It had been several months since Rez was reborn. In the short time it took for him to take a more adult form, he was already prepared to leave the Terrowin nest.  The mythic only had a simple request, startup silver to build a clinic. He did not expect to be given a large enough building to house a modest family…Terrowin modest at least. Adeluna was the perfect spot for his business to grow, that is what Rez thought anyway. The city was a hub for airship travel, it was big enough that another clinic would be beneficial to the community, and he could easily hide the Terrowin name from the estate. Not that he cared about the name, he just wanted to make it on his own, without influence from Simone or Lewis. Still times were rough, the starting silver was enough to renovate the bottom floor into a clinic, and the second floor into a nice living space for both him and Thorn. The rest however vanished into the proper paperwork, taxes, and fees for running the clinic. Things only went downhill from there.

Within another couple months, the clinic saw many patients, a few attracted to Thorn acting as a receptionist and nurse of sorts. Her exotic looks, and dark clothing was both appealing to Rez and a few of his patients. There were a few paying customers who needed his service, but many were unpaying. Until there was several boxes filled with little  I.O.U. notes. Favors for healing, and Rez barely had the energy to cash in on such favors. The unpaying patients were the least of his problems though.

One day there was a knock at the clinic door, late at night. It was hard for Rez to see as he opened the door, his uncaring gaze adjusting to the night light. It was improper of a healer of his stature to do what he did next. " I don't want any." The mythic then slammed the door on whoever was knocking. The clinic was closed, if they wanted treatment they could go to someone who did not enjoy their alone time. The knocking resumed, it did not show outwardly, but Rez was frustrated and he wanted to go back to Thorn's embrace. He opened the door once again, his eyes now adjusted to the darkness. " I said, I do not wa……"  His uncaring gold eyes flickered with a hint of excitement. There before him stood ten women, in dark dress, dark makeup, pale skin, and much to his liking a mysterious aura about them. Someone must have been pulling a prank on him. Each woman fed into his most primal of desires, but who knew him enough. " Mother…I swear."  He whispered under his breath.

Oh Radiant One, He Who Will Return Us To The Essence, Cineris. We  The Sisters of Cinis, are under your command! The woman who stood at the lead shouted. To which Rez put his hand over her mouth, this woman could wake the whole town. She seemed to flush with excitement when the mythic removed his hand. Oh Glorious Fire, I am not worthy of your touch. She whispered as she lowered her head. Rez had many thoughts, which was unusual for him. He gazed out of the doorway to the left and then to the right, ushering in the crowd of shrouded women. 

Radiant one….seriously, I am about as radiant as the void.

The Sisters did not speak much after they were invited in, but their leader begged for their Radiant One to let them stay, and spoke of their mission to serve Cineris until the day comes that they will return to the Ashen Essence.. Dead eyed, Rez  allowed them to stay. It would cause him too much trouble  for them to spread through the city and to crowd outside his clinic.  With the extra mouths to feed, lack of rooms, and  bodies during clinic hours, Rez gave in to the worst possible thing for him. Asking his parents for help.

Simone and Lewis were somehow accepting of Rez's new " followers " . Their plan for him was simple, they would introduce him to Raile, master merchant and entrepreneur. Weather he could help the clinic become prosperous was one matter, the other was getting a space large enough to house the Sisters of Cinis, and more if the lead sisters was to be believed that there was more devotees to Cineris out there. 

This all lead to the very day Raile was to arrive. The  mythic was emotionless on the outside as normal,  but in his mind there were the devious thoughts of what he could do with the newly arrived sisters. Those thoughts however, were best put to the side.  The clinic was in pristine condition as always, Rez kept it cleaner than most places, however there was the matter of the ten women in various states of activity around his abode.  He tried to ignore this, and focus on the soon to arrive Raile. On his desk the three boxes of I.O.U.'s and  the proper forms for the clinic. He wanted to make sure  everything was  prepared properly, he had never dealt in such business before. Thorn was behind his seat rubbing her slender hands through his crimson hair.  Rez did enjoy to be pampered by such methods, made all the better by the type of woman Thorn was. He sighed with content, and proceeded to await until the proper meeting time. He had already let the Sisters know to escort him properly to the office section of the clinic, and to be polite to his guest. 

Hopefully things would work out.

It wasn’t unusual for Raile to receive a request from the Terrowin family. After all, it was because of them that they had the majority of their many houses across the world. It was, though, strange they they would request his help on a matter for someone who, on paper, they met only a short time ago. Still, Raile knew how valuable an asset Lewis could be, and just how talented Simone was…having a favor owed to him would prove beneficial in the long run.

The merchant, on first glance, seemed like a rather ordinary man with no outstanding traits. This was, of course, beneficial to his overall business. With his silver tongue and uncanny luck, he was always making out with more than his fair share of silver.

“Well, well,” he said as he looked at the old Terrowin home. “Looks like he did some work on it.” The overall structure had received its fair share of modifications and upgrades, and immediately Raile could tell that a lot of time and effort was put into the design. “It doesn’t seem quite finished, though,” he said aloud as he walked towards the door.

The door wasn’t locked, and he wasn’t sure the best practice, but he walked in and immediately started to look around. “It’s not bad looking. Seems homey and welcoming enough, but…” His eyes laid to rest on the IOU boxes, and he made a face. “That does not bode well.” He walked up, and smiled at Rez. “Raile Talon.” He held out his hand. His sleeve had been pulled up, and on his exposed arm was a long, fresh cut. It looked as if it had happened only a few hours ago, and though it was far from life threatening, it would need some kind of treatment.

“Pleasure to meet you, Rez Terrowin. Let’s get down to business.”

There was almost a defeated look in his eyes, as soon as Raile mentioned the Terrowin last name. When the unassuming man went to offer his hand, the mythic perked up slightly, and then he saw the long cut upon Raile's arm.  " Honestly, you come in to a clinic, injured. " Rez took Raile's hand gently. " It is not life threatening, but I can't have a guest  leave with a wound." His voice was gentle, yet there was a lack of real emotion in his tone.  Suddenly a radiant warmth leapt from the phoenix's hand towards the wound.  Raile would feel a gentle warmth at first, but then it would increase to a searing pain, but as soon as it started it would vanish leaving no trace of the gash upon his arm. 

" Sorry about that. I replaced the old  with the new.  It is not a comfortable process, but it is effective. "  His voice was kind, unlike his uncaring golden eyes.  Rez gestured towards a chair in front of the desk. " Please, take a seat, and lets get down to business."  He push forward one of the boxes of papers, but as quickly as he did, he removed one of the top I.O.U.'s.  The mythic made no effort to hide his motion, nor what was written on it. A single name " Maria". " This one, is personal." For the first time he smiled, it was a bit crooked and forced.

 " Master… I have brought tea. Please enjoy!" A sultry voice filled the room, as a woman wearing a nun's habit entered with a tray of cups filled with tea. Her long purple hair flowed behind her, accentuating her curves, and her deep amethyst eyes  gazed hungrily at Rez. " Aster and Tana will be arriving today as well Master. Oh and please forgive my rudeness, I am Vesta, the Master's voice."   Words left her tongue like honey, and as soon as she appeared she had left. 

Rez was slightly confused, the last thing he ever kept in the clinic was supplies for tea. He made no outward comment on it of course. She could have easily brought some with her on her way. " My apologies as well, Raile.  She is one of the matters I would like to discuss today. " Rez sighed. " The clinic is not doing well, and honestly I don't have the acumen to collect on well…these. " He waved his hand over the boxes, and took a sip of tea with the other hand. It was sweet and floral. " Not to mention, the space I have here is running short with all of the Sisters appearing, and if what Vesta says is true. I can expect to have even less room."


" I would be appreciative of anything you can do to help. "

The moment that Rez saw the merchant’s wound, he commented on it and moved to heal it without hesitation. “Quite interesting,” Raile said to himself as the healer worked his magic on the wound. The sensation was quite unlike anything he had ever felt. It was painful, yet not without the benefits of the release from pain.

“That was a test. Two steps to the test, at that,” Raile said as Rez finished his own introduction. “Your first problem is easy enough to remedy. You healed me without asking for payment up front. While I do appreciate the sentiment, a healer must never work for free. Yes, yes, it’s not in the spirit of giving, but…” He paused. How best to put this? “It is impossible to pour someone else a drink when you, yourself, are lacking the water.”

“The second, though, was to test your methods,” he said as he inspected his arm. “Not even a scar. I’m quite impressed. It’s a very unusual method. Very reminiscent of Onnen style techniques with needles and other…pain centric styles. This, however…” He thought for a moment, and looked Rez over. “Phoenix Fire?” He smirked. “There are quite a few nobles that float about Adeluna with rather common ailments…back and joint pain is a common one. I wonder…”

“It would be a simple sell…bring a foreign magic to them. Upcharge by…” He started running the numbers through his head. “Based on the amount of people here, that would be…” Raile smirked, and when he looked back at Rez, his eyes were glimmering with excitement. “Rez…with your healing, and the way that nobles spend… you could easily be bringing in thousands of silver a week. All it takes is the right spin on words. Of course, you can keep doing your charity work as well…though it would have to be on the down low. Can’t let the nobles know…they’re very picky about their associations…”

Raile held out his hand. “Once you get set up here, I can show you across the world, and your healing can go far. All I ask is for a flat twenty percent of your profits. Half will go to the private fund I have, and the other half will go towards paying for a brand new shop in my city. Once the shop is paid for in full, the ten percent held for that will be released back to you for whatever you like…”

The phoenix watched as Raile went through numbers and ideas. Unlike him, Rez's eyes only showed an increasing amount of dread. For much of their conversation, the mythic was avoiding eye contact. When he did notice the excitement, did he notice the distinctive trait that Raile's eyes contained. It was faint, but his eyes were still green, with a red limbal ring around the iris. It was this distinctive trait that sent a wave of fear down Rez's spine. " The Mother Of Mother's, you are one of…" His voice shook for a moment, before he could muster up the right word. " Granny's ". The phoenix spoke of course, of the Goddess Angela. Though he had little to fear of her, the young man did so out of respect. He was after all tangentially connected to family.


" Honestly, if any other person were to offer me this kind of deal. It would be a lot worse."  He gulped down the fear rising to his throat. " I am unable to grasp what you mean though. Money I understand, but I fail to see how my healing can be marketed as exotic." Rez showed hints of a smile. He liked things that were exotic, that much proved true in his choices in company, namely women. As soon as it was on his face, it vanished into his normal dead eyed look, as he tool Raile's hand. " If my parents trust you enough. I will too. I am in your care."

Raile did notice that Rez’s perception of him changed in a flash, but the merchant was hardly worried about that. If anything Raile was far too excited about the new business prospect to be deterred by anything else. He smiled as Rez questioned what he meant by ‘exotic’. That was the best part about the whole thing.

“You see, Rez,” Raile started as he pulled out a small health potion from his pocket. “Healers and apocatheries have a set standard for how they provide aid. The idea is to take the pain away, or at absolute worst, make it so one cannot feel pain while they are naturally healing. But your magic does quite the opposite. It’s an intense pain, and I would wager That the more grievous the injury, the more that pain grows with its healing.” He paused. “To those idiot nobles, they see the ‘standard’ practice as something…mundane. For the ‘normal’ people. The peasants. But, your magic…the way you heal can be marketed as different. Unusual. In practice, it’s just as effective as these potions or a healer…but since the method is unique, one of a kind, it can be said that yours is ‘better.’ A higher class of healing.”

Raile sat back in his chair. “It’s no trouble at all.” Rez’s deal was quite generous indeed. But Raile was far less interested in the profits of this venture, and more interested in the favors he could gain. Rez was an investment. By helping him and the Terrowin family, it meant he had a few pocket favors he could call in. And those favors were worth far more than coin in the right circumstances.

The merchant pulled out a standard contract, one that he had written up days prior. There were a few blanks that he penned in by hand, and passed off the contract to Rez. “Read it carefully. It’s pretty straight forward, but I’ve never been one to rush a contract. Once you’ve signed, I’ll give you a small bit of silver here to make sure you’re stocked and supplied, and then I’ll go ahead and start advertising. I’ll let you know if anything else arises…”

He paused. Railze realized that he had talked quite a bit without giving Rez any options to respond. “Any questions or concerns?”