In Your Eyes

Arella stayed in the foyer after they had carried him up the stairs. She was horrified but what she had just seen and couldn’t move. Shortly afterward, the doctor walked down the stairs and stopped when she saw Arella standing there.

“Thank you for having someone take him up there,” the doctor said, walking the rest of the way down the stairs. She saw the look on Arella’s face and sighed. “Perhaps I should explain more about my son’s condition. Where are your parents?”

Arella led her into the throne room where her parents were sitting on their thrones.

“Ah, is your second meeting over?” her father asked but the doctor shook her head grimly.

“I had to cancel it,” the doctor explained as Arella sat on her throne. “My son fell ill.”

“Quite literally,” Arella said and her father frowned.

The doctor sighed. “There’s something about my son’s health I didn’t tell you mostly because the condition is still so rare. Have you heard of epilepsy?” The family shook their heads no. “It’s a condition in the brain where, when over stimulated, can cause a seizure.”

“Is that what it was?” Arella asked and the doctor nodded. “So he- he wasn’t possessed or anything like that?”

“No. Epilepsy is still rare that people often confuse it with possession or something to do with demons.” She thought for a moment. “You know how, when you start a fire everything is normal until you add too many logs? The fire will go out and you have to coax it back. It’s sort of like that only with his brain.”

“That’s horrible!” Marie said, a hand over her heart.

“Indeed it is,” the doctor sighed.

“Is he going to be okay?” Johnathan asked.

“Oh, he’ll be just fine. He’s resting now. He would have been in more pain if Arella hadn’t found him.”

Arella’s mother and father looked at her but she kept her gaze fixed on her lap. It felt like déjà vu and she tried to get it off of her mind. But every time she closed her eyes, she could see Paul’s jerking body as the blood drained onto the marble floor and Mathias’s body jerking from what the doctor called a seizure. It soon overwhelmed her and she ran out of the throne room and threw up in the nearest washroom.

“Are you okay?” her mother asked when Arella came out.

“When I saw him- It looked just like….”

Marie hugged her daughter tightly and Arella hugged her back, screwing her face up so that she wouldn’t cry.

--

The following day, Arella and the doctor were in the library again. And just like the day before, Arella wasn’t interested in talking about her or her brother.

“So I was thinking we could combine today’s sessions,” the doctor said, “and go for a walk.”

“Where?” she asked, surprised.

“On nice spring days like these, I like to go to the marketplace,” she answered. “Maybe buy a cool drink and look at the new wares.” She stood up. “What do you say?”

Arella hesitated but eventually gave in. If she did this, she wouldn’t have to come back for a second session. They walked out through the front gates and headed towards the village, neither speaking. The doctor walked with a spring in her step but Arella walked as usual: up straight but with her eyes downcast.

“Perhaps tomorrow you could wear a green dress,” the doctor said suddenly.

“What?”

“You look lovely in black,” the doctor said, “but I bet you’d look even better in green.”

Arella frowned but said nothing. When they reached the marketplace, though, she inhaled the familiar smell of fresh food and dirt and felt a little more peaceful. They stopped to get some tea from the vendor then strolled along the different carts. People moved out of their way as they walked and bowed to Arella.

“Would you like some fruit?” Arella asked, prompting a surprised look from the doctor. “I’m hungry and I know a cart that has the best apples in the kingdom.”

“Lead the way.”

Arella took her down a little then turned at the end of a cart selling fish. They took a shortcut between the blacksmith and the dressmaker. It led to a smaller branch of the market where the poorer vendors lived and tried to sell their wares. In the center was a cart piled high with apples, oranges, and lemons. Arella filled a basket with the apples, paid for them, then they went back into the main market.

“I didn’t know about that place,” the doctor said as Arella polished an apple on her sleeve and passed it over.

“I found it,” she explained. “I used to come down here all the time with my brother,” she mumbled.

“Did he like the apples, too?” Arella only nodded, determined not to say anything else. “Oh look! A fabric cart!”

They approached the cart. It was selling a different assortment of wares. There were yards of different colored cloth and yarn and string. The doctor was enthusiastic about the cloth and talked happily with the vendor about the best kind for sewing. Arella, thinking about how much her mother loved knitting, bought a ball of golden yarn and tucked it into the basket.

The vendor handed the doctor a bag and they moved on.

“Perhaps we should bring your son something back,” Arella suggested after they picked up a new robe for her father.

“That’s a very kind suggestion,” the doctor said, sounding truly touched.

“He likes to ride?” The doctor nodded and Arella beckoned for her to follow again. They went to a stall dedicated for horse riders and she addressed the vendor, “I’m looking for a pair of nice men’s riding gloves.”

“Only the best are sold here,” the vendor said, puffing out his chest in pride. “What size is this bloke’s hand?”

“A medium will probably fit his hands best,” Arella answered and passed over the gold.

“Thank you very much,” the doctor said as Arella offered them to her. “No, I’d like you to give them to him.”

Arella frowned. “Why me?”

“It was your idea, wasn’t it?”

Arella just shrugged and put them in the basket along with her other purchases.

-

Over dinner, she handed out her gifts.

“We went to the marketplace,” she said to her parents and pulled out the bag she had put everything in. She passed the robe to her father. “You were saying two days ago you needed a new one.” His eyes were wide as he accepted the gift. “Mother, I saw this yarn. It’s beautiful and I thought you’d like it.” There were tears in her mother’s eyes as Arella handed it to her. “And, Mathias, we stopped by a stall and got these for you. Maybe when you’re feeling better you can take a ride on one of the palace horses.”

She handed over the box with the gloves and he opened it. He was very pale and shook a little.

“Thank you,” he said. “That was very kind.”

Arella merely shrugged and went back to her meal.

--

“I don’t know what you did,” the king said as the three met in his office again. He was holding the robe, looking at it in fascination. “She used to buy us gifts all the time until her brother passed away.”

“She did mention she used to go to the marketplace with her brother,” the doctor nodded as the queen dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. “I had no idea she enjoyed it so much. She was a different woman out there.”

“She talked to you about Paul?” the queen breathed.

“Just that they found a special part of the marketplace together,” she answered and the queen’s face fell. “Don’t look so discouraged. The fact that she opened up to me enough to tell me that is a huge step forward. Please excuse me, but I must go tend to my son.”

“Of course,” the king said quickly. “Sleep well tonight.”