Kensei Jon's Arc

Chapter 36 of 49

Ha-ni woke Kensei before dawn. Her breath came fast and shallow against his chest. He touched her forehead and pulled his hand back. She burned. The barley and the warm room had not been enough. The cold road had reached inside her. "Hot," Ha-ni said. Her voice was small. "Ah-pa. Hot." She was working it out, the way she worked out everything, but her eyes did not focus. Jeon-min sat up in the dark. He pressed his palm to her cheek and said one word. "Fever." Then, flat, "Bad one. She needs help. Now." Kensei stood. The border could wait. Papers meant nothing if Ha-ni did not live to cross. He carried her to the woman who had fed them, who was already awake and stirring the pot. "My daughter is sick," he said. "Fever. Please. Is there anyone here who heals?" The woman set down her spoon. She looked at Ha-ni's flushed face, the loose way her head hung. "There is a woman two houses down," she said. "She knows herbs. She is old and she does not open her door easily." She wiped her hands. "I will take you." They went out into the gray cold. The woman knocked hard at a low door and called through it. A long silence. Then the door opened on an old woman with a bent back and sharp eyes. She wore a shawl and held a lamp close to her face. She looked at the strangers with no welcome at all. "We do not take travelers," the old woman said. "You bring sickness in and leave." Kensei knelt so she could see Ha-ni. "Then heal her and we will go," he said. "I can pay. But look at her first. Please." The old woman leaned in. Her sharp eyes changed. She set her lamp down and pressed two fingers to Ha-ni's throat, then her chest. "Chill fever," she said. "From the cold and no food." She stepped back and held the door open. "Bring her to the fire. Not you two. Just the child and one." Kensei carried Ha-ni inside. The old woman crushed dark leaves into hot water and made him hold the cup while the steam rose to Ha-ni's face. She soaked a cloth and laid it on the small chest. She worked without speaking for a long time. Kensei watched every move and did not breathe right. Near midday Ha-ni's breath slowed and evened. Her forehead cooled under his hand. She opened her eyes and found his face above her. "Ah-pa," she said. "Better." She said it like a fact she had just learned. The old woman gathered her leaves. "She will keep the fever another day," she said. "She cannot travel yet. Not the cold road. Not the border." She looked at Kensei. "You wait here, or you lose her." Kensei held his daughter and knew the border would have to wait for him now.