with Eirlys's jitteriness. She strolled towards us, her movements silent as a shadow. "Oh, leave the poor girl alone," she drawled, though her eyes sparkled with amusement, fixed on Eirlys's deepening blush. "She gets flustered explaining her party trick." Lavender casually stooped, picked up a smooth pebble, and with a flick of her wrist, sent it sailing across the clearing. Thwack. It struck the restrained Jet squarely on the forehead. He grunted, a muffled sound behind his gag, his eyes blazing with impotent fury as he strained against his bonds. Lavender didn't even glance his way, already selecting another pebble. "But since you asked so nicely… go on, sweetie.," She winked at me, nestled in Mira's arms. I gurgled, fascinated by the pebble throwing. Jet deserved it. My tiny fist clenched in agreement.
Eirlys took a shaky breath, visibly gathering herself. She clasped her hands together in front of her, knuckles white. "It-it's… V-Vitalis," she managed, forcing the word out.
"Vitalis?" Mira echoed, brow furrowed. The term meant nothing to her. Nothing to me either, though the feeling of it, that liquid sunlight warmth, resonated in my memory. "Like… life force?"
"Y-yes… n-no. S-Similar, but… d-different," Eirlys stammered. She risked a quick glance at Mira, then looked down at her own hands as if they held the explanation. "E-Everyone… everyone has life force. B-But Vitalis… it's… it's like…" She struggled, searching for words.
Lavender pitched her next pebble. Thwack. Jet jerked his head back with a muffled curse. "Think of it like… blood," Lavender supplied casually, examining her fingernails. "Everyone has blood, right? Necessary stuff. Keeps you ticking. But imagine if only one person in a thousand could actually see their own blood, let alone shape it into, say, a tiny sword or a healing salve outside their body. That's Vitalis. It's life energy, sure, but it's… rarefied. Controllable. For the very few." She gestured vaguely at Eirlys with her pebble-free hand.
Eirlys nodded gratefully, though she still looked like she wanted the moss to swallow her whole. She wrinkled her nose slightly, a gesture so unexpectedly childlike it was endearing. "Mana feels… c-cold. Like… like a tool. V-Vitalis is feeling. Intuition." She placed a tentative hand over her own heart. "It lives here. And… and it sings." Her voice dropped even lower on the last word, as if sharing a profound secret.
Mira absorbed this, rocking me gently. I stared at Eirlys, captivated. Singing energy. Warmth. It matched the resonance I'd felt, the harmonic correction my Kairoptic vision had perceived. "So… you drew on this Vitalis? Your own… singing energy… to heal them?"
"Y-yes," Eirlys confirmed, gaining a tiny bit of confidence. "B-But it's… it's not just p-pushing energy into them. It's… it's more like…" She closed her eyes for a second, perhaps recalling the process. "F-First… it's like… l-listening." She opened her eyes, her gaze distant now, focused inward. "My V-Vitalis… touches them. Flows into the… the broken places. It… it reads them. Finds the… the memory. The memory of how they should be. Before… before they got hurt." She gestured towards Lucien's perfectly intact shoulder. "The bone… the muscle… the skin… their t-true shape. Vitalis… remembers."
Lavender picked up a larger pebble. She weighed it in her hand, then with a surprisingly powerful throw, sent it arcing high. It landed with a heavy *thump* on Jet's thigh. He yelped, a strangled sound, and glared pure venom. Lavender smirked. "Diagnostic resonance, the shy one calls it. Like finding the original sheet music for a song that's been horribly scratched."
"T-Then," Eirlys continued, ignoring Lavender's interjection but clearly drawing strength from the analogy, "it's… r-realignment. My V-Vitalis bridges the gap between what is and what should be. It… guides the body back. Cell by cell. Nerve by nerve. She mimicked a gentle pulling motion with her hands. "I don't… I don't think each thread. I just… w-want them to be whole. The wanting… the feeling… it tells the Vitalis what to do. The Vitalis… it knows how."
Mira's eyes were wide. "So… it's your empathy? Your desire to heal that directs it?"
Eirlys nodded vigorously, her blush returning. "Y-Yes! Exactly! Without that… it wouldn't work. Or… or it would go wrong. V-Very wrong." A shadow passed over her face, a flicker of something dark and remembered.
"And the speed?" Mira pressed gently. "It was… instantaneous."
Lavender snorted, skipping her next pebble throw to lean closer. "That's our Eirlys. Most healers you see use mana to heal might and the rare ones who can touch Vitalis at all would be sweating buckets to mend a broken finger. Eirlys? She fixes fatal wounds before you finish blinking." Lavender's voice held a mixture of pride and a strange, protective fierceness. "But that river ain't infinite. Every drop she uses comes from her well. Fixing these two?" She jerked her chin at Lucien and Charlotte. "That took a lot. She'll be feeling that drain for some time. Needs quiet. Needs calm. Needs to not be stressed out by idiots." Her violet eyes flickered dangerously towards Jet. He flinched, anticipating another projectile, but Lavender just smiled coldly.
Mira looked immediately contrite, her grip on me softening. "Oh, Eirlys, I didn't realize… the cost…"
Eirlys waved a dismissive hand, though she looked suddenly paler, the vibrant energy she'd emanated moments ago now dimmed, replaced by a visible weariness. "I-It's okay."
Just then, Charlotte stirred. A soft groan escaped her lips. Her eyelids fluttered. Lucien, beside her, drew in a deeper breath, his fingers twitching. The focus of the clearing shifted instantly. Mira gasped, pulling me closer. Lavender's teasing grin vanished, replaced by watchful intensity. Eirlys's exhaustion seemed momentarily forgotten as she watched her handiwork awaken.
The symphony of scars had been silenced, replaced by the tentative, beautiful overture of recovery. The explanation of Vitalis hung in the air, a complex, costly force, wielded by a shy girl who held the song of life itself in her trembling hands. And I, had just witnessed the mechanics of a miracle through eyes that saw the world's hidden blueprints. The warmth of that Vitalis hummed in my memory. As Charlotte's eyes slowly opened, blurry and confused, finding Mira and me, I knew one thing with absolute certainty: Eirlys was far more than she seemed. And the world I'd been born into was infinitely stranger, and more dangerous, than I could have ever imagined. The pebble thwack of Lavender finding her target once more was a satisfying counterpoint to the fragile peace settling over the wounded. Jet's muffled yelp was the sound of justice, served one small stone at a time.