"wake up! Korj!"
When I woke, it was as though the world was swaying, like I was drifting between two dreams. A tiny hand shook my shoulder again, firmer this time."Korj! Korj, wake up!"
I blinked slowly. My eyes were heavy, my body sore all over. The light slipping through the cracks of the hut roof felt too bright. And then… her face."Bomi?" My voice cracked.
Her big eyes widened, and she smiled so wide her little cheeks puffed up. "You're awake!" she squealed, throwing herself into my arms. I froze, my mind unable to decide if I was still dreaming. I held her, trembling. Her hair still smelled like wild mint.
"Am I… dead?" I murmured.
She giggled, her tiny hands pressing my cheeks. "No, silly! Dead people don't talk!"
That was enough to make me laugh through the lump in my throat. I hugged her tighter, not wanting to let go, afraid she'd disappear if I blinked too long.
When I looked up, Mother was standing in the doorway. Her face was calm, too calm, but her eyes… there was something there, a heaviness I couldn't name.
"Mother…" I whispered.
She came closer, kneeling beside me, and brushed my hair back. "You've been asleep for a day," she said softly. "We found you not too far from the riverbank."
"How, how did you even find me?"
Before she could answer, Bomi jumped up. "I'll get flowers for you, Korj! Pretty ones!" she said, and darted out of the hut, her little feet pattering on the dirt.
Mother sighed and looked at me again. "I tried to reach you. I was with Bomi in the city market. We were buying fruits and crafts for the harvest ceremony." She paused, her eyes flicking away. "Then I saw them, soldiers sneaking in through the lower gate. I sent the guard with us to go and bring you back. To warn the king. But…" She stopped. "It seems he never made it." She held my face.
Something in her words didn't feel right. Like pieces of a story that didn't fit together. Her gaze faltered for a second, and I caught it. She stood up quickly. "I'll fetch some water from the stream so you can take a bath, you seem to be in your bleeding month." she said, and stepped out before I could ask anything else.
I sat there, staring at the open door, my heart unsettled.
A while later, Bomi came skipping in, her hands full of yellow and orange flowers. "For you!" she announced proudly, throwing them into my lap.
I smiled despite everything. "You're the best sister ever."
She puffed up proudly. "I know!"
"Tell me," I said gently, "what were you and Mother doing in the city that day?"
"Oh!" she said, sitting cross-legged beside me. "Mother took me to get cake from her friend who bakes, the one with the round tummy and we got slippers too, shiny ones! Then a man bumped into Mother. He was weird. Then our guard said we should go back home, but then everyone started running! Like...like bees were chasing them! Mother held my hand, but then we lost yer, the guard in the crowd for a little bit!"
I swallowed hard, listening.
"But then," Bomi continued, eyes wide with childlike excitement, "we found you! You were by a big cave! And guess what was inside?" She leaned closer, lowering her voice like she was telling a secret. "A bear! A really, really big one! It already ate someone! And there were two other people in there, half eaten!"
I blinked at her. "Half eaten?"
She nodded seriously, her little hands spreading apart like she was describing fish size. "Uh-huh. Like, the legs were there, but not the heads. It was so yucky!"
I stared at her for a long moment before a small laugh escaped me. "So what then? The bear kept me for dinner?"
Bomi gasped dramatically, then broke into a grin. "Almost! But Mother saved you! She fought the bear with just a stick!"
"With a stick?"
"She did! You should've seen her, Korj!" Bomi jumped up, mimicking jabs and swings. "She was like ha! and hyaa! and the bear went grrhhh!"
I laughed so hard my chest started hurting, the wound from the arrow was already healed as I possess regenerative abilities. For a moment, the weight of everything lifted. The burnt houses, blood, the screams, they were gone. It was just us. Me and my little sister, giggling in a small hut, as if the world hadn't fallen apart outside.
But then the laughter faded, and the silence that followed was heavy again. My gaze drifted to the doorway where Mother had gone, and for a fleeting moment, I wondered what else she wasn't saying.
Mother came back not long after, her hands red from carrying the heavy pot of water she'd fetched from the stream."Sit, Korj," she said softly. "You should clean yourself properly. You still smell of river and ash."
She poured the water into a clay basin, then placed it near the fire. Steam rose and curled through the hut, carrying the scent of smoke and earth."I'll warm it more for you crjstaljh" she said, stirring the embers with a stick until the flames licked higher.
I took the boiling hot pot of water after a while and went behind a tree just outside the hut. The air was cool and still, the forest humming faintly with night insects. I removed the torn remains of my dress, wincing as the cold breeze brushed my skin. I used a clean cloth Mother had left for me, wrapping one piece around my waist and another carefully beneath. I was still bleeding, my monthly cycle stubbornly reminding me that life hadn't stopped.
The warm water felt like forgiveness against my skin. I poured it slowly from a gourd, watching the muddy rivulets run down my legs into the soil. For a moment, I just stood there, breathing in and out.
When I returned to the hut, wrapped in one of Mother's old robes, the smell of stew filled the air. My stomach growled instantly. Bomi was already sitting cross-legged beside the small fire, grinning.
"Mother made stew!" she whispered to me as I sat. "Guess what it is."
I raised an eyebrow. "What?"
She leaned closer, her eyes sparkling mischievously. "Bear meat."
I almost choked on my breath. "Bomi!"
She burst into quiet giggles, covering her mouth. "It's true! I asked her, and she didn't say no!"
Mother shot her a look that made her sit up straight immediately. "Eat quietly, both of you," she said, though I saw a faint smile tug at her lips.
The stew was rich and spicy, the kind that clung to your tongue. I tried not to think too hard about what kind of meat it really was.
After we ate, Mother sat opposite me, the firelight flickering over her face."Tell me, Korj," she began softly, "everything that happened."
I froze. The spoon slipped from my hand, landing in the bowl with a dull clink. I looked at Bomi. Mother followed my gaze and sighed. "Alright," she said gently. "Tomorrow, then."
Relief and unease both settled in my chest. Tomorrow.
Bomi looked up, suddenly curious. "Korj, where's the cook from the castle? The one who always gave me sweets? And what about our brothers? And the girls who played with me in the garden?"
Her voice was so small, so innocent. I swallowed hard, forcing a smile."They're… resting," I said softly. "They're probably sleeping now. You should too."
She frowned a little, clearly not understanding, but nodded anyway. "Okay."
Mother spread a mat and drew Bomi close to her side. "Come, little one," she whispered, her voice calm and low. "Let's rest."
Then she began to sing. It was a lullaby, one that made the air feel softer somehow. The melody was steady, carrying something both sweet and sad.
"Sleep, my child, beneath the moon,May the gods watch over us.The dead can hear your gentle breath,Beneath the river lies their captured souls."
Bomi's eyes fluttered, her tiny hand clutching Mother's sleeve.
"Sleep, dear one, the blue girl says,No harm shall come tonight.The ravager counts her many braids,To slay the dead at every sight."
By the time the last line faded, Bomi was asleep, her mouth slightly open, her chest rising and falling in rhythm with the quiet night.
I sat there, listening to the echo of Mother's voice. The melody lingered familiar, yet changed. There was something in it, something I couldn't name.
And as I lay down beside them, my eyes heavy with exhaustion, I couldn't stop wondering,
Why did the Empire I was about to marry into do all of this?