ILIAS PAYNE

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I heard Trisha’s voice from the front yard accompanied by someone whose voice I did not recognize.

I rushed off to them. “Mother, I’m home!”

Trisha and her companion were spooked by my sudden appearance. “Geez. What are you doing back there?”

“The colonel introduced me to Tank and I wanted to see his old home.”

“Oh. Did he now?” Trisha gestured to her companion. “By the way, Ilias, this is my friend, Odetta.”

“Hello, I haven’t seen you before so nice to meet you.”

Odetta smiled at me. “You’re a polite one.”

“I try to be.”

It was obvious that Odetta was an adventurer. Even though she was a woman, she kept her hair short, never letting it touch her shoulders—which was a wise move if she was in constant danger. If she was ever in a fight, less hair meant fewer things to grab. Her skin was a dark tan that screamed she was from the East. She wore a dirty dress shirt with a brown vest and a dark brown trench coat over that. An emerald necklace was the centrepiece of her outfit, resting underneath her collar.

“Do you want to stay here with us?” Trisha asked. “Until you leave?”

“I don’t want to be a bother. Especially since you’re in charge of running a clinic now.” Odetta glanced in my direction. “And you have a child to take care of.”

“Ilias takes care of himself. The women in the village say that I’m lucky since he was too easy to take care of.”

“Still. Compared to the last time I was here, Gilead has found its footing and things seem to be going smoothly. I don’t want to interfere with anything.”

“There was a plague last time, so I think your definition of better footing is a bit lopsided. But if I can’t force you to stay, I’ll recommend a place instead. There’s an inn near the water. Go there. But at least stay for dinner.”

“That I can do.”

The ingredients for said dinner were in the basket Trisha had wrapped around her arm. While the two of them conversed and prepared the whole chicken and potatoes for baking, I was tasked with making the corn soup. And by making, it was more like watching the pot and mixing it every now and then to make sure it didn’t boil over.

“So…” Odetta said playfully. “You have a son.”

“I do.”

“I want to hear all about how you had him. And don’t say it’s a long story. We’ve got plenty of time, don’t we?”

Trisha smiled. “So… after you left, I got lonely here. My friend, Ray, left two years before you came; Pops was appointed to Warden of the East; and his grandson, Czeslaw, was forced to enter the military. You came and accompanied me for two years, so it got lonely when you left.”

“You sought out a man?” Odetta chuckled.

“Shush! Let me tell my story. So my big idea was that I should also become an adventurer.”

“An adventurer? Didn’t you tell me you wanted to become a doctor?”

“That’s what I ended up going back to and eventually becoming, but I had a change of heart somewhere in the middle and wanted to become an adventurer with you.”

“How did you accomplish this?”

“The day after you left, I packed my things and decided to follow you. But the moment I stepped out of this village, I fell into the nearby ravine.”

So this is the catalyst to why Tank was guarding that place.

By this point, Odetta was trying to hold in her laughter. “How do you fall down that?”

“It was hidden off by the bush, so I didn’t see where I was going. I broke both my legs and an arm. I wasn’t good at healing jynx at the time, so it took me four hours to heal everything completely. But when I did, I had no way of getting myself out of there. I was trapped in the ravine for three days. By that point, I had eaten all of my rations. Then I started to hallucinate and I thought it was the end. But then a guy shows up and gives me medicine and food. He stayed with me as I recovered and when I got better, he carried me out.”

“He scaled the ravine whilst you hung from his back?”

“No. He carried me in his arms while he raised a pillar underneath us.”

“Is he…” Odetta gestured her eyebrows at me. “His father?”

Trisha smiled. “He was an adventurer like you and he also decided to stay here. One thing led to another and now we’re here.”

“Who is this? Payne was your family name when I left and it’s still you and your boy’s. You didn’t get married, that’s for certain. Did he… break your heart and run off?”

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“If he did that, wouldn’t you think Ilias would have a step-father by now? I’m not going to say who he is, because frankly, he lied to me and even I don’t know if the words that came out of his mouth were true. But he asked me to keep his identity a secret and since I still hold onto those feelings, I’ll do as he asked.”

“And why isn’t he here?”

“He told me that he’ll be doing something important for a long time, but he’ll come back for me. That’s what he promised.”

“What if he was lying again?”

“He wasn’t.” Mother kept quiet while preparing the table. We began eating not long after “What about you, Odetta, what brings you back here? You said that your goal was to visit every village, town, and city. I’m guessing that this is the journey back?”

“I finished that two years after I left this place. I’m actually here for something else. When I arrived back in my hamlet, I was surprised with a baby brother. How old is Ilias?”

“Five,” I told her. “Almost six.”

“My younger brother is two years older than you. He’s a great kid, but he was born deaf. He can’t hear a thing and he gets picked on by it. I couldn’t bear watching him get ridiculed, so I set out looking for something that can give him his sense of hearing back.”

“Did he tell you that he wanted to hear?” Mother asked.

“No, actually. He told me that since he was born that way, it must’ve been for a purpose. But I know that he’ll want to hear at some point. I want to find a cure and fix him once he comes around to that.”

“That’s…”

“Do you think a powerful enough spell exists to fix him?”

“N-no. There’s an advanced-level spell that can heal any wound inflicted on a person, but it won’t work for your brother. If a person lost their hearing midway into their life, then this spell would work but your brother was born without hearing. You can’t fix what’s not broken.”

“Spell or not, I will find someone or something that can fix him.”

“You can’t fix him, Odetta. It’s not right. Deafness is a disability, not a disease. He’ll have difficulties going through life, but don’t we all?”

“You don’t know what it’s like watching someone you care about be outcasted and bullied just because they can’t hear. What if Ilias was born deaf and the same thing happened to him, wouldn’t you try to fix him too?”

Mother didn’t talk back and silently took bites out of her food.

“Auntie, did your little brother ever tell you that he hated being deaf?” I asked, easing the tension between them.

“No.” Odetta stared out the window. “He said that because he’ll have more obstacles to overcome that it’ll be more satisfying when he beats them all.”

Trisha put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m not saying that it’s wrong for you to try and help him. In fact, I encourage it. I just want you to view the situation differently.”

Odetta laughed. “Maybe I’m just using his deafness as an excuse to go on another adventure.”

“So, what’s been your plan?”

“I’m sticking to the route I took before. I’ll be going to each town to see if I can find anything about curing his deafness. But I have a rule that I can only stay for three days. I can’t do what I did last time and stay a long time in one place.”

“Three days? It looks like we should make the most out of tomorrow.”

After dinner, the ladies made plans and, since Camaro was busy with the labyrinth reports, I was forced into accompanying them.

The next day once all of mother’s work was done, we met up with Odetta at one of the taverns. She told us that there was sometimes a rare ingredient that grew in labyrinths called the Panacea flower. According to books, if boiled into a tea, any person who drinks it would be cured of all wounds, ailments, and diseases. It was said that it could even regrow missing body parts.

This was a legendary flower back in my day as well. There was a popular story that went around that my father made my mother drink its tea, but my mother rejected all of its effects and passed them on to me. It was said that this was the reason why I was so fierce, but even when I was a kid, I knew this story was false.

However, the Panacea flower did exist. I remember one time when I was a ward to Lord Arynn that a merchant tried to sell him the flower. Lord Arynn ignored the merchant, not believing that there was such a thing as a flower that could heal anything. Three days later, the merchant was found murdered and all the sick people at a church in a village three leagues away were cured of whatever they were suffering from.

That was one of the only rare instances that the flower showed up in history. So as far as Odetta should be concerned, the Panacea did exist.

“That would be a problem,” Trisha said. “I don’t doubt the existence of the Panacea, but I do doubt that it could heal your brother’s deafness.”

“Why so?”

“Seeing as I’m a doctor, I’ve read about it a lot. But you said that your brother was born deaf and if he never had hearing then his current state would be his original one. That would utter the flower completely useless.”

“I thought about that too. But I can’t exactly give up, can I? I promised that I wouldn’t return home until I can find something that can cure him.”

For the rest of the afternoon, we went around the village asking everyone for leads. We got a break when we ran into other adventurers.

“I can’t exactly help you with leads on the Panacea, but what about a doctor?” a fat man asked.

The fat man was a giant, standing two feet taller than Officer Kaiser, the tallest person I’ve met in Gilead so far. His hands were huge and could easily wrap my face. He was also very ugly. He had an underbite and his mouth was missing a couple of teeth. One of his eyes was opaque. As frightening as his image was, I couldn’t help but feel the friendly aura he was giving off.

Mother, however, was on her feet, ready to react if needed. Her grip around my hand was the tightest it had ever been.

“What about this doctor?” Odetta asked anxiously.

“About three years ago, I touched a stinging vine and got rashes all over my arm. I couldn’t bear the itch and burning so I cut it off. I wandered into town bleeding to death and passed out. When I awoke, a doctor had reattached my arm to my body.” The fat man pulled up his sleeve to show a scar where his axe had made the cut. “He disappeared after I stabilized and the town said there was no such doctor. But I know there was and that they were hiding him for some reason. He might be in danger, so as my saviour, I didn’t pursue him.”

“What town is this?”

“The town I passed out in was Bel Tine. It’s just southeast of Rockbell. I’m assuming he’s somewhere nearby.”

“You didn’t ask for money and you gave up this doctor’s location. Why? I could easily be out for him.”

“Many parents and siblings would shrug off a family member that has a disability. I certainly was. I mean just look at me. I think what you’re doing for your brother is a lovely thing,” the fat man said before going back to drinking.

The next day after having breakfast with us, Odetta packed her things and headed for Bel Tine. Trisha was a bit saddened that her friend only stayed for three days this time around. But I knew she was happy that she got to see her at all.

“Mother, Auntie said that her brother was around my age. Do you think we’ll ever get to meet?” I asked, trying to get her mind off Odetta’s recent departure.

“Of course. I’m sure you’ll get to meet him someday.”