Snow Fields - Book Two of The Fields of Mendhavai Trilogy

Chapter Seventeen

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I woke in the smoky dimness of the hut I’d been given. Orange light flickered weakly on the walls, radiating from the gently crackling fire in the corner opposite my sleeping pallet. My head was pounding fiercely and I sat up slowly, one hand pressed against my temple that felt like it might burst. Feet shuffled nearby, and I looked up; one of Ansuul’s daughters was moving toward me with a bowl that steamed. It smelled heavenly.

Without speaking, she knelt at my side, placed one hand lightly on my shoulder and offered the bowl. I peered at the contents, wondering if I should worry about what was in there, but she pressed the bowl into my hands and I had no opportunity to protest before she moved away. She paused at the door flap and stuck her head outside for a moment before going back to the fire.

I took a long sniff, hoping to identify the contents. The smell of fish was strong and my stomach growled loudly, feeling hollow. That was all it took for me to dismiss my distrust and I started shoveling spoonfuls of the stew into my mouth. It was utterly delicious, and I gratefully accepted the refill she offered. By the time I scraped the last of the gravy from the bottom of the wooden bowl, the pounding in my head had become tolerable.

“Headache go away soon,” Maudla said, as she came into the hut, followed closely by Taphille who looked very worried and had red-rimmed eyes. The wisewoman ruffled his hair as the boy paused, then he ran to me and threw himself into my arms.

“I’m sorry, my Lady!” The rest of his apology was buried in my shirt with his face.

I stroked the boy’s hair. “Taphille, don’t worry. None of what happened was your fault.”

“But if I hadn’t come-"

I tugged sharply on a handful of his hair and he let out a squeak. “Stop that. You’re starting to sound like me. You’re starting to sound like…” I looked up at Maudla but the woman shook her head.

“No curse on boy. Just … what word? Angst?”

I smiled crookedly at her, then pushed Taphille out to arm's length and looked him in the eye. “Taphille, you can’t beat yourself up about it, because it isn’t your fault. Even if your step-mother was upset by your arrival, that doesn’t change the fact that you’re needed and welcomed here. You can’t allow what happened to affect that. Please don’t. I know what it is like to lead a people, and you’ll be doing that soon yourself. You can’t let this get in the way.”

Taphille looked down at the floor. “Yes, my Lady.”

“Headache gone?” Maudla asked knowingly.

I nodded. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Wisewoman duty to take away curse. And to give peace. I hope you will have peace now. Tea can do its work. It night. Village sleeping.” She turned to Taphille’s sister and spoke a few words quietly in Sani. The girl shyly gathered her utensils and left the hut, nodding when I called my thanks before she got out the door. “You sleep now, and you sleep good. Tomorrow another day. I think tomorrow be harder day, in many ways, for all of us.”

* * *

Giggles were the first thing that seeped into the darkness of my dreamless sleep. I opened my eyes and the border of the hide flap over the door was glowing brightly with early morning sunlight. Footsteps of youngsters running in the gravel outside faded with the giggles, and I sat up, feeling somehow lighter than the night before.

I smiled. Maudla had successfully lifted the curse. I searched myself for the guilt, and found nothing but relief. When I thought of my healing gift, there was only a niggling fear, one which I had constantly battled from the moment of the gift’s discovery. All was as it had been. I sighed, relieved.