Soul Tattoo (Ereri)

Negative Two

A young woman he didn't recognize came into his clinic late one afternoon.

"Are you Grisha Jaegar? The doctor?" She held her hands clasped behind her as if she were nervous but determined not to show it.

"I am," Grisha said, setting down the pestle he had been grinding herbs for a poultice with. "What can I do for you?" His guest didn't appear to be injured, and her eyes were too clear and her voice too strong for an illness to be the reason for this visit.

At the sound of his voice, the woman relaxed, and smiled, looking suddenly relieved. "Thank goodness," she sighed. "I wasn't sure, not really, until I heard your voice."

"I'm afraid I don't follow. Who are you? Are you in need of medical care?"

"Oh, no, not at all," she answered hastily. "I'm sorry, I'm being very strange. My name is Carla Bauer. My father's farm is about three days' walk from here, just inside the wall."

"And what brings you here?" Grisha was becoming increasingly perplexed.

Carla Bauer exhaled slowly and wet her lips. "I was in the nearest village, visiting a friend who had been ill with a fever," she began in a determined tone. "She's well now, but it was very serious for a time, and she told me that her husband was on the point of setting out for Shiganshina to ask the great Doctor Jaegar for a cure when her fever broke." She paused, as if considered how to phrase her next words. "The moment I heard your name, there was a song in my heart. It was—I've never heard anything so lovely. I didn't really understand what it could be at first, but the more I asked her about you, the stronger it grew, and when I heard your voice just now—" she swallowed hard, and left the sentence hanging there in the air between them.

Grisha was well-read and habitually intellectual. He couldn't remember the last time he had been left at a loss for words. Now, though, looking into this woman's determined brown eyes, his mind was blank, filled to the brim with empty shock.

"Get out," he said at last without heat. He had never felt so tired. "I've never believed in that kind of thing. You probably just have heart burn, or a disfunction of the ear. I recommend seeing a doctor. Another doctor. Goodnight."

He fled to the back room without daring to let himself catch more than a split second's glimpse of the shattered look on her face.