The Dream Keeper's Dragon

2.12 And... Your Secret

The sight of Kirin sitting beside her at the dinner table was so profound that Aurelie forgot all about eating and sat watching him. Spoon after spoon, he gulped down his porridge as if he'd never be fed again. His scrawny hands reached for his toast. Aurelie's hopped to help him pick it up. She stopped herself before he could see and looked away, pursing her lips.

She felt his warm, bony hand rest on his and turned back to him. In his frail state, he smiled, and it genuinely looked as if he was happy. "Not hungry?" he asked, noticing her full plate.

How could she eat when it looked as if every last crumb had to be stuffed into his mouth? "No, do you want to finish?"

Aurelie tightened her fists to gather her emotions. Aunt Elizabeth had always told her that everything she felt was painted on her face. Kirin had to focus on getting better, not what the process would do to her. She had to be brave and strong for now. Or at least, make him believe it so that she could carry the weight of their circumstances for the both of them.

"Sure, if you're not going to."

"Here." She moved her plate toward him. He dug in as soon as her hand let go of the plate.

A light purple ring still surrounded his irises. This meant that the effect of the portal had still not worn off. She wondered if nourishment was the only thing he needed. Peter was never around to ask. He went back to his old ways of only coming home late in the evenings.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, locking her eyes on him so that if he lied to spare her feelings, she would be able to catch it.

"Much the same, better than the first few days though."

He had talked her out of fetching Raves, the healer who would probably rather chew glass than help her again, and seemed a little irritable when she tried to care for him herself. Kirin's excuse for not wanting to see a healer was that no one in Redayrah would know how to treat a shadow walker and he was probably right. However, if he wasn't going to start looking better soon, she would be forced to do something.

"Just weak, really," he added after observing her cautious silence for a moment.

Aurelie smiled. "Okay," she said, trying her best to look innocent while thinking about how she'd turn the whole of bloody Redayrah into a pile of ash while looking for someone who could make him better if she had to.

A week later, she slipped out while Kirin was asleep and was heading down to the square to call Raves to the house when she saw a mother and a sick child walk out of an old shop with a paper bag containing a bouquet of herbs. The child was pale, and could barely keep up with her, stopping every few steps to cough and then to catch a breath.

Aurelie came to stand by the shop's window and looked inside. The wooden shelves held stuffed cats, dogs—of all apparent ages—and other small animals. Bird hung down from strings attached to the ceiling. There were several different species but the main attraction was the vast display of crows. They took up the entire back side of the shop's ceiling.

If she hadn't just seen a woman with a sick child walk out of there with a bag of herbs, she would have never thought that the shop belonged to a healer.

A bell rang as she entered. There was no one at the glass counter which displayed herbs and vials on racks below it. A red curtain hung on the entrance to the back. Aurelie listened for someone, expecting the owner to have heard her entrance, but it was as if she was the only one in there. Anyone could have robbed the shop during the time it took them to react. Although, Aurelie wasn't sure who'd want to take any of the merchandise. The candle holder chandelier of baby bats that hung above her head was enough to chase anyone away.