Vorden ignored her question.
Minx placed her hand on top of the pot. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Soon a plant began to grow, and she placed the pot on the bed next to Vorden. "I'm still studying this, so I apologize up front."
She lifted his shirt and placed the plant against his skin and held it there, closing her eyes to concentrate again. She focused her energy on the plant, looking for the medicinal qualities she needed for the job at hand.
Vorden had some minor internal bleeding. Yes, his immune system had kicked in and it would have taken care of itself eventually, but she didn't want him suffering. He was too beautiful for that.
Slowly, she could see the medicine. She pulled it from the plant, channeled it into her patient, and allowed it to work. She heard footsteps and her concentration was broken. She looked up to see the doctor approaching with a strange look on her face.
Dr. Haley looked at Minx with a quizzical expression and Minx looked at her feet. "I'm stopping his internal bleeding…It's what he's needing." And she shuffled her feet uncomfortably.
"You can do that?" Dr. Haley inquired.
Minx took a deep breath and nodded, "My ability is tricky. I'm an original with no teacher."
"Are you a healer?"
"No. My ability is plants, and I hate it. The trees can be annoying because they overshare…" She gave a soft smile, "But they were my only friends I had until I got here. As for this, I'm learning to heal with plants."
"I can see the injuries through a skill I gained through meditation. I can identify a lot of injuries but am useless with sicknesses. Fixing injuries can be quite troublesome. It requires a LOT of time in the library studying."
"My agriculture teacher has a plant-specific library in the classroom. I have not had a chance to look through them yet. I need to study at the library because they have a lot of resources."
Minx pointed to the spot she touched earlier, "What is this?"
"A hairline fracture." Dr. Haley provided the words she was searching for.
Minx nodded, "thank you. I haven't met a doctor. The previous schools just had nurses on staff. I can't fix broken bones. While I know the name of the plant, I need to know its physical characteristics. The pictures I have found so far are insufficient."
Dr. Haley smiled, "I'm quite swamped here. Would you like to help him to the extent you can? I'll be back in a little bit after I attend the other patients. Is that okay?" They both nodded, though Vorden did so with a few seconds of hesitation.
As Dr. Haley went to leave, she looked back over her shoulder, "I work alone and am often swamped. Could benefit by being my assistant once a week?"
Minx brightened up, "yes, as long as I get my study time as well. The Agricultural Club is beneficial but also boring because the concepts are easy for me to understand. The teacher is great and allowing me to work a bit on my own."
Dr. Haley nodded, "Would you be willing to have club on Mondays, Library Tuesday through Thursday, here on Friday?"
Minx brightened up, jumping up and down in excitement, "yes! Is that possible?"
Haley smiled. "Let me see what I can do and get those patients healed."
She turned to Vorden, "You appear to be in good hands."
Minx turned her attention to Vorden as she watched Dr. Hayley's figure fade in the distance and vanish behind a curtain. Minx was left to practice and gain experience.
"I don't feel any different. I think you need to leave me alone and let me rest." Vorden complained.
Minx giggled, "You wouldn't feel this, but you'll feel better. Now let me concentrate!"
Vorden sighed, "Why are you even bothering? Am I just someone to experiment on? We've never even met!"
She paused and looked into his eyes. She was still feeling quite happy whether he appreciated her efforts or not. She was quite radiant as she placed her pot next to his neck and sat on the bed next to him. She held a leaf from her plant on his throat. She wondered if she could heal while talking. She decided to find out.
"I've seen you several times. You fight the bullies, as I do. You are protective of that boy with the curly hair just as I'm protective of my brother, Midas. The one you're protecting is special. We are both fighting the bullies to protect someone which gives us something in common."
"I don't know if you have any nefarious reasons for protecting yours or if you truly care about him. Obviously, I care about my brother. He is my twin. Does the boy you are protecting know how broken you are? My brother has no clue how broken I am…"
She gently caressed Vorden's forehead. Her fingers trailed circles on one side then the other. Her voice turned quite tender, "I've heard of this bur never saw it before. There are two other complete auras inside your mind."
Minx started to tear up. Her voice cracked, "This one is significantly broken. He's hurting." She gently stroked his head and cheek, drawn to the energy of the broken soul feeling a connection like nothing she had ever experienced before. After a few moments, she realized what she was doing.
She stood back up with tears in her eyes refusing to meet Vorden's gaze. She could feel Vorden's eyes on her, making her feel small, trying to crawl deep within herself. She never really learned decent people skills. Dobin was her only true human interaction. She did her best to ignore his gaze. Closing her eyes and doing her meditation breaths helped her center and refocus.
The tears fell from her eyes before she could stop them. Quickly wiping them away, she continued to focus on her breathing.
In their head,
Raten turned to Sil who had come forward out of curiosity: Sil, she can see us!
Sil responded: It's that girl from breakfast. She seems nice. Sil returned to the back of their mind and went to sleep.
Raten then turned to Vorden: Hey, what ability is this?
Vorden responded, confused: I don't know but it's strange. I can't copy it.
Minx opened her eyes, feeling her focus had returned. She resumed working on Vorden's injuries. The bleeding finally stopped; all the internal wounds had healed. Touching the plant, she said, "wither." She watched his reaction from the corner of her eye.
Vorden saw the plant shrivel up to dust and his eyes went wide. He continued to watch as she placed her hand on the pot again. A different plant sprouted. In 30 seconds, a whole new grew to replace the last one.
This time, Vorden could visibly see the effects of her ability. He watched the surface wounds close themselves. He had seen wounds close as though they never existed using a healing ability. He had used that ability himself many times. Seeing such effects from a plant was something new. It took longer than the ability he was used to but it seemed to be just as effective. He also noticed he didn't feel the warm feeling using the ability produced. He didn't feel anything, actually.
His visible wounds healed, she withered the plant and grew her last one. This time Vorden did feel something. The pain he had been experiencing was slowly reducing until at last, it was gone. His eyes went back to her face which was a picture of concentration. There was no evidence of her earlier joviality. She was all business.
The whole process took an hour for all three forms of healing. Minx was proud of her work. She had only used this on Midas. The bonus was she got to touch Mister Hunk. But, who was that captivating soul? She felt herself drifting back to his energy and she bit her tongue to refocus herself. She heard approaching footsteps and realized the other patients were gone and Dr. Haley coming their way with a smile on her face.
"Our patient looks much better!" She then finished his healing, repairing the fracture.
Minx smiled at her, "thank you for this opportunity."
She then looked at Vorden forcing herself to look at his eyes instead of his forehead, "And thanks to my unwilling patient for allowing me to have this experience," she giggled with a bright smile at Vorden, while inside, the turmoil was beginning to turn.
"Minx, I got permission to change your schedule. Your record is updated. You are expected to be here on Fridays during Club time and the library during the week. The general said if you don't master the task in Agricultural Club, continue until you do then you can go to the library. Sound fair?"
Minx jumped up and down then gave her a big hug, "thank you!"
Haley winked at Vorden, "how about you escort a lady back to her room to show your appreciation for helping you?"
They silently returned to the first-year building together, both lost in their own thoughts. As they approached her room, "My name is Minx, by the way, though I don't think you care…. Minx Botan. Are you familiar with a student named Peter Chuck?"
Vorden nodded, "He's my roommate, why?"
"Keep an eye on him." She veered off to her room and he returned to his. Vorden lay down on his bed and tried to figure out what just happened.
He was angry with her for making him go to the doctor. Why did he even listen to her to begin with? It was infuriating and confusing. Then she touched him so gently.
The look in her eyes. Even the little one came forward to see what was going on. Then she stopped and cried. Did I want her to continue? I can't if I let her... It's best to stay away from her. But the little one. Is he taking an interest in her? Can we stay away? Here I am trying to keep Layla and Quinn apart and then this girl… This very special girl.
He didn't sleep well that night as he felt so conflicted. He could feel her energy as she used her ability, but it was something he had never experienced before. This girl was different. He had never encountered an ability he couldn't copy before. And what was it with the warning about Peter?
Minx entered her room realizing she hadn't grown any food yet but not really wanting to go out, she decided to use the kitchen in her room and her pots.
She quickly grew a whole bunch of things which did not require deep roots. That meant she could not have carrots tonight. She put together something in a pot, wishing she had at least some potatoes to make a potato soup. Tomorrow will be better.
With the soup cooking, she grew a whole bunch of wheat and a few other things to make flour for bread. Harvesting it took longer than growing it. She found it monotonous but necessary if she wanted to impress Logan Green. It was vital to have her watch changed.
Raven came into the room smelling the wonderful aroma. "Darn! Had I known you were creating a culinary masterpiece here, I would have avoided the canteen! Though, it wasn't so awful tonight."
Minx giggled. "How was class?"
Raven gave her a brief description. "Is the soup done?" she asked as she gave the air a deep whiff.
Minx nodded again, "Yes. I'm working on growing what I need to make decent bread flour. I have a question for you. Do you think Knight could steal a book if we asked him to?" She said as a devilish grin spread across her face.