“Do you know of any other herbs we might find around us?” another cleric inquired.
The effectiveness of the lizard grass must have removed all doubts the clerics harbored about her. They now regardedher in a different light. After inspecting the area around the shelter and pointing out some of the useful herbs, Maxi returned to the monastery with the other noblewomen feeling relieved and even a bit proud of herself.
When they came back to the shelter a week later, the number of people stricken with food poisoning had markedly decreased. However, the total number of patients had somehow increased. The sick from all around Levan had apparently flocked to the shelter as rumors of the ill miraculously returning to health began to spread.
Since most of the skilled healers had gone with the campaign party, there was currently only one running hospital in Levan. Sadly, even this hospital was unable to provide proper treatment because of the exorbitant cost of herbs, and the church lacked the resources to tend to the sick. Thus, it was hardly surprising that people rushed to the shelter when they heard rumors of a talented healer at the facility.
Before she knew it, Maxi was acting as the healer of the shelter. She scoured the forest with the clerics to search for herbs whenever she could and occasionally even healed patients with magic.
The other noblewomen also actively helped in caring for the sick. Though some frowned and considered the work below them, most of the women were grateful to have something todo.
“This is nothing compared with the hardships my husband is enduring on the battlefield!” one of the noblewomen exclaimed as she folded a pile of ragged but clean towels. “This is a hundred times more gratifying than trembling in fear while I pray, terrified that his body might return on a wagon. My act of kindness might even induce the heavens tolook kindly on my husband.”
Maxi was certain that everyone felt the same. The women tended to the sick as an act of prayer. They gladly took on menial tasks such as feeding feeble patients or wiping them down with wet towels. Some even learned how to prepare the herbs from Maxi.
As the days passed by in a flurry, the women slowly regained their vigor, and Maxi also began to sleep and eat better as she took on the laborious work at the shelter.
Levan’s food shortage was resolved when merchants from the south arrived in an enormous vessel carrying cargo holds full of food. With this, the conditions inside the shelter improved. With news of victories coming from the north, everything seemed to be changing for the better.
Chapter Twenty-One
As time marched onward, vibrantsummer blossoms bloomed all over the capital, and flocks of waterbirds swooped above the swift currents of the Chrysanth River.
Each time Maxi rode past the mouth of the river, she would daydream of summer in Anatol. There had been waterbirds playing above the lake where Riftan had taken her. The field they had galloped across would be teeming with wildflowers by now, and the vineyard would be bursting with ripe grapes.
How wonderful it would be if she could see all those sights again with Riftan before the end of Ignisias. She pictured them rowing a small boat on the shimmering lake, and a sharp longing pricked her heart.
“Less of them have been coming lately.”
Alyssa’s muttering snapped Maxi out of her reverie. They were currently gathering herbs in the shelter yard.
Maxi turned to look at Alyssa’s sunburned face and cocked her head. “Wh-What do you mean?”
“I mean the wagons.”
The mangled bodies of the soldiers flashed through Maxi’s mind. She shuddered and hastily pushed the gruesome images from her head.
“I-Indeed,” she replied. “There has not been one…in weeks.”
“It must be a good sign, right?” Alyssa asked, her voice mingled with hope and anguish. Maxi was unable to answer, and Alyssa continued fervently, “The next messenger might announce the end of the war. There has been nothing but news of victories, after all.”
Maxi’s heart jumped into her throat. “Th-That would be…wonderful.”
Afraid of being disappointed, Maxi was unable to concur with Alyssa wholeheartedly and instead gave her an ambiguous smile. Still, she secretly anticipated the end of the war as well.
The coalition army had managed to drive out the monsters from the northwestern regions of the kingdom and was currently fighting to recapture Eth Lene Castle in the northeast. Gossipmongers asserted that the battle there would bring about the end of the war. Hope simmered throughout the city like a lingering fever.
Trying to shake off the ominous feeling that this was merely the calm before the storm, Maxi changed the subject. “I think…we should h-head inside now. We’ll need to return to the monastery soon. It is…almost time for the evening prayers.”
“Goodness, already?” Alyssa gazed up at the sky as she slowly rose to her feet.
As if on cue, Idsilla’s energetic voice rang out across the shelter yard.
“Ladies! Do come inside now and wash your hands,” she called, sticking her head out a window. “Everyone else is all set to go. We must be back at the monastery before the evening prayer if we wish to be spared from the clerics’ admonishments!”
“We were just about to,” Alyssa muttered, walking around the fence to make her way to the entrance.
With a bitter smile, Maxi followed and entered the shelter. Thanks to their hard work over the past few weeks, the conditions inside the facility had greatly improved. The once squalid floors were now shiny and spotless on account of the women’s constant sweeping and mopping, and they had recently hired carpenters to mend the roof, stairs, and window frames. As a result, the shelter no longer looked like a ramshackle building on the verge of collapse.
