“Alaric!” Seth growled. “Not again! You have to stop helping every ne’er-do-well we come across. We’re busy!”

“The boy is obviously in pain,” Alaric said, giving me a sympathetic look. “It wouldn’t be right to ignore someone in need right in front of you.”

“This is the fifth time this morning!” Seth angrily said. “We’re not going to get anything done at this rate!”

“It shouldn’t take more than five minutes,” Alaric said. “Would you mind taking a seat over there so I can have a better look?” he asked me, pointing to a nearby stone bench.

I cautiously sat down, nonchalantly moving my right hand until it was less than four inches away from the knife I always carried. Having lived on the streets for so long, I knew it paid to be doubtful of someone’s goodwill, especially a stranger’s goodwill.

Alaric, unaware of what I was thinking, gently pulled off my right shoe and examined my swollen, purple ankle.

Seth let out a low whistle. “What happened? And how are you able to walk on that? Most people would have been bedridden.”

Wasn’t it obvious? “If I don’t move, I don’t eat,” I simply replied.

He and I stared at one another silently, contemplating each other, then Alaric started poking and prodding my ankle, making me flinch.

“My apologies,” he murmured, completely focused on my foot. “As you’re probably well aware of, you’ve severely sprained your ankle. You didn’t break any bones, but the sprain itself is quite nasty.”

I curled my fingers around the edge of the stone bench to hold onto something solid while he finished his examination.

“This will hurt,” Alaric warned. “Be prepared for a sharp pain.”

I nodded.

Blue magic channeled from his fingertips to sink into my injured ankle. I bit my lip to keep quiet as a burning hot pain seared through my leg. Starting with my ankle, I felt magic shoot through the rest of my foot, making my toes tingle painfully at the heat. Then the magic traveled up through my calf, making my right leg go numb from the knee down. After the heat, came a blessed coolness that seeped into every inch of skin, turning the red and purple skin back to its normal color.

This man, whoever he was, was good. Really good. The Rat-Healer’s magic was piss-poor by comparison, not that I was surprised; he was a slum healer, and this man had obviously gone to an academy to study.

“There we go, that should do it,” Alaric said, leaning back. “How’s it feel?”

I slowly rotated my ankle. Everything worked perfectly, just like it had before Karl had tripped me up. “It’s great, thank you,” I sincerely said. I reached into my pocket for the copper coins Salma had given me. I know it wasn’t much, and it couldn’t even come close to what a healing like this would have cost, but it was all the money I had.

Alaric held up a hand. “No payment necessary. I did this because I wanted to.” Taking my worn brown shoe, he put it back on for me, making me blush. He didn’t have to go that far, but I must admit, the gallant behavior made me feel warm inside.

Standing back up, Alaric turned to Seth. “Now we can go. See? It didn’t take that long.”

“Long enough,” Seth growled. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver coin, tossing it to me. “Make sure you eat something,” he gruffly said. “Healings tend to make people hungry and tired.”

Without another word, he walked off.

Alaric smiled at the retreating man’s back. “Seth may seem rough around the edges, but he has a heart of gold.”

“More like silver,” I said, holding up the coin he’d just given me.

Alaric laughed and turned to leave, when a gust of wind suddenly picked up and pushed his hood back a few inches. Before he had a chance to fix his hood, I caught a glimpse of long black hair, along with a single streak of white hair that started at his right temple.

Something stirred in my memories, something long buried. I bolted upright and tried to find Alaric, but he was long gone. It didn’t help that the rain had started coming down harder now and I couldn’t see more than ten feet in front of me.

I slumped against the nearest wall, my heart racing. I’d only seen one other person with hair like that before, seven years ago, on the day I lost my mother. Was it the same person? Was that even possible?

I eyed the streets once more, trying to see through the rain. I suppose it didn’t matter if it was him or not, since I doubt I’d ever see him again.

“So be it,” I whispered. Time to head to Yabar’s and see how much coin I could get for the bracelet. I didn’t feel the desperate need to sell it like I had earlier this morning, but I still wanted to sell the bracelet as soon as possible. I’d been having the strangest combination of luck and misfortune ever since I got it.