Role

Chapter 6

Ageryn's life as a freedman began in the Voralian City healer's guild.
It was painful and grueling. Galladrim's connections had earned him the
best care available, but even that was scarcely enough to keep him alive.
The injuries he sustained in Udgaard were quite severe, and to some degree
would plague him for the rest of his life. Large swaths of facial bone
had been pulverized by the stroke of the cudgel. The healer's prayers
willed it to regrow, but the result was imperfect. His right eye was now
lower than the left, and the entire right side of his face seemed to
droop. It took months of painful physical therapy before he could walk
again without a limp.

Things that he once did without thought now required intense
concentration. Yet this "relearning" had a profound side effect.
Whereas before his movements had been unconscious and natural, now they
were precise and intentional. Shuowuon's physical rehabilitation forced
him to acquaint himself with the exact workings of his body, eventually
resulting in a focused grace he hhad never possessed before. During this
time he also flirted with the idea of joining the guild of healers, no
doubt motivated by gratitude at the kindness it had shown him, but was
dissuaded from it by no less than guildmaster Jhanderin himself.

Jhanderin perceived a goodness in Ageryn, but also something else. The
cunning and subterfuge with which he had engineered his sister's escape,
his newfound dexterity, and the simple fact that he seemed unable to
concentrate long enough to complete a decent prayer, moved Jhanderin to
instead refer him to one Jirash, an acquaintance of his across town. He
knew Jirash to be a beacon of light among an otherwise dark profession;
perhaps he could turn the boy into a scout of some sort....