“Will she be all right?” I hear Kairi ask.
“Yes, but she needs to wash the thearnroot off her body and find new clothes,” Orvell says.
Kairi squints down at me, looking into my eyes with curiosity. “What happened to her?”
It’s Ramsey who answers. “We spice our meat with thearnroot because it is hot and kills parasites and their eggs. She slathered so much of it onto her body that the thin skin around her eyes began to burn, and eventually, the eyes as well.”
Wonderful…
Orvell shifts my clothes to the side. “It is taking longer, but it is starting to burn her skin.”
I’d been so concerned with my eyes that I hadn’t felt the itching sensation that now grips my armpits.
“I will take her to the cave to wash it off.” Ramsey slides his arms under my body and lifts me. Instinctually, I wrap my arms around his neck. Thankfully, he doesn’t bark at me.
“Take this.” Orvell places a jar on my abdomen. “Rub it into the places that are red.”
I look over at Kairi. “You might want to check on Nori.”
“I thought she was the smart one?” Orvell blurts.
“She didn’t cover herself in spice, but she was around me, and her eyes were glassy.”
Orvell shakes his head. “Sweet Tempest, what is wrong with this one?”
Ramsey starts from the hut towards the cave, grumbling in displeasure.
“I’m sorry.”
“From now on, ask before you bathe in spice,” he growls.
“I truly thought it would be more pleasant for you than my own odor.”
“It is, but I will not have you blindly weaving inside my hut.”
Instead of letting me down at the cave, he walks right in, over to the stone lip leading into the pool.
“You can’t be in here,” I tell him.
“Your Penticari do not bathe during midday, so there is no need to worry.”
“Still.”
He sets me down next to the water.
I wait for him to leave.
He doesn’t.
“Well?”
“Well, what?”
“You need to leave.”
“Not with that spice still on you, burning through your flesh.”
“I can clean myself.”
