Book 2 Ch 21: Surgery

They were all packed and ready, with their armor on for a change and their full kits. Michael found himself downstairs before everyone else, as usual, and saw Francesca sitting on the couch.

“How are you doing? I feel like I haven’t seen you much lately.” said Michael as he sat down across from her, his armor clanging.

She smiled at him. “I’ve been busy securing passage to the Eastern mountains. There’s a dwarven caravan that’s letting me join them once I showed how well I can identify minerals.”

“And to help them get things off of high shelves?”

She chuckled. “There’s that too.”

“Well, I’ll miss you. It was nice to have a bit of feminine energy around for a change. Ollie kept his mouth in check a bit more often, Pyotr stopped walking around camp in the nude.” Michael grimaced. “Could you actually please stay? I’ll pay you.”

She laughed again. “I’m afraid not.”

“Oh well, it was worth a try.”

She smiled. “Davi told me you heard my request?”

Michael nodded. “I did. I’ll give it a shot, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to remove them.”

She nodded. “I understand, please give it a try.”

He raised his hand and felt the warmth of his wife’s grasp in his palm as he placed the glowing hand gently on her cheek and focused on the small symbols tattooed on her face. He did that for several moments, and frowned.

“It’s already completely healed. The ink isn’t even a scar exactly… it’s very strange.”

Francesca nodded, a grim set to her eyes as she looked at him. “What if you cut away the surface flesh first?”

He blinked, he hadn’t considered that.

“It may work, but it would be very painful.”

“Do it.”

He sighed. “Okay, but definitely not here. I think I’ll get more than a few looks if I cut at a woman’s face in the middle of the inn.”

She shook her head. “Of course, of course. Let’s go up to one of the rooms.”

They went upstairs to her room where Davi was standing and staring out the window. He looked at them and raised an eyebrow as they entered.

“The only way to remove the tattoos is to cut the flesh out,” said Francesca.

“Maybe,” said Michael. “We’ll try one and heal it to see.”

Davi’s jaw set.

“Give me the pain as you do it,” he said.

“No, you will not do that,” replied Francesca.

Michael shrugged. “I was actually going to offer as well.”

“I can handle the pain,” she said, defensively.

“Probably, but you don’t have to. How about we take turns. I’ll cut and heal one at a time or two if they’re close together.”

She was quiet, but nodded.

“Alright, I have the sharpest knife I believe,” he pulled out his elvish dagger. “So you sit on the bed and we’ll get started.”

She nodded, the grim set returning to her jaw.

He looked at her. “This first one will be all you, okay?”

She held up a hand and quickly grabbed a small leather pouch from her side that she emptied and bit down on. Then she gave him a thumbs up.

He gently held her face and placed the blade against her cheek, doing his best not to grimace. If he hesitated, it would only cause her more pain. He took a breath, and on the exhale he quickly cut away two of the larger tattoos.

Francesca’s head jerked a little involuntarily at first, but after that she managed to stay still until it was done. He healed it quickly and nodded when the tattoo was completely gone.

“It works. I’m going to move straight to the next one. Davi, be ready.”

Davi clenched his teeth, making his already square jaw even more solid. His eyes squinted a bit at the pain as Michael removed another patch of skin, but otherwise he didn’t flinch. His own turn was particularly difficult as he felt as if he was slicing his own cheek and that made it hard to focus, but he kept it clean. He didn’t want Davi to have to do it. No man should have to carve his lover’s face, even if it was a soon to be former lover.

It took nearly an hour to get through, and when it was done they were all mentally exhausted.

Davi looked at her restored face.

“Still beautiful,” he said, giving her a smile and walking out the door without another word. Michael thought he may have seen tears in the man’s eyes, but chose not to mention it.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Francesca looked at the door where Davi had just left for a few moments, watching it silently.

After about a minute her blank expression turned to a frown. “These gods you’ve been talking about lately. Seras is the one whose statue was in that cave?”

Michael nodded. “She who protects.”

“So she’s the one who was keeping me safe?”

Michael nodded. “As well as she could.”

“Maybe I’ll pray to her. I’m not going to feel quite so safe without all you strong boys in armor around me.”

~bless~shield~protect~

Michael held out a hand to her.

Francesca hesitated, then took it.

Michael closed his eyes.

“Seras. Please watch over and protect Francesca. May her journey be safe and may she reach her destination shielded from trouble and misfortune.”

He could feel something small pass between them. Some of that warmth and attention of the divine that he was used to feeling shifting onto her.

“Huh,” said Francesca, frowning. “That actually makes me feel better.”

Michael smiled. “Then it was worth doing.”

He stood to stretch for a moment and frowned. He took a moment to divine Francesca, feeling that maybe the impression he had of himself giving her a tiny piece of the divine’s attention may have been more literal than he’d thought.