The Chronicles of Harold the Healer Ch. 11

Harold the Healer, Chapter 11: The Longest Day, Part 1: Morning

"Ungh. Go away. Leave the dead in peace," Harold Moser muttered blearily, opening his right eye a crack to see who would have the nerve to disturb his and his wife Leila's sleep at this ungodly hour. After focusing his brain sufficiently, his Mage senses told him that it was about 3:30 and he managed to cast a weak Mage Light to see the source of the awful noise better. Of course, it was their daughter Marcie, the disorder in her long, slightly wavy auburn hair indicating that she had only just gotten out of bed herself.

"Papa and Mama, it's time to get up! We have to get to the Park for the Solstice Sunrise Ceremony! You even told me to wake you up in time last night!" With her hands on her hips on her cool summer nightgown and with that expression of annoyance, there was no question that she was her mother's daughter. "We do this every year!" She and Leila did, of course, but this was only the fourth time in the twelve years that he'd been a traveling Healer with the Order of St. Thrimble that he had been able to be in Magwitch on the morning of the Solstice. This was one of several reasons why he was glad to have retired from the job.

The Solstices and Equinoxes are important milestones of the year, especially for Mages because the Magic tends to be strongest, and because everyone likes a good party, they are always marked with festivities. The Sunrise Ceremony for the Winter Solstice is always cold and often wet or snowy, but has the distinct advantage of occurring at a far more respectable hour than the Summer Solstice's Ceremony. Despite having made a point of going to bed extra early, to both him and Leila it seemed to be getting harder each year to get up.

"Oh, how I wish that I had half of your energy," Leila groaned, raising her head from her pillow and then letting it flop down again. Her past shoulder-length hair, half coppery red and half silver, framed her face. Harold's hair was noticeably thin on top, cut relatively short, and was already mostly gray. "How on Earth did you manage to get up?" she muttered blearily at the ceiling.

"Then we can go back to sleep, right?" Harold inquired hopefully. "It's not like there's anything else important happening today."

"You know it's my birthday! And I'm eleven, not six or eighteen or ten!" Marcie added, pre-empting his usual silliness, which she thought was no longer befitting a girl of her advanced age.

"Fine, fine, let us get up then," he grunted. "Shoo!" Mission accomplished, their daughter padded out of their bedroom, closing the door behind her. Both of her parents were nude under the light covers and didn't want her to see them in all their glory, nor did she want to. "Is it just me, or has the force of gravity increased?" he complained, levering himself upright. The dim Mage Light was enough to let them see what they were doing as they stumbled around getting dressed. The bedroom wasn't large enough for two dressers, so Harold had had to keep all of his stuff in the third bedroom across the hallway and brought in the clothes that he'd wear for the coming day, which were in a neatly folded pile on the floor on his side of the bed.

Despite the obscenely early hour, Leila could feel his eyes on her ass as she bent over to pull open the lowest drawer and as always, she gave it an inviting waggle. On more energetic days, of which this was definitely not one, he would come over and stuff his hard, thick, seven-inch cock, aglow in his colours of forest green and turquoise into her pussy, glowing in her colours of yellow and turquoise. Said pussy would get hotter and wetter as she watched him approach, his cock lengthening and hardening with a lust that had somehow not diminished despite their almost thirteen years together.

"I see you're ready for a little breakfast sausage," he would usually say as he would tease her by swirling his tip around her swollen labia before stuffing it all the way in with one stroke.

"I'm ready for a large breakfast sausage," she would growl, bracing herself on the dresser and looking over her shoulder as he thrust in and out and she pushed back, slowly at first, but increasing rapidly until she finally clamped down on him, locking that wonderful cock in place as it hosed her cervix with two or three hard squirts of hot cum. As they would come down from the rush, he'd lean over her back, wrap his strong arms around her, and gently squeeze, stroke, and fondle her breasts and nipples, sometimes provoking another orgasm that would eject his softening cock, along with various fluids in a powerful squirt that would leave him dripping and her delightfully ruined, still bent over the dresser. They would have to apply the Clean spell to get rid of the mess and stumble around trying to get dressed before Marcie busted them. But not this morning.

Noticing a sudden lack of his grunts and mutters and that his Mage Light was dimming, Leila turned to see that Harold was sitting on the edge of the bed, chin on his chest, nearly asleep. "Wake up, sleepyhead," she said, marching the few steps required to reach him, lifting his head up and giving him a sizzling kiss. His eyes popped open in surprise and he fell over backward, taking her with him, lips still locked.

"Mmm, I really like the wake-up calls here," he murmured as they lay there, her on top of him, after the kiss finally finished. "But I think that our Birthday Princess will be waiting for us." They managed to get to their feet, with no shortage of squeezes, gropes, and smooches. As they emerged from the bedroom and shambled towards the kitchen, they heard its door to the outside close and Marcie enter, having returned from a visit to the privy.

As Leila left for her visit to the privy, Harold strengthened his Mage Light and got the fire in the stove started to heat the water in the kettle for the very necessary cups of coffee, while Marcie removed a small ham, a block of cheese, and a head of early lettuce from the icebox and put them on a cutting board on the counter next to the stove. Leila returned from her trip and exchanged a quick peck with her husband of only a bit more than a month as he headed out for his turn. She unwrapped the waxed paper around a loaf of bread, removed a bread knife from its block on the counter, and sliced off the heel, which Marcie promptly snatched and devoured.

"Yummy!" she said with a gap-toothed grin.

"You really are a stomach with legs," her mother admonished, wagging her left index finger at her unrepentant daughter. "It's a wonder you haven't eaten half of this house! Happy birthday, sweetheart." Marcie giggled and retrieved plates from a cupboard as Leila deftly sliced the sandwich ingredients. Harold returned from the darkness as she was finishing, closed the door behind him, pulled out two mugs and a drinking glass from another cupboard and poured hot water from the kettle into the mugs while Marcie pumped water from the pump into her glass. Leila added a heaping teaspoon of the powdered coffee into each mug and stirred them.

"Summer Solstice is probably the biggest coffee-consumption day of the year," Harold muttered, not for the first time and definitely not for the last time. Marcie felt two small waves of warmth as the Mages removed some of the heat from their mugs so that they could drink the beverage more quickly. She didn't understand what they saw in coffee, but both had assured her on multiple occasions that it would become very necessary when she was in Mage School. "You'd better get dressed or we'll go back to bed," he added hopefully after the sandwiches had been devoured and beverages drunk. "I think that I'll just sleep here," he added with a not-so-fake yawn, leaning back against the wall that was behind him and closing his eyes. Marcie giggled and ran off to her bedroom to change, returning a couple of minutes later to find both of her parents leaning against each other, eyes closed, looking so peaceful.

"It's time to go, Mama and Papa," she said, hands on her hips again. "Or maybe I should go by myself. I am eleven, after all," she mused. "Then I could run off with my friends, not have to go to school..." Mama's bright blue eyes and Papa's odd blue eyes with shades of green that she had inherited popped open. "Now you're awake." It was all part of the usual banter.

"Even though there's probably no learning going on in the last week of school, you still have to go," said Mama as they stood up and stretched, with an audible popping of something.

"Nobody realizes how old I am until they hear me stand up," Papa complained good-naturedly. He grabbed his staff from the corner beside the door and they went outside, with Mama locking the door. "What a lovely morning," he continued, looking around. It was now just past 4:00 and the light in the eastern sky was already concealing the stars, save for Sariel which was suspended high in the east and shone so brightly. "Look, Sariel is shining just for you, Marcie. Happy birthday." Marcie knew of course that Sariel was the next planet in from theirs and because of that, it took turns being the Morning Star and the Evening Star. Gentle breezes ruffled her hair and whispered through the trees, crickets cheeped, some birds twittered sleepily, and she even saw a bat flitting past at treetop level, looking for more bugs to eat before going to bed for the day.

Her parents made the Most Respectful Bow to Sariel and Marcie, well aware that she was likely to be a Healer as well, followed suit. Sariel is the Great Goddess of Healing, among many other things, and Healers always offered their respects to the planet named after her. Forty-five years melted away in an instant as Harold remembered standing outside of his house, unable to sleep, watching Sariel shining over the rustling leaves of a cornfield. An open grave had been waiting in the cemetery, a grave that had become the resting place of Vera's coffin and the soil that kept it in place at noon on that Summer Solstice day. It took some effort to shove that memory back into its box before it could let more out, and he did that by putting his arms around the two who were closest to him as they looked at the shining planet. His two loves who had helped him to finally set down roots after years of drifting around The Kingdom.

"Don't be sad, Papa," said Marcie, looking up at her father with some concern. He hadn't told her about Vera yet, and was wondering if he should, but decided that now was not the time. Not on her birthday, which was supposed to be a happy day for her. "You are remembering something."

"Yes, Marcie, I am," he replied, trying and failing to keep a catch out of his voice. "Something sad that happened to me a long time ago. But we shouldn't talk about sad things on your birthday. Speaking of sad things, if we don't get ourselves down to the Park soon, we'll miss the Sunrise Ceremony." Marcie saw her Mama give her Papa what seemed like a sympathetic look and wondered what it was all about. It is Solstice Day and her birthday and she didn't want him to be sad today or any other day.

A good portion of the Town of Magwitch had also woken up early, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, and was making its way to the Central Park that was a few blocks south of their house. Since they lived on the corner of Willow St. and Main St., they didn't have to walk as far, which was fine by Marcie. The air was cool and moist, holding the promise of another warm day, and the breeze had a chill in it that made her thankful for the warmth of her parents who were on either side of her. Fatigued but good-natured greetings were exchanged with others as they merged into the flow, and soon they found themselves in the Town's Central Park, which was large, with many tall, shady trees, gravel pathways, flower beds, picnic tables, and benches, and had the local river as its southern boundary. Its focal point was a large octagonal gazebo in its centre that was painted blue, white, and green and had lanterns hanging from various points on both its outside and inside. It had a few people in it, as well as a large object which turned out to be a gong mounted on a wheeled frame.

"Marcie! There you are!" called out a voice from near the gazebo as they approached it. A girl with long, blonde, slightly curly hair ran up to them through the rapidly increasing crowd. She was wearing a simple blouse and shorts made from the standard hemp and cotton blend that was popular in the Westlands because of its comfort and durability. "Hi, Healer Leila and Healer Harold," she greeted them.

"Hi, Donna," Leila replied warmly. "It's always good to see you again. How is the Remembrance Project going?" Donna Parker was one of Marcie's friends and classmates, and they had come up with the idea of asking the horde of ghosts that had descended on the town the day after the wedding for their life stories, so they'd be remembered after the Wild Hunt had scooped them all up. Many people had latched onto the idea as it had been spread around and had taken the time to write down names and stories, and the large stack of notebooks and papers had had to be located in the Community Centre, where several volunteers, including Marcie, Donna, and some other students and classmates, had been sorting through them and trying to figure out how to organize them into a useful order. The Town Librarian, Albert MacMillan, had been the logical choice for its leadership.

"It's going very well, Healer Leila," Donna replied with a bright smile. "There are so many stories to go through, and some are very sad. We decided to order them by the dates that the people died, except for the Argosians who will have their own chapter." Two hundred and fifty ghosts from the Argosy Republic, The Kingdom's neighbour to the south, had also shown up on that day after a local God had pressed two former soldiers into service to bring them on a ship that they had beached on the coast. They and the ghosts had walked to Magwitch during the night, while the rest of the ship's crew had departed on another ship that had been following them.

"The notes have been all typed up and checked with the people who wrote them to make sure they're correct," Marcie added.

"These two have been a big help," said a third voice, which was that of Albert. They turned, and could easily see him standing a bit away from them with his wife, son, and daughter in the rapidly increasing light. "They and their friends' enthusiasm has put us all to shame. Thank you, ladies, and happy birthday, Marcie!" One of the figures on the gazebo's floor was Lakash Moto, the former head of the Havisham Chapter of the Order of St. Thrimble and Harold's former boss. Lakash cast the Amplify spell, making a glowing ring of lavender and blue, which he stretched to an arm span's width, tilted so that it was parallel to the floor, then lifted it over his head. Another woman handed a carefully wrapped baby to a tall man behind her, then positioned herself under the glowing ring.

"Ladies and gentlemen, a great and early morning to you," she said in her warm, friendly voice, getting a round of quiet applause in return. She was Brenda Jaggers, who'd given birth to her son on Leila and Harold's wedding day, and was supposed to be taking some maternity leave from her job as the Town's Mayor, but didn't want to pass up the officiation of the Summer Solstice Sunrise Ceremony. "Lakash tells me that the sun will be rising in about five minutes, so get ready!"

"It's good to see that Lakash has been settling in so well," said Leila quietly as the crowd settled down. Lakash had decided to retire on Harold and Leila's wedding day and had moved in with the other woman on the stage, Kim Blandford, whose late husband had been one of the ghosts who'd been taken by the Wild Hunt. Leila and Harold perked up a bit and turned as they felt a familiar presence arrive.

"Mark, you made it!" Marcie said, charging through the crowd to collide with her target. Mark was Harold's son by Dana Magnussen, who was now the Dean of Engineering at the Magic School, both of whom had shown up on the wedding day to announce that a branch of the Veterinary Magic Program would be set up in Magwitch, with Harold as its head. Fortunately for Harold, Dana's promise of having some students show up by the Summer Solstice had fallen through, since the renovations to the former farmhouse just south of the town were only about half completed, but her promise to send him course curricula and textbooks had been carried through with her characteristic efficiency, and Harold had been forced to dedicate time each day to studying them. Mark had been a complete surprise, as Dana had never told him that she'd gotten pregnant by him, even during the time that they'd been in Carcosa together.

By his side was Stella Webber who was, among other things, the granddaughter of Sam Turner, who had been the owner of Turner's Veterinary Clinic until he'd decided to retire and sold it to Harold. She and Mark had fallen in lust and love almost immediately and he was staying with her, her grandparents, and her parents in their house just south of the town. Mark had shown an affinity for metalworking, which was surprising given that he was in the Veterinary Magic program and would be among its first students in Magwitch. Dana had sent him a copy of the Introduction to Metal Magic's textbook, which he studied in the very few moments of free time that he had.

"They have one of these ceremonies in the big park across the street from the Magic School," he replied, returning Marcie's hug. He was handsome, as tall as his father and also had his odd blue eyes, but was a bit more broad-shouldered, courtesy of his mother, with brown hair down to just above his shoulders and a close-cut goatee. Stella's hair was also brown and just below her shoulders, and she had warm brown eyes, a slightly turned-up nose, full lips on a medium-sized mouth, and a dusting of freckles across her face. She stood just under six feet tall, had the blacksmith's muscular physique, and C-sized breasts, with which Mark was very familiar, as was she with his thick, seven-and-a-half-inch cock, which she wanted in her as often as possible. "Oh, and happy birthday, Marcie. You know that they're really celebrating your birthday, not the Solstice, right?" he added with a wink to Harold.

"You've been listening to Papa and his nonsense!" Marcie replied tartly, but with a big smile.

"Nonsense? It's perfectly true!" Harold replied, putting on a dramatic pose. "For years and years, we've marked the occasion of this Solstice thing, but now that we have something better to celebrate, we still have to deal with this tiresome tradition that just gets in the way." Marcie and Leila rolled their eyes skyward and Mark and Stella snickered.

"Thirty seconds to sunrise!" the Mayor advised, raising a large stick with a rubber mallet head on its end. The crowd rapidly quieted and attention was split between the rapidly brightening eastern sky and the gazebo. The audience did the countdown with her. "Five, four, three, two, one!" The gong made a deep, brassy sound when she struck it at precisely 4:32, and everyone cheered. The eastern horizon was obstructed by houses, but the top edge of the sun's disk was soon over the tops, and long shadows alternating with golden light coalesced from the nothingness of the diffuse pre-dawn light.

"Summer Solstice Day is here!" they all said loudly. "Early to rise and late to bed. By the end of the party we'll all be well fed!" Everyone cheered and applauded, fatigue momentarily forgotten. "Hey, where's the beer?" some wag shouted from the back, as someone always did, and got the usual laughs.

"There will be some here tonight, if you last that long!" There was more laughter and applause. "Have a great day, and we'll see you this evening!" There was some more applause, the crowd broke up and the people started making their way home.