Being awoken with a gentle rocking motion Mītut Qātē opened her eyes to a warm orange light but instead of panicking she knew that she was somewhere one could consider home. Turning her head slowly to the side she saw Liale gently rocking her back and forth with his hands, softly saying “wake up” in a calmed voice rather than the booming one she knew of. Liale’s slightly worried face turned into glee as he saw her wake up. “I made you some food, and some medicine for you to take, eat up child.” Liale said to Mītut Qātē with a genuine paternal attitude she had only felt once before but never truly understood it in its fullest degree, something about it felt familiar to her in an odd way. She put that thought away and rose up from the bed, rubbing her eyes and waking up refreshed; for the first time in years as she can remember. “How did you sleep? Good?” Liale said to her, to which she nodded her head happily in response. Liale smiled, and gestured his hands in a guiding manner to a nearby table.
On it was a bowl of freshly made gruel, its contents still hot and exuding a long stream of steam from it. To the side of it was half loaf of baked bread, rigid but still quite fresh from the oven. “I had to quickly make these for you, they were the only things I could scrounge up around here. I hope you understand, "Liale said to Mītut Qātē. Though she didn’t care about that, she was more touched by the gesture itself, how far Liale was going to care for her. She nodded her head in acknowledgement and with a genuine smile she did not show in a long time. Liale stood up and walked over to the table, carefully touching the bowl before pulling back his hand, “It’s a bit hot” he says with a laugh, before reaching back into his pockets before pulling out a cloth. He wrapped it around the bowl and once again touched it with his hands; this time fully encapsulating the bowl and lifting it off the table.
Liale carefully transported the bowl of gruel over to Mītut Qātē before crouching down made a face with an open mouth which she imitated and opened her mouth. Liale picked up a spoonful of gruel from the bowl and fed it to her. Her mouth puckered at the immediate taste of it, she sensed flavors she never thought before, some of a vague sweetness around her cheeks, a feeling of dryness on her tongue, all sorts of exotic flavors she never tasted before, more defined than the scraps she was accustomed to eating. She held her mouth but had coughed on the gruel as she tried to swallow it. Liale quickly sat the bowl aside and began to pat her back, “Let it out” he said to her repeatedly in a coarse and panicked voice. She relented and was able to spit out the gruel inside her mouth, making a mess of the place. She was relieved that she was no longer choking on the gruel but almost immediately felt a sense of dread overcome her, she turned to Liale “I’m sorry-” she tried to say but to her surprise she was Liale not angry with her, instead she saw him with a calmed and relaxed face. He turned to her with a smile, “are you okay?” which he said. Mītut Qātē looked at him with a puzzled look, she did not understand why he was not angry with her for creating such a mess and wasting the food he made; she didn’t understand and didn’t know what to do. “Are you okay?” Liale said once again in a more urgent tone this time, Mītut Qātē looked at him and nodded in a contracted manner, simply responding to his question.
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Liale took the cloth from underneath the bowl and began to wipe himself and the bed where the gruel had gone on to. He then wiped the remaining gruel which had stuck itself on Mītut Qātē. “There we go, you’re all clean now” Liale said to her, with an apparent happiness which she could not understand but one which she went along with. Liale got up and went over to the table across the room and grabbed the loaf of bread, breaking off a piece, and walking back to hand it to Mītut Qātē to which she took small, manageable, bites out of. He watched as she savored the bread, enjoying each bite she took until the piece was no more. Liale placed the bread and the bowl of gruel onto the small table beside her bed and turned to her, “Try to eat at your own pace, but eat it whilst its still hot, okay?” which was responded with a simple nod from her. He smiled and rose and walked to the doorway before turning again to face her. “I am going to sleep now, if you need me my room is just down the hallway. Rest easy, child.” Liale spoke before turning to leave. Mītut Qātē, with a strange feeling inside of her, blurted out to Liale “Mītut Qātē”. He turned with a confused look on his face at her before she pointed at herself before saying it again slightly louder “Mītut Qātē”. “Is that your name?” Liale said, still questioning her. She nodded and said it again, more confidently and loudly, “Mītut Qātē”. He stood there for a brief moment, before smiling again “Rest easy, Mītut Qātē.” he said instead. She smiled back at Liale before he turned away, leaving the room and closing the door behind him. Mītut Qātē fell onto the bed with her arms and legs spread.
She has finally been given a break, a long overdue break in her life. She finished the bread and, slowly as to not choke on it again, worked her way to finishing the gruel; the flavors once foreign have become a new set of comfort for her. Warmed and full she lays down back onto the bed again, getting underneath the sheets she rests her head on the pillow and begins to drift away once again into a peaceful sleep. Apart from a slight discomforting feeling she vaguely felt at some point in the night she would awake, and be awoken to the light of a new day; one which she would be happy to be awoken to.
