“Meet my goddess, Am’aleh.” I said as the Thayne took shape behind me. She wore the form of a woman made of water, her skin and dress different shades of the same cascading blue. I could feel her magic at work in the sea, touching the catgirl, making her well again. There may not have been a cure for ricin, but there was no limit to divine right.

Am’aleh came to stand beside me, her aqueous hair floating in the gentle salt breeze. I lifted Ayaka to her feet, supporting her beneath the shoulders, and my goddess extended her endless arms around us both in her healing embrace.

Ayaka tried to fight the embrace, squirming. It was almost a relief to see her moving again. “W-hwho-whah..”

The magic swelled like a great wave at sea, rising in crescendo without ceremony. I felt Am’aleh’s love lift us both, felt her kiss my soul and brush Ayaka’s body free of the toxins contaminating it. I tried to remember how the healing magic worked, so I might replicate it on my own, but it was too powerful and complex even for me. Only a Thayne could give the gift of life to a body on death’s door.

The goddess’ omnipotent voice echoed around us again.

“A great debt is owed for this favor, champion. Do not allow my act to have been in vain.”

The magic faded, like water running through a sieve. The temperature and movement of the water around us returned to normal, and I was left holding Ayaka upright in waist-deep water.

‘I fuckin’ hate magic…” She groaned as she struggled to stand, her knees buckled and she was relying heavily on me for support. “I feel like a fuckin troll sat on me.”

“No spell is perfect,” I said, turning her toward the shore and lifting her above the water to carry her. As we landed on dry ground she clawed with growing strength at my face, and I set her down and supported her again. “You should be grateful for Am’aleh’s gift,” I said as I steered her back toward the trees separating us from the road.

“W-who? That Thayne of ...what was it….storms? Water? Was that who that fuckin voice belonged to? Fuck….I thought I was insane.”

“I thought the same thing, the first time she spoke to me.” I said as we made our way through plants and between trees. Vegetation and dirt clung to our wet clothing, and I could feel the catgirl’s fatigue in the way she leaned on me. The poison might have been drawn out, but she still needed a place to lay down and recover. “But you are not insane. You have been given a great honor. I know not what I will have to do to repay her.”

We staggered out of the treeline and came to the stretch of road where we’d left the carriage.

It was empty.

I sighed. Either some opportunistic thief had happened along at the right time, or the horses had simply forgotten that dropped reins mean stay still. Either way, I was left to care for the ailing catgirl, alone and without transportation on a lonely stretch of Coronian coast.

I decided we’d walk downhill, and got us moving along the road.