The Sickness
Link curled into his mother, tears falling down his face. His fever burned throughout the 5-year-old's entire body, making everything he touched feel cold to him, including the woman next to him. "Momma," he whimpered, wishing the pain would stop. "It hurts! It–"
He was cut off as his whole body racked in another coughing fit, blood splattering the sheets on the bed. The woman did nothing to calm the poor child as he coughed and cried. "Momma?" Link eventually managed out in a rough voice, his throat sore. It hurt to even talk now. "Momma! Why won't you answer me?" He was seized up by more coughing, unable to stop until he fell asleep from exhaustion.
The next day, the headmaster of the Knight's Academy, Gaepora, stopped by their house with the town doctor, though only the doctor went in. The house smelled of disease. In the bedroom of the small hut were two people, one long dead and a small child with labored breathing. "How are they?" Gaepora asked when the doctor came back out a while later with the child in his arms.
"I'm afraid it's too late for the mother," the doctor said. "She must have passed away last night."
The headmaster looked at Link, whose every breath sounded painful. "And the boy? Will he make it?"
"It'll be hard to tell. It's not contagious anymore but if he does survive from this illness, it'll have some sort of lasting effect on him. He may never recover completely."
Gaepora nodded, taking Link into his arms, noticing how much smaller and fragile the normally talkative and hyper child was. "Just do what you can please. We'll take care of him from now on."