She listens eagerly, mind already churning as she tried to figure out how she was ever supposed to pick one element that was best. Was there really likely to be a best? But she can’t think about that now, because Raeden is speaking, explaining what to expect, and Lyanna turns all her attention to what’s about to happen. Taking her cue from the other mare, Lyanna closes her eyes, though the flash of light is bright enough to illuminate her closed eyelids. When it fades, she opens her eyes, taking a deep breath. She can feel the energy shift around them, the way everything simply feels cleansed. The world smells like it does after a rainstorm, clear and beautiful.

And then she thinks about how she feels, and as she slowly takes stocks, amazement passes over her face. She feels better than ever, like a child who has yet to face the world. Everything feels like it’s working better than ever. Mesec is the first to speak, saying that he feels like he just woke up from the best sleep. Her smile widens and she nods in his direction. “I feel like I did when I was a child, which is to say, fantastic. That’s really amazing.”

And then Mesec is rummaging around nearby for something, and she realizes with a start that he has to hurt himself for this demonstration to work. Guilt floods her, but he’s got the stick in his mouth and he’s scraping it across his knee before she manages to stop him. She could have found someone else that didn’t need to hurt themselves for a demonstration, certainly. Thankfully, the damage he does is minimal, and she finds herself intensely grateful to the near stranger for being so willing to help her.

He extends his leg, and she watches as the shadows begin to engulf the wound. He explains the process as well, and she realized she never even thought of passive healing magic before. As he explains how it feels, she finds herself nodding along, because it sounds familiar to the way the dark, windy mists heal as well. She can imagine what it feels like to him, and when the darkness dies, she is unsurprised to see that the wound is fully healed.

“Thank you both, so much,” she says first. Because Raeden just willingly offered one of her limited uses for study, and Mesec physically cut himself. They had both given her far more than she could have dreamed, and she’d now found two of the five that she needed for her quest. “This has helped immensely, though I don’t know how I’m ever going to pick a best element for healing.” She laughs lightly, shaking her head. “Do either of you happen to know anyone else with healing magic?” They’d done a great job explaining, and now, she just needed to find more.