Xandrian Stone Book 1: Beginning of a Legend by Christian Alex Breitenstein

officer, don't disrespect them like that please." Talk about a joke misfiring. "Sorry, Lindan, did not mean to. The question, however, was serious. Is all well or are there any ailments?" "For real? You were added to the crew?" Hm... maybe I had misjudged his character. "Yeah, the captain plucked me right off the pad so to speak. Seems that I am a rather rare healer, power-wise." He peered at my rank insignia. "Then why are you not yet special promoted?" "The captain opposes the idea of special promotions. Can't say I blame him, honestly." "Yeah, yeah... You are guaranteed to pass the academy anyway. No, all is well here." The last bit he spoke mainly to his tablet, no longer looking at me. I bowed a little, smiling, and walked the length of the (empty) shared quarters. Then I left them through the side door at the end.
    Turning left, towards the back end of the Brick, I was not given any opportunity to ponder about Lindan's behavior, because the corridor widened from 2 to almost 10 meters and I suddenly was in the training area. The first thing I saw was two guys beating each other up with staves and a woman yelling at them to not fight like noodles but warriors and other creative remarks like that. She wore a uniform with the red bands of a weapons wizard, and her ribbons sported 3 pips. Guessing that I was standing behind the leader of the weapons wizards, I waited until the fight was over before making myself known.
    Not that that was needed though. As soon as the fight was over, she spun around, I noticed her lieutenant rank, and she started yelling: "Passengers do please stay... in their..." the last bits were spoken a bit uncertainly, so I decided to announce myself. "Cadet Xandrian Stone, assigned to the sick bay, on medical rounds. Is any medical assistance needed, ma'am?" Her face split in a wide grin. "New guy!" She slapped me on the side of my shoulder in a way that she might define as comrade-like, but knocked me half a step away. "Oh, a noodle! You're omni, so you're gonna get hard like a warrior too!" I was not sure I liked that. Then again, she was right: I am omni! And in retrospect, the lessons she gave me the following days did save my life many times over later. So, answering "Aye, ma'am, I will do my best." was the best decision I had ever taken in my life until then.
    But first, I had some healing to do. Not my shoulder, I had taken care of the bruise she left there already. But combat training did, as I had suspected, create work for a healer. Nothing wild, bruises mostly. One guy took a hit with a staff on the side of his nose, leaving it standing at an awkward angle. It happened right beside me, the injured being knocked to me. So I gripped his nose, righted and healed it almost instantly and pointed to his training partner. "On you go!" He did as commanded, a slightly bewildered look in his face. After two steps he stopped though, his shoulders rocking in silent laughter. Everyone around us who had seen this laughed not so silently, drawing the attention of the lieutenant. "What's this ruckus?" While I was still massaging my nose, the phantom pain was just going away, one of the bystanders answered: "Boss, Emil here took a hit to his nose. Xandrian healed it right away and sent him back to the fight. It looked hilarious." "How bad was the injury?" "Ma'am," I answered, "it was broken." "Good thing you are a master healer then, eh? Now back at it, everyone! An enemy would not give you pause to laugh, instead they'd attack the healer instantly!" Three of the training guys flung themselves at her, pinning her to the ground while Emil positioned himself between her and me. "Go that way, to the guys waiting there." he commanded in a calm voice. I complied.
    When I turned around, the guys on top of the lieutenant got off her and helped her on her feet again. She was smiling. "Good reaction, everyone! carry on!" Straightening her uniform, she went back to her observer post. "She's like that." said one of the