“You’re royalty,” Remeta repeated.
Danika told her the truth. She nodded her head. “Yes, I was royalty but—”
“You are royalty!” the girl shouted, her eyes finding Danika’s face. She started
talking to herself. “I knew you looked like a queen. Royalty has power. Royalty is the
highest. Royalty has everything. She is royalty, and she said she was Remeta’s friend.
Remeta has a friend that’s royalty. Remeta is a friend to a queen.” Then she raised her
eyes and pinned Danika with haunted eyes. “Royalty can protect Remeta, right?”
Danika turned and stared behind her at Remeta’s helpless mother and a crying
Sally. She faced the girl again and nodded her head. “Yes. Royalty can protect
Remeta,” she answered firmly.
The girl’s eyes watered up. “Royalty has power. Can command people not to touch
Remeta. Can command them to leave Remeta out of bed, right?”
Danika nodded again, blinking hard to keep the tears at bay.
“Remeta can eat and bathe and go out…and no bed, right?” she asked in a small
voice.
“Yes, Remeta. I will make sure of that,” Danika promised sincerely.
“Remeta can smile and look beautiful…and no bed, right?”
“Yes, Remeta. I’ll give commands and make sure there’ll be no more beds again
for you.”
The girl took a faltering step away from the wardrobe, coming out. She stopped
and hesitated. “Do you promise? Royalty does not break promise. Do you promise?”
Danika nodded twice. “Yes, I promise you, Remeta.”
Silence.
And then Remeta ran from across the bedroom and threw herself on top of Danika,
draping her thin arms around her, clinging tightly.
Danika would have lost her balance and fallen under such a tremendous impact of
the hug if it were someone else. But Remeta was so thin from starving herself, and
Danika was prepared for the impact when she saw the girl flying across the bedroom
towards her.
Not minding the girl’s dirty state, Danika wrapped her arms around her and held on
tight. “It’s okay. I’ve got you,” she soothed softly.
She felt tears splash on her shoulder as Remeta whispered, “Remeta has a friend
that is royalty. Remeta is finally safe.”
After the scene in the room, Baski was holding her breath as Danika came out of
the bedroom with Remeta wrapped tightly in her arm.
Remeta agreed to take a bath. Sally and Danika helped her with that. Sally helped
her bathe her body clean while Danika spoke reassuring words to her.
Remeta agreed to eat. Sally and Danika were there to help her. They fed her until
she was full. While they did that, Baski walked to her wardrobe and picked out clean
clothes for her, which they helped her put on.
Danika picked up a comb and sat the girl in front of a big mirror in her mother’s
room because she had broken the ones in her room.
“You treat Remeta like a princess, my queen,” Remeta whispered in a hoarse
voice, a smile on her face as she swiveled her head to stare at Danika so lovingly.
Danika ran the comb down the wet mass of her hair. “That’s because you’re like a
princess to me.”
Remeta smiled again, turning to stare at herself in the mirror. “Remeta can look
beautiful, and there will be no bed.”
Danika and Sally already knew that she was talking to herself, so they didn’t
bother to reply to her or disturb her.
After all the care, Baski entered her room and saw the transformation that was her
daughter. “Oh, heavens!” She teared up immediately and started crying. Remeta ran
to her and hugged her around the waist, which only made Baski cry harder. It had
been so long since her daughter came to her for physical contact, she’d forgotten what
it felt like to have her once clingy daughter wrapped around her like a second skin.
“She is going to protect me, Mama,” Remeta whispered, raising her head to stare
her mother in the eyes. “You can stop crying from today onwards. Remeta will be
fine. Remeta will be safe.”
Baski did her best to control her tears as she nodded in reassurance. Then the girl
pulled back, and Sally took her hand, and they started going to Remeta’s room to get
her footwear.
Alone with Danika at last, Baski knelt and bowed her head until it touched the
ground and she continued to weep. “Thank you so much for what you did for
Remeta,” she cried. “I can never thank you enough.”
Danika rushed to pull her up. “Oh, Baski, get up from the floor. You can no longer
greet me this way. I’m no longer royalty.”
The older woman shook her head tearfully. “If Remeta can look at you in slave
wear and still call you royalty, and still look up to you and still feel so safe with you,
she would try to be better… oh, Danika, then you’re royalty to me, too. They may
dress you like a slave, but the royal blood never lies!” Danika teared up as Baski
talked passionately, her head still on the ground. “You’re Remeta’s royalty, and
you’re my royalty, too. Thank you so much for what you did for her!” she cried.
Danika moved forward then, bent down, and forced them to their feet. “You’re
welcome, Baski. This is nothing compared to the things you’ve done for me-for
Sally. I love Remeta. She’s such a bright girl. I hope she heals up and recovers.”
Baski swiped her hand across her face to wipe away her tears. “I hope so too.
Creator, I really hope so.”
Danika opened her mouth to say something, but Sally and Remeta came back.
Whatever she wanted to say, forgotten.