Chapter 26
Rose would remember the short time spent at Logan’s farm as one of the best times in her life. To be around such loving and supportive people such as Mosan and Zinora was still very new to her and she did not want this feeling to end. After the meal, she had offered to help with the clean up, but the matron of the house insisted she spend some time relaxing because of the long and dangerous journey that lay before of her. Besides, Emily had jumped right in to the kitchen and was already bonding with her new surrogate mother as they worked together, talking all the while about what type of person Emily’s mother was. Zinora seemed to fully understand that one of the best ways to honour a lost loved one was to remember all the good things that they brought to one’s life and Rose smiled at the sight of the two laughing together as they worked.
Jirah had chosen to take the first turn at having a warm bath, and Logan was sitting at the table with Gaost discussing the route they would take for the next leg of the quest, so Rose got up to go outside. This was such a cute little farm, she thought as she casually wandered around all of the buildings and bent to smell the pretty flowers that adorned the many flower beds. Eventually, her wanderings brought her to the large barn that she had seen Logan’s parents emerge from when the group had first arrived at the homestead. The smells inside the building were so new to Rose, but they were infinitely better than the one’s she was familiar with. Such a freshness filled the air that it could not help but to warm her spirit and fill her with hope.
The young woman’s moment of reflection was stopped short however when she heard a low, groaning sound emerging from on of the stalls in the rear of the barn. She stepped softly over to the far corner to see who was there and discovered Logan’s father, writhing in obvious pain. The poor man was seated in a dark corner with his head in his hands, moaning quietly to himself as he rocked back and forth. Rose did not want to startle Mosan, but she could not ignore the pain that he was suffering from, so she spoke to him in a tender whisper.
“Mosan? Is there something I can do to help? Should I go get your wife?”
Through clenched teeth the suffering man answered back, “No, she is still busy I’m sure. The pain should pass soon enough.”
Moved with compassion, Rose could not just stand there and watch the gentle old man suffer like this, so she knelt down in front of him and started to pray. O how she wished that she already had this mysterious Staff of Ramah that was supposed to give her the power to heal these types of ailments. Mosan could not hear the words that Rose spoke to the Eternal One, but he was more than a little surprised at the power surging through the Chosen One’s hands as she placed them gently on the sides of his head. To his surprise, he could feel the pressure in his skull diminishing at a rapid pace. Something miraculous was happening, but he also had a strange feeling that something was not going quite as Rose planned it. He opened his eyes and looked into the face of this lovely young girl and immediately recognized the look of suffering in her face. She was taking the headache into herself somehow. With a start, he quickly got up and took her hands from his head.
“What are you doing Rose?”
Rose placed her hands on her own head and her eyes were watering from the pain she felt. What was happening?
“Wait here Rose,” Mosan said, with a slight panic in his voice. “I will go and get Gaost.”
The pain that coursed through Rose’s skull was overwhelming and she bent over, still on her knees, and threw up violently. She had never felt anything like this before, and she was no stranger to physical pain. Time seemed to be slowed down to a crawl as she waited in the dark, her head still pounding as she cried out in agony.
“What is happening Rose?” It was the voice of Goast, full of concern and worry.
Gentle hands began massaging her shoulders and back but Rose was still too disoriented to know what was really going on. She closed her eyes and cried out to her heavenly Father to help her through this attack. Her prayers were joined by those of Zinora and Gaost, and in time, the pain began to diminish. When Rose finally opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the worried face of Jirah, who had quite obviously been crying.
“You had me so worried you silly girl,” the huntress said as she came over to embrace Rose warmly, wearing only a towel.
“Looks like I ruined you bath, sorry sister.”
“You did nothing of the sort dear; now tell us what happened here.”
Rose thought quietly for a moment as she got to her feet, brushing off the straw from here clothes. She looked around to notice that all of her companions were surrounding her and she was more than a little embarrassed at all the attention given to her.
“I am so sorry that I scared all of you,” Rose said as Jirah pulled her matted, tear soaked locks away from her face. “I came into the barn and discovered Logan’s dad. He was suffering from some kind of headache and I just wanted to help.”
“I thought that you were done with those, Dad.” Logan said, looking to his father with concern in his eyes.
“He gets the headaches at this time every year Logan,” Zinora responded. “They last for a month or two then disappear till the next year.”
“I think I may know what happened, Rose,” Mosan spoke now, looking directly at Rose. “Do you remember what you prayed when you put your hands on my head?”
“I could see that you were suffering greatly, and I knew that I did not have the power to heal you,” Rose said, “so I just tried to pull the pain out of your head with my thoughts. Does that make sense?”
“That is exactly what I felt,” the old man said nodding in agreement. “I could feel the pain being pulled out of my head while you were praying.”
“It would seem that I have let you down once again Rose,” Gaost now interjected. “I neglected to tell you of the powers you have been given and how they work. To tell you the truth, much of this is still a mystery to me.”
Everyone now looked to the Cleric to hear his explanation for this strange occurrence.
“Ya has placed his healing power within the Staff of Ramah, which we are going to retrieve,” he explained. “But the power to draw the sickness out of a suffering person has been given to you Rose.”
“Are you saying that I took Mosan’s headache way from him and into myself?” Rose asked with concern.
“It would seem,” Gaost said with a nod. “I am sorry that I never explained the process to you sooner, but I never expected you to try to heal someone this soon, and without the staff.”
“I have no regrets about trying to help someone in pain,” Rose said shaking her head, “I am just glad to have helped stop your suffering Mosan.”
“That’s all good and well dear,” Jirah answered, still full of obvious concern for her sister, “but what would have happened if he was dying?”
“Jirah has it right,” Goast answered. “You could very well die if you try this again on someone who has a fatal ailment. I think it would be best if you do not try healing anyone again until you hold the staff Rose.”
Rose sighed, looking into the worried faces all around her. “I’m going to be fine everyone. Stop looking at me like I am going to drop dead any minute.” All this attention was starting to make her feel closed in.
It was Jer that finally broke the tension with his youthful wit. “Come on people. Move along now. Give the poor girl some space.” The young thief began to shoo everyone out of the barn like he would drive barn animals.
Jirah cuffed him on the head and smiled her crooked grin, just now realizing that she was still just in a towel, having jumped out of the bath to see what was wrong.
“And you,” Jer said to the half clad huntress, “get some clothes on already. You will catch your death a cold!”
“All right, all right boy,” Jirah said. “Don’t think that I have forgotten about you needing a bath in all this excitement. You are starting to smell worse than this barn.”
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With that, Jer shot out the barn door in a flash causing everyone laugh in spite of the tension they all felt.
As they started to make their way to the warm farm house, Zinora approached Rose and put her slender arm around the young girl in support. “Thank you for helping my husband dear,” she said with a smile. “I know that you meant well, and I will be sure to give you some herbs that will alleviate the pain of the headaches, if you have any more that is.”
“Thank you,” Rose responded simply. Just being in this woman’s presence gave her comfort and strength. How she wished that this dear lady was her real mother.
“I think it is your turn for a bath too,” Zinora said, now clasping her hand. “I will warm up the water and then you can soak away whatever tension may be left in your pretty head.”
It felt so good to be loved by this group of people, but Rose could not help but worry slightly about the days to come. If she had truly taken Mosan’s headaches onto her own body, there would be some tough times ahead for her.
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