Sally bent to do as Odif told her. Salinthia turned her head away, shaking it weakly. Sally hesitated, not sure if she should continue.
“Do it, she doesn’t have much time.” Odif warned.
Bracing herself, Sally grabbed her mother’s nose and held her head still then put their mouths together and blew. Salinthia’s chest rose up and her hands fluttered. As the breath escaped, she cried out in a moan. Sally kept going, blowing in then letting the air come back out. Salinthia’s moans of pain became louder after a few breaths. As some strength returned, she lifted an arm to stop Sally.
“Enough,” she rasped weakly. She was breathing on her own, but her chest only made slight motions. She was taking in just enough air to stay alive. Looking like she was forcing herself, she sucked close to what was a normal breath and whispered, “Sauri, don’t do that again.”
“Mom, you were dying.”
Salinthia looked up at her through worn-out eyes. “Sauri, dear, it is...” She stopped to force down another breath. “...very painful, and I’m tired of the pain.”
Taking her hand, Sally squeezed it in hers. “You can’t give up. We need you.”
Salinthia looked for Jeni. Seeing her, she said, “Jeni, dear, take Art out, please.”
As Jeni led her brother out, Odif concentrated on Salinthia’s body where the breathing muscles divided the chest and stomach. Her diaphragm was shriveled and weak. In a large area the size of an open palm there were only strings of tissue that had long ago lost any function. “You must be in agony every time you draw a breath.”
Salinthia nodded to her. “You...tell...your father...I forgive him.”
“My father did this to you?” Even as she asked it, she noted a thick line of scar tissue that cut through the middle of the old elf’s breathing nerves. From the shape, she had been stabbed deep, directly under her sternum.
“Yes. You tell--” Her words were cut off by a gasping fit. Odif cringed as she felt the remaining torn muscles quiver as they tried to obey and bring in air. Sally bent to try to breathe for her again but flinched back as Salinthia half sat up then fell back down.
Odif was accustomed to death; she had seen it many times. Death was part of nature. When it happened to her friends she mourned their loss but accepted that it had to be. She didn’t accept the suffering this woman was going through. Planting her hands at the top of Salinthia’s belly she felt for her nerves and breathing muscles at the same time. Deadening the nerves was easy; the hard part was using her energy to make Salinthia’s body respond and breathe.
It was working. Salinthia’s face relaxed as she sighed in relief. She tried talking and only made sucking sounds as Odif drew air into her.
Odif met her eyes. “Listen closely. I’ve taken the pain, but also control of your breath. Speaking will be hard, so just blink. One time if you want me to try to heal you, two to let you go. If I lift my left hand, you will stop breathing. It will not hurt, but you will pass out and die...”
“Dear Odin, no!” Sally cried with horror in her eyes.
Odif glanced at her. “It’s her choice. From what I see, living is agony for her. I might be able to help her, or I can let her go if she wishes. I cannot let her suffer like this.”
“What right do you have to decide her fate?” Arthur asked harshly.
Odif explained as well as she could. “She was stabbed a long time ago. The pain from that wound is still with her, every time she takes a breath. Maybe you can ignore suffering, but I can’t.”
Sally looked at her mother sadly. “After all this time?”
Salinthia nodded. Looking at Odif, she motioned to her mouth.
“Speak only when you breathe out,” Odif told her. She worked Salinthia’s muscles to take in as deep breaths as possible.
Salinthia raised her hands to clasp Sally and Arthur’s. “I am weak...Odif may be able...to help, if she...cannot then...you must let...me go.”
Arthur dropped his head, giving a slight nod. Sally covered her mouth, tears welling in her eyes.
Reaching up to pat her daughter’s cheek, she said, “My dear Sauri...it is only...right this way.”
Sally bent down and drew her into a hug. “I love you, Mom.”
Odif appreciated their situation but continuing to make Salinthia breathe was taking its toll on her. Every second they hugged she was using valuable strength. “I can’t keep this up very long,” she reminded them.
Arthur took Sally by her shoulders and gently pulled her up. “Honey, let her do what she has to.”
He got her clear of the bed and held her tight. Sally’s arms went around him as she cried softly. He turned his attention to Odif and gave her a nod.
“When I work on your nerves, you will feel pain--there is nothing I can do about that,” she told Salinthia.
Salinthia slid a hand down to cover hers. Timing an exhale, she said, “Promise no pain...in the end...one way or the other.”
“I promise,” she mouthed then went to work.
The nerves were the problem. Fresh cuts had raw ends--the tissue was parted but easy to put back together. Salinthia’s nerves had been severed a long time ago. The ends were shriveled and pulled away from each other with thick scar tissue capping them. Not that the muscles were much better, but muscle was easier to regrow. Once nerves were destroyed it was tough bringing them back.
She began by starting on the inactive nerves attached to the muscles. Growing the tiny strings, she made them curve around the mass of scarring. It took a while to get the nerves where she wanted them. It became difficult--she was having trouble keeping up the breathing as she used more energy to grow nerves.
“Sally, breathe for her,” she said as she shifted her hands. Salinthia twitched as she started growing the main branch of nerves to meet the endings. With Sally keeping the elderly woman alive, Odif concentrated on bringing the ends to less than a hair’s-width distance. This was the part that was going to hurt.
“Brace yourself.” she said then peeled back the scar caps from the tender nerve tissue.
Salinthia’s eyes flew wide open. She gripped the sheets with her fists, arms tensed. Her exhales came out as screams. Odif tried to ignore the sound and brought the nerves together then sealed them in place. Staying focused, she noted enough nerves were now whole. Muscles that had lain dormant tried to move. The remains of the weak ones still working, flexed and spasmed as Salinthia now cried out on her own.
“You can stop,” Odif told Sally. Her energy was all but drained. All she could do with the thin membrane of muscle was to make sure it didn’t tear. The parts that were shriveled beyond hope she solidified into scar-like tendons. Forming them into a net, she connected them to the ones still working. That done, she paused to rest. Sally watched her intently, waiting for the news. “I’m almost done. The pain should start to lessen, although she will be sore for a while.”
“Thank you,” Sally whispered.
Odif gave her a brief smile then began concentrating again. She grew the surviving muscles strong enough so they would not tear under the pressure of taking normal breaths. Searching Salinthia’s abdomen, she saw the damage done to the rest of her body was just as bad. Organs needed air as well as blood and nourishment. The effect of insufficient air for so long had weakened her insides. Sensing every organ separately, she found that they were smaller and lacked efficiency. Despite their deterioration, however, not one had been strangled so badly it had stopped functioning.
Satisfied she had done all she could do, Odif sat up. “You'll be weak for a while yet. I would suggest staying in bed a day or two, even though you might feel better.”
Salinthia smiled broadly. “I feel like jumping up!” Taking a deep breath, she blew it back out and did give a giggle. “It’s been a long time since I was able to do that. I feel...tight, but no pain, none!”
Greatly relieved that her mother wasn’t going to die, Sally hugged her tightly. She then turned to Odif and crushed her in her arms. “If there is anything we c
an do in return, let us know.”
Odif considered that for a moment. “Best two out of three?” she teased.
“It’s almost dinner time,” Arthur pointed out.
Odif could see in his eyes he wasn’t fond of the idea of her exercising with Sally. It was like he was afraid she might really hurt her. There was something else in his eyes she couldn’t quite place, but it looked like sadness.
Sally got up, casting him a smile. “Arthur’s right, let’s go get cleaned up for dinner. We’ll practice again tomorrow.”
Odif put up with a stagnant bath in the tub beside Sally’s. Sally seemed radiant now, like in that old painting Tayan had in that bag. She thought about mentioning it as Sally happily complained about aches and pains she would feel in the morning then decided to wait. Tayan and Amber were coming; they could show it to her.
Thinking about that got her thinking about Eric. Cupping her hand, she pushed some water up her arm and watched it run back down. “Sally, does Tayan know our father’s alive?”
Sally’s face dimmed a bit. She nodded. “Eric tried to keep it from him, who he was. There was a victory celebration, where Jeni was betrothed to him. Everything went well until Art blurted it out in front of everyone.” She blew out a tired breath. “It was quite a scene. Tayan didn’t take the news well. He stopped short of attacking Eric then left with Lucinthia. Almost every important person in the city was there. Eric felt terrible about it.”
“I can imagine.” She knew Tayan well enough to know he hadn’t taken it well, especially with a large room full of people listening. “The bag Tayan has--Dad must have put him in it to keep him alive. That’s why he hates the sight of it.”
“I would say so, but no one knows what happened out there--or at least no one is willing to say.” Sally told her. “When we found out they had been attacked, Jeni knew she was pregnant but wanted to go look for him anyway. It was tough convincing her he would turn up. As time has gone on, it has become harder and harder to keep her at home.”
“Who retrieved that armor plate Jeni has?”
“A knight named Sir Parson. He’s one of the few alive that knows where Eric was last seen.”
One of the maids poked her head in. “Mrs. Cooper, dinner is ready.”
“Thank you, Nance.” Getting up, she got a towel and another for Odif. Giving her a half-smile, she said, “I don’t know if you coming here is a blessing or a curse. Jeni has been doing well, all things considered; but there’s been talk of giving her a consort. Young Lord Belenaris Tolham is spending a lot of time with her. I know he has an eye on her businesses, though he claims to be only concerned with her.”
“Young Lord Belenaris will get his ass whipped if half of what I have heard of Dad is true,” Odif told her. “And if Dad's not available, I’ll gladly take his place.”
Sally suppressed a chuckle. Raising an eyebrow, she said, “Why do you think he hasn’t been hanging onto Jeni these past few days? He’s been nursing his pride after you belted him.” More seriously, she added, “He's known for taking advantage of situations, and he plays our customs and laws like a harp. He can be dangerous.”
Odif said matter-of-factly, “Not as much as I can be.”
Studying her for a moment, Sally gave a slight shake of her head. “You are your father’s daughter.”
Odif smiled. “Thank you.”
At the dinner table, Salinthia was more animated than she had been in a century. The color was back in her cheeks; and even though she was still weak, she was merry and took pains to keep Odif involved in their conversations. Odif told her about the forest; and soon she was having an interesting debate on city living versus living in the wild, as all creatures were meant to do. Salinthia got Odif to concede that cities were founded on the principle of safety-in-numbers and therefore were a natural habitat for people. In turn, Odif got her to accept that mother’s milk was the best thing for babies, even working mothers who lived in the city.
The discussion slowly turned to religion. From the grimace on Odif’s face as Salinthia asked if she believed in Odin’s word, it was clear she did not.
Odif smirked as she asked, “Do you believe the world was created in a week?”
Looking at Odif sternly, Salinthia nodded. “That is what our bible tells us. You do not believe in Odin, or Leighna?”
“I know they exist.” Odif stated. “Odin and Leighna stand for all that is good. There is more than just good in the world, though. Lucifer the devil also exists as the ultimate evil. One checks the other. It is the Goddess of Nature that holds the balance.”
“What of the beginning of time?” Sally asked. “Surely you know that the years are counted from when Odin first crafted us in his own image.”
Odif waved her fork in Sally’s direction. “The marking of years is as we, as a civilization, know it. The world is very old, much more than a few thousand years. We may never know how old it truly is.”
Salinthia gave her an irritated huff. “Then what was here before time began? There are no records, no writings that speak of any time earlier than three thousand years ago when Odin first laid down the holy laws.”
“Grandmother is right,” Jeni added. “How can you explain the creation of everything, even your plants and animals, as anything less than a divine act?”
Odif shook her head. “If there was a divine act, it was long before we were here.”
Arthur grunted. “I’d like to hear this!”
“Yes, please explain,” Sally said with an amused grin.
Folding her arms in front of her, Odif looked at Salinthia, who also gave a slight nod. Leaning forward enough to rest her bosom on her arms, Odif said, “All right. First of all, there was no ‘beginning of time,’ as you put it. Our world goes through cycles. The one we live in started roughly four thousand years ago. Before us, there was another civilization here. Our stone readers tell us that they were very advanced and covered the whole world. Before them was another--we do not yet know how far back variations of the human species goes. We do know our ancestors go back at least forty thousand years.”
Jeni let out a squeak of disbelief. “How can that be?”
“Yes, I am eager to hear this, also.” Salinthia grinned.
“You know the desert on the other side of the Elradian Mountains?” Odif asked. Without waiting for anyone to reply, she continued, “There are ruins out there of things we cannot comprehend. Buildings made of steel, others made of what appears to have been massive carved stones. Devices that seem to serve no function yet were common in every dwelling. Books and parchments made of material we have no idea what to call, strange stuff that is as flexible as cloth yet clear as glass. All these things were made by someone, very long ago. By what our stone readers have found, we think the ancient humans knew how to build flying machines.”
Salinthia’s eyes widened. “Surely you do not believe these things.”
“I have seen them,“ Odif told her. “When I was given my test, I was sent to the desert for one moon to survive on my own. To help deal with the boredom I visited one of the dig sites of the stone readers. There, I saw for myself some of the relics. I made my day den under the tail of what I can only describe as a huge metal bird. It was not built as a normal bird--the surviving wing and tail were fixed in place--but from a distance you can tell what it was.”
“What’s a day den?” Art asked, eager to get his question in.
“In the desert you have to find shelter in the day because the heat of the sun can kill,” she explained.
“Wow,” Art breathed.
“What did you do for water?” Jeni asked.
“Insects and plants store their moisture. When I ate, I got my water as well.”
Jeni’s face screwed up. “You ate bugs?”
“Are they as crunchy as they look?” Art asked.
Glancing down at her plate, Sally cleared her throat. “Perhaps we should talk about that after dinner.”
“We do seem to be drifting,” S
alinthia noted. “Now, what of this notion about balance. Are you saying we should not strive to be good people?”
Odif shrugged. “Some people choose to be good, others to be bad. Whichever you decide to be, both are inside you. Anger is bad, yet who can live their lives and not be angry from time to time?” Raising one finger to stress her point, she said, “That is what makes us whole. Opposites weigh against each other, but each side must be present. Anger and joy, sadness and happiness, love and hate, we feel all these things at one time or another, yet not one should rule your life. That is part of the balance.”
“But you do admit we should try to be good to each other,” Sally prodded.
“Of course.”
“As well as help each other.”
Odif tipped her head slightly. “Those we care about, as well as our own clans, yes.”
“Why shouldn’t we be good to everyone?” Salinthia asked.
Odif sighed. “Sometimes you just can’t be.”
The only one not getting heavily involved was Arthur. He was pleasant but stayed more into his own thoughts. Beside him, Sally did her best to keep him active in the conversation. Odif sensed there was something he wanted but was holding back.
Their discussions went on after the plates were empty, and the servants were taking away the dishes. Sally and Arthur drifted off by themselves as Odif and Jeni helped Salinthia to the unused harpsicord she insisted on trying to play. Not having played for a long time, she mis-struck the notes as Jeni, Art and Odif tried to sing in halting words that ended up as laughter. From Jeni’s lap, Erica waved her arms, giving supporting “goo-gas” and giggles.
About the time Erica grew cranky, Salinthia became too tired to play. Jeni bade them goodnight, and Odif walked Salinthia to her room with Art, who opened doors for them on the way.
Odif then went to the fountain and washed her clothes, as well as giving herself a good rinsing off. Her wet clothes she laid over low-hanging branches of the ash then snuggled into the bed she had hollowed out of the hedge bushes.
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