6 Enheduanna, Witch Doctor

"Tsk."

Accompanied by the clicking of someone's tongue, they heard the sound of a liquid hitting the ground.

*ROOOOAAAAAAR*

A frenzied roar came from the tiger, and under their stunned gaze, the tiger's now wet face began...melting off.

The beast frantically moved around, trying to defend itself, but there was nothing in its passage, and it grew desperate, as a bloody liquid began dripping down its face.

Anku did not like the sight of blood, so he instead raised his head, to see who had dropped this horrifying liquid on the tiger.

In fact, on the balcony of the treehouse, a woman alternated watching the dying tiger, the group of children, and her destroyed garden with an enigmatic glance.

As the tiger didn't move, Gilje and Hamm did not hesitate to escape, but Anku kept watching the woman.

She noticed his glance, and in one motion, she slid down her ladder, and out of her hide sack, a sharp bronze sword came out.

She swung it towards the tiger's heart, and in one fell swoop, she ended the tiger's misery.

As she retreated from the beast's lifeless body, she now stared at Anku.

Anku's teeth were shaking from fear as he snuck a glance to the garden they had torn up, and the sword in the woman's hand.

As she got closer, he could get a closer look at her expression.

Her brown eyes were droopy, and her pupils shook slightly, while the edges of her sclera were red.

'Is she...holding back from crying?' Anku wondered.

When something bad happened, his parents also had the same facial expression, and following this, they would burst into tears.

Her eyes frequently leaned right to glance at her garden, and she bit her lips.

Anku felt guilty, he felt an overwhelming sense of guilt.

"I'M SO SORRY!" Anku fell to the ground and began crying.

For a child, the succession of events he had just gone through was too much for him, and now, it all erupted.

The woman looked at his teary face and kept getting closer.

As she got closer though, an expression of utter confusion and surprise took over her face.

In her hands, the bronze sword she was holding shook uncontrollably, and the closer she got to Anku, the more profusely it shook.

Enheduanna thought this strange, and it reminded her of a phenomenon that had happened about 3 years ago when she was assisting a woman in childbirth.

Her hands tapped on Anku's shoulder to reassure him, and when he showed his snot-filled, teary face, she asked him, "Are you Anku?"

"Huh?" The child was surprised that the woman knew him, though he did not know who she was, and only stared at her with a blank gaze.

"I'm Enheduanna, I'm the first woman that carried you."

"Isn't that mom?" The child asked in genuine curiosity.

Enheduanna chuckled, and said, "No, your mom couldn't have carried you, she already bore you for 9 months..."

Anku did not understand, but as he realized the woman didn't have any hostile intentions towards him, he slowly calmed down.

When he did, Enheduanna couldn't refrain herself, and said, "Anku?"

"Yes?"

"Can you try carrying this sword?" She pointed with her index finger at the bronze sword.

'A sword? Can I really carry the sword...?' Anku wanted to try it, so he nodded frantically.

Enheduanna flashed a smile and put the sword down on the dirt.

Anku leaned down and gripped the hilt as tightly as he could.

Then...

"Ughhhhhh...." He groaned from the weight of the sword, and he was barely able to lift it off the ground.

Enheduanna wasn't surprised by this, though, her attention was on another observation entirely.

In the boy's hands, the sword shook from left to right in such intensity that it would be impossible to wield masterfully.

"As I thought...incredible..."

"Huh? Did you say something, auntie?" Anku asked as he was still trying to lift the sword.

Anku's interference on the bronze tools was already surprising enough to her, but the fact that a 3-year old could lift a heavy bronze sword, if only very slightly, was also very surprising.

"You can stop now if you want."

*Thud*

Anku put down the sword.

His face was red, and he breathed heavily to regain his stamina.

"Look at the time, you need to go back to the village."

Anku prepared to make his way back alone, but as he did so, Enheduanna blocked him and ended up accompanying him back to the entrance of the village.

At the entrance of the village, Anku suddenly felt his entire body get carried off.

He found himself in the midst of an embrace, which turned out to be his mother, Siria.

"My light...the children told me a beast attacked you...!" Her voice and words were muffled from her crying, as her tears made Anku's shoulders wet.

"If I lost you, I don't know what I would do..."

"Never do this again..."

Anku did not like seeing his mother this way and began crying too.

"I missed you, Mom!"

"ME TOO, MY LIGHT."