Chapter 75:

Chapter 75: Healing requires adequate bedside manners




Royalty has a special place in Eldar law, for royalty stands above the cultures they come from and all laws are subject to the cultures that make and enforce them.

To be a king or a queen is to be a singular existence recognized by an Eldar culture to stand above them, to have all that a civilization is be subordinate to yourself and to have the very notion of reality subjected to your whims, and despite all that not even royalty stands above the Law. This is so, for Eldar Law is a Derivative of the Laws of the Ancients and they most certainly did not believe in anything greater than themselves and among themselves none were seen as above their culture.

Despite all that, the Children of The Stars had royalty which we called the Song Kings and Song Queens and we believed them each to stand above all that we were and so compromises had to be made and royalty was made to stand above ourselves and the enforcers of the Law to be us as well, and so while our Royalty was bound to the same rules as us and could suffer the same as any other Eldar, the fact that Eldar recognize someone as Royalty means that none would dare ever think such.

This contradiction is the Nonsense of Royalty, where each of them despite their beginnings, or their wealth, or their power stands as the pillars that stand in defiance of the Laws of the Ancients and allows the Children of the Stars to exist and keeps the Small Singing Swords of the Ancients contained. This is so, because our Royalty represents more than just the individuals themselves, but a symbol and more importantly a Ritualistic Component that we, the children of the Old Ones who stand supreme over The Great Wheel have something that both is and isn't above or beholden to the Law and thus we can exist in both states as long as our Royalty stands.

The Mortal Phoenix King was the first pillar, but others have been forged since then and now the Empire holds 22 pillars that keep us civilized and allow us to be ourselves and it all started with Malekith and his mother. Our civilization started from Malekith's trickery of his future subjects and it is why our civilization is born out of trickery, for it was the only thing that made it possible for ourselves to think beyond the biological and spiritual imperatives placed upon us by the Old Ones.

In the original timeline, things were defined by the principle of grimdarkness, or the state in which one is ever so close to Hope and Salvation, but would always reach just short of a brighter tomorrow and humanity has had plenty of such moments during the Horus Heresy and beyond as they lost all chances they could find to get out of the pits they kept digging themselves into.

Our species as a whole only had two such moments after the Birth of Slaanesh, the first being Eldrad failing to properly awaken Ynnead and not realizing that him dying was a necessary part of the ritual he was making and if he were to have done so, he would have become a Pheonix Lord of the Witch Path in full and Awakend our new Goddess that would have eliminated the Eldar part of the Chaos God Slaanesh and allowed the Empire of Ten Million Suns to be reborn. He was giving birth to a Goddess of Death after all, something important dying for it was expected and in that case there was only one specially prepared sacrifice there and that something was him and his rebirth would have been the one to Herald the Rebirth of our people.

The second moment was Asdrubael Vect deciding to not become royalty and instead wasted more than five thousand years of rituals specially curated and made just for his Ascension by Cegorach as well as another six thousand years made for whoever won the battle royale that was Commoragh and instead the fool decided to become a Divine, and not even a proper one, but a Lesser Divine at that.

Our Last hope was that either the Exodites would do something or that Asurmen could have salvaged it, but too much had been lost by then and slowly our people would have turned into the Small Singing Swords of the Ancients and the process had already started.

Wraithstone and Wraithbone are to any individual inspecting them the same material roughly, with Wraithstone being easier to work with once created and Wraithbone being a bit tougher, but both could have their internal structure so easily modified during their making due to the way that they are made one could be forgiven for not being able to tell the truth when looking at them, for the only difference to most onlookers was in how they were made.

Wraithbone is made purely through Song, while Wraithstone is made through a mix of Song and existing materials and the moment cultures start using Wraithstone on a large scale then the Children of the Stars have started dying and if something is not done soon then the Small Singing Sword of the Ancients will be back the moment the last individual born in that culture before the shift is dead.

By M42 the clock was ticking and soon Eldar craftworlds would have started the countdown to the death of our last rituals as we would have had no Royalty to keep us from becoming as we were again and we were out of plans that could be implemented in that time.

Yvraine was a failure of a priestess and wasn't salvageable as a project after Eldrad's fear of death all but doomed us all, Vect had already placed himself as a lesser Divine and the only hope of the Eldar was Asurmen pulling another cultural and technological revolution out of his ass to maybe set the stage for someone else to rise in a thousand years to save us.

It is for this reason that Royalty is important, why none dares to ever disrespect them and it is why I have sought to not use my wife's titles in any of my dealings and purposefully omit it and made sure to tell her that I will do so. I did so because calling her name in any of my dealings with others would be to draw her in into a matter, and in any official matter outside of my role as a diplomat I would be forced to do so and if I do so then I won't be able to avoid her desires to have me near her again.

I barely escaped the last time thanks to the interference of the Troupes of Cegorach as our organizations familial connection allowed me enough of a head start to start running while the private audience the Priesthood of Hoeth was still ongoing, and she and my other wife were perfectly aware of what will happen afterwards even if they would remember it only after I was gone.

I can't settle down no matter how much I wish for it, not until I am dead and buried or Slaanesh is dead. None of the senior priests of Hoeth can do so, for in each of us is a Seed that if properly nurtured can bring back Hoeth and turn Cegorach back into his father and until Slaanesh is dead this will only consign both to death.

It is for this reason that I am now escorted to my healing ward where I can ply my craft with little interference or chance of me being involved in the talks, for the fools my compassion asked me to save made it so I could no longer talk to Anaen and instead was but a part of my Younger Sister's retinue that had to earn his keep while she roped the Craftworlders into her pet project.

I could be back to my wives and children, but the Divine and my people need me to find out what is wrong with the craftworlders and to set the stage for the Death of Slaanesh and the Reforging of the Pantheon and the Interview of Humanity, but the last one is the least important in my opinion.

"I thank you for bringing me here honorable warriors, please inform those that might be waiting for it that I will be able to receive them in a few minutes. You don't need to remain here to guard me and can return to your other duties." I said kindly to my two escorts.

They were dressed in the Green and Gold armor of Anaen and had been assigned as my guards once the representatives of this world learned that they were hosting a man with links to royalty. Both of them were Masters of Fire, the ground combat specialists of Anaen who were meant to be in the thick of the fighting and serve as the anvil of their ground offensives.

"We were ordered to serve as your escorts during your time on Anaen Holy One." The man stiffly said.

Both of them were wearing full armor including their helmets which I approved, but it did leave me with no discernible way to differentiate the two. They were both taking this task seriously, but in my opinion it was a waste of their time, talents and abilities to escort me.

I wished for Lammor to reveal my connection to royalty to not have to deal with touchy healers not trusting me and telling people to avoid coming to me because they did not trust me or know of my abilities, for healers are incredibly touchy when it comes to the people they try to help and will not just accept unknown people claiming to be healers and potentially putting their people at risk.

"When I require to walk somewhere you may continue to do so as I will call for you, but until then you will leave me be and attend to other duties as having anyone else but myself in the room might affect my patients." I replied with the barest hints of an edge in my voice.

The reason I had given them was true, but it was hardly the only one, for confidentiality as to other people's troubles was important and I did not wish for any patients to have any secrets they might wish to hide revealed to others. It was also for their benefit too, for the highest ranked front line troops of this culture surely had something better to do than protecting a man that did not need protection.

I was acting as a healer and my priority was now my patients, not my acceptance of local customs and sensibilities of a priest or the hate of waste inherent to logistics officers and so that line of reasoning now took priority.

I could feel it in their song, Anaen and its people wished to be left alone, they wished for privacy and a safe home and a place where they could be themselves in peace and as this is a place of healing for them now, then I must make them comfortable in it.

"Yes Holy One." The second man replied stiffly

The other man was annoyed but acquiesced and both left me to look over the healing ward granted to me.

The room was a small one by the standards of Eldar healing wards. It had enough room for two beds, a table in-between them and some racks for crystals and tools I did not yet know what to do with. The lighting came from nowhere and yet it made one feel as if it was a natural and its green color and plant motif brought peace to all that stood in it.

I had barely enough room to move in it comfortably as it was very small but I did not care for it as Anaen was strapped for space and this room wasn't one of the large wards meant to treat physical wounds, but the ailments of the soul and those required little space.

I familiarized myself with the tools provided to me and prepared my own and I was disappointed in what I got. None of these tools operated by Murder-Logic principles, but by the Nurture-Logic of Isha and the Dream-Logic of Lileath and this meant I couldn't get much use out of them personally as I cannot replicate them.

"Hello? Is this the soul-healer's ward?" A female voice interrupted my perusal of the tools.

They would help me heal the patients but none of them could help me develop new ones but I let them be for a moment and looked towards the woman that came to me for healing.

The woman was taller than me somehow and I am on the upper end of normal eldar height but she was painfully thin looking for her height. She wore a long, open-front navy blue dress, and another yellow one underneath her for contrast that fit her long red hair quite well and her simple copper necklace.

She also wasn't wearing any shoes and was barefoot.

If I needed a sign that the Divine were still trying to get me to stop and settle down then this was it as this woman hit too many of my own physical preferences to not make me observe her, from her red hair, dignified demeanor and choice of clothing but I ignored all that and put my discomfort aside. She needed my help for now and that was all that mattered.

"Yes, my name is Bessar Agail miss, please make yourself comfortable on any of the beds. I was taking stock of the tools your craftworld has given me and as soon as you make yourself comfortable we can start." I answered warmly as I continued doing just that.

All of the tools were centered around Nurturing the body and soul back to health, not towards Murdering diseases but it was fine, I'll still be able to make use of them, even if nothing related to them could help me advance my craft on first sight. There is no useless knowledge, just things you cannot find a use for yet and while few of the pieces of Knowledge arrayed around me were of any use to advancing my craft for now, none of them were useless.

The woman was hiding her discomfort well beneath propriety as she nodded and gently placed herself on the bed opposite to me. I gave her one of my nutri-cubes from my pouch to munch on and calm herself as the girl forgot to eat from stress.

"Thank you healer." She said as I gave her the cube.

I smiled down at her and spoke after she finished eating.

"Could you please describe your issues to me? Also I would like your permission for a deep dive into your soul to see for myself." I asked softly.

"I have been having trouble sleeping and strange urges and I keep forgetting to do things I should be doing. What do you need to look into my soul for?"

An eldar with memory issues? That is quite serious as our minds are made to remember eternity. We don't just forget.

"Memory issues are quite serious miss so you did well in looking for a healer, also I need to look deeply into your soul to see if there are any parasites, hidden wounds or pathogens of the soul to remove and I need your consent for it as what I wish to do is quite an intimate thing." I answered.

She mulled my words over and I could feel her reaching for a question but being too shy to do anything but nod and opened her soul to me to peer into and I did so.

It wasn't as bad as she described to me at least. I prepared my Severing Blades and Burning Blades with a special mix of flames and started exploring and gently cutting as I explored her soul.

"You are not in as much danger as you made me feel initially miss. Your soul is mostly healthy with only a few strange growths of self-doubt I am removing now, but I do have some good, bad and unusual news in regards to your soul." I told to her as I gently cut and burned the afflicted areas.

The woman was almost fine, she was a bit of an idiot but nothing here was in any way shape or form dangerous to her.

"What do you mean?" She asked with a strange mix of emotions.

Guilt, fear, self deprecation, disappointment and relief make for a strangely bittersweet mix but it is not one I find pleasing.

"What do you know of how soul healing takes place?" I asked her as I continued to work.

I took one of the crystals and started to nurture the places I cut back to health.

"Not much, all I know is that the soul is something like an organ and you need to nurture it until it is strong enough to fight off any disease." She replied ignorantly.

I did not bother hiding my disappointment.

"Your knowledge is less than wrong, it is actively hindering you to be this ignorant. Soul Healing is the same as normal healing where there are two types of it. The one you described to me is Isha's Soul-Nurturing and it is one I am largely ignorant of as I do not operate by her Nurture-Logic, but by the Murder-Logic of Khaine which attacks pathogens and diseases. True Soul-Healing is a mix of the two logics and requires both.

Also your soul is more than an organ, even if you could compare it in importance to your brain. The Soul is a body with it's own pseudo-organs and parts and connective parts and more." I replied sternly.

She mulled over my words, but I could feel it in her song that she did not know what to do with said information.

"What is the diagnostic exactly?" She asked and sidestepped her own ignorance.

"The good news is that your wounds are self-inflicted, but you are a healthy 700 years old woman. Your cravings for a half-spider form are a normal reaction to you refusing to follow your urges to find a husband and I would suggest you get to that as they should subside once you've tricked a man or six into your home to give you children. Your soul craves for it and it has been escalating your desires until they took a physical form, just do it and they should subside albeit they are too far gone to properly remove now. If you were to have married some 200 years ago you would have been fine.

Also your memory problems? You don't seem to have any, you are just not paying attention to what other people are saying as you dream of getting hundreds of men into your web and never letting them go and you do so even when you have other things to do." I replied sternly.

"I am 600 years old!" She replied, as if that was the most important thing in what I said.

It maybe was to her, but craftworlders are weird so I ignored it.

"No, you are 700 years old, you have purposefully locked down 100 years of your life away from your consciousness. Go ask whoever did this to you to unlock them as it was consensual and thus not my business to interfere with, now focus on what else I have said." I told her.

I started to look for signs of Neoteny now and I could feel my earlier words register to her as she froze up in fear.

"You won't tell anyone of… of my cravings?" She asked fearfully.

She also ignored my words on her memory issues. It seems her subconscious is still not ready to deal with whatever she has locked away and I am not getting involved in that nonsense. Whatever she has locked away she has not only agreed to it, but begged for it and so it is not something I can get myself involved into.

"Why should I? They aren't that important." I replied with disinterest.

My wife's lower half is a sea-snake and I can turn myself into that and most forms our people can take from, half-cats, half-snakes and even vehicles and I have done so in my childhood to prepare myself for my duties as a diplomat. Her wishing to turn herself into a drider because her soul is trying to make her body conform to its desires and does so by taking the form she most associates with it is hardly important to me.

This is the sort of thing you have parents bring children to you hoping to help them, not the sort of thing grown adults in the empire care for.

"I don't want to end us as degenerate and evil as the Imperials." She replied fearfully.

Ah, I see the issue, it is cultural and I've forgotten people actually cared for that nonsense. There were some wars fought on that right? There's always some war fought over some nonsense so that's not important.

I am pretty sure there's a war fought over which color should represent kindness still and I can't be bothered to pay attention to it as it's obvious it's soft greens and blues and whoever thinks otherwise can go ask Isha why she likes wearing those colors and I'll happily send them there to do so.

"That nonsense with the body shape is happening again? What stance did your craftworld take on it? Use the exact words please, not approximations." I asked with disinterest.

I couldn't care less for that stupidity, our bipedal shape is the most useful, but whoever thinks they can tell Eldar how they are meant to look or what they can find beautiful deserves multiple swords to the face. Your society might ask you to present yourself in certain ways to the public, but it cannot tell you how to feel on a specific topic.

I could not find any strange parts or atrophied parts yet that could explain them not being able to hear the Song of our People.

"All Eldar are meant to have the form of Isha, and our culture is to be in accordance to the Divine and not merely our whims." She replied.

I snorted at that.

The Divine craved for us to make our whims reality, for they found it oh so entertaining when we gave reality a new reason to fear or look at us in awe.

"I am a priest as well as a soul-healer and a few other things besides, so I can assure you that the gods only approve of that line of thought because seeing it fail is too hilarious to correct you. The gods care not one bit for how you look, as all they care is if you are happy and entertaining to them and of you, little blessed of Isha, your patron deity wishes for you to have a large family and hopefully many husbands.

Now I require your permission to test something else as I have noticed strange behaviors in your fellow craftworlders and I wish to check exactly what is going on but it is a bit of a taboo to do so in the Empire and I require your explicit permission to do so." I asked her.

I left her to think and mull on my words as I continued looking at her soul and could find nothing wrong with it. It was a normal Eldar soul, one I've seen thousands of and even the part of herself meant to hook us to our Song was perfectly healthy and the same as my own.

There was nothing wrong with these idiots as far as their souls were concerned, they were healthy and the girl was born on Anaen, this I could easily feel as well for her soul tasted the same as the craftworld and it is a difficult thing to ignore as it keeps on trying to wrap itself around me and pull me in.

"What are you checking?" The woman wishing to add me to her collection of husbands asked.

She grew bold now and did not care to hide her own emotions which was good, and if only she would not be targeting me, then I would happily approve.

"Please stop thirsting for me, I already have too many wives and concubines and all you being added to that number will get you is most likely just making you miserable.

I have noticed strange behaviors among your kin and I think there is some issue with some of your spiritual senses and I wish to check exactly. I will overstimulate certain parts of your soul to see if you respond appropriately to them and then let you go. If you refuse you can just go after I do my final checks and give you back some restraint." I replied.

Eliminating her self-doubt made her more confident and giving her a clear path to achieving her goals made her wish to pursue them now without reservations. I will have to nurture her restraint back, but before that I need to make sure I checked things properly.

"I certainly would not mind sharing handsome." The woman purred.

I sighed and used one of the crystals to nurture her self-restraint and doubt back. Preventing my patient from throwing herself at me and taking advantage of her like that takes priority over trying to find some illnesses that might not exist.

The change was immediate and the woman turned a hilarious shade of red as she realized she tried throwing herself at the first man she saw. At least her emotions were hilarious.

"Retract your soul and I apologize for the embarrassment, but please do as I asked for it is good for you. You may leave unless you wish for me to make my final check." I informed her.

"I- I thank you, what do I owe you? You are an imperial and they always ask for payment" She asked as she did as I asked.

"Owe me?" I asked in confusion.

Did she not hear what I said? I am a priest, we don't charge for helping our people and healing in the empire is free from any Maton. The only reason you would go to healers is to help them exercise their craft and because you trust them, not because you actually need them and to have to then pay them for letting them get better at their craft is downright nonsensical.

Me being here to help them is a favor to my Younger Sister from Anaen to let her Older Brother advance his craft in peace and dignity while also helping them. It is in no way something I should be paid for, but a sign of good will on Anaen's part, just what nonsense is she spouting?

Is she just trying another tactic to seduce me?

"All imperials ask us to embarrass ourselves or humiliate us for each and every shred of assistance, and each time we would ask for healing they would demand the most, like our bodies, our virginity, a night of passion and more. I am not a virgin or anything like that but I am willing to pay what you want." She replied with a mix of embarrassment and conviction.

I, what?

"Girl, healing is free in the Empire for all Eldar, for the Maton will just heal you if you ask them or if you approach them wounded, and it is the same for any priest and even the Vermin Priests of the New Divine will heal you for free to the best of their abilities, that's the law!" I explained in shock.

Just what nonsense is she spouting? Did I miss some sort of mental sabotage as I was looking over her soul?

Even the Haemonculi, the most depraved healers our people have ever had did not charge for healing. They might charge a retainer to remain in the same location for an extended period of time or give an Archon's troops and staff priority, or to not sculpt your flesh to their liking after they are done healing you or during it and while scummy, that is allowed. The healing itself however is free, for healing is their art and while making a special commission or refusing it will cost you the healing is free.

Healing is always free, for those that take upon themselves the art of healing always struggle to find people and plays they can be appreciated in, in a society where everything is easilly within reach and the Maton and healers can and will just heal you of any ailments they find to prove their might in their given field.

There is an entire archetype in the Empire called the shadow healer that will remain hidden in a location where people will get injured and just heal you before the Maton could. A healer demanding payment for their craft from other Eldar is complete and total nonsense.

Her face was just as incredulous as mine for she realized I was telling the truth and so did I realize that she was being serious.

"What? Everyone knows that the Imperials mock us and extort us for all we can give!" She shouted.

Yes, they will ask a high price for the things they can ask to mock them, this is normal, but healing is free, healing is always free.

"Yes, you are craftworlders and that is normal, but asking for anything in exchange for healing is not, for it has been Law for more than Sixty Million Years that Healing is a service that all the Eldar that walk the path of Healing or that are capable of providing Healing must provide it for free to all Eldar that ask! Are you sure they were not asking for payment to come with you to heal others or to reveal some piece of information or some other task that might lead them to healing you as opposed for the healing itself?" I asked.

Asking someone to move from their current location to another is a favor and something they can ask for something in return, same for providing them the tools they can heal themselves with, but doing the actual healing yourself is something nobody can ask for payment for.

I have charged others for going to whoever they need for healing, or for telling them where they can find someone or for ownership of one of my gun-swords and Medicinal Blades, but whoever came to me for me to heal them always received it for free if I could provide it.

We've made that a law to deal with our Trauma from the War in Heaven, and even before that actually demanding things for healing was something incredibly rare and almost unheard of among our kind.

"I-I don't know exactly, the others were never clear with it, only that the prices they were extorted into were dark and terrible or humiliating." She stammered.

I Looked upon her and spoke each word clearly to ensure that there are no misunderstandings in what she must do next.

"Ask those that have been through it to come to me and tell me exactly what happened to them. Once you have done that inform the rest of Craftworld Anaen that your leadership has managed to put themselves in a position where Anaen and its people are to receive the services of a Master Soul-Healer not only for free, but in a way that is a favor for the Soul-Healer in question and that they need not pay anything for it." I all but ordered her in my most stern voice.

"I will!" She said as she rose from her bed and ran from the room.

Her fear was obvious and hurt me a bit to see it but I cared not for it. This was more important than her fear.

"Paying for healing Eldar… who heard of this nonsense?" I muttered to an empty room.

Worlds will burn and scream if the woman was correct and healers or worse, actual priests, asked for local money or favors for healing and I will happily help with burning them. I could feel the Divine Gazing upon me and I looked upon them as well as they danced and stopped for but a fraction of a heartbeat but it was enough to tell me that they agreed and that they are ordering all priesthoods to investigate these claims.

My life was given to me to heal my people by the Divine. All the nonsense that went into my life, from my birth, to my adoption by my father, to the time nonsense related to the Paradox of my Existence, the Divine trying their best to get me to stay and Unmutilate Cegorach back into Hoeth and more, all were done because the Gods Demanded that our people be healed and that the cures for all that ails us be free and spread as far and wide whatever it takes.

If worlds of the Empire have started turning against the First Eldar Law then the priesthoods and the Divine will immediately cease our squabbling and conflicts until whoever did so paid dearly for the insult. We have demanded that we will be free of all that ails us and all that tries to stop us from being so will regret it.