Free Beyond the Hell Cliffs by Case C. Capehart Page A

are you?  It wouldn’t make a very good campfire story.”
    The Faeir simply sat there in shock and confusion.  Raegith was not expecting his first time around an actual woman to go so horribly wrong.
    Onyx took a moment before addressing him .  “I will tell no one, my prince.  I would not have you humiliated for which you cannot be faulted and I am professional enough for this.  You can trust my word as a healer.  Further flattery is unneeded, do you understand?”
    “Flattery?” Raegith asked.
    “What you said to me,” Onyx replied.  “ I am a Stone Seer; it is inappropriate to give any compliment to me, no matter how well-intended.”
    “A Stone Seer?” Raegith asked, sliding closer to her.  “I’ve not heard of that.  Is that why you can manipulate water so?”
    “My prince, we cannot tarry,” Onyx said, coming to her feet.  “I must get you washed and mended.  There is no time to explain things to you that do not matter.”
    “Nonsense,” Raegith said. “I won’t let you near me again unless you promise to tell me about being a Stone Seer.  I’ll find someone else.”
    “Why?” Onyx asked.
    “I want to know,” Raegith replied, slipping even closer to her.  “I don’t know what kind of rules your kind follow that dictate who does and does not matter, but I know that you’re responsible for me.  If you plan to take care of my wellbeing, then I intend to know everything about you.”
    “It would take too long to explain,” Onyx said.  “We haven’t the time and if Paladin Hemmil comes in to see you in your current… condition…”
    “Are you not my healer after this night?” Raegith asked.  “We have many nights of this ahead of us and I would use our time to learn of you rather than count wrinkles in my tent.”
    “Then you must be ignorant of the Stone Seers,” Onyx hissed.  “Else you would not ask to be entertained by one.  Turn and let me wash you.  If it is a companion you wish for, I shall request you be given a roommate.”
    Raegith simply crossed his arms and stared at her, not moving.
    “What in Rellizbix could be taking you that long, healer?” Hemmil asked.
    “My prince, please, let me do my job!” Onyx pleaded with him.
    “Then promise me,” Raegith said, standing firm.  “Promise me that we will help each other gain a purpose.”
    “I promise,” Onyx said after a moment of thought.  “As pointless as it may be, I promise to tell you of the Stone Seers, but not this evening.  Now turn and be still before it is too late!”
    Raegith smiled and turned, doing as she asked.  Onyx used the same technique to wash the rest of him, letting the water orb spin along his body from his calves to his head.  The water whirled over his body, scrubbing off clumps of grime and blood and cleaning out his scrapes and cuts.  It felt like he was bathing in a river rapids and the excitement of it, well, excited him all over again.  Once she was finished, she reached into a pack and produced fresh clothes for him.  He dressed as she packed up what she had and went for the tent flap.
    “Oh, Onyx,” Raegith said.  The healer stopped and turned to look back at him.  “I wasn’t flattering you.  You are a beautiful creature.”
    Onyx gave him a confused and suspicious look, but left without a word.  Immediately Hemmil came in to inspect him, but Raegith was already in his cot, relaxing and on the verge of sleep.  Hemmil looked over his feet and stroked his beard.  Satisfied that the healer was, in fact, doing some remarkable things, he left without a word and Raegith drifted to sleep before he could attempt to think about Onyx.
    The days continued as always, save two things: Hemmil was more of an instructor now than a taskmaster and Zakk was even more competitive and intolerable.  At night Onyx would come to mend his wounds, though she did not bath him completely every time.  She spoke to him of being a Stone Seer, which was the term given to Faeir