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Mother’s power jerked away from the spot. He moved his hand back into position, Sar’s displeasure sharp in his mind.
    “I found it, Master Elkan.” Josiah tried to remember the details of his lessons in anatomy. “Here, by the liver. A bad infection. It’s in the… something to do with bile, I think…”
    Elkan nodded. “The bile reservoir often becomes infected. Do you remember why?”
    Josiah was sure Elkan had taught him that tidbit of information at some point, but it was lost among the vast number of similar details his master had poured into him over the last few months. “Um, doesn’t it get blocked somehow?”
    “That’s right.” Elkan rose and came to stand across from Josiah. Tobi padded to his side. “Would you like me to show you?”
    “Yes, please.” Josiah was beginning to feel competent dealing with common ailments, but the hot green mass frightened him.
    “Sar, focus in tight.” Elkan set one hand on Tobi’s head and extended the other. Gold light poured from his hand to join Josiah’s. “Feel there, in the little duct that joins the one from the liver?”
    Josiah concentrated on the spot. There, a hard lump right in the duct’s opening. “I see it.”
    “It’s a stone. They tend to form in the bile reservoir. Sometimes they get stuck and block it off, and then infection can set in.” Elkan frowned. “Feel the others?”
    Sar shifted to focus on the swollen pouch and let the Mother’s power penetrate within. Josiah felt the stones, like a handful of gravel in his palm. “Yeah.”
    Elkan was silent for a few minutes, concentrating on the play of power below his hand. At length he sighed, and the light died. Sar followed suit, and Josiah pulled his hand away. He rubbed his tingling palm against his breeches.
    Elkan helped their patient sit up. “Master Tava, were you listening? Do you understand the problem?”
    “I think so.” She gazed at him with perfect trust. “The Mother’s power can fix it?”
    He nodded. “Normally I’d prefer to crush the stone causing the problem. The infected bile would drain, and we could reverse the inflammation. But the problem would be likely to recur, and you’d be back here with more pain in a month or a year.” He looked troubled for a moment. “In your case the infection has damaged the reservoir so much I recommend you allow us to take it out.”
    “You can do that?” Master Tava’s eyes widened.
    “Yes. Your body can function quite well without this particular organ. It might affect your digestion slightly—you may need to avoid eating certain things, fatty foods, things with seeds or skins, berries, for instance. The procedure is fairly simple. However, it will require that we cut an incision to remove the diseased tissue.”
    Josiah sat up straighter, his heart leaping, though he tried to conceal his reaction from Master Tava. Surgery? He’d never gotten to see Elkan do surgery before. Conditions that called for it were rare. The Mother’s power could heal most problems without the need to cut into the body.
    Master Tava looked startled, but nodded. “You’ll heal it afterwards?”
    “Of course. There will be some pain, but we can dull it a great deal.” Elkan glanced at the gap in the screens. “If you’d like me to send for anyone, so you can discuss it before you come to a decision—”
    “There’s no need.” Master Tava shook her head with a rueful grin. “If this reservoir is what’s been making me feel like I’m about to die twice a month, I’ll be well rid of it. I can deal with a little pain for that.”
    “Very well. We’ll get ready and be back in a few minutes to begin. It won’t bother you to have Josiah present? I can ask another master to assist me if you’d prefer.”
    “No, let the boy do it.” She grinned at Josiah. He realized she was nervous despite her offhand manner. There was something a bit forced in the way she patted his arm. “There’s a first time for everything, isn’t