17 Amber

She wasn't sure how he might respond. After all, her disability had been what had gotten her beaten the night before. Unable to see, she'd tripped, dropped, and broken a very valuable artifact.

Magnius gently turned her on the spot to lock eyes with the small elven girl. She wasn't blinking. But she was shaking. She was scared. "Relaxe." Her eyes were gradually losing color. Turning a milky white.

He'd only ever heard of the disease, never encountered someone with it. In fact, he didn't know all too much about it, aside from it made people blind at night, Thus the name.

Magnius placed a hand against Silf's back directing her slowly forward until her shins met the edge of a chair. A hand to her shoulder and he turned her around. Gentle pressure and she sat.

"Master?" Silf's voice was calmer now but there was a question to that single word amd a hint of fear.

"It's alright." He replied, igniting a magical light. It floated just inches above the surface of a single extended finger. The light it cast seemed dull at its point yet the room was filled with a brilliant yet soft glow. The longer it burned the fewer shadows filled the room but it never got any brighter.

The color of her eyes began to return at the center, gradually edging further out but it wasn't even close to as bright as before. And the milky white of blindness remained. "Anything?" He asked and Silf shook her head.

"Not really, no. Some faint blurring at best." It was like looking through murky water. Everything was distorted and misshapen.

He snuffed the light out of existence and knelt down. Her head moved with him. Though her attention seemed distant, elsewhere in thought. Her ears perked and twitched, like a cat, following the direction of every noise around her.

Silf jumped and her head jerked to the side as Magnius snapped his fingers by her head. He was testing her responses. Despite the sudden jump scare, she still didn't blink.

A gentle hand calmed her. He could tell this wasn't a recent affliction. If he had to guess she'd had it most of her life. It made the most sense given her shift in body language. He looked to Zyom for advice. He simply shrugged.

If magical light wouldn't help he wondered if natural light might fare differently? A moment later a small blue flame sparked to life as he pressed his thumb and index fingers together.

Silf lurched as soon as the flame came into existence but there had been no sound to its birth. The light it gave off was dim. So dim in fact it only gave off enough light to reveal itself, his hand, and face within the room.

"Ok, so we need natural light," He remarked. Her eyes followed the blue flame as he pasted it back and forth in front of her. They even began to regain color much better then with the magic light.

"Sadly an Orb lamp won't help you." He sighed. "Orb lamps gather sunlight but that's only an energy source. The light they give is magical in nature. We'll have to get you an Everburning Candle."

He didn't own one. He'd never had need of one given the Orb Lamps he already owned. Added to that was their rarity. "It may take time to acquire one though."

"It's ok master." Silf smiled as her eyes remained clocked onto the flame. "I'll just stay in my room when it gets dark. I don't want to accidentally break anything"

He stood allowing the flame to go out. "How long have you had Night Blindness?" He asked, scooping her back into his arms. She was much more relaxed with him now. She felt less stiff this time.

"Since I was a child. Right after I was enslaved." He scowled knowing more than likely she'd not been properly treated for the condition. Though he was unsure if there even was a treatment.

He carried her back to the study, where she could see with the sunlight from the window. Settling her on the windowsill behind him as he then settled in at his desk before summoning a small collection of books from various shelves from around the room.

Each pulling themselves off and floating towards him. Stacking themselves neatly on the corner of the desk. A finger flicked to the side and the top opened itself revealing a page on Magical eye conditions. "Let's see here." He muttered, skimming through the pages.

He flicked his finger again and the second book in the pile pulled itself from under the first and open. A third time and the last book did the same. Each one coming to rest in a line.

Their paging flipping back and forth as he read any relevant information he could find. "Interesting." He remarked, pulling the second book he'd enchanted closer to him and continued reading any relevant information.

Apparently, there were two variations of the condition. The natural version that caused poor vision and the magical disease version that caused outright blindness when not exposed to natural light, such as the sun or a flame.

It only afflicted a small portion of humans, being more common in Elves and ironically Dwarves. Added to that, it mostly affected those whose magic was directly linked to their eyes. No known cure but was treatable early on if diagnosed within the first month or so.

The books closed and returned to their respective homes on the shoves. "You really have had it rough." He sighed "Unfortunately I can't do anything for you now. The disease has progressed beyond curing it. The best I can do is provide you with natural lighting. As for staying in your room, while that might prevent you from breaking anything, I won't have you living here as a prisoner. We'll find a proper solution."

Silf looked at him, tears welling at the corner of her eyes. She quickly wiped them away, swallowing back a moment of grief and joy.

"Something wrong?" Magnius asked. Had he put into words what was essentially the last thing she wanted to hear?

She shook her head. "No sir. I'm ..." She trailed off searching for the proper words. "It's all a little overwhelming is all." She palmed at her eyes again. "This is more than I could have ever hoped for, Master. Thank you."

He smiled. Now it made sense. She wasn't upset. She was grateful. She wasn't tearing up over the bad news but rather that he cared enough to look for a possible cure. "Your welcome Silf."

Zyom stood in the doorway watching silently as Magnius now considered the long term implications of Silf's prolonged stay now. This was to be her new home for some time to come it seemed

He'd need to provide her a proper living space, education, diet, and more. He didn't mind the extra company or the new challenges soon to come but It went against his moral code of owning a slave though she was a unique case.

He didn't consider her a slave but rather someone in need of a special skill set. He questioned though if when the collar was no longer the reason for her stay how they might approach further challenges.

Would she be willing to leave or would he have to push her away? That was the very reason why he avoided getting emotionally invested in the slaves he freed. It made everything more complicated than it needed to be.

He'd need to keep Silf at arm's reach to avoid getting too attached but he could already tell that was going to be difficult, nah impossible. He questioned if it was even worth it to try. It may in fact be best to simply allow her to stay for as long as she needed, or wanted.