Amarantha rushed towards a tent, squeezing her son in her arms; she tried to catch her breath as she stood at the façade. “Where's Aeon!?” Her voice trembled as she looked about frantically for her husband. “Is he here?”
“Yes, he's here. Right this way,” a clan member guarding the tent guided Amarantha inside. Amarantha ducked and entered following the other carefully into the tent. “He's being treated now.”
The layout of the tent had a similar floor plan to others in the Settlement, though this tent housed more beds, and supplies for treating various types of ailments. Grounded natural herbs and remedies lined the shelves of the enclosed space.
Melli reached out as soon as he recognised the bandaged man resting in bed with his head propped up by an array of pillows. “Daddy!” Amarantha spun around quickly, obscuring Melli’s view.
“C-could you please take him outside?” She transferred the stinky baby to the person who escorted her inside.
“Of course.” A confused Melli started to cry as the guard took him outside, away from his mother. His horrified cries pierced the ears of everyone outside.
“Aeon…?” Amarantha sat down beside the bed, leaning her head gently against his shoulder as tears rolled down the tourniquet securing his chest. “Aeon, it’s me!” She tried desperately to get a response from her husband. “Aeon!?” In her soft tone of voice, she begged and prayed to Almighty Sinnoh for the health of her dear partner. “… I’m sorry, darling,” she whispered to him in his ear and got comfortable beside him, keeping him company.
Amarantha thought back to the last conversation she had with her husband. Feelings of guilt began to settle in as she recalled that her last interaction with him was a silly quarrel. Aeon's words echoed in her subconscious memory: all I’m saying is that it’s better for him to learn that you won’t always be available. She looked at her husband’s lifeless face as his last words to her repeated again and again in the back of her mind. Amarantha could hear her son panicking outside the tent. “It’s better for him to learn that you won’t always be available…” she mouthed to herself, tracing Aeon’s face.
A deep reddish tint flushed Melli's soft baby face as he kicked and squealed outside the tent in the arms of one of the guards standing out front. “Hey, hey!” The guard tried to hold onto the terrified toddler. “Your mommy and daddy are inside. They’ll be back, okay? Calm down,” he tried to hush the child. Melli continued to cry like it was a full-time job.
“Melli~♡” A short woman with loose, wavy deep blue hairs and a fair complexion appeared outside of the tent; a child no younger than Melli with similar features followed behind her. She waved at the stinky baby, whose cries softened at the sound of her voice. “I heard about what happened. Is Amarantha here?”
“Yes, ma’am. She’s inside,” the guard holding Melli affirmed, standing aside. “She asked me to take her son out while she visited Aeon.”
“I see. Thank you for helping,” the lady bowed respectfully before entering the tent. The other child sat down on the stone path in front of the tent with the guard holding Melli.
“You cry a lot,” the kid looked up at Melli, who seemed tuckered out from crying so much. Melli pulled his hood over his eyes and suckled his thumb. The guard sighed in relief.
“Finally. He stopped.”
“Amaranthaa~♡” The lady sang softly.
Amarantha lifted her head from Aeon's shoulder. “Y-yes?” She rose to her feet and bowed once she realised who was speaking to her. Instead of bowing, the lady pulled the worried Amarantha into a sympathetic hug.
“I heard about what happened. How is he doing now?”
“He hasn’t spoken a word to me since I came,” Amarantha frowned. “I stayed by his side to pray over him since there isn’t much else I can do…” Aeon remained unresponsive in bed with the shirt of his uniform pulled up so medics could easily apply herbal remedies as needed.
“Oh, dear.” The lady took a closer look at Aeon. “They weren't kidding when they said critical condition.” Amarantha wiped away some tears after looking back at his unconscious state.
“What happened to him…?” Amarantha was so overwhelmed by the news that she never even asked.
“Members of the other Clan wounded him,” the lady shook her head. “They collided near the ruins to the south and got into an altercation, leaving him in this condition.” Amarantha looked on with horror.
“Why? Why would anyone do this!?”
“They have always been this way.” The lady placed a hand on Amarantha’s shoulder. “What’s done is done; the harm they’ve casued is now a reality.”
Amarantha dropped down beside her husband, sobbing. “It pains me enough to see him like this… I just want him to recover soon.”
“In due time, dear,” the lady reassured the distraught Amarantha, who refused to leave Aeon’s side.
* * *
Melli fussed as he woke up from his nap. He pushed his hood back and scanned the area, hoping his parents were back. His eyes watered at the apparent absence of either mommy or daddy.
“Mommy…! Daddy…!!” He wailed.
“Your mommy and daddy are inside,” the guard reminded the little one. Melli wiggled out from the guard’s grasp and waddled around; he saw the other child sitting outside the tent and watched him carefully. The little boy with the messy blue hairs occupied himself by doodling with a twig on the ground as he waited for his own mother to come out.
“Mommy!?” A still pants-less Melli approached the other boy.
“Mommy’s in there,” the other boy pointed at the tent and went back to what he was doing. Melli watched him as he continued to doodle random things.
“Where’s mommy!? I want mommy!” He turned around and ran past the guard into the tent. “Mommy, mommy!!”
“He's too much for me,” the guard sighed and sat there, defeated and unphased. “I don’t think I could have any kids if they’re gonna be like that,” he murmured to himself.
“Mommy, mommy!”
Amarantha and the other woman looked up to see the wee toddler speeding towards them.
“…Melli?” Amarantha sniffled. “I thought I told you to stay outside, darling.” Melli pulled on his mother’s sleeve. “N-not now. Mommy’s busy…”
“He really needs you,” the lady chimed in. Melli climbed into Amarantha’s lap and hugged her uniform extra tightly, as if he never wanted to separate from her ever again.
“Oh, Melli.” Amarantha hugged the worried baby.
“Have you two had anything to eat yet?”
“I haven’t prepared anything yet,” Amarantha admitted. “I don’t know if I can to be quite honest,” she rubbed her empty stomach.
“Hmm. I’ll be right back.” The lady disappeared from the tent. Though short, she walked with purpose.
“Where’s daddy?” Melli looked around. He was too short to see over the bed where his father laid.
“Daddy’s here.” Amarantha tried to hold back her tears around her son. Sharing the sadness she felt in her heart was the last thing she wanted to do. She wrapped Melli in her arms with his face nestled gently by her bosom, obscuring his view of Aeon.
Moments later, the lady reappeared carrying a tray of assorted eats. The little boy with the wavy blue hairs followed behind her holding a pitcher of fresh water.
“Here, dear. Please try to eat something if you can,” she set the tray down on a low table near the bed. The boy placed the pitcher next to the meal.
“Oh, my. How thoughtful of you.” Amarantha lost her apetite in light of everything that happened, but she couldn’t bear the thought of seeming rude and turning down the offering—especially an offering brought by the family of the Clan leader. “Thank you so much,” she bowed. A starving Melli reached for the food. “No, no, darling. We need to pray, okay?”
The lady and her son sat across from Amarantha and Melli. They joined together for a heartful prayer to Almighty Sinnoh before the meal. Amarantha looked down at her son who was finally eating different foods. Aeon’s last words rang in her ears yet again: It’s better for him to learn that you won’t always be available… “I thought it was too soon to teach him something like that, but now… I understand why you wanted Melli to learn that,” she mouthed to herself before taking her first bite of dinner. “I understand now…”
