Steffan looked up from the documents he was reading as a tea cup filled with steaming, golden-colored liquid was placed in front of him. He dropped the parchments on his office desk and took off the lenses covering his eyes. “Thank you, Lucien.” Setting the lenses on the already forgotten documents, he reached for the cup. “You know how much I enjoy these few, sparse moments when my stomach pains go away. This Signon tea is really remarkable.” He took a careful sip of the hot drink, leaning back in his chair to enjoy the slow numbing of the pain in his gut. “The local healers have examined me and don’t know what is causing this. Each day I find myself getting weaker and weaker, as though whatever ailment that is within me is slowly draining me of energy.” He looked up at his longtime friend. “Lissa suggests I send for a healer from her homeland, though I don’t know if we should bother going to so much trouble just yet. What do you think? You’ve studied medicine in those books of yours; have you come across anything that the healers might have missed?”
