I still don't understand where things went wrong. Were Nari's words ever genuine? Come to think of it, I trusted her so easily. Not even questioning her motives for helping me. It was just so natural of me to think that Lyall sent her to help me, to be my ally.

Right. He doesn't care about me like that, does he? If he can, he would have just had me stay locked in his room all day. So, why would he help me on my first day at the academy?

Then again. It could also very well be that Nari thought of the best for me. But as Lola said, no matter what I had done differently, I would have been the laughingstock either way.

I look at Grey, who is always staying a few feet behind me. He's been too quiet and his face looks colder by the day. After a few hours in the village, I realize then that he deliberately hardens his face to intimidate anyone looking at me with dirty looks.

Some of the villagers immediately noticed my werewolf scent and if it wasn't for Grey's face, they would have free rein to sneer at me. They still can sneer at me. One even tries to spit on my face, but Grey pulls me faster. So the unhygienic water drops on my shoe.

After two blinks at the spot I was spat on, I raise my face and smile at the patient. I can see that everyone is watching me intently; healers, students, and the patients. All of them want to see what kind of reaction will I make after being insulted so severely like that.

Nari was at least right on one thing. These people will try to test my limit.

I can probably whine to Ganesh about being uncomfortable, but that will make me appear like a weak crybaby. And what use would it be for me to whine to Lyall? He would probably say, 'I told you so,' and then advises me to just stay inside his room.

I can cry, or get angry too. But what would that make me as a person?

Instead of all that, I take a deep breath, calm my face, and smile at the only patient who has approached me since I came here. I am carrying surgical sets to the other tent, with its flap closed, for the next operation on schedule.

"Can I help you, Sir?" I ask with my five-star service voice.

I can see some people tilt their heads at my reaction. Obviously, they expected something more dramatic.

These people don't know what I am made of.

I have been caged for so long, my potential was suppressed, and I was deprived of opportunities. They tried to control how my life would be, but I escaped.

Do you know how much courage it took me to break myself out of the loop, out of the invisible chains I have been carrying since my birth?

My hand moves to my stomach while I maintain eye contact with the patient. I breathe in the fresh air as I feel my baby's heartbeat. Knowing that she is alive, well, and growing inside me, I fear nothing.

"Yeaah," the patient steps back when Grey steps closer to me. Grey is obviously the bigger lycan. But the patient keeps his dirty look at me. "Go back to wherever ditch you came from. Your species have caused too much damage here."

Slightly in the background, I hear people murmuring, 'Yeah. Go back.'

The patient is walking lopsidedly, with a walking stick on his right side of the body. Every time he moves, however, I see his face wincing. And sometimes, I catch his breath quickening, then slowing down. He uses his accessory breathing muscles, which is not a pleasant sign, honestly.

"Since when do you have trouble breathing, Sir?" I ask.

The man widens his eyes, obviously not expecting me to ask such a question.

"T–that has nothing to do–" He stops in order to fill in his lungs with air. When he exhales, a wheezing sound is heard. "With–" He keeps stopping. "You..." Then he coughs loudly to the point that he is bending over.

His hand has gone to his chest, gripping his shirt tightly, as if he is in pain. If it isn't for Grey, the man will fall to the ground immediately.

My healer instinct kicks in and, not caring what others would think, I go to the nearest table and drop down every single item on that table. A student cries out when I drop her book, but I couldn't care less. "Put him here, Grey," I order the warrior.

Grey obeys me as the patient's breathing is getting worse by the second. After putting the surgical kit I should have brought to the operating room, I stand by the man's side. "What's your name?"

His eyes darted everywhere in a panic. The fact that he is having a hard time breathing has caught up to him.

"Duncan," he wheezes out of his throat.

"Okay, Duncan, I'm going to rip off your clothes," I say calmly.

"No... no... someone else... not a werewolf..." he mutters so small that I have decided to disregard it. With my own strength, I tear off his clothes to reveal his chest. Just as I suspected, his right chest is bigger than his left chest. There is a purplish mark half circling his right body.

"You probably didn't know that you have a fracture on your ribs," I tell him, "that fracture is causing air to be trapped in your pleural space. The tension is what's making it hard to breathe."

"H– Help..." His eyes are glazing with tears now.

I grab a catheter from the nearest emergency equipment tray, then, without hesitation, I plunge it into Duncan's upper right chest. Without difficulty, I pull out the needle and let the cannula stay on the skin.

As soon as the needle is out, Duncan gasps for air. The small hall that the cannula makes is able to relieve the tension created by the air trapped in his chest. With the tension leaving his chest, he can breathe easier now.

I tape the cannula to his chest so that the head is looking up. That way, air would go out of his chest. Then I put my palm on the part where the purplish mark exists.

My hand glows on the side of Duncan's body as I trace which of his ribcage is fractured. Immediately, I see a devilishly smiling possum in my mind. That's Duncan's soul.

"You're a funny guy, it seems," I whisper under my breath. Then, in a louder voice, I ask, "Do you mind if I heal your fracture now?"

He looks at me with disbelief in his eyes.

"What are you doing to my brother?" someone cries out to me. To my surprise, Roy, one of Lyall's elite warriors and council members, is here. He rushes to the table Duncan is on with a dark face.

I blink when I see Roy. Then I look back at the man at the table. No wonder I felt he looks familiar.

"It's okay, Roy...," Duncan, unexpectedly, says, "She just offered to heal the fracture I didn't know was causing me trouble breathing."

Roy stops abruptly across the table from me. His eyes are still spitting fire at me. Especially when he sees my hand on his brother's right chest. But then his gaze softens, and he exhales loudly. "Can you do that?" he asks me.

He sounds like he is tired.

"Sure." With a little more focus, my hand glows even brighter to reconnect all of Duncan's fractured ribcage. It's like playing puzzles in my mind. I have to trace all the pieces and glue them together again.

"You probably didn't have trouble breathing at first," I say, "But as you let your fracture be and I'm guessing you moved around too much, parts of the fracture punctured your lung membrane, and then you had trouble breathing."

Roy pinches the bridge of his nose. "He can't stay still. I told him to rest with his injuries and all, but he just has to run around making sure the entire village is treated."

I am on my last piece of the ribcage puzzle. "You're lucky because a minute later would cause your oxygen to drop. It could be fatal."

When I finish fixing up his ribcage, I give two gentle taps on his skin and a small smile on my lips. "Are you... in charge of this village?"

Duncan nods. "I am the chief of this precinct. Our father is the governor."

Stepping back, I look at both Duncan and Roy. "Well, take care then," I say as I grab the surgery kit I put away earlier.

"Wait!" Duncan grabs my arm, which elicits a growl from Grey. In response, Duncan releases me. "Right. Can't touch the king's person just like that, huh?"

I keep my mouth shut from his jab.

"I'm sorry," he says after a while. Sitting on the desk with his feet dangling in the air and his brother is standing behind him. "And thank you." He touches the cannula that is still on his chest.

"Let it be for a while until all the air has come out of your lung space," I say, "Find me in thirty minutes."

Duncan smiles. And his smile catches me off guard. "I have a reason to meet you then," he says so casually. As if moments ago, he has not sneered at me and told me to go back to my pack. Obviously, I am not amused.

His smile dims when he sees my serious eyes. "I'm sorry," he says again, "I thought you were some spoiled werewolf girl that knew nothing about how your kind has caused damage to our people's lives." It's the makeup, big earrings, and being late that made him think I am a spoiled brat.

I look to where his people are waiting in line or lying on shallow beds. They have various wounds and they all look extremely exhausted. Then I look back at Duncan. "You know nothing about my life too, Duncan," I keep my voice unwavering, "You told me to go back to a pack that I was running away from for the sake of my life."

"These damages," I tilt my head to the village's direction, "They're not my fault. But if you must judge me, judge me from what I do. Not from what others do." I point to his punctured chest. That is what I have done.

I didn't do the damages they were so angry at me for. I have instead saved a life.

I turn to put the surgical kit Ganesh has requested on the operating tent. When I return from the tent, I don't see Duncan and Roy anywhere. The table is still empty, now that the student that was here has moved to another table.

Feeling tired, I sit for a while. But someone has approached me. It's an old lady who is bringing her daughter to me.

"Miss," she croaks, "Would you be so kind to help my daughter? The other healers are doing the best they can. But the line is too long, and I saw you could heal Sir Duncan in just a few minutes."

The girl next to the old lady has one eye being bandaged. She looks at me from behind the old lady's skirt.

I look at the other consultation tables where indeed; the lines are so long. The healers look occupied with every patient coming. So I thought it would be fine if I just heal one more patient.

It doesn't happen as I expected it to be. After I heal the girl, more patients prefer to come to me than wait too long in a line. At first, I feel reluctant, because Lola said all I could do is history taking and assist the official healers. I can see Lola and her friends looking at me with deadly stares anytime they can.

Yet when Ganesh finishes his operation, he looks at my hesitation with an arched eyebrow. "What are you waiting for?" he asks, "Go treat as many as you can."

–to be continued–