Primal Dawn

A few days after Remembrance Day, a large sign appeared in front of the Tamer’s Guild at Shantee. It was crude compared to ones you might see in a real town. A long plank standing upon two logs with notches to hold it in place.

Written in carefully burnt black letters were “FREE HEALING.”

—

“Got any injured? The Guild’s medical area is now back open!” Peter shouted at the crestfallen members of the third Dungeon group as they returned.

“We don’t need your charity,” the leader angrily shouted, waving to the others to follow him.

“I can charge you then, if you insist. Whatever Zilas charges you, I’ll do half. Hells, double!”

“Zilas asks a fair price. If you start playing with that guy, I can’t guarantee you a spot in the group tomorrow,” the man threatened.

“You could always join mine,” Peter said nonchalantly.

“A newbie like you? Leading them? The dungeon will eat you faster than a pack of starving Fren.”

“I’ve been going into the fourth dungeon just fine.” Peter purposely left out the fact that most of the fighting was done by Kaze. They didn’t need to know that right now.

“I think we’ll all pass on your offer, thanks,” The leader said, motioning once more to the others.

“You can even bathe at the guild now! The bathtub has been cleaned up!”

“We all bathe in the river once a week. What difference does-”

“It’s warm,” Peter emphasized. “Pretty chilly outside. A nice, warm soak is really nice,” Peter said while flapping his wet hair back and forth.

“Come on,” the leader growled to the others before heading towards their side of the fort. The other two groups hadn’t arrived yet so it was mainly empty barring the few left behind to watch their things.

Most of the group began to shuffle in place behind the leader, but one tamer lingered behind, glancing back and forth between his leader and Peter.

“Don’t make a mistake you’ll regret,” the leader said, noticing him.

The tamer hesitated for a moment, before nodding his head and running after the leader of the third group.

Dejected, Peter’s head slumped slightly. A moment later, he heard running and saw the tamer was fast approaching, carrying a ball of clothing. “Just needed to grab my stuff.”

Peter smiled. “Good call. Otherwise it’d go missing mysteriously.”

The tamer chuckled. “A mystery, huh? The name’s Erst. You took care of my Arachnid the day you arrived.”

“Peter, pleasure to have you. Do you have any primals that need healing?” Erst nodded. “Let’s try to be fancy then and go upstairs. We’ll take care of them.” As Peter gestured for Erst to enter the tamer’s guild, he spotted the leader of the third group staring at him, fuming. Peter smiled before following Erst.

“Wow, you’ve really cleaned up this place,” Erst said, amazed as he managed to take a few steps inside without kicking up a cloud of dust from the floor.

Upstairs, in the medical area, the few medical beds had their covers washed and were now neatly arranged. There were now a few chairs -nothing more than wide logs- that people could sit on, one of which was currently occupied by Gaia. And the shower which had been sitting in the corner was cleared of muck and looked renewed.

Erst summoned his two primals. A Trickster and an Arachnid. The Trickster appeared fine, but the Arachnid had some claw marks across her abdomen. “They’re not serious injuries. She’d recover slowly on her own, but…”

“It’s no problem, Gaia?”

“On it. Just rest on the bed,” she directed to the Arachnid. For a primal like the Arachnid, laying down was out of the question. So she hovered over the medical bed for a moment before planting herself down firmly atop. “Heal,” Gaia began, a green glow emanating from her hands and around the injured parts of the Arachnid. 

Gradually the Arachnid’s injuries disappeared. “You’re lucky you have a Dryad.”

Peter chuckled. “I’m lucky to have Gaia. That she is a Dryad is just a bonus.” 

Erst nodded. “And, uh, you mentioned a shower?”

“Yup!” Peter exclaimed. “Right over here. I’m guessing you want it warm. I’ll go turn on the hot water.” He left Gaia behind in the medical area and went down two sets of stairs. The one leading to the medical area, and the other which was beneath a semi-hidden hatch in the office which led to the basement. There, Kalista was standing idly next to Fira. “We’ve got a customer!” Peter exclaimed.

Fira sighed. “I never imagined I would end up like one of those primals that work crummy town jobs. Fire Wall.” Fira carefully lit and maintained a flame within the boiler used to warm the water. They had placed a tiny bit of wood inside, but by and large Fira was providing most of the heat. Hot water should soon be traveling into the tub in the medical area.

Peter couldn’t blame Fira for not being impressed by this sort of work. But they had little choice. Competing with Zilas for the tamers in Shantee; they would not be won over by offering the same things.

Small luxuries such as a warm shower, or access to cheaper healing, those were things that Peter could offer that Zilas couldn’t. All he could do was just hope it might be enough to tip the scales in his favor.