The Chronicles of Harold the Healer Ch. 04

"What are you studying in Magic School?" Caroline asked as he looked around, careful not to touch anything in case he shouldn't.

"I'm studying the Healing Arts," he replied in his baritone voice. "It seems that I inherited my father's knack for dealing with animals, so I was pushed, rather unsubtly," he added dryly, getting smiles, "into the Veterinary School. Mom is a Civil Engineer and demanded that I take my minor in Engineering, so I have. We're on break between Second and Third Semesters, which is why I was able to come here to participate in the announcement about opening the branch of the Veterinary School here, as well as to finally meet my father, Healer Harold."

"He's a good man," said Marjorie, "and Healer Leila couldn't have made a better choice for a partner. Sam says that he's aced everything that he was unable to deal with using conventional skills."

"Like Healing the Russells' cow's mastitis. With your spell, if I heard correctly," said Sam. "I'd have loved to have seen that." Mark blushed a bit.

"We had gone over the topic in class, and had worked on the original spell, which worked, but the inefficiency of it bothered me for some reason. I fell asleep that night with it on my mind, and I had a really odd dream in which a tall, strong woman with curly red hair and the most beautiful green eyes and I were in a barnyard with a sick cow and she showed me a way that was similar, but different in several subtle ways, and it worked. Then I woke up, and later that morning a cow with mastitis was brought into the clinic and I got the chance to try it out. It shocked the daylights out of the Professor and the other students. 'Why the heck didn't I think of that?' the Prof said. So, I was then introduced to the art of writing a paper for JAMS, and it was accepted immediately and published."

"I suspect that JAMS is not the sort of thing one spreads on bread," said Stella, turning the piece of iron in the forge.

"Oops. I meant the Journal of Applied Magical Sciences. It's our professional periodical. Oh, that looks hot," he said as she flipped it over one last time. She wondered if he was referring to the iron or to her posterior and felt herself blushing. Of course it was the iron.

"You'd better put this on," said Sam, handing Mark a thick leather apron that covered his front from neck to knees. "You don't want anything burning you." With some assistance, it was put on and tied at the back.

"It's ready. Are you left- or right-handed?"

"Right-handed."

"OK, come grab the tongs with your left hand like this." The heat from the forge felt like it was trying to push him away, but he approached and grabbed the tongs, momentarily making contact with her strong left hand. "Here's the hammer that Granddad was using," she said as he gingerly withdrew the glowing metal and was guided to the anvil nearest the door. "You have to use the horn of the anvil to bend it into the curved shape of the shoe." He gave it an experimental tap, which bent it a little. "Harder. Don't be afraid to take out your aggression on it!" she said with a grin that seemed to light up her face. The light from the forge made her brown eyes seem to glow. She had nice, even teeth, full lips in a medium-sized mouth, a slightly turned-up nose, straight brown hair cut attractively to shoulder length, nicely-shaped eyebrows and a dusting of freckles across her face.

Watching was not the same as doing, as he was well aware from his years in Magic School, and it took a few more experimental blows for him to start matching the moves of the hammer to what he remembered. He managed to bend the thin metal bar into a horseshoe shape, then moved to the flat of the anvil where he whacked it flat. Stella handed him a punch and he positioned the metal over the hardy hole and punched holes where he remembered Sam putting them. By the time he put the finished shoe in the barrel of water to quench it, he had worked up quite a sweat and was breathing heavily.

"So, how did I do?" he asked his audience, holding the dripping piece over the barrel so that water wouldn't get on the floor.

"Let's have a look," Sam replied, giving him a towel, which he used to dry off his handiwork. The veterinarian held his up next to Mark's and his eyebrows elevated. "For a first project, this is quite impressive! It's a near-perfect match, with a few little irregularities that wouldn't affect its use. Son, you may be a natural at this job." The four of them applauded and Mark blushed shyly.

"The next time I come by, you'll have to show me how to put it on. Where do I put this? I'm about to drop it." Caroline took it from him and popped it into a drawer.

"Those in the business learn how to be ambidextrous to reduce the strain on the body," she said with a smile, "not to mention making us more symmetric." She flexed both impressive biceps playfully.

"Mom!" exclaimed a mortified Stella, getting snickers from Sam and Marjorie.

"Parents," sighed Mark, shaking his head sorrowfully.

"I know, right?" said Stella. "Let's get you out of here before you expire." They took his apron and they went outside, where the air was cool and refreshing and he breathed a sigh of relief. Sam stayed behind to cool down the forge, since it wasn't going to be used for the rest of the day.

"I could use a drink of water," he said hopefully as they moved around towards the back of the large, two-storey house, which for safety reasons was separated by about thirty feet from the shop. The yard had a large silver maple tree in the middle of it. There were flower beds around its perimeter and a generous patio with several comfortable-looking chairs and a rectangular table.

"I can get a pretty vigorous workout in my martial arts classes, which demand that the moves be exactly right, but that was taking it to the next level. Hang on a sec." He stopped and backed up several paces, made some movements and said some words in a strange language, and a glowing ball the size of a golf ball appeared in his left hand. "I need to clean up if I'm going to be in an enclosed area with company." He looked over to the small building that was obviously the privy, then braced himself and tossed the ball forward. It curved back and hit him on the chest with a small paff, blowing his hair in all directions and rattling his clothes. When it was done five seconds later, the sweat that had drenched him was gone and he looked almost presentable. "The Clean spell and the Sterilize spell are the first two that Healers are taught," he explained to their surprised expressions. "They are very useful, and very necessary."

"Can it clean dishes?" asked Marjorie with a grin as they reached the kitchen door. "If you guys could enchant a wand or something with that spell, you'd make millions!"

"It has resisted enchantment," he replied as they entered. "Every attempt winds up with a very clean item. It just won't stick to anything." The kitchen was large and, like the smithy, very clean. A large mug was withdrawn from a cupboard by Stella and filled from the pump at the sink. Her hand made contact with his as she handed him the mug, and it was her turn to blush a bit as their eyes met.

"Your eyes have the most interesting colour," she said rather unsteadily, as Marjorie and Caroline exchanged a knowing look behind her back as he took a deep drink. "That shade of blue is very unusual."

"I hear that all the time," he replied with a smile after he'd finished the mug. "Mom says that they're my Dad's and always made her think of the ocean on a sunny day." He turned to look into her eyes again. "Yours... are the colour of the soil in a garden after a rain." Caroline cleared her throat loudly and they both jumped.

"Speaking of his father, Stella, you should be getting yourself ready for the ceremony. There are only a couple of hours left before it starts and you'll be wanting to wear less smithy grime and nicer clothes."

"It will take too long for me to wash up," she complained. "Unless..." She turned to Mark with a hopeful expression. After getting nods from her mother and grandmother, he stepped back and hit her with another Clean spell, making her jump and making a noticeable improvement in her appearance. "Wow, that felt like I was being tickled all over! I'll go upstairs and change."

"I have to go back to the Dewdrop Inn to get some more suit-able clothes," Mark replied, getting a groan and eye rolls from Caroline and Marjorie and a giggle from Stella.

"Wait, was Emma Green at the front desk when you were there?"

"Yes, I spoke with her briefly and she helped get someone to haul the luggage up to our rooms."

"You wait here, mister! She's a man-eater and you need some protection!"

"Oh, I'll be fine," he called after her as she ran from the kitchen and thundered up the stairs.

"We'll make some tea while you wait," said Caroline as she opened a cupboard and took out two tins as Marjorie filled a kettle with water and put it on the stove, then added a few small pieces of wood to the stove to get it heating up. "Have a seat. You look tired." She indicated the sturdy kitchen table, made of maple, with six matching chairs, in the far corner of the room.

"Thank you, ma'am," he replied politely, removing his boots and leaving them by the door with those of the others before walking across the room and settling on the nearest chair with a sigh. "I spent three days as the coach driver, and the difference between the roads that have been improved and those that haven't makes me wish that they would all be improved as soon as possible, costs be damned. Mom spent quite a few years helping with road projects all over the Kingdom, but never here in the Westlands for some reason."

"There have been a few small improvements here and there," said Caroline, "but they've all been locally initiated and funded to deal with things when they get really bad. The compacted gravel roads that we have in Magwitch aren't great, but they're better than plain dirt, and are the main reason why horses need shoes."

"And how we stay in business," Marjorie concluded, removing the kettle from the stove and pouring its hot water into the five mugs that Caroline had set out. Mark noted that four of the mugs got the tea from one of the bins, while the red one got tea from the other. Then Sam entered, making the curtains over the open window where the table was move back and forth as he opened and closed the door.

"The forge is all settled down for the day," he said cheerfully, also removing his boots and setting them with the other on the long mat.

"There must be foundries and factories where horseshoes are made," said Mark thoughtfully, accepting his sky-blue mug with a grateful smile and nod and putting it on the table because it was way too hot and the tea needed to steep. "With all the horses in the Kingdom, there's no way that local crafts people could create enough to meet the demand."

"Definitely true, Mark," said Sam with a grin as the others joined him around the table. "It's way too labour intensive, but it's an excellent test of one's skills. In all my years, I've only seen a few people able to make a shoe as good as yours on the first try. You've definitely got the touch and I sincerely hope that you consider this for part of your schooling." There was another thunder of feet charging down the stairs and Stella rushed down the hall and into the kitchen, somewhat out of breath. She noticed that Mark's eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped momentarily, before he quickly regained his composure.

"So, how do I look?" she asked, making a twirl that caused her dress to flare out a bit, exposing her strong, sturdy legs and her feet that were clad in white socks. The dress went halfway down her shins and was white, with wide-spaced red pinstripes and small red flowers between them. It was secured by a brown belt, and tucked into it was a yellow, short-sleeved blouse that fit well enough to show off her figure, including C-sized breasts, but not too tightly so that she had room to move her well-muscled arms.

"So where is the army of boys knocking the doors down trying to win some time with you?" Mark asked, looking around and out the windows in the walls and the door.

"Oh, they're just taking the day off," she replied airily, getting snickers from her Mom and Grandma. "Oh, thank you, Mom," she said, accepting the red mug as she sat down opposite Mark.

"I think that you will find the tea helpful for later," said Caroline with a wink when Mark wasn't looking. Stella inhaled the distinctive aroma of chamomile with something else that was the hallmark of the contraceptive tea and reddened.

"There are classes in Metallurgical Magic that I can take as options in the Fall and Winter," the Healer-in-training continued, sipping carefully at his tea. He could have cooled it off faster with a little Magic, but chose not to. "From what I've heard, metal is about as difficult to work with Magic as it is to work with regular skills because of its conductivity, but if I have the knack for it, it will be a big help."

"Next time I'll see if we can get a customer to come by so you can practice putting shoes on," said Sam. "Trying to get a shoe onto the hoof of an unwilling horse, or even a reasonably willing one, is an art unto itself." Mark nodded as he had some more tea.

"Vet school seems to be all about the horses, at least so far. We've covered dogs, cats, cattle, and even goats in a couple of survey courses, but horses are where the money is. If you can't get along with them, you're restricting your opportunities," he recited, clearly mimicking a Professor.

"They're smarter than many people believe," said Marjorie, "and they seem to have a sixth sense about people and the world around them. They have personalities, just like us."

"Remember Morley, who likes to steal hats and handkerchiefs?" laughed Caroline. "And he'll give you a push when you're trying to look at his feet unless you give him an apple."

"Thank you very much for your hospitality," said Mark, finishing his tea and putting the mug back on the table. "How did it get to be 4:30 already?" he asked, looking at the clock that was sitting on a shelf that was to the right of the door, above the boot mat. "I really must be going. I don't want to be late." He stood up and winced as some arm and shoulder muscles complained. "That was very nice tea."

"It was our pleasure," said Caroline as the others stood up as well. "We need to get ready too. It looks like Stella wants to accompany you."

"I don't want you getting lost on the way," said Stella firmly as the two of them went for their footwear. There was little chance of that, of course, since the house was off Main Street and only a fifteen-minute walk from the hotel. "And you will need some company at the event."

"I am honoured to be escorted by you," he replied, performing Polite Bow #3 with only the trace of a grin. "If I'm to be staying here over the summer, having someone to introduce me to the local people will be very helpful." After shaking the others' hands, he and Stella went outside and headed for the driveway that would get them to the street.

"Young love," said Marjorie, giving her husband a hug and a smooch. "Aren't they so cute?"

"Oh, Mom," sighed Caroline, rolling her eyes.

"You're never too old to embarrass your children," Sam chuckled as they made their way out of the kitchen to go upstairs to change.