The Ripple Effect

I groaned into the dew-covered grass that all but smothered my entire face. Zeya was curled up against my side, and a soft snoring came from her direction. She was clearly sleeping soundly, but comfort had eluded me ever since the hasty...operation.

I tilted my head back slightly, my jaw sinking into the wet ground. I could see my “doctor” at the far end of our makeshift camp. Eliana was sitting with her blanket thrown over her lap and her back pressed to a large oak. She wasn’t watching me, however; her gaze was on the horizon, which was lit with colours so warm and inviting as dawn loomed over us.

Her fingers fiddled with something small, and it reflected the rising sun’s glow. I could not tell what it was immediately, until I realised that her neck was bare. It was the necklace. The locket was popped open, but the photo’s subject (whatever or whoever it was) was just too far away and too small to discern.

But there was something strangely soothing about the image before me. I could not see her face, but her aura was that of quiet reflection and fondness. There was an undertone of regret and longing, but the air of “things remembered” overpowered the traces of sadness. If I could have seen her face, I was sure she would have an incredibly light smile on her lips.

I knew nothing about the woman, save the fact that she had been wronged by a male at some point in her life. Sure, I knew that she was derisive and crude — hardly the proper lady! — and that she had an incredibly strong guard (both against her heart and her head, as I could not mind-link with her as I could with other commoners). Perhaps the mystery surrounding her would be enough to keep my interest piqued and my temper at bay.

Heaven knows she enjoyed testing my limits...

“Oh. You’re awake.”

Caught! But her neutral gaze did not suggest any suspicion. She did, however, close her locket and return the chain to her neck.

“I did not ever sleep,” I grumbled sourly, cataloguing my pains. As expected, they all congregating up my spine.

She rolled her eyes as if I was simply a crying babe — as if I cried only because it was all I knew to do! Regardless of her offhandedness about the fact that she had stitched me up with the care of a mother sewing her daughter’s least favourite teddy bear, Eliana rose slowly and stepped out of her blanket. She tucked it back into her backpack before crossing the three metres or so of distance between us.

As she stared down at her handiwork, I returned my chin to the mud and looked straight ahead at the sunrise. But a low hiss slipped past me, and my entire body tensed. A curse flew from my mouth before I could stop it.

Eliana gave me a bored look, but then she resumed prodding at my stitches.

“It’s tender,” she presumed. Oh, but surely that obvious diagnosis in itself made her a fully accredited doctor!

“You don’t say,” I grumbled out of pain-induced rage.

“I’d be nicer to me, if I were you,” she warned, and then she pressed only minutely harder against my skin.

But the message was clear.

“Fine!” I growled out, clenching my teeth against the sparks shooting through my entire nervous system.

“Luckily for you, I have just the thing for the swelling.”

Leaves crunched beneath her retreating footsteps, but she soon returned with her backpack. At first, the pain was unbearable as she ran her hands over my much too firmly for my liking. But then numbness washed over me in a flood of brilliance. A soft sigh of relief slipped past my lips, and a chuckle filled my ears as red filled my cheeks.

“This forest is full of healing plants,” she explained quietly, continuing to rub the mystery gel on my back. I could only faintly feel her fingertips. “I learned from the pack healer, Marcia, when I, well, ‘moved in.’” She hesitated, but then she said, “When I came, I was covered in an itchy rash because I had mistaken poison oak for aloe. Marcia is still baffled about that one.”

The air was suddenly incredibly uncomfortable, but the effort was greatly appreciated, so I kept my mouth shut. She apparently finished her task, though I only knew because I could hear her circling around me so she could wake Zeya by rubbing small circles on the girl’s back (which affected me as well, due to the girl’s insistence upon clinging to my side).

I clenched my teeth in preparation as I pushed myself onto my knees, but the pain never came. The delighted grin on my face could not be helped, and Zeya grinned back to me as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

“Pack up. It’s time to head out,” I told them, pushing myself onto my feet. “I feel great!”

“Yay!” Zeya cheered, jumping onto her feet and running to pick up her bag.

A hand fell to my shoulder, and I whirled around quickly to see Eliana giving me a neutral look. But her voice was low when she said, “Don’t push it. You may not feel any pain, but that doesn’t mean that it ceased to exist. You’re just blind to it right now.”

I sighed. Of course I would have to “take it easy,” but that just wasn’t possible for two reasons: our situation required quick action. Also, it was just mentally impossible for me to act as a simple spectator...

“Thank you for the plants anyway,” I sighed, smiling lightly to the woman who only nodded. “Though I still think you took out some pent up anger on me with that needle!”

She did not seem to get the joke, for she pursed her lips. “You have rough skin, Luca. The needle wasn’t quite sharp enough, so force was—”

“I was just pulling your leg, Eliana. Really, thank you. Had I gone on much longer, I’m sure I would have found that walking without a spine is pretty hard.”

She made a disgusted face at me, and I couldn’t help but chortle.

“I very much doubt that your entire spine would slip out,” she grumbled, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Now then, lead the way. I would insist you hang back for your health, but Zeya and I do not know the way.”

I only nodded quickly. She really needed to lose the stick that was clearly lodged up her backside.

I cast a quick glance to Zeya, who was bouncing around Eliana and telling her about her dream last night. A smile formed on Eliana’s lips as she listened to the animated girl. It was obvious that Zeya was Eliana’s only hope, if she ever wanted to be complete again.

If only I knew what it was that she had lost in the first place.