As the moth fluttered down the corridor, Arin remained silent, deep in thought.
He was glad that whatever the white-haired tower master had done with the illusion - be it regarding his comfortable, restful sleep, or one of those strange, calming teas he'd been offered - had somehow continued to have an effect on him, even after the whole thing had dissipated.
He had recuperated well, and might have even described his state of mind as relaxed, had the circumstances been different.
He turned a corner, and suddenly noticed he was back in the same corridor where the room he'd been 'sleeping' in was located.
And sure enough, the moth stopped flying any further. It remained fluttering in place right outside that exact room.
How had Tarra known about that?
- oh, right. Wolf, rat, whatever she'd been at the time, had probably picked up on their familiar scents.
Arin didn't bother with knocking, reaching out to simply push the door open instead. The moth's tiny form quickly fluttered into his sleeve, and disappeared somewhere up his arm.
As he'd expected, Siel was waiting for him inside the room.
As he hadn't expected, so was the cloaked healer, sitting right across from the younger tower magician.
The two people, who seemed to have been sitting in silence, looked up in unison as he entered.
'Brother Rin!' exclaimed Siel, jumping up as soon as he saw him. The healer remained seated, and continued staring in silence.
Well, actually, Arin didn't quite know for sure if he was staring. With his stupid hood still pulled all the way down to his chin, the man might as well have been blowing spit-bubbles, or pulling funny faces, for all he knew.
'Siel, uh...' Arin frowned. 'What's he doing here?'
'Since that mouse you'd sent to call for me was being so very careful, I assumed you'd wanted me to leave and meet you without anyone noticing,' began Siel, his eyes becoming large and round as he spoke.
So she had been a rat.
Or, well, a mouse. Same thing either way.
'And so,' the boy continued, 'I was, of course, being incredibly careful as I made my leave.'
'Yes, good job,' Arin nodded. 'Clearly, that didn't work out very well, since he's now here rather than there, healing people.'
'So you see, what happened was...'
'All those who could be, have already been healed,' interrupted a hoarse voice from under the hood.
'All those...' Suddenly distracted, Arin turned to look at the cloaked man instead. The meaning of his words hadn't escaped his notice.
'Then, how many... couldn't be healed?'
The healer cocked his head to one side, as though to remember. 'Twenty and one,' he said at last. 'There were twenty-one that had no souls. I'd noticed them as soon as I first reached them.'
'Even upon restoring their bodies' functions, they only remained empty husks.'
...
'Twenty one...'
Arin swallowed hard.
'Not terrible odds, given the number of those to have been affected at all. The deceased were those whose bodies' internal systems had almost entirely wasted away in their sleep.'
'Had I gotten to them a few days sooner, a few of them might have still had a chance. It seems, however, that that simply wasn't meant to be...,' the healer shrugged. 'Most of the rest shall fully awaken later in the day.'
Right. It was already well-past midnight...
Soon, the sun would rise from the horizon, casting its rays upon the still silent village.
In a few hours' time, people would finally start awakening, and learning, about all that had happened to them.
About where they had been this past month. About what they had experienced.
And about all those who had been lost.
Twenty-one, no... twenty-four people, who had been alive and well prior to falling into the strange slumber, were now gone forever without even knowing why themselves...
Gone...
Arin swallowed again; his throat was suddenly dry. He took a moment, before finally opening his mouth again to say, 'Thank you.'
'Thank you for agreeing to help. Thank you for saving all the others. You're right about the odds. I am well aware that that number might've been in the hundreds, if not for your exceptional talent.'
The cloaked healer froze for a moment, as though shocked stupid by his candidness. Then, he inclined his head in silent acknowledgement, remaining where he was and continuing to (probably) stare up at him.
Arin sighed.
He wished things could've ended differently. He wished he could've been like one of those fictional heroes, who showed up and set everything right by just trying their best.
He wished he could've done something to save everyone.
Unfortunately, wishing clearly wasn't enough. Especially since he'd gone from wanting to save everyone, to even having to use his own hands to...
Siel, who had been silent as well, chose that exact moment to say, 'I've been meaning to ask, brother; what of the distortion? Has it... been dealt with?'
Wow! Exactly what he'd just been thinking about!
Perfect timing, kid!
'...It has.'