One of them thinks that should be doable. It'll take a while, it looks like they're pretty complicated and they wouldn't be the only thing he'd be working on.

Ehhh. Nah.

New Dover proper is still a buzzing hive of activity, and a few hundred of their people have descended on Riuhiu instead. They're talking on the 'phones' that Nick guy sells and grid-searching, hiring dozens of mages of all kinds, especially sun, force, and structure - even a few void mages.

There are a few just hanging around wearing magic symbols and waiting for customers, but not on the scale they want. There are people working other jobs who can be lured away if this job's going to pay more than what they're doing now. There are people who'll sell them recommendations for other mages to try. Hiring dozens of every kind of mage will take a while, though, and cost a lot.

They have a lot of money. Not an incredibly vast amount of money, but enough for this.

They test each mage on a variety of tasks in an area set aside for exactly this. They'll pay 288 rings just to do the test, and pay a lot to work for them if you pass, more the more kinds of tasks you can do safely. The work will last a week or two probably, after which the need will be less and the pay accordingly will go down.

They won't hire slaves. Even if this slows things down a bunch.

The tests weed out a handful of incompetent mages who probably shouldn't be doing magic at all.

Are they sure they won't hire slaves? What about this thirteen year old whose mother is sick and can't work? He has such big puppy-dog eyes.

That's above this hiring lady's authority. Lady Katherine said no slaves, and that means no slaves.

The church will totally feed sick mom and kid and get them a doctor and a death mage all free if they want, though.

They don't really trust that offer but they're out of better choices. The mom's not the kind of sick a death mage can help with, though.

They get a lift with a sympathetic man who promises everything will be fine.

There's a line for treatment. Nurses look over everyone who comes in to prioritize - They're triaging. It's warm here at least, if incredibly busy. Is the mom dying, bleeding, or actively getting worse?

(Also, have some biscuits and water in the meantime.)

She's not going to keel over in the next day, probably. She's got some kind of neurological problem that gets better and worse but mostly worse. If they're not going to be able to help can she sell them her son? He can work, are they really really sure they don't want any slaves? Because they seem like one of the better options if it's going to come to that.

"We do have slaves technically, since all our children have to be, but we don't treat children as slaves. We'll take him in if the worst happens, but for now I think he'd rather we focus on helping you. Our doctors have been learning a lot recently, from a magical library of sorts, and we might be able to help. It's just that we're really very busy at the moment. We can get you to see someone in an hour or two, I think. Are you in pain, miss? What are your names?"

The nurse doesn't ask about the kid's father, he's pretty obviously not in the picture here.

"I'm Echan and he's Isava. I'm always in pain, but even if you have anything for it I'm not interested in wasting the last of my savings on that. And if you wait for me to get executed for stealing you'll pay more at auction than if we come to a deal now."

"I might be able to get you some painkillers without charge - and I'm not the one who would be... Buying... Isava if that turns out to be the best course of action, but I'll find out who would be and get them to come here and talk to you, okay?"

"That might be nice."

Mhm. Free painkillers. Probably very addictive, then.

They're left alone for a while after that. The busy tent hospital full of people who mostly only speak English bustles all around them.

Their nurse comes back after about half an hour with some aspirin. Opioid painkillers are a bad idea to combine with an unknown neurological condition. They're not addictive. Is there some way she can prove that to Echan's satisfaction? Also, a doctor can look at her soon but probably won't be able to figure out what's wrong right away.

She doesn't believe them but she doesn't have much left to lose by going along with what they want.

Taking a few aspirin does not have an immediate dramatic effect. After a few minutes it might be doing something?

A doctor gets to her spot in the queue and attempts to figure out what's wrong with her in more detail than 'some kind of neurological condition'. There's lots of medical literature available but they haven't really had time to review it all yet, which might hinder this effort.

She has so many different symptoms in so many different places it rules out a lot of things unless she has more than one thing happening. Might be multiple sclerosis. Might be some new Hari thing they've never heard of.

The doctor asks for help from another, more senior doctor. The more senior doctor suspects something and borrows a knowledge mage and investigates - after asking permission - Echan's nervous system.

Yeah. It's multiple sclerosis. They don't have any way to treat it non-magically, but a medical structure mage might be able to reverse the very specific kind of cell damage that causes it. It would definitely be an experimental untested treatment, though. They would want to extract nerve cells from a dog or something to give the structure mage practice first, too, so it'd be a few days if she wants them to try it.

A few days might be fine but it'll be pushing it if she can't find work immediately once she's better. What is all this work they're hiring for and will they still need any of it done in a few days?

The Order of Mercy will totally feed her and house her for free, at minimum until they can try this treatment, and probably for a while after if she needs to get situated after recovering. Helping people is their holy purpose.

They're building a city! From scratch! It's going to be such a great city, with subway trains and efficient sewers and piping and magic-powered electrical grid and nice homes and parks and lots of businesses and an airport and a seaport and a glorious gigantic cathedral and he could go on like this for a while but he should probably get to the next patient sooner or later. Here's some paperwork, Nurse Helena will find you somewhere to rest, it's all kind of chaotic right now but everything is going to be great, soon! 

Sounds overwhelming to Echan but Isava likes the idea of moving there.

Well, they'll stay and impose on the Order of Mercy for a while, anyway. Echan would like to know why they're doing all this.

"Because it's the right thing to do. Because nobody deserves to starve and die in the street, or to be enslaved forever and worked like a dog. Because if everyone is kind and giving, everyone will be happier and more productive. Because we believe in a higher purpose, a noble calling more fulfilling than wealth and comfort, and we have faith that God's plan has sent us here to help everyone suffering in Har and spread this message. Because as long as a single other person is in pain or hungry or cold, and we can fix it, we should fix it."

"...I think I like you. Can I join you?"

"We'd be very glad to have you! You should attend church services, they're good for a sense of our community."