Brightly Burning

'All of it!' was Macy's reply.

So show her all of it, they did, from one end to the other, stopping at Lan's room to leave the laundry basket of honey cakes she'd brought him, for she really had not exaggerated the amount of leftovers. There would certainly be a merry little party in their section of the students' quarters tonight!

Macy was suitably impressed, and their friends were in turn quite taken with her. Lan lost no opportunity to display her handiwork, and she left with several skeins of Companion hair, each neatly labeled, and the commission to make more bracelets like Lan's. The Companions were just as taken with the notion as their Chosen, and quite insisted that she get more than she needed, even though it meant pulling perfect hairs afresh.

'Can I see Healer's and Bardic, too?' Macy asked when their tour was over. Lan scratched his head.

'I don't know anyone in Bardic, but there's someone in Healer's who could probably show us around, if she isn't busy,' he said. 'Let's go find out.'

Tuck was not willing to let Macy do without his escort as well, so he came along as a willing third as they hiked across the grounds to Healer's Collegium. When they reached the building and stepped inside, Macy looked around with great interest. In the interest of cleanliness over anything else, the floors and walls were tiled in pale green ceramic, and the lighting was all accomplished with glass-chimneyed oil lamps. Healer's was a bit different from Herald's Collegium in that there were not as many structured classes as such. Instead, the Trainees did a great deal of study on their own, and worked directly with the teachers, one at a time, in each specialty, until they found the one they were best suited to.

As a consequence, there were not many classrooms, but there were a number of rooms in which animals suffering from various injuries and illnesses were housed. In the earliest stages of their training, Trainee Healers were rarely allowed to work on human patients, instead tending to animals brought to the Collegium by their owners. This aspect of the Collegium made it very popular with farmers and pet owners, and there was never a lack of subjects for them to learn their craft on. Even wild animals were sometimes brought here for tending.

Somehow, instead of resembling a crazed blend of barnyard and zoo, there was very little evidence of what these rooms were for out in the hallway. Peace and quiet reigned, with only the occasional call, bark, or whistle to show that the place was full of birds and animals. And as far as scent went, the stalls and cages were kept so scrupulously clean, as were the patients, that the only aroma was that of the clean straw used for their bedding, overlaid with the scent of herbs used to repel vermin.

Lan motioned for Tuck and Macy to stay near the entrance, while he asked several teachers or Trainees if any of them knew where Elenor was. As luck would have it, she was not far off at that very moment, and since the teacher in question was going in her direction anyway, he promised to tell her of Lan's arrival. Lan thanked him profusely as he bustled off.

They didn't wait long. Lan spotted Elenor at the end of the hallway hurrying toward them with a bright and expectant expression, and he waved at her. As she neared and saw he wasn't alone, for some reason she faltered, and her face lost some of its brightness.

'Elenor!' Lan called. 'You know my friend Tuck, and this is my sister Macy. Macy wanted to get a tour of Healer's. Do you have time to give us one, or could you find us someone who can?'

'Your sister?' was Elenor's reply. 'Not Tuck's? I thought Tuck was the one with all the sisters.'

It was a curious question, or so it seemed to Lan, but since it didn't seem to signify anything, he assumed it was just curiosity. 'No,' he answered, grinning. 'Macy's mine. She just looks more like Mother than I do.'

'Which is a blessing,' Macy retorted, poking him in the arm teasingly, 'since you'd make an ugly girl!'

Elenor brightened back up again, and Lan decided that it was only shyness that had made her expression change. 'As it happens, I have just enough time to show you about, and I would be happy to!' she said, and proceeded to give them a whirlwind tour.

Macy was fascinated, although she blanched a bit at the room where people were actually cutting into a dog to remove a growth, and backed out of the one where a wound that had gone bad was being cleaned out. Lan didn't blame her; it was a wonder to him how gentle Elenor managed to observe all of this with equanimity.

'I can't show you where the older Trainees treat people, of course,' she said apologetically. 'That would be rude to the people; they aren't on display, after all!'

'Well, I wouldn't want strangers who weren't even Healers parading into my room if I were ill either,' Macy smiled. 'Thank you very much for showing us around!'

'You are quite welcome!' Elenor said, gracing them with a dazzling smile of her own. 'It's nice to meet some of Lan's family.'

Lan traded a glance with Macy; she grimaced.

'Some of Lan's family who don't want to treat him like a freak, that is,' Macy replied. 'I can't believe how well he kept his temper at the Feast.'

Elenor raised her eyebrows in a way that suggested she agreed with Macy, but didn't say anything.

Elenor had to be about her own duties, so she left them at the door and hurried back to whatever she had to do. Macy walked between Lan and Tuck into a garden so quiet that every tiny creak of a snow-laden branch was clearly audible. Snow was still falling, and the fading light warned that Macy would have to start back soon if she wanted to be home by dark.

She kept giving Lan the oddest looks out of the corner of her eyes as they walked toward the stables to get her pony and cart.

'How long have you known Elenor?' she asked finally.

'She was one of the first people I met, while I was still hurt,' he said, wondering why she asked. 'Her father is Herald Pol, the one who's my—I guess you'd call him a mentor.'

'Ah,' she said, as if that explained far more than just the content of his words. Then she turned to Tuck, and began plying him with questions, until Lan completely forgot her curious behavior by the time they had reached the stables.