"Ashai!" Tirwah exclaimed, smiling at the image of his sister's face. "I am so glad you received my letter and device."
"You're really not among the Treaty of Silence?"
He shook his head. "As I explained, I'm not a citizen of Karsaiah, so not subject to the Treaty. Have you been well?"
"Oh, yes! I must show you my daughter. I will be right back."
Tirwah found himself humming one of the plainsongs the Home Free family had performed as he waited for his sister. He had debated for some time before arranging to have one of his fellow traders deliver the letter and communication device to his sister, but the memory of her devastation as he was claimed by the Treaty had convinced him it was the right thing to do.
***
Tim awoke to the tight, can't-breathe feeling of Adam crying and trying to be quiet. It had been a while since Adam had cried this hard. Tim reached out and pulled his husband into his arms.
"Sorry," Adam whispered.
"It's okay. I know it's been hard."
They laid there, Tim gently rubbing Adam's back while he cried. Adam clung to him as if he would suddenly fall if not for Tim.
Adam's sobs slowly lessened and then stopped. "Sorry," he repeated.
"You don't need to apologize. You feel how you feel."
"I just don't want you to think I don't love you because I miss Ericha."
"I understand. I miss Jenika, too."
"You're supposed to be the cryer. I don't know what's gotten into me."
"You got your hopes up," Tim answered. "I hadn't fully processed everything, so I hadn't emotionally invested in the possibility of Jenika being on Merely's world." How many more times would Adam's heart be ripped apart? Tim wondered.
"How do we do this without making people feel awful when we don't find any of their families?"
Tim thought about Merely, suddenly and definitively bereft of family. "I don't know. We're going to need their cooperation, but it's... it's going to suck."
They'd scried on Verlest for relatives of most of the people in the town, with a few exceptions. Some, like their boys, the Sisawos, and a lot of the recent kids, had arrived without pictures or other items connected to their relatives. Adam's special talent took a lot of extra work, so he hadn't gotten through everyone by a long shot. Should Adam start with those, killing two birds with one stone by scrying on both worlds at once? Or would it make more sense to get through as many people as possible?
"We should start with the counselors and religious leaders," Adam said as if reading his mind. "Max, Omar, Nyima, Gideon, maybe Rob since people seem to turn to him."
"That makes sense." Tim ran his fingers through Adam's hair. "You ready to go back to sleep? We've got school tomorrow."
"Yeah. I think I'm okay."
Tim kissed his forehead, then his mouth. "I love you, Adam."
"I love you, too, Tim."
***
"Thanks for everything," Tim told Zuri. "We'll see you tomorrow."
"Absolutely. Take care!"
"Can I drive to school?" Kamal asked, coming in from the kitchen.
"We don't need you wasting gas to drive a couple blocks," Tim objected.
Kamal seemed resigned. "Figured you'd say that."
"Sorry, son. You can drive on Fridays so you can get to Jummah, but otherwise unless you're bringing something unwieldy or need to get somewhere quickly afterwards, you can walk."
"Right, right. It makes sense. I just wanted to show it off."
"Maybe Wednesday at the lighting ceremony," Adam suggested, walking into the room carrying Harper.
Tim took in the front of his youngest's pajama shirt. "Are you feeding her grits like cereal again?"
"It's hulva, and she likes it that way."
"Just don't let Yem see you do that," Kamal joked. "Yo, fam, are we ready to go?!"
Kendra and DeJames came out of the kitchen, grabbing jackets and bags. Josey practically tumbled down the stairs in his haste. "Shit, I didn't get breakfast."
"I'll grab you something," Adam volunteered, setting Harper down.
Josey pulled on his jacket and jammed his shoes on without untying them.
"You're going to break down the backs doing that," Tim warned. "And we can't just go to the mall and buy a new pair."
"Sorry. I didn't think about that."
"Here you go." Adam handed Josey a bandana-wrapped bundle.
"Thanks. What's inside?"
"All the savory things we had left from breakfast in a tortilla."
"Sounds good."
"See you guys after school," Tim called after their kids. "Don't run while eating!" He shut the door, shaking his head. "Where's Harper?"
"I thought you had her." Adam glanced around the room, then cocked his head to one side, walking to the guest room.
Michael looked up as he opened the door and smiled. Harper was in her lap.
"Sorry to disturb you. We were getting the school kids out the door."
"Yes, I heard the elephant parade." She patted Harper's leg. "I think your dad wants to get you cleaned up."
Harper pointed to Ulises and leaned towards Michael. "He seepy?" she whispered.
"Yes, dear. He's been very sick, but he's getting better. He needs lots of sleep."
"Come on, hon, let's let Ulises sleep."
Harper nodded. "Ooly seep now."
"Yes. Ooly sleep now."
***
Tim sat down on the hall tree bench to put his shoes on, then glanced over at Adam. "What's up? Are you feeling sick?"
Adam nodded. "Just a little nauseated."
"I can tell. Should you get it checked out?"
Adam shrugged. "Something didn't sit well, I guess?"
"With all these new foods, it was bound to happen eventually. Should I stay?"
"Do you think you can--" Adam stopped mid-sentence, quickly moving Harper out of his lap and dashing to the downstairs restroom.
Harper blinked at Tim, who was fighting waves of secondary nausea. "Dada mean! He--" She made a pushing motion with her hands.
"No, hon. Dada is sick." He rubbed his stomach, even though he knew the sensation was coming from Adam.
"Oh." A very recognizable sound came from the bathroom. Harper nodded. "Dada sick."
The door to the guest room opened. "Is everything okay?" Michael asked.
"Adam's got some sort of stomach thing. As you can hear."
"And you?" she pursued, nodding to his middle.
"I'm just feeling his symptoms through the Life Debt."
"Oh. Right. Let's get some Pepto in him, see if that helps."
"I'm going to go sit with him and hold his hair."
***
"Hey, man, I was just about to call you," Xander greeted him unceremoniously.
"What's up?" Tim asked.
"Kendra, Kamal, and DeJames are all sick -- stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting."
"Adam, too. I was calling to say we wouldn't be in."
"We've got several other families sick, too. They're talking about sending all the kids home."
"Any other symptoms?" Michael piped in.
"Headaches. And some of the kids are losing it out the other end."
Tim nodded. "Okay, I can try to drive, but Adam's symptoms are a little distracting."
"Are you sure they're all his?"
"I think so. He's tried to pull back the Life Debt, but he's so miserable..."
"He needs the comfort. I'll call around and find out who is okay to shuttle kids. You stay home."
***
"All of our healers are down except Nalah with his Echo," Vernon reported. "Zuri is also sick. Treece is raiding the dollar store and the scavenged supplies for meds."
"What about Stone and Quiet Pools?" Tim inquired.
"Forgot about them! I'll have someone check."
"Do we think this is an attack of some sort?" Omar asked.
"It might be an intentional poisoning, but it's more likely contamination." Hayden leaned over a map of the town where he'd marked the affected families. They were scattered, but most seemed to be centered in three areas -- the houses near the school, the outlying farms, and the households near the mosque. "We need to narrow down what they all had in common. I'm going to guess food. But what did Adam and the three sick kids have that you, Josey, and Harper didn't?"
Tim shook his head. "I'm completely perplexed. Maybe we're just immune?"
"Have we checked with the locals if this is familiar. I mean, Esdrai is pretty old, so even if it doesn't happen often she might have encountered it."
"They had a few suggestions, but nothing that quite fit."
There was a scream from upstairs. Tim jumped up and ran to the steps.
***
"It was him," DeJames repeated. "It was him."
"You're okay," Josey tried to comfort him. "We won't let anyone get to you."
"You're safe," Tim reassured him.
"Tim!" Adam called from their room.
"I'll be right back."
Adam was sitting up in bed, staring at the window with wide eyes, his face pale and sweaty.
"What did you need?" Tim asked calmly, despite the sensation of a racing heartbeat from Adam.
"C-can you see her?" Adam whispered.
Tim glanced at the window, then outside. "I don't see anyone, hon. Who do you see?"
"She's right there. Right there in front of the window."
"Eartha?"
"No. No. Ericka. She's..." Adam gestured vaguely, then covered his eyes.
Tim sat on the bed, pressing his palm to Adam's forehead. It felt cold and clammy. He took Adam's hands. "She's not there, honey. She's still on Earth."
"No. She drowned. She drowned. She's all..." Adam looked back at the window and shuddered.
"Hey, hey, come back to me. Look at me." Tim squeezed his hands. "Honey, look at me!"
Adam tore his eyes from whatever horror he was seeing and met Tim's. His pupils were huge, barely any blue around them.
"Ericka is safe and alive on Earth. She didn't drown and there are no ghosts."
"But what if she did? What if there are?"
Tim closed his eyes and opened the Life Debt fully, feeling Adam's terror and misery. He pushed calm through, then began quietly Singing. It wasn't his Resonance, and it still felt strange on his tongue, but Adam needed healing and calm, and he could give his husband some small amount of that.
***
"Oh, thank God," Tim breathed as he opened the door to see Stone and Quiet Pools standing there. "Come in. We're meeting through here."
"Is anyone in your family sick?" Quiet Pools inquired as they followed Tim.
"Three of my kids and my husband Adam. Yours?"
Stone shook her head. "Fortunately not. What are the symptoms?"
"Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, headache for pretty much all of them. Adam and one of the boys are hallucinating. Well, were hallucinating. They're both asleep right now."
The two healers looked at each other, worry in their eyes.
"Okay, introductions. Folks this is Stone and Quiet Pools, who are professional healers, so hopefully we can figure this out with their help."
***
"May we examine your husband and children?" Stone requested.
"Sure. They're all upstairs. I'll show you." Tim led them out of the brief meeting and to the stairs.
***
Adam stirred but didn't fully wake up as the two healers quietly examined him. Tim stood back anxiously and watched.
"Were the hallucinations upsetting?" Quiet Pools whispered.
"It was his wife that's lost to him on Earth," Tim replied. "But she'd been drowned and was just a ghost."
"What is a ghost?" Stone asked.
"A, uh... A spirit?"
The two Narrez shook their heads, but Tim could already feel that the translation device was having trouble.
"It's like the essence of a person's personality, thoughts, memories, and so on, but separated from the body."
"The brain?" Quiet Pools guessed.
"No. It's non-corporeal, just energy without a body. It's part of our lore."
The two blinked and Stone gave him a smile as if humouring the crazy man. "I see. We do not have such beings in our lore."
"Most humans don't think they exist, but we love telling scary stories with them."
"So encountering the dead... ghost of your dead wife was frightening to your husband?"
"Just Adam's wife -- Earth marriages are a bit different to yours. But yes, it was quite frightening and upsetting."
"And you don't know whether he might have eaten a food you did not?"
"I wasn't in there for all of breakfast. Our dogs needed out, so I took them out for a while, then grabbed breakfast after the kids left."
The two healers studied him. "You're certain you're not experiencing symptoms? Yours might be delayed if you ate later."
"I don't think so. Because we're bonded through a Life Debt, I feel what Adam's feeling, so sometimes it's hard to know, but if I pull it back, the symptoms start fading."
"The Life Debt does make it more difficult to determine if you are ill." Stone gently laid a hand on Adam's forehead.
"Er'cha?" Adam murmured in his sleep. "Hng... Tim?"
Tim sat on the bed beside him. "Go back to sleep, hon."
"'Kay..."
***
They'd made their way to DeJames's room when Harper came in and took Tim's hand. "Dada. I hungy."
"I can fix you some bread with butter and jam in a minute, sweetie."
"Wait," Quiet Pools interrupted. "Did your husband and children have bread with breakfast?"
"I don't know. Adam doesn't usually have bread at breakfast. He tends to focus on more protein-rich foods."
"Protein?"
"Uh. Yeah. It's a nutrient found in meat, as well as some plants, as opposed to carbs -- which are sugars and starches -- or fats and oils."
"Fascinating. Your language has many concepts we do not."
Stone cleared her throat. "Perhaps until we know whether it is contamination or poison or disease, you should avoid any foods that were served this morning."
Tim nodded. "Okay. We've got plenty of other foods." Tim's phone bleeped. "Hello?"
The image of Jai, looking close to tears appeared. "Tim! Is Adam well enough to do some healing?"
"No, but we've got Stone and Quiet Pools."
"Oh, thank God. We need them here immediately. She's having seizures and I don't know what to do!"