The human made a Heart-Sworn Oath that, as long as they lived, no matter who it was, they would help them. Then came the day one of the ones that cruelly bullied them for being kind to the unwelcome came for aid. But an Oath does not care if the person was a bully. The bully was shocked when this person also refused to break their word. -- Anon Guest
[AN: In my personal experience, bullies tend to crow about taking advantage of their victims. I have begun to believe they don't understand feeling shame for their actions]
Her first patient had been a halfbred the others hated because he was a halfbreed. His genes made him small and slender, and therefore an instant target to the bigger and burlier kids. She patched him up with herbal leaves and helped him to the temple of Lenus, the god of health and healing.
It was there that she got praised for her efforts. It was their that she gave her heartfelt oath to the deity in question.
Every hour she had, Molli devoted herself to learning how to heal. Bandages. Salves. Potions. How to diagnose illness. How to prevent, treat, or cure disease. As she grew, there was one common factor. Molli never turned away a patient in need. No matter what they were.
She helped an eggbound Kobold, using precise and careful surgery. She removed a tumor from a Hellkin's gut. She helped deliver a litter of Bugbears. She nursed a settlement of Gobelliin through an epidemic of red-rash.
The people who tormented her for it made sure she suffered in thousands of tiny ways. Inconvenience, insult, isolation, and general refusal to do business with her or accept her services.
Until a different, unusual plague raged through the little village.
Molli offered prevention for those not yet struck by the sickness, and they refused. She offered treatment to make their suffering easier, and they refused. And when they could no longer refuse... she helped them anyway.
Desperate parents came first, with children they feared were dying. Loving spouses came on behalf of their other half. And finally, when they were all desperate enough, they begged for a cure.
Molli could not be everywhere at once, but that was fine. She had help.
She had a burrow of Kobolds to gather the ingredients. She had a township of Gobelliin to industrialise the brewing. She had a tribe of Bugbears and a cluster of Hellkin to help with the nursing. And she had her lifemate and helpmeet, her first patient, Willet.
"...you milktoast," croaked a former bully, even as Molli saw to his recovery. "We did everything to you and you're still here being a pushover."
"I took an oath," said Molli. "And I honour it better than some people I know. You took an oath to your wife five years ago, but I've seen to Harper Millwhistle thrice in that time. And each time she named the father of the unwelcome thing in her belly."
He had the decency to look alarmed.
Molli smiled sweetly for him. "You should be very grateful I keep my oaths, Dan Flintshare, or I'd make you suffer through your recovery and tell your wife. The wife who begged on your behalf to be sure you lived." She showed him a vial and made a show of putting it away. "A little gratitude would do you a great many favours."
Dan Flintshare at least shut up during the remainder of his treatment.
The little village of Hoghollow was a lot more respectful after its recovery.
[Photo by Megumi Nachev on Unsplash]
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