Iria groaned out in pain. I sat beside her on the hard bed applying medicine to her wound. I pinched a yellowish powder from several small cups on a table in the room, all containing different medicines with different uses which I made myself due to my little knowledge of alchemy.
"This will hurt," I mummured guiltily.
"Oh get on with it!" Iria snapped. "I'm in pain already--grrr,"
"Well, don't scream or people will come running. I'm sure it's been published by now that the Investigation Bureau Office wants two girls, one with an arrow wound on her shoulder." I breathed some magic onto the powder. It turned grey in color.
"Quickly, Nei. I won't scream"
With one swift movement I pressed the powder onto the open wound which I had cleaned.
"Grrr--awwww!"
"Don't scream, you--coward!"
"I'm not screaming you ninny! Why don't you try putting it on your skin??"
Our banter woke our brother in the next room. In a moment he was knocking on our door.
"Iria-- Nei--what are you up to this late? It's not dawn and yet you're making so much noise..what do you wanna do..bring the whole community on us??"
"Go away, Rudolph!" I snapped, "go back to bed now!!"
The obstinate goat remained, asking stupid questions.
"Where have you been? Are you hurt? Which one of you is?"
I looked at Iria. She had both eyes shut tight, resisting the urge to scream with all her might. I felt awful. It was my fault for not protecting her, not casting a shield round us while we tried to escape. Truly, the shield would have drained my abilities but...why was I selfish to the extent of letting my own sister get hurt?...
"Oww!"
"What?" I was startled.
"What was that? Boiling water?"
"Huh?" Then I looked down. Two teardrops from my face had fallen onto Iria's arm. It had burned her skin.
"Aah--umm..." for whatever reason a memory long ignored resurfaced...
_Every where was burning. I ran from one end of the village to another, not crying anymore, but looking to see, if anyone like me had survived. I heard a muffled noise from one building on my left, collapsed and smoking.
I tore towards the building and lifted debris. Once in a while I'd come to ashes of burnt people, one..two..three....I wondered if I'd known them before...
The last body was still raw. From underneath came the noise. A baby. I lifted the body off with energy that was not mine. The baby was covered in soot, blood, ashes ..._
I groaned at the recollection. Iria stared at me quizzically, the burning sensation in her arm now past.
"The matter?" She asked.
"Horrible memories," I wiped my eyes with my left hand.
"Nei," she stuggled to sit up and grabbed my shoulder with her left hand, as it was her right which was injured.
"Look at me, Nei,"
I couldn't. I had never told Iria about Rudolph's parentage. I couldn't bear it. I had replaced our Rudolph with that baby I found in the collapsed building. That was not going to change. I also did not tell Iria, of course I wouldn't, that I had modified her memory so she would not remember the man who had run his sword through our mother, pregnancy and all, while our father fought six expert warriors singlehandedly....
"Nei, what is wrong with you?" Iria had worry etched on her face "if it's...if its memories of Clan Hakorhi ...just stop crying..."
The mention of the name...it set me off completely. I shook with sobs and buried my head in Iria's shoulder. Memories came swarming now, and I was unable to stop them...
_'Nei, do not speak to your elder sister like that..it is not to be heard of from a member of the Hakorhi clan-' it was my mother, her face stern, but not always for long...._
_'Take your sister and run!' there was fear in her eyes 'your father and I will sacrifice ourselves for you if needs must.....run! Run!'_
"Nei, get a grip," Iria hissed. "How can we get revenge for our people if you keep tearing up at the end of every mission? Get a grip, Nei. You're resting on my injured shoulder by the way..."
I sat up away from her. A thin line was visible where previously there was a gaping arrow wound. My tears had healed her. I resisted the urge to point it to her.
"Iria..what do we do next?" I wiped my eyes. Iria sat back and reflected.
"We have let the king know that there are still magic users around...what is left is to rebuild the Hakorhi clan--"
"How?" I was stunned, "but..are we not the only ones left? It's been twelve years and no one has identified with us," I added.
Iria sat up again.
"They haven't identified with us because they don't know where to find us,"
"But we can't possibly paste bills around advertising for magic users can we?" I chuckled at my own joke.
Iria had a mischievous glint in her eye.
"Thank you, Nei. That is exactly what we're going to do,"
.....
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