Chapter Thirty

Kiera woke up in the mansion. The last thing she could remember was the attack. There were so many of them, and they'd come out of nowhere. She'd wanted to fight but Daniel had..

Daniel. He'd been injured; she had to help him. He'd need a doctor.
She threw open the door, "I need a medic!"
"Calm down Milady. Miss Tressa said to take you upstairs when you woke up."
"But Daniel, the captain. He needs help."
"That's what Miss Tressa wanted to talk to you about. She said you should come up there as soon as you woke up. It's this way."
"It's my fault. If I hadn't tried to fight."
The nurse opened the door to the master bedroom. He was on the bed, there weren't any doctors in the room. They couldn't be neglecting him like this unless.

"How badly do you want him back?"
Tressa was standing next to the window.
"Why isn't there a doctor? He was hit! If he doesn't get a doctor he'll die."
"To late for that actually, the doctor declared him DOA."
"No." Kiera collapsed next to the bed, her eyes begining to water. "This is all my fault. I should have listened to him."
"How badly do you want him back?"
Tressa was standing on the other side of the bed now.
"What good would wanting do? He's dead, you said it yourself."
"For a mage you have a very limited grasp of magic. Have you even studied anything beyond the usual imperial curriculum?"
Kiera looked up, "What do you mean?"
"I mean there's more than the arcane to work in."
"Can you help him?"
"Yes, but what kind of Witch would I be if I passed up a good oppurtunity to teach those around me about what was around them?"
"Help him first. How cruel can you be to leave someone dead when you could bring him back?"
"If I fix him now you wouldn't listen. There are very strict rules about this sort of thing, and the cost of returning him is not going to grow significantly greater if I wait another hour or two."
"Bring him back, NOW!"
"Setienlie! This is an opprutunity to learn. Frankly, I'm pretty annoyed that I, the apprentince, am teaching you, the master. I assumed when you came and rescued us that you'd blown through the warriors. I'm begining to question that."
Kiera tried to object, but found her voice unwilling to obey.
"You asked about what I did in battle, the will-binding. I told you I learned it at Aunt Allistari's. I didn't lie, it really was a required skill; she really does have a deep and undying hatred for squirels, rabbits, moles, and anything else that gets into her garden. However, it also serves as a balance. There are seven fields of magic, one of them can be subdivided..."
Kiera, still rather distraught, tuned most of this conversation out. There was something about personalities, iris paterns, elements, all of which probably made up somebodies life's work. (See note)
"...Now, I'm going to ask you one more time. How badly do you want him back?"
"It would mean the world to me Tressa."
"Good, I'm going to hold you to that. First thing you do when this is all over is go on that date with him."
"Thank yo.. wait what? How do you know about that?"
"While you two were away, Enge and I got to talking. But we can discuss that later. Now, I'm going to need you to leave, this is a delicate procedure. I'd hoped you knew enough to help, but since you don't you'd only get in the way. Run along, there are more useful things you could be doing right now."
Tressa shooed her out of the room, and sealed the door behind her. Kiera slept outside the door. There might be better things she could be doing, but for some reason she couldn't pull herself away.