THE HEALER WHO COULD NOT SAVE HER BROTHER

The boy was having a hard time breathing.

Aria knew something was not right even before she walked through the crowd outside the Healers Hall.

People who care about someone who is dying always look the same.

 Their eyes get really wide and scared.

They clasp their hands together tightly and their knuckles turn white.

They have this hope that someone else will know what to do to save the person they love.

Aria said "Move" in a voice. The crowd parted away.

Inside the hall a young man was lying on a table. He looked like he was less than twenty years old.

His dark hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat. Every breath he took sounded painful.

A woman was kneeling beside him holding his hand tightly. Her fingers were shaking.

When she saw Aria, tears filled her eyes. "Please " she whispered, "please save my son."

Aria nodded a little; she did not make any promises; she had learned that giving people much hope can be cruel if things do not work out.

Aria asked the woman "How long has the patient been like this?"

The woman said, "It started three days ago with a fever we thought would go away on its own."

Aria put two fingers on the patient's wrist to feel his pulse. It was too weak, something was not right.

Aria felt a feeling of unease in her stomach.

Then Nyra came to her side with a tray of herbs, clean clothes and hot water.

Aria said, "Water,". Nyra immediately put a cup in her hand.

The patient moved a little as Aria lifted his chin and his eyes showed he was in a lot of pain.

Aria asked him "What hurts?". He said, "My chest."

Then he swallowed with difficulty his breathing was not steady.

He tried to say something he was struggling with, his hand moved towards his neck and Aria looked at what he was pointing to.

Then she froze. There was a line under his skin above his collarbone; it was barely visible.

It looked like moonlight trapped in a vein. Arias' heart skipped a beat that could not be right.

Aria leaned in closer to look at the line it moved with each breath the patient took.

It was exactly like she remembered, exactly.

Aria was not in the Healers Hall anymore ; years ago she was in a room with a boy.

The boy had veins under his skin like this patient. The name "Liam" escaped her lips before she realized she had spoken it out loud.

Liam was her brother. He had looked like this patient; he had the fever, the struggle to breathe and the same impossible silver markings that no healer could explain.

Nyra's voice brought Aria back to the present. The patient was still gasping for air. He was still alive and he needed help.

Aria said, "Everyone " and the patient's mother looked at her in surprise.

Aria said, "I need space to treat him " and her voice was softer.

The woman slowly got up and left the room looking back at Aria with tears in her eyes.

"Please " she whispered, "do not let him die."

Aria met her gaze and nodded a little "I will do everything I can " she said.

The room was quiet after the woman left. The only sound was the patient's breathing.

Nyra looked at the mark on the patient's skin and said, "I have never seen anything like that."

Aria swallowed hard neither had healers, not officially.

Nyra said, "Most?" and Aria did not answer because she had seen this before years ago on another patient on someone whose face she could never forget, her brother Liam.

The memory of Liam came back to her without warning Aria was in a room with her father and brother.

Liam was lying on a bed smiling weakly despite his fever.

Aria forced the memory away focused on the patient in front of her.

She put her hands on the patient's chest and a faint golden glow spread from her palms.

It was healing magic, gentle and controlled.

Soon as the warmth reached the silver mark it exploded with light.

The patient arched off the bed and a scream filled the room.

Aria stumbled backward and the glow vanished.

Nyra almost dropped the tray she was holding.

"What was that?" she asked.

Aria stared at the mark, which pulsed before settling as though it had responded to her magic.

No illness had ever done that before.

The official records said that the Silver Fever had been eradicated twenty years ago.

Here it was, alive and present in this patient.

The patient's breathing slowly returned to normal and his eyes opened.

He looked directly at Aria not with relief or gratitude he looked at her with fear.

His lips trembled as he said, "You..."

Aria leaned in closer and asked, "What is it?"

The patient struggled to focus as though he was listening to someone Aria could not hear.

Finally he whispered, "He's waiting."

Aria asked, "Who?"

The patient's eyes fixed on hers he said, "He said you would come."

Aria felt a chill spread through her chest.

"Who said that?" she asked.

The patient's mouth opened again before he could say anything his entire body convulsed violently.

The silver veins flashed beneath his skin like lightning trapped in flesh.

Nyra cried out Aria caught the patient before he rolled off the bed.

She held him steady trying to calm his breathing.

Slowly the convulsions stopped the glow, beneath his skin faded.

The patient's body went limp and he was still alive.

Aria released a breath she had not realized she was holding.

Nyra put a shaking hand on her shoulder and said, "He's stable."

Aria nodded, still looking at the fading silver line.

It had not disappeared, it was just waiting.

Somehow so was the person who had sent the message.