When Janis woke up, the battle was almost over, or so she was told.

She hadn't planned on falling asleep. Assuming it had even been true sleep. Things had seemed to be fine; she'd certainly felt the curse, but it hadn't seemed to hinder her that much. She wasn't planning on personally fighting, so she hadn't thought it would be an issue until later. Then she'd felt tired and tried to rest for a bit.

And now it was over a day later and she felt even weaker than when she'd fallen asleep. And the battle had proceeded without her. It was an odd feeling.

"Please do not strain yourself, Your Highness," the healer attending to her said.

"You must be new," she noted, squinting at his System description. The fact that it was blurry concerned her. As far as she knew, System status notifications weren't actually physically present and thus shouldn't be affected by things like that. Which obviously showed the issue was on her end. It was probably just an effect of her current state, but the thought that her connection to the System might somehow be affected was chilling. Or maybe it was just that Janis felt terribly cold at the moment regardless.

"I believe we've met before, in passing," he said. "My name is Healer Kinta."

She nodded, then stopped because it didn't help the bluriness. "I assume the drones are commanding the Swarm, then? Where are we?"

The room didn't look like much, but it was unfamiliar. The window was open and showed a view of a muddy field she suspected had been trampled recently, along with a high fence cutting off the view.

"You were relocated while you were recovering. We are currently in a field camp about two kilometers from the outer parts of the city of Pesiten. This used to be a town hall of a no-name village. It was thought you would be better protected here rather than further away, as the bulk of the army assaults the city. Which is apparently going well, by the way."

Janis sat up slowly, gathering the blanket around herself to keep warm. As she did so, the door opened and several other healers came in. She recognized them vaguely.

"So, what's my prognosis?" she asked, trying to sound light-hearted. She itched to ask about the battle, but he seemed to feel he'd told her the important part and her health was a matter of concern right now.

Janis didn't need the look they gave each other to tell that it was not good. She'd been trying to use a bit of her magic to heal herself, but it was slow-going. It felt like her mana was slipping through her fingers, and like every little thing she managed to accomplish was undone a minute later. And what was worse, she couldn't really tell what was wrong. Sure, there were plenty of symptoms, but no real cause; it was like her body had just decided to fail in a semi-organized way, with no apparent logic or reason. Or worse, like she should be healthy, but just wasn't for no reason, either.

"You have been cursed, Janis," the only drone in the room said. Even without having access to the psychic link, Janis could tell that Cin was quite concerned.

"Yes, I had noticed," she said drily.

It was easier to see the humor rather than worry that she might not survive. She still had so many things she wanted to do. She couldn't leave Kiara. She couldn't leave her responsibilities, or the Hive; or Regina.

"The curse is insidious, not a type I've seen before," the first healer responded, ignoring the byplay. "Its effects are accelerating. You will still be able to walk today. Tomorrow, you might no longer be able to, and we will have to carefully wake you from sleep lest you slip into a coma. One or two days later, the coma will no longer be avoidable. Your body is going to start consuming itself as your own mana either leaves your mana well or is corrupted inside it."

"That's our best guess, without intervention," Cin added.

Janis swallowed slightly and nodded to acknowledge their words. "I thought my mana was different from humans' and more resistant to something like that?"

"It is," the healer confirmed. "However, your being demihuman is not a secret, Your Highness. We can assume whoever crafted or cast this curse accounted for it. Still, it may be why you are still lucid and comparatively physically able."

Janis nodded slowly, then gathered herself and stood up. She swayed a little, but the dizziness was receding. She still felt very cold and the effort of standing was taking some of the little strength she had, but at least she knew she could walk.

"I am getting tired of poison," she muttered.

"It is not poison, my lady," he corrected. "It is a curse."

"Indeed." Janis snarled at the thought. The healer frowned slightly, looking curious for a moment, and she remembered that her incisors were larger than normal now; like this, they would be visible. The thought didn't bother her, although she bit her lip and stopped snarling.

"Divine mana is involved."

Janis made herself turn away, flexing her fingers. It felt like her emotions were boiling closer to the surface, now that the worst of the weakness had passed. Like her spirit was trying to come out of her body along with her mana. It was probably a bad sign. "Not that I'm doubting you, but how do we know that?" she asked calmly.

"I can sense it," the healer said, looking uncomfortable for a moment at the admission.

"So can others," Cin added. "We don't have many priests and paladin-types in this army, and no Champions, obviously, but there are still some people who use some divine mana, usually in combination with other things. Like Anuis, if you remember?"

Anuis was the one who'd noticed Regina was marked with Alianais' mana, Janis remembered. She nodded.

"My Class is Healer," Kinta explained. "It's a very general Class. Essentially, I know and use some of all types of healing. I'm not great at any of them, but mediocre ar many. This includes some aspects of divine healing. It's enough to see how the curse works, broadly speaking. Whoever cast it was probably a Champion of a god, and channeling some of that god's mana, which they contained, I would surmise."

"I understand," Janis said, smiling slightly to try and reassure him. "I wouldn't discriminate against someone just because of their Class, Healer. Especially not if they chose one dedicated to helping people. That said, given how you both look, I assume it's not enough to cleanse this curse?"

He shook his head. "That's far beyond my capability, I'm afraid. Maybe if it was cast by a normal paladin and I had a few other healers to help … but I would probably make things worse if I attempted it as it stands. I can perhaps slow the curse down, if we're very careful."

"We think there might be some options to deal with it, though," Cin said, clearly trying to be positive.

Janis raised an eyebrow questioningly. Times like these, she missed the psychic link.

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"The firs possibility is, if we managed to get you to your grandmother, Lady Volance might perhaps be able to cleanse it," Kinta said. "I admit I am unsure of an elemental's precise capabilities. But they are masters of magic, air is generally good for cleansing, and your own mana echoes hers to some degree, so it might be feasible. It would be a gamble."

"Noted. And the other option?"

"A practitioner with strong divine magic of their own, of course."

"It's possible," Cin added. "There must be someone in the Empire with a high-level priest Class who would be willing to help. The problem would be knowing that we can trust them. A priest of anyone but Alianais would have … incentive to make sure the curse succeeds. And even if we can trust one of her clerics, finding someone in time is going to be difficult."

Janis sighed. She might be cursed and feeling weak, but her mind was still working fine. They could ask Regina or the government to try and find someone, but they were still outside the range of the psychic link, and would have to get close enough to reach someone in the first place, first. In her current condition, traveling very far was probably not advisable, either; so even if, say, the high priest of Alianais in Cera could help, they'd have to hurry.

"I guess I'll state the obvious, then," she said. "My best bet would be Iseis."

The human healer hesitated. "Are you certain Lady Alturiel would be able to help, Princess? To my understanding, she is not a healer or focused on medically-adjacent fields, or even on working divine magic in general."

Jains shook her head. "She'll help," she said firmly. She knew Iseis kept her abilities quiet, but she was very much a priestess. And she had a very high level. She was also a Champion now. Assuming Leian wanted her to survive, and Janis had no reason to think she wouldn't, why wouldn't Iseis be able to? It seemed like her best chance.

They exchanged a look, but Janis started walking — hesitantly, focusing on keeping her balance.

"Janis, perhaps you should consider —" Cin started.

"I've decided," she said firmly. "And I'm going outside. Now," she clarified when she saw their expressions. "Either help me or get out of the way, that's an order."

Apparently recognizing she was serious, they decided to help. Cin wrapped her in a warm coat and brought an extra blanket, while Kinta gathered the notes they'd made. Then they followed her like clucking hens and she slowly, and carefully, (touching the wall once purely to check the construction, of course), made her way outside.

It was rather anticlimactic. There were a lot of soldiers swarming outside, of course, both sapients and Swarm Drones, and the former tended to stop and stare at her. Janis ignored them, glancing around. It was an occupied village. She'd seen the like before. To the northeast, she could make out the edge of the city through the currently open gate. A battle was clearly still being fought.

"My Princess," the healer began. "Perhaps you should come inside and rest. We still have important things to discuss regarding your condition."

Janis hummed in acknowledgment, walking a few meters farther and ignoring the looks. She wondered who'd managed to persuade Jay to join the fight rather than hover over her.

"You need to decide what to do now —" Cin began.

"Cut the crap, will you, Cin?" Janis interrupted. She gestured at the group of soldiers slowly shuffling around, as if they were unsure what they should do. They had clearly been working on some kind of padded box with a lot of leather straps and metal buckles. Mia had once shown her a design that looked vaguely similar, an attempt at a better and more standardized way to transport cargo with multiple flying drones, but even without that, it would have been rather obvious. "Obviously, you were going to try to persuade me to leave this place."

Cin shifted awkwardly. Before either of them could say anything, though, they were interrupted by Ada, who was striding toward them briskly. Janis was a little surprised to see her here at all. She'd obviously come from the battle, considering the soot and minor tears on her clothes and the way her blade-arm seemed to have been cut, the top part of the blade sheered off. It would regrow, but it wouldn't be pleasant.

"Janis! It's good to see you awake. And on your feet. Should you be?"

"Ada. How's the battle?"

"We're winning, but taking heavy losses," Ada reported briskly. "It was decided to storm the city and secure the enemy leaders present, including as many Champions as we could. Unfortunately, they are proving elusive to pin down. We have confirmed kills on four, the other five that we've identified have disappeared or slipped out of the city - we have leads on two. With them is Sazatore. I've pulled in our rearguard and committed three of the reserves battalions. There's one remaining here."

Janis nodded. "And your reasoning for deviating from the plan?"

Ada gave her a look, but still responded professionally. "Changing circumstances necessitated a reevaluation of our approach. I've submitted a full report and am happy to answer questions or face reprimand, but if I may, perhaps later?"

Janis knew what she really meant. They'd been trying to get to the enemy Champions in an attempt to help her. Find whoever cast the curse and force them to lift it, or failing that, coerce another Champion into healing it if worst came to worst. The dedication it spoke of was touching, She wasn't sure what to say about it. It was easier to focus on the tactical situation. "I see."

"Their betrayal of the negotiation truce changed the strategic situation. Their attack on you needed a response. But rest assured we have it in hand. Your health should be the top priority, Janis."

It was definitely a concern. She needed to reevaluate a few things. There just hadn't been time to let it sink in yet. But she had a bad feeling about the Westerners and what they were thinking. They must have had some kind of plan in mind. Rushing the city was probably not even a surprise to them.

"You shouldn't have been fighting, Ada," Janis said instead, examining her critically.

Ada wasn't her executive officer, but she was the most senior of the remaining generals in the army. They'd clearly failed to prepare sufficiently for the eventuality, but in Janis' own absence, command fell to her.

"My headquarters section was attacked, the Star Guard protected me. Can we continue this inside? Or are you going to get into the transport?"

Janis fixed her with another firm look. "I'm not going to be evacuated."

Ada sighed. "Janis, please be reasonable. This is a warzone. There's a battle on. In your current condition, you can hardly do anything. I can see you have trouble just standing. You're not helping anyone by remaining here. You're just being a target."

"From what you just said, they're not in a position to attack, and even if they did, I would be safer here than on the road," she answered. "And I can still think and speak, this isn't about fighting personally."

Ada looked briefly mutinous, before she settled. Janis appreciated that, even if she didn't think the other girl was thinking clearly. Ironically, it felt like she was the only one who approached this situation analytically right now. But she also didn't worry about Ada, or the others, trying something stupid. This was still an army and Janis was in command; they wouldn't add insubordination or refusal to obey orders to their problems.

"But that's immaterial, anyway," Janis continued. "What we need to do is send a fast flying drone with a message. One that reaches the psychic link as quickly as possible. We are asking for Iseis, who is the most likely to be able to cure me. Regina will know where she is and will get a message to her even if she's not in New Anberg. Then Iseis, or Galatea, can teleport to me, and work their magic here or transport me elsewhere if that's necessary — to a temple or whatever. It won't take long and the problem will be solved."

Ada looked abashed. "I've already sent a message about the meeting and your apparently being cursed, but …"

"That's fine, we'll just send two," Janis said. "Send several drones, actually, in case the Westerners try to shoot them down. And where's Lily? We need her to inform the commanders and to coordinate."

Ada nodded. "I've sent for her. We'll get right on that."

"Good. Now come on, I should lie down and you can report in more detail. I hope you have checked other people for signs of this curse or hostile mana?"

"We've started, but considering the battle, getting everyone combat ready was the priority."

"Then just start with the commanders, cycle the drones, as we should be doing anyway, and continue checks when they rotate units. Seriously, do I have to do all the thinking around here?" Janis smiled to show she was kidding. Mostly.

They finally returned to the building she'd woken up in, and Janis tried not to make it too obvious when she collapsed into a chair. This was annoying, to say the least.

She knew why the others had misgivings. Remaining here would make it much harder to try and get to a backup option. She was placing her faith (hah) in Iseis. If she started traveling now, by air, and another healer was found and sent, it would be different, they'd have less far to travel. But this place was at least fortified and guarded, and the location was static.

Now they would just have to be a little patient, and keep the Westerners from cutting off this army.

Janis had a bad feeling about their strategic positioning. Her forces had taken the city now, effectively. She suspected the Westerners would make it difficult to hold. Winning this battle wasn't much good if they couldn't hold it; it seemed like the kind of plan Sazatore would come up with. Whether that meant revolts or Westerner forces attempting to encircle them, cut their supply lines, something else, or both — Ada would be busy. Janis would just have to prove Sazatore wrong.

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