by Amy Neftzger
“You have firsthand knowledge of our names,” Kelsey pointed out. “How about giving us firsthand knowledge of your name?”
“Now, there’s logic. The concept of fairness. But it’s you humans who are supposed to be logical,” the leopard mused as she raised a paw over the river and continued to study the flow. Silence moved closer and watched the leopard with interest. “My name is Megan.”
“Your mother named you Megan?”
“Actually my mother named me something that sounds like a cross between a grunt and a growl. I just like the sound of Megan, and it’s easier for humans to pronounce.” She tapped the surface of the water lightly with her paw several times before reaching into the stream and deftly swiping a large salmon onto the bank. “You know, that whole ‘ease of communication’ thing I was talking about earlier.” She walked over the where the fish was flopping about helplessly on the bank.
“I’ve gathered that you’ve spent some time around humans. What exactly do you do?” Kelsey asked. The leopard swatted the thrashing fish once on the head to knock it unconscious, and the flopping immediately ceased. Megan held the body of the fish steady with one of her paws and tore off the fish’s head with her sharp teeth.
“I’m a healer,” Megan explained as she chewed with a very full mouth. Kelsey’s stomach turned at the thought of eating a raw fish head. She swallowed hard to prevent herself from vomiting as she watched the leopard slice the fish open with one claw and remove the entrails. Part of the intestines fell on the leopard’s foot and the beast kicked it away nonchalantly.
“Right now you look like more of a killer,” Kelsey remarked before she realized what she was saying. “You just don’t look like you’d be a healer.”
“Appearances can be deceiving,” the leopard replied with her mouth still full of fish. “The problem with you humans is that you always think that being healed means that things will never change or that they will go back to the way they were when you were comfortable. That’s actually a form of sickness. Wanting everything to stay the same is not a desire to grow, and that is, essentially, the same thing as dying.”
“You didn’t just heal that fish,” Kelsey pointed out with a little hesitation. She wondered if it was wise to be arguing with a giant white leopard while it was eating. It might be sensitive about such things. However, the leopard didn’t appear disturbed. She swallowed another large mouthful before replying.
“Death is healing in some cases,” she explained, “but only for those who move on to the next life. Healing is bringing life to the spirit and not just simply maintaining the current state of the body.” Kelsey had never thought about it this way before and didn’t know what to say. She turned away as she considered the words and wondered if everything she’d been taught about life and death was backwards.
“Work on your logic, human,” Megan replied after a long silence. “It usually pays off in the end.” With that remark, she swallowed the last piece of her salmon and walked back over to the river. She stood on the edge of the bank, searching for another fish. She looked as if she could eat a lot of them. Silence took up a position next to her and studied the rapids in a similar manner. As he imitated each one of her actions, Megan gave him pointers and showed him how to scoop the fish out of the river.
“Get your claws out more,” she instructed him. Silence held his hand out for her to examine his short fingernails. “That’s really as far as they go?” When Silence nodded, she turned away from the river and picked up a pine branch in her mouth. “I don’t see why you people think you’re more evolved or civilized when you have no claws at all.” She dropped the branch in front of Silence. “You’re not going to be able to dip that in the water quickly without scaring the fish. So what you should do is rest it casually in the river like the tree just dropped it there and then wait for the dumb ones to swim in front of it. Don’t worry. They will. They won’t know any better.” She chuckled, and Silence smiled broadly at her. Kelsey watched how he easily made friends with everyone, even wild animals. She decided he really was a freak, but it was fine with her because pretty soon he had caught a salmon large enough for both of them to eat. Once they had finished their celebration dance of high fives, Megan and Silence brought the fish over to Kelsey.
“You look silly when you dance,” Kelsey remarked.
“Celebrate the good times when you have them,” Megan replied casually. “Some of the most beautiful moments in life don’t last very long, so always take the time to enjoy them before they’re gone.”
“Like catching fish?” Kelsey’s tone was sarcastic. It was a simple activity and one that Kelsey would not have defined as beautiful.
“Yes. And by the way, your friend is pretty good for a clawless fisherman,” Megan commented. “I can’t believe your species has survived all this time with such flimsy nails on your hands. It’s remarkable, really.”
“Well, we do have thumbs,” Kelsey pointed out.
“Who would have guessed that thumbs would be so useful? I mean, they’re facing the wrong way from all the other fingers. But life is full of surprises like that.”
“My father used to say that,” Kelsey replied quietly. She hadn’t said much about her parents to anyone since she left. Granted, she hadn’t had the chance to discuss them, but not talking or thinking about them had also kept her from missing them. She turned to Silence and took the fish. “I suppose I’m the one who has to clean and cook it.”
“Eat it raw,” Megan insisted. “It’s faster, and it tastes better. Besides, tearing stuff keeps your fangs in shape. You do have fangs, don’t you?” Kelsey looked away from Megan without answering.
“Do you want to eat this fish all raw and slimy with the tough, scaly skin still on it, the way your friend likes her fish?” Kelsey asked Silence. He shook his head. “Then I’ll cook it. After all, you caught it. It’s only fair to divide the work.”
“There’s that fairness concept again,” Megan announced aloud, more to herself.
Kelsey used her new knife to skin and prepare the fish. It worked beautifully. She was quick and did the job well without wasting anything. Then she wrapped the pieces of fish in some leaves and cooked it over a fire. While she did all this, Silence played with Megan by the river. He was teaching the leopard to dance, and while Leopards can be very graceful in some situations, they were definitely not made for this. At least, not the giant ones. For the most part, Megan was fine when she danced to an even beat. However, she became awkward and easily thrown off balance when the moves were syncopated or too rapid for her girth. Megan and Silence laughed until they were crying every time Megan clumsily fell on her back. It was odd to see a leopard so docile, and odder that the boy knew so many dance moves. Maybe he had been part of a circus or performing group. Kelsey then realized that she had never seen him grumpy or short tempered, but it had been only one day. She might see that side of him eventually. He, of course, had seen her grumpy, but that couldn’t be helped. After all, he was the cause of her grumpiness most of the time.
As she worked, Megan wondered where Silence had come from and what he had gone through since he lost his parents. She also wondered who his parents were. They might have been wealthy, and that would explain his worn clothes. But they might also have been poor, and that would explain why he was abandoned after their death. There was no way to know. Only one thing was certain: He appeared to have been on his own for quite a while and knew how to make friends with almost anyone. As much as Kelsey hated this about him, it could be a very useful skill on their journey.
When the fish was cooked, Kelsey called Silence to dinner and he came running with a huge smile on his face. He smiled a lot. Megan followed more slowly and collapsed by the fire to rest while she watched them eat. She had already consumed more raw salmon than Kelsey could imagine.
“Where are you from?” the leopard casually asked Kelsey.
“Nayware.”
“Got it. So you’re from not any place in particular,” Mega
n nodded.
“No. Notanyplaceinparticular is west of Nayware. Nayware is located where the two large rivers meet,” Kelsey explained with slight annoyance. She was tired of people not believing that Nayware was a real town.
“Right,” the leopard responded dismissively.
“Where are you from?” Kelsey asked.
“Everywhere, really. My parents were nomads. I’ve never really settled down,” Megan explained. “Being a healer also means that you have to travel to where healing is needed, so in a way, my childhood prepared me for it.”
“I still don’t think you look like a healer,” Kelsey remarked.
“Exactly what does a healer look like?” the leopard asked coyly. “White lab coat? Black bag with special tools? Scrubs?” Kelsey thought about this carefully. Sure, some doctors looked like that. But there were also shamans. Some preachers were known to be healers, also. So, she concluded, a healer could look like almost anything.
“Sometimes,” she replied. “I just expect a healer to be a little more gentle natured. You have a rough way of doing things.”
“Real healing is brutal business,” Megan explained. “It can hurt as much or more than the injury - that is, if you do it right. If you’re afraid to do what needs to be done because you don’t think the person can take the pain, then you have no business being a healer.” Megan stretched out and yawned. “Your friend is also a healer.”
“Silence?” Kelsey asked in shock. He was just a kid. How could he be a healer?
“He’s got it in him,” Megan answered. “I can tell.”
“How?”
“I can smell it.”
“Is there anything you can’t smell?”
“There are many things that I wish I couldn’t smell, but very few things that I am physically unable to smell,” the leopard replied in a serious tone. “Like most gifts, an acute sense of smell is both a blessing and a curse.”
There were a few moments of quiet as Megan and Kelsey watched Silence pull an old cloak out of his bag. The boy was exhausted and fell asleep within minutes of wrapping himself in the garment. Kelsey listened to Silence breathing deeply and then she turned her attention to the peaceful sounds of the night forest. The wind brushed the tops of the trees, lulling Kelsey into drowsiness. Her eyelids suddenly felt heavy as she listened to the noise of squirrels settling down for the night and the flapping of owls moving about. She was almost asleep when she heard an unusual noise. The sound was rising and falling like the wind, but not with it. It was also wild like the rushing wind, but it was definitely not aligned with it. Maybe it was a different kind of breeze that came gusting from somewhere else. All Kelsey understood was that it was the same sound of whatever was following her in the distance earlier that day. When she recognized it from her trip up the mountain, her eyes opened wide.
“Now there’s an animal I wouldn’t want to face,” Megan announced wearily.
“It’s alive? The thing making that sound is something alive?” Kelsey asked, attempting to disguise her horror.
“Very much so. And from the smell of it, it’s up to no good.” Megan’s voice faded out on the last two words as she drifted off to sleep. A giant leopard with claws and fangs had little to worry about. Kelsey, however, could not sleep at the thought that something was alive and terrible and following her.
Chapter Nine
The First Miracle
After Nicholas had arranged a place for Hope in Maggie’s room, he gave Maggie some brief instructions on how to care for the plant. It was fairly simple, but Nicholas knew that Maggie wasn’t the only child at the orphanage who was having trouble understanding plants, so it was important to make sure that everything was set up and that she understood how to properly care for this one. There was no room for mistakes. She was already on her second chance, and she wouldn’t have another opportunity to get it right. Most children never got a second chance.
“The most important thing is to give the plant what it needs and not what you think it needs,” Nicholas explained.
“Don’t worry,” Maggie assured him. “I’ll ask Hope what she needs when I talk with her. That way I’ll always do the right thing.” Nicholas ignored this statement because Maggie had been talking with Droopsilla, and the plant was nearly dead. Maggie might have been talking with her plant, but she wasn’t listening very well or she would have heard the plant suffocating from too much water.
“Water it every day with about 8 ounces of water. Do this at the same time every day so that it doesn't go for too little or too much time in between waterings.”
“Got it,” Maggie confidently assured him again, nodding her head as if she had understood everything he had told her up to this point. “But maybe I could write all this down after we get back to the lab. Would you mind going over it again when we get there?”
Nicholas sighed. He knew he would need to check up on her, but he was willing to do the work.
“Not at all,” he answered. “I’ll help you write all of this down when we get there.” He would rather go over it a hundred times and have Maggie remember the instructions rather than to see her upset over another dying plant. Besides, Nicholas had named this one Hope, and he needed to make sure that it didn’t die. It was important to him.
***
When they returned to the lab, it appeared as if nothing had happened during their absence and no one had noticed they were gone except Jovan, who was anxious for information. Maggie and Nicholas quietly told Jovan that they had switched the plants and about their brief conversation with Taro. They took turns speaking and spoke in a quiet but animated manner. Jovan laughed at the idea that Maggie would need to continue walking with her plant in a stroller every morning in order to maintain the appearance of the lie Nicholas had told.
“I can’t wait to see this!” Jovan exclaimed, laughing.
“Taro said he loved our teamwork, so you’re going to help me push that stroller and you’re not getting out of it!” she hissed back at him. She knew how silly they would all look, but if she had to look foolish, then her friends were going to look foolish with her. Teamwork meant sharing the good as well as the bad and the embarrassing.
“She’s right,” Nicholas agreed with a shrug, surrendering himself to the idea of looking foolish. “Taro really liked the thought that we were helping one other, so we’re going to have to walk the plant with Maggie so it looks like we’re all working together.” Jovan’s expression dropped as he thought about how crazy they would all look. Nicholas secretly liked the idea, but only because it would give him daily access to Hope so he could check on the plant and make sure that Maggie wasn’t killing it with kindness.
“Oh, no,” Jovan moaned with a horrified look on his face. “What will people think of me?”
“Suck it up,” Maggie scolded him. “You can take it.”
“We can all take it” Nicholas interrupted. “We will take it together. In the meantime, let’s get to work. We still need to keep up appearances here in the lab.” Nicholas was glad Maggie was arguing with Jovan because it showed she felt better about her situation. Jovan rolled his eyes and walked off towards the supply cabinets. Nicholas followed him and gathered supplies.
Now that Maggie was in a better mood, Nicholas felt more optimistic and he looked for all the brightly colored ingredients he could find. It didn’t matter if the things were liquid, solid, powder, metal, or gas. He took as many brightly colored supplies as he could carry and then went back to the cabinets for more. Once he had pulled supplies from all the different categories, he started arranging them on the table in groups of similar color.
“What’s your strategy?” Jovan asked.
“Same as usual,” Nicholas replied casually. “I have none.”
“Make it up as you go,” Jovan agreed.
“Would you like some fireworks?” Maggie asked. “I’ve been doing some reading in the library on how to mix gunpowder with other chemicals to make colored fireworks. I think I could mix up someth
ing small to surprise the other lab teams. It would look beautiful and very different from the metals we’ve been igniting.” Nicholas didn’t really need fireworks, but he knew how much Maggie was enjoying the explosions they’d been making.
“Yes, I would like some fireworks,” Nicholas answered her with a supportive tone that gave her the impression that she had just suggested the very thing that he needed.
“What color?” Maggie couldn’t hide the happiness in her tone.
“You’re going to encourage her?” Jovan asked in disbelief. “What if she blows up the lab?”
“Then I think it will be a very beautiful fire,” Nicholas replied, not really caring if the lab blew up or not. The work seemed pointless, and he decided it was time to enjoy themselves a little. “As for color,” he continued as he turned to Maggie, “I am in a very colorful mood today, so let’s see how many colors you can put into one firework.”
“That might take me some time - a few days or weeks,” she hesitated. “I’m not sure how to mix the colors so that they stay separate. I’ll probably need to read more.”
“If there’s anything we have in this place, it’s time,” Nicholas answered in a patient tone. “So take as much as you need and maybe start by mixing only two colors such as red and blue.”
“Got it,” she replied as she went back to the supply cabinets to look for her ingredients. Nicholas didn’t pay attention to what she was doing, although Jovan watched her carefully as if he thought she might really blow up the whole orphanage and everyone in it. Nicholas finished arranging all his supplies by color and texture and then began mixing things together randomly without thinking about what he was doing. First he mixed a red liquid with a blue gas and watched it turn into a purple powder. Then he took a yellow powder and arranged it in an arc on the bottom of a beaker and placed some of the purple powder next to it, arranging it in another arc directly above the yellow one. He looked around for other colored powders and slowly built a rainbow on the bottom of the wide beaker. As he was doing this he thought that it might be possible to take all the chemical supplies they had and create little works of art, just like the sculptures of colored sand inside of bottles that he remembered seeing once. He decided that making chemical art could be a good way to look busy in the future. He didn’t know how long they would be assigned to the lab, so he was working absentmindedly, dreaming up new ways to pass the time. After the stress of the morning, it felt good not to think too much. Any time he did think, his mind wandered to Maggie’s situation, and he thought about ways to help her so that she didn’t have trouble with her plant in the future. He made notes to himself on the things he needed to teach her.