Brushing the girl’s brow, I whined almost as loudly as she did in her pained sleep.

  What was wrong with her…?

  She had been fine only a few days ago. She had complained about stiffness, and strange aches, but I had assumed it to just be either growing pains or some kind of typical sickness. Something one got over after a few days.

  Yet here she was. Lying in bed. Unable to wake, with her eyebrows falling off and her skin swelling as if bloated.

  “Oh Ginny…” I whispered the poor girl’s name, unable to imagine the pain she was going through.

  She was so small. So delicate. Nothing like me, or my sisters.

  The fact such a gentle, lovely little girl was suffering so much made me want to scream. But I had no idea who I should scream at.

  Taking a deep, shuddering, breath, I stood away from the bed. If I was going to weep and cry I didn’t want to disturb the girl as I did so.

  Leaving the bedroom, I stepped around the small hallway and out into the living room. Our little home had slowly grown cramped, somehow. I wasn’t even sure when or how we had accumulated so much furniture and stuff, but it always seemed like I was looking for a new spot to place something in.

  Yet as cramped as it felt… I loved it.

  I think this was the ninth or tenth year we’ve been here. Lujic was now an almost grown… even if he was still scrawny. He stood taller than me now, though I always pretended to not notice. He hated that.

  “How long is he going to take anyway?” I wondered. I had asked him to go get the old man. The priest who lived in the nearby church. A strange building with strange symbols and creatures carted into its stone walls.

  I wasn’t entirely sure yet what to think of that man, or the religion he spoke of, but I did know he was wise in the ways of tending the sick. Many people over the last few years had gotten sick, from one thing or another, and he was the one who nursed them back to health. Out of all the ones I remembered, many dozens, only one had died under his care.

  It wasn’t a flawless record, but it may as well be one.

  Far better than that doctor at that noble’s house we had lived at so long ago. That man had been crazy.

  “Cutting open a head to heal a foot,” I scoffed at the idea again as I walked to the front of the house. I pulled back one of the curtains to peer through the half open shutter, and scanned the road and the distant village nearby.

  No sign of Lujic or the old priest.

  Really. How long had he been gone? It felt like long enough. Had something happened? Should I go too? But what if Ginny needed me…?

  Feeling lost in many ways, I forced myself away from the window and headed over to a nearby chair. Upon it was my cloak and hat, I hurried went to put them on. Both in case I had to leave as to find Lujic and the priest, but also in case they showed up. Didn’t want that weird priest seeing my ears or tail. Who knows what’d happen then.

  Right now I couldn’t afford to get ostracized or chased away. Not with Ginny in her state. It wasn’t like when we left that noble’s house, when the two kids had been healthy and able to travel. Lujic would have no problem, being the stout young man he’s become, but Ginny…? She’d not last a day on the road in her condition.

  Feeling anxious I began to pace. Ginny has always been weak. Sickly, almost.

  I blamed her youth. That time spent in bed, from being kicked by whoever had hurt her all those years ago. I blamed those days of struggling on her current condition.

  But the cause didn’t matter. Usually when she got sick… she didn’t outright pass out. Not for extended periods of time at least.

  She usually spent a day or two in bed… but still sat up to talk to me. To eat and drink.

  Now she’d not even fidget when touching or yelling at her. As if she was dead.

  She had collapsed yesterday, passing out completely, which had made me panic in the first place… but now she had swelling. Terrible swelling, as if bitten by a bunch of bugs or something. Now her eyebrows were falling off! Why? Why did hair fall off? What caused that?

  It made no sense. None at all… and even worse I hated how I had no idea what to do about it.

  All any of this did was make me hate myself.

  I’ve been acting as their older sister, or mother, for so many years… why couldn’t I do more than play a part? A real mother would know how to help her daughter… right? Surely?

  Even my own mother and grandmother, as cruel as they were, knew things. Knew what to eat when sick. Knew what to do when hurt. How to mend bones, and whatnot…

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  The fact I was doing worse than they made this even more disheartening.

  A knock on the door startled me, but I didn’t hesitate to hurry over and open the door. Lujic and a familiar old man were outside, and neither waited to be invited as they hurried in.

  “Where?” the old man asked, and Lujic quickly guided him through the house to the back bedroom.

  I followed the two dutifully, feeling hopeful. Maybe he’ll just know! Maybe he’ll tell me what herb to go look for, or what kind of soup to make, or…!

  Yet the two came to a stop upon entering the room… because the old man had gone still at the sight of her.

  Standing behind Lujic, I peered around the thin boy and hated what I saw.

  I held my breath as the old man sighed at the sight of her.

  He had decided her fate before even reaching the bed! Oh no!

  “Priest?” Lujic stepped closer, noticing the man’s expression as well as I.

  He slowly shook his head and then quickly made a motion with his hands. They darted around his chest, and then he kissed his knuckles. “I’m sorry, little one,” he whispered down to Ginny, ignoring Lujic and I.

  My heart sank and I had to hurriedly step around Lujic as to reach out and grab the edge of the bed. To support myself.

  No…!

  “Old man…!” Lujic stepped closer, sounding desperate.

  The old priest turned a little, studied Lujic’s eyes for a moment and then turned to look at me.

  “I’m sorry Renn. She’s afflicted with the lepra… I’ll have to report this to the elders, though it looks like it won’t matter,” he said gently to me.

  “What do you mean it won’t matter!” Lujic asked loudly. Loudly enough I had flinched, but the old man hadn’t.

  He had expected such a response from the boy. Yet still he held my own eyes, not even looking at Lujic.

  “What do you mean?” I asked softly, afraid to hear the answer.

  “She is too far contaminated. She will be dead within the week. And if she’s this far along, and neither of you have caught it or anyone else, then it’s safe to assume no one else will either… but sadly fate has decided to knock, and she must answer,” the man said as he glanced at Ginny again.

  He once again shook his head, sighed gently, and then closed his eyes and began to mumble. A prayer.

  “Rennalee..!” Lujic turned to look at me, his face contorting quickly from anger into pure desperation.

  I gulped, but couldn’t find it in me to speak.

  What did I say?

  What could I say?

  Should I argue with him? As Lujic had tried to do?

  Debate the man who likely was speaking truth?

  After all…

  Slowly looking away from the traumatized Lujic, I stared down at my sweet little Ginny.

  Yes.

  I saw it too.

  I had just not wanted to admit it.

  She looked… empty. Almost. Hollowed out, like a trunk that was rotten.

  Squeezing the covers of the bed, to keep myself from falling over, I gasped for air for a moment… and then gulped again.

  “What… what can I do? For her?” I asked weakly.

  For a small moment the room was silent, as I ignored Lujic’s glare. From the corner of my eye I could see his furious look. He was not happy I had just given up.

  But I hadn’t. not truly. It was just… well…

  Sometimes the world hurt. Sometimes it was cruel.

  This was one of those times.

  “Keep her comfortable as she goes. Give her whatever you can. When she does pass into the sky, please burn her body. Bury it deep after you do. Have no one else come to this house until after that day, as to keep others safe,” the priest said calmly.

  I nodded. Okay.

  The priest took a deep breath and sighed once more. “I am sorry. I really am. May the Gods take pity on her, and welcome her into their embrace with a gentle ease known only to the innocent. I’ll tell the village what is happening… so they will not bother you in your time of mourning. Take ease and rest, I’ll see to it you are given your allotted time,” the priest said as he turned and left.

  The man left rather slowly, as if suddenly tired. But I made no move to stop him. Nor did Lujic.

  He walked down the hallway… then through the front of the house and out the door. I heard him shut the door gently, as if in apology.

  “What does he mean allotted time?” I asked Lujic.

  Staring at the tall, skinny, boy… I felt my heart shatter again as he stared down at his little sister.

  He was weeping. Terribly so.

  Seeing him weep somehow kept my own tears from breaking free. I knew it was silly, but seeing him break… just made me want to be just a little stronger. For him. For all of us.

  Taking a deep breath, I shivered… and felt the tears slide out anyway.

  So much for being strong.

  “In this village, deaths are sacred. They’ll bring us food and supplies for a month, so that we can mourn in peace,” Lujic finally answered me. He spoke… strangely calmly. Not sounding at all like the utter mess he looked to be.

  Oh. I see.

  That was nice of them… I guess…

  I’d rather have her though.

  Stepping closer to the girl, I reached out to gently touch her. I didn’t caress her like usually did… since she was sweaty and clammy. I didn’t want to hurt or bother her by touch her too harshly.

  She looked so frail.

  It reminded me of the first time I’d met her. Back when I had found them in that battlefield.

  How could so much time pass… yet she look so similar? As if I had blinked and nothing had changed…?

  All that had changed was where we were. We had gone from a small camp near a river, to a full house in a quaint little village.

  As I stared down at her, my eyes welled with more tears… and slowly I broke.

  Falling to my knees, I began to join Lujic in weeping. Unlike him though… I didn’t do so quietly.

  I wept. And wept.

  Unable to do anything else.