Mercy

Mercy had spent nearly 50 years as the Palace Physician before her untimely death due to the Winter Plague. Over the years she had taken on many an apprentice but had never found one who had the skill and drive to one day replace her as the Palace Physician, until Tobias came along. It's well known that Mercy had the teaching style of being strict and hard on any student she had, setting a grueling pace with nearly impossible to meet expectations. To treat the royal family and the city guard was an honor, and to hold such a high station meant to lead as an example to the other doctors of the city. Despite this, after a few years of teaching Tobias she eventually softened on him, his drive and eagerness to learn and desperation to earn her approval had worn down some of her sharper edges. In him she saw a successor, somebody who had the skill and ability to replace her one day when she would pass.

Unfortunately that day came earlier than she hoped while she still had much knowledge she wanted to impart on her student. The Winter Plague had struck and despite her best efforts she was unable to save King Ulric Heartvale and the General. Ulric was a dear friend to her and to lose him was a harsh blow to the city and also to herself and she kept the princesses in quarantine, fearing that if the plague was not cured soon they too would be lost. Together she and Tobias had come up with two versions of a cure one made by each of them. In secret she locked herself away and purposefully contracted the plague before administering her version of the cure. Within a day she knew it had failed, her symptoms progressing faster than usual because of her age and the failed magic. Before she passed she assured her apprentice that he was to succeed her and that his cure would work, it had to. She passed quietly in her sleep, painless and free from the suffering she had watched so many of her fellow Knotsiders endure. Her only regrets in life had been not being able to save the King for the young princesses, and her not getting more time with her apprentice so show him all of her secrets.