Harold the Healer Brings Home a Dog

"When did you see the Goddess?" she asked over the sounds of frying ham and the bubbling pots of potatoes and carrots. "She seldom shows herself. Or if she does, people keep quiet about it."

"It was yesterday, Mama, as I was walking home from school. I didn't hear her coming, but then there she was beside me. She said that Mama and Papa were both very special and that Papa would be coming home tomorrow night in the storm. Oh, and she sends you her love too, Mama."

"What did she look like?" Harold managed to choke out.

"Tall, strong, curly red hair, and the most beautiful green eyes. I didn't know that people's eyes could be green. Oh, here's another pup." The two Healers' next look all but screamed out 'We have to talk about this!' "She called herself Cleo, and I think that we should name the dog Cleo too."

"We all serve the Goddess in our own ways," Harold said reflectively after a pause in which only the quiet moans of the dog, the cooking, the wind outside, and the gentle puffing of the boiler-pump that heated the floors and kept the house warm were heard. "I think that Cleo would be a good name."

"Birthing is really gross!" Marcie complained, but she still kept the dog company, petting and soothing her as she popped them out and did what was necessary to clean them up and get them to her swollen teats to nurse. All except for the last one, which came out just as Leila was putting dinner on the table. "Mama! Papa! This one isn't moving!" she said sadly. "Is it dead?" Harold, who had been drowsing in his chair at the table, woke up.

"Poor little thing," said Leila sadly. "This must be the runt of the litter. It was crammed in the back and didn't have a chance to grow properly." Cleo whined and nosed the pup, which was noticeably smaller than its littermates and mostly tan and black, with a strangely familiar white star-shaped blaze on its right shoulder blade.

"Let me see," said Harold, carefully picking it up and holding it in the palm of his left hand.

"I can sense some life there," said Leila, touching its head with a forefinger.

"Its heart isn't beating," Harold nodded, "but I think that we can start it like we do with people's hearts. But I have to be very careful to get the charge right." Leila quickly summoned a Window and positioned it so that the tiny heart was visible.

"It's so small," said Marcie, having a look. "Can you save it, Papa?"

"I think so," he replied, already lost in concentration. The wind buffeting the house and the crackling of the fire in the stove were the only sounds as Harold's right little finger started to glow green and turquoise. He gently placed it on the pup's chest over the heart and blinked. A flicker of colour went into the heart, which made a heartbeat and then stopped. He tried again, with the same result. "Third time's a charm," he said, and tried three more in quick succession. After an agonizing pause, the heart started to beat on its own and the pup started to move in his palm, making little seeking motions and noises. He carefully placed it at an available teat and it latched on and began sucking hungrily. Cleo thumped her tail before resting her head on the blanket and closing her eyes.

"Papa, you're crying," said Marcie, giving him a hug as he was kneeling on the floor.

"I'm not crying, my eyes are sweating. It's warm in here," he sniffled, wiping his eyes and standing up, lifting his daughter with him.

"You silly man," said Leila softly, embracing them both, and they stood there in the kitchen for a minute before Harold had to put Marcie down.

"Today I saved a life. Earlier today in Provis, I helped wrap up the life of another," he continued, eyes streaming, as he sat on the chair. "The town's cemetery is on the road from there to here, not far out of town. I was walking past it and saw smoke and fire. I went in the gate to check on it, and the caretakers were there, tending the fire on a gravesite. That's how they thaw the ground so that they can dig deep enough to cover the coffin until Spring comes." He told the rest of the story.

"You have seen so many die," Leila whispered, holding him as he wept, "yet it never fails to affect you. It's one reason why I love you so much." Harold eventually regained his composure, and they sat down to eat dinner. Once the pups had finished their first meal and fallen asleep, Cleo got up and moved carefully to the door, where she scratched and whined, clearly wanting out. Leila cast a Ward on her and opened the door quickly. Cleo did her business, which Leila had to quickly Clean, then hastily returned inside. She sat and stared at them, obliging Leila to get up and give her the extra she had set aside, which was wolfed down. She yawned hugely and returned to her cushion and blanket nest with her pups.

"Wow, look, it's 8:00 already," said Harold, checking the wind-up clock that sat on a shelf on the back wall. "You have school tomorrow, and should go to bed," he added hopefully.

"Nope!" Marcie responded gleefully. "School is cancelled today and tomorrow due to weather," she recited. "So, I can stay up late!" He made a mock whine and tried the puppy-dog eyes.

"But you'll get so bored! Mama and I will be talking about grown-up stuff."

"We can play cards!" she announced, getting up, running to her room, and quickly returning with a cribbage board and a pack of cards. He turned a baleful gaze at Leila, who looked innocent.

"It's a counting game, perfect for teaching little ones important number skills."

"I can't play cribbage!" he complained as Marcie set up the board and expertly shuffled the cards, despite her relatively small hands. "Whoa, that's good shuffling!" he complimented. "Are you turning your child into a card shark?"

"I may well have created a monster with your child," Leila replied, emphasizing the 'your', and shaking her head with a mournful expression, making her copper and somewhat silvered hair move enticingly. "She beats me more often than not."

"I'm sure she'll beat the pants off me," Harold muttered rebelliously as his daughter carefully dealt out five cards to each person and added one for the pot, then turned up the Jack of Clubs.

"Two points for me!" she said gleefully, advancing her red peg two spots.

"And so it begins," Harold moaned melodramatically, getting eye-rolls from the others. As the game progressed, he noted that his hands weren't as crappy as they usually were. He and Leila sat opposite each other on the long sides of the table, with Marcie at the short end with her back to the wall. At the start of the third hand, he felt a sock-clad foot stroking his left pants leg. Its perpetrator appeared absorbed in her cards, but he knew better. At the start of the next hand, he complained ostentatiously, and not without cause, about the quality of his cards while casually stroking her left leg with his right foot, also sock-clad. Just how Marcie kept getting the good hands and they got middling to mediocre with such consistency, neither of them knew, but they quietly resorted to trying to give each other points while playing their cards and donating to their cribs just to keep up.

"Mama, you and Papa are helping each other, aren't you?" she accused late in the game, glowering at them. She was "only" ahead of her mother by ten points and by fifteen from her father.

"We're just playing the cards we're given," Leila replied innocently as her mate stroked her right leg. "It's a wonder that we can keep up with you at all." Harold was the dealer for the final hand and managed a late surge, but fell two points short of the 121 needed to win, the most that he'd ever scored. Leila got 120, but Marcie triumphed in the end. "After that performance, young lady, it's definitely time for bed!" Leila announced in her Mom Voice, getting giggles and a big hug in return. "Papa will take you out to the privy," she continued as she looked out the window. "That weather is too bad for you to go alone." She and Harold got their coats and boots on, he cast a Mage Light, and they hurried outside, with a suddenly awake Cleo hot on their heels. Banish Water works on snow too, and he used it to clear the path to the privy, whose cold seat discouraged lingering. On the way back he had to hastily Clean the disgusting mess that the dog had deposited. When child and dog had been safely returned to the house, it was Leila's turn to be escorted. Finally, Harold had his turn. She was waiting and wrapped him in her Ward and her arms.

"How did our child manage to do that?" she whispered into his right ear after a couple of nibbles and sticking her tongue in it.

"You'd better not teach her poker," he murmured into her left ear, then kissing his way across her cheek until their lips locked, tongues invaded each other's mouths, and the snow drifted and blew around them. "Let's go inside. It's warm in here, but cold and dark outside the Ward." They wasted no more time returning to the kitchen, closing and locking the door, and removing their coats and boots. Marcie emerged from her bedroom, dressed in her flannel nightgown and socks, went to where Cleo was nursing her pups again, and gently scratched her head and ears.

"Do I have to go to bed now? I'm not tired." She unsuccessfully tried to stifle a yawn.

"It's time for our little card shark to go to her nice, warm bed and get a good night's sleep. Maybe we'll teach you Crazy Eights tomorrow," said Leila, giving her a hug. They all went to her bedroom where they tucked her in and kissed her goodnight.

"See you tomorrow, sweetheart," said Harold.

"Goodnight, Papa. I'm glad you were able to come home," she murmured sleepily as he gently closed the door.

"I suppose that it's time for me to turn in," he said, turning from Marcie's door to that of the spare bedroom. "Goodness, there aren't any blankets on the bed. I'll be awfully cold tonight," he added with wide, innocent eyes.

"There's a bed in this room with plenty of warm blankets," Leila replied, gently pushing him into her room. "And look! There's room for two! You'll be nice and warm." She closed the door with a thump.

"Hmm, I don't know - mmph!" There was no talking for the next couple of minutes as they kissed each other with all the longing and passion that an absence creates.

"I never got the chance to greet you properly when you came home," said Leila, her lips just brushing his, and both of them breathing heavily. "But since Marcie was stuck in the house, we probably couldn't have done much anyway."

"I'm just glad that I was able to make it home," he replied, giving her a kiss on the nose. "Just having you and Marcie here is all that I need. One of these days I'll find a reason to stay for good."

"My man, Saint Harold," she murmured, "though I think that I'm feeling something not so saintly poking me in the belly."

"Oh, that's right, I left a bone for the dog in my pocket. I'd better go give it to her."

"I think I know that bone." She rapidly exposed it by unbuttoning his pants and pulling them and his underwear down to his ankles. "It's a very tasty bone." She licked the underside of his hot, very hard, cock that was glowing forest green and turquoise from his balls to the tip, swirled her tongue around the sensitive tip and retracted foreskin, then put her lips gently on it and worked her way down.

"Damn it, I'm coming already!" he groaned a complaint, but she had had advance warning from the preliminary pulses as he started to helplessly squirt his cum into her mouth.

"Mmm, you know how I like strawberry," Leila purred. "Now you'll last a little longer."

"What will I do until I'm ready again?" Harold wondered, deftly unbuttoning her blouse and removing it and her bra. "I think that the twins have missed me," he continued, gently squeezing her nearly D-sized breasts and licking each pink, quarter-inch nipple and medium-sized areola. He was rewarded with a ragged moan. All of the quiet footwork under the table had woken her dragon, and she was already close to coming. With a few more strategic licks and squeezes, she would have come right there, but he wanted more. "You can't wear pants to bed! What would people think?" Her winter-weight jeans and very damp underwear soon became floor coverings and he gently kissed and licked his way from her breasts down her belly towards his hot, wet destination that his fingers were already rubbing and penetrating.

"Unggh!" was all she could say as her knees failed her and she fell back on the bed. Instantly he was licking and sucking her hardened clitoris while his middle finger was probing and rubbing her sweet spot in her vagina, and within seconds she was screaming into a pillow as her brain shorted out. Her man was the happy recipient of a squirt of fluid and didn't mind at all that his finger was nearly crushed by the force of her orgasm. After she'd released him, he lovingly licked up the mess, getting even more moans from under the pillow, then they somehow got under the covers and cuddled together drowsily.

"Green apple? How did you manage that?" he asked.

"I have my ways," Leila replied, not answering his question. "How I miss you when you're gone," she murmured into his ear.

"More than anything else, I wish that I could stay," he replied as the wind buffeted the house, repulsed once again by its sturdy stone walls and double-glazed windows. "I always look forward to arriving here, to see how Marcie has grown and to come to the best place in the world, this warm, soft bed with you next to me." They were gently drifting off to sleep when something that had been niggling at the back of Leila's mind finally made a connection.

"You know that white mark on the shoulder of the little pup that you saved?" she asked, getting a sleepy grunt in response. "It's the same shape as one you that you have on your right shoulder blade. I thought that you'd somehow gotten that during the war." Harold's drift to unconsciousness came to a screeching halt, as his fatigued brain suddenly put two and two together.

"What mark? I can't recall seeing any mark on my shoulder. But you have a mark like that on your right shoulder."

"What are you talking about? I have no such thing on me!" Now awake, they summoned a Mage Light and a pair of reflective surfaces that they adjusted so that they could each verify that indeed, they both had them. They were faint and only about the size of their little fingernails, but were visible when they looked for them. "It can't be a coincidence that we both have that same mark in the same place, and that the little pup has it too."

"Maybe it's the mark of the Goddess," Harold mused as they stopped the spells and laid themselves back in bed and covered up. "I couldn't go into details when I was telling Marcie about my remembering meeting the Goddess as I was making the final leg of my journey, but it was so intense that it was almost like a flashback."

"Tell me more," Leila purred, so he did, from the first encounter to saving the woman from sepsis, his other Healings, and finally his bedtime encounter with the Goddess, leaving out no salacious detail in a transparent attempt to get her hot. "How about you? When did you meet her?" He gently stroked her left breast, tracing a circle around her areola until she grabbed his hand and set it beside him.

"You evil man!" she hissed, glowering at his smirk. "The strange thing is that I had forgotten about it as well until you reminded me. I wonder why she would suppress our memories like that?"

"What memories, love of my life?" he asked, not allowing her to evade. She stuck her tongue out.

"Like with you, it started with what turned out to be a test. It was in late Spring of the year that we first met, when the birds were nesting. Another interesting coincidence. I had just left the house, on my way to a visit to someone who was suffering from a nasty bladder infection, when I noticed that a robin was twittering and flapping about. I looked in the lawn and saw a baby, too small to fly, which had somehow fallen from the nest, which was on a branch well above my head. The Mom bird dive-bombed me when I got too close, so I decided to Levitate the baby back into the nest, and was on my way. It turned out that my patient's infection had migrated up to her kidneys, which required a fast action because she was also in danger of sepsis. I was able to cure her with the Bug Sweeper once I was able to identify the bug, and made a stop at the bakery for a quick snack because I was famished. She was waiting for me outside.

'Leila Parsons?' she asked in that same honey-sweet voice you were talking about.

'Yes, that's me,' I replied. 'You must be new in town. I don't recognize you.'

'Please call me Mary,' she replied, and I smiled, nodded and started walking home through the other people on the street, with her beside me. 'Thank you for taking the time to go to her [I'm not telling you her name] house and saving her. She's a very good person and important to me.'

'I'm glad that I was able to save her. I know her well and she is good. But how did you know?'

'I like to keep track of all of the Healers in the area. You have been here for a few years now and are universally acclaimed as an excellent Healer, model citizen, and really nice person.'

'Oh, thank you! It's nice to know that. I love the work and know that I'm making a difference.'

'You are, more than you know. You also passed my test,' she said. We had reached my house at that point and she pointed up to the nest, where I could see one of the robins bringing back something for the babies in the nest. 'You took a few moments from your rush call to stop and help the baby bird. Public opinion is correct.' I had stopped to look up the nest, but when I looked to where she had been, she wasn't there. I was confused, and wondered if I had just been hallucinating because of the strain of Healing my patient. Another patient came up at that point and I forgot about it."

"But that night, she paid you a visit in your bedroom?" Harold gently stroked her hair, and she leaned her head into his hand.

"I had no idea that she was the Goddess when I'd first met her. I'd gotten into bed and was just drifting off to sleep, when suddenly she was standing there," she pointed to a spot near the door. "The faint golden glow around her was a pretty obvious clue that I was dealing with something unusual. I was surprised, but not frightened.

'Hello,' was all that I could think of saying, 'Are you the Goddess? For real?'

'Hello, Leila,' she replied in that wonderful voice of hers. 'Yes, I am the Goddess, and for real. I look after the people in this area, and the Healers are my most important agents, whether Mage or non-Mage. I spend a lot of time walking and my muscles get stiff and sore. Would you help me loosen up a bit?'

'Of course, Goddess,' I replied, sitting up. And in case you're wondering, for whatever reason, I can remember this very clearly. 'Please sit on the edge of the bed and I'll see what I can do for you.' I had gone to bed naked, like I usually do, but exposing myself to her seemed perfectly natural. She removed her top and, after a pause, also removed her pants and underwear, and her body was glorious to behold. She turned, giving me a nice view of her ass, and sat on the edge of my bed, right there. Her neck and shoulders really needed work, and it took about ten minutes and lots of little finger sparks to get them into a reasonable state. I could tell it was working from the little moans and grunts she was making.

'Even a Goddess needs a massage now and then,' she said. 'Healers must get excellent training.'

'And lots of practice,' I said. 'The positive psychological effects of a massage in relieving tension are well-documented. Should I continue with your back?'

'Please do. Let me lie down.' So, she laid herself down where I am now and I got up on my knees where you are and started working on it. What a mess she was in! I kept on going and gave that perfect ass a good kneading once I'd fixed up her back. The glow around her seemed to get a little brighter on areas that I'd worked on."