When the leader first arrived at the head city on the junii, his back was covered in purple throw-up and smelt like opening aged outsider cheese and spreading that on berry toast. Wide-eyed and green-faced, he wanted to run to the nearest lake but didn’t want to leave the nearly passed-out girl by herself at night, so he waited for the rest of the group to show up. The moment they arrived, they started howling while, at the same time, breathing a sigh of relief. The leader, looking tilted, ignored their uproar and asked them where they should take the girl.
When the laughter died down, one of them suggested the town nurse, Akuli’s, home. “Isn’t she asleep at this time,” said the leader, afraid they might upset the hard-working nurse. They said that she’ll understand and so the whole group carried the girl to the clan practitioner. They knocked on her door and waited for a while before Akuli slowly opened the door. She had an irritated expression on her face and started going in on the group, saying they shouldn’t interrupt people’s sleep, especially her as she had a busy schedule the next day. During the absolute verbal slaughter, her daughter, Asuli, was standing at the entrance to the kitchen quarter, observing the storm.
Akuli’s tirade came when the disheveled, almost unconscious girl came into her view; the group explained the situation and a look of pity overtook the nurse’s face of annoyance. She went to pick up the surprisingly light girl and warned the group about how they should quiet down as she heard their laughter from across the town but still thanked them for bringing the girl to her. Akuli closed the door and the group just stood there for a few seconds in stunned silence until the leader said they had to report to the war chief about the situation.
***
Akuli rushed the girl into the living quarter and laid her on a leaf futon that was sitting in the corner. All the while, Asuli was still watching the situation without saying a word. Akuli didn’t even notice her because the girl had her undivided attention. Asuli watched as her mother took off the girl’s dirty, bloody clothes to take care of the wounds. Asuli also took notice of the girl’s wooden cast covering her right hand. Akuli then flopped onto a nearby chair with the exhaustion of a junii falling out of a tree after being pushed too much. She sat there for a couple of minutes until she noticed her daughter and spoke to her in an annoyed, but sleepy, tone, “Why are you up?”
“Your yelling woke me up,” Asuli said in a sly tone.
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“Oh…Sorry.” Akuli paused for a few seconds, “You think you can wake me in the morning?” Asuli nodded, “Can you fix me some breakfast too?”
“Do you also want me to wash your feet,” Asuli said sarcastically. “I can, but it’ll cost you a favor.”
“Deal,” Akuli responded smiling as this was the millionth time she had owed a favor to her daughter, but she didn’t fret as she always wasted them on something pointless. She slowly rose from the chair and heavily stepped towards her room, leaving Asuli by her lonesome and the girl half uncovered.
She sat in the same chair her mother almost passed out on and started examining the sleeping girl. The detail that drew her attention immediately was her blonde hair, a rarity among most people as the majority of shearki have brown hair, including her. She also noticed the soft nature of the girl’s facial features, making her have a friendly, inviting aura surrounding her. Her ears also drooped instead of standing like most people. Moving on to her body, she sees the girl’s slim, fragile figure and wonders how she didn’t get more injured in the things she heard from the group other than a few cuts; you could even see some of her bottom ribs poking out. She almost touched her skin just to know what it felt like but stopped herself noticing how weird that would be.
Asuli's eyes then finally rested upon the girl’s wooden cast and she wondered what happened. It was clear from the height difference that the hand was missing, but what from she wondered. She then started making nonsensical stories inside her head like the girl had powers and that hand couldn’t take it and detached.
When she was done writing fanfic inside her head, she settled on admiring the girl that lay before her. Something about looking at her made her feel at peace and the girl’s graceful sleep didn’t help either. Asuli snapped out of her trance when a cold night breeze passed over her. She shivered a little and hugged herself until she saw the girl curl up. Asuli finally noticed that the girl had no covering for the chill fall night. “Really Mom,” she muttered under her breath.
Asuli went to her room and fetched the plant fiber blanket and two cotton-filled pillows from her bed and brought them to the Living Quarters. She decided to lay with the girl not only to keep her company when she awakes but also because there were no extra blankets in the house. Asuli lifted the girl’s head and placed the pillow underneath her, bushing her skin in the process. Soft, as expected Asuli thought as she put half of the blanket on the girl; the girl uncurled. Asuli then stretched herself across the floor and they both drifted off into their own little worlds.