Chapter 42 part 3

While she didn't know what was going on, she had a bad feeling based on Hesha's reaction. While Inshet had been improving, Beth had worried that something else might have come in to complicate things.

Even though she could probably use her magic to see what had happened to Inshet, Beth doubted it would be a good idea. She considered herself in just barely stable condition. If she used her magic just for that small thing, she would expect to fall unconscious at the very least.

Just like when Charlie had tried using her magic to talk to them after that dream conference.

When Beth was finally able to get over to where Hesha's sister was, Hesha had been pushed away by the crowd of people around Inshet, leaving Hesha staring helplessly at the crowd, tears streaming unnoticed down her face.

"What happened?" Beth asked, as she stopped next to the girl.

"She wouldn't move and her hands were cold," Hesha said quietly, barely audible over the noise the crowd was making.

"Was she fine when you went to sleep last night?" Beth asked, wondering if there might have been any signs that she could have recognized if she had been able to take a look, even without magic.

Hesha shook her head. "Nothing more than otherwise," she said miserably. "She had that cough, but no one seemed to think it was worth worrying about."

Beth looked at where she had been laying on the ground with a small pillow. It was about twenty feet away, but she had a feeling that it probably would take her a couple minutes to walk that distance in her current condition.

Yet, moving Hesha away from the crowd seemed like it'd be a good idea, if she could get Hesha to agree to move a little bit away.

"Would you like to come over with me and talk?" Beth asked, indicating the direction she had in mind. "You'll still be close by if you need to go to your sister."

Hesha looked at Beth, looking like she felt adrift in a stormy sea, with nothing to hold on to. So, she reached out her hand to put it on the girl's shoulder, and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Beth was pretty sure that Inshet had died, but she wasn't sure how to help Hesha get thorough this. While she'd helped her younger siblings through some difficult times, this wasn't a situation she'd had to deal with herself. So, she couldn't help but feel a little lost on how she should handle this situation.

After what Beth could only guess was a few minutes, Hesha nodded slowly. "Alright," she said, her voice sounding more resigned than it had been a minute ago. "There's nothing I can do for her, is there?"

While she wanted to tell Hesha that there were things that she could do, Beth wasn't sure how to sell those ideas. Or really what to suggest as to what she could do.

However, as she was about to give up on that subject, a thought came to her mind that she had a feeling might offer some comfort to the girl.

"You know," Beth said, "you could always try doing what you know your sister would want you to do." Hesha looked at Beth questioningly as Beth paused a moment, the girl's eyes still pouring tears down her face. "Do what you can to survive this. Grow up and live your life doing what you want to do."

Hesha's expression didn't change, although she looked away towards where Beth had been laying and suggested that they walk over to it. Beth wasn't sure if she should say anything more at the moment, so she left it at that. She hoped that it wouldn't come back to bite her, although she wasn't quite sure how that might happen if it did.

When they were about halfway, Hesha said quietly, "Do you know what happened to my brothers?" she asked, her voice just as quiet as it had been before.

Beth shook her head. "Sorry, I don't. I tried to save as many people as I could with my friends, but I believe they'd already taken two wagons away, plus however many they captured when they torched the building your village had as a safe place to be."

"I see," Hesha said, as if she shouldn't have expected anything else. "I guess I'll just have to try searching for them on my own."

Beth had a feeling the last part of Hesha's statement was more for herself rather than for Beth's benefit, but one thing she was certain of was that she wasn't going to let a nine year-old just take care of that on her own.

"If you'd like, I'm sure that my friends and I could help," Beth offered, partly expecting Hesha to refuse out of hand.

However, Hesha looked at Beth with wide eyes, filled with desperation. "You would?" she asked, her voice quivering.

Beth nodded. "For one thing, we're missing one of our friends," she replied. "Cinder said that it sounded like she was taken by the Lost, but that doesn't mean she's not out there somewhere."

Hesha sighed, looking away. "But will she be the same when the Lost are done with her?"

Beth merely shrugged. "We won't know until we find her."

Hesha nodded absently, her mind clearly somewhere else. Not that Beth blamed the girl. She was pretty sure she'd be more shocked, and rather worried, if Hesha didn't have her mind wandering around on different topics.

It at least showed that she was as normal as could be expected given the circumstances of the entire situation. Especially with the girl's mind in turmoil over the loss of her older sister, the only relative that hadn't been taken away or already killed.

"Do you know what it was that Inshet had directed me to?" Hesha asked quietly, as they neared where Beth had been staying.

Beth shook her head. "No, I don't. I only knew that you and Ralph had gone to your house to look for something, I think," Beth answered, not sure if Hesha was going to confide in her about something or if this was leading somewhere else.

Hesha took a deep breath as walked along. Beth wanted to tell her to just spit it out, partly because she wouldn't mind trying to get back to sleep for a little bit, but doubted that it would come across very well if she said what she was feeling that particular moment.

As they continued on, Beth was starting to suspect that Hesha had decided not to continue on with the thought that she had been working with a moment before, as she didn't say anything, until they were about two feet from where Beth had been laying.

"It was a box," Hesha said finally. "Inside was a ring and ten rainbow silver ziks."

Beth wasn't sure how to react to that statement. A ring was one thing, as that could have sentimental value that would be priceless no matter what world it was from, but she had been in this world long enough to know that silver hardly had any value in this world, as someone had found a way to make silver, just like gold and other precious metals, which had destroyed any currency system at that time. Not that she had any idea of what a 'zik' was, either.

However, while she was vaguely aware that there was a currency at the moment, she had thought that it was based on something else. Although, she couldn't say for sure what was meant by 'rainbow silver' other than that it was part of the currency in this part of the world at least.

"Uh, this might sound silly, but what's 'rainbow silver?'" Beth asked, hoping that revealing her ignorance in the matter wouldn't turn out to be a mistake.

Hesha sighed. "That's the only coin worth anything around," she replied, sounding like Beth should already know this.

"Well, where I'm from, we don't have any rainbow silver. We have silver, sterling silver, and a few alloys made with silver," Beth replied, realizing as she spoke that sterling silver was also known as pure silver.

Hesha looked at Beth like she was trying to either make a bad joke or pull a prank. "Everyone knows silver's worthless," she said, making Beth feel like it really was a mistake to have made that revelation. She wasn't sure if there was a way she could get Hesha to forget that, but she hoped that there would at least be a way to get Hesha to let go of her current opinion of her.

Yet, she couldn't think of anything to say, so she let silence come between them. Although, while Hesha didn't seem uneasy about the silence, Beth wished she could feel the same.

Her mind wouldn't stop worrying about Hesha's reaction to Beth asking about rainbow silver, so she wasn't sure if she could consider this an 'awkward silence' or not. As she was the only one who seemed stressed about it.

Though, one thing that she couldn't quite figure out is why she felt Hesha's opinion of her was so important to her. When they were done with this village and needed to move on, which seemed like it'd be as soon as she and her friends recovered, that they'd leave. Maybe Cinder and his remaining sisters would accompany them, but she couldn't think of a reason why Hesha would accompany them.

"Fine," Hesha said suddenly after they'd been quiet for a few minutes, her gaze looking down towards her feet. "I guess you really might not be from around here." Hesha paused as she then turned her head to look at Beth. "I mean, you did know how to cure the spotted plague after all and that's been around since forever, or so the church says."

Beth couldn't argue with that, although she had a feeling that she shouldn't say how she and her friends had learned how to treat that disease. She doubted that Hesha would be as impressed with that story than whatever story she'd created in her own mind about that.

"Anyway, I don't even know what's in rainbow silver except silver," Hesha continued. "Though, my sister said that only the royal family is allowed to learn how to make it. Even their own smiths don't know the secret. Only that if you melt the coins, all you get is regular silver. So, no one dares to do that."

Beth nodded. If there was some magic involved, then she wouldn't be surprised if that was part of the process to make it harder to copy.

"So, was there some importance for there being ten ziks in the box?" Beth asked, deciding she shouldn't ask what a 'zik' was, but rather try to figure it out through observing what was going on.

Hesha looked back at the ground again. "Well, my mother always was complaining about how she never had enough coin to buy more booze," Hesha answered, sounding like she was starting to get a little choked up. "But Inshet told me that mother told her about the box, even though she didn't really say what was in it, so she had to know she'd put money in the box."

Hesha took a breath as she almost seemed like she was about to almost throw up the words in a rush. "So, if she really knew about the coins in there, that had to mean that she avoided getting into that when she was running out of booze to drink."

Beth could understand why Hesha felt so moved by that. While she didn't think that Hesha's mother was an alcoholic, she had heard enough to know that the woman was self-medicating with booze. As the loss of her arm had stopped her from doing what she had trained to do, which was being a soldier for the marquis, although there was parts of what she'd heard about that that didn't add up to what she'd determined about this culture.

Such as the fact that 'marquis' was what the title was called when it referred to a man, which made Beth feel like there was either something going on that she didn't understand about this culture or she understood even less about it than she had thought.

However, as she thought about that, she suddenly thought she might have an idea of what the ring might be about.

"You said there was a ring, right? Would you tell me about it?"

Hesha sighed. "I guess," she said, sounding like she didn't really care about the ring. "It's not really that impressive. I think its made from silver, and has something etched into it, but it doesn't mean anything to me."

"What if the ring is supposed to identify someone," Beth suggested.

"What do you mean?" Hesha asked, looking at Beth, looking a little confused.

"Well, from what I've heard about your mother, she used to be a soldier for the Marquis, right?"

"Huh?" Hesha looked stunned. "I never heard anything about that."

"Well, I heard about it from some of the people around here yesterday. When I couldn't move, I mean," Beth said, putting her arm around Hesha's shoulders and giving the girl a side hug.

"You eavesdropped?" Hesha asked.

Beth chuckled. Technically yes, but she at least had an excuse. "I guess you could put it that way, but it wasn't like I could just walk away or turn my ears off, so I'd say it'd be more on the people who were talking," Beth replied, though she still made sure she didn't lose herself on a tangent. "Anyway, from what I pieced together, you mother lost her arm several years ago when she was in service of the marquis."

"So, what does that mean?" Hesha asked, sounding confused by the info dump.

"Just that the ring might be used to get a favor or something form the marquis," Beth replied, hoping she was correct in her theory. "I mean, if she lost her arm for the marquis, then I'd expect that you might be able to get some help with looking for your brothers and father, right?"

Hesha looked at Beth, a spark of life entering her eyes again. "You really think so?"

I really hope so, Beth said in her mind. Out loud, she said instead, "Only one way to find out, right?"

Hesha looked at Beth expectantly. Although, Beth wasn't sure what she was expecting, especially since she couldn't think of anything that she had offered or suggested that she hadn't already covered.

After a minute, Hesha seemed to understand that she wasn't going to say anything, so she asked," What way is that?"

Beth couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Of course that would be the question she'd ask, Beth commented to herself. To Hesha, she answered, "Just to go and try to speak with the marquis. I'm sure it won't be that difficult. If the ring is what I think it is, then it should make it easier for you to be able to at least speak with the marquis."

Hesha nodded, her gaze taking on a determined look. Beth wasn't sure what Hesha planned on doing after that, but didn't see a reason to try and stop her.

Although, she wouldn't have minded teaching the girl how to use her magic, she was at least content to being able to helping out the girl find a path to take when she had been left adrift. Especially when she and her friends had already invested so much in helping the girl escape the bandits.

_

Ralph didn't like the look of Beth and the little girl that he'd help the day before as they talked after the girl's older sister died. Not that he could think of how to stop whatever it was that seemed to be developing between the two. If he said something about it, then it was entirely possible that he would only help it develop into something that could be problematic for him.

Yet, at the same time, if he didn't do anything, then he might as well just give them the 'all clear' and create whatever seemed to be forming between the two of them. Which, naturally, would create trouble for him later on.

"What's all that racket about?" a groggy voice asked nearby.

"Just someone who survived the fire and attack only to die from something else," Ralph replied without thinking.

"What're you talking about Ralph?" the voice asked, startling him.

He'd already identified where Beth and Hannah were, and this voice certainly didn't sound like Tim or Wes, so he hadn't expected Amelia to wake up at this time.

"You're awake?" Ralph asked, unable to think of anything else to say as he turned to look at Amelia from where she was laying.

"Well, yeah," she replied, with a 'duh' note in her voice. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just that you've been out since the attack, and even Beth's healing didn't do more than just keep you from dying," Ralph replied, hoping he wasn't saying more than he should at the moment.

"Wait, back up," Amelia said, her voice getting stronger as she became more and more alert, as she carefully sat up. Not to mention more and more irritated. "What healing? What attack? And just how long have I been asleep?"