“Mmmn.”
“Is that bad or not?” Atei asked.
“Hush,” Ro said.
Atei held his tongue, but he was nervous. He heard of carpal tunnel impairing musicians and writers, and he knew the rest of his life would never reach its potential if he had to deal with this hand pain… Atei slowly became aware of a strange warm feeling, but it seemed to be coming from inside of him.
“Wha? That feeling…”
“Hush,” the healer said again.
Atei felt scorned and held his tongue. The heater never burned him, but it was strange feeling the temperature move around like a small fish swimming in his bones. Then, it vanished.
The healer released Atei’s hand and he pulled it back on reflex. “…Well?”
Ro smiled at him and it made Atei uneasy. He knew Ro was far, far older than he looked, and only someone of tremendous skill and strong blood could do that. All the rumors he heard as a child were probably true. Deep down inside, sorcerers freaked him out
Ro smoothed his pants. “It’s not permanent.”
Atei exhaled in relief.
“You are making a mistake I see in a lot of young witches, male and female. When you summon, or cast, you tense your whole hand. Probably your whole arm. Some misconceived notion about how it makes you feel stronger. But the elements and the spirits don’t care if you’re tensing your hand. Your concentration and focus are much more important.“
“I tense?” Atei said, bewildered.
“A lot of young people do this after watching like, television and movies. The good guy powers up or something and his veins bulge all over as he screams and yells.”
Atei chuckled. “I know what you mean.”
“You’re putting too much stress on your casting hand. Considering you also use that hand to write and jerk off with-”
Atei choked.
“You need to be gentler to it, or you won’t be able to gain the skills you need to join a coven.”
Atei nodded, still in disbelief that such a disciplined man would say such a vulgar thing.
Ro went on. “You need to relax when summon or casting. It’ll be hard for you to retrain yourself, but if you want the pain to stop, you should.”
“Yes sir.”
Ro nodded. “I’m also going to give you some herbs to make a hand soak.”
“Yes sir.”
“And no casting or summoning for three days.”
Atei groaned. “I’m going to have to skip class tomorrow.”
“Yes. And-” Ro pointed a finger. “No jerking off with that hand.”
Atei blushed. “Hey.”
Ro snickered as he stood up and went to go gather the herbs. Atei watched him. He moved in an odd way that was almost uncomfortable to watch. Ro seemed to float, as his head and body didn’t move up or down, but his feet moved forward anyway. He also dressed in a mismatched way, wearing an old woman’s plum-colored cardigan and black shimmery leggings. Ro kept his hair long and braided.
As he waited, Atei massaged his hand and glanced around the parlor room. Everything in it looked incredibly old – the furniture, the little ceramics on the shelf, the dried flowers, the books, the wallpaper.
“Thank you for waiting,” Ro said, startling Atei.
“Ah, you’re back already.”
“Yes. It’s fairly easy to make.” Ro handed him a paper packet, then explained how to make the soak while Atei took notes on his phone.
“I think that’s all then?” Ro asked.
Atei felt the corners of his mouth pull. “You haven’t told me what the treatment is for not being able to jerk off.”
Ro raised an eyebrow. “Use your other hand.”
“But shouldn’t I worry about it getting sore too?”
Ro raised the second eyebrow. “You want me to prescribe you a tonic that will make you feel like you’re in heat right now? You’ll cum the sheets without doing a thing, and if you don’t get fluids you may die of dehydration by the third day.”
Atei’s eyes went wide. “Uh not right now no.”
Ro laughed. “I may have another offer that you may approve of more…”
“I won’t die?”
“Not likely,” Ro said, crossing his arms with a knowing smile.
“I’m listening.”
“I could relieve you.
Atei stared at him. "Is that a professional thing healers do?”
Ro shrugged his plum shoulders. “No. It’s not. But I’m old and weird and everyone’s scared of me. I know you like men. I though I’d ask anyway.”
“…Wait, how did you know I liked men?” Atei demanded.
Ro waived his hand vaguely. “Oh come on, I’m a sorcerer and you don’t think I have gaydar?”
Atei had such a blank look on his face that Ro covered his mouth and laughed. “I love messing with the young witches. It’s too easy. Well, sorry if I offended you. Good luck with the hand. Your school’s insurance will pay for the bill.”
Ro bowed his head and turned to leave.
“No, wait,” Atei heard himself say. “…I’d like to take you up on that.”
“Oh?” Ro said, one eyebrow up again.
“I know, I’m young. And still learning things. But you are fascinating. And odd, yes. But fascinating. I can’t say no.” To Atei’s delight, he got the healer to blush a little.
“Fascinating. Hm. That’s just a polite way to say weird.”
“Odd,” Atei corrected. “But unique. I like coming here,” he admitted.
Ro tilted his head. “Now you’re the odd one.”
“Hey.”
Ro waved again. “Do your hand soak tonight, and come back tomorrow evening. After dinner.”
“After? Why not before?’
Ro folded his arms. “I’ll be busy all day tomorrow during the day. Some student turned their classroom walls inside out. Should be a good challenge.” Ro yawned.
Atei cringed. “Yeesh. I’ve screwed up, but never that bad.”
“So, tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow,” Atei repeated.
“Good. Take care of the hand. You know where the door is.” Ro waved and floated inside the house. Atei sat there a moment, wondering what just happened. Getting jerked off by a sorcerer was going to be scary, but Atei had a feeling it would be incredible. He wondered what it’d like to feel that heat-swimming-in-your-bones feeling in your cock. But there weren’t bones in the cock. Hm. Atei scratched his head. “Ow, damn hand…” He pressed the herb bundle to his nose. It smelled sweet, yet minty. “Let’s hope this works.” Atei had a feeling it would.
[To be continued.]
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Captions are fictional. One of my readers asked for a story about witches or sorcery or something, and this is what I came up with.