“Ah, okay! So all I have to do is make my snow heal you, right?! Sounds easy!” she exclaimed, defaulting to building herself up with useless words as snow started swirling around her hand. She let it expand to Feather’s extended arm that was all bitten up and purple from the poison, but… ah. Nothing happened. Her snow stayed there for quite a while, swirling hopelessly around his arm as she kept trying to channel healing energy into it, before Feather couldn’t hold it back anymore and burst into laughter.
“Eve! You’re not following the proper steps, hahaha…” he laughed, the woman’s snow white face turning beet red as she snatched her snow away from him.
“Fine! Stay poisoned and die!”
“No, no… haha, sorry, okay… let’s restart,” he grinned, extending his arm towards her all over again with a sneaky smile. “You’re rushing the process. You shouldn’t try to give your snow healing properties right off the bat, that’s far too advanced. You need to take things slow, slowly…” his smile softened, before he extended his unharmed hand to her and grinned wider. “The first step we need to take shouldn’t be complete fusion, but coexisting. In order to fuse two things together, they must first exist on the same plane, right? So use your snow, you can wrap it around your hand… and use your healing concept at the same time. Now, that might be tricky, since it’s usually overwhelming for most people who aren’t experienced with multiple concepts to use two at the same time, but give it a try and take things slow. Remember to breathe! And if you want pointers on how to do it, I recommend asking Leocadies or Cirrus.”
“Okay… wait, what? Cirrus?” Eve looked up, a bit surprised to hear that name come out of Feather’s mouth, especially in any way that sounded vaguely friendly or respectful. “I thought you hated him. You’re always insulting him… but you actually have nice things to say behind his back, huh?” she decided to tease, smirking as she watched Feather get caught off guard, the man staring at her like he simply didn’t understand what she was going on about.
“Uh. I don’t hate him. I just find him a bit pathetic… like a lost puppy who got kicked on the side of the street. But, by normal standards, it’s not like he’s actually weak or anything,” Feather answered honestly, Eve watching with curiosity. “For his age, he’s clearly advanced… he’s on par with someone who’s around a thousand years old, and that’s impressive. His ice concept is brilliant… though his telekinesis could use some work, since it seems like he doesn’t use it to fight. But what I mean when I say that he’s good at using two concepts at once, well, you know his all-seeing eye, right?” Feather brought up, moving his good hand to tap his face. “He used it the entire time you guys were fighting Sinika. He hasn’t quite mastered the concept itself yet, but the fact he can fluidly use it at the same time as his ice concept is already very impressive. I think if you asked him about it, he’d be able to give you a lot of good advice.”
“Oh… I see,” Eve nodded, finding that to be a reasonable answer as she began to focus on healing Feather’s arm while also using her snow. And the miracle worker was right, it was awkward to do… she managed to keep her snow going for a while, though it grew weaker and weaker, until she focused so much on healing Feather’s injuries that the snow flurried away completely. “Ah…”
“Yeah, I expected that would happen on your first try,” Feather snorted, which only annoyed her further. Jeez, couldn’t she just be good at everything she did the moment she did it?! It would save her a lot of work.
“Ugh…” she frowned, staring at the palm of her hand and Feather’s partially healed skin. This was irritating. “Why are you telling me to ask Cirrus about this, anyway? I’ve seen you use like three or four concepts at once! You should just tell me how you do it,” she urged impatiently, though all Feather did was blink at her.
Goodness… he wasn’t sure he could answer that. The truth was, he only had one concept, the concept of anything. Whenever he focused on using multiple concepts at once, he wasn’t actually fusing them together or even having them coexist at all, but simply fulfilling his ability to do anything. Whenever he came across something challenging or a concept that was difficult for him to master, he would just think about how he could do anything! And then he would do it without much other thought. Clearly that wouldn’t work for anyone else but him. Eve really should just go and ask Cirrus or Leo, the two people in the group who were really good at using two or three concepts at once…
“Why aren’t you saying anything? C’mon, just give me some advice. You’re more knowledgeable than Cirrus anyway!” Eve pressed, Feather not really knowing what to say as he gave an awkward laugh masked with haughtiness.
“Haha, you’re right, Cirrus is pretty dumb…”
“Not what I meant! See, this is what I mean, you’re always mean to him for no reason.”
“I have my reasons, actually…”
“Oh yeah? What are they?”
“Not telling…”
He could clearly feel the way Eve was glaring at him, but it’s not like it mattered. He didn’t want to talk about his concept with her, and he most definitely didn’t want to talk about Cirrus of all people. That guy was on a better path now, thanks to Feather giving him his wakeup call, but he still wasn’t so sure what to think of the guy… Cirrus hadn’t really earned his respect yet. What else was he supposed to say? And he couldn’t say the real reason he was so rude to that stupid prince was because he despised how compliant Cirrus had been with the arranged marriage their parents had put them in despite them having never met before… it was all so aggravating. Why would anyone be okay with being in a marriage with someone they didn’t love? The only reason Feather had been so cold and harsh with him to start with was because he wanted to push enough of Cirrus’ buttons to get him to ask his mom to void the engagement, but nothing had worked… so maybe it was just a habit to be a little mean to him now. But how was Feather supposed to say that?!
“Anyways, stop questioning me and get back to work, you gossipy disciple of mine!” Feather spat, shooting Eve a glare before he began walking further into the dungeon to find another snake. “Follow me and shut up!”
“Please don’t injure yourself again, Feather,” Eve sighed, feeling a bit defeated as she followed along down the rocky path that was lit up by one of Feather’s concepts, a ball of light flurrying above them with immaculate casualty. “It’s really not necessary. Can’t we just injure one of these monsters and have me heal that?”
“That won’t do. It’s better for you to practice on humans, or people you can empathize with. Healing and empathy go hand-in-hand, and it’s not common for people to empathize with monsters,” Feather explained, Eve frowning at the pure logic behind that statement. Didn’t this man have even a single emotional bone in his body?
“Well I think it’ll be fine. I used to practice my healing on polar bears or seals back where I come from,” Eve expressed, but it didn’t seem to mean much to Feather in the slightest. In fact, it seemed to annoy him, and she paused, suddenly feeling the need to back up a few steps when he turned around to face her, his expression looking… rather confused.
“Why are you so adamant about me not getting hurt?” he asked seriously, staring her dead in the eyes as she stared back. “I’m not gonna die from it, I can’t feel the pain, and I don’t mind it. So why do you care so much?”
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“Uh. Well, I just,” she began hesitantly, watching Feather’s reaction as she steeled her resolve. Honestly, what was with him? Why couldn’t he grasp something as simple as not wanting to see people get needlessly hurt? He was so dense, it made her wonder how he’d even turned out this way. But despite how intimidated she felt, and no matter how small he was making her feel, Eve stood tall, meeting him eye to eye as she gave a stern reply, “I just don’t want my friends to get hurt. Or anyone, really. Even if you can’t feel it, and even if it won't kill you, it’s still an injury, and injuries are never good. I don’t care who you are, or how powerful you may be, I don’t want to see you like that.”
And then it went awfully silent. Feather was staring at her like she was some sort of puzzle he couldn’t figure out for the life of him, his smile having faded into a disgruntled frown that somehow seemed more genuine than any of his other expressions. But seriously, what didn’t he understand about this? After a moment of letting him stare at her like he was trying to decipher some sort of ancient code spoken in a dead language, Eve sighed and spoke again with just as much conviction. “It’s natural for friends to be worried about each other when one of them gets injured, right? Isn’t it normal to not want to see people get hurt?”
“...I guess so,” Feather admitted slowly, and Eve could see the gears in his mind turning. For a moment, she was hopeful that she’d finally managed to reach him in that thick skull of his, though all of those hopes were quickly dashed. “It’s just that… most people express pain or sadness when they’re hurt. That’s why I care about others, because I don’t want to see people sad or in pain. But…” his face contorted, shifting into an almost crazed look as his smile returned to his face, Feather lifting himself up to throw his hands in the air. His eyes were wide and manic as he grinned at her, as if he were trying to better convince her that him getting hurt was okay with any weapon he had. “But I can’t feel pain! Hahah… I don’t feel anything! I can’t express pain, and I can’t express sadness! That’s why you shouldn’t worry!”
“Okay, so, what you’re saying is… it’s okay for you to get hurt, but not anybody else?”
“Exactly!”
“I don’t like that,” Eve frowned, Feather faltering the moment he saw how serious she was.
Seriously, what was wrong with her? She might not know this about him, but he died and came back to life all the time, so what did it matter if he got bit by a few snakes? Pain wasn’t the end of the world. And, to him, neither was death. He was immune to everything. He couldn’t express pain, because he couldn’t feel it. That was just the truth. But still, Eve seemed to care about this a lot. In fact, she seemed to care a lot about people in general. She was a good person, unlike him. Hm… a good person… that did get him thinking…
“Uh, well, sorry, but I’m gonna change the topic for a minute. We can talk about this again in a sec,” he spoke erratically, Eve’s brows furrowing as she stared at him. Was he really trying to dodge this question again? What a stubborn guy… except, what he said was the very last thing she could have ever expected to hear. He was pointing to himself, smile still wide on his face as his head tilted to the side, before he asked boldly, “Do you think I’m a good person?”
“...huh? Where’d that come from?” she couldn’t help but blurt, utterly taken aback by the absurdity of that line. “You searchin’ for praise?”
“No, I’m not, I’m just curious! I mean it, I’m really curious! Analyze me!” Feather grinned with his hands waving in front of his face, his expression turning a bit more playful as he leaned into her personal space. “Treat me like an experiment!”
“Uh, okay, if that’s what you want,” she nodded skeptically, but no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find any double meaning in his eyes. He looked entirely genuine. He even looked a little excited to hear what she had to say. And, well, even if he was searching for praise, she didn’t mind giving it to him. And Eve always tried her best not to lie, so of course she’d give him her honest thoughts. It led her to cock her head to the side, a small smile lacing her features as she conceded, “Well, yeah, you’re a good person. You always prioritize saving people, even before yourself. I do wish you valued yourself more, because you worry me, but I can admire how selfless you are. And this village… everyone seems to love you, Feather. You’ve clearly helped them all out a lot, and I can see how grateful they all are to you. They view you as their protector, their savior. And the whole Kavrill family seems so fond of you… it’s clear they love you a lot, like family. If I were strong enough, I’d love to try and do half the stuff you do. You’re amazing, and you love people. Why wouldn’t you be a good person?” she offered, smiling kindly at him as Feather processed what she was saying, his smile fading once again into something more clinical.
“Then… what about you? Are you a good person, too?”
“Huh? Uh… I’m not sure?” Eve threw out there, confused. What the hell was going on in this guy’s crazy head? Why was he asking these things?
But he still seemed so genuine, like he really didn’t mean anything by it… though she still didn’t know what to think when Feather prompted again, “You seemed so certain when you called me a good person. Why don’t you know about yourself?”
“Oh, well… I just don’t think I’ve done enough for others to be considered a good person like you,” Eve answered truthfully, moving to scratch the back of her neck underneath her short white hair. “I mean, I try. I want to be a good person, and I want to help people. But I make a lot of reckless decisions, and I can be really selfish sometimes. Sometimes I forget to think about other people and my responsibilities when faced with something big or enticing. I just… I think I’m quite average. I want to be a good person, and I want to meet everyone's expectations of me, but… I’m not there yet. Maybe when I become a divine healer, like you believe I can be, I can finally tell myself I’m good, and that I’ve done enough… but I’m nowhere close to that yet, so I’ve got a long way to go.”
Ahh, wow… she’d been surprisingly honest. She didn’t think she’d ever been this honest with anyone except her father. But Feather, he really was like a teacher… someone safe to be around. Of course, he had his secrets, and he avoided vulnerable questions like this, so there was no way she’d get reciprocity from him to also be this honest, but… she trusted him. Despite all that, Eve still thought he was a good, amazing, and brilliant person. She’d always listened to stories from her father about how she’d had an older brother who died before she was born, and the tales of her wonderful and brave mother who had died giving birth to her. She was always told her brother was a brilliant man when he was alive who died protecting members of their tribe from a polar bear, before being brutally maimed and found a few weeks later as a mangled corpse. Their mother had been one of those people… she’d been pregnant with Eve at the time, but she wasn’t far enough along to be exempt from hunting. And in the end, her older brother had risked his life to save her, to make sure Eve had the chance to be born. She’d never met him, or her mother for that matter, but he’d saved her life once. Feather had also saved her life… it did make her wonder that if she’d been able to meet her brother and the mother she never knew, would they have been anything like Feather? Would they also have been this brilliant?
She didn’t understand Feather at all. But she wanted to get to know him better so that maybe someday, she could. So that maybe someday, she could treat him like he really was her older brother. And maybe he’d treat her like how he treated Iden. She’d joked around with Jayce about having a crush on him, but that wasn’t it… she didn’t see him that way, not really. She just… wanted to have a family, like the family Feather had already found for himself.
“Hm… if you say so,” Feather hummed, snapping her out of her thoughts as she looked up to stare at him. He seemed to be thinking about something, but she couldn’t fathom what. What would she even have to do to even begin to understand what went on his mind? Was he thinking about injuring himself again? Was he thinking about that cake Iden had baked him that he said he was saving for when he got tired? Feather seemed to really like cake. Or maybe he was thinking about a new way to train her? Those questions had to have meant something, right?
And, well… she was correct. She was correct about Feather’s mind being a crazy mess, and she was correct about him contemplating a new way to train her that he’d never considered before now. Because… in reality, he wasn’t a good person. Eve just didn’t know him well enough to be able to say that. She’d only seen his good sides, he was pretty sure. But she, on the other hand, was definitely a good person. A good person… just how good of a person do you need to be to wield it as a concept? The only reason Feather could use it was because he could do anything, not because he was actually a good person like people thought he was. But the concept of good… a concept no one besides himself had been able to use for millenia… could Eve use it? She was by far the most selfless person in their group, wasn’t she? Forget about being a divine healer, if she could master the concept of good, she would surpass them all and reach that special tier reserved for only the best of the best, the most good and grand of them all… could Eve really do something like that? Well, regardless of whether she could or not… Feather decided he would try to train her to use it anyway. Because, like, since he thought she had the potential… why not?
Do you want to start a new religion worshipping Eve as a goddess??
