Eliuteria

Chapter 23

The swelling decreased as warmth spread through my body and I slowly regained the use of my fingers and my ability to speak. My vision cleared now that my eyes were no longer swollen and I stared at the Morri fixing me. She wasn't anyone I had seen before. The Morri woman had a softness to her that was so rare to see in their kind. Her hair was let down and she didn't have any of the adornments so many of her kind did. Her bluish-gray hair was pulled back into a neat bun, no braids or jewels within it.

She was simple. In the same way humans were.

Her eyes met mine, widening in surprise when she caught me staring. She brought a finger to her lips, urging me to be quiet.

"You've slept for a long time. They were concerned you may not heal, but I am very skilled. My apologies," she whispered and her thumb followed a trail down my cheek along the same path where Juleen had dragged the tip of the my blade. "I could not fix it all."

She sat back on her legs, looking up at me still with curiosity in her gaze.

"My name is Prena," she whispered in a stilted form of my language but didn't struggle for the words, it was more like she knew the language but rarely practiced speaking it aloud. She stared at me expectantly. I thought she was waiting for me to give my name, but there was no point. I looked away from her, focusing on a spot on the wall. "The men spoke of what you did," she said and raised back up to a kneel so that our faces were close. "I have never met a human before, but I think you are the bravest."

The words tore my eyes from the spot I'd so intently focused on and to the Morri next to me, my mind whirling.

"You've never met a human?" I asked quietly.

She shook her head and giggled quietly amused. As if realizing the noise she was making, she slapped a hand over her lips and looked around as if expecting Juleen or one of his men to barge in and undo all the work she'd just finished. After a long silent moment, she lowered her hand.

"I was not sure I could heal a human. This is all very exciting for me. I was called to keep a human alive and then I heard the whispers about what you had done." She sucked in a deep breath, grinning wide. "The Morrí in you! That was a surprise, but I felt it the moment I started to heal you. I wish we could have met under different circumstances, I think we might be friends."

I had no idea what to make of her. From her tone and the earnest expression on her face, I thought she was being genuine. She was excited and it seemed inappropriate but not malicious. Prena wasn't excited by my pain or what I'd been through, she was excited to meet a human. And the way she spoke about bravery and how she'd heard about what I'd done put me under the impression she was glad. She must have read it all in my expression or, I didn't know, maybe she did have the ability to read minds.

"I am a servant too," she explained. "We may be Morrí, but my life is not mine. I haven't left the paestra since I was a child."

"Never?"

She shook her head. "I am a very strong healer. Not all Morrí are skilled at healing others, it is fairly rare to have this gift. The zashar worries if I left, I would be targeted by his enemies."

She may be able to get a message out. She could tell Analiese that it was time to leave and she could go with her. I parted my lips to suggest just that but snapped them shut again as it struck me that this could be some twisted game of Juleen's design and I was playing into it.

I could not trust her.

I couldn't trust anyone.

"I must go now."