Mama, wake up...
Silver was giving grains to the chickens while listening to them bicker, as they usually did. A cloud of white smoke escaped her mouth as she sighed. A small blanket of snow covered the ground that morning. She could see around her, in the white carpet that was now the ground, the steps Chadley and Chadson took to fulfill their usual duties and her mother’s too. They were ready for this winter, as they usually were at that time of the year, but there was always a quiet worry that would settle in her heart as snow piled outside of their house. She was thinking about grabbing her coat inside when she saw Red running across the field to finally reach her. Silver's usual smile slowly disappeared as the fox stopped before her, looking distressed with her fur and her tail all spiky. She gave herself the ability to understand her friend’s language.
“What’s going on?” she asked, worried.
“Your mother. She fell and she won’t move.”
“Where is she?”
“The oak tree.”
Silver leaped and wildshaped into a grey wolf. She crossed the distance between the chicken barn and the oak tree as fast as her new found rapidity allowed her.
She was lying on the snow, not moving. Silver returned to her usual self, still panting from her run.
“Mama”, she yelped. “Mama, wake up.”
She kneeled near her mother. Her strawberry blonde hair covered her face. Silver got them out of the way to look at her. Her slightly parted lips let out a little puff of white smoke. She was breathing. Silver touches her cold cheeks, relieved, but still worried by the trace of blood near her lips.
“Let’s get you inside”, she said in a trembling voice.
She struggled to put her mother on her back as she was still limp.
“Go get the boys, Red”, she asked the fox.
Red ran away to grab the brothers’ attention.
It was the second time she found her that way in the last month. But she was worried by way more than that. Her mother slept a lot recently when she was usually up before everyone and the last one to go to bed. Her clothes were now loose on her. Silver noticed that she rarely took more than a few bites from each meal. She grew concerned each week passing as her mother looked weaker and thinner. She requested more and more assistance from Chadley and Chadson. As proud as she was, those requests troubled Silver.
If something was really wrong, she would have told Silver, wouldn’t she?
Chadley and Chadson came running to her, following Red. They helped her carry her mom in the shed they shared and put her down in her bed.
“If she told you something that I don’t know, I would like you to tell me now.”
But both of them shook their heads.
“Let’s wait for her to wake up… I’ll brew some tea in the meantime. Could you both take over while I make sure she is ok?”
Good lads they were and so on with their days they went without any complaints about the added tasks.
She was putting the teapot on the table to let it brew when she heard her mother cough behind her. She ran to her side to find her awake, finally. She was sitting in her bed now, one hand keeping her in that position and the other one, slightly trembling, wiping the blood from her mouth. Silver pulled out her handkerchief from her pocket and cleaned up her mother’s face, softly. She could feel her hazel eyes on her as she placed the pillow so her mom could sit comfortably without putting strain on her arms.
Silently, Silver walked back to the table to prepare a cup of honeyed mint tea for her mother. When she came back to her, she sat on her bed and offered the cup to her. Her big silver eyes were filled with tears and concerns.
“I’m usually good at leaving you a bit of privacy, mama, but you have to talk to me now. I’m…scared for you. What is happening?”
She helped her mother drink a couple of sips of tea before she could finally talk.
“I’m…not sure, my wolf. I don’t know what is going on”, she whispers to her daughter.
Silver shook her head, fiercely, her jaw clenched.
“No, you must have an idea”, she rambled. “You’ve trained in healing magic. You should be able to heal yourself, whatever the sickness you have.”
Silver grabbed her hands and looked at her emaciated face before continuing.
“And if you are too weak, I’ll learn what you know and make you feel better,” she pleaded.“And.. and if it doesn’t work, we’ll bring you to the city and we’ll find someone that can understand what you have and heal you.”
“You will not go to the city, no.”
“But mama”, Silver insisted, “if I do not succeed, we need to find help.”
“I said no.”
Her voice was firm and could not be replied to. Even in her weakened state, her will was unfailing.
“I’ve already tried on my own, but nothing seems to work. You have more strength than I do now. I can teach you anything that I know about healing. Just bring me my journal, please.”
Silver almost raced across the little shed to fetch her mother’s journal.She then took a spot to sit next to her in her bed. Silver touched the first page with her mother’s name on it.
“I never asked you before, but does it have any meaning?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your name.”
Her laugh was warm and calm even if Silver could still hear her chest wheeze a little.
“Aurore… It’s true that you all either call me mama and ma’am now”, she chuckled. “It means dawn, my love.”
Silver smiles at her. However, concern was still painted over her face.
“You have the most beautiful name, mama…You’ll be fine, right?”
“Of course, my wolf. Of course”, she lied.
Comments