Ice Blink

11: The Healer

The first person Nuna spoke to on the street pointed her in the direction of Niju's igloo. She was surprised to see citizens going about their everyday duties: carrying firewood, trading furs or meat, and dragging driftwood or snow behind them on small sledges to patch up their homes. Even their parkas were almost identical to those of Nualik. Women carried small children in the hoods of their amautiit.

Nuna silently berated herself for still clinging to the belief that the Illulik residents would act any different, but the idea of the place being a haven for deities was hard to shake, and she kept having to remind herself that they were all human, just like her.

A hanging pelt door blocked the entrance to Niju's igloo, or what she hoped was Niju's igloo as she had never been the best at directions. Nuna hesitated outside.

"Hello? Niju? It's Nuna."

"Come in."

She ducked inside.

Niju's igloo was strewn with scrolls and documents made of tanned skins. He sat at a desk, frowning at one of them, but looked up when Nuna walked in. "Hello. Are you having trouble?"

"Yes," she admitted. "I feel weak and I can't seem to get warm. I don't think I'm in immediate danger –"

"But you will be if you are not treated," he finished. "It was wise of you to come straight here. Let me see what I can do." He pulled bundles of herbs from a shelf and sorted through them.

Nuna peered over his shoulder, a little intimidated, her curiosity warring with her awkwardness at getting too close. "Hemweed," she said, identifying a few herbs. "Arctic willow. And... is that bloodbane?"

"You certainly know your healing herbs."

"I'm familiar with willow but I've only ever heard descriptions of the other two, they're so rare," Nuna said, momentarily forgetting about her plan to garner his support as her healer's instincts took over.

"Hemweed and bloodbane are strange in that they thrive in the cold, making them a little more common in North Ice. They are extremophiles."

"Isn't bloodbane poisonous?"

"Relax. Why would I try to kill you after going to the trouble of saving your life in the first place? The leaves and stems are poisonous, but this is just the roots. Which makes me even more impressed you managed to identify it."

"I started learning herblore while I was learning to speak and walk." It was easy for her to conjure up mental images of the plants she had spent her entire life working with. It had been ingrained in her by Meriwa long before Qignaaq took over her training, as much a part of her as her own blood and marrow and flesh.

"Evidently. It shows." Niju dropped the herbs into a pot of water and hung it above the fire. "Bloodbane root extract, in very small quantities, helps increase body temperature. If the leaves and stems are used..."

"Let me guess. The core body temperature is raised too high so the organs can't function, at such an alarming rate that the body can't equilibrate. The organs shut down."

Niju's eyes resembled bottomless pits. "Precisely. It's dangerous, but so is every herb if one does not know how to use it."

Meriwa had lectured her on that topic countless times.

When the water was steaming, Niju removed the pot and poured Nuna a drink, careful not to let any of the floating roots or leaves enter the cup. She took it gratefully.

"I can't do much, so my suggestion is you go back to your igloo, eat when someone comes with food, and rest. But you already knew that."

"I did. What are all these scrolls you're reading?"

"I study the spirits," Niju said. "The scrolls are very helpful – scholars have tried to make sense of the underworld many times."

"They don't look that helpful."

He stared at her incredulously.

Nuna gave a small cough. "I – I actually can't read."

"You can't read?"

"We have no need for letters in Mid-Ice," she said defensively. "We use word of mouth and scrimshaws."

She loved running her hands along the long, flat pieces of bone, feeling the pictures carved upon them as well as looking at them while the story they told took shape in her mind.

"Scrimshaws are beautiful, yes, but they do not have the same level of detail words can create."

"But those letters don't look beautiful at all." Nuna eyed the spiky marks. They looked like mere scratches created by a child. "How can they be so great?"

"It isn't what they look like, it's what they inspire you to think about." He looked disturbed that she didn't know how to read or write, as if it was common in the north.

"We get along fine without them," Nuna said stubbornly. She didn't like being at a disadvantage, and she hoped he didn't think she was lacking in skill for being unable to understand scratches on parchment.

"I'm sure you do."

"Niju, I was wondering –"

"You want support," he cut in, as if he had been expecting this all along. "Of course you do. Sedna has not yet decided your fate. Unfortunately, I can't do much for you at the moment, and you need to rest and recover, anyway."

"So... You're refusing to help us? Even though you believe us?"

"I didn't say that." He rolled one of the scrolls back up. "If you feel well enough, meet me by the main entrance to Illulik tomorrow at midday. The head healer is so busy with patients she can't go out to collect new medicine, so the task falls to me, and I'd appreciate an expert such as yourself by my side."

Despite her worries, Nuna found herself biting back a smile. "I wouldn't call myself an expert. But yes, of course, I'll be there."

As soon as she left his igloo, her heart unclenched. What was she thinking, agreeing to meet a man – a stranger – alone? Why did something about his presence comfort her? She didn't think she would be in danger with him. He was unlike anyone else she had ever met, and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.