It was already dusk, and a gentle breeze was mildly blowing outside. Aurelia and her two children were sitting on the pavement to their corridor. If the situation were to be different, they would have probably been enjoying the cool breeze and the beautiful sunset skies, but as it were, they weren’t. Itzel wasn’t getting any better. If anything, she was getting worse. Lost for what to do, the mother and children decided to wait for Itzel’s mother to come back before deciding on the next course of action.
It wasn’t until an hour later that a somewhat plump woman with messy brown hair and a sizable bag on her head appeared. She noisily dropped her baggage in the chamber right next to Aurelia’s. The movement startled Aurelia, who was already starting to doze off. She quickly sorted out where the sound came from.
“! You almost scared me to death. Can you be a Little bit quieter? It’s late if you haven’t noticed.” Aurelia quietly exclaimed. Beeta and Aelfric were already asleep where they sat.
“I’m sorry, Aurelia darling. You can’t even imagine how exhausted I am right now.” The plump woman called, stretched, and yawned.
“What kept you so late? I thought you were going to follow shortly after I left.”
” Ughh, you know, little things here and little things there. Mr. Figgs especially had a hand in all of it. He told me that if I wanted him to buy all of my remaining leftover goods, which he knew I wanted so much or the goods would perish, I had to deliver all the goods to his house. So yes, I went all the way to his house, then came back and tidied up my spot before coming home.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry you had to endure that, my dear friend, but there are more important matters to discuss.”
“What is it? Where’s Itzel? Is she sleeping inside?” inched closer to where Aurelia sat.
Aurelia sighed. “, she’s sick. I think she’s caught the swamp fever that’s been going around every year.”
“No, Aurelia, don’t say that. Not my baby. Where is she? Take me to her, please.” It was evident that deep anxiety was already beginning to weigh down.
They both got to where Itzel lay. Her mother went to her and touched her skin.
“My darling baby. Wake now. Ma’s here, and I have come to take care of you. Look, I bought you some things from the market. Don’t worry now. I will not let any harm come to you.” She gently stroked her daughter’s hair.
“I even made her my famous calming tea, but she doesn’t even have the strength to swallow a sip. Trust me, and I tried all I could.” I glanced at the now cold cup of tea lying beside the bed.
“My Lord! Aurelia, whatever am I going to do? There is no way I can get her to a healer in time. I’m not sure there is any available healer at the moment at all. Aurelia, I cannot lose my only daughter. I cannot. What am I going to do?” sobbed into the blanket that her child was covered with.
Aurelia looked at her friend in pity. She wanted to say something. Something to give her friend hopes like ‘Your daughter is going to be fine’ or ‘it is just for the moment and then everything will eventually go back to normal or even ‘you will get Itzel to a healer just on time.’ But she knew that none of those things were true. Her friend was right. She wouldn’t get Itzel to a healer on time before the ailment claims her daughter’s life. Healers were scarce to non-existent outside the citadels. Though the deadly swamp fever had run rampant in the outlying villages, it was common knowledge that it required little more than a week’s tending by a qualified master for the ailment to be cured, yet hundreds of children died each year from it. About ten children had been killed from the swamp fever last week in their neighborhood, little Ruphias being one of them.
Depending on the size and economic stability of the holding and its residents, every citadel would generally have three master healers. Master Physician of the Lord’s House was given to the first healer or chief healer. He took care of the nobility’s medical needs. This post was well-paid and prominent, with lovely living quarters and the option to travel if the Lord so desired. There was also the Master Healer of the People. Great masters who had served lords well and had earned some peace and rest, as well as the obligation of training the next generation of healers, were given this post. Last but not least, there was the Town’s Practitioner, a qualified healer with moderate experience who assisted the Master Physician, took on his burden when he traveled, and generally treated all who lived within the village. His wages were small, and he usually always received housing from the Lord and was paid in goods and services from his patients.
At the time, the citadel at Wivern’s Rest had no Town practitioner, so the People’s Master cared for the entire fortress, on top of training an array of new healers. The people’s master each day attends to hundreds of sick persons, so It didn’t take a genius to figure out why little Itzel couldn’t get the treatment she needed. The queue of ailing people was already long enough, and by the time it will get to her, she must have long given up the ghost.
Aurelia sat beside her friend on the ground and embraced her.
“Her father wouldn’t be returning from his voyage until two fortnights.” said in between sobs and hiccups.
“I’m always here for you my dear friend. If you need anything just let me know. You will get through this.”
“Oh Aurelia.” wailed loudly as she rested her head on her friend’s shoulder. Aurelia just closed her eyes and embraced her.
It wasn’t until midnight that calmed down enough to carry her daughter to her chamber. Aurelia accompanied her, and after they were settled in their chamber, she came back to carry her two sleeping kids who were still deep asleep on the veranda inside.
****
“Aelfric wake up! Wake up Aelfric.” Aelfric violent shake and bright sunlight streaming in from the small window above.
“Ma? Is anything okay?” He rubbed his eyes and yawned. His mother looked like she hadn’t slept a wink. Her beautiful hair was looking very untidy and her eyes were red and puffy.
“Ma? What is it?” He threw his blanket to the side and brought his two legs to the ground.
“Quick Aelfric! Get up from there. Your sister has caught the fever.” With that she scurried out of the room.
It was as if the whole world was brought to an eerie stop. Dread and terrible fear weighed down on Aelfric. The force of it threatening to suffocate him. He couldn’t breathe.
I need air. I need air . Calm down Aelfric, she’s going to be fine. No, it’s not the same thing as what Itzel or Ruphias had. It’s just a mild hot body temperature that will pass in no time.
He forced himself to take deep breaths and after he was considerably calmer, he got up from where he sat on his bed and left his room to find his mother and sister. The room where he usually slept was a little store room barely up to ten feet in length, his mother and sister usually slept in the bigger sitting room and that was exactly where he found them.
“Ma. How’s she doing?” Beeta was lying on her bed with her eyes closed. She was still sleeping quite peacefully. If his mother had not informed him otherwise, he would have thought she was asleep.
“Itzel couldn’t make it to this morning. Her mother came in this morning to tell me she had kicked the bucket some hours before dawn shortly after I noticed Beeta’s temperature rising.” Aurelia was seated beside her daughter’s bed holding Beeta’s hands with her head bowed in deep sorrow.
At the news of Itzel’s death, Aelfric stopped in his tracks. He couldn’t believe his ears. Although he had suspected that Itzel might die, he didn’t know that it would happen so soon. He quickly rushed to where his mother sat.
“Ma, do not fear. Nothing will happen to Beeta. I am very confident about that. She will not die alright?”
Aurelia looked up at her son and smiled at him through her tears. “Come on Ma, don’t look so sad. Do you not believe it?”
“Oh my dear son, I want nothing more than to believe that our darling Beeta will not be taken away from us but we would just be grasping at straws Aelfric. About ten children in our neighborhood lost their lives to a similar illness in the past week, beloved Itzel too. Trust me son, I want to hope our case will be different but I know better.” She did allow the sorrow and sadness course through her, her tears raining down her face in heavy drops onto her laps.
“No!” Aelfric shouted, “you may choose to accept that fate but I do not believe it. My sister will not die. No! She cannot die.” But even as the words left his mouth, he found himself breaking into tears. He crumbled to the ground where his mother sat and cried.
The noise woke Beeta. She moved her head to see her mother and brother crying. “What is it Ma? Aelfric? Whatever is the matter with you two.” She tried to get up but failed and fell back to her bed. “Ma, I feel so weak and my breath is hot. Am I sick?
“Don’t stress yourself my darling daughter. Just lie down and let Ma take care of you.” Aurelia said, holding Beeta’s face between her hands.
“I am sick right? That is why you are both crying beside my bed. Is it the same sickness Itzel had?” Nobody answered her. Aurelia stroked her hands while she and her son cried more.
“If it is, I don’t mind. Ma remember what you used to tell us about the place where good people go when the die?”
“Heaven?”
“Yes heaven. When I get to heaven, I’ll meet Itzel my friend and we will play all day without interruption. Like when Aelfric will burst out on us and force us to watch his distasteful matador display.” Aurelia laughed and kissed her daughter’s pale knuckles, Beeta smiled lovingly back at her. Aelfric on the other hand did not find any of it funny. “So what about us? What about your family? Don’t you think we want you to stay with us too?” He bursted out, tears still streaming down his face.
“Aelfric, be gentle.” Aurelia scolded him. He just shook his head.
“I’ll still be with you, but only in spirit. Of course I want to be with my family but since I don’t have that option available, I’ll be watching over you from the axal above, not like God but as your guardian angel. That way, I’ll always be with you forever and always.” Beeta said to her brother as she smiled at him.
Aelfric and his mother cried even more when they heard this and even little Beeta with all her display of bravado couldn’t help but shed a few tears too.
****
Sweet Beeta died two days after she took ill. She was buried beside Itzel at the local cemetery in Winton. The service was officiated by the vicar and almost all the village occupants attended the heart breaking ceremony. To a young Aelfric, it had seemed so unfair. He decided that the world was a sad place full of so many injustices.
How could his sweet, innocent sister have been taken from their family. She was the sunlight, happiness and flowers of he and his mother’s lives. He remembered fondly how she boasted about growing up and becoming a healer. A healer would have easily prevented the number of children that died from the swamp fever, his dear Beata among them.
At the moment, he felt so much pain inside of him that he was convinced that he’ll probably double over any minute and also die from the sheer ache of it. He knew deep down that with time, the pain he felt would dull but he wasn’t even sure he wanted it to.
His mind went back to the night her breath left her tiny body. His mother tenderly holding her wee hand and whispering to it; He with his hand softly stroking her white cheek. She had smiled and said with a sigh, ” I’m going now”, as if it were the greatest relief of her five year life, and as if they knew where she was going, and might some day follow her. Perhaps she knew something they didn’t. Wise Beeta. She has always been too smart for her age, her wits never fails to amaze him and now she was gone.
She had so much potential. A mind as large as hers would have made a very great impact on the entire world. But she was gone. Forever.
Beeta’s death was not the only one that took place on that sad day. Aelfric’s long lusted desire after the matador career also died an instant death as Beeta breathed her last. He decided that he would pick up the dream she left behind and make it a reality.
“Ma, I’m going to become a healer just like Beeta wanted to be if she was still with us, that way I can help prevent hundreds of children that might take ill just like Beeta from dying.”
“That is so wonderful to hear Aelfric, I’m sure Beeta is smiling down at you upon hearing this. She’s probably jumping up and down in pure excitement at the news.” His mother said with a laugh. It was the first time she had genuinely smiled since his sister died.
“I know.” Aelfric concurred with a smile of his own.
“I am proud of you my son. Your sister will be too.”
“Thank you Ma. But I’ll need to study thoroughly on my own before writing to the citadel for apprenticeship.”
“That much I know to be true. I’ll speak to Marcus’s father, the scribe. I’m quite certain that he’ll have some scrolls and books that you’ll find useful for your study. Mildred’s husband has a few books about healing that he usually brings back each time he comes back from a trip, but since there was no one to give it to, he just piles them up in their attic. Mildred showed me the collection once but the room was so dark and dusty I could barely see anything.”
“That’s wonderful news. So I suppose you’ll speak to her… For me?” Hope shimmering inside of him for the first time in what seemed like ages.
“Yes I will. I will speak to her, Marcus’s father and any other person that can help you achieve this new found dream of yours, my son.” She pinched his cheek and opened her arms wide for him.
“Thank you Ma. I’ll give this everything that I have and become not only the first healer in all of Winton but also the best and most seeker after.” Aelfric spoke passionately in his mother’s embrace.
“I know you will son. I know you will make me the proudest mother to ever walk this earth. I believe in you Aelfric and I’ll be here to support you every step of the way.” She spoke into his hair.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better and more supportive mother. I promise Ma, we’ll both come out of this pain stronger and better than we were before. I’m very certain of it.”
“Oh Aelfric I’m glad to hear you think this way. You give me so much hope my son.”
“I love you Ma.”
“I love you too Aelfric and I believe that you will accomplish anything you set your mind to.”
So Aelfric deeply marred by the death of his infant sister, dedicated his life to learning everything there was to know about treatment, and prevention of human suffering. The lack of qualified healers available to hard working folk like the members of Aelfric’s village was to him an inexcusable wrong. Aelfric did little else besides studying after his little sister’s death. And although his education was not fancy, it was thorough. The villagers when they learnt about his ambition went to great lengths to provide him with everything he needed. He possessed no genius, but his sincere desire to improve the world and the lives of his fellows ingratiated him to all he met. Scholar and scullery maid alike most often worked tirelessly to find Aelfric the materials he needed to round out his education. He tirelessly crafted his application; including hand sketched diagrams of herbs, outlining all he had learned on his own, and his desire to have access to the knowledge and experience an apprenticeship could offer.