Snippet #1793621

Within the cramped confines of the bare Guild pantry sat two figures facing one another. The pale mid-afternnon light illuminated the wispy haze of the acrid-sweet smoke of incense burning in a brass cup resting on a small wooden table to one side of the room. Sitting cross legged on an elevated stool in the middle of the room, Anil cradled the hands of a young woman before him atop both of his palms, his eyes closed as he gently hummed the incantation for the healing spell he was concocting. The girl was the daughter of one of the local tavern owners and her father always had her slaving away at chores in the establishment as to cut costs associated with hiring extra workers. She often had aching hands and feet from the labor and more than once now she had visited the Guild to purchase Anil's services.

Such a callous man. Such a pretty thing should not be worked so hard. Anil silently chastised the tavern owner as he continued his incantation. A soft white glow began to issue from the monk's palms, and as his humming grew in volume the cuts, scrapes and knots in the woman's hand slowly melded away and the steady breath of relief issuing from her lips indicated to Anil that she was indeed benefiting from his work. The glowing dissipated as the incantation was completed and Anil opened his eyes and met those of the woman.

Anil gave one of his wry smiles and asked, "Is that better?"

"Yes. Thank you and as always, here is your payment." The woman said as she came to her feet, reached into her purse and retrieved two silver coins, one for each hand.

In a smooth serpentine motion Anil brought his feet to the floor, still crossed and rose from the chair to stand before the woman. "You're welcome, miss. The Guild serves to help those such as you." he said as the young lady dropped the coins in his right hand. Anil would have gladly done this for free, but the Guild needed a reliable source of income and people needed a reliable source of medical care. Although it couldn't help offset the Guild's debts, at least it kept food in their bellies. Anil and the girl exited the pantry room and he escorted her to the the iron and oak entry door of the Guild headquarters. He waved her off and then turned back to find Ranos and give him the coin he just collected and was surprised that the stalwart guildmaster was nowhere to be seen. It was then that Anil noticed the parchment on the inside of the door. Looked like they had finally got some work! Ranos was heading out to Nalyn and Yuhra was probably in tow. Anil gave a slight frown at the thought of that. He obviously had a thing for Yuhra, that was for sure, but he wasn't worried that she could defend herself. Rather quite the opposite problem, that girl had a short fuse and although Anil trusted Ranos could keep tabs on the girl's violent outbursts, the ever vigilant guild master couldn't be paying attention to Yuhra and whatever horrors were out there at the same time. Who knew what kind of trouble she could start up if left to her own whim.

Anil quickly sauntered back into the pantry where his store of possessions were and retrieved his staff and travel pack then jogged out the door. Ranos and Yuhra were probably outside the city walls by now, Anil would need extra speed to catch up. Anil tested the wind with his finger and uttered a few short, harsh words and suddenly was floating a foot off the ground on a cushion of pressurized air. A few words later the wind howled and pushed the now light as air monk on his merry way to the city gates. At this rate, he should catch up with his two compatriots in no time.