Atonement (2)

For the next two days, Lia did not leave her room and devoted herself to making the medicine. Everything she needed was sent to her room. The only break she had was when she took a short trip down to Yolly’s store that went back to business recently. The mother and son pair were happy to have her and they were even joyous when Lia told them what she was doing. From then on, Yolly appointed Frankie to be the runner for everything Lia would need.

Just as she told Eldric, she did not let anyone help her. No matter what Eldric or Tim said about taking at least an assistant, she would not budge. She did not leave the room and just work, work, work. The foods sent in the room were barely touched. She rarely slept. She worked herself to the bone, preparing a large volume of medicine was her top priority. She minimized all the things that she did to be able to finish the medicine.

It took her quite some time to get her footing. After all, she had to rebuild the list her mother left. Some of the items got burned away so she had to match and adjust a few things. She also had to write down the materials needed for other medicines such as for fever from her memory, thankful that she took the interest in her mother’s work before. There were items that were not available since it would take some time to get the materials. Yolly helped a lot with the ingredients but since her stocks were recently seized by the guards, there was only a handful she could give. So Lia had to improvise and work on what she had on hand.

When she was done with the first batch, she took the flask to the head physician to let the patients drink it. She also brought the other medicines and entrusted them to the medics in case those were still needed. She watched and waited as the doctors administer, crossing her fingers that everything would go well. If they managed to control the hallucinations and the high fevers, then that would be a good start.

To everyone’s relief, the patients started to show signs of improvement. The medic team cheered and thanked Lia. The relatives cried and gave their thanks too. For the first time in the longest while, the air in the infirmary lightened, the death aura dispersed. Everyone looked hopeful and happy. Except for Lia.

She did not let herself relax even just a bit. Instead, her mind calculated how much more would she need to make, if her materials would suffice, if there were other medicines she should prepare. Another trip to Yolly’s store perhaps? She thought of everything else that she had to do so she rushed back to her workbench and do some more work.

Someone grabbed her arm on her way out of the infirmary.

“Take a rest, will you?” It was Eldric. Without anyone noticing, the General slipped into the infirmary and watched them from his little corner. And of course, it did not escape from him what Lia planned to do.

“But–”