Preserving the Ingenairii by Jeffrey Quyle

already awake, trying to peek beneath the bandages.   Standing stiffly, he walked over and knelt beside her.   “Leave that to me,” he said in a mock gruff voice.
                     “It feels much better, captain,” Berlisle said.   “Are you sure you didn’t use your powers?”
                     Alec unwound the strips of cloth and pulled away the splints, then peeled off the fern fronds.   When he finished he sat back on his haunches and stared in amazement.   The swelling he expected to see was virtually gone, with only a little puffiness.   There was no discoloration.   “Can you move your toes?” he asked, and watched as the digits wiggled satisfactorily.
                     “I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it,” he muttered.   “Does this hurt?” he asked as he touched a spot, and when Berlisle shook her head, he repeated the test at a different site, and then another and another.   “Well, you’ve got some tenderness, but this doesn’t seem to be the same ankle you had last night.   Did you trade ankles with any one while they were sleeping?” Alec asked in amazement.
                     “I’m going to wrap it in some more ferns leaves, and then you can wear your boot over it, but try not to do much on it today,” Alec told her.
                     “How is your shin?” Berlisle asked.
                     “It still hurts,” Alec admitted.   He unwrapped the fern leaves that were held against his shin, and saw the scrapes and slight swelling that would be expected from such an injury.   “Why would your injury be so much better healed than mine?” Alec asked rhetorically, a question for which Berlisle had no answer.
                     Soon the full squad was assembled.   “We need to look for something to heal the ingenairii.   I can’t tell you what to look for,” Alec held up a hand to hold back questions, “because I don’t know.   It could be a plant, or a relic, or a weapon, or an inscription to read aloud.
                     “I know that isn’t helpful.   Just call me if you think you have found a possible cure, and I’ll come look.   Now,” he shouldered his bow, “let’s get going.”   He led the way and they all followed the same path that Alec and Berlisle had used the previous evening.
                     As they crossed over the stony fence, Berlisle warned them about the tree branch that had nearly smashed Alec the day before.   “Let’s see this mighty piece of lumber,” Brandeis jokingly called.
                     “It should be right around here,” Berlisle answered, stopping to look up and down the trail.
                     Alec was bringing up the rear of the squad, and limped up next to Berlisle.   “She’s right,” he agreed.   “There was a rustling in the trees, and then it fell.”   But despite his conviction and searching eyes, there was no sign of the limb.
                     They continued forward towards the empty walls, everyone now feeling slightly nervous, with several stealing covert glances at the trees above.    When they reached the stony stream bed, Alec was not too surprised to see that only a trickle of water was seeping among the rocks and leaves.
                     “Really, this is where it happened, and there was much more water here,” Alec replied to Delle’s raised eyebrows.   At that moment there was a rustling sound in the leaves above, and Alec involuntarily flinched.   Delle raised his eyebrows again.   “Okay, I’m a little jumpy,” Alec sheepishly agreed.
                     Abruptly there was a shout.   Thomis was sitting down.   “I twisted my ankle, but I swear there wasn’t a hole there when I stepped in it!”
                     As Alec went to look at