Page 8 of Ngozii's Plight

Sighing, I realize that pieces are beginning to fall into place for me. I have the key to my problems, now I just need to figure out how best to use it. How to get the answers I need. As long as things move along quickly enough to save my people, we’ll be fine.

“Priestess. I’m sorry to interrupt, but you’re needed. It’s a young boy.” Seuke nearly trips as he rushes into the cave, stopping to bow to me properly as he addresses me hastily. I don’t bother asking what it is he refers to, I know by his actions and simple statement that yet another of my people has fallen ill. Once again, I must attempt to soothe someone who’s dying when I have no way to truly heal them.

Jumping up, I reach out to him, and he pulls me along with him, guiding me through the tunnels, through the main gathering cave, and down into the residential tunnels. There’s a crowd gathering in the wide tunnel, people huddled around someone further down. Seuke stops and gestures me ahead of him. Walking past him, my eyes meet Xenshay’s as he stands in the hall further back, watching the chaos. He dips his head politely, his eyes averting to the floor as I pass, and I keep my shoulders back, intending to come back to him later.

The crowd parts as I slowly enter the tunnel, heading for what I know is waiting for me at the center of the mass of bodies. As the last few people part, each of them bowing deeply as they address me, I find a young boy, no older than maybe 8 revolutions old, lying in the hall in his mother’s arms. He cries as he coughs up blood, his chest covered in vomit and blood as he weeps, clinging to his mother.

I drop to my knees beside them, smiling kindly as I brush a hand through his hair. “I’m so sorry, my son. I’m going to help you, though, I promise. Do you trust me?”

He nods, grabbing my hand tightly as he coughs again, blood dripping down his tiny, trembling chin. Two of his pink arms are clung to his mother, the others to one of my hands. I continue to smooth his hair, attempting to calm him as I snap for Seuke with another. He quickly hands me a small bottle and a wet cloth.

I gently wipe the blood from his face before cleaning up what I can from his chest and arms. “There, that’s better, isn’t it? Can you drink this for me?” Holding out the small tonic bottle, he nods his head, his long purple hair shimmering behind him. I smile brightly and run my fingers through it as I tip the bottle to his thin lips.

His silver eyes close for a moment as he swallows every drop. When they open, they focus on his mother before they begin to droop. She whispers her love to him before he finally succumbs to sleep. We stay like that for a long moment, watching him sleep peacefully. The tonic won’t heal him, but it will allow him to sleep, putting him in a deep coma like slumber while it slows the progression of the disease.

I learned of this tonic only moments too late to save my mother from the ravages of this illness, and until I find a cure, it’s all I can do for my people. Keep them pain free as I slow the progression and suspend their lives while I search endlessly for something that may not exist. An exhausted, exasperated sigh leaves me as I stare at the sweet child before me, his hand now limp in mine. I’ll fix this, I have to. Just a little longer.

Patience.

I’m normally a patient woman, but this is the tenth child, the fiftieth person in total to fall ill since my mother. She was the first to fall ill, and the first of twenty to pass. I can’t wait much longer or I’ll begin to lose them all.

“Guards, please take him to the sick cave with the others where he can be monitored.” Two other guards that followed Seuke step forward, one helping the mother up as the other cradles the boy in his strong arms. The mother grabs my hands, a pleading look in her eyes. She’s thin, a bit shorter than I am, and her long purple hair is pinned back with white flowers from the cave, making her look youthful, despite the tears shimmering in her silver eyes. I smile gently and try my best to reassure her. “I’m doing everything I can to fix this. For now, he’s going to sleep, pain free, while I find a solution.”

“Thank you, Priestess, for taking care of my boy. Thank you.” She pats my hand, bowing deeply, before she follows the guards, her sobs tearing at my heart as they fade away down the tunnel. The crowd slowly disperses, and I’m left with Seuke standing up against my right shoulder, his concern for me and the others palpable.

Looking up into his eyes, I let him see how heavily this weighs upon me. As much as I want to mourn the loss of my mother, the only parent I ever had, that’s not why this hurts me so much. My mother wasn’t loving, she barely cared for me. She tolerated me enough to train me to follow in her footsteps, that was all. I’m not exactly sad that she’s not here to beat me down with her harsh words anymore.

What hurts me is that I can’t help. I was barely ready to take over as High Priestess here, I still had so much to learn, but she left me before I was ready, so I was forced to manage as best I could. This illness has begun to strike more and more people, spreading faster and faster each week, and no matter how much I study, pray, beg for help, I have yet to find the answers.

My mother was a master at our craft, able to travel the universe with a snap of her fingers. She never taught me her best tricks, so I’m stuck here with the limited books and information I have with only my guides to help me through, and they’re cryptic and confusing at the best of times.

Seuke’s hand slides from the crown of my head to the middle of my lower back, grounding me as I breathe. “I need to brew more tonic, that's all I have right now. Until I find another solution, I need more to keep them suspended.”

“I’ll grab you some fruit and tea, you need to eat, too.” He tucks my hand into his elbow, pulling me down the hall and back to my caves where I can make the tonic. I simply follow as my gaze loses focus, my body in a zombie-like state as he drags me away. Numbness settles in as I put my focus on the only thing I can do. The repetitive motions of grinding the ingredients and filling the tonic bottles will soothe my guilt and pain for a moment, I hope.

As we walk along, my eyes unfocusing as I struggle to keep my composure and not break down under the weight of this, something tugs at my chest, and I realize that Xenshay is still in the hall, his shoulder leaned against the wall as he watches me. I pull Seuke to a stop beside him and study him a moment.

He appears to have cleaned himself up. His long straight hair has a healthy shine, his facial hair trimmed to a neat stubble. His green eyes are bright as they bore into me, his body tense, his muscles bulging from his crossed arms. He doesn’t speak, waiting for me to make the first move, and, honestly, I appreciate it.

“We should talk.” My eyes meet his as I speak. He gives me a small nod, and I return it before my eyes close, my body leaning into Seuke’s as I step away, letting him guide me home. His other left arm circles my waist, keeping me upright and guiding me as I keep my eyes closed, getting what little rest I can.

It doesn’t take long to make it back to my caves, and I quickly get to work in my sanctuary. With the candles still lit, I pull out my mortar and pestle and begin the long and difficult task of crushing small crystals, seeds, and flowers into a paste with the crystalline water from my spring. Once it’s all boiled, I can separate it into tonic vials for the sick. Only once I’m done and prepared will I go to the sick cave and make sure they’re all stable.

Mumbling spells and prayers as I work, Seuke soon joins me, helping me in silence as I focus, occasionally slipping a bite of fruit into my mouth as he forces me to care for myself. I can feel the tension radiating from him. He hates how much this takes out of me, but I need to do it. Not for me, but for my people.

I’ll mumble the same spells and prayers over my people, lighting candles around them, setting up healing crystals, and smudging the air with pure intention and herbs to help them the best I can. It’s all I can do, and I wish with all I am that it worked better, for their sake.

Chapter 5

Jeff

Leaving the village, I take a walk through the woods, heading toward the lake for a little privacy. Breathing deep of the clean, woody air, I sigh as I hold my hands together behind my back, my eyes scanning the woods around me. Eventually, I can hear the wind on the water, the waves hitting the shore. I’ve come to realize that this is not, in fact, a lake, but an ocean. The people have always called it a great lake, but they’re actually wrong. Unless all their water is salty, it’s an ocean, but seeing as how the villagers know it by one term, I stick with it for their sake.

Our village is on a bit of a peninsula, however, this planet doesn’t tend to have the crazy tropical storms that ours can get. There’s much more land than ocean here, so aside from heavy rains now and then, they don’t get the intense storms I’m used to. It’s nice, keeping the climate mild and comfortable.

As I approach the water, I see the large log that I sat on with Willa when I had first arrived, the cave where Kari and Vahru found Xenshay no longer hidden to my right. My heart aches for a moment at just the thought of her, my best friend. I miss her more than I would have thought.

When we were on Earth, between missions, we didn’t go a week without seeing each other. In our downtime, we got together for lunches, game nights, movies, everything. My family lived across the country and preferred to take holidays in other countries, traveling the world. Naturally, I stayed with Kari, making sure she got a holiday at all. With her family basically disowning her, pretending she didn’t exist, she deserved some small light in her life, and I was all too happy to give it to her. Even if she didn’t love me the way I thought I loved her, friendship was better than being alone.

---