But the dance just wasn’t fun. There weren’t many Vle there, the music seemed listless, and Relie could dance circles around everybody, but no one noticed. Mecora, of course, just went for more beer. Sometime during the evening, Relie left, but Mecora didn’t know why. At the very least she could have been there the next morning to get some willow bark tea. If she really wanted to be a friend, she could have at least done that.
If only the morning’s runningtree had actually killed her. It would have solved so many problems. Her mother would never have to drag her out of bed again, she could save her money on those horrible flatcakes, which Mecora would never have to eat again... She almost lost her stomach contents just thinking about those flatcakes.
On the plus side, she didn’t have to deal with her mother that morning. She just had a headache of a different kind to deal with. Which was worse? Mecora didn’t know.
Slowly, carefully, she crawled over to the chemists’. It felt like she crawled for an hour. “Hello, Mecora,” said Handa’s mother softly. “Some willow-bark tea for you?”
“Please.”
The matronly woman went about her chores without a word, without a song. At one time, Mecora had promised herself that she wouldn’t go to Holice’s shop, since she was sure it would bring back too many memories. But every single time she woke up out on the plaza, she crawled in the same direction.
“Here you go, dear.”
At least the tea was still free. “Thank you.” Carefully, Mecora took a sip. Slowly, she began to feel better.
Handa’s mom usually went about her business then, but this time, she just stood, watching her. “Is something wrong?” Mecora asked.
“No, not really. I was just thinking about... mornings after.”
Mecora finished her tea. “Yeah.”
“I don’t understand how you can keep doing this to yourself.”
“Kills the pain.”
“Nothing can kill the pain forever, Mecora, only for a little while. And then the pain makes up for lost time.”
“Tell me about it.” There was a pause, during which Mecora finally, slowly stood up. “How do you deal with it?”
“Handa still lives in here,” replied the chemist, pointing to her head. “My life was enriched by her presence, and I am glad I knew her.”
“Yeah.” It made sense. It still didn’t really bring her back, though. Nor could it bring back her friends from the camp. “Well, Mom will expect me home soon.”
“Say hello for me.”
“I will.” Mecora left, debating whether to pass the hello on or not. Mom wouldn’t like to know she’d visited Holice, considering...
Something seemed different: there was more noise in town! Unusual, especially for an early Fifthday. She looked around, and just coming into view around the tree was another troop of soldiers, doing something very odd. They were putting up signs, fairly large and colorful ones. Curious, Mecora went to join the crowd to get a look at what the signs said.
Or, more precisely, to get some help in reading them. They were all about light Vle, that much she knew. But she thought there was something wrong with her reading skills— they all said something very disparaging! And every one reminded the reader to make sure and send a message to the Most High Elder of the town when a light Vle was spotted without an escort.
Light Vle were proven enemies of the state, untrustable, greedy, and had once owned all the wealth of the nation, and were likely to try to take it all again.
Yeah, right! It seemed to Mecora that most of the townsfolk disagreed and disapproved of the signs. However, no one took them down, either.
She shuffled on home, intent on getting some more sleep. As usual for ninthday mornings, her mother was home, doing chores. Not usual was her reaction when Mecora walked in the door. “Hello dear,” she said, hugging her daughter. “I’m glad you’re home.”
Mecora was too tired to respond. “Thanks, Mom. I’m gonna get some sleep.”
“Wait, I want to talk with you. We don’t get to really do that anymore.”
“What is there to talk about? We wake up, we go to work, or do chores, we come home, we go to bed, hopefully with food in our stomachs.”
“Well, we could talk about last night. Did you have fun? I heard you made a new friend.”
Oh, so that was it. “Some new friend. She left the party early, didn’t even stick around to get me some tea this morning.”
“Well, you can’t expect her to just fit into your idea of a friend right away. You both have some learning about each other to do.”
“I dunno. I just don’t think we’re meant to be friends. She’s kinda too young, too... bubbly.”
“You were bubbly once, and energetic. Better yet, she’s as dark as you are, I heard. She might be exactly what you need.”
“Mom, what’s how dark she is got to do with it?”
“Oh, I dunno, I just think you need someone just like you for a friend for a change.”
“Yeah, only a few years younger so I can be happy and ‘bubbly’ again. Great. Listen, I’m tired. I wanna get some sleep.”
“Okay, dear.”
Mecora fell asleep still not understanding what had gotten into her mom or why she was so glad to see her.