The Girl in the Red Cloak Ch. 02

"Oh, I was, for a time, but of late I have been near the marshes. There was a sickness there, rather like this one, though not entirely the same."

Clara nodded gravely. She had heard of it, but at the time had been much too far away to be of help. By the time she would have reached the marshes, the worst would be over, and other Healers who were closer would not be better able to assist.

"I found the marsh dwellers a very pleasant lot, if a little odd, and spent many moons in their company, traveling from settlement to settlement." Bimi shook her head. "It takes a certain kind of person to withstand the loneliness out there on the marshes. The people are built differently, somehow. For one, they don't seem to mind all that damp!"

Clara laughed, and the two of them turned to the children. There would be more time for catching up later, right now their services were needed. The children were visually healthier than before, after all of Clara's work, but that was no excuse to slack and allow them to relapse. Clara's thoughts wandered to the marshes as she examined the babe in front of her. She'd heard stories about the marsh dwellers. They were a singularly solitary lot, much preferring the company of their own kind or even of their own selves over normal city and village dwellers. Healers were welcomed of course, for Healers were welcomed everywhere they went.

Clara had always been curious to see the marshes, for it was said that while they were gloomy, and cold, and damp, there was great beauty to those who could appreciate it. Her rounds had never taken her far enough that way, but she was still young and she assumed she would see them sooner or later. Eventually a Healer saw the whole land, if they traveled. A few Healers kept to their chosen regions, and even fewer set up a permanent home in the big cities, where they were always in demand. She'd never found the idea appealing; ever since she'd first learned what she was she'd wanted to be a wandering Healer, and see the sights of all Lotharis. She'd been many places already, and seen many things, but there were always more places to go.

I wonder what Maharia looks like.

Clara shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thought. It didn't matter what Maharia looked like, she didn't care. Yet the thought persisted, and wouldn't let go.

"Do you suppose the Maharians have had such plague troubles this year?" She hoped Bimi would read nothing extra into her question. Her former teacher looked mildly surprised, but not at all suspicious as she replied.

"Surely you're not buying into that nonsense about these plagues being sent by Maharia, are you little one? I would have thought with all the research and your teachings you would know better than to listen to the rumors of war-mongers."

"Of course not, I know better than that. I just wondered if their luck has been exceedingly foul this year, as ours has." Clara shrugged. She was actually burning with curiosity about Maharia now, a topic she'd had only perfunctory interest in before.

"Well." Bimi studied her a moment. "If I were to guess, I'd say yes. Their lands are not so different from Lotharis. More mountainous, perhaps, but on the whole very similar, given its close proximity."

"Have you been there?" Clara asked. Bimi seemed to speak with authority on the landscape of Maharia, as one who knew.

"Of course not, child! You know the great war has been going on since I was a young girl! When would I ever have had the opportunity to explore strange lands outside of Lotharis?" she laughed at the notion. Something about the laugh rang false to Clara, though. Was her teacher lying to her? Had she in fact been in Maharia?

You're overworked, Clara, you're imagining things.

Her most beloved teacher would never lie to her, and she spoke the truth: with the war going on, when on earth would she have had a chance to be in Maharia?

* *

With the children making a steady recovery and the few elderly plague-stricken having been seen to, Clara and Bimi found themselves able to take a leisurely dinner, leaving two of the babies' mothers to watch over the rest, just in case.

"I thank the gods you arrived when you did, Bimi," said Clara. "The healing was growing quite taxing to my powers."

"Bah," said Bimi with a dismissive wave. "You're one of the strongest among us, and you'd already guided the babes through the worst of it. I'm coming in on the tail end. Though it has to be said, there's not many as could take on an entire plague-stricken village and live to tell the tale."

Clara shrugged.

"It was mostly the children and the elderly. I could never have managed an entire village, but this plague fortunately seems to strike only those not in their prime."

"You can be modest all you like, it's still impressive." Bimi eyed her meaningfully, and Clara flushed with pleasure at her tutor's praise. "I wish we'd been so fortunate in the marshes," she continued, "But that plague showed no bias based on age. If we'd had you with us, perhaps we could have saved a few more. Or if the plague had been as it was here. Still, at least it has passed now, and this one is on its way out the door as well."

"Good, perhaps that will quell the Maharian rumors," said Clara, and wondered why she was turning the topic back to Maharia again.

"Mmm," agreed Bimi, "Though that alone won't end this cursed war. It's a waste of lives and supplies. And a waste of all the Healers sent to the front lines who could be tending to the nature-given troubles of the land. There are certainly enough sicknesses and accidents that occur on their own to keep all the Healers busy without wasting lives in a pointless battle that yields nothing, day after day." Clara nodded and picked at her dinner, thinking of Lukas.

"Do you think the Maharian villagers feel the same way?" she asked.

"I don't doubt it. Wars are not fought for the benefits of the villagers, they are only to make the rich and noble more rich."

"Most of the soldiers I healed at the front lines seemed to feel it was their honour-bound duty to fight, and win." Clara remembered the desperate looks on their faces as they spoke of honour and glory, and wondered just how much of it was bravado.

"Soldiers are trained to think that way," said Bimi. "It makes it much easier to control them if they feel unified under the banner of their country. In the right situations, it can be a fine thing, but this war..." her voice trailed off as she shook her head and turned her attention to her foods.

"Are Maharian soldiers taught the same?" Clara could not help asking.

"You are certainly full of questions tonight. Yes, I would imagine so, else why would they spend all this time fighting Lotharisians?" She snorted. "I'm fairly certain no Maharian woke up in his bed 40 years ago and announced, 'I feel like killing some Lotharisians today!'"

"What would you do if you met a Lotharisian soldier, Bimi? If he was wounded, and needed your help?"

Bimi gave her a hard look, scrutinizing.

"You know my stance on this. A Healer heals all, and does not see the flags of country, nor the shade of skin, nor the size of one's larder before doing so. It is our gods-given duty."

Clara nodded. She'd known that's what Bimi would say, but it was good to hear the words spoken aloud.

After dinner, Bimi retired to her quarters, claiming exhaustion.

"I'm not as young as I once was, nor as you are," she'd said before kissing Clara on the cheek and heading up the stairs.

At a loss for what to do, Clara walked over to check on the sick children, only to find them all sleeping and the mothers watching over them perfectly at ease. She decided perhaps a walk would clear her head, and set off toward the village square.

Should she tell Bimi what she'd done? She knew her teacher's only concerns would be for Clara's safety, and not for any counts of 'treason' or whatever a government official might deem it. Yet, despite her declaration that she would heal, Bimi had never said she would keep the soldier in confidence and not turn him in to the authorities. Clara believed that Bimi would feel the same way she did about it, but was it worth the risk?

Then again...

Clara recalled the sense of falseness she had perceived from her teacher when Bimi spoke of not going into Maharia. Truly, it could be the work of an overworked Healer's mind. She had been draining herself of powers nearly every day for the last five days, and with the added stress of her encounter with an enemy soldier, perhaps she was seeing things where there was nothing to be seen. Bimi had never lied to her before, why should she start now? Even if she had been into Maharia, Clara was certain it was for the most noble reasons, such as herb gathering or to heal a sickness too near the border of Lotharis to ignore, or allow to cross. So why deny it? Why hide it from Clara, of all people, who would take Bimi's secrets to the grave if asked.

And then there was Lukas.

If he was so evil, so corrupt, as Maharians were reputed to be, why had he not slain her when he had the chance? Of course, there might be some thread of honor, or custom held out of respect for Maharian Healers, that had spared her life, but why then had he not wrought terror and death upon the village? Certainly they were an easy target right now, preoccupied with the sickness and tending to their ill ones. What sort of mission had he been sent here on, if not one of general mayhem and with the goal of taking out as many Lotharisians as possible? The rumors that were spread said that Maharians would spare no one, woman or child. Yet Lukas had seemed perfectly content to wait in the woods, tending to himself and harassing no one, other than Clara herself.

Just what was his mission? He was a long way from the capitol city where the king lived, and she doubted he had been sent as an assassin anyway. Surely he'd had a small crew with him to guard his back and protect him along the way if that were the case. Perhaps he was only a spy, gathering intel. Then again, it seemed a spy would take care to speak the local dialect without the slight accent of a Maharian, and surely there were fairer skinned Maharians who could blend in more easily with the Lotharisians. All in all Clara was mystified.

Looking up from her thoughts and wanderings, she was only half surprised to discover that she was in front of the woods again, near the path that led inward.

Curse that Maharian and his pull over her. Well, since she was here...

Head held high, Clara entered the woods again, determined that this time she would get some answers.