Serala hurried through the village, praying that her child would survive. The previous healer before Sarah had warned her after having Liana that she shouldn’t have more children, because if she did then she would die. When she had carried Liana, there had been many problems during the pregnancy. The healer had said that Serala and the child had been lucky to live. Liana had been born too soon and had barely been breathing, while Serala had lost great amounts of blood. Somehow they both managed to survive, but Serala was no longer as energetic and vibrant a person after that. Liana was somewhat a sickly child, but she always was smiling and was very playful when she had energy. Both of her parents considered her their precious treasure, and she had been very carefully protected. Despite their efforts, they couldn’t stop her from falling ill, and they prayed with all their hearts that she would survive.

“Please, live Liana,” she repeated over and over as she hurried towards the village elder. Upon arriving she knocked on the door hard and fast.

The door opened after a few seconds and a short man with a slim build stepped out. It was the village Elder. He was slightly balding, his hair no longer looking as thick as it had in the past. His brown eyes flickered in recognition as he gazed at her. 

“What is it Serala?” Elder asked with a curious expression on his face. It was not often he was called at this time of day. Normally villagers wouldn’t come to him until at least noon, but more often then not they would come after the midday meal. Serala however was calling upon him a full three hours before noon.

“Liana is sick. The healer told me to come and get you.” He took stock of the situation and grabbed his cloak quickly and hurried out with Serala after a hasty goodbye to his wife. 

The two of them hurried back. When they arrived they went straight up to Liana’s room. The healer looked up when they entered, grateful. 

“Elder, thank you for coming. Serala, Arina, I need to talk to Elder, could you give us a moment alone please? You can stay here with Liana, we will just go into the dining room for a few minutes” Serala looked surprised but nodded in acquiescence. Elder and Healer slipped quietly from the room.  

When they reached the kitchen Healer looked at Elder with a sombre expression. 

“Elder, I’m very worried for Liana. It’s the ague. At her age it’s lethal. That’s why I asked for them to stay while we have a private talk. I’ll try my hardest but within two days, maybe even by morning... it looks like she’ll die.” She said her voice void of emotion. 

Elder, shocked at this statement, he was at a loss for words. He knew of Serala’s inability to have more children. He knew that to lose her child would be a huge blow to them. 

“If she dies it will break Serala and Eritai’s heart. Hopefully she makes it,” he said, looking at healer. Hoping to see in her face that Liana had a chance. Healer’s expression was grim.   

“I wish it weren’t so, but unfortunately this is the truth. She’s only five. While some people survive they’re usually middle aged. Most known cases that involve children result in death.” Elder sat back, his face growing darker and more sombre by the second. 

“Just what am I going to say to Serala?” Elder asked. “You know that she’ll ask me what we talked about in here. If we keep the truth from her she might have some hope for a time. I don’t know what’s worse; leaving her hoping her daughter might recover, or leaving her with no hope. Either way she will have to watch her daughter die.” 

Healer sighed. She wished more than anything that she could do more. She had become a healer so that she could help sick people and at times like these she felt helpless. Her heart ached, as she was once again reminded of her husband. A single tear trickled down her cheek. She angrily wiped it away, pushing aside the memories. Elder saw the tear and knew that healer must be hurting inside. He had no idea how deep the hurt ran. 

“I don’t know. You make the decision, Elder. I’ll do everything I can but there’s not much I can do. I have no cure for it. All I can do is try to keep her cool and hope for the miracle of her fever breaking,” Healer said, her voice weary and filled with sadness. Elder nodded, pondering on what to do. 

After a few moments he came to a decision. “We’ll tell them. It’ll be better than giving them false hope.” Healer nodded, agreeing with his decision. They walked back into Liana’s room, Serala looking up with a look that was a mixture of hope and apprehension as she asked “Is Liana going to be ok?” 

Healer steeled herself for what she needed to do. She looked at the little girl with pity. The girl had always been sweet. She had the typical features of the farming village. Ebony black hair, brown eyes and tanned skin. She was a small child, with skinny limbs. Her shoulder length hair was in a ponytail, and some loose strands were plastered to her face, which was covered in sweat.   

“Serala, Liana has the ague. I’ll do what I can, but the truth is that there’s little I can do. Its quite likely Liana will die. It could even be tonight given how fast the disease has spread. We’ll know for sure by tomorrow whether she will live or not, but it looks like we could lose her by morning.” Serala froze in shock. After it sunk in she buried her face in her hands, weeping bitterly. “Is it alright if I stay here and hold her?” She asked, in a voice choking with grief. 

Healer nodded. “Yes, you can do that.” 

Arina was listening from behind the door. Her mother had sent her to fetch more water to help cool her sister, but just as she had been entering the passage through the hall way entering the kitchen she saw Healer and Elder heading back to Liana’s room. She was very worried about her smaller sister. Liana had gotten sick often and Arina had often played with her in room trying to cheer her up. The two were very close. She called her younger sister Li Li for short. She had swiftly chased after them hoping to hear news of her little Li Li. When she reached the top of the stairs she saw the door hadn’t closed properly and she had pressed her face against the crack and clearly heard Healer say “… It’s quite likely Liana will die”. Healer said more but Arina didn’t hear the words, a look of disbelief covered her face. She sat in shock for a moment. As it sank in, tears started pouring down her cheeks and she let out a howl of wild grief. She rushed into the room, running up to Healer and began banging her fists against Healer’s stomach. 

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“YOU SAVE MY SISTER,” she yelled, continuing to pummel her small fists on Healer. 

Healer, whose face had previously shown impassiveness now showed grief. She knelt down, putting her hands over Arina’s fists and gazed into her tear soaked eyes. 

“I can’t save her Arina. This disease has no cure. My own husband died to this disease. I became a healer, thinking that they might have the knowledge to cure what killed him. But I was wrong. They didn’t know how to cure it either.” She said, tears spilling down her own cheeks. 

 Arina heard Healer’s words and simply looked at her in shock and disbelief. As it slowly sank in, her hope finally completely shattered and she sank to her knees. A look of hopelessness crossed her face and she began sobbing uncontrollably. “Li Li.” She wailed.   

Healer rose, struggling to rein in her emotions. She still had to do her best to comfort and console the family. She turned and went over to Serala. She tentatively wrapped an arm around Serala who had picked the child up and was hugging her tight. 

“At times like these I really hate my job. I became a healer to save people and when I can’t, it hurts. But I know that my pain isn’t as much as yours. There is one positive though. When she returns to the soul stream she will be free from pain. I hope you can take comfort from that.” She said trying to console her. In reality Healer’s heart was also in turmoil. She hated the ague with all her heart, but despite her years of experience and learning with medicine, there was little she could do.

Serala just continued cradling her child’s head to her shoulder and weeping. It wasn’t that she didn’t hear the healer. The words seemed hollow to her. Her world was falling apart and no amount of words could console her. Healer looked at Serala’s face and realised that Serala was inconsolable. She decided to leave the room and give Serala some time to grieve. She turned to Elder. “You’d better go tell Eritai and have him come home.” Elder took the hint and left hurriedly “Make sure you change the cloth every hour. She needs more herbs in three hours, but I’ll be back in another two hours to check her condition.” With that the healer left.  

Eritai was working in the fields. He was a medium sized man with a stocky build. It was coming to the end of the harvest, and he had spent the morning picking vegetables and now was baling hay for the horses for winter. It was starting to get hot and it was nearly noon when he heard his name being called. Looking up he saw Elder coming towards him fast. He stopped working, using his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his brow. He gave his head a quick shake, sending a few drops of sweat flying from his short brown hair. He rose and started walking towards Elder. 

“Ho Elder. Do you need anything?” Elder got to where Eritai was and stopped, breathing heavily. When he recovered his breath he related the situation to Eritai. 

By the end Eritai was weeping, his face contorted in a look of anguish. Seeing this. Elder put his arm around his shoulder and took him home to be with his daughter, all the while trying to comfort him. 

“Come, Eritai. I’ll take you to your daughter.” Eritai barely heard Elder, but allowed him to lead him home. 

Upon reaching home he rushed to Liana’s room to see her cradled in his wife’s arms. He wrapped his arms around his sobbing wife and wept with her. Every hour they changed the cloth and checked her temperature. Every time there was no change. Around midnight a brief ray of hope came. 

“Mummy, daddy, why are you crying?” Liana’s frail voice came, temporarily stopping their tears. Looks of hope entered their eyes until they looked at Liana. Her eyes were glazed over. 

“Liana, are you alright?” The couple asked. Their hope was shattered as her eyes rolled back into her head, falling limply onto the pillow as she re-entered unconsciousness. 

This time the grieving had a bitter tone to it. To be offered a faint glimmer of hope then to have it snuffed out was almost too much for them to bear. Healer came every two hours to monitor Liana’s progress and every time the atmosphere became thicker and thicker with grief and despair. 

By morning all hope was gone. All they could do was wait, as their daughter slowly approached deaths door, cradled in their arms. 

Arina had fallen asleep long before. She slowly woke and saw her sister still moaning and shaking. Her lips started trembling as she struggled to hold back the tears. She then remembered her lucky charm. She ran up to her room where she grabbed it. It was a plain necklace with a wooden figure of the Goddess Saol attached to it. 

“Saol, I’ll give my lucky charm to Liana, so please save my sister.” She whispered her short prayer to the Goddess of life. She then went to her sister and slipped her lucky charm around Liana’s neck. She slipped from the room, silently returning to her own room.