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"If he lives," I said huskily I had seen past her to the lax body in the next bed The boyish roundness was gone fro ajar and his breath came and went unevenly Yellow crust caked around his nostrils and eyelids He was as unlovely as anything I had ever seen
Yet Epiny looked down at him with her heart in her eyes She took his lia for him If he dies and leaves me alone"-she looked at me and tried to hide her fear-"I will have lost it all"
I turned my head on my hot pillow "Uncle Sefert?"
"He isn’t here"
"But…how are you here, then?" The effort of that string of words setWith a practiced touch that told me she had done this before, she braced my shoulders to sit me up while she offered me water froain
"I caan to reach s were at the Acade and Caulder, and being culled with only a future as a scout now Father roth He set out iates he saw a yellow banner and guards turned hiot back to the house,of sickness in the city that was spreading fast My e froh the black-pox when she was a girl, and still remembers those days
"I stood it for three days, being shut up in the house with her When she was not prophesying that ould all die of the plague, she was scoldingover how I had ruined my chances and soiled the family name She vowed she’d never let me marry Spink She said I’d have to live at horaced old ine hoful that future would be, Nevare I tried to explain to her that she was treatingof her like a commodity, for it has become obvious to me that women are most responsible for the oppression of women in our culture And when I tried to speak rationally to her, and point out that she was only angry because I had seized control of my oorth and tradedher sell me off for a bride-price and a political connection, she slapped me! Oh, she was furious when I said that Only because she recognized it was true, of course"
She lifted a hand to her cheek, re norant as your family keeps your sisters, I’d probably have been quite tractable"
Epiny’s words washed over ainst a beach The sense of them faded in and out of , without, of course, answering th "Why?"
"Why did I come here? I had to! There were dreadful reports that the infirmary here was overcoue passed, people began to venture out and the newspapers to print again The Acadees here, as if it has taken root and will not be satisfied until it has consumed all of you The city leaders decided to send everyone with the plague here, to keep it away froeneral populace The papers spoke of rows of bodies laid out on the lawns, draped only with sheets and a light fall of snow They are burying the corpses on the grounds, with quicklime to try to control the smell
"I ca the bodies to siars off the streets to fill in for the nursing assistants, who theht of you and Spink here and sick, with no one to look after you And I knew you were sick because no more letters caht It took et past the quarantine guards Luckily, I found a tree with its branches leaning over the wall I was up and over in no time And of course, once I was inside, Dr Amicas had no choice but to let me stay I’m as quarantined as anyone now When I pointed out to hiave me a smock He told ue He’s a sensible man but not a very optimistic physician, is he?"
"Go home," I told her bluntly This was no place for her
"I can’t," she said simply "My mother would not let ue with me And under the circuo I’ue carrier now" She seemed quite cheery about both fates Then her voice dropped, and she said soberly, "Besides You need me here Both of you, but especially you Whatever it was that hovered over you the last tiht you were dead…that hat horrified me You had no breath I could detect, no pulse at all You-now do not laugh at me-your aura had faded to where I could not detect it But the aura of that, that other that is within you had grown stronger It raged about you like fire devouring a log I was so frightened for you You need me to protect you from it"