CHAPTER 29D — The Healer's Thread
Nellie didn't walk out of the trial.
She floated.
Not literally — her feet were definitely on the ground — but Aiden and Myra held her on each side like she might dissolve if they didn't keep touching her.
Runa followed behind them like a silent mountain with legs.
The courtyard was still humming from Aiden's earlier return, but when Nellie appeared, there was a different noise — a soft, uncertain ripple.
"She looks pale—"
"Is she hurt?"
"No… she's glowing?"
"Is that… a vine mark? On a healer?"
"Healers don't get Verdant traits. Do they?"
Nellie heard all of it.
And none of it.
Because her senses were full of other things.
Subtle things.
Threads.
Green threads. Faint and warm, stretching from her chest outward like tiny lines of light.
One connected to Aiden — bright, crackling at the edges.
One to Myra — steady, pulsing like a heartbeat.
One to Runa — heavy and warm, like molten iron cooling.
One to the storm-pup — erratic sparks zipping along the line like fireflies drunk on lightning.
And beyond them…
faint threads drifting into the crowd, barely visible.
Nellie blinked hard.
The threads didn't fade.
Aiden noticed her stare. "Nellie? Hey. Stay with us."
"I'm… staying," she whispered, voice thick. "Just… seeing too much."
Myra tightened her arm around Nellie's waist, worry blowing through her like wind. "If she passes out again, I'm carrying her."
"I'm not passing out," Nellie insisted.
Then immediately tripped.
Aiden caught her before her knees hit stone.
Runa stepped so close she nearly bumped into Aiden's shoulder. "Her center of balance is wrong. She's seeing things not in this plane."
Myra blinked. "When did you learn healer-speak?"
Runa shrugged. "I grew up with shamans."
Nellie tried to stand straighter. "I'm fine. Really. Everything's just… brighter."
The threads pulsed again.
Aiden felt the shift. "That your magic?"
"I… think so." She pressed a hand to her sternum. "It feels like something's growing. Like roots spreading. But not bad. Just… new."
The pup whined and pressed its nose into Nellie's ankle. Sparks jumped between them, then calmed.
Nellie felt the thread strengthen.
Oh.
This is real.
She swallowed.
"Let's get her somewhere quiet," Aiden said.
They guided her beneath the shade of an ancient willow-like tree on the courtyard's edge. The ground was soft there, the air cooler, the noise of the crowd muffled by leaves.
Myra knelt first. "Sit. Please."
Nellie sank down, back against the tree. Runa positioned herself just to the left, arms crossed, hammer resting on the ground like she dared the entire Academy to try something.
Aiden crouched in front of Nellie. The pup curled into her lap.
"How's your head?" he asked.
"Full," she whispered. "But… not exploding."
Myra exhaled shakily. "That's… good?"
Nellie didn't immediately answer.
She was staring again — this time at Aiden.
Or rather, at the thread connecting them.
A warm green line stretched from her chest to his, intertwining with faint, flickering silver-blue lightning where Aiden's storm brushed it.
"Aiden… your storm is… touching my magic."
Aiden stiffened. "Is that a problem?"
"No," she whispered. "It's… beautiful. But I don't think I'm supposed to see it."
Runa leaned down slightly. "Healers sometimes awaken sight when pushed hard enough. But seeing bonds? That is old magic."
"Hall-of-Verdance magic," Myra breathed, eyes widening.
Nellie's stomach twisted. "Is that bad?"
Aiden answered before anyone else could. "Not for us."
Runa added: "Not for you."
Myra followed: "Definitely bad for anyone who tries to hurt you."
Nellie flushed — cheeks going pink, ears going red.
Runa noticed.
She smirked faintly.
Before anyone could say more—
A hush swept across the courtyard.
A heavy, deliberate hush.
The air cooled. Leaves stopped moving. Even the green ward-lanterns seemed to dim.
Nellie felt a shadow fall over her.
Aiden straightened instantly.
Myra grabbed her knife hilt.
Runa's stance shifted, foot hooking behind her hammer.
Nellie looked up.
Headmistress Elowen Thorne stood before them.
Silver hair.
Forest-green robes.
Eyes like pale gold lit from within.
The air felt alive around her — like she carried a forest's worth of breath in every step.
Her gaze moved over each of them.
Aiden — marked twice by Thorn.
Myra — sharp as sunlight through branches.
Runa — heavy with dwarven iron and quiet storms.
The pup — small, fierce, sparking.
Then her eyes landed on Nellie.
And softened.
"Elenora Tinkwhistle," Elowen said gently. "May I examine you?"
Nellie froze. "You… you know my name?"
"I know all names," Elowen replied. "But yours is louder today."
Aiden helped Nellie shift so she could sit up straighter. Myra held her hand without letting go. Runa stayed ready to swing a hammer at a god.
Elowen knelt.
She didn't touch Nellie at first.
She simply breathed.
The green around them brightened. Leaves swayed without wind.
Nellie felt something brush against her chest — not physically, but magically — as if vines were testing the soil of her soul.
Elowen nodded once.
"It is as I thought."
Nellie swallowed. "Am I… broken?"
Elowen smiled — soft, warm, devastating. "Child, you are not broken. You are blooming."
Nellie blinked rapidly.
"What do you mean?" Aiden asked.
Elowen placed two fingers lightly above Nellie's sternum.
A green thread glowed under the skin.
Myra gasped. "She can see them too?"
"Yes," Elowen said. "And she has always had the heart for this. The trial simply cracked open the shell."
Runa frowned. "What exactly bloomed?"
Elowen answered without hesitation:
"The Verdant Sight.
The oldest healer's gift.
Long thought extinct."
Nellie's ears twitched. Hard. "I—I'm not that special."
"Special?" Elowen murmured. "No. Necessary? Yes."
Nellie's breath caught.
Elowen continued:
"The Sight is not power. It is responsibility. It lets you see the wounds people hide. The bonds they don't admit. The sicknesses they pretend are strength. The love they don't say out loud."
Myra and Aiden both turned a shade pink.
Runa raised an eyebrow.
Nellie looked down, overwhelmed.
"But why me?" she whispered.
Elowen's voice softened even further.
"Because you care. Because you break open when others break. Because you do not run from fear — you run into it to keep someone else from hurting."
Nellie's eyes stung.
Aiden reached out, squeezing her shoulder.
Myra wiped her eyes quickly, pretending she wasn't crying.
Runa placed a steady hand on Nellie's other shoulder. Solid as stone.
The pup nudged her chin and made a soft spark.
Nellie hiccuped and laughed all at once.
Elowen rose gracefully.
"She will need rest," she said. "And guidance. I will send a Verdant Master to her dorm tomorrow."
Aiden nodded. "We'll stay with her."
Elowen's gaze sharpened. "I expect nothing less."
She turned to leave—
Then paused.
"Elenora."
Nellie looked up. "Yes?"
Elowen's expression changed.
Not fear.
Something heavier.
"Did you feel anything… watching you… from the Hollow's deeper layers?"
Nellie froze.
The green threads flickered.
Aiden tensed.
Myra's hand tightened on her dagger.
Runa shifted closer to Nellie, jaw tightening.
The pup growled — low and dangerous.
Nellie whispered:
"…yes."
"What did it feel like?" Elowen asked.
Nellie's voice trembled.
"Like fog.
Like something old.
Like it wanted to… understand me."
Elowen's eyes darkened with a knowledge she did not share.
"Storm-child was not the only one noticed," she murmured.
Aiden stiffened beside Nellie.
"You mean—?"
Elowen met his eyes.
"You are not the only marked one anymore."
The threads pulsed.
Nellie felt it like a heartbeat that didn't belong to her.
Elowen stepped back.
"Stay together," the Headmistress said. "The forest is watching."
She left without another word.
The courtyard fell quiet.
Nellie clutched the pup tighter.
Myra leaned against her.
Aiden sat beside her, shoulder touching hers.
Runa planted her hammer in the ground and glared at anyone who even thought of staring too long.
Nellie whispered:
"…I think I'm scared."
Aiden placed his hand gently over hers.
"Then we stay scared together."
The pup sparked in agreement.
Runa nodded once.
Myra wiped her cheeks. "Exactly."
Nellie breathed slowly—
shaking, glowing, marked, and held.
For the first time since stepping into the Gate…
She didn't feel small.
She felt seen.
And for the first time ever—
she didn't mind.
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