open your eyes

Venom welcomed her graciously into her home, every bit as affluent and regal as her brother was. Aliana was beginning to see what traits ran in the trueblooded Klein family. The Empress spoke, explaining how her own healers had tried and failed to find the source of her mysterious condition. That brought a small frown to the clouded woman’s lips. Although Chimera touted her abilities as a healer, Ali didn’t believe herself any more talented than anybody else, and she was certainly no miracle worker. Still, she had promised her husband that she would do her best for her sister-in-law and she would keep her word. "I see. That is disheartening, but I’d still like to take a look and see if I can be of help," she replied in soft tones. Shifting to sit closer to the Empress so she could touch and manipulate as she needed to for her examination, Ali settled in to hopefully bring some good news to her alpha.

"I'm going to touch your face so I can get a better look at your eyes, okay?" Aliana informed Venom before she made any touch, not wanting to surprise or startle the Empress with any unseen or unwanted contact. When Venom gave her consent, Ali lifted delicate snowy white paws to gingerly take the other fae's muzzle in her grasp, slowly lowering and tilting her head to and fro so the healer could get a better look at the amethyst jewels the queen possessed. Venom's case was baffling to Aliana. It was nothing at all like Chimera's blindness. The dire brute's eye was hazy, fogged over from his impaired lens with the typical milky appearance to it. Venom's eyes, however, showed none of those telltale fogging signs, even after a whole season of blindness. Her eyes appeared normal for all intents and purposes. Pale lips pursing into a fine line, Ali glanced down to the fire and lifted a small burning stick from the pile in one careful paw. "I'm going to do a test with some light now. You might feel some heat getting closer to you, but I promise you won't be harmed." Then the dainty healer very, very slowly and carefully brought the makeshift torch closer towards Venom's face, watching for changes in the Empress' eyes before pulling it away again. To her surprise, the Klein queen's pupils continued to expand and contract as the light moved closer and farther from her face.

Humming with pensive thought to herself, the clouded woman returned the stick to the fire. "Your healers are very wise, Lady Venom. From what I can see, there is no damage nor defect that is causing your blindness," she assessed with a hint of sadness to her voice. "Yet your eyes still react to all the stimuli of light as if they can see. It's baffling, but it also gives me some hope. Your condition is not like Chimera's. His has an obvious cause, and not one I can fix. Yours, however, I see nothing different from your eyes than anyone else's eyes. It means either your condition is caused by something besides the eyes, or it might even be temporary." For obvious reasons, Ali would hope for the latter case.

"Aliana"