After dressing, Davis and Seris leave the loft and enter Hearthmere’s infirmary. Herb racks scent the air above washbasins and empty cots, while the infirmary woman, a sturdy middle-aged woman with copper-brown hair and rolled green sleeves, waits beside a patient’s bed.
Maelin Orra
I am Maelin Orra. Before you attempt any practical magic, observe this case. The spring-worker has rested, eaten, and taken ordinary tonics, yet his fatigue persists.
The spring-worker is a lean young adult man with weathered brown skin, damp black hair, and a faded blue tunic. He sits upright on the cot, alert but drained, his hands trembling faintly in his lap.
The Spring-Worker
I can still lift a bucket, Maelin. I simply cannot keep doing it. By midday, my limbs feel borrowed from someone weaker.
Seris
What did the ordinary remedies change? Fatigue after spring-work could come from strain, poor water, or a warded source. I would want those separated before magic touches him.
Maelin Orra
Nothing lasting. His pulse is steady, his skin is cool, and his water is clean. I want Davis to notice what the symptoms are saying before he decides what to answer.
Maelin gestures toward the basin, the patient’s boots, and a sealed clay cup on the bedside stool. Seris watches Davis rather than the instruments, leaving the first observation to him.
✓ Quest Accepted
Diagnose the spring-worker’s persistent fatigue
“"You say that nothing lasts. His body looks like it should be in peak physical condition. Young man, and want you to push up on my hand. I'm going to push down and see how much strength you have. Has anything happened that was out of the ordinary?"”
SUCCESS (Fair Healing, rolled +2)
Davis of Carmathen
You say nothing lasts, yet his body looks fit. Young man, push up against my hand while I press down. Has anything unusual happened?
Davis braces his palm against the spring-worker’s hand and applies steady pressure. The young man resists with healthy strength, but that strength drains sharply before the test ends.
The Spring-Worker
Nothing like an injury. Three mornings ago, the spring ran cold enough to numb my fingers. Since then, work leaves me empty.
The response is not simple weakness. His muscles answer cleanly at first, then surrender as though effort is being drawn away from them. The sealed cup smells faintly of stone and rain.
Maelin Orra
That cold was the only change he reported. The spring has remained clear, and no one else has complained of lasting fatigue.
Seris
So the weakness follows exertion, but the cold preceded it. The source deserves examination before we call this ordinary strain.
Maelin Orra
Good. You found the distinction I wanted: his strength is present, but something interrupts its endurance. We will test the water next.
“"Lets go test the water. I wonder if it's a warning or if he did something and the water is teaching him a lesson?"”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled -1)
Davis of Carmathen
Let us test the water. I wonder whether it is a warning, or whether he did something and the water is teaching him a lesson.
Davis takes the sealed clay cup from the bedside stool after Maelin nods permission. He carries it to the basin, while Seris watches the spring-worker’s tired hands.
Maelin Orra
Use only that sample. If the spring is teaching anything, I want the lesson observed before anyone answers it with magic.
Davis uncovers the cup and studies the water in lamplight, then tilts it across the three-point mark etched into the basin. A faint blue thread recoils from the clay.
Davis of Carmathen
The water is carrying a pattern that resists the body’s effort.
Seris
That is not a lesson for wrongdoing. It is a warning, or a ward behaving like one. The pattern pulls at endurance only after exertion begins.
The result is clear, but the fine structure blurs whenever Davis shifts the cup, costing several quiet minutes and leaving the exact source of the warning uncertain. Maelin seals the sample again.
“"So it is a warning. Maybe we do what we can to test if it's a ward. While we do that, lets ask him more questions about where he was when it happened."”
SUCCESS (Great Magic, rolled +1)
Davis of Carmathen
So it is a warning. Let us test whether it is a ward while we ask him what happened at the spring.
Davis sets the clay cup within the basin’s three-point mark and steadies his breathing. He threads measured magic through the water, asking the blue pattern to show what it guards and how it answers exertion.
The Spring-Worker
I was clearing the eastern intake when the cold came. The stones beneath the water felt smooth, almost polished. I reached down and pulled away when my fingers went numb.
The blue thread unfolds into a thin lattice, not an attack but a ward keyed to effort. It draws strength only from hands that work within the spring’s marked channel, then releases it when they withdraw.
Maelin Orra
A labor ward, then. It protects the intake from being altered, but it is misreading ordinary clearing as interference. That explains why rest alone never cured him.
The Spring-Worker
There was a pale mark under the water, shaped like a bent three-point star. I thought it was an old keeper sign, so I scraped mud away from it.
The lattice settles into the cup, confirming the ward’s trigger and its purpose. Seris leans nearer, while Maelin reaches for fresh parchment to record the mark before anyone disturbs the spring again.
✓ Quest Accepted
Relieve the spring-worker’s persistent fatigue
Quest Complete
Diagnose the spring-worker’s persistent fatigue
Skill Upgrade: Healing Fair→Good
“"Let me see if I can reverse the ward with this water. Come over here and touch the water again and focus on how you weren't trying to disturb it."”
SUCCESS (Great Magic, rolled +0)
Davis of Carmathen
Let me see if I can reverse the ward with this water. Come over here and touch it again, and focus on how you were not trying to disturb it.
Davis brings the Spring Water Vial beside the marked basin and threads its water through the three-point sign. The spring-worker places his fingertips into it, holding fast to the memory of clearing mud without harming the intake.
The Spring-Worker
I was trying to help. I felt the cold, but I did not mean to change anything.
The blue lattice turns through the water, its rigid points loosening around the spring-worker’s hand. Davis reverses the ward’s answer, teaching it to distinguish harmful alteration from honest labor.
Maelin Orra
There. The ward is no longer taking his endurance. You have reversed its judgment without breaking the protection around the intake.
The spring-worker withdraws his fingers and flexes them. The trembling has stopped. In the vial, the blue pattern settles into a calm three-point star, ready to release strength rather than drain it.
The Spring-Worker
My hand feels clear again. If the ward stays this way, I can finish the intake without being punished for touching it.
Quest Complete
Relieve the spring-worker’s persistent fatigue