Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan, year 1

XI

So you know nice Erk is, let me tell you about the journalist and the prisoner. Sounds like a fable, hey...

Once washed, dressed in his beautiful pajamas, the Viking went to sit next to the handcuffed SRH, on the ugly metal bench under the arches, and he healed him. It was both spontaneous and calculated.

Spontaneous because Erk, with the Gift of Healing, feels compelled to heal. Calculated, because in this war where you waste neither time nor energy – especially energy – healing the enemy, it was a way of showing that, like him, the roumis were human beings.

Tito told me of the astonishment and respect, laced with admiration, in the eyes of the SRH. You should know that where the Viking is, Tito is often is too, since this mission. I wonder why... Eh eh!

The journalist... She too started looking for the giant, supposedly to give him back his jacket. Lin ended up picking it up and laying it on his pad herself, depriving the reporter of any pretext. Even Lin is pissed off by the reporter. The two women had spent a while in the Captain's office, what they told each other is unknown, especially since at time there was screaming in German (or Swiss German?) but after that, the reporter stopped running after the giant.

So, when Erk walked into the mess hall, in his nice pajamas – still can't decide which of the two is handsomer: the pajamas or their wearer; kidding, of course – we wondered how he was going to react to the reporters.

What we knew is that Kris couldn't stand her. But Erk had remained very professional with her.

So, on the night of Provencal stew, when he walked into the mess hall, all the women turned to him, even if, for Lin, it was more to see who was entering. She stopped talking for a while, though, and then resumed her discussion with Cook about the organization of the mechoui, which would happen after the journalists and prisoner left. A helicopter was coming to pick them up the next day, back to a French base, from where they would be sent back to Switzerland for the journalists, and to a place of treatment for the prisoner.

He came to our table, Baby Jane, Poll and Tito almost tripping each other to assist him, Kris cutting his meat when the pieces were too big. The reporters were with Lin, which may be why the brothers avoided her table that night.

Around the dessert, the Swiss lady came to see the Viking to ask for his forgiveness. And our giant, that sweet mountain of a man, accepted the apology and made room for her next to him, despite the face Kris made. That one hasn't forgiven her for the suffering his brother went through on her behalf. Erk and the journalist exchanged a few words, then she stood up and Erk asked her if she had learned anything from her imprisonment.

She said: "No, I learned my lesson from your selflessness. Thank you." She left.

That evening, after dessert, we all had a glass of wine liquor, in addition to the good red wine. The whole Company came to chat with the giant, spend a moment with him, wish him a good recovery.

It was the eye of the storm.

Two days later, bored out of his mind by inactivity, antsy, Erk asked to be back on duty. And I noticed that even though his healing gift doesn't work on him, he seems to heal quickly. Of course, two days later, only the welts were gone, and the marks that had bled were still there, but he was on the road to recovery. What's sure is that he would not be able to dig, nor practice our very vicious martial art which still has no name. There is a competition to name it, by the way.

So, Erk put his uniform back on, stored away his lovely silk pajamas, returned to the room he shares with his brother and decided to do the sentry rounds.