72, Seeing is beliving

Standing in amongst the simple cots set up in the treatment centre organised by father Link, Ayya felt a moment of panic. How were they going to help all these people? The space was full of cots and everyone had a person laying on them. There was coughing, moaning and whimpering heard and the air smelled of sickness, death and incense to try to cover it all up. 

“Are you okay?” Tenac asked and placed a hand on her back. Ayya just nodded. The four of them were standing and waiting for father Link to return with one of the nuns that would guide them and answer any of their questions. 

“I-I didn’t know it was this bad. I mean, we knew it was bad. But this…” Firlea’s voice trailed off. 

“I know what you mean,” Ayya said, taking a hold of her friend’s hand. 

“Your graces, this is sister Agatha. She is our most experienced sister. She has been with us since the first outbreak,” father Link said, as he came walking with a nun. The nun had forgone the typical black wool dress with its wide skirt and the tall white cornett that was usually worn by sisters of the church. Instead, she had a more practical black cotton dress and a white scarf wrapped around her head. She had a white apron and was wiping her hands on a cloth that was attached to the apron strings.

“Your graces,” she greeted them. 

“Sister, thank you for agreeing to help us,” Ayya said. 

“Don’t mention it. We can use all the help we can get. If the good Lord intends to send his help through you, I don’t have a problem with it. Shall we start with a quick tour?” she asked and set off between the rows of cots. They nodded goodbye to father Link and followed her. Sister Agatha gave them a tour of the facility. It was split up into four massive rooms. It had originally been a warehouse, she explained, but the church had bought it during the first outbreak as they saw the need for some place to aid the sick that couldn’t take care of themselves. 

“The first room is for men, the second and third are for women and children and the last room is for family members that haven’t become ill yet, but we keep an eye on them for a while,” the sister explained. Ayya, who had wondered why no one had told her about this facility when her parents got sick, now began to wonder if she would have wanted to come here even if they had.

“Yoe separate the families?” she asked. 

“We do. It’s not what we would have wanted, but in order to keep the modesty, there is no other way. There is no possibility to shield off beds from the rest and we need to undress the patients. We therefor separate them and pray we will get to unite them again,” sister Agatha explained. Ayya nodded. Se understood the reason behind it, but she also knew if she would have had to be separated from her parents, and knowing they would be in separate rooms, she would have been panicked as a child. 

“What is the recovery rate?” Firlea asked.

“Very low, I’m afraid. Out of a hundred patients, about two will leave this place alive.” They all stopped as they took in the information. Ayya had never heard of a disease this lethal. 

“Do you see a pattern in the people you can save?” Hinat asked.

“Yes, and no. It seems to depend on how sick they get. Most of the ill become severely sick. High fever, coughing and they have a hard time staying lucid. Some get a lighter case of the illness. They get a mild fever and then they get better. We can’t figure out why. They are spread across both genders and all age groups and professions. It seems to be a fluke,” the nun told them, then there was a pause. “If I’m being honest with you. I can’t figure out this illness. I started training as a healer when I joined the order at fifteen years of age, I’m now sixty-two. Until the first outbreak, about eighteen years ago, I had never seen a sickness behave like this. We see families that all have got ill, except the two-month-old baby. Whole neighbourhoods in the city that have been inflicted, but for one elderly woman. All cases present the same. There is no variety, no sliding scale except for the few that just get a slight fewer. I wouldn’t have thought an illness could behave in this way if I haven’t lived through five flare-ups,” she said. They continued the tour. The spaces were clean and organised. It was clear the nuns had been doing this for a long time and found a system that worked for them. They used bark of the willow tree to reduce the fever, honey and cloves were given to ease the coughing. When the tour ended, Ayya and her friends asked if they could spend the day helping. Sister Agatha appreciated the extra help, and the three aari worked with the patents until Tenac gently reminded Ayya they needed to head back to the castle for the evening meal. She nodded with a sigh and gathered the others. 

After eating, they all sat around the table in Ayya’s room. There was a long silence as each of them worked through what they had seen. 

“She is right,” Firlea said. They all looked at her. “The sickness isn’t acting naturally. Everything indicates it is highly contagious by the way it’s spreading. But at the same time, it skips family members that live so close to the ones infected that it should have infected them. And what illness takes social standard into account? The way it has always been widespread among the lower classes but only recently started to show in middle and high society.”

“Could it be explained by the fact the different parts of society doesn’t mingle? The different classes are a lot more segregated here,” Ayya asked.

“Maybe, but not this much. There are a good amount of connections between the classes even if they don’t socialise. The higher classes depend on maids and servants from the lower classes. They frequent the same shops and so on,” Firlea said.

“You’re right. The family members that haven’t become ill, do you think we can have some natural protection against the illness?” Ayya asked, including herself in the category. 

“It is possible,” Firle agreed.

“Maybe that is where we should start? If we find out why these people doesn’t get sick, we can find out why the other does, and then maybe find a way to cure it?” Hinat suggested. 

“It’s a good place to start, and it gives us a limited target group,” Ayya said. “We need to work on two fronts. We need to help those that are sick. I know we can give them more effective medicine and maybe that will help. Then we also need to try to find a way to cure it, or stop it from spreading,” she then told them. 

“I can start working with the nuns to make better medicine,” Firlea offered.

“We can use a group of riders to help out with administering it,” Tenac said. Ayya nodded. She was worried she was placing her friends in danger. If the sickness was this contagious, she was afraid she would see her friends become ill. “Hey, we all knew what we were getting ourselves into when we joined this journey. It’s not on your shoulders if someone falls ill,” Tenac told her. Ayya nodded, even if she wasn’t too sure about it. 

“You and me will talk to the ones that haven’t become ill. We will try to find out why,” Hinat told her. 

“Sounds like a plan,” Ayya said. They continued to talk and make plans for the following day until it was time for bed. 

The following day, they split up when they arrived at the treatment center. Firlea took five riders and headed off to the area where the nuns prepared the medicine. Ayya, Hinat and Tenac headed toward the room that housed the family members that didn’t get sick. As Ayya was looking out over the room, she could clearly see that there was no red thread who was spared. There were people of all ages and genders. Ayya walked up to a young boy and knelt down in front of him.

“Hello, my name is Ayya,” she said, holding out her hand. 

“That’s a strange name,” the boy said, then he seemed to remember that he was supposed to greet her as well. “Hi, I’m Jason,” he said, shaking her hand. 

“Nice to meet you, Jason. And yes, my name is a little strange,” Ayya agreed and smiled. Jason returned her smile. “Is it okay if we talk a little?” she asked.

“Sure, I don’t have much to do anyway. I don’t really know anyone here and it’s hard to find someone to play with,” he told her. Ayya nodded and sat down next to him on his cot. 

“Have you been here long?” she asked.

“No, I think I have been here for three days. My parents are here as well, and my older sister. But I’m not allowed to see them because they are ill,” he said. 

“I’m sorry to hear that. I know how scarry it is when your family is sick and you can’t do anything about it,” Ayya confessed. He looked up at her and nodded. 

“Where do you and your family live?”