Luminous

120 - Depths of Despair (2/2)

"Dad! Dad, how you doing? Does it still hurt?"

Meya fell headfirst through the door, propelled by leftover energy from taking the stairs three steps at a time. Dad was sprawled on his belly on their room's only bed, shirt halfway up his back. Mum knelt beside him, throwing her whole weight onto her thumbs to knead out the knots in his tense flesh.

"I'm fine!" He barked, his voice muffled by the pillow, then groaned and gritted his teeth-Mum must've hit an old sore spot. Meya rushed in.

"Did you pay the healer? How much was it?" She panted, forcing her hands under Mum's so she'd retreat. Dad blew a long sigh, soothed by the heat of her burning palms.

"It's alright, Meya, I took care of that," said a hoarse voice to her left before Mum could answer. Meya whipped around, eyes bulging. In her haste, she'd breezed right past Lady Arinel standing just beside the bed. Her eyes were red and swollen nearly shut, her blonde curls frayed and tangled.

She stood reading a piece of parchment, still in the dress she wore to see off Zier, rumpled by uneasy slumber. Without even looking up, she strode to take Meya's hand and pulled her back to the door.

"The healer left a recipe for painkillers. You come help me forage," she said, her voice lifeless.

"My lady-" Mum lurched after them, but stopped at Arinel's command-

"You keep him company, Alanna. I must keep busy."

For a blink, Arinel's restraint gave way. Her voice trembled as her hand tightened around Meya's, pleading for mercy, clinging on for hope. Meya was torn. Her heated hands worked better to soothe Dad's pain, but poor, heartbroken Arinel needed a friend who knew her plight to commiserate with.

Meya looked to Mum, but of course Mum would nod, desperate to repay Arinel's kindness as she was. So Meya let Lady Crosset lead the way, biting back her sigh so as not to trouble her good friend.

⏳

Under normal circumstances, the nearest hospital was but a short carriage ride from the inn. However, the multitude of festival-goers had extended that time by tenfold, so Arinel and Meya chose the quarter-hour walk instead.

The crowd thinned as they left the square. Falling silence tempted conversation to break it, yet the girls were content with letting it reign.

Meya didn't know how to begin. Unlike her and the Hadrian boys, Arinel had none to gain and everything to lose from all this. This wasn't even her cause, her duty, her people. She shouldn't have to suffer simply because she loved Zier, because Meya was her friend.

Meya opened her mouth to apologize, but then a shadow swallowed her. She glanced up and found the hospital's sandstone column looming tall behind a gate of wrought iron. Scrape scrape went the rake as the lone young nun tried her best to weed out fallen leaves from among the grass.

The nun looked up at the creak of the gate, saw the basket Meya had slung on her arm, and instantly understood what they came for. She led them through the heavy wooden doors into the hospital's main hall.

Meya's nose was the first to react to her new surroundings. The musty smell of decay, mingled with sour notes of blood, vomit, piss, shite and other foul combinations of the humors. Close second were her ears. The rustle of robes, the murmurs of monks and nuns, the groans of the old, the ill and withering. Faint screams of a woman giving birth echoed from another chamber somewhere. They compelled her eyes to roam, seek out the source of these horrors.

The noon sun streamed in through tall windows, tinting the scene in bleak yellow-white. Two rows of hay mattresses sat along the walls, all occupied. Most weren't sick-just ancient and worn thin by the years. Some were sleeping. Some sat glassy-eyed and mouth ajar, staring at dust motes dancing in the light, hairless, toothless and shirtless, as the nuns cleaned them. Some stood leaning heavily on their canes, staring jealously at Meya and Arinel walking past with their straight backs and flowing dresses.