IRON GOD | 2: Empyrean

[22] Qila: Same Old Shocks

A knock sounded on her study door. "Master Qila? I need help."

    "Ami?" The old woman looked up from her journal. "Come on in."

    The door creaked open and Ami stumbled in. She looked like absolute hell, to put it lightly. Her eyes were squinted almost shut. Her skin was starkly pale, and she was shuddering as if febrile. She scarcely made it to the table, and when she sat down she nearly knocked her chair backwards.

    "Please, pay attention." Ami stammered and stared off into space. "Please look closer."

    Qila cocked her head. "Do you need some water?"

    Ami jolted and blinked, as if waking from a nightmare. "Sorry, don't know what that was all about." She lifted a hand up to her mouth and pressed her fingers into her teeth, head tilting in a neurotic motion. "Where was I? Ah. Right. Ido needs help."

    The master watched Ami's stiff, puppet-like movements for a moment and only found herself growing more disturbed. "Ido needs help? That's not what you said when you came in."

    Ami's lips pulled into a slight grimace. "Yeah."

    Qila reached out and felt Ami's forehead. It was scorching hot. "You probably know better than I do. What's a good fever remedy? Do I have any in my cabinets?"

    Ami tipped her head up and sniffed the air. "Left wall cabinet, top shelf, third jar to the right. Make a tea of it and it'll ease your fever and any headache you've got." She smiled. "Feel better soon, Qila."

    Qila bit her lip. This was only getting more disturbing by the second. Was Ami somehow unaware of her own condition? Or was something getting scrambled between her thoughts and her spoken words? She went to retrieve the herb Ami had sniffed out so precisely, then put a pot of water over the fireplace. All the while, she kept wary eyes on Ami. It seemed safest not to let her out of sight, and bizarre as it was, Qila felt some genuine concern for their strange intruder's well-being.

    Ami fidgeted in her chair. "Why're you staring?"

    "Could ask you the same," Qila quipped. "Neither of us seem all that good at manners, really."

    "Screw manners." Ami chuckled. "Be animals instead, why don't we? We humans sure aren't plants. Just the most awful animals."

    Qila shrugged. "Do you ever take care of animals?"

    "Oh yes." Ami looked up. "I love 'em so much more than their lousy humans. One 'a my favorite people I've done business with thought the same damn thing." She leaned back and crossed her legs. "Piece 'a work serial horse thief, that guy, but I couldn't help but smile."

    "Hm. Seems you know how to stay afloat one way or another." The old woman stared at the pot and wished it would boil already. "How's Rizval?"

    "Gave 'em a stern talking-to and a follow-up exam." Ami tapped her fingers on the table. "Roughhousing like that with a broken collarbone? Unbelievable."

    The master hummed. "Was it really a hunting accident?"

    "I didn't do it if that's what you're askin'." Ami gave a halfhearted chuckle and let her head slump toward the table. "Just another day's work."

    Finally, the kettle boiled. Qila poured a cup and put it on the table in front of Ami, who didn't really seem to acknowledge it apart from a twitch in her nose. Remembering Ami's strange deflection earlier, she told a white lie. "Will you taste this and make sure I brewed it to the right strength?"

    "Sure thing." Ami grasped lazily at the cup, took a small sip, and then a huge gulp that probably burned her tongue. She chugged the whole cup like cold water in a drought. "Yeah, that's about right."