Akira Stone's Arc

Chapter 5 of 10

The sister's hand was already on the door when Akira spoke. The words came out before Akira could weigh them. She stepped forward once, palms still open, and did not close the space more than that. "Wait. Please." Akira kept her voice low. "Your arm. That bandage is old. It's still bleeding through. I can close it." The sister turned. Her hand stayed on the door. She looked at the bandage on her forearm, then at Akira, then at Jasper. She said nothing. "I'm a healer," Akira said. "That's the whole reason I crossed the line. One of my elders took a wound that won't close. Bloodroot is the only thing that answers it. It doesn't grow on our side of the forest. It grows here." Jasper stepped away from the door and set his shoulder against the wall. He watched his sister, not Akira. "I knew what your pack does to trespassers," Akira said. "I came anyway. If I died getting the root back to him, that was the trade. I was gathering when I heard the pup crying in the wire. I used what I'd cut for my elder on him instead." The sister's jaw worked. "You spent it on my pup." "Most of it. I have enough left for one dose. My elder needs three." Silence held the room. The sister crossed back to the table. She looked at the twist of bloodroot still lying beside the bone needle. She did not touch it. "Show me your hands again," she said. Akira turned her palms up. The sister took the wounded one and pressed her thumb along the cut. Akira did not pull back. The sister let go and unwound the bandage from her own forearm. The wound underneath was three days old and yellow at the edges. "Close it," the sister said. Akira sat her down at the table. She worked in quiet. She cleaned the wound with water from Jasper's jug, laid a thin shaving of bloodroot along the split, and set her fingers over it. Green light moved once under her skin and was gone. The edges of the wound drew together. The yellow faded. The sister flexed her arm. She stared at it a long moment. "You'll cut more root before you leave," she said. "Enough for your elder. Three doses. Someone from the pack goes with you to the patch and back." She stood. "You'll cut some for us, too. Show us how to use it. That's the price." "Yes," Akira said. The sister looked at Jasper. "She's under my word now. Not just yours." She left. Jasper shut the door. He looked at Akira across the table, at the bloodroot, at the healed arm the sister had carried out of the cabin. "You just made yourself useful," he said. "That's worse than being a guest."