The Worst Healer
Copyright© 2026 by InSpite
The Morning After
I awoke with the vague impression that I’d heard my name called.
Thalia lay on my chest, a warm weight that purred occasionally and sandwiched me against the hard flagstones of the dungeon floor beneath me. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but I was tired enough that my eyes started to drift closed again before a voice called out from close by.
“Carrie. Time to wake the fuck up.”
Shit.
I recognised that voice.
I slowly raised my head, trying to gather my wits as I attempted to focus on Sierra, standing over us with her hands on her hips.
“I just need to check ... are you still ... inside her?” Sierra asked in a stern voice. “If so, I’m going to have to postpone this conversation.”
“Sierra?” I muttered, still bleary from sleep. “I’m not ... Wait, how did you get here?”
“I borrowed Ellie’s ring and Blinked down.” She held up her hand, a quick flash of silver showing the ring on her finger. “Fucking terrifying, by the way, feeling yourself disappear and popping out somewhere else in a flash.”
“We had to wait for a day to pass before I could use it again, but ... Ellie told us you were getting to know Sunrise.” Sierra somehow managed to look both amused and annoyed all at once at my predicament. “I see that’s going well.”
“Is Ellie OK? I know she’s doing better, but she’s pretty far from over everything she’s been through. She just disappeared.” I knew that probably shouldn’t have been my first priority, but I’d been worried since she’d blinked away.
As I had more time to process, a wave of relief washed over me at seeing Sierra again, followed shortly by a growing awareness of my current situation – I wasn’t exactly exposed, but the naked Neko sprawled on top of me was hardly suitable attire for a reunion.
Sierra sat down on the floor, letting out a long sigh. “Gods, it’s good to see you safe. Ellie’s doing OK. She’s shaken, but she’s stronger than she knows ... we were about ten minutes away from coming down those stairs, though.”
I was painfully aware of my nudity now, and the fact that I had a naked girl sprawled on top of me. Sierra didn’t seem fazed by either though, and continued the conversation as if we were at the breakfast table.
“We need to get out of here. But, from what I’ve seen of Sunrise so far ... I’m not sure how much we can count on them,” she confided.
“Devon only seemed to be worried about getting himself out,” she continued, “and they ... well, let’s say they hinted that Thalia was a little unreliable.”
“Thalia is a little different, but she’s very skilled,” I responded, ignoring Sierra’s eyebrow as it arched upwards. “At her job! Devon, likewise, is a little prickly, but he’s a hell of a fighter.”
“I’ll trust your judgement on that. It gives me a little more hope, but...” She looked down at the sleeping Neko, her eyes narrowing slightly before she voiced her suspicion. “No way a B-Rank Rogue sleeps through a conversation right next to her.”
Thalia managed to reply without stirring at all. “Then go elsewhere so I can sleep.”
Sierra sighed with a slight nod as her suspicions were confirmed. “Would you mind giving us a moment?”
“Yes,” Thalia replied bluntly, before giving a slight squirm as she settled against me.
“Thalia, please give us a few minutes,” I requested.
I wasn’t sure if the Neko would listen to me any more than she’d listened to Sierra, but she let out a little sigh, stirred a little and then extended her arms and legs in a long, lazy stretch.
“Mmrrr, can’t she come back in ... six hours? I want to do that again,” she asked as she stretched backwards. It was an impressive stretch as she arched back, her spine curving into a C that left her looking briefly at her own feet.
Midway through the stretch, she froze, quickly unpretzelling herself before smoothly hopping to her feet.
She appeared, for some reason, to be unsettled and on guard. Once standing, she looked at her own hand in confusion for a moment or two, her mouth opening and closing.
Even with the awkwardness of the situation, I couldn’t help but admire her compact, taut body.
A few flashes of what we’d done the night before came back to me in a rush and I had to avert my gaze before my body reacted and made this situation even more embarrassing.
Thalia, though, was still standing naked in front of us, her tail lashing from side to side.
“What did you do to me?” she demanded, finally looking away from her own hand to stare intently at me, her head tilted slightly to one side.
“Well ... I mean,” I stumbled. “First I licked your...”
“Gahhh,” Thalia exclaimed loudly with a swipe at the air in my direction, saving me from having to recount all of our exploits in front of Sierra.
“Thalia, what’s wrong?” I asked uncertainly. I couldn’t make any sense of her behaviour.
Without replying, she started to gather her clothes, strewn about the passageway as they were, while occasionally pausing to stare at her own hand and muttering to herself.
Finally, with her belongings tucked under her arm, she strode, still naked, back towards the camp muttering something about other worlds under her breath.
Without saying a word, I got up and started putting on my trousers.
I could feel Sierra’s intent glare burning into my back as I fastened the strings but refused to acknowledge her until I was at least partly dressed.
“We have a lot of important things we need to talk about and a lot to do...” Sierra started but struggled for a moment with the words. “But I’m not going to be able to concentrate on any of that until I know ... Wh ... What did you do to her?”
“Nothing unusual,” I stated, defensively. Though the thought occurred that wasn’t strictly true. “Well ... mostly?”
Sierra tried her best to look stern, but the corners of her mouth kept creeping upwards while she waited for me to elaborate.
“OK, so ... Regenerate seems to revive, erm ... otherwise expended...” I hesitated, not wanting to spell it out.
“You fucked her for six hours?” Sierra offered, looking slightly stunned.
“We cuddled for parts of it ... and I think we probably passed out after about four. It doesn’t do much for normal exhaustion.” Even as I said it, I wondered if I’d ever learn to keep my mouth shut.
“So, before we move on, for ... science ... how many times did you...” Sierra asked, badly losing the battle in her attempts to keep a straight face.
I took a deep breath and ripped off the plaster, hoping to get past this conversation. “I ... Seven for me, probably twice as many for her ... and I was still good to go when she passed out on me.”
I’d heard Sierra laugh before, but I think this was the first time you could call it a cackle. “No wonder the poor girl is disorientated.”
“Gods, Ellie is going to want to add Regenerate to her wishlist when she finds out.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The ribbing was good-natured and definitely deserved, but I felt I’d slipped up and needed to take responsibility. “I’m sorry about all this. I got caught up. I know we’re all in danger down here and you were putting yourselves at risk to try and reach us.”
Sierra’s humour faded as she saw the serious expression on my face. “Carrie, you blew off some steam. We’ve all been there.”
“Ellie told us the situation down here ... trapped and climbing the walls with boredom,” Sierra explained. “She also told us Thalia had you in her sights.”
“Still, I should have...” I started, but she held up a hand to cut me off.
“If it makes you feel better, I had a bet with Ellie. She thought you’d stay ‘pure’. She owes me two silvers. I’ve sparred enough against you to see you know when to take the initiative.”
Bizarrely, for some reason that did make me feel a little better.
“OK, we need to focus now,” she declared, straightening her shoulders slightly. “I shared a terrible breakfast with the rest of Sunrise. Awful food, and they seem pretty down on our chances of getting out of here.”
“That sounds about right.” I nodded.
“I tried to get a feel for their Skills and capabilities, but Devon kept saying the watcher is going to block our Skills, and we can’t take the ogres. I really wanted to put my foot up his ass, but ... wanted to see if you’d discovered anything first.”
I struggled to find anything useful to say for a few seconds and then just started telling Sierra everything that came to mind. “Thalia and Devon are fast as lightning. They’re both absolutely deadly. Devon is insanely strong to go with it and Thalia ... she just disappears when she wants to.”
“I get the impression that Joy’s a much better healer than me, but I don’t know if she brings anything to a fight and Megan ... I haven’t seen what she can do, but she did say she uses Earth magic. Oh, and the watcher has a thing for her, stuns her whenever it can.”
It turned out I’d learnt more than I realised.
“Strong and fast is good,” Sierra said thoughtfully. “That means they have passive Skills. I don’t think the watcher blocks those ... at least I hope it doesn’t. They’re not exactly a common monster.”
“Now we just need to persuade this lot to fight.” She glanced back towards the camp and Sunrise. “Any ideas on that one, aside from me dragging them by their hair?”
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