"Zinya, allow me to introduce to you Professor Zogar Vastor and Healer Quylla Ernas. He is the leading light in the field of Body Sculpting and the expert I told you about. Quylla is a genius healer and a dear friend of mine.
"They are both here to help me with your procedure." Lith said.
"It is my honor that such an important person bothered himself for a nobody like me, Professor Vastor." Zinya stood up and gave a deep bow in the direction of Lith’s voice, her head almost touched the floor.
"It’s nothing, my lady. There’s no need to thank me, at least not before we’ve succeeded healing you." Despite his humble words, Vastor puffed out his chest in pride.
It had been a long time since a beautiful woman had praised him with such sincerity.
"Nice to meet you, Healer Ernas. Please, take good care of me." Zinya gave a curtsy, this time following Vastor’s voice.
"The pleasure is all mine." Quylla said. There was something wrong with both the house and its inhabitants, something that gave her the creeps.
"We need to perform a few diagnostic spells that require physical contact. Do you mind if we touch your head?" Vastor asked.
The moment Vastor cast his best diagnostic spells Lith could see him turn pale before his usually calm visage was twisted into a red mask of anger. He was clenching his teeth so hard that Lith wouldn’t be surprised to hear them crack.
"Quylla, I need a second opinion." Vastor said while making her way.
"Lith, I would like to take lady Sarta to the White Griffon Hospital immediately. We can’t perform any procedure until her body doesn’t recover and she doesn’t put a bit of meat on those bones." His voice was calm, but Vastor had a murderous look in his eyes that could rival with Lith’s.
"I agree with your assessment, Professor. Lady Sarta needs immediate assistance." Unlike Vastor, Quylla’s poker face was perfect.
’So far so good. I healed everything but left behind everything a competent healer would need to diagnose the repeated domestic abuse over the years.’ Lith inwardly smiled. In the case of divorce, Vastor’s testimony would mean a great deal.
"Now? I’ve not prepared any luggage." Zinya said.
"There’s no need for luggage. The White Griffon will provide you all that you might need." Vastor opened a Warp Steps leading them back to the city’s Warp Gate and from there they could reach the hospital ward directly.
Once Zinya was settled in her bed, Lith called Kamila with his civilian communication amulet and left the two sisters talking before meeting the Professor again in his study.
Kamila’s supervisor wasn’t very happy about a social call during working hours, but Jirni had a family as well, so she let it slide.
"Scum of the earth." Vastor snarled as Lith entered the room.
"These are the moments when I regret having left the Queen’s corps. Back then, I would have killed people like mister Sarta without a second thought, just adding their name in the ’collateral damage’ list."
"Professor! We’re Healers, not cold blooded killers. We took an oath!" Quylla rebuked him.
"It’s easy to say when you are so young and naïve. When you reach my age, after you’ll see things so bad that make that poor woman look lucky in comparison, you’ll change your mind. I’m tired of seeing good people die while the bad guys thrive."
"I agree with Professor Vastor." Lith said.
"Now, if we can please discuss the treatment, I would love to have your input about how to proceed."
"I won’t sugar coat this, Lith. It’s hard. The optic nerve is part of the central nervous system, one slight mistake can turn her into a vegetable. Even if you succeed in restoring her sight, it’s likely that she’ll suffer from side effects for the rest of her life.
"Her other senses might be altered and her personality might change. If you want my help, you’d better have a good plan." Vastor said.
Lith explained to them how he had already managed to temporarily give Zinya sight using mana as a conduit.
"I plan on using Kamila, Zinya’s sister, as a blueprint. There may be many differences between them, so my idea is to use mana as a probe. To test where to connect the nerves before actually doing it.
"This way I can simply slow down the process and use a trial and error approach to avoid affecting her brain in any permanent way."
"This is genius!" Vastor blurted out.
"Kid, you make me feel useless. How long did it take you to manipulate mana to this extent? It must have taken months just to create a spell so complicated, let alone master it."
Lith felt embarrassed. He had devised the spell on the spot, by simply altering his true magic version of Chisel. Back then, Zinya’s desperation had driven him into an outrage. He had done it simply to give her something to fight for.
Only later, while he had performed Body Sculpting simulations, did Lith realize that it could actually be employed as a diagnostic tool to solve most of the unknown factors when harnessing Zinya’s brain.
"Don’t be so harsh on yourself, Professor. I worked on that spell ever since you taught me Chisel, so it’s not such a big deal. Also, I can assure you that with your experience in manipulating mana, you would master it in just a few days, if not hours." Lith’s words were only a half truth, as usual.
"Thanks, but rather than me reinventing the wheel, it would be better if you shared such a spell. The Kingdom would reward you handsomely." Vastor said.
"Sure." Lith shrugged.
’As soon as I make a fake magic version of it.’ He thought.
The three of them spent the following hours discussing the details of the procedure. Vastor gave Lith plenty of advice thanks to his rich medical experience. The more Lith explained to him how his Probe spell worked, the more Vastor understood what its strong points and limitations were.
Quylla took note of everything, using water magic to manipulate the ink and writing faster than a stenographer. She didn’t have Vastor’s experience, but her ingenuity allowed her to find a solution whenever they got stumped.
"Zinya needs plenty of food and rest before undergoing any procedure." Quylla said.
"I recommend to wait for at least a week."
"Agreed." Lith and Vastor said in unison.
"Professor, here is the paper that qualifies me as lady Sarta’s personal Healer. If her husband tries anything funny, please alert me immediately." Lith handed him the document so that Vastor could register it into the academy’s archives.
"I hope he does, dear Lith. This time of the year the magical beasts are particularly voracious. Not to mention how many diseases he could ’accidentally’ catch while visiting a dangerous place like our labs."
The two men exchanged a murderous look that gave Quylla the creeps. Before leaving the White Griffon, Lith went back to the hospital ward, to say Zinya goodbye and give her a present.
"Thank you so much." She said while handing Lith back his communication amulet.
"Too bad Kami is so swamped with work, we could barely talk. You know, I didn’t step outside for years. Even the air is different from how I remember it. I already feel much better."