Healing

Healing is an uncommon ability in Jerde and is one of the few without a known Downsides.

Effect

Somewhat obvious from the name, Healing allows the user to repair wounds, cure illnesses, and stop infections. Healing can heal anything save Downsides, death, and severe mental illness. It can even reattach severed limbs (provided the missing limb is on hand), heal lifelong scars, and keep someone from the edge of death despite overwhelming injuries. Healing is painless unless the process is sped up to an unnatural degree and is considered harmless and helpful, although there are reports of a Rifthaven Healer killing a patient with her power.
Healing is found all over the world and Healers are employed by rulers, hospitals, and armies. Healers generally appear multiple times in a family of Healers, with their gifts gradually growing stronger. Powerful Healers can heal themselves as well and even control how they heal others, perhaps how the rumors (or truth) of the murderous Healer originated.

Side/Secondary Effects

Unlike other powers, Healing can not be used for injury. It is one of the only powers without a Downside.

Manifestation

Healing is one of the abilities that manifest an aura, which for Healing appears as a warm glow around the user's hands that then transmits to the injured person's body, specifically the area of the wound or illness. The color of the glow depends on the user but is usually a warm hue like yellow, orange, or green. There are cases of an aura like blue or violet, along with red, black, and white. Black is considered questionable for a Healer, and white has only been seen twice and is now believed to have been a trick of the light.
Former Healer patients describe the feeling of being healed as a soft warmth radiating through the body, bringing health back to them. One person reported that he smelled roses, but the Healer's mentor later said that her student was fond of roses and had a strong perfume that smelled like them. She also claimed that the patient should not have been inhaling so much around her student, as he had a punctured lung.

Source

Healing is done only by Healers and some Imaginers, who draw upon their inner strength to heal their patient. The exact limit for a Healer is unknown; the average Healer is estimated to tire after 5 to 10 full patient healings, while a strong Healer is estimated at 10 to 15 full healings.

Discovery

It is unknown when exactly Healing was discovered since the gift can go undetected unless seen by another Healer or a Sensor, or if the Healer accomplishes an extraordinary feat. However, it is believed to have been discovered during the later Dark Years (approximately 1200 to 800 BEA) and was listed among the Named powers from the first instances of that classification.

Applied Restrictions

Healing is accepted worldwide as a helpful Gifted power, and Healers are greatly respected by many, although some Gifteds like Torturors, Necromancers, and Telepaths look down on them as weak. Healing has few restrictions, aside from a few general rules, and those few war-torn countries where dictating leaders have chosen to ban Healing.

Well-Known Recent Healers

Kaisa, Donoral, and Endell Woren of Tierhal
Jarl Oakheart of Biörek
Liesielle Pianesse of L'auther

The glow vanished and she sat up, gingerly pressing her side. "It's gone," Malcolm said. He looked exhausted. "You're okay now."

Gestures & Ritual

Healing is done by hovering both hands over the patient and willing them to heal. Powerful Healers are rumored to heal with just a touch.

Effect Duration

Permanent; some injuries require additional attention

Effect Casting Time

Dependant upon the power of the Healer and the severity of the injury; Healers manifest around age 5 under normal circumstances

Range

Less than two feet from hands to body, affects the entire body

Level

Varies

Incurable

Healing is known as the only ability aside from Imagining that can completely heal injuries and illnesses. However, there are some things that cannot be healed by this power. Death, of course, is irreversible except by Necromancy (and even then, only slightly), and not considered an affliction. Certain mental illnesses that are self-afflicted or repetitive like anxiety or narcissism are incurable due to behavior patterns. Gifted Downsides are unaffected by Healing, and the few Healers who have tried ended up taking on their patient’s Downside symptoms without helping said patient. Attempts to heal Downsides have been restricted in numerous countries due to this.

by Lilliana Casper