Chapter 37: I’m sorry.
Persuasion wasn't enough and Lee had to turn to unreasonable threats for Ingrid to agree to simply bandage him without using her power. He wasn't clear how it worked, but it wasn't hard to tell that the price she would pay was too steep.
Only when they were on the way back home she stopped pouting, and, still a bit unhappy, said, "You could've been fine by now, you know?"
Lee looked at his clumsily wrapped shoulder and shook his head, "Not until I fully understand how that works."
"There's nothing complicated about it! Even a child can understand." She said, "After I absorbed the water spark I became a healer, like your mother. And now I can use my body as a medium to heal other people. It's my calling to ..."
"A medium?" Lee interrupted her, "You didn't get special powers from the spark?"
"No, silly!" Ingrid shook her head, "We, humans, only can use the power of the spark we absorbed. And to successfully do that we have to spend our life force ... a small price to pay to save lives, don't you think?"
"Wait!" Lee said, "But those with the fire sparks and the green ones, they aren't healing anyone. Do they also spend their life force? Or their bodies aren't mediums?"
"Everyone has to pay the same price if they want to control the Divine power." She said, "I have no qualms about it because I do it for a good cause!"
"So basically you'll get older the more people you have helped?" He asked.
"Mhm." She happily nodded, "Wrinkles are the marks of honor every healer wears with pride!"
"But wasn't it just easier to kill the wolf?" Lee asked, "You probably would've spent much less power than healing me."