She picked up a scalpel from the nearby instrument table and grabbed his hand. “Hold still.”  Before he could object, she sliced one of his fingers nearly to the bone.  She held his hand still as he protested.

“Hey!  Dammit, woman.  How ‘bout a little warning?”

“Quit whining.  I’ll kiss it better later.  Now hush and let me watch.”

After a minute or so, she said, “They’re gathering but only slowly.  Grab some jerky from your ring and eat it.  Drink some water, too.”

He did as instructed, focusing on the whole ‘kissing it better’ aspect of what she’d said.  A few seconds after he washed down the first bite of jerky, she began to clap her hands happily.  “There it is!  Whatever the mechanic is that triggers the healing increase from food and drink, it just kicked in.  The critters are swarming around your finger now.  I can actually see the skin starting to knit itself closed.  This is awesome!”

He stared at his finger.  He could see the bleeding slow, then stop.  A minute or so later, the wound had closed to create a thin pink scar.   A minute more, and the scar was gone.

Allistor looked up at Amanda.  Still holding the scalpel in her hand, she was looking from him to it and back again.  He yanked his hand away.  “Ohhh, no you don’t!  Put that thing down.  I’ve guinea pig’d enough for one day.”

She gave him a pouty face.  “Spoilsport.  But thank you.  I got two skill points out of that!”

Damn.  Now he was reconsidering.  Skill points were hard to come by.  And pain was temporary.  “Uhm, that’s awesome.  If you cut me again, will it get you more points?” He held his hand back out.

She shook her head.  “Probably not.  At least not until I think of a new way to approach this.  But thank you for being willing.”  She gave him a brief kiss.  “I may ask you to be my piggy again later.”

Shaking his head, he left her to review her video and make notes.   He delivered the rest of the scrolls and chatted with each of the recipients for a few minutes.  He watched each one as they learned their spells.  And though he knew better, he tried to touch Nancy as she was learning one of the Alchemy recipes.

When Chloe saw him get shocked, she giggled.  Then she tried it herself, putting an end to her laughter.  “Ow!  Dammit!”   When she realized what she’d said, her eyes got big, and she covered her mouth with both hands.

Allistor winked at the little girl and was about to say he wouldn’t tell, when Nancy said, “I heard that, young lady!”   Chloe speedily retreated outside, Max bounding after her.

Allistor chuckled.  “Mom radar.  Never fails.  My mother used to catch me doing stuff from blocks away.” He shared a smile with Nancy.