I jerk my head to the side and there, directly above me, is the most beautiful face I have ever seen. One I know almost as well as my own.
“Katem?” My own voice cracks and he grows blurry from the tears that fill my eyes. “Katem!”
I launch myself upward and in a single heartbeat, his arms are wrapped tightly around me and I’m sobbing against his chest. He says my name over and over again as he strokes my hair, holding me like I’m his most treasured item. My fingers dig into the muscles of his back as I clutch him harder. We embrace like neither of us is ever letting the other go.
Time passes and slowly everything comes back to me. I remember the swimming lesson and breathing in water. I remember being so cold, but Katem helping to warm me. I remember my chest hurting. The fever. The chills. The aches in every bone in my body. I remember it all, including dying.
My tears slow until, finally, they stop. I draw back slightly so I can look at my husband. My mate.
“Are we with your ancestors, now?”
He smiles and caresses my cheek. “Not yet.”
I glance around and jerk in surprise. We’re inside a large room with dark gray metallic walls and a matching grated floor. The place resembles a sort of work room with countertops covered in an array of objects and tools, none of which I’ve ever seen before. My gaze latches onto something and I blink a few times to try and clear my vision. But the human woman that stands against the far wall is still there. She smiles and waves.
“Welcome back,” she says and takes a few steps forward. “I’m Johnna. My mate is the Bohnari healer, who will be more than happy to see you awake as soon as he returns to the ship.”
Bohnari? Ship? Bit and pieces of a conversation with Alesha come to me. These are the neighboring tribe that was coming to Tavikh to help Evren and Astrid’s baby. The ones who have a healing machine. I glance down to what I’m sitting on. Beneath me is a long, padded surface and a small pillow.
“It’s a healing pod,” Johnna explains.
“A healing pod?” Why do I keep repeating everything she says?
Katem shifts and I look at him. “You have been sick for many turns,keeshla. Even before the Bohnari arrived. You were so near to death, I feared you would not survive long enough to make use of their healing machine.”
Confusion washes over me. Slowly, I pay closer attention to my body. The pain that had been in my chest and ribs is gone. The weary fatigue I always experienced has disappeared as well. My breaths come easy and they’re quiet. So quiet. No crackling or wheezing sounds accompany my inhalations or exhalations. All the aches that were bone deep are no longer present either. It’s as if none of those things ever existed.
“What are you saying?” An odd heaviness settles in my stomach and stare into Katem’s eyes.
The light within them shines brightly that it’s almost blinding. “The cancer you carried is gone.”
“There’s no guarantee it won’t come back, though,” Johnna speaks up. “You should know that up front. For now, that means you’ll need frequent check ups so we can examine you andtreat you early if we find any signs of it returning. Vornak also mentioned you may need to travel to Bohna several times and have him or another healer run some tests.”
“But…it’s gone?” I cover my mouth, not sure I understood either of them.
Katem smiles broadly and cradles my face. “It is gone, Piper.”
More tears come and spill down my cheeks, but I don’t care. I let them fall and release all the fear, the worry, the anger, and every emotion I’ve held locked inside me for so long. Katem wraps me in his embrace and his warmth seeps into my every pore. He holds me up when I crumble and long after Johnna leaves the room.
At last, I lift my tired head. “Will you take me home?”
“Whatever you wish for is yours,keeshla.” He scoops me up into his arms and I sag against him.
He carries me throughout the ship and if it were under different circumstances I may have paid more attention to our surroundings, but I close my eyes and just feel the beat of his heart beneath my hand. The warm air hits my face, and I breathe in deeply for the first time in a year. For a second I worry I’ll start coughing or the pain in my chest will hit, but there’s nothing. Only the fresh, clean scent of the Tavikhi air and Katem.
The sounds of the village reach me so I know we’re getting closer. As much as I’ve come to care for all the tribe members, I hope no one tries to stop us or talk to us. Perhaps the goddess is watching over us, because we make it all the way to our tent without incident.
“We are here,keeshla.”
Maybe Katem gave them some kind of sign asking to leave us alone. Whatever the reason, I’m grateful. Finally, I open my eyes as he sets me on my feet. He makes quick work of the door flap and he helps me inside before letting it close behind us. The fire’s been lit and there, on the table, is the vase I made filled with flowers from every flowering bush that grows in the forest.
Katem comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. I lean back into his strength.
“Alesha has come every turn and placed fresh blooms within your vase so that when you returned to our home, they would be here waiting for you,” he says.
I almost start sobbing again, but manage to hold the tears back. “I’ll have to thank her for doing such a beautiful thing for me.”
“She visited the Bohnari ship every turn as well while you were there to make sure you were healing well.”
