Burning Night: A Tale of the Everburning City

Chapter 28: Natalina

Natalina's body ached.

Not from any bit of cruelty on the part of her captors. As a holding cell in the Orderlies' precinct went, hers was relatively comfortable. The metal cot that served as her bed was dressed with a stuffed mattress that kept her warm when she slept. It had working plumbing and a desk. Inspector Effran had even given her a charcoal stick and a small stack of paper to let her take notes.

No, her body ached because of the days she had spent in this small, quiet cell sobbing. Dry heaves and chronic dehydration, combined with being unable to eat or sleep consistently, had taken a toll on her health.

Although, Natalina was quick to remind herself, none of this was the fault of her hosts. For the fourth time today, the lovely young man guarding her cell had brought her a pot of tea.

"Mrs Casper, are you sure I can't get you anything else? The commissary is terrible, but there's a baker a few blocks down the road who makes a mean chickpea and lentil soup," the young, uniformed orderly pleaded, as he unlocked her cell door and stepped inside.

"N- no thank you, Samuel," Natalina managed to stammer in thanks, as the young orderly set the heavy pot on her desk. He left a small ceramic mug beside it and nodded politely before he stepped back and shut the door.

He didn't lock it. Natalina wanted to believe it was amateurism, but she suspected she was considered such a low-security risk they could leave her door wide open.

Slowly, her body groaning from a near week of sedentary living, she sat up and swung her legs off the side of her bed. Her feet held her weight without her knees buckling, and smiling for the small victory, Natalina stepped over to the desk and poured herself a cup of tea.

"Samuel?" Natalina asked.

The orderly opened the door again and poked his head inside. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Are my children well?"

The young man glanced at the ground and smiled. "They are, ma'am. Midge asked if she could visit you tomorrow. I'm just waiting on word from Inspector Effran, but I like our odds."

The young man snapped his fingers and reached into his pocket. "Oh, and your husband asked me to give you this. Said to remind you that your family loves you."

The orderly stepped forward and held his hand out to her.

Reverently, with shaking hands, Natalina reached out and took a small token out of Marcellus' outstretched hand.

A round piece of metal, slightly smaller than her thumb, imprinted with the elaborate, ornate seal of a cart laden with food. Natalina recognized it as an old, expired lottery token.

As her eyes filling with tears again, she turned the token over to find the familiar etching of a heart inside of a heart.

"Oh, Argente..." Natalina sighed as she sat down.

Natalina sobbed quietly again, cradling the small token in her hands, and rocking back and forth in her chair.

"Ma'am," Samuel began to say.

Natalina cut him off. "This is the lottery token my husband used to get us our first date. We sat in a refuge orchard, with hot cocoa, during one of the worst snowfalls in recent history. The apple orchard, on the roof of the Civil Development headquarters. I had to threaten to expose an imaginary conspiracy to get my hands on that token."

Natalina smiled, and at her tears, as she held the token up. "He had this carved onto the blank side. A heart inside of a heart. Heart of my heart, he said."