“Shuri…Fina…let me see your faces.”
“Mom!” we both cried.
I couldn’t see my mom’s face through my tears. She hugged us close with her weak arms.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t do anything for you. And thank you, Fina, Shuri.”
She closed her eyes.
“Thank you, Gentz.”
It looked like she couldn’t open her eyes anymore. I held her hand, but she couldn’t grip it back anymore. She couldn’t open her eyes, anymore. Maybe she wouldn’t ever say my name again.
Mom, Mom, Mom.
I couldn’t stop crying.
I heard a weird sound behind me. When I turned around, Yuna was hitting her hands together.
“Yuna?”
“I don’t know if I can help, but I’m going to take a look at her, so move aside.” Yuna pulled us away from the bed. “Please just hold on for a little while,” she said to my mom.
Yuna laid her bear hands on my mom.
“Cure.”
Her body lit up. The glow of the magic was pretty, and I felt warm, as if, just for the moment, I felt the presence of a god there. My mom’s breathing calmed down. I couldn’t believe it. Until that moment, she sounded like she was suffocating, but now her breathing was growing even.
“Heal.”
This time Yuna chanted a different spell. Mom’s eyes slowly opened, and—like nothing had happened at all—she got out of bed.
“…it doesn’t hurt anymore?”
“Mom!”
“Looks like it worked.”
“Miss, what’d you do? You looked like some kind of powerful priest or cleric—no, that doesn’t matter right now. Whatever you did, thank you.” Mr. Gentz thanked Yuna. That was right—I hadn’t thanked her yet!
“Yuna, thank you!”
Mr. Gentz and my mom started asking Yuna how to pay her back. I remembered hearing from Mr. Gentz that the only way to heal my mom’s sickness was to pay a lot of money to a priest. We didn’t have that kind of money.
Yuna saved my mom. I’d risk my life to pay her back, if I had to—but Yuna said something I didn’t expect.
“I don’t need money. I just wanted to protect Fina’s smile.”
I almost started crying again. Would I ever be able to pay back my debt to Yuna while I was still alive?
“But…”
“Right, if there’s anything I can do for you, just tell me.”
“I’ll do anything once I’ve gotten my energy back.”
Right. We couldn’t just let things be, even if Yuna said she didn’t want anything in return. If I had something I could do, I would do it.
I noticed that the moment that Mom and Mr. Gentz said “anything,” the corner of Yuna’s mouth twitched up.
“In that case, I’d like the two of you to do something that only you can do.” she blurted out.
The air in the room got heavy. What was Yuna going to tell them to do? She looked around the room before settling on me and Shuri.
“Fina, go buy something yummy with your sister. Make sure you have your mom eat something that’ll nourish her.”
She handed me money. Was Yuna planning on telling my mom and Mr. Gentz to do something she didn’t want us to hear? I wanted to know what was happening, but…I also urgently wanted to get my mom something nutritious to eat, like Yuna had said, so I left with Shuri.
Chapter 33:
The Bear Eats on the Go
TIERMINA WAS HEALTHY. It might even be safe to say she’d made a complete recovery. She and Gentz ended up following through on their engagement. They were looking for a house where the four of them could live together. Tiermina’s was too small, and apparently Gentz had been living in a squalid little bachelor pad.
For whatever reason, Fina and Shuri had decided to crash at the bear house.
“Uhh, so, why’re the two of you here?”
“Mr. Gentz—I mean our dad and mom need some time alone—that’s what we think.”
Were those really the thoughts of a ten-year-old girl?
“Are we being a bother?”
“It’s fine, but it’s important for all four of you to be together.”
“We’ll live together once we find a house, so it’ll work out.”
“But why are you studying?” I asked. Shuri was practicing her alphabet in my living room.
“My mom taught me how to read, but she couldn’t teach Shuri while she was sick, and I needed to do the housework and make money.”
They called it studying, but it boiled down to looking at characters written on dirty paper. They didn’t have anything to write with, much less paper to practice on. All they were doing was memorizing the letters by sight.
“In that case, how about we go get you some proper study materials?”
“Huh?”
“If you study like that, it’ll take you a while to learn anything.”
“But…”
I knew exactly what Fina was thinking. “Don’t worry about the money. It’ll be a present to celebrate the wedding.”
“But it’s Mom who’s getting married.”
“Don’t sweat the details.”
I left with the two of them in tow. They held hands, sticking close to each other. They were good siblings.
We hit up the bookstore first. “Excuse me!” I called out to the old lady who ran the place.
“What is it? I can hear you just fine without all that shouting.”
“Excuse me, but do you have picture books for kids? We’d like to study the alphabet.”
“Let’s see now, I’ve got this, this, and that.”
She brought out three picture books and something that looked like a chart. I decided to buy it all.
Next, we popped down to the general store to pick up some basic writing implements. This left us peckish, so I decided to get something at the stands in the plaza. When we got there, delicious smells wafted to us from the various stalls. The stall nearest the entrance was selling kebabs, or something approximate. They smelled great.
“Three for me, mister.”
“Oh, if it isn’t the bear girl! Three, was it? Here you go! Thanks for everything.”
He handed me three skewers. I stuck one in my mouth and gave the other two
