“Don’t thank me yet,” Olivia retorted and glanced at the boy as she squatted by his feet to inspect the wound. It had punctured his skin and flesh on both sides of the kneecap. That was the only meaningful observation Olivia could do, as she was not a doctor. In fact, she had no idea what she was doing other than planning to cause even further pain to the boy, but it was suffering that would prevent him from losing too much blood and perhaps even pass out.

Olivia concentrated her energies into her palms, which began to illuminate of cardinal and crimson coloration. She could feel the heat radiating from her limbs, just as Finley probably could at this point. “Take that tiny stick on the ground there and bite down on it, so that you don’t accidentally sever your own tongue — this might sting a bit,” Olivia said. She then pressed both of her palms together on Finley’s knee, at the two points of puncture, and held for just a second. A tiny puff of smoke emerged from the wound as the skin in and around it crusted from the burning.

Olivia immediately took a step back from Finley when she was finished. It was perhaps not the ideal introduction to her person, she thought, but at least the boy would not bleed out. She could also hardly imagine that the boy expected this to be the help that she offered. Usually when you offer some kind of assistance, it does not involve further and perhaps worse pain than what caused the request in the first place. Olivia chuckled as she watched Finley cringe the pain. He was brave and strong, but it was a cute sight nonetheless. “You okay?” she inquired, “I’m sorry, I probably should have told you what was coming,” she chuckled again, “Maybe you should cool that off in the water.”

A sense of relief washed over Olivia as more of her kind grouped at the lake. Them being together vastly increased their chances of surviving the coming trials of the wild and Blind Hand. Olivia casually waved at Keith as he approached the rest of them with a hearty greeting, to signal that he was welcome to join them. Following his approach, a girl that looked like a tree or a heap of grass and branches approached the group, but she seemed to have some troubles with her treading and faltered to her, what Olivia assumed to be, injuries. Olivia left Finley to his own devices and approached Wendy with hasty steps. “Are you alright, sweetie?” she said, but was caught off guard when she noticed yet another girl, sparkling, with white hair, close by. “Oh, hi,” Olivia said, while attempting to help Wendy onto her feet again.