Page 78 of Soar

Gregori ushered Salem back out of his hoard, but only after he made several promises to show Salem his collection again. He helped him get undressed down to his briefs and slipped him under the blankets. The poor man was snoring before Gregori could even turn out the lights.

Salem was excited to be having his first official lesson with Sora.

How he’d ended up with Amaru and Evora in on this lesson as well remained questionable. Not that he minded. Evora seemed equally keen to learn, as medical magic wasn’t her specialty either.

Well, the more the merrier?

They were in Evora’s workspace. Sora only visited Brazil to help with certain situations, so he didn’t actually live here. Her workroom was an interesting mix between classic witch-style vibes with herbs hanging everywhere, and a very functional kitchen with a stainless steel table. She’d pulled in several padded chairs so they could comfortably sit at the table and take notes, which Salem appreciated. Really, the place reminded him of his grandmother’s workroom, which he’d been in and out of as a kid.

Salem had his tablet with him, which included a whole list of questions, and he was ready to ask them all.

“All right, so Sora gave me an overview of what maladies can be treated without surgery. Which is a mind-boggling list. I’m seriously amazed at how much medical knowledge was lost due to the damn war. But what I’m curious about is, what if surgery is necessary? Say you have an organ that’s just toast. Due to arupture, maybe, and there’s an immediate need to deal with it. What then?”

Amaru perked up like this question was meant for him. “There’s all sorts of things we can do. So, we will need to do an incision to draw the organ out, of course, no other way to easily break it down and remove it without taxing the body. And since the body’s under stress already, that’s a bad idea. So, small incision, about uh…dammit, what was the measurement again?”

“Inch?”

“I was thinking—uh—centimeter, that’s it! Anyway, about a centimeter. Then we can chop up the bad organ and pull it free, before restoring it.”

Salem followed up until the last bit. “Restore…what? The skin?”

“Well, that too, we can mend the surgery incision pretty readily.” Amaru’s hands gesticulated as he talked, like he was trying to draw in the air and describe at the same time. “But I meant the organ.”

Nope, still wasn’t making sense. At least, Salem’s brain refused to process these words as sensible ones.

Evora made a noise of interest from her seat at the head of the table. “I remember hearing stories about old mages regrowing limbs. You know how to do that, Amaru?”

“Honey, I can restore broken cores, limbs areeasyin comparison.”

Holy shit, he really was saying what Salem thought he was saying. Salem just about fell out of his chair.

“You’re telling me you can regrow ORGANS?!”

“We,” Amaru corrected. “The second I teach you the proper spells and methods, you can do it too. We can even grow themin situ, although it gets a bit tricky if it’s a major organ. Say, replacing a heart. You have to keep the patient in a medical coma for about a week before it’s safe for them to get up and stuff.”

Salem made a noise he’d never made in his life. He wasn’t sure if he felt envious, flabbergasted, or if straight-up greed burned in his chest. He didn’t just want this knowledge. He needed it. He’d never needed something so badly in his life.

Well, except Gregori, but that went without saying.

Amaru’s lips quirked up in a smug little way. “I can see you salivating from here, Doctor Hunter.”

“You’re damn right I am. Organ failure?”

“Pfft, easy.”

“Immune disorders?”

“Tricky, usually more potion and spell oriented, but doable.”

“Chronic illnesses?”

“Do not exist in my vocabulary.”

Sora cleared his throat to draw attention back to himself. Because he sat right across the table from Salem, it was easy to meet his eyes.

“Salem, you must understand how valuable you are to us, as a community.”

Salem pointed a finger toward himself in disbelief. “You guys can replace limbs and organs, andI’mvaluable?”

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