Callie's Heroes

PART II - FOOLISH SELF-CARE

Vanis stepped to the ground and began walking towards the bathhouse. Up ahead, he saw a Fairy wearing a familiar colors. The timing was serendipitous and he called out, “Healer Tasi?”

Tasi turned. “Greetings Recruit. All is well?”

“Perhaps not. Might you have a moment?”

“Of course, what seems to be wrong?”

Vanis asked if Tasi had heard about the Demon summoning and the fight, and after she confirmed she had not, quickly filled her in on what had transpired. He then went on to discuss Tazrok’s behavior in the shower, and the concerns he had.

“Hmm, was this his first time healing someone?” Tasi asked.

“Yes. Trainer Rowani talked him through casting the spell, but he had some difficulties with it. There was a lot of pressure at that moment as Pixyl was still bleeding heavily.”

Tasi nodded sagely and pondered the situation, before finally saying “Let’s go check on him together.”

As a pair, the Elf and Fairy walked to the bathhouse. As they entered, Tasi called out “Female in the room!” in a loud voice. Nothing stirred, save the sound of water falling from the stall at the far end. Tasi picked up two towels and handed them to Vanis. As they walked down the row, they heard the low, baritone grunt of Tazrok.

“Tazrok?” Vanis called out.

The Ogre’s grunts and growls didn’t change, and Tasi’s expression grew even more concerned. Together, they carefully looked around the wall into Tazrok’s shower stall to find him sitting cross-legged on the tile, the water falling in a constant rain from the showerhead above. In Tazrok’s hand he held a sharp piece of wood that he had just used to gouge open a wound on his upper thigh. It wasn’t terribly deep, but red blood was rising, mixing with the deluge of water before disappearing down the drain.

“Oh dear,” Tasi said as she started to rush for the Ogre.

But Tazrok had dropped the stick, and started to hold his hand over the bleeding wound, closing his eyes in concentration.

Vanis grabbed Tasi’s shoulder, “Wait a moment,” he said. Tasi then saw it, too.

Tazrok concentrated and the jagged cut began to knit itself back together. The bleeding slowed and stopped, the water now running crystal clear around the Ogre’s leg. He moved his hand away to inspect his handiwork. The tear in his skin was gone, healed whole by Druidic magic. All that remained was a slight pink color in a line where the injury once was. It was then that Vanis noticed multiple such lines on Tazrok’s arms and his other thigh.

“Turn off that water,” Tasi ordered Vanis, gesturing upwards.

Vanis set the towels aside and, using a hook, pulled the Ogre-height chain that closed the showerhead far above. The water slowed to a trickle, and finally stopped.

Tazrok was busy catching his breath, obviously exhausted, and didn’t even notice the water had ceased falling. He slowly reached for the pointed piece of wood, but Tasi was faster and she kicked it out of his reach. “Hey!” the Ogre said, surprised.

“What do you think you’re doing!” Tasi demanded. She didn’t seem to be using a Command Aura, but the angry tone of her voice was just as effective.

“Must practice healing. Must get faster and not cause pain. Trainer Kitty Lady say so.”

Tasi looked at Vanis, confused.

“Trainer Rowani did, in fact, say exactly that.”

Tasi looked up at the Ogre. Even seated, Tazrok was half-again her height and still a giant wall of solid muscle. “So you are cutting and healing yourself? How many times?”

“Um. Ten and four. Doesn’t hurt much now with practice, but still must get faster.”

“Fourteen times?” Tasi said incredulously. “How did you have enough mana for that? You must be exhausted.”

Tazrok shrugged. “Got tired, so sat down. But kept going. Must get it right. Almost killed Blue Pixie. Was slow to heal.”

Tasi muttered a stream of muffled obscenities. “Tazrok, you need to stop doing this.”

“Why? Practice healing is good, no?”

The Healer rubbed her hand across her face. “You’re out of mana, meaning you can hurt yourself if you keep casting.”

“But if hurt, can just heal,” Tazrok said. “I am Healer now.”

“No, not this kind of hurt,” Tasi said, trying not to yell, but obviously getting frustrated. “When you hurt yourself by running out of mana, it’s damage that can’t be healed magically and takes a long time to heal naturally.”

Tazrok frowned. “Still not understand mana.”

Vanis quickly searched his mind for an analogy, and found one that wasn’t great. Hopefully the Ogre would understand it. “Tazrok, how many mugs of ale can you pour from one barrel?”

“Um… About ten.”

“Wow, those are really big mugs,” Tasi said quietly, shaking her head in disbelief, before deferring apologetically to Vanis to continue with the explanation.

“So pretend that every time you cast a spell, you drink one mug of ale,” Vanis said. “What happens when you’ve cast ten spells?”

“I get another barrel,” Tazrok said with a shrug.

“I suspect you would,” Vanis said with a chuckle. “But if you have no more barrels, what actually happens is that you’ve run out of ale. You cannot drink any more. Mana is like that barrel of ale, and each spell uses up some of that ale.”

Tazrok thought about that. He understood the dangers of running out of ale. Barrels were never big enough for Ogres, so it happened far more than it should. “So if cast spell when out of mana ale, it hurts?”

“Yes,” Vanis said with relief as he picked up one of the towels on the floor. “So you have to learn to not cast too many spells; not to use too much mana.” He handed Tazrok the towel, indicating he should spread it across his naked lap. Nobody really needed to see all that.

“So when casting magic makes me tired, then I am out of mana ale?” Tazrok said, still a little confused, but starting to see things.

“Exactly. At that point, you drain your stamina, and that can cause injury. The good news is that your mana will slowly refill itself. Then you can cast more without getting hurt.”

Tazrok was getting the analogy now. As long as he didn’t cast too fast or too much, the refilling mana barrel would never be empty, but if he did cast too much Healing, then it would run out and make him tired and hurt. That was simple enough. He’d have to learn how many times was too many, but he thought it might be around eight. That was when he got tired when he was Healing himself in the shower and had to sit down.

“Tazrok, Trainer Rowani will help you learn how to know how much ale, I mean mana, you have left,” Tasi said. “And how much each spell uses. But until then, you must be careful and not push yourself so hard. In fact, you aren’t even supposed to be casting spells until tomorrow!”

Tazrok looked glum. “I know. But want to get healing right. Blue Pixie almost died because I was slow and Kitty Lady said I must get better. Because I was not good Druid. So must practice.”

Vanis chuckled lightly. “Tazrok, your dedication is admirable, but I think you’ve done enough practicing for today. From now on, only practice when and how your trainer tells you, until you learn what you need to know about mana control. Do you understand? It’s the safest for you.”

The Ogre sank into thought for a moment, before sighing and nodding his head in agreement. “Understand. Running out of mana ale is bad.”

Tasi reached for her belt and brought forth a vial with a thick, purple liquid in it. “Here. Drink this. It’s only a small rejuvenation potion, especially for your size, but it will give you a little stamina and mana at the same time. Also, these potions are the only thing that can reverse mana drain damage, but must be used immediately.” She pulled the cork out of the vial and handed it carefully to Tazrok.

The Ogre took the vial gingerly between his thumb and forefinger, being careful not to crush it, and drank the contents down in a single gulp. He made a puckered face, before saying “Bleh! Very sour!” He held out his hand to Tasi, and she retrieved the empty vial.

“Tazrok,” Tasi began crossly, pointing at the Ogre’s thigh, “You must not injure yourself like that, even to practice your healing, understood? And I cannot emphasize enough, never cast spells when out of mana unless you have no choice, or you can truly hurt yourself.”

The Ogre nodded, a somewhat ashamed look on his face. To Tazrok, his actions made perfect sense. He had to get better at healing, so he needed something to heal. He couldn’t ask someone else to get hurt for him to practice healing, so the natural conclusion was that he practice on himself. “Understand,” he finally mumbled.

Tasi eyed Tazrok a little suspiciously. As promises went, that one felt a little lacking. She glanced at Vanis, who caught her eye. His face showed true concern for his housemate, but no longer the extreme worry from when the two of them had entered the building.

“Tazrok, are you able to stand and get dressed?” Vanis asked. “The Major will be coming for you soon for the gathering later. You need to be refreshed and ready when she arrives.”

The Ogre struggled, but managed to stand, the potion having restored a bit of his body strength. However, he had a massive headache from the lack of mana, and the paltry amount the rejuvenation potion provided wasn’t enough to alleviate it. He would either need a legitimate mana potion or time for his reserves to recharge naturally. “Will go dress,” Tazrok mumbled, still sounding a little down, as he started walking to the oversized changing stall.

Tasi and Vanis had both turned their backs as the Ogre walked by to avoid the risk of seeing any towel slippage. “I need to speak to you outside,” Tasi whispered sharply to Vanis.

The Elf nodded. “Tazrok, I’ll see you back at the house,” he called out, gesturing to Tasi to walk ahead, “Don’t be long.”

Tazrok grunted a vague affirmative, still seeming tired and a little distracted as he sorted through a fresh set of clothing.

As they walked outside, Tasi let out a long groan, holding her hands to her face in frustration. “This is why Ogres are so difficult to work with if they aren’t a Warrior class, they take everything so literally. She really told him he needed to practice and get faster?”

“I’m afraid so,” Vanis said. “The words were to the effect he needed to heal without causing more pain and learn to react faster.”

Tasi ran her hand down her face, and seemed to stifle an angry scream. “I’ll have to talk to Rowani. She has no experience with how Ogres think or even Ogre culture. If she doesn’t understand him, he’s going to get into trouble again. I don’t think there’s any harm done here. Ogre constitution is really strong. Even though he was casting without mana, he should be able to handle it, and the potion will reverse any damage that may have happened.”

“Good,” Vanis said with a nod.

“Recruit Vanis, if you are willing, please do what you are able to make sure he doesn’t do something like this again. At least until he learns some mana control and understands better. There are so few Ogre mana classes, we forget they generally don’t know anything about spellcasting. Someone watching out for him would be helpful.”

“Certainly. I will let the others know as well,” Vanis said with a nod. “For what it’s worth, I have spent several days traveling with Tazrok, and Lena has known him even longer. Please let Trainer Rowani know, on the chance she’d like any insight into his nature and personality we may have.”

“I will do that. Thank you. We’ll get him straightened out, I’m sure. I think this is all just outside of his experience. Obviously, an Ogre Druid is a new phenomenon for everyone, too, so there will be … interesting challenges.”

Tasi turned to leave, but Vanis interrupted. “A request, Healer Tasi.”

“Yes?”

“Would you have a spare stamina potion? Tazrok has his … event … shortly, I would think it would be best if his strength was fully recovered.”

Tasi quickly checked her belt, frowned, and said, “Sorry, I do not, only one more rejuvenation which I would prefer not to use since they are so much harder for an alchemist to make. I will have a Sprite bring one to Ogre House shortly, if that would work.”

“Excellent. Thank you,” Vanis said with a slight bow.