It was a dark noon today. The sun cast a crimson hue upon the lush lands and a tree hut in the middle of the forest, on the balcony of which a woman looked around, barely keeping her eyes peeled for any oncoming people.
As expected, this was the witch doctor, Enheduanna. A deep sigh made its way out of her mouth, and, almost instinctively, her head leaned in on her fist, which rested upon the wooden guardrail of the balcony.
Her light-brown eyes were not focused, and instead, they seemed to hold a blankness and looking towards her inner world, as opposed to her surroundings.
She bit her lips, feeling guilty.
What was she feeling guilty about? A lot.
A few months ago, she had taken in a child. He used to be someone's child, but he was now an orphan, and it was thanks to the gods' will.
She smirked and made a dry laugh.
No child could grow without other children, but for his safety, she had to keep him away from people. If they could blame him for droughts, and they found out that he was still alive, what would they blame him for next? Divorce?
Today, she would see a patient, and upon these days, she always requested him to leave the premises. He would give her a forced smile, likely as not to hurt her, and leave towards the woodlands near the hut.
Today, she thoroughly regretted being a doctor.
Back when she studied medicine under the priests of the city, the only city of the land, she had sworn an oath of blood. If she disrespected the oath, then her blood would stop flowing into her arms, forever, and she would lose the hands she used to practice her medicinal arts.
'To attend to your every person in need as your loved child,' This phrase was thoroughly drilled into her mind.
She could not bring her own feelings into the matter of healing the ill, and that sometimes brought her dilemma.
That was the case, today.
"As rumors have said, you have a beautiful herb garden."
Enheduenna walked to the other side of her balcony to see who was speaking, though she had a rough idea, and her left hand on the guardrail began shaking tremendously.
In the colorful mosaic of flowers below her, a tall woman crouched at the bulb of a lavender flower, and in one swift stroke, she trimmed it and placed the lovely mauve flower into her dark locks.
Then she slowly stood up, as if to accentuate the minutia of her movements, and looked up at Enheduanna.
The latter frowned, madness flowing through her mind akin to the air she breathed. This arrogant, pompous woman who dared shamelessly prick a flower from her garden, she knew her very well, this was Melem.
The two locked their eyes into a straight line, and time seemed to pause for the doctor.
No one said anything.
Then, Melem spouted out in a quick manner, "You look well."
However, Enheduanna did not take it to heart. It was the kind of compliment one did not believe in, the kind one gave when trying to fill an awkward silence. The doctor only raised one side of her lips in response and hinted at the woman to come up.
Now, Melem was in front of her.
Melem's eyes scanned her up and down, and out of a sudden, she approached her, causing Enheduanna to take a few steps back in caution.
'When you're near a snake, you have to watch your back at all times,' Unfortunately, there were remarks Enheduanna could only keep inside of her mind.
Taken aback by the doctor's retreat, Melem presented her cheeks into thin air and made a kissing noise with her lips. Yet, as she realized she had only greeted the chilly air of spring days, her face flushed in embarrassment.
Enheduanna giggled quietly, but she shook her head and said, "Well, come in, you're a very welcome guest."
Melem recovered her composure unnaturally quickly, and she smiled bashfully, then went inside through the short door of the tree hut, though she had to crouch slightly to pass through.
"Lay down on the bed."
Melem did as she had been told, and laid down on the corner bed, which usually hosted the child who had become an orphan thanks to her.
Enheduanna sat next to the woman, and in a procedural and mechanical manner, she asked her, "So, why are you here today? What's wrong?"
'Oops, that came off aggressive,' Enheduanna almost spilled out her resentment for the woman.
Melem looked stunned for a second, though she furrowed her brows and spoke little, "I've been feeling unwell for some time, I don't know what it is, I consider you a close friend, and I can tell it's not the lack of men, I have thrived in that regards, I don't know why I've been feeling this way, ever since the night of the spring equinox-
"Stop right there."
"What is it, doctor, do you know why I-
*Creak*
"AAARGH!" Melem screamed in fear when she looked towards Enheduanna. The latter held a glass beaker in her hands, and her fist gripped it tightly, so tight, in fact, that it broke into a million little pieces.
'Enheduanna, calm down, respect the oath, respect the oath.' She fell into thought.
Melem was the woman responsible for instigating the murders of Siria and Babel the night of the spring equinox, and one of her accusations was that Siria had already consummated her chastity and could not marry and have children anymore, and yet, today, she could brazenly speak and say that she herself had broken that rule and even use such words as "thriving"?
"Doctor? Is everything okay?"
"Yes, Melem, I need to check your body."
Enheduanna looked towards the cabinet next to the bed and swiftly opened it, taking out from it a handcrafted wooden cylindrical tool, though the diameter of one end was greater than that of the opposite hole.
She forcefully gripped Melem and placed the cylindrical tool on the left side of the woman's torso.
Afterward, she placed her ear inside the smaller hole of the cylinder and listened to Melem's heart rate.
*Thump*
Enheduanna furrowed her brows.
*Thump*
There was a great pause between her every heartbeat.
"Melem, your heart is slow and cold, you're very cold."
Melem did not grasp the hidden meaning of the doctor's words and began a long tirade again, "I don't know why...is it because I can't have any children? This is Narth's curse upon me, I am the victim of this village, unable to give birth and watch my children grow..."
She didn't stop, but Enheduanna's attention had already faded away.
For a second, she almost felt sympathetic for the woman in front of her and her personal struggles, but then, she recalled how she had acted the night of the spring equinox, and the legacy of her murder, that little child who would now grow up without a mother or a father to call his own.
"You can't have children, but does that mean you should end the lives of those who can, and have their children live in misery?" Enheduanna looked straight at Melem, who locked her eyes with the former.
As they shared eye contact, there was no way to evade words or hide behind a façade of pretense. Melem's face twisted, and she stuttered, "C-come ag-gain?"
_________
Anku made his way back to his new home crying, and naked from the torso and up.
He was so cold.
The coldness permeated into his very heart and bones, and no amount of wool blankets would ever warm him up again.
"Auntie..."
"You can't have children, but does that mean you should end the lives of those who can, and have their children live in misery?"
'What?'