Regina had not healed many dark elves before. She had treated one in the past, one time, but it was just for a broken bone. It was a woman who'd shown up at a hospital in Cera when she'd been there to do some healing and instruct other healers. She'd liked the opportunity — although, obviously, Regina wouldn't have wished someone to be injured for it — but it did not prepare her for treating Madris.

She would've needed intensive surgery, without magic. Arguably, she still did. At least there was a dark elf healer present, and the others, especially Via, had already done what they could.

What remained to Regina now was mostly checking their work and also making sure that Madris had no lingering ill effects from this episode; and, especially, that her brain hadn't suffered. Unfortunately, dark elves' brains didn't seem much more robust than humans' in general, they had about the same number of stem cells (very few, comparatively) and their neurons generally didn't regenerate. They apparently just lasted longer.

Fortunately, Regina had magic. And she also had psychic powers. She was also intimately familiar with Madris' mind. Even in something like a coma — it wasn't quite like any coma she'd seen before, but close enough — her mentor's mind was still present. Regina could still sense its shape. And considering Madris' mental defenses were also rather hampered because of her lack of consciousness, it was almost easier to feel it.

Which was what reassured Regina more than the reports from Via and the others had. Using her healing magic, she could tell Madris had obviously undergone some physical trauma, and her tissue showed the signs of it. There were also some signs of hypoxia, and Madris had clearly lost a few neurons to all of it. It could've been worse, even if it wasn't pretty. Regina let some healing magic trickle in, very delicately, and carefully guided it. She made sure to clear any buildups of toxins or surface damage, to clear out all the blood vessels and capillaries, make sure the immune cells were active but not too active and inflammation kept down, made sure the myelination of her nerves was as it should be … and she also directed some healing magic to the most affected areas and, with the lightest of touches, stimulated the cells to grow and divide if necessary, following the pattern that still faintly echoed through the structure of the layer.

At the same time, Regina focused on her patient's mind. She had to use a two-pronged approach instead of simply relying on the body. Carefully, she tried to anchor Madris' mind and consciousness, shore up her mental defenses and reinforce her anchoring. Madris would have to do most of this herself after she woke up. If, after all, much more work was necessary.

Finally, Regina judged that she'd done what she could. Hours had passed, she was starting to see dark spots herself and Via was standing ready to force a glass of juice down her throat. Drinking it, she absentmindedly checked on the psychic link before turning to Madris again. The fact that she hadn't woken up already on her own indicated it probably was a magically-induced coma, but Regina awakened her now.

Watching her patient's mind and brain waking up was pretty interesting, too. Regina was so focused on it that she almost missed when Madris opened her eyes. She blinked, and Regina quickly dimmed the lights.

"Hello," she said softly. "How are you?"

Madris blinked again, moved her head a bit, opened her mouth as if to respond, and then closed it again after nothing came out.

Take it easy, Regina told her, carefully connecting to her mind. You suffered a pretty bad shock. How are you feeling?

… I'm fine, Madris responded. Her mental voice felt strained and tired, but otherwise normal.

Good. Can you understand me? "I will be running some tests," she said.

Madris nodded slightly. Yes, she replied mentally.

Regina smiled at her, waved the other doctors over, and started doing some basic checks to test her cognitive facilities and memory. She had to modify them to take advantage of the psychic communication between them, too. Since Regina made those tests up on the fly, it could have probably been done better, but at least it showed her that Madris was conscious and herself.

"Are you feeling up to trying to talk again?" Regina finally asked. Madris had answered psychically so far.

Her teacher glanced around, nodded slightly, and tried again. "It's —" she croaked, paused, and started again. "Thank you, but it's okay."

The dark elf healer stepped a bit closer, saying something in their language. Regina got the impression he was asking after her speech. She replied in the same language, sounding perhaps a bit better, but not much.

Regina, meanwhile, just told one of the drones to get a glass of water and then held it for Madris to drink, ignoring her obvious attempts to take it herself.

"You are mostly healed, but you still need to rest," she told her finally. "Galatea and Iseis got you out, but they're currently at Prekan because a battle is being fought there. Once you're feeling up to it, Icnes would like to see you, and I'm sure there are others who want to talk to you, as well."

Madris nodded, then sat up on the cot they had placed her on. She ignored Regina's concern, and Regina felt her reaching out with her mind. Finally, she nodded.

"I will — would like to see her," she said, still halting in the middle of her words. "But first — Regina. I'd tell you, what happened."

"Only if you feel up to it. We can speak psychically if it's easier," she suggested.

Madris shook her head. "I need to practice. Though, I can, show you."

Then she told Regina what she had seen and done in Esemen and what had happened. Over the course of the story, Madris gained a bit more fluency, although Regina suspected she still had a bit of mandatory speech therapy in her future. She was pretty sure this didn't have a physical cause, at least not one outside the brain. But if a bit of time adjusting to speak clearly were everything this cost Madris, she'd still been rather lucky. She also was clearly well enough to focus on what had happened and to send some images to Regina.

Much of it was information that was important, but not immediately relevant. Regina tucked it away in the back of her mind, resolving to ask Madris for more detail and go over it with the Keepers later. For now, she focused on the immediate situation. Which was concerning enough.

Madris had spent a lot of time scouting out Esemen's military positions and trying to get a handle on the number and location of their Champions. She had moved very slowly, to try and keep her presence secret, after arranging to have some information sent to the Empire. In the course of that, she had also found the trail of secret facilities the Esemen had constructed to build their own artillery. A little late from Regina's perspective, of course, considering said artillery was currently shooting at the walls of Prekan. But Madris had tried to gather data and found that the Esemen were clearly working closely with the Western Confederation; most of the designs and protocols had come from there, apparently. That was valuable information, even if it wasn't entirely surprising to hear. Madris had tried to trace their construction back and run into problems. Mostly, it had probably led her to stay in the kingdom for too long, and made the risk too great. That had finally made itself apparent when she was in the east of the country, following the trail of what might have been a secret test site for even more advanced weaponry.

Looking like the words had to be dragged out of her, even more than the rest of the story, Madris admitted that she had lost to Honor Sazatore. "Only, because it was more," she said, "I mean, there were others. Helen, godsdamned traitor. And Lucas. Could've taken either alone, or both, but, just not, all together."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Regina nodded, biting her tongue and keeping quiet as Madris continued, discussing the psychic battle that had ensued in terse words. She was impressed that Madris had managed to survive at all, let alone escape them. She'd lost her drone mount early on, commandeered Clasen's own mount, and been shot down not once but twice, while suffering several injuries.

The induced coma was apparently a hostile Spell that Madris had modified herself, psychically, to instead make herself sleep to keep herself alive and hide her psychic presence. Regina had no idea where she'd even start trying to copy a feat like that.

She paced up and down a few steps once Madris had finished, swallowing back her first few comments. Regina could sense that Madris would not be receptive to comments on the battle or her abilities right now. They could have that conversation once she was a little better rested. "Thank you for telling me," she finally said. "This is indeed very important information. To start with — If Lucas Clasen was there, that means he is no longer in the Eternal Dark. Did he finish his task there?"

Madris shrugged minutely. She was visibly drooping and would need to sleep again soon. Regina mentally called for another drone to prepare something to eat or at least to drink, quickly. She'd need to make sure her patient started replenishing electrolytes and check her blood sugar and other indicators.

Via stepped forward. "We can write to Ray and the others and inform them," she said. "For now, your recovery should take priority, Madris. Mother, surely other questions can wait?"

"Of course," Regina agreed immediately. "Let me just run a few more checks, and you can assist me, Via."

She tried to put her worries to the back of her mind and not consider the war or what she'd learned as she focused on doing her job. Luckily, Madris seemed to be responding reasonably well and her vitals didn't cause any further alarm. Regina decided against laying an IV and instead made sure Madris drank two cups of some of the Production Drones' secretion mixed in water with extra sugar and salt, respectively. She'd probably lose a few kilos overall, but her organs were still functioning properly, under the circumstances. Even with magical healing, she'd need a bit of physical therapy.

Since Madris insisted on seeing Icnes before going to sleep, Regina stepped away to discuss her prospects with Via, while keeping an eye on her patient but allowing her some privacy. She only looked long enough to see the two of them carefully hugging and Icnes fussing over her older sister. It made Regina smile slightly, and she turned away.

"It's a shame Galatea isn't here," Via said quietly.

Regina nodded and shrugged. "She wants to help with the battle, I'm hardly going to object," she replied. "But yes, it might be good for Madris, too."

"Do you know what she did with those monsters?" Via asked. "I didn't know it was possible to expand your mana pool like that."

"It's temporary," Regina replied, glancing at the other healers still hovering in the background. "She told me, but I've never needed to do it myself. It takes a lot of skill, and you run into diminishing returns. Galatea is already very powerful, and she reinforced the wall enough to hold perhaps an extra half a day or so."

Via looked surprised by that estimate, but Regina only shrugged. She could tell the battle was settling into a bit of a rut, after the clash in the air, but it would not drag on for too long. And there were still too many enemy Champions with the Esemen army.

The conversation had reminded her to see to something else, though, and after waiting until Icnes left, exchanging a few words with her — mostly assurances — and making sure Madris did go to sleep, Regina excused herself for a bit.

She had a lot of business to see to, but nothing that was truly urgent. They had already shifted some duties off her, knowing that her attention would be somewhat monopolized by the war. Of course, Regina did still reach out to her psychic students, especially those who had stayed here, and updated them on Madris' status. She also encouraged them to drop by, Madris would be happy to see them.

Regina hadn't taken any new students recently, but it might be time to take the plunge and let the senior students like Edmund take on their own students if they wanted to. She wasn't sure if that would promote them from 'students'. And the middle of a war camp was hardly the best place for it. Something to think about, at least.

For now, Regina checked on the hatchery, and then descended into one of the basement levels of the Cernlian palace.

There was more than one reason she considered it more pragmatic to move to the new capital. There were several facilities that would have been hard to make or were just better constructed in a new place than in Cera.

Because of that, the bulk of this work would have to wait until she was in New Anberg. But there was still something here, and ironically, the move would have probably ensured there were less eyes on this place. Regina passed through several security checkpoints and defensive measures before she magically opened a vault, stepping inside and looking around.

What greeted her wasn't some pile of treasure, but a carefully labeled and organized storage area of shelves and canisters with precious contents. She would wager its value still exceeded that of any jewelry vault. They had several such deposits, some of them closer to where materials would actually be used, while this was more of a hidden and backup reserve. In general, it was where rare elements and dangerous materials they Conjured went. Especially the sort of thing that would just be too destructive to leave around, which their own technology wasn't far enough to use routinely, and which Regina kept back for the proverbial rainy day.

She glanced at the back section, where a thick cube of lead and other shielding hid a small array of radioactive materials. She would not be messing with that today. Mostly, if she ever needed that kind of thing, she'd Conjure it directly, this was just for insurance.

The room still held containers of rare earths that weren't this hazardous, and Regina added to them now, draining part of her humongous mana pool by filling some up and starting new ones. Ironically, she was mostly familiar with some of these elements through these Conjuration exercises, so it wasn't as easy as just making iron or gold, or even silicon or lithium.

Then she turned to something slightly more applied, going to a new bench and pulling on some protective gear just to be safe. Once finished, Regina Conjured a variety of liquids, and mostly acids. Some of these had to be placed into special containers, which she also got through Conjuration, mostly, building on some of the other materials they had brought here.

Once she was done with most of that, Regina turned and tried the most advanced conjurations yet: biochemical compounds. Those would be eating into her mana the most. Still, if she could ensure they had some of this, like medication — taking a deep breath, she tried to make some epinephrine, trying to put it into a solution to keep it stable. The result was … mixed, but better than before. Grimacing, she moved on to others. There were important drugs she had to skip, since she needed things she could keep halfway stable, and in quantities that wouldn't be depleted immediately. She also needed anything useful in first aid especially; they could generally get people to healers to fix any damage later. Of course, there were some things she didn't do here, since it would be better to Conjure them in the field where needed; ether wasn't that hard to make and could be used for anesthesia even if it wasn't ideal, for example.

Finally, Regina took a step back, panting.

[Mana: 3756/69350]

She felt a little woozy. When's the last time my mana was this low? I can't remember … Regina shook her head, looking around at the stacks of materials. It was for a good cause. And now she could actually monitor the regeneration of her mana, something she hadn't really had a good sense of before. It was already ticking up as she watched.

Sweeping her eyes over the stacks, Regina wondered what she could do if she put her entire mana pool to one purpose. Especially if she copied Galatea's technique beforehand, though it might not make much difference for her.

She raised her hand, focusing on the space in front of her, and recalled everything she knew about quantum phsyics. Mostly it came back to magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography and the like. Then she tried to Conjure a tiny, tiny bit of antimatter … and it worked. She could sense it. Regina stumbled back, running a hand through her hair. The explosion from matter in the air and antimatter eliminating each other had been tiny, since she had not exactly Conjured enough for it to matter more than the normal background; just enough to noticeably change the air pressure a little or cause a flash of light hard to distinguish from the ambient lighting, perhaps, if that wasn't just her imagination. Minuscule amounts of gamma rays or neutrinos might have been created and stopped. She scanned her own body out of an abundance of caution, but noticed no radiation damage.

What would happen if she did this kind of thing inside a person's brain? Well, realistically, it wouldn't exactly be easy to accomplish, especially in a fight. And there were lots of places she could Conjure several other things that would be quite unhealthy.

I still need to test that, she thought absently, maybe with animal corpses slaughtered for food. Her gaze still found the spot in the air she'd used, and she knew that was different. Conjuring some material inside a person's blood vessels might kill them, but it didn't risk annihilating everything around them.

No one can ever find out about this kind of thing, Regina resolved as she sealed the door behind her, then turned and strode away. If this got out, she suspected she would have more than gods trying to kill her.

She had resisted temptation this long, and she felt no desire to bring out the nuclear weapons or more apocalyptic tricks, no matter how badly the initial battles went. Resolved, Regina walked back to check on Madris.

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