Backlash Part 2

Chapter 210: Not Acting Right

A jostling sensation roused Nuan-er from her sleep. Her ears hurt, and her head hurt. The medicine had helped a little, but mostly the medicine had made her really sleepy. Being asleep was better. She didn't have to feel the hurting. Nuan-er felt someone lifting her up and she forced herself to open her eyes. She just needed to check. Make sure it was someone she knew.

No one had tried to hurt Nuan-er in Cloud Recesses. Supposedly all the adults here should be safe, but Nuan-er was still hesitant to accept that fully. There were a lot of people in the world. People who would hurt and kill other people for no reason. People who would hurt and kill other people just because they could.

She recognized her Baba easily, although his expression seemed unhappy. Her Baba had been very worried about her, and he had stayed up with her last night when she hurt too much to go to sleep. Now his brows were furrowed and his nose slightly wrinkled. It wasn't the way her Baba looked when he was angry. Nuan-er had seen her Baba angry. She had seen her Baba draped in cold smoke and crimson lightning while he commanded the dead to slaughter those who had hurt Nuan-er and her family.

This wasn't how Baba's face looked angry. Baba didn't wrinkle his nose like that when he was angry. Yet, the expression looked like an angry expression that might belong to someone else. Nuan-er tugged on his robes to draw his attention. There was half a second where Nuan-er thought the expression that looked kind of like anger sharpened.

Then Baba smiled at her. She had expected her Baba to smile when she drew his attention. Or possibly he would look at her with concern, but even then he would usually offer her a wobbly smile. A smile that said he understood she was hurting, but he believed things would get better. This smile was weird. It was a smile, but it felt sharp.

"Xian-gege... it hurts." she forced herself to say. It was weird, the way her own words were muffled in her ears. Her Baba patted her back and she heard something like murmuring beyond the ringing in her ears. It was enough to know her Baba was saying something. His lips were moving, but she could only kind of hear the words.

"... ... back... ... sleep... ... ... go... ... trip..." Her Baba's voice is hard to hear over the ringing that has been getting worse and worse over the last few days.

Her Baba told her yesterday that she should have told him right away when she wasn't feeling well. Nuan-er had thought it would go away. There had been an uncomfortable feeling in her ear, but she thought it would go away on its own. It had happened before. It had been really uncomfortable, but after a while it went away. Nuan-er didn't want to be a burden, especially not when the problem would go away on its own.

Then Nuan-er woke up and both of her ears were hurting. It was uncomfortable, but Nuan-er had been uncomfortable before. She'd had her life uprooted and her world ripped apart, and she'd learned to manage. She would keep herself together enough for her didi.

Over time, Nuan-er learned to not be demanding. She would try to be helpful and not take attention away from her didi and the other kids who were sharing caretakers with them. The fact that both of her ears were hurting meant that this time was worse than the last, but she'd just have to be patient. If it was worse this time, it would probably take longer to go away.

The ringing in her ears made it harder to hear the teacher in class. It made it harder. The teacher thought she was having trouble paying attention. Baba had asked her whether or not it was true. Whether Nuan-er was having trouble paying attention for some reason. He'd asked if she was thinking about something else, or if she was having trouble being still. Nuan-er didn't have problems being still. Nuan-er could stay still for hours if she needed to keep someone from finding her.