Eliona's War 1: Hesitant Healer

Chapter 11

Lady Joveline was all smiles when he arrived. That didn't surprise Severance. He was bringing her lovely flowers, and she knew it.

They stood beneath the golden tree, whose leaves rustled gently in the breeze. Sunlight flickered through its moving canopy, creating dapples of light that flickered like a disco ball. Severance squinted as light flashed in his eyes. Lady Joveline had no such problems; she'd found a little shadowed spot that was free from such annoyances.

He pulled the flowers from his Inventory. They appeared in his hand, somehow arranged into a perfect bouquet. The orange star flowers looked stunning, and if they hadn't caused him so much grief, he might even have taken a minute to appreciate them.

Severance held them out. "Your flowers."

"Thank you, darling." Lady Joveline took them delicately, eyes crinkling at the corners. "They're beautiful. My sister will love them, I'm sure."

She better love them, he thought dourly.

"Poor lad, you've worked so hard. Here—a token of my gratitude." Lady Joveline produced a small embroidered pin. It was orange and in the shape of a familiar star-shaped flower.

He received it with gritted teeth. Just what he needed: a perfect reminder of the misery he'd gone through.

Quest Completed: Return to Lady Joveline.

You have been rewarded +1 Vitality.

At least the extra Vitality point was nice. It almost made the entire bee nightmare worth it. Perhaps she had seen how many times he'd been killed by the bees and had decided to take pity on him.

"Thanks," he said, though his heart wasn't in it.

Lady Joveline beamed. "Such a brave dear. I regretfully don't have anything more for you to help me with, but I do have a good friend who can use your assistance."

"Who's that?" Severance suspected this was another lead into a quest. And if it was, he hoped it had to do more with healing than killing this time.

"Oh, she's the sweetest little darling. It's such a pity, however. She's run into some terrible misfortune today, and her heart's all but broken. She's lost some of her dearest pets today, you see. I think she'd greatly appreciate if you went over to cheer her up." Lady Joveline took out a handkerchief and dabbed delicately at her eyes. "What do you say, my dear?"

That sounded terrible. Cheer someone up? What kind of quest was that? He couldn't even make small talk with a child. How was he supposed to cheer up a stranger?

Severance exhaled slowly. Maybe he had to heal this person in order to make her feel better. Considering he was a cleric and Lady Joveline was the chief cleric manager in Ascendance, this made sense.

"Okay," he agreed. "I'll go see her."

Quest Received: Cheer Up Thelma

The notification came, and Severance froze. Wait a minute. That didn't seem quite right. He gave Lady Joveline a suspicious look. "What exactly happened to your friend?"

The Lady wrung her hands, looking properly sorrowful. "It was a tragic affair, darling. It almost hurts me too much to talk about it. But"—she sighed—"since you asked, I will tell you. You see, Thelma's always loved bees. She's raised several as if they were her own children, and doted on them like nothing else. However, today, some cruel monster broke into her flower fields and slaughtered several of them in the worst way possible. She's absolutely devastated and as her dearest friend, so am I."

Severance stared at her, face slack in disbelief. Had he just heard correctly? This was about the bees? "Are you serious?"

"Quite so, I'm afraid." She nodded sincerely. This was followed by a sniff and another dab with the handkerchief at watery eyes. "Truly a grave affair."