Fates Parallel Chapter 265 - Detour

“Now that we’re across the border, we won’t have to worry as much about keeping our ki restrained.”

Master Ienaga scanned the horizon as she spoke. The girls had taken the time to catch their breath, and listened attentively.

“That said, we’re still in enemy territory. Use discretion—it would be unwise to give ourselves away too soon. We’re still walking, and since we don’t have a litter for Miss Lee, I expect we will have to maintain a fairly sedate pace until we can procure one.”

Eui stretched and yawned.

“I don’t think anyone’s gonna complain about taking it slow after the last couple of days. Does this mean I can finally use my healing techniques?”

Ienaga nodded.

“Fucking finally!”

Eui had been running with a gaping wound in her shoulder the entire time. The attack had left it cauterized, but it was still uncomfortable. Still, rather than set about fixing that, Eui made a beeline for Jung.

Jia’s sister was still unconscious, and she had been for the last day and a half of their mad sprint across the border. Her breathing was labored, and her hair was soaked with sweat. Narae was sitting with her, carefully wiping away excess sweat with a cloth and trying to manage the fever with cool water. Eui wasn’t sure where Narae had gotten the water from, but she was obviously used to taking care of her sick mother—she acted without hesitation, and her movements were smooth and practiced.

“How’s she doing?”

Narae shrugged at Eui.

“Sick again. Are you going to heal her?”

“Yep. Your mom’s overdue for her checkup.”

“Okay, thanks. Where’s big sis?”

Eui scratched her head, considering how to answer.

“Jia’s...meditating right now. A lot of crazy stuff happened before and she’s working through it.”

A bit of a half-truth. Jia was stuck in her head, going over everything that had happened since Eui’s near-death experience and the subsequent empowerment of her demonic core. She was analyzing every decision, every action, every thought she could remember, trying to find the ways in which the cores and Eunae’s geas had influenced the two of them and what it meant.

It was a little much, not that Eui was in any position to criticize others for getting caught up in their own heads. Jia was right, though—something had to change, because at the rate they were going, it was only a matter of time before one or both of them succumbed to the nature of their cores.

But that wasn’t Eui’s problem right now. Eui’s problem was the patient in front of her—a woman far too young to be suffering the kind of chronic illness that plagued her. Lee Jung was only a few years older than Eui, though her mature attitude, gaunt figure, and eight year old daughter all made her seem older.

Eui focused inward on her Tranquility of the Verdant Marsh technique. She’d always questioned the Qin’s way of naming things—while it certainly evoked the image of a place teeming with life, Eui wasn’t sure a stagnant marsh was the best thing to associate one’s healing technique with. Then again, Jia’s Corruption of the Fetid Bog was the opposite side of the same coin—so maybe it was apt.

Wood essence flowed through Eui and out over Lee Jung’s body, taking root in her hopelessly corrupted meridians and slowly driving the infection out. There unfortunately wasn’t much else that Eui could do. Jung’s body had become so corrupted that it produced its own poison to slowly kill her, and while clearing that poison out was simple enough for Eui, the source of the illness had settled deep in Jung’s soul.

No matter how many times Eui healed Jung, the corruption would still spread. She could buy time, but Eui’s technique was only delaying the inevitable. Jung wouldn’t live more than another year or two, even with Eui’s intervention—not without a much more specialized healer.

Eui’s brows furrowed as she inspected Jung’s condition. The infection had spread further than she’d expected it to—her illness progressed faster every time Eui checked on it now. At this rate, she was concerned that Jung might not even make it to the Flowing Purewater Sect.

She finished her work and wiped her forehead and sat back to examine her handiwork. Jung didn’t look all that much better. A bit more color in her skin and more relaxed breathing, but her lips were dry and she hadn’t eaten anything in over a day. Eui had nearly forgotten how much maintenance a mortal body required.

“Narae, when she wakes up you need to make sure she eats. Lots of water too, she needs to replenish her fluids.”

The little girl nodded seriously.

“Yes master!”

“Good girl. You come get me right away if anything changes, okay?”

“Yes master!”

Eui ruffled Narae’s hair and winced at her injury. Oh right, she still needed to fix that. She idly channeled some of her healing essence into it as she returned to the rest of the group. Self-healing was much easier—it was the entire reason she’d learned the technique in the first place, after all. Something to balance the self-destructive nature of her own inherent affinity. It was practically automatic, and she’d had to actively suppress it while they were banned from using essence.

She sat down in the grass with her back to Jia and leaned into her, enjoying the casual intimacy. The impromptu campsite was quiet. Misun had wandered off somewhere to do whatever she did when she wasn’t driving everyone insane with her bitching, Master Ienaga was keeping watch—did that woman even know how to relax?—and the other three were sitting in a tight huddle and speaking in hushed tones.

Rika certainly had her work cut out for her, and Eui didn’t envy that one bit. She wasn’t about to try to eavesdrop on what was clearly a private conversation, though, so she decided to deliver the bad news.

“Jung’s not doing too well.”

Jia nodded slowly.

“I know, I saw.”

Of course she did—she’d probably come to the same conclusions that Eui did as well, but it helped to talk it out sometimes.

“I don’t think my treatments are going to cut it. We need something else.”

“Yeah...do you think any of our medicines will work?”

Yan Zhihao’s dimensional ring had contained a wealth of medicines and ointments when Jia had first won it from him, and though that supply had diminished considerably, there were still a few items left.

“No, those are all made for immortals. Best case they do nothing, worst case her body can’t handle them and she dies.”

“Hmm, what about our herbs? We’ve got all kinds from when we were stuck in the wilds.”

“Sure, and maybe some of them would help, but neither of us have the expertise to make use of them. It’s the same issue—for all we know, they’re deadly poison.”

Jia leaned back into Eui and rested her head against Eui’s shoulder, staring up into the slightly cloudy sky.

“Was this a mistake, Eui? Is Misun right, and I’m just leading everyone into a suicide mission out of some misguided sense of self-importance? Am I just high on the idea that I can make a difference, when I’m still just as much of a meaningless speck as everyone else?”

Eui let out a long breath. Now those were some familiar feelings—though she was more accustomed to being on the other side of them.

“I don’t think so, and neither do any of the people supporting us. Eunae, Rika, and Ja Yun believe in you. The queen believed in you enough to send Misun along. Hayakawa Kaede put herself behind you despite how risky it is for her to go against her father, and Master Ienaga didn’t have to join in person either.”

Jia drew her knees up to her chest.

“Eunae’s here out of a sense of obligation—she thinks she owes it to us after she accidentally mind-controlled us to be unable to leave her side. Rika’s here for her, Ja Yun’s here for Rika. Misun is a chaperone for Eunae, and Kaede doesn’t really have a choice since she’s planning to—”

She casted a sidelong glance at Master Ienaga standing several meters away, who made no indication that she was listening.

“Well, you know.”

To rebel against her father, the shogun. Ienaga Yumi was no friend of the Hayakawa clan, as a member of the recently defeated former shogunate, but she was still loyal to her country, and the girls were hesitant to speak about it in front of her. Eui shrugged.

“That doesn’t really change anything. They didn’t have to support you, but they did—wholeheartedly. Yan Yue wouldn’t have sent a letter if she didn’t trust you either. Look, there might not be much we can do alone, but that’s why we’re not alone.”

Jia reached back and took Eui’s hand in hers, squeezing it gently.

“Thanks, Eui. But still, what are we going to do about Jung?”

Eui bit her lip, thinking. She ran it through her head over and over, but there was only one conclusion she could come to.

“We’ve got the resources, but not the means to use them. What we need is someone with the means, but not the resources. We’ve been in the world of cultivation for so long that we’ve forgotten what it’s like to be regular mortals with regular mortal problems.”

Jia cocked her head.

“What do you mean?”

“Dad used to do carpentry before running Mom’s tailoring business full time. He used to say ‘when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.’ I’m pretty sure he stole it from someone. We’re cultivators now, and we’ve been trying to fix every problem with cultivation. Jung’s a mortal. Sure I can heal her with magic, but why haven’t we tried, you know...a doctor?”

Eui could feel the confusion in Jia, followed quickly by shock, then denial, then finally embarrassment—it was quite the ride. Finally, she held her head in her hands.

“I never thought of it.”

“Right? Why bother with a doctor when you can just heal her with magic? Remember at the academy? They didn’t even have a dedicated staff in the medical pavilion—just whoever happened to be volunteering and free access to the facilities to anyone who needed them. That’s the world we’ve been living in.”

Jia sighed miserably.

“Are you sure a doctor will be able to do anything? Where are we even going to find one?”

“At the very least they might be able to help us out with the medicines. As for finding one—the empire is supposed to have the largest population in the world. There’s got to be a few of them around somewhere.”

“The others will never go for it.”

Eui snorted.

“Jia, haven’t you been paying attention? We’re all here to support you—well, maybe not Misun but she can go fuck herself. If you lead, we’ll follow. It might take some convincing, but they’ll understand. It’s the best chance Jung has.”

“Alright, fine.”

Jia stood up and dusted herself off, offering Eui a hand to help her up—which was unnecessary but very much appreciated.

“Let’s go find ourselves a doctor.”