I WILL FIND YOU.

Chapter 100: I Want A Bath

"Kai... Cough*"

"I'm here."

"Have we stopped moving?" Minda asked in a feverish daze.

"We'll be leaving again after a short break. How do you feel?" Kai asked as he reached out to push back the damp hair clinging to Minda's forehead. The heat radiating from his pale skin felt intense, almost burning the tips of Kai's fingers.

"Better..." Minda pitifully muttered. Kai looked at him never once believing he was feeling better. It was actually the opposite. After touching him Kai suspected his fever had gotten worse.

"Gen will bring your medicine over soon."

Kai bent down and kissed Minda's flushed cheeks. His lips soft and cool like a gently breeze against Minda's skin. Minda closed his eyes feeling exhausted after their short exchange but Kai couldn't let him sleep until after he drank his medicine and ate a little.

"MinMin, don't go back to sleep yet. Have a biscuit or two while we wait for your medicine." Kai said. He pulled out a box of biscuits that was once full but now only had a few left.

"I'm not hungry."

"It's not good to take your medicine on an empty stomach." Kai said. He pulled Minda's weakened body up and cradled him in his arms. After only a few days Minda seemed to have shrunk several sizes. Determined to get Minda to eat Kai held up one of the biscuits for Minda. The light scent of ginger helped ease some of Minda's nausea but not enough to bring back his appetite.

"No." Minda said in a weak coquettish voice. The way he turned and nuzzled against Kai's shoulder pull at Kai's heart strings.

"One biscuit." Kai insisted. Minda looked at the biscuit once more. His stomach churned unhappily at the thought. Kai caressed Minda's chin. His thumb lightly rubbing Minda's dry cracked lips.

"One biscuit." Kai repeated. Minda looked up at him and could see how worried he was. No longer refusing Minda opened his mouth and bit into the the hard baked biscuit. As he ate the taste of ginger filled his mouth.

Cough*

The dry biscuit agitated Minda's sore throat and he began to cough again. Kai quickly grabbed a water canteen and let me sip some water to soothe his throat.

"Is your throat bothering you? I'll warm a little honey for you." Kai said.

"Cough... Don't waste our precious honey." Minda said.

They were lucky and found a beehive in the forest before entering the Deadlands. Kai suffered several bee stings in the process of filling a few jars full along with some honeycomb. For the first few days Minda added it to Kai's tea until he realized he had nearly used it all. Now he treated it like a precious commodity and wouldn't use it at all.

"It isn't a waste. MinMin, it will help soothe your throat and give you energy." Kai said. Determined to give Minda some honey Kai lowered him back into bed and went to grab the honey pot.

"That's supposed to be for you." Minda thought as he watched Kai add a lot of honey to a cup full of warm water taken from the kettle. He knew Kai liked sweet things and planned to make a honey sauce or cakes for him using the honey not use it for himself because of a cold.

Kai helped Minda sip his warm honey water, which Minda generally liked. However, Kai had been too generous with the honey making the drink overwhelmingly sweet.

"Honey, it's enough. You can drink the rest." Minda said. He appreciated Kai's care but if he drank even one more mouthful he would vomit. Kai however thought he was only being frugal and tried to coax him into drinking a little more.