I Am Joo Dee…?

Joo Dee released a painful moan, as she opened her eyes, again. It took her a second to realize, that she wasn't in the wagon anymore and she tried to jump up in panic and fear, but her sight went black again, as soon as she tried to stand up. She fell back into the cushions and was about to ask herself, why she was in a soft bed, right now, when a cool and gentle hand was placed on her forehead. She jolted up, again, but a soothing voice calmed her down a bit.

"Hey, it's okay. You're save here."

The vision of a young teenage girl with brown eyes and a soft smile got clearer before her eyes. She felt, that the girl had taken her hand and was gently rubbing over her knuckles with her thumb. The teenager had some tears in her eyes.

"I don't know, who has done this to you, but don't worry, they couldn't harm you anymore."

Something in this quote and in this gentle touch was soothing her.

"Who are you and where do you came from?"

Joo Dee winced at this question and she felt a burning sting in her mind. She tried to crawl away from the girl, but somehow the shocked and hurt face of her convinced her to stop this attempt.

"I promise, you'll be save here."

Joo Dee looked in the honest brown eyes of the girl. She recognized, that she had been washed and dressed in fresh clothes and that her wounds had been treated. It finally brought tears to her eyes, which forced another reaction out of the girl in front of her. She hugged her tight, which let her cries break a way out of her throat.

"It's okay. It's okay. Whatever you have been through, it's over now."

The girl was crying, too and she kept rubbing Joo Dee's back until her tears ran dry.

"My name is Song and I'm a healer in my village. Some villagers have found you in a wagon of slave hunters and they have brought you to me."

Song gave her a teary smile, but she recognized the pain in Joo Dee's look.

"What's your name?"

Tears came back to Joo Dee's eyes and again she felt soothing arms wrapped around her shoulders. Something in the smile of this girl reminded her of another smile, she had seen in her past. She tried to focus on it, but a stinging pain made her sick and dizzy, instantly.

"You cannot remember?"

The voice of the girl was full of compassion.

"You have hit your head. Loosing your memory isn't unusual in this case."

Joo Dee started to cry heavier, but she shook her head.

"I can remember, somehow, but I… I'm not allowed. This wouldn't be helpful."

Song looked worried at her. Joo Dee recognized her sad face through her tears.

"I am Joo Dee, at your service."

She managed to bow a little, but she saw the shocked eyes of the girl in front of her.

"You're from Ba Sing Se, aren't you."

Joo Dee nodded, while she tried to stop her tears from falling, but without any success.

"I'm a humble servant of the city and of the kingdom."

She recognized, how her voice was trembling. The quarrel of the agents came back to her mind and it tightened her throat, again. She saw the nervous look of the teenager.

"I have met Joo Dee at a visit in Ba Sing Se, two years ago, you don't look like her. You're much older."

Joo Dee tended her head aside. She felt an uncomfortable feeling crawling up in her mind.

"I have sisters, maybe you have met one. I am Joo Dee." She recognized her own irritation. "...at your service."

Song's face got worried and confused.

"Does your sister is also named Joo Dee?"

Joo Dee frowned deep. She felt a sickening pain in her head, but she was sure, that this wasn't linked with the hit, she had to take within the wagon.

"I have sisters and I am Joo Dee."

She felt, that something about this answer had to be wrong, but she didn't know, what it was. The pain started to pulse under the bone of her skull.

"Did you grow up with your sisters in Ba Sing Se? Who are your parents? Do you have a husband, friends or a family, we can send a message?"

Joo Dee felt the rest of her color fading from her face. The pain got more and more intense.

"I am Joo Dee. I live in Ba Sing Se. I'm a humble servant of my city and my kingdom."

She started to sob and Song, who still had a grip at her shoulders, pulled her close a third time, stroking over her hair.

"It's okay, Joo Dee. It's okay. We'll find your family."

Joo Dee jolted up in fear, shaking her aching head in panic.

"No! Don't try to find them! They would do harm to you!"

The vivid horror in Song's face increased the pulsing pain, but Joo Dee forced the words out, with all her strength.

"I was ordered to die to save… my kingdom? I am Joo Dee, as a humble servant, it is my duty to protect my kingdom. But… But..."

She screamed, as the pain tried to burn her brain like a glowing dagger. Song called for her mother and some herbs, but Joo Dee was on her feet, standing in her bed. Her tortured and desperate look scared the young healer almost to death.

"Something is wrong with me, Song. What is wrong with me? I must protect my family, ...but I am Joo Dee, I am a humble servant… But my son… my daughter… I must protect… They have ordered my death… My husband…No! I am Joo Dee..."

She collapsed on the bed in a scream, cramping and gurgling awfully, with foam bubbling out of her mouth, while Song was screaming her lungs out for her mother.