THE WHITE HEALER'S SHADOW

I was sure just a moment ago, she was hunched and crumbled under the blanket, but now that she had straightened herself, the blanket was falling around a surprisingly elegant figure. The old woman suddenly looked decades younger. When she dropped her blanket to pick up her cup, I realized she only had one arm. Her dress was bloodied where her arm was missing.

I guess the BBQ sauce was hers. The colored matched.

She took her cup towards the hearth and drank the rest of it facing the fire.

I watched her back and shoulders straightened more and when she turned around and held up the cup towards Ben, she didn't look old at all anymore.

Even her voice was no longer crackly, "Young Beta, you seem slow to learn."

Ben snapped out of his shock - or maybe it was his shocked that snapped him into picking up the kettle to refill her mug obediently.

Even Ki looked surprised, but his smiling mask quickly smoothed over his expression. He took a sip of his tea, "Indeed, Lady Wanda's healing magic is as legendary as they say."

I wondered what kind of miracle tea that was. I was curious enough to lean over to Ki to look into his cup. He showed me a pale greenish-yellow colored liquid. The inside of the cup was coffee stained... At least I hope it was just coffee.

Ki had stopped glowing. He drank more of the liquid. I remembered Lady Amber had a special tea too, I wondered if it was a similar blend. But the special tea Lady Amber had made for Bell to recuperate was a bright clear green, not yellowish like...like this. It was too green to be pee but too yellow to not be suspicious.

Grandma Wanda shrugged her shoulders. She took another sip of the tea and sighed again. I openly stared at the beautiful woman in the low cut (bloody) dress and long white tresses. Her hair was the same color as Mum's and Savy's - such a light blond that it could pass for white. Now that I was staring at her properly, I could see that she was at that age where wolves looked neither young nor old.

I opened my mouth and closed it. This was good thing because the first sentence that came to mind was, "Grandma, you look so young now!"

By now, she didn't look like a Grandma at all.

I opened my mouth and closed it again. This was also a good thing because the second sentence was, "Grandma, what happened to your arm?"

Actually, it would probably be wisest to shut up for the time being. Especially since I remembered that she had to give that arm to heal Bell in the future of our original timeline. This was a different timeline though, but here she was, one arm less.

Just hypothetically speaking, if I were Bell and I knew that the White Healer of Night Forest might possibly be able to restore my arm, what would I have done? Yeah... I had no proof, but Bell was my first suspect.

Grandma Wanda turned her attention to me. When she smiled, she looked like a beautiful painting. The bloodied dress and missing arm on one side made a very different picture though, but I politely pretended I didn't notice. I'm sure she was not unaware of her missing arm.

"How can I help you Alpha Princess? As you can see, I would need time to recuperate, but since you have lent me your betas in my time of need, I will hear out your request."

I could not understand my Grandma Wanda's question immediately, "It's okay. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Grandma Wanda arched a brow at me. Because she was standing by the hearth, her ash blond hair glowed golden - even the hair on her brows. I never saw my mum's hair do that - maybe that was the difference between modern lighting and gas fueled fireplaces and good old fashioned firelight.

While I was distracted by the wonders of how lighting can affect the atmosphere surrounding a person, the subject of my observation was also observing me. She spoke as if testing me, "Is there really nothing you want from me?"

Why should I want anything from her? Did she really not notice that she had an entire arm missing atm? She also looked half dead - it was that pallor again, just under her skin. I had seen it before so I knew, even after powerful heals, the pallor of having been too near death took time to clear.

Grandma Wanda considered it more, "Since you are evidently well and healthy, perhaps someone you love is in need of my power? Or is your father finally calling to redeem the favor I owe him?"

"You know my Dad?" Oh wait, she did recognize me as the Alpha Princess… which logically implied that she knew I was the daughter of Alpha Kingsley of the Night Leaf pack, and Dad used to be the Young Alpha of Night Forest so they probably knew each other too…

Once again I was playing the role of the dumb pup. I was fully aware of how dumb I sounded now. It wasn't just because stupid questions seemed to keep popping out of my mouth. It only occurred to me just at this moment that Grandma Wanda was asking something that I was not answering correctly. I tried to think of a better answer, but I had no idea what she wanted to know.

Grandma Wanda laughed, but it came out sort of hollow sounding, "I am someone who would never forget to repay a favor."

I must have continued to look dumb, because she sighed a little and continued, "Didn't your father tell you about how he had saved my life?"

If she had hoped that this would help ring my bell, it didn't. I shook my head. It might have surprised me more a year ago, but by now, I was fully aware that my Dad had not told me a great deal of things.

"A life for a life." Grandma Wanda told me, "He has saved mine, and you too, have helped me. Tell me what I can do for you."

In a cottage deep in the forest, in front of a fire deep in the night, the White Healer of Night Forest smiled knowingly at the hero in front of her, "You must have searched a long time to be able to find me here. Now that you have found me, why do you hesitate to make your request? Do you fear your request is too great? Or that my power would be too small?"

It was just like how an amazing Lycan legend would read. I remembered my Grandpa Alpha's words, "Legends are real... But only for heroes. The rest of us just tell stories."

And I don't know how my brain worked to connect the dots the way it did, but the words that popped up directly to my mouth were, "Tell me the story of…"

At this moment, I looked straight into Grandma Wanda's eyes and remembered how despite her appearance, she was very, very, very old, and in the interest of not having to hear her life story from when the Colored Mountains first formed or whatever era of lycan history she was born into our world, I decided to include a rough timeframe in my spell, "…of how the White Healer came to Night Forest."

I felt quite proud of myself. I was a really quite a genius at magic manipulation. Now we wouldn't risk hearing the story from when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Okay, I exaggerate, but from my impression, Grandma Wanda was already very, very old when she disappeared from the mountains (and we were talking "old" in colored mountain years.)

Grandma Wanda blinked, "When was the last time… this spell that silly puppies sing…"

Wait, this spell was a song?

But the spell was cast, and Grandma Wanda started to tell her story. (And it had nothing to do with unicorns.)