Life Story
Page 1
In an age long past-ere temples were raised or priests walked the land, there was a time the god Kadorto was yet unknown to the peoples of the continent. Dwelling amidst the vast and burgeoning green lands, there arose a people called the Healers, who poured the very lifeblood of their hearts into the mending of others.
From those dawning days, these Healers held in high reverence the entities and the bounty of nature. They wrought their remedies, ever refining their skill in the arts of healing, and diligently passed down the means to defy death to later generations. In an age when no one could look to the miracle of resurrection, the Healers were dearly loved by all for their tireless efforts to preserve the single span of life granted to a person.
It was in such a village of Healers that Camille was born. In her girlhood, when a great fever had cast Camille into a dark malaise, she was mended by the hands of a Matron. Upon drinking the bitter medicine offered to her, the fire in her blood subsided rapidly. Both the healing craft of the Matron and the fervor of the voices uplifted to the entities for her sake revealed unto Camille the very heart of the Healer's calling.
"I, too, wish to be like you, Eldress..."
Ere long, Camille was taken into apprenticeship of the Healers, and thus she entered into her long years of training.
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In the company of her fellow apprentices, Camille gleaned much lore and craft from the Matrons of the Healers.
She learned to discern the plants of healing and their proper use, and at times put their virtues to the test upon her own flesh. She came to know the structure of the body, learning the sealing of wounds and the setting of bones that had been broken. She learned to hold the entities in reverence, and to offer up her prayers to them... Camille devoted herself to her learning, that she might one day save others as the Matron who had once saved her.
In time, with every returning of the spring, each of her fellow apprentices who had acquired sufficient knowledge and skill departed on their journeys one by one. For such is the custom of the village.
Camille offered her prayers to the entities, that her companions might bring healing to many a soul in the lands of their travels. Camille alone remained among the Healers' apprentices. Now at the long last, the hour had come for Camille herself to depart. However, as the spring-tide drew near, Camille yet lacked trust in her own strength, and a shadow of doubt remained upon her heart.
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To Camille, who could not find it in her heart to take up the road, the Matron spoke with gentle words.
"Your spirit is a jewel of rare beauty marred only by the blemish of your doubt. But fret not. You possess the most essential aptitude that a Healer must hold-the love you bear for all things. Your lack of confidence stems from your fear of hurting those you love."
The healing wrought by Camille's hands was steeped in compassion. So heedful was she to spare her charges all pain and sorrow, and so constant was her solace, that neither the smallest child nor the wordless beasts of the field felt any dread when Camille's hands were upon them.
Camille sought to hearten her own spirit by adding labor upon labor in the arts of healing. When those she had healed turned to her with smiles and gave her their thanks, a flicker of new courage kindled within her. Ere long, Camille had become capable enough to at least handle errands in those places nearby the village.
And on her day of parting, which fell upon her unlooked-for, Camille was out upon such an errand.
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In a village hard by, she stilled the cough of an elder, gave ease to the weary back of a laborer, and cooled the burning fever of a child. Her healing being finished, Camille was making her way back to her village when a sudden blast of unseasonable cold smote her, and a boding of ill stirred within her breast.
Hastening back to her village, she found that it was already encircled by soldiers bearing the banner of the lord who ruled those nearby lands. Lost in uncertainty and holding her breath as she crouched amidst a wild glade of healing herbs far from the road, and there before her a Matron appeared. The Matron spoke then and told how all the folk of the village had aided in her flight that she might escape.
"The lord of the land seeks to capture all Healers and keep them prisoner for his own ends. He cannot bear that the hearts of the people turn to us for solace rather than to him."
The Matron bade Camille that they should part ways and flee in separate directions. It was her purpose to better the chance of survival for anyone who had attained mastery in the arts of healing.
Camille fled, weeping from a sense of helpless loneliness. She believed that if she endured and continued her healing arts somewhere in the wide world, she would yet honor the debt she owed to the Matron who had trained her.