“I recall the first time I cast Cure,” Xander said as they walked. “You had just commanded that I cast it on you or myself should our health fall by ten percent.” He glanced down, seeing a vague look in Astra’s eyes. She did not remember this. “You promptly fell off a cliff,” he added.

“Oh, yeah. Probably,” she admitted with a grin.

“I was going to follow you down, but you ordered that I remain. You were within range, so I healed your wounds as ordered. However, I was promptly attacked by a Hedge Barker and slain.”

Astra snickered. “Sounds about right.”

Xander stopped and turned to face her. “Are you aware that dying hurts?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Astra said and shrugged.

He sighed.

Turning away from her, he retook the lead. I must keep in mind that she is Immortal, he told himself. Perhaps seeing regular people in need of help would impress upon her the value of life. Reaching the medical wing of the church, Xander opened the door for her.

“This is triage,” he said. “That door ahead is the waiting area. These doors are patient rooms.”

Astra Diane nodded, looking at the directions he gestured.

“I will be in that office.” Xander pointed at another door with a glass window. “Acolyte Heather,” he called, catching sight of the young Elven maid as she was carrying a stack of supplies to a room.

“Yes, sir?” Heather asked and curtsied as she came to stand before him.

“Astra Diane will be shadowing you today. Show her your duties. If she attempts to do anything other than what you have shown her, inform me immediately.” He saw Astra’s ears flick down in annoyance from his peripheral.

Taking his papers to the office, he closed the door and got to work. For the last two hundred years, he’d been at the church. He didn’t really have to work. He could’ve gone and crashed at any noble’s house he wanted. Any of them would’ve been glad to have a Healer living with them, especially one that did healing for the low, low cost of remaining drunk.

However, he’d wanted something to keep his mind off Isabella.

What had started as a position at the medical wing had ended up with him teaching History and Monster Strategies at the academy. His current stack of papers was research papers on historical events. Honestly, he was utterly tired of reading about the same things repeatedly. He’d lived those “historical events,” and they were mostly just painful memories to him. He needed a change.

It would only be a matter of time before the king and Holy Mouth came looking for Astra Diane. Maybe he should just take her to the Southlands and get lost?

* * *

Astra watched him go and shook her fist at his back before turning to Heather. “He acts like I don’t have any common sense. I’m an adult. I don’t need to be micromanaged.”

“The Divine Brother is wise,” Heather said in a small voice.

“Probably. But he’s being a jerk right now,” Astra stated. “All right, let’s get this going. What’re you carrying and where to?”

“Oh.” Heather looked down at her bundle. “These are bandages. I was restocking the patient rooms.”

“Then let’s hop to it,” Astra said.

Heather hesitated a moment more before nodding and turning to lead the way.

“Do you get a lot of patients here?” Astra asked as they entered an empty room. She watched where Heather began stocking the bandages, then wandered around the room, looking at the rest of the equipment: a bed, cupboards, and not much else...

“Sometimes,” Heather said. “If there is a major incident in the city and the patients can make it here.”

“Are there other hospitals in the city?” Astra asked. Not all the buildings had been accessible to Players, so she didn’t know what other buildings existed in Aesir.

“No?” Heather paused, looking back at her.

“You don’t know what a hospital is,” Astra realized. “It’s a medical facility, like this, but not attached to a church.” She swung her finger around in a vague gesture to indicate the medical wing.

“Oh...” Heather said, her eyes wide. “No... there aren’t enough Healers.”

Tipping her head, Astra indicated she should go on.

“There are only thirty-six hundred known Healers,” Heather said.

“Then who else works here? I saw other people walking around doing things out there,” Astra gestured at the triage area.

“Medics,” Heather said. “They rely on Alchemy to create cures. There are apothecaries who will sell alchemical mixtures for whatever people need.”

Astra flicked her ears down, then back up, then down again. “I want to try something, but Xander will probably throw a fit.” She sighed. “I’ll talk to him about it later,” she decided. “Do these Healers cap out at level one hundred?”

“No. Fifty.”

That was some interesting information. A Skill traded Player to Player capped out at 100. Which left her wondering, what about a Player giving a Skill to an NPC? Would it be Unlocked or cap out at one hundred or fifty? Realizing that Heather was finished putting things away, Astra gestured towards the door. “Let’s get back to work,” she suggested.

“Oh! Right!” Heather exclaimed, looking flustered. She closed the cupboards and headed back into the triage area, leading Astra to a supply closet where she got another basket full of gauze and bandages.

Astra’s attention was caught by a low health bar on a passing young man. He looked fine. He was assisting an old woman to walk toward one of the patient rooms. “She’s fine,” Astra said to Heather with a surreptitious point. “He’s the one who needs help.”

Heather looked flustered again. “I’ll inform the medic,” she said and handed Astra the basket of supplies. The honey blonde-haired Elven maid drew aside another man, who Astra assumed was the medic. After whispering in his ear, the man looked at Astra, then back at the pair of the old lady and young man that entered one of the patient rooms. The medic approached Astra.

“Could you tell what was wrong with him?” the Dracoid medic asked.

Astra shrugged. “His health was down forty percent,” she said. “Didn’t seem to be dropping lower, so probably not a lingering effect. Maybe an injury that isn’t regenerating for some reason.”

The medic nodded and went to the patient’s room.

“Which room needs to be restocked next?” Astra asked Heather.

“This one,” Heather said and led the way.

Taking the lead on putting things where they go, Astra sorted everything and then fronted it, pulling the items that were already in there to the front of the shelf and putting new behind it.

“Have you done this before?” Heather asked.

“I worked at a grocery store. Grocer? Market?” Astra said and stopped, folding her ears down. How much was she allowed to say about herself? Xander seemed to have taken it well enough, but then, he’d been in close proximity to Players. Heather had no experience with Players and what they were capable of.

“Such a humble profession for someone so powerful,” Heather said after her initial expression of confusion cleared.

“Soul sucking,” Astra said.

“How did you become Immortal then?” Heather asked.

“I’d rather not talk about that,” Astra deflected.

“Oh.”

Looking back at the girl, Astra found Heather clenching her hands together, looking down.

“Hey,” Astra stepped closer, moving into the girl’s line of sight by getting into her personal space. “Cheer up. You didn’t upset me. Let’s get to the next room.”

“Right,” Heather said and smiled a little. “You’re very different from the way the Divine Brother described Immortals.”

“Hm,” Astra mused. “I liked taking on requests.”

Heather tipped her head in thought. “He did say Immortals used to work for the Adventurers’ Guild.”

“Is there still an Adventurers’ Guild?” Astra asked. When Heather nodded, she asked, “Who are the Adventurers now?”

“Brave people who wish to go out into the world, exploring, finding lost treasures, and assisting those who need help.”

Astra nodded, following Heather as they went back to the supply closet. “Looks like you’re running low on bandages,” she noted.

“There’s been a shortage lately,” Heather explained and took the last of what was in the closet. “There was a monster attack, and we used a lot of our supplies on the City Guard.”

Taking one of the bandages, Astra looked at it carefully. She didn’t technically have a recipe for Bandages in her Tailor Skill, but she did have the ability to make this cloth. “Whose job is it to get more supplies?” she asked.

“Mine,” Heather said. “I have to go into town next.”

Astra grinned, holding up a hand. “Let’s save you the trip.” Pulling out her Menu, she searched through her Inventory and got the required materials to make linen cloth and proceeded to Craft six bolts of it before dropping them on the counter. This display caught the attention of everyone in the triage area.

“This is... such high-quality,” Heather whispered, fingering the edge of the cloth. She turned wide eyes on Astra.

“My Tailor Skill is over five hundred,” she said and shrugged. “I like Crafting. Shall we cut it up and turn it into bandages now?” Astra asked.

“R-right!” Heather breathed.