The gong vibrated through her head. Her eye twitched, and she frowned. She wanted to sleep. Five more minutes. She was so tired. Gong, it came again sharpening her focus. She felt something cool and smooth under her finger tips. Bed sheets, of course. Gong. Michael must be trying out new musical instruments again. He was forever trying to find something new to write about in those journals of his! How annoying. She rolled over, trying to burry her head in her pillow. Gong.

"For Tevvuk's sake!" Intent on giving Michael a piece of her mind, Leyla pushed herself upright and froze.

The chair, the chest of drawers, the bed she was lying on, everything within sight was unfamiliar...she touched her fingers to her temple as memory returned. She had lost consciousness in the Heka's tent. How embarrassing. A quick look towards the window from where light was streaming in showed her just how long she had been out. Damn it! She pushed out from under the covers just as the door opened.

Serena wore a smile as she walked in, the crystals on her arms jingling with each step. She was dressed in a robe of pure green today, and the hooped earrings she wore brushed her shoulders as she moved.

"Walem. You're finally awake."

"Yes. I'm sorry about yesterday- " Leyla stopped talking as she stood up and noticed she was wearing a Healer's green robe. Someone had changed her? Her fingers went up to her neck, relieved to find the Prorex's ring still safely on its chain.

"You're dress was covered in blood," Serena placed the plate full of sliced fruits she had been carrying on a small table near the bed, then stepped back. "After you fainted, we treated your wounds and I thought it best to give you something clean to wear."

"Thank you," Leyla said, despite feeling anything but grateful. She didn't like the idea of being carted around and dressed by these strangers. Especially when she had no idea what they wanted from her.

"You have questions, that is only natural," Serena spoke as if she knew what Leyla was thinking. "Don't hesitate to say whatever is on your mind. In the Healing Lands we do not punish subjects for words they speak, only for their actions."

It was a strange notion, but one Leyla had read about when she was studying for the officer exams. Fine, if saying anything was alright, she would not hold back: "Is Finn truly healed?"

Serena laughed. "Most people would be concerned with themselves first. Why did I ask you to live with us, how did I recognise you...you must be so curious, but you want to know about the boy first?"

"Yes, I do. Why did you save him?" Leyla asked, needing to see the answer in the woman's eyes.

"You do not trust us. It is to be expected." The Healer picked up a slice of apple, looked at it for a long moment, then put it back on the plate. "Finn will be fine. I saved him because that is what I was born to do. I am a Healer. If I don't use what I have been given, if I don't fulfil my purpose, then only a life of pain will await me." She levelled her eyes at Leyla. "I have been honest. Now it is your turn. What were you born to do?"

Leyla was taken aback by the question. What was she born to do? "I don't know," she answered honestly. How was she meant to know what she was meant to do, when she didn't know who she was. Had she found her father..."I was hoping I might have a chance at finding out...though I doubt if I will be able to now."

"Why?"

Of course, Serena would not understand. "You were born to these people, to your parents. Before you were old enough to question your purpose, you were being trained for it. That is how it is for most people, but I..." Leyla stopped speaking. She must still be tired, she was rambling! No good could come from telling Serena about her wish to find her father, to find out who she was and perhaps even what she was meant to do.

"There is no need to hide anything from me, Lieutenant."

Leyla's eyes flared at the title, but Serena only laughed as she sat on the edge of the bed. She tapped the spot beside her, motioning for Leyla to sit. "You have aged, but I recognised you instantly. I never forget the feel of a person I heal. Can you understand that?"

Ah heck, the Land of Light couldn't blame her for this!

"The dark-haired Warrior," Serena went on, patting the seat beside her again. "I had heard stories about you long before I met you in the Warrior Kings waiting rooms. But it wasn't until I healed you that I became interested in your origins."

"My origins?" Leyla blinked in surprise. When Serena raised her brows and did not speak, Leyla sat down on the bed beside her.

"Yes, your origins," the Healer went on, looking satisfied. "At first I thought perhaps you might have been related to my people, as there are those of us who manifest unusual traits of our Great Mother Shi Fa."

Shi Fa. The Mother of all Healing people, the great medic and sister of Tevvuk. Leyla's knowledge of Shi Fa was limited, but she did not ask questions, waiting only for Serena to go on.

"Unfortunately, I could find no record of a Healer and a Warrior coupling around the months of your conception."

"A record of coupling?" Leyla stared at Serena, perplexed.

"Don't look so shocked," the Healer laughed. "It's not that we keep record of coupling precisely. In fact, we are free to be with whoever we like in our land, without all the promises and vows you Warriors like to make. But, when we do engage in sexual intercourse, our energies become unbalanced. To regain balance, a Healer must spend a night sleeping in the hollow tree and then wash with dew water. For both of those things, there are records."

Trying to keep up with Serena's train of thought, Leyla frowned. "So you are saying, no one wrote their names down to sleep in that hollow tree and wash with dew water around the time that I should have been conceived and that proves my father was not a Healer?"

Serena's laughter filled the room once again while she rubbed the three tiny circular tattoos on her chin in a subconscious gesture of pleasure. "Oh dear, you know so much about fighting, but so little about loving. Of course there are names in the records during the weeks you should have been conceived, but none of those names belong to Healers who had any contact with the Warriors at our outposts. That is what proves your father was not a Healer."

"Does it? Could they not have skipped the energy balancing for fear of getting caught?" Leyla pushed.

But Serena simply shook her head. "A Healer can not heal without balanced energy, there is no possibility of skipping such an important thing. There would also be no reason to fear being caught when we, unlike Warriors, do not forbid coupling with outsiders. We just do not allow children to come from such unions, which can be ensured by a quite pleasant drink."

If her father was not a Healer, then Leif of the House of Obsidian was not her mother.

"Alright, so if I don't belong here, why did you want me to stay? What is it you want for me?" Leyla asked at long last. Did they hope to gain information on the Land of Light? If so, they would be sorely disappointed as despite being temporarily engaged to its Prorex, she knew nothing of value.

"I told you on the day that I tended to your injuries that you don't heal the way others do," Serena reminded her pleasantly. "I have never seen the like and I have healed peoples of all four kingdoms."

"I heal differently." Leyla repeated woodenly. There was something strangely ominous in those words.

"Yes, you do," Serena continued unperturbed. "That is why I asked you to live with us. If your healing process is different, other things about your body must be different too. Now that you will be with us, we will be able to discover so much..."

Leyla stood up with the realisation of what the Healer was saying. "I'm not a test subject."

"Of course not! You are an honoured guest," Serena smiled from her seat on the bed.

Leyla was not the least bit placated. The Healer was too calm, the look in her eye too sharp. It occurred to Leyla then, that she was a prisoner here. If she confronted Serena about her intentions and the Healer chose to be outright hostile, there was nothing she could do about it. If she tried to fight her way out now, Alec would get involved and Finn was still recuperating...

"I appreciate your hospitality," Leyla put on a smile and reached for a piece of apple to busy her hands. "And thank you, for healing my scar back then. I know it's late, but I didn't realise at the time that you had done me such a favour."

"That was a gift, freely given." Serena said graciously.

Yes, that had been free, but Finn's life came at a cost: The Healers would experiment on her body until they were satisfied.

Leyla bit into the fruit and smiled some more. She was going to have to escape. But not now. Once Alec and his Warriors left, she would have to come up with a plan. Some way to disappear without leaving anyone to take the blame. But how? How...

The knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts.

"It must be General Alec," Serena said, her pleasant smile still in place. "He has been very worried about you."

"I should go see him then," Leyla nodded, forcing herself to keep her words evenly paced.