Chapter 14

 

 

 

Chapter 14

 

GALLOPING for four hours straight brought them to the orphanage closest to Rifaenotis’ cabin. Vigo and Selena were acquainted with the orphanage and were allowed inside the grounds without question. While they called it an orphanage, the building wasn’t unique or particularly large. It looked similar to the countless inns Yuki had stayed at during her travels with Luca. The biggest difference from those inns was the walls had been knocked down between smaller rooms to make more space and the kitchen and dining area were accessible on the first floor.

They greeted the orphanage’s headmaster and exchanged light small talk in his office. The headmaster was a man in his mid-forties with an unassuming smile. The way he surmised everything with a smile reminded Yuki of her parents. Her heart squeezed at the memory of the people who had abandoned her to another world.

Shortly after they finished talking, children of all sizes and ages poured into the office. Toddlers tottered on unsteady feet, helped along by the older girls who looked like they should be in middle school. Visitors were rare to the orphanage—some of the shier children peered around the doorway.

“Hey, Miss, where did you come from?”

“Let’s play! Guess what? Guess what? The headmaster knitted me a new dolly!”

“O-Oh? Um…” Yuki stammered, unsure of how to deal with the children scrambling over to her, fighting to be the first to rattle on about themself.

As Yuki struggled to pick a child to address first, Selena reached down and lifted up one of the toddlers. “Okay, let’s all play together! Let’s go to the playroom!”

“Okay!”

“Hurry, hurry!”

Selena winked at Yuki. “Yuki, help Vigo out for me, okay?” she said, leaving with the children for the room across the hall. Silence replaced their absence.

Vigo yawned widely, not caring to cover it with his hand. “So? I take it there are no particularly unhealthy children here?”

“Actually…there is one child who has been under the weather for several days now.”

Vigo’s demeanor quickly changed. “Where are they?”

“She said she isn’t that sick and took to tending the children in the big room on the second floor.”

“Even though she’s ill?”

“We have a lot of infants and toddlers in our care. The few older children have taken it upon themselves to look after the younger ones…” the headmaster guiltily explained.

“What’re you going to do if that child has contracted the Ten Day Fever and infected the others?! Damn it!” Vigo bolted out of his chair, flipping it backward, and stormed off to where the girl was. Yuki quickly jumped up and followed after him. The headmaster trailed behind her.

“Headmaster, I don’t care if it’s just a small room, but I need you to prepare me a space no one else can enter.”

“A-All right!” the headmaster agreed, dashing to the opposite end of the hall to clear a space for Vigo.

They entered the big room on the second floor to find a gaggle of children clinging to an older girl. Sitting in the middle of the room surrounded by the children was a teenage girl around fourteen or fifteen. The reddish-brown color of her hair left a strong first impression. She stared blankly at Vigo, rocking an infant in her arms.

She doesn’t look unwell to me.

“This is the one,” Vigo determined at a glance and strode straight for her. Frightened by his wicked scowl, the children clamored and pushed to hide behind the girl.

“Excuse me, what do you think you are doing? The children finally started to fall asleep, so I would appreciate it if you—”

Without listening to the girl, Vigo put his hand to her forehead and neck. “You’re burning up. You’ve been pushing yourself too hard. When did it start?”

Surprise flitted across her face, only to be replaced by petulance. “No, I’m not. I’m fine.”

“When did it start?” he repeated, an unrelenting edge in his tone.

“Three days ago,” she muttered softly.

“Three days? …Curse it all.”

Vigo snatched the baby from the girl’s arms and pressed the now bawling child into Yuki’s hands. He lifted the girl into his arms and left the room with her. A new appreciation for Vigo being an actual doctor came to Yuki as she proceeded to pacify the crying baby and trembling children.

“Doctors are incredible,” she muttered to herself.

Neither Yuki nor the children could go where Vigo took the girl. Yuki resolved to fill in for the girl as much as possible until she got better.

***

ASIDE from the headmaster, the tiny orphanage only housed orphans and no other adults. A little less than twenty children lived there. More than half were children under the age of ten. The girl who had come down with the fever—Chiruka—was the oldest child at age fifteen. A thirteen-year-old boy was the second oldest after her. Chiruka had taken responsibility for the majority of housework around the orphanage. Meals were cooked by her and she cared for the younger children as well. Yuki and Selena took over comforting the children, the laundry, and cooking after Chiruka collapsed.

“Still, I’m in awe of everything that girl does.”

“Right? It’s amazing she did all of this by herself.”

Even with Selena and Yuki handling the chores together, they often wished they had more help.

“She wasn’t doing it by herself. All the kids here look after each other. Everyone who’s older takes care of those younger than them. They’ve been raised that way. I think they’ve had it pretty rough,” Selena responded.

The noisy dining hall buzzed with energy and the laughter of children. Yuki ladled soup into bowls. A child younger than ten put the bowls on a tray and carried the tray to the other children sitting patiently at their tables. Watching them brought a smile to her face. Selena served barley gruel beside her.

“But why are there only children here? Selena, haven’t you been here before? Has it always been like this?”

“There were older children the last time I was here.”

“Then where—”

“Isn’t it obvious? There was a war.”

Yuki accidentally spilled the soup on her hand. Oddly enough, it didn’t burn, but her left hand tingled.

“Aaah, look at what you did. Are you all right?” Selena held a cloth out to her. She accepted it, but froze with it dangling from her fingers.

There was a war. That’s right. Rvydom’s soldiers were the largest victims in the war between Adolunde and Maruk. Soldiers weren’t the only victims—normal people too.

Did those very people stand where Yuki stood now, serving the children of this orphanage? Sadness hit Yuki in a wave that squeezed her heart and knotted her stomach. But even if she felt sad, she couldn’t let it show externally.

“Miss Yuki, what’s wrong? Does your hand hurt?” asked a little boy with big, round blue eyes.

The worry he openly showed for her warmed her heart, only to be replaced by the horrible image of the boy not much older than this one who had been slain in front of her by Orga. The soup on her hand brought back memories of his hot blood splattered across her. Her powerlessness and helplessness rushed back to her with mortifying anguish. The trauma of that day so fresh in her memory had her digging her nails into her hands.

“Miss Yuki?” the boy’s worried inquiry snapped her back from the horrifying memory.

“I’m okay. Thank you,” she managed to get out.

What am I doing making a small boy worry about me? I’m here to help, not get helped.

She smiled and patted him on the head. Relieved, he grinned broadly at her.

“Let me know if anyone ever bothers you! I’ll beat ‘em up for you! Miss Chiruka always says to be nice to girls!” the boy declared proudly, punching the air.

“Really? Be sure to protect all the girls here too.”

“I sure will! I’ll protect Miss Chiruka and everyone else!”

Wow. Chiruka is really idolized by the other children. And she’s currently fighting off a fever…

“I hope Miss Chiruka gets better soon.”

I want her to recover as soon as possible. Her health protects the children’s smiles and the well-being of this orphanage.

Yuki’s fleeting wish ended fruitlessly as that very night Chriuka broke out in a sickening rash.