Any Port in a Storm: Chapter 12

Tony's Story

The sisters looked ready to burst with a lifetime's worth of questions.  It is then I am hit with a sudden lightheaded swoon.  I bring my fingers to my temple as a chill runs through me.

“Um...”  I say.  “...before we start.  Could I have some water?”

Mara nods eagerly.  “Of course!  Kea, could you fetch Tony some water?”

Makea gets up and points a thick finger my way.  “Don't tell stories.”  She warns me.

I give her a slight grin.  “I won't start without you Kea.”

She smiles and hurries from the hut.

Looking back to Mara I now saw concern in those strange eyes of her.  She was leaning in close and looking over my face.  Reaching up she lays her soft palm over my forehead and I see worry in her eyes.  “Fever?”  Is all she says.

“I am feeling a little woozy.”

She glances up then back toward the door.  “Have...you brought disease?  Father told us there are many diseases where you come from.  Diseases of sin and foul living.”  I could tell she was considering getting the hell away from me.  There was real fear in her eyes.  For a moment I didn't appreciate the situation.  It was just a low grade fever.  Then it hits me.  We were cut off from any form of proper medical care, even the smallest thing could be deadly here.  A fever might prove to be a very big deal!

“I don't think so Mara.”  I say.  “I was fine until...  If I have a disease it is from this island.  I wasn't sick before.”

She takes a deep breath and gathers her courage.  “Father told me to tend to you.  I will tend you.”

“Thank you.  I'm sure it's nothing.  Probably just exhaustion, dehydration.  Water will fix me right up I'm sure.”

Her pale blue eyes begin to flit over me.  Her light tapping fingers feel across my upper arm and across my chest and shoulders.  She actually has to move her head to scan over my body so that she can get close enough to see detail.  While she could see a bit I could tell that back home she would be considered legally blind.  Quickly her attention turns to the sweat soaked towel I had wrapped around my arm.

She looks to me.  “May I?”

I nod.

Leaning across my body she carefully unwraps the crude dressing, revealing the source of my illness.  The three inch long gash in my arm, which looked so harmless this morning, was now inflamed.  The skin around it was an angry red.  Fluid that wasn't blood had seeped from the wound crusted the towel with a gross ichor.

“Not a disease.  Infection.”  Mara says with a small measure of relief.  Resting her weight over my stomach she inspects the cut from only inches away.  I cannot help but notice her breasts are small almost to the point of being non-existent.  She was so different from her mother and sisters.  She pulls the soiled towel away and tosses it to the floor.  “Infection is still early.  The fever will get worse but you'll be okay I think.”  She spoke with a surprising level of confidence.  “I will care for you.  I will have Kea bring boiled water for cleaning.”

“Are you a doctor?”  I quip.

“I am skilled at tending people.  My mother taught me.”  She sits back up.  “I am a burden to my family so I do what I can to help wherever I can.”

I look at her for a few long seconds.  I remember her father's hard words and how he'd roughly pushed her to the ground.  “I'm sure you're not a burden.”

She smiles a sad smile.  “No, I am.  I am weak.  I get tired quickly.  I am ill more than the others.  My sight is poor.  I cannot enter the forest without becoming lost.  I cannot go to the cliffs.  I am a shameful burden on them.  I thank God every night they show mercy to a wretch like me.”

“They're your family, they love you.”

“Of course they do.”  She says and I am reminded that her definition of 'love' was something quite different than mine.  “When you and I love each other I hope you remember my kindness and show mercy to me as well.  I would value your charity Tony.”

I look at her transcendent beauty...then let out a short incredulous laugh.

“Did I say something funny?”  She asks with wide eyed puzzlement.

I shake my head.  “No, I mean...kind of.”  I look over her perfect face again, taking in every square inch of its flawless radiance.  Dear lord, I simply could not believe this ravishing goddess was hidden away from the world on this god forsaken place.  I say softly. “You don't even realize...  Mara, back where I come from your face would be on billboards in Times Square.  You would be a very big deal.  A celebrity.  Everybody would want to be your friend.  Your family would BEG to be a part of your life.”

“Why would they do that!?”  She sits up excitedly.  “What is billboards?  What is celebrity?  What is Times Square?”

I lightly rest my hand on her waifish shoulder.  “There's so much you don't know.  Listen, you shouldn't think of yourself as a burden or a wretch.  That's not right.  You do what you can and that is what matters.”  I smile.  “And yes, I will remember your kindness.  I promise.”

Her bashful smile melts my heart.

“Besides.”  I say, motioning to her crucifix.  “You guys are religious types.  Blessed are the meek and all that jazz.  You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

She looks at me curiously.  “Blessed are the meek?  All that jazz?”

“Yeah, the meek.  You know, from the Bible.”

She blinks.  “What's that?”

Ash's Story

Miru looks at me a second before saying again.  “Yes, our brother.  He is a good healer.”

“Sorry.”  I say.  “I thought we'd met everyone.  I didn't realize there was a brother.”

Huali and Miru look at each other confused and then back to me.  “You have met everyone.”  Miru replies.  “Marama is our brother.”

My mind scrambles to catch up.  “Mara...is a boy!?”

There is a moment of silence before the sisters both erupt with laughter.  They laugh as if it was the funniest thing they had ever heard.  I am embarrassed at being laughed at but I am still perplexed by what I'd just learned.

Huali doubles over and grips her knees.  “Yes he's a boy!  Ha ha ha ha!  Are you blind?  Ha ha ha ha!”

“Sorry, just...he's...”

Huali continues in a manner that reminded me of Drax from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.  “He has no breasts!  He only has a penis, he cannot bear children or give them milk!  Ha ha ha ha ha!”

I catch the fact that she said he “only” had a penis and I wonder if male genitalia was somehow considered the lesser of the two options in her mother's culture.  It suddenly made sense why Cormac had paired Tony with Mara, his son.  I hoped Tony learned this fact quickly and that he reacts to it well.  It was going to be a hell of shock to him when he found out.  Some petty part of me is relieved, at least I had nothing to be jealous of now.

I start to chuckle along with the sisters.  “He he he.  He just, looked feminine to me.  Sorry.  I didn't mean any offense.  I've never seen such a...pretty boy.  He he he.”  

I start to believe my memory must be playing tricks on me.  He couldn't have been as beautiful as I remembered, there must have been signs I missed.  Things were pretty tense out there and I hadn't really been focused on Marama.  It wouldn't take long for Tony find out the truth as he interacted with the young man.

Despite the fact the laughter was at my expense it certainly helped to lighten the mood.  Seeing the imposing Huali laughing like this made her a lot more human and a lot less scary.  As the laughter quells Huali says.  “I see you will be fun.  I am glad you came here Ashley.”

I sigh.  “I wish I could say the same.”

Just then the stout figure of Leinani appears in the doorway, probably attracted here by the sounds of hilarity.  With an unspoken show of deferential respect Miru raises from her chair and offers it to her mother.  Leinani moves to take a seat beside me.

“Hello Leinani.”  I say politely.

She studies me with her rich brown eyes.  Her face was round and kind and motherly.  Outside of the green eyes Kea's wide face was the spitting image of her mother's, just younger.  The three of them speak for a time.  The tone was serious but not threatening.  I wait patiently for them to be done.  I could tell they were talking about me but that was hardly surprising given the situation.  Whatever she was saying to her daughters held them in rapt attention.  She spoke steadily and calmly in that way of a mother teaching something to her children.  Miru interjects with comments and questions, anger coming through in her voice from time to time.  Huali just kept looking my way with open confusion.

At last Leinani holds a weathered hand up and says something to me.

Miru looks at me.  “Mother was wondering if she might hold your dress in her hands.”

“My dress?  Oh!  My towel.  Um.”  I look briefly to each of their faces.  Miru and Huali both leaned in anxious and curious, Leinani sat stoic and patient.  Their sudden intense interest was unnerving.  I didn't particularly want to give up my towel but I was at these people's mercy and I wanted to keep things friendly.  Besides, it was just us girls here.  “Um, sure.  Yeah.”

Sitting up I untie the towel and slip it off.  Both sisters gasp as I do so and stare directly at my crotch.  I immediately shift to cover up, wondering if I'd soiled myself or something.  I glance down to see everything was normal.  With rising trepidation I hesitate then pass the towel to the older woman.  With a strange smile Leinani holds up her hand as if she now had no interest in it.  I take it back and cover myself up.  “Is something the matter?”

There is another burst of conversation among the three women as I sit there wondering just what the hell was going on.