Dawning Skye

536 Potential Of The Meek

Mei wanted to disappear into the ground as she stood utterly still under her husband’s heavy gaze. She could feel her cheeks and ears burning as he spoke to Skye, then turned back to her. As she felt her legs turning to jelly and her stomach behi to knot, Mei hesitantly looked up at him, and asked; “W-Will you be attending the banquet tonight?”

Hang’s eyes searched Mei’s for a long moment before he replied; “Yes, if that is agreeable to you. I can cancel my other plans.”

“N-No, you don’t have to. S-Skye and Hana can accompany-”

“I will return to our quarters to dress later. I will see you then,” came Hang’s icy reply before he turned back towards the others; “I look forward to dinner, Princess Skye, ladies, Master Toshinori..”

After a partial bow from Toshinori and a curt nod from Skye, Hang Zhao left without another word. Everyone stood for a moment; akin to taking in the damage after a storm. The two doctors fussed and whispered amongst themselves before the older one walked towards Skye.

While rubbing his hands together nervously, Doctor Fan spoke with a slight quiver in his voice as he bowed deeply; “Please forgive me, Princess. I had no idea who you were. It is a privilege to be visited by the Guardian of the Last Dragon.”

Skye eyed the man with a harsh gaze as she spoke in a cold tone; “I’m sure that’s not your true sentiment, but it doesn’t matter. My concern is not for you, but for the people that you are most likely price-gouging into their death beds. I will not hinder anyone from entering your clinic, but I WILL heal whomever I wish. If you try to hinder me, then you can expect a visit from a Very short-tempered dragon.. Do we understand each other?”

Doctor Fan bowed so low that his forehead nearly touched the ground as he replied; “Y-Yes, Princess! Thank you for your mercy!”

As she looked down at the cowering man, confliction rose up within her heart. She enjoyed watching the beads of sweat form on the greedy doctor’s brow, which didn’t bother her much. But it was her lack of empathy seeing him in such a state that brought on a wave of worry.

.....

Skye had noticed that her apathy had become more prominent than it should be when it came to dealing with people. Half of the time, she almost felt haughty, like a classic princess: like Karena. A small shudder of disgust racked her shoulders for a moment, but Skye kept them from being too obvious.

The only one who had noticed was Hana, but she thought that the disgust was aimed at the doctor. As she watched the old man stand at Skye’s motion, Hana also noticed that Kari and Peggy were involved in a seemingly intense discussion. Giving a quick listen, she realized that Peggy was giving her the cliff notes about what had been said.

Hana had to stifle a laugh as Peggy tried to bluff her way through their talk. She acted like she’d completely understood everything that had been said, but the truth was that Peggy had only understood parts. The picture that she painted was pretty close, but she had gotten a large fact wrong.

Peggy had described Hang Zhao as Mei’s knight in shining armor, but he was far from it..

Hana sighed as she thought about the lecture she would be getting from Genie later. She was supposed to stay a certain distance from Mei, to be able to keep an eye on their surroundings, but Hana had been right by Mei’s side instead; enjoying the excursion together.

‘Hang won’t waste an opportunity to try and keep me away from Mei. Master won’t assign me elsewhere while the Alconians are here, but if I’m not careful: his had may be forced after they leave if I cannot keep my head clear.. I will deal with my personal matters later.. As I told that beanpole at dinner: duty comes first.”

The group discussed a truce with the doctors, and ‘convinced’ them to do the noble thing, and let Skye heal the patients that were the worst off. It ate into their profits, but Skye agreed to allow the Dang family clinic to use her name. They also had post general costs of everything within the waiting room, so people would have a general understanding of their coming bills before they were even seen.

Again, Doctor Fan Dang didn’t like it, but Chen managed to convince him that being directly associated with the Guardian of the Last Dragon was better..

Whispering into his father’s ear, Chen reminded his father of how many people had heard his outburst earlier, then added; “We need the Princess’ fame to counter the rumors that will spread due to earlier. That way, no one will believe any rumors that don’t align with the Princess coming here, and using her magic..”

Fan recalled his outburst and attempted extortion, making the tips of his ears turn red with embarrassment. He understood that many would rather walk to the other side of the city to seek medical help than interact with a person who had offended the Guardian of the Last Dragon. Sighing with dejection, he told his son to handle any interactions with the Princess and her group before going back inside.

After his father had left, Chen’s personality had completely changed. He went from a hunched-over, meek person in the background to the equivalent of a large-scale hospital floor director in the span of a few minutes. Impressed, Skye watched him coordinate with a small grin on her face.

Extra cots, clean linen, towels, bandages, disinfectants, surgical tools; he organized and arranged everything perfectly. Skye had little to no need for the surgical tools, but it was always better to have it and not need it than need it, and not have it. As Doctor Chen Dang shifted to organizing the patients, Skye had made a mental note to have a discussion with Genie later..

************

Healing the crowds gathered outside of the clinic had taken Skye longer than she had wanted, but thanks to the Dang family, it went by much quicker than if she’d been by herself. Or rather, thanks to Doctor Chen..

Chen Dang was limited to blood manipulation when it came to his Shaman trait, but had extremely intricate control over it. To a point where he could manipulate the individual red and white cells that flowed within a person’s body. His potential was vast, but he had almost no confidence in himself due to his limitations.

Most Shamans could heal wounds and basic ailments like colds, the flu, and infections. Their strength and limitations varied like all other magic traits, but Chen’s was far more limited than any other Shaman Skye had met so far. But due to that, he had the ability to do far more than he realized..

Finishing up with a laborer that had broken his leg while working, Skye turned to Doctor Chen with a questioning expression; “Do you have many patients with kidney problems, or things like anemia?”

Chen nodded as he finished sizing crutches for the man; “Of course, but we don’t have the proper equipment to help most of them. There just isn’t enough money in our budget to order anything new. Or so my Father says, but I don’t know what to think of him now..”

Skye sighed as she watched dejection spread across the young doctor’s face. He had learned a harsh truth about someone that he looked up to, and the situation was made worse by the fact that it was his father. Knowing a similar pain, she flashed a small smile..

“Never mind the mess that your father has gotten himself into. For now, I want you to focus on your talent.”

“My talent? Don’t you mean my lack there of?” Chen replied with complete self-deprecation in his tone.

Skye shot him a scowl; “That’s enough of that now. I’m serious: you really do have a talent for Hematology. There are many illnesses that can only be treated by filtering the blood. The ancients used to call doctors that focused on a specific field a Specialist. You could become famous for your treatments, if you study and practice..”

A glimmer of hope filled Chen’s eyes before they clouded over again; “I would love to do that, but I just don’t have the time. Between home and work, I wouldn’t have any time to study, unless I went without sleep and food. As a doctor, I cannot risk not being at a hundred percent for my patients.”

Skye grinned cheekily; “So if I came to ‘help out’ three times a week, then you would use that free time to study and practice?”

Chen’s face held as much shock as everyone else’s as he sputtered; “I-I could never ask you t-to do that! You are a Princess, a diplomat, and the Guardian of the Last Dragon! I couldn’t possibly-”

“Oh, fer cryin’ out loud,” Skye exasperatedly commented in Alconian before switching back to Saianese; “I am Offering to do it, so isn’t it bad manners here to turn down a gift? Or was I lied to about that?”

Chen glanced from Skye, to Mei and Hana, then back to the princess again. He felt wrong for wanting to agree, but social etiquette was forcing his hand. With a heavy sigh, Chen attempted to thwart Skye’s kindness a final time; “But I don’t have the money for the books I would need..”

“There is a library three blocks from here, Doctor Chen. Just accept Princess Skye’s offer, or we will never hear the end of it. And I have no doubt that stopping here for a few hours every other day will become routine, regardless of your cooperation or not,” Hana stated as she glanced around at the dissipating spectators.

Skye chuckled as she glanced at Hana; “I love that you so easily accepted what my own guards have been struggling and grumbling about for the past year or so.”

Turning back to Chen, Skye added; “I’ll also be bringing you some of my personal books that I think would benefit you to read. They’re ancient tomes, so the library won’t have them, but they pertain to the Hematology methods that the ancients used for certain treatments. I’ve already read them, so you can keep them.”

The young doctor’s eyes went wide with shock; “I cannot accept them! Ancient tomes are rare and expensive! Not to mention that they belong to Alcon-”

“They belong to me,” Skye cut him off with a stern tone; “I bought them with My money, and am free to gift them to whomever I please. Are you trying to refuse my generosity again?”

Chen shook his head like it was on fire; “No, Princess Skye! Th-Thank you! You have been far too generous with me.”

Seeing his expression drop slightly, Skye smirked; “Oh, I plan to get some use from my investment. But don’t worry, it won’t be anything bad. You just may need to travel to Alcon on occasion, as a Specialist..”