CHAPTER 21: BRINGING TULA HOME

Mother and I stood, in each other’s arms, weeping bitterly at the door of Henry’s bedroom.

Tula had fallen asleep, so we left her with Karl, to get some more herbs from the medical wing of what used to be the Jobless Hut.

We’d just returned to the house to start making more medicine for Tula when we heard Karl weeping. As soon as we opened the door, Mother and I knew that Tula had left this world. Karl was lying beside her, his hand stroking her hair. Tula lay flat on her back, her hand in Karl’s, her yellow face facing the ceiling. Her lips were slightly parted, her red eyes stared lifelessly ahead. Henry, who had come home just a few seconds before us, was standing by the bed. He leaned over Karl, and over Tula’s body, and gently lifted his fingers to her eyes, and closed them. Once those eyes closed, they would never open again.