Young Vee gains a reputation among the village as a child healer, a toddler prodigy, a little sorceress with a healing touch. It is rumored she can heal any wound, and any illness, that befalls a person. Unfortunately, that rumor spreads outside the valley through travelers, and falls into the ears of less than scrupulous adventurers seeking to gain fame and fortune.
Vee's from this prompt.
@internutter/challenge-02854-g297-here-s-one-we-made-earlier -- Anon Guest
Several alarming things occurring in Lower Petraine. The starting point was that the ersatz mayor's toddler was shaping up to be a very powerful sorcerer indeed. All because Marvin Antheson was the adopted child of the Kobold Rogue, Lady Anthe. Draconic heritage actually works on adopted family, if the love bond is strong enough.
Second, that selfsame toddler could apparently cast Wish. At least, that was the diagnosis for Rar and his new eye. They couldn't tell, and Vee was not in control of her magics just yet. Small children with their magic taking anchor were a terror under the wrong circumstances. For instance - an infant Tiefling in distress is capable of using Thaumaturgy to make their emotional state known to anyone in a very large radius.
Third - she had yet to use any other magics but "Kiss Better", which was even more disturbing. What else could she kiss better? What else was she capable of? The entirety of Lower Petraine unanimously decided to keep her away from the more disturbing edges of medical intervention. That did not stop word getting around.
Marvin knew that neither Wraithvine nor Lady Anthe let it slip. They were smart enough to know how talking about disturbing things gained them attention. And anyway, they were still conducting business in Lower Petraine when the first visitor came looking for the "Child of Miracles". It didn't take much to notice newcomers to the area being very creepy with asking about the local children.
They all began to swarm towards Lower Petraine. The wealthy who sought immortality, the wealthy who merely sought not to age. The vain wanting to be pretty. The worst, though, were the wretched and the desperate. Those who had been mauled by life and wanted some of their abilities back.
It was how they learned that Vee's "little gift" could only work once a day, and there were days when she would spend it on her own wants. She was, after all, a toddler.
Lord Ymphaut had trouble understanding that. He had tried to coax Vee away from her caregivers with shiny baubles and now he was trying to convince her out of her cubby-hole in the cliffside. "Young lady! I paid for your services, I demand you come out at once and heal my gout!"
"No," Vee protested. "I d'agun! Rar!" When she emerged to bare her teeth at Lord Ymphaut, she had draconic wings. Small, Kobold-like draconic wings, but wings nonetheless. On a toddler, they were fairly impressive.
The entire town heard about Lord Ymphaut stumbling backwards into the household midden. That was the sort of thing that would go thrice around the world before the last drop of splashed mud hit the ground.
Marvin was only a little less disturbed. "Wow, that's some interesting dragons we have around these parts," he chirped with the same parental levels of false enthusiasm that he may have greeted a new puppy or kitten in his child's hands. "Are you a fire-breathing dragon?"
Vee hissed, but no flames issued from her mouth.
"Are you a friendly dragon?" ventured Marvin hopefully.
At which point, Vee tried to fly. Given the comparative mass of a Human toddler and the wingspan of even the most flight-worthy Kobold, it was a minor miracle that she took off at all. Most of it was Vee's ability to jump. The rest of it was the frantic flapping of the average domestic chicken. Nevertheless, the child wobbled through the air and into her father's waiting arms.
"Well I'm glad you're a friendly dragon. Friendly dragons should be grateful to people who pay tribute to their hoards. Feel like fixing his owies?" Marvin wasn't very inclined to help Lord Ymphaut out of the muck.
Vee was sucking her thumb again, but she still shook her head.
"Yeah, he's been a bit mean about it all," Marvin allowed. "I'm sure he's very sorry and will give you a sincere apology." This was very pointedly aimed at his Lordship.
Lord Ymphaut, recognising that his fate was in the grubby hands of a very small child who had just treated an armload of gold and jewels like playthings, picked himself up and attempted to be abject. "I do beg your forgiveness, Lady Vee..."
"D'agun," corrected Vee.
"My apologies. Dread Dragon Vee... as you can see, my foot is very sore and it leaves me victim to an ill temper which I find most arduous to control. I can only hope that you find mercy in your heart and see fit to heal me of my pains."
Vee sized him up, and then wriggled down. "Ya I t'y." She announced, "Kiss beddah," and smooched the bandaged foot.
No sparkles. No magic.
"Okay," Marvin scooped up his baby again. "Good news bad news. Good news, she forgave you, so you could maybe come back tomorrow and try again. Bad news - this is a once-a-day deal. Which is kind'a good news for me. The bad news to that is going to hit like a champion at a later date. Don't start anything dumb."
Those last four words may well be the motto of Lower Petraine. It was starting to attract some powerful forces to reckon with as both residents and visitors. Residents and visitors alike who were very protective of those weaker than themselves.
Wraithvine may be capable of slow and poetic revenge, but others were quicker off the mark and more brutal with it. Acting against "mayor" Marvin and his family would be a very dumb thing to start indeed.
Lord Ymphaut limped his way back to the hostel. Hopefully, he had learned something from this.
Lady Anthe had taught Marvin the value of that hope. It was why he was here today.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / michelgenny]
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