When a supposed flapjack destroys Jekkh's planet, she relocates to a whole new system to start a new life. But after discovering her planet's long-lost artifact, Jekkh must step into a role she feels unfit for and unite her scattered people across t...
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Riirii X'Eaa
The sun was high in the sky as the day wasted away. Jekkh wiped the all-too-familiar sweat from her brow, kneeling beside the crate to the side of the medical tent. Though she was not a doctor or owner of a doctorate like Dr. Robison and Sophia, she at least knew herbs and the crate was full of them. The different medicinal herbs were in small vials not too different from the one she had received earlier that morning. The cool glass felt good in her hands with the hot, tropical sun beaming down on her like a warm smile. Though it was nothing like the two suns she had back on Jjjeeerrroooaaaa, the heat on her back was nostalgic.
Jekkh tried to keep her mind from her current struggles while she helped hand out medicine for the doctor and his rollerskating assistant. She usually avoided looking at the patient at all—especially the injury—but every once in a while, her gaze would cross the eyes of the ill or hurt. Jekkh's heart was stirred in her chest. She had so many feelings rushing through her.
First, she felt grief. Grief for the needy in the slums. So many without homes. So many hurt and sick. And so little help. That was heaviness like an anchor in her chest. A weight upon her shoulders, leaving her to drown in helplessness. What could she do?
Secondly, she was angry. A fiery feeling plunged into her gut, sending ripples of warmth throughout her being. Where was the help? She, someone with little-to-no experience with helping people, was doing more than anyone else with the power to do so. What happened to that hospital that closed it? Why wasn't the university helping?
Thirdly (and lastly), Jekkh was confused. Why was it that at every turn all of the answers to her questions only made her more confused and curious?
"Is that kerrfrinrotussin ready?" Sophia asked, snapping Jekkh from her thoughts.
Jekkh handed her the vial she had been staring at for too long. "Here it is."
"Thanks," Sophia said, looking down at the vial, and scrutinized it between her fingers. Sophia's brown eyes shot up to meet Jekkh's. "Are you alright? You're quieter than you usually are."
"So much pain," Jekkh said, grimacing as the sun grew brighter as it crested the roof of a building. "I never imagined people to be so sick."
"Did people on your planet not get like this?"
"Well, we never lived like this," Jekkh said, her tongue struggling to find the right word in Sophia's language. "In such squalor."
Sophia dropped her hand with the vial to her side. "I thought every planet had its slums."
"We all chose to live humbly," Jekkh replied, vivid images of her mobile home on the coast striking her. The sun often caught the stained glass windows, reflecting in an array of colors on the wall. Meals were made and eaten outdoors if the weather permitted. It was a simple life—one of traveling if people followed the old ways—but it was a good one. If people wanted to settle down in the bigger towns and cities, they were allowed but never forced to do something they weren't. And help was offered to people who couldn't help themselves.
