A ray of sunlight peered into the treehouse and illuminated a child's serene face.
Anku's eyelashes quivered from the harsh light, and a few moments later, he slowly opened his eyes.
'Where...am I?' His eyes met the ceiling of the hut, which he did not recognize as his own.
Slightly bobbing his head, Anku took in and examined more of the unfamiliar surroundings.
He was laying down on a large straw bed, and around him, orderly wooden cabinets emitted a spicy, herbal smell.
A small chair was placed on the side of the bed, and a damp, unlit fireplace stood in the corner of the room.
As his small eyes moved left and right, he suddenly winced in pain.
A slight pain came from his elbow area, and as he looked at it, shock grew on his face.
His whole elbow was red and blistering, and the reddish skin folded around itself in an ugly manner, like deep wrinkles.
Looking back at the fireplace, he finally recalled the events from yesterday.
While trying to wield a heavy hammer, he accidentally burned himself, and felt great pain, and then...
'I don't remember anything else...' Anku did not know why he was in here.
He raised his upper body, and placed his little feet on the wooden flooring, producing a creak in the process.
In the corners of the room, there were two doors, one that seemed to lead to the outside, as it was on the same side as a window, and one that likely led to another room.
Anku slowly approached the two doors, and through the latter, his eyes caught an unexpected sight.
On the floor, his parents, Siria and Babyl, were sleeping and snoring very loudly, and a short distance away from the two, the strange witch doctor was also in the realm of unconsciousness.
His little brain first processed the preceding observations with confusion, but he began connecting the dots and formed a rough understanding of his predicament.
"I lost consciousness, and Mom and Dad brought me here for treatment?" Anku softly whispered to himself.
He did not wish to wake them up.
However, the three all shivered slightly, and through the cold air permeating the room, he thought they were cold.
Anku sneakily went back to the straw bed and brought with him the heavy sheepskin blanket.
Before he laid it down on them, though, a sweet aroma attracted the attention of the child.
In a low-hanging cabinet of the room, a basket emitted an extremely alluring smell to the child.
It smelled of spring flowers, and somehow also of sweet fruit.
Anku put down the blanket and walked towards the basket.
Inside of it, a stack of gorgeous flowers appeared.
They had vibrant green stems, and a plump, vivid purple bulb.
He sniffed them slightly from afar, and then, his hands reached for the flow-
"Agh!" Anku suddenly gasped in pain, as he felt a force pressing down and blocking his hands.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that it was a hand, one that was significantly larger than his but did not belong to either of his parents.
Raising his head, he saw a stern-faced woman.
"Those are the extremely poisonous flowers of the Sampa flower, and the poison dissolves extremely easily in water or the oils on the skin."
She made a single deep breath, and maintaining a stern, angry face, she stated, "Don't touch a doctor's ingredients carelessly."
Anku took a step back, and she loosened her grip on his hands.
"Hello...Auntie doctor..."
Enheduanna smiled dryly in response and then diverted her attention to his elbow area.
"How are you feeling?" She grabbed his arm and abruptly touched his burn, causing him to frown in pain.
"Hmm, you can still feel pain in the burn, that's a great sign."
Enheduanna took a glance at his sleeping parents, and said, "I think you should let them sleep a bit more, I don't think they got a single second of peaceful sleep."
Anku nodded and recalled why he brought the blanket.
He grabbed it back up, and then gently laid it down on his parent's bodies.
Siria frowned and a few words came out of her sleeping self, "Enheduanna, I understand, but I at least want to see my light until the day I die..."
Anku hummed in confusion at this strange sentence.
Enheduanna did not say anything or explain Siria's words, but instead, she directed the child's attention towards something else.
"You need to eat breakfast, come on."
Suddenly, at the mention of breakfast, his stomach produced a loud, grumbling sound, affirming and agreeing wholeheartedly to Enheduanna's proposal.
_________
-A few hours later-
Immediately upon their awakening, Siria and Babyl immediately ran towards the other room of the estate.
There, they saw a sight that made them spontaneously sigh in relief.
On the straw bed, Anku sat down and stared attentively at a clay plate, while Enheduanna pointed at symbols on the plate, and said, "This is the letter Jim, and this one is Baa."
Anku enthusiastically repeated the letters and did not seem to be injured or hurt at all.
As he focused on the alphabet, two foreign forces suddenly crushed his body.
In an instant, he was in the shared embrace of his parents.
"MY LIGHT, I'M SO SORRY FOR LEAVING YOU ALONE!" Babyl screamed with red eyes.
Siria was similarly emotional, and looked at her husband and son, and shouted, "BABYL, FORGET IT, OUR LIGHT IS FINE, AND ALL IS GOOD IN THE WORLD."
"Dad, Mom, stop crying..."
Enheduanna simply chuckled at this sight.
After a hug that lasted for a bit too long, and may or may have not crushed Anku's lungs, Siria turned her attention to the witch doctor.
She then fell down on her knees and asked, "Enheduanna, what can I repay you with? I owe you my life."
Enheduanna contemplated for a short time, and shook her head, replying, "You know I don't require money, but if you can do something, consider my proposal."
Siria bit her lips and nodded.
"Auntie, can I come back to learn how to 'read'?" Anku cheerily asked her.
Enheduanna nodded and replied, "You can, but you can't come alone."
Anku was fine with this arrangement and laid his head back on his dad's shoulder.
Afterward, the family, now happily reunited, left the hut and went back to the village.
Near his hut, three children stood in front of the door, and when they saw Anku, they stood up and clamored towards him, "Anku! Where were you?! Let's play together!"
Siria giggled, but she said, "Kids, could you play near the hut? I can't have my light out of my sight..."
Anku felt like he was being treated as a child, which he most definitely was not, but he somehow empathized with his parents, thus, he promised them to stay near.
'Playing with Ura, Gilje, and Hamm, while my parents are near...' He was only smiling.
His world was complete again.