Become the crew's new doctor

Agreeing to become the new doctor signed you up for a three-day haze of constant mana consumption. You’ve seen so many injuries in the last seventy-two hours, from minor cuts to near-fatal gashes and broken bones, that you’re completely desensitized to them by now. You’ve grown so used to the feeling of being low on mana that instead of almost passing out, you just instinctively know to take a break. You’ve trained your body to regenerate mana at an increased rate, and if you had ever let yourself fully recharge, you probably would have discovered an increased maximum capacity for mana as well.

In short, it was hell, but you’ve come out of it much stronger than before.

While you were going through your healing haze, working through the entire crew until everyone was healed to a reasonable seafaring state, Blythe and Lia were enjoying the new room you’ve been granted. Situated across the hall from Miss Smith’s private guest room, it contains a king-size bed complete with clean sheets, a writing desk and cushioned chair, and a chest containing the late occupants’ personal belongings. You’ve not been able to enjoy the bed yet, as you’ve not left the doctor’s ward in three days.

Until now, that is. It’s currently late in the afternoon on your fifth day in the Trial of Water, and you’re laying half-asleep on the aforementioned bed, which is far more comfortable than the chair in the doctor’s ward. Lia is sitting at the desk and catching you up with all of the little things that have happened in the three days that you’ve been nothing but a magic medicine machine. She was happy to let you have the bed for now, though you wonder how she would feel if you were to insist on sharing it with her and Blythe tonight. Lia has a very sexy figure, smaller in the chest than Blythe but a bit wider in the hips. You’d love to have some fun in bed with her, ideally in a threesome with Blythe, but you’ve been holding back because of the whole getting-stabbed-by-a-priest-and-then-almost-****-by-a-tentacle-monster trauma that she’s still dealing with. It’s hard to gauge how well she’s handling that, but at least for now she seems to be in a good mood.

“Probably the biggest thing you should know is that the storm sent us completely in the wrong direction,” says Lia, one arm propped against the desk and supporting her head while the other plays with her own tail. “Everybody’s saying it’ll take another couple of weeks to reach dry land. I guess we don’t really care about reaching a port, though, since this is supposed to be a ‘water trial,’ or whatever…” Lia trails off, then starts looking around the room as if searching for something to talk about. Her search ends at a row of three symbols engraved into the wall near the door. “Have you messed with these in the doctor’s ward? Apparently every room on this deck has them,” she says, pointing to the symbols on the wall. The three symbols resemble a crossed out musical note, a keyhole, and what you believe to be a snowflake that’s on fire. You have indeed seen them in the ward, but you haven’t had enough energy to spare on curiosity lately. Lia explains that they operate like switches, activating or deactivating enchantments built into the room just by touching them. As you’d expect based on the symbols, those enchantments are soundproofing the walls, locking the door, and controlling the temperature inside the room. “It’s started getting kinda {if@ fight_option > 0}hot{elseif fight_option < 0}cold{endif} outside ever since the storm turned us around. We lucked out being able to hide in this nice {if@ fight_option > 0}cool{elseif fight_option < 0}warm{endif} room.” Having exhausted that topic, Lia returns to looking around awkwardly until her eyes land on your Magic-For-Dummies book sitting on the desk. “Oh! I, uh, did what you told me I should do… you know, back in that dark maze, with those weird logic puzzle things? I asked Blythe to teach me how to read, and she was super nice about it, just like you said she’d be…”

“That’s great!” you say, mustering enough energy out of your tired bones to be genuinely excited for her. “How’s that going?”

Lia freezes up for a second, apparently not expecting you to show this much interest in her education. That shock quickly melts, however, into a pretty decent poker face betrayed only by the gentle sway of her tail and a hint of excitement in her voice.

“Well,” she says, “like I told you back then, I picked up some words here and there from signs and stuff back home, so it’s not like I started from nothing. Blythe says I learned my letters way faster than she did. Last night, we even found a whole sentence I could actually read! Hold on, I’ll try to find it again.” Lia turns to the book and starts flipping through it, her poker face faltering more and more with each passing moment. It brings a smile to your face seeing how excited she is about learning to read. She’s honest, strong, beautiful, and kind.

Such a basic skill should never have been denied to such an amazing woman. That is the last thought on your mind as you close your eyes and let your senses fade away.

…

You feel weightless. Nothing but darkness surrounds you. Then, a light appears. At first, it’s nothing more than a faintly glowing point in your field of view, but it grows, and grows, until it’s like looking at a flashlight pointed at you from behind a thin sheet of fabric. A voice follows the light, but it’s like getting a phone call with terrible reception. You believe it’s a woman’s voice, but you can’t make out any of what she’s trying to say.

This feels familiar, you think. Have I… where am I, anyway? This doesn’t feel like a dream…

Another voice disturbs your thoughts, this one seeming to come from all around you. It sounds like… it’s calling your name?

Is that… Lia?

…

“Evan, wake up.”

You open your eyes to see Lia sitting to your left on the bed and watching you. Her hand is resting gently on your shoulder, presumably from shaking you awake moments ago.

“You’ve been asleep for about three hours,” she says. “Here, eat this.” Lia grabs a plate off the desk and sets it on the bed between the two of you. On the plate is a loaf of bread and a chunk of cured meat — the standard ration you’ve all been receiving for evening meals. As you munch on the provided food, Lia keeps talking. “I wanted to let you sleep longer, but that rich bitch from across the hall keeps coming over and asking to talk to you,” she says, her eyes narrowed and her tail twitching angrily about. “It’s getting annoying, so could you go over there and see what she wants?”