Ashes of Love and War - TodoMomo

||Chapter 32 ~ Part 2||

A fluttering feeling filled her chest. Momo raised her chin and pushed back her shoulders as she made her way over to the hearth.

The room was cold. Drafts of frigid air blew into the cabin through holes and cracks in the wood. Momo threw more timber onto the fire before going over to the two cracked vases where they'd been storing their food.

The cabin didn't have much. Whoever had stayed last had cleared the house of anything of value. Luckily, there were a few rusted cooking pans and vases for storing herbs that had been left intact.

Momo pulled off the wooden stopper of the closest vase and reached in to grab the valerian then returned to the hearth. Setting a pan over the flames, Momo dropped the roots into a pan of water and waited; her thoughts wandering back to Todoroki's condition.

The temple taught that a person's health was connected to the harmony of their four humors. In contrast, illness was the result of an excess or a deficiency in one or more of their humors. And the only way to heal a person was to bring their body back into balance.

What could have caused Todoroki's humors to be out of balance?

She wondered if something had occurred to Todoroki that she may have missed. Momo thought back over the three weeks they'd been confined to the cabin and tried to identify if there was something she had overlooked. She couldn't think of anything.

The only thought that occurred to Momo was that perhaps Todoroki was becoming claustrophobic. Soldiers were used to traveling and fighting, and Todoroki more than others. After ten years on the battlefield, Momo wondered if perhaps he wasn't used to living inside anymore, especially not in a place as small and cramped as their current shelter.

However, that didn't explain the reoccurring dreams.

Momo gloomily turned the thought over in her mind, then glanced back towards Todoroki. "Do you think the gods may be trying to tell you something? A warning, perhaps?" she asked hopefully.

Todoroki snorted and pushed himself up. "If they are, then they aren't doing a very good job," he said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "I can't even remember who it is in my dreams."

"Prophecies aren't meant to be straightforward," Momo stated in a matter of fact tone. The water was boiling. Momo poured it into a cup and returned to the bed. "Reading them is an art, not a science. Perhaps, if you tell me more, I can help. Is there anything else that may be happening in the dream that we can use to try and piece together what you're seeing?"

"No," Todoroki said. His fingers brushed hers as he took the cup. His skin was still clammy. "I told you everything that happens." He stared down into the cup. "I'm in the middle of fighting these human-like golems. And as I kill them, more golems keep forming. So I have to burn them to keep them from regenerating."

"Do you know why they are attacking you?"

Todoroki frowned. And Momo watched as his eyebrows furrowed in thought. Then he shook his head and continued in a hollow tone as though he were repeating facts. "No. All I know is that I'm furious because they trapped me there and I can't leave until I defeat the one controlling them."

Momo nodded slowly. "So then you find the god or monster manipulating them?" she asked in a voice urging him to continue.

"Yeah." Todoroki's fingers tightened around the cup. "I jump over the fire and think I have the one controlling them cornered. However, when I go to stab the bastard, I realize he switched himself with someone else - I think a woman. And I end up killing them. Then, I wake up."

Todoroki's eyes darkened and became distant, and they fell silent.

Momo watched him carefully as he continued to drink, and the color slowly returned to his features. Her shoulders dropped, and she gave a sigh of relief as the tension eased from her.