by Colt, K. J.
Many children played outside, and I realised I didn’t know what Emala looked like. The pines behind our school were thick and put the yard into deep shadow. Beyond them was the Borrelia mountain base. Between the school buildings was a thick patch of grass sparsely decorated with little yellow flowers and attending butterflies, although patches of mud peeked from between the green. That was where the children gathered and played.
‘Jemely, can you see Emala?’ I asked.
‘Yes. She’s looking at you.’
‘She is?’ I searched the many children and finally spotted a brown-haired girl with a round face.
Jemely gestured to her. Emala pointed at herself, and Jemely nodded. Emala shook her head.
‘She doesn’t want to come,’ Jemely said.
I let go of Jemely’s arm and tapped my walking stick on the ground, trying to imitate how I used to walk.
As I moved closer to Emala, she gave me a puzzled look. ‘Adenine, what are you doing here? I thought you were leaving.’
‘Leaving?’ I recognized that voice—Jark. He punched my arm playfully. ‘Where are you going, Ads?’ He stood a few inches shorter than me and appeared well fed.
‘Can we talk alone?’ I asked Emala.
‘Girl talk! Ew,’ Jark said.
‘You’re acting different,’ she said. ‘You’re not…’ And then a look of recognition came over her face. She grabbed my arm and led me behind a school building. Jark tried to follow us, but she yelled at him to go away. ‘Show me,’ she said.
I checked around the yard, then raised the blindfold. Her mouth fell open, and I quickly replaced the material.
‘They’re like golden gemstones. Pretty. I could look at them all day. I knew you weren’t blind anymore. Your head, it moved different, you know? Usually you tilt it around. And the walking stick. You didn’t search as much as you usually do; you were less cautious. I’m so happy you can see again. Oh, but I should tell you now. Father banned me from speaking to you. I heard him talking to Healer Euka last night. They’re going to try to force Capacia to sign the register today. Since she’s your guardian, she has the right. If she signs it, you’ll have to go to Juxon City first, and she’ll go with you. If Capacia doesn’t sign it, Father might arrest her. He was just here looking for you.’ She covered her mouth with her hands.
‘What?’ I asked. The idea of Mother being imprisoned alarmed me.
‘Yes. I’m so sorry. He’s probably at your house now.’
‘But I just came from there.’
‘I don’t know what you should do, Adenine. Why don’t you go home to Phrest?’
‘Phrest isn’t my home.’
‘What? But your mother lives there, doesn’t she?’
‘Capacia is my mother.’
Her jaw dropped. ‘So… Capacia… your aunt isn’t your aunt… she’s your mother? That means… she did this to you? She had your eyes stitched together?’
‘Yes, but for my own good.’
‘Father said he’d never seen you before a few years ago. Where did you live all this time?’
I looked away from her and watched a beetle crawl under a leaf. ‘Here. In Borrelia. I stayed inside my house. Always inside. I’m going away, though. I’m here to say goodbye.’
She hugged me, and I was momentarily startled by her affection. I patted her back once, and she sniffed and shook her head.
‘This is terrible,’ she said, and wiped away a tear. ‘Go make sure your aunt—er, Capacia—doesn’t sign that register.’
I nodded and ran back to Jemely, not caring if I looked blind or not.
‘So?’ Jemely asked.
‘They’re at the house. The mayor. Healer Euka.’
She linked her hand around my arm and pulled me back to town via the eastern side, behind the houses that framed the town square. I told Jemely the story on the way there, and she said we should sneak around to the back door. Once there, we dropped to our hands and knees and crawled closer. There wasn’t a sound.
Jemely whispered, ‘I’ll go inside. They might be upstairs. Stay out of sight.’
She carefully opened the door and disappeared inside, taking care that the door didn’t bang behind her.
Mother must be upstairs. I decided that I wanted to hear the conversation too. I crawled up to Mystoria’s back door and pressed my ear to it.
‘Adenine is a healer,’ the mayor said. ‘Since you are not her mother, we cannot blame you for the unfortunate abuse of her eyes.’
‘I had no idea,’ Mother said. ‘I’d like to see proof before you take her away, though.’
‘Proof? How can we prove she’s a healer without seeing the colour of the eyes? There is the matter of her hair. Healer Euka says you’ve been staining it, and she saw the stitching in the eyes.’
‘The stitching is to prevent festering. That’s what Garrad told me. It’s simply not enough to persuade me to agree to have her sent off, away from her family, to live with strangers of… ’ Mother paused, and I heard the creak of her chair. ‘Questionable motives.’
‘Meligna is a wonderful place to live,’ Healer Euka said. My heart sank when I heard her speak and knew she stood in my home. ‘I only have the best intentions for the girl. She’ll be well looked after. Her father is dead, and her mother lives in Phrest. It seems she has coped with loss so far.’
‘The implication being she’ll cope with more? Such as the loss of her virginity, perhaps?’ Mother’s tone was icy.
Jemely guffawed. ‘Hah, good one, Capacia.’
‘You must sign this register, Capacia,’ the mayor ordered. ‘We must take her.’
‘I will not sign it until Adenine has decided whether she wants to go. Since you cannot prove whether she is a healer or not, you have no right to take her anywhere.’
‘I will get the proof,’ Healer Euka said. ‘Don’t let this woman dye her hair again, and there’ll be proof enough. Let me spend time with her, and we’ll all see what she is.’
‘Forgive me if I don’t have confidence in your intentions,’ Mother snapped.
Healer Euka gave a derisive chuckle.
Mayor Vawdon said, ‘Then we must remove the thread. The local doctor can perform the procedure.’
The local doctor would be Varago.
‘One eye would be enough to see the gold,’ the mayor continued.
‘That would leave her traumatised,’ Mother said. ‘Very well, as you wish. It’s true; she is a healer. Please, allow me a few days to persuade her into cooperating. She’ll do it.’
‘Capacia!’ Jemely cried. ‘How could you?’
‘Quiet, Jemely. She isn’t your family.’
‘She’s as much my family now as she is yours.’
‘Two days,’ Mayor Vawdon said. ‘And no longer. You’re not a stupid woman, Capacia. You best assist me in this. There are other ways to find out if she is a healer. Furthermore, failure to comply with the law—’
‘I understand,’ Mother interrupted.
‘I’ll set two of my men to watch the house,’ Healer Euka offered.
‘This is my town, and these are my citizens. I’ll set my own soldiers to watch the house,’ Mayor Vawdon said bluntly.
Why had Mother admitted what I was? It sounded as if she was buying time, but in doing so, she had given them the confirmation they desired. I guessed they considered it a certainty anyway. I heard footsteps, so I crawled back along the floor and hid around the side of the house. Frooby hadn’t been at school, and I needed to see him before I left. I watched Healer Euka and Mayor Vawdon leave, and took a longer route, bypassing all soldiers and townsfolk, to Frooby’s house.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
THE SUN WAS STILL OUT. Birds soared beneath the white clouds all thin and stretched across the sky. The breeze in the air was chilly despite the noontime sun. Winter was setting in. Almost every chimney spewed smoke into the sky. Another sign of winter. I felt my body slouch at the idea.
The duration of summer had barely felt enough bef
ore the cold air had swept down from the mountains to chase away any pleasantness. For the first time since I had considered living at my uncle’s shack, I was afraid. The snow could get deep in Senya. The rivers would freeze, and Borrelia’s animals and crops would die. I would need the coin from the sale of the property to live. I would need a horse and cart to carry supplies, and Klawdia and I would have to spend some time preparing. But we didn’t have time, and if we were discovered, we’d be hunted until I was taken to Meligna.
I passed several people on the way to Frooby’s. All paused to stare at me. The two houses where the road veered off towards Frooby’s farm were ordinary. Klawdia’s house was smaller than most, although she didn’t need much room. Her doors and windows were closed, and no smoke rose from her chimney.
Down Frooby’s lane, there were footprints from animals in the dirt road. I eyed cows in paddocks and horses grazing. Crows perched on wooden fence stakes. They cawed and cleaned their beaks against the timber railing.
Breaking up the horizon, steep mountainsides disappeared between thick, drooping clouds. My mind struggled to grasp the magnificence of the view. Who would be crazy enough to climb them? Klawdia, I thought, answering my own question. And I had heard that the mountains around Borrelia were smaller than those Death Peaks in Ruxdor or the Mountain Pass in Senya. It made sense that the only viable road that linked North Senya to South Senya went past Borrelia, which sat in the valley of the mountains.
If there was a war between North and South Senya, Borrelia would be the first point of contact. I shivered at the thought and focused my attention on Frooby’s farmhouse, which stood wide and impressive on the farm’s large plot of land.
The farmhouse sat on stilts and spread wider than any of the houses in town. The smooth roof angled downwards. Smoke poured from two chimneys at either end of the building. Someone was home. I hoped it wasn’t Frooby’s father. I stepped up onto the veranda and peered through a window. The furnishings seemed old yet comfortable. I looked at them, imagining what sort of person Frooby’s mother must have been. The colours matched, and there was symmetry in the furniture’s alignment, meaning the lady of the house must have been an orderly person of routine and composure. Those were things that I, being a merchant’s daughter, would notice, or so Mother often said. A merchant has an eye for value.
I knocked twice and waited. When there was no reply, I cracked open the door. My cheeks flushed from the thick and suffocating air. Why is it so warm in here?
Then I heard the roar of a hearth so full of logs that the surrounding bricks glowed red. Surely that was dangerous.
A maid came into the room. ‘Oi, who are you? You’re not supposed to be here.’
‘I’m a friend of Frooby’s.’
‘Well, he ain’t fit to receive visitors now, is he? So be off with ya.’ She used her broom to usher me out the door.
Her rudeness only made me more determined to see my friend, so I crept around the house, peering into each window. Bedrooms were always upstairs in houses like his, so I climbed up onto the railing of the veranda and crawled across the roof. I took care to move along the supporting beams, avoiding the rickety areas.
Two windows later, I found Frooby’s bedroom. The maid pottered about, tidying and cleaning. I ducked down as she dusted a nearby window frame. After a while, I raised my head and saw that she was gone. I tapped on the window.
Frooby didn’t respond. I tapped louder, and his face appeared at the window. His eyes were dark, his cheeks sunken, and his skin as pale as the mountain mists. He had always sounded unwell, but upon seeing him, I realised just how sick he was. He unlatched the window and slid it upwards.
‘You’re on my roof!’ He grabbed my arm and pulled.
As I passed through the frame, I lost my footing. We landed on the floor with me on top. Frooby’s hand had accidentally caught my blindfold, and it now lay on his chest.
My exposed eyes met his, and he gulped. I smiled. Mother had told me that a smile relaxed people, but I realised how stupid that must have looked. Frooby’s shock only grew when he looked at my face. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to say. What could I say? ‘Hey, remember when I was blind? Well, I’m not anymore. Surprise!’ Would he think I’d always lied to him about my blindness?
‘I was wondering how a blind girl could climb up here,’ he said, smirking. He was so handsome. ‘Your eyes. They’re gold. You can see.’
‘I’m sorry.’ I looked away.
‘No. Please.’ He shifted out from underneath me. He sat with his legs crossed. ‘Have you always been able to see?’
I shook my head, and tears fell on my cheeks.
‘Don’t cry. Please.’ He handed me a handkerchief.
I dabbed at my eyes and reached for my blindfold, but his hand got there first. He brought it closer to his face, staring at the material.
‘It’s only recent. My mother, she…’ I sighed and put my head in my hands. ‘I only found out recently that I wasn’t really blind.’
‘You’re a healer, aren’t you?’
I breathed out, hesitant to admit it. Healers were hated for many reasons. But as I looked into my sick friend’s eyes, one of the reasons stood out above all others. Healers asked for a lot of gold to save people’s lives. And I was so messed up since Uncle Garrad had tried to lay with me that I just couldn’t do what Frooby needed me to do to help him. No amount of gold could buy a healing from me.
‘You didn’t know, did you?’ he said.
I bit my lip. ‘No. Have you ever heard of healer children having their eyes stitched together?’
He shook his head. ‘That sounds awful. Is that what happened to you?’
‘Yes.’
‘How?’
‘With a needle and thread.’
He laughed. ‘Indeed.’
‘Look… I lied to you about something.’
‘Being a healer?’ Frooby cocked his head and warmth spread over his face.
I smiled. ‘No, my real mother is Capacia. My father was Ardonian. Garrad is my uncle. My parents kept me inside most of my life.’
His eyes widened. ‘On the first day we met, you said you hated being shut inside too.’
‘Mother and Father had my eyes stitched so that no one would know I was a healer.’
‘They shouldn’t have done that, though I can see why they made that choice. You must be angry.’
I nodded.
‘It wasn’t Varago, was it?’
I stared at him for a moment, inspecting his delicate features and tried not to find him attractive. He didn’t look like the girl he’d said he was on my last visit, when I was blind, but he also didn’t have the muscular build of a farmer, either.
‘It was Varago.’
Frooby leaned closer, inspecting my eyelids. ‘Close your eyes.’
I did, and he ran a finger along the top of one of them. The lid was so sensitive that it fluttered, but I tried not to move.
‘There’s no scarring. How old were you?’
‘Ten.’
‘You’re thirteen now, aren’t you? So you’ve—’
‘Almost fourteen.’
‘Right, so you’ve been blind for almost four years. That’s a long time.’ He stared at my eyes. ‘How did you find out about all this?’
I wanted to answer his questions, but I was afraid of what he’d think of me, afraid I would see judgement in his expression. I forced myself to look back at him. Why was it so hard to look people in the eyes?
Frooby seemed to be deep in thought, a faraway look on his face. His eyebrows knitted together, and his lips twitched. ‘Fourteen is when healer girls are taken away. Is that why the ambassador healer remains in town? There are few that can afford her coin.’
‘Yes,’ I said.
‘You’re still wearing your blindfold, though. Who else knows?’
‘Mother, Klawdia, Varago, Jemely, Emala, You. I can’t stay in Borrelia… well, at least not in the town. I’m moving to my unc
le’s hill shack. I’m going there today, just like you advised. I want you to come.’
‘Adenine, I can’t. Look at me. I’m practically a corpse.’
‘I’m selling the shack back to Mr. Corgastor, that land-law man from Juxon City. I want to buy you a healing with the money.’
‘Absolutely not. I don’t want that, Adenine. It wouldn’t be right.’
I wondered if I’d offended him. ‘Do you know how it works?’
‘I’m three years older than you, Adenine, and a boy. Of course I know how it works.’
My face flushed, and he smiled.
‘Look at me with those eyes again. They’re mesmerising. It’s like someone dipped the sun in honey.’
My lungs locked up at hearing him admire me for something others would reject.
The skin at his eyes crinkled. ‘Come now. You’ll have to get used to this sort of attention as a healer.’
‘I don’t want to go to Meligna. I know about that city. I know what goes on there… well, some of it. I’m going to keep pretending to be blind.’
He gestured towards his bed. I hesitated, and he laughed. ‘Sit there. It’s more comfortable. I’ll stay down here.’
I was doing wrong by being there, alone with him in his room, but I didn’t see what the fuss was about. Frooby was my friend, and we would never… well, I didn’t feel that way about him.
‘I’m sorry. I can’t heal you, Frooby.’
‘Nor would I let you, silly girl. As for paying for me, I don’t want my first time to be with some strange old healer woman.’
‘It doesn’t have to be her, and besides, you’ll never even have a first time if you stay sick and keep to this room. What ails you at the moment?’
‘Varago says I have too much sputum in the lungs. It will pass.’
‘Soon, I hope.’
He looked away. ‘I am warm. I am fed. That is all that can be done for now.’ Speaking made him cough hard into a handkerchief, and as he tucked the material away, I noted the splatter of blood. I became agitated, but there was nothing I could say; it was his right to refuse the offer of healing, even if it tore me up inside as he suffered. I wanted to shake sense into him, but I swallowed the urge.
