Inner sight

And so I began my new life, holding to that promise that I made to earn any kind of life at all. I had been afraid of my promise, afraid of what I would have to do. But when it came to it, I had nothing to be afraid of at all.

In fact, those first weeks were the best yet of my life. The best part is that I knew, even at the time, how good it was. In the morning I arose full of excitement for a new day, and in the evening I fell onto my bed, tired but satisfied from a day full of enjoyment and purpose.

My days very quickly fell into a pattern. I would awake with the squad as the sun first peeked into the valley, and I would share their morning exercises with them.

They told me that I didn't have to do it, but I wanted to share in their lives as much as I could. Then, after breakfast, I would do a short clinic checking on the various running health issues some of the squad had.

After this, those in the squad who were on patrol for the day would leave. I would spend the next hour or two cleaning and washing, and then one by one, I would work my way through the soldiers who were having a rest day.

By the time I had done this, with lunch thrown in, it would be late afternoon, and I had a little free time, before the patrols returned, and we shared an evening meal.

Over the evening meal and then into the evening we would share each others company, with music and stories and much laughter, before falling into bed once it was truly dark.

There were many things that made me so happy.

I quickly came to think of the camp as my home. The camp was nestled in the hollow of a small valley that ran east to west. There were tall steep mountains to the north and south, with forest reaching up towards their peaks.

The base of the valley between them was about a mile wide, with a river running down one side of the valley. On the opposite side of the valley, the camp was nestled on the edge of the forest partially protected by a rocky outcrop.

Between the camp and the river was an open grassland where the horses roamed. Eventually we built a shelter for the horses to protect them from the wind through the depths of winter.

The centre of the camp was a log cabin which we completed not long after my new life began. The log cabin was set low into the ground, with a fairly steep roof because of the snow.

In each end of the log cabin there was a window — made with logs, not glass - which could be opened when it wasn't windy or cold. One end of the log cabin was curtained off for my use, and the rest of the cabin was a single room with a large fireplace in the centre.

I chose to sleep in the main room with the squad. If it was good enough the captain, then it was good enough for me. In my other life, I had lived in a stone hovel that was falling apart, and then, in the city, in a tiny dirty room with no light, so this was more than good enough for me.

Outside the camp there was a scattering of tents and log huts used for various purposes. Behind the log cabin there was a small spring, with a small pipe running out if it bringing water into my bath, and further downstream, a couple of outhouses positioned over the stream.

There was also a cool cave in the mountainside where the food was stored. I thought that we were very lucky to find a place like that but it turned out that Ferret had known of the location.

We ate well, The patrols hunted, usually successfully. The captain encouraged them to hunt. Tracking, stalking and killing wild animals was good practice for doing the same to any people who tried to cross the mountains.

They caught deer, and mountain goats, and once or twice a large bear. There was a prize for anyone who could catch a mountain goat with their bare hands, as they were particularly tricky to catch. Even if the patrols didn't catch a large animal, they regularly caught birds such as pigeons or petrels.

So we had a regular supply of fresh meat, enough to start storing dried smoked meat in the cave for later in winter when meat wasn't so readily available.

We also had good stores of grains, vegetables, oils and herbs, so we ate well. Much to my surprise, most of the soldiers were competent cooks. They took turns, each night, two of them cooking. I had never eaten so well.

So I was comfortable and eating well in the camp, in my surprise new life. But there were far more important reasons why I was enjoying myself so much.

At last, I was truly a healer. My small flock was actually in fairly good shape, so I could have stepped back and waited for things to go wrong. But this wouldn't be doing my best for my master to prepare for the darkness I foresaw for the squad as they battled with winter.

And I welcomed the chance to practice prehealing, something I had longed for when I trained for all those years in the village of Undartha. I paid attention to the smallest cut each of the men had.

I inspected and cleaned their teeth and insisted that they clean their mouths with the herb mixture I gave them. Not only did it protect their teeth, it made their breath smell better; I was able to get them to clean their teeth even though it did truly taste foul.

It helped that the captain ordered them to use it day and night once I explained to him why. And it worked. I didn't have to pull one tooth in the whole time we were in the mountains, which pleased me greatly since I wasn't sure I could have done it. Imagine trying to hold Gong down for that!

So though my healing duties were light at that point, I felt as though I really was taking very good care of the squad, and finally, I was fulfilling my destiny as a healer. Not, perhaps, how I had originally looked for it, but I was happy.