AN: Hellow! Glad to be back with another chapter. It's really happening; I'm getting near the finish line! Wow now I don't know if I can say goodbye... I still have a couple more scenes in store though. :D Enjoy!
Date: 1/8/14
Disclaimers: I don't own any of Miyazaki's characters, but I will admit that I am terribly in love with them. :/ Call me crazy. :P
Chapter 21: Returning Home
As Pejite grew barely visible on the horizon, Asbel and Nausicaa began packing the small number of personal belongings they had brought with them on this journey. The Princess made sure to gather the mulsa and temulsa leaves, as well as the emergency medical toolkit Kerlin had left with her. All her friends on board learned of her intentions: she would disembark with Asbel and stay in Pejite for a few days, before returning to the Valley. The airship however, would continue to the Valley without her initially, in order to quickly deliver medicine to the sick.
"Tersa, you know what to do?" Nausicaa confirmed one last time before arriving in Pejite.
"Yes Princess. Start boiling some of the temulsa leaves to cure the sick, and the rest goes straight into your room under the tower to keep growing."
"Exactly. Thank you so much; always there when I need help." The short haired girl smiled at her compliment, and the two exchanged a brief hug. "Take care; I'll see you in the Valley."
They landed the aircraft inside Pejite, on a landing pad within the royal quarters. Wasting no time, Asbel and Nausicaa exited the plane, making sure to grab Nausicaa's glider in addition to all their packed belongings. After they unloaded everything, a small party of attendants and friends greeted them. Asbel cut straight to the most important on his mind.
"Is my mother alive?" He demanded.
"Yes, but barely." Someone answered him.
"Barely?"
"She's in a coma, and her condition is worsening." A servant answered gravely.
"How long do we have?" Nausicaa jumped in anxiously.
"Doctors say she won't last through the night." Nausicaa immediately turned to Asbel; they needed to make the tea for his mother as soon as possible.
"Where's the nearest kitchen?" She uttered with urgency. Asbel swiftly led her through various rooms and hallways until they arrived at a spacious kitchen that was currently empty.
"I'll tell them to stay out of this kitchen, so you can use everything in here freely." She honestly didn't think she needed the whole place to herself, but didn't object. He disappeared around the corner and she started boiling water in multiple pots and pans.
"Might as well use it..." She mumbled to herself.
Within twenty minutes the first cup of temulsa tea was ready, and Asbel came back to lead Nausicaa to his mother's room. As the girl walked into the bedroom her eyes fell on the woman laying unconscious, looking extremely thin and deathly pale. A kindly doctor who looked in fifties rose to meet them; Nausicaa walked up to the bed, cup of warm tea in hand.
"Can she drink fluids in a coma?" She immediately inquired of the doctor.
"No; not on her own." The man replied; Nausicaa continued to observe the woman worriedly.
"She needs to drink this tea immediately; it's the only thing that can cure her." The doctor nodded in understanding, and with his help they were able to carefully feed her the liquid, making sure it went down her food pipe and not into her lungs.
"How often do you think we need to do this?" Asbel asked Nausicaa.
"I don't know; Kerlin had said right before meals, three times a day... But I think we should give it to her more frequently, given her critical condition." They eventually decided on giving her one dose every three hours, around the clock. Afterwards they set up shifts to watch her through the night, as her wheezing grew more and more labored every hour. Worry pestered them increasingly, as all three were aware that the upcoming evening might hold her most life threatening hours.
Asbel sat motionless in his chair, absorbing the tranquility in the dead of the night; it was his turn to watch over his mother. He glanced over at the bed in loving concern, and frowned when he saw how difficult it was for her to draw a single breath. She had to make it through alive - Asbel couldn't and wouldn't accept anything else. Unfortunately there was not much he could do to help, other than giving her temulsa and waiting patiently for her to get better. He wished she would quickly show some sign of improvement… just seeing her lifelessly still and trapped in a coma disturbed him into continual fear. She looked like she could slip away any moment, without any warning…
Suddenly all became deathly quiet, and it took only a moment for Asbel to realize that the wheezing sounds had ceased. Panicked he leapt to his feet to his mothers bedside. Without the rise and fall of her chest she truly appeared dead.
"Mother? No...not now!" The other two quickly awoke at the sound of his outcry.
"What's going on?" Nausicaa asked, coming to the side of the bed in an instant.
"She stopped breathing..." Asbel uttered anxiously, growing more and more terrified by the minute.
"Her lungs are giving up." The doctor added. "Her nerves aren't sending signals to the muscles for breathing."
"Nerves?" Nausicaa repeated and apprehensively checked the woman's pulse; it was already slowing down into a dangerously lethargic, intermittent throb.
"Is there anything we can do to restart her lungs?" Nausicaa demanded.
"We can try artificial chest compressions to prolong her life, but that won't help her to resume breathing on her own."
"Start those first." The doctor had already begun to clear away the quilt covers. Nausicaa suddenly remembered the emergency medical kit and flew over in a rush, opening the case to see what might possibly help. Her hands felt the many bottles while her mind ran through the list of names and purposes of the different concoctions inside.
The tiny black vial! It was a respiratory stimulant, able to cause respiratory muscle contractions! Was this the appropriate usage for it? She had no idea, but it just might give enough of a push for the woman to start breathing again. After a few seconds of furiously rummaging, she found the petite glass tube and ran back over to the bed.
"Doctor, can you find the vessels that lead to the lungs and heart?" She inquired imperatively.
"Yes."
"This is Theophylline. Can you inject it directly into those blood vessels?" A grave expression spread over the physician's features and he hesitated.
"That is a toxin; I must warn you of the risks."
"I know, but it can stimulate respiratory muscles. This may be our only option… do you have any other stimulants?"
"None that are strong enough to restart breathing."
"Then please; there's not much time. Asbel?" The girl turned to him for his approval, and he nodded in response after several moments of consideration.
"Let's try it." With a needle, the doctor drew up a minuscule volume of the chemical and neared the bed. Expectancy and fear saturated the air as the needle went into the skin and the plunger gradually expelled the contents into her bloodstream. Nausicaa firmly clasped Asbel's hand and waited in tension as the seconds silently ticked by, while the doctor resumed compressions to keep the brain and internal organs well supplied with blood. After a minute the princess began to doubt her decisions: had she inadvertently sped up the woman's death, rather than saved her? What if the chemical really was toxic, and poisoned her muscles instead of stimulated them? Suddenly the doctor stopped his actions; everyone held their breath as the anxiety surged through the ceiling.
"It's working." He declared, slightly in awe. Everyone leaned forward to see the patient's chest rising and falling, albeit at a slightly faster pace than normal. As her lungs resumed their function, relief washed over them in a refreshing wave and they finally felt able to breathe with her.
"I must say that was some fast thinking and ingenuity there, miss." The doctor praised when everyone's adrenaline levels receded. "I had never thought of using a plant toxin in that way." Nausicaa politely accepted the compliment, while Asbel slipped his arm around her shoulders and pressed his lips to her temple.
"You really are quite amazing. Thank you." He whispered gratefully. His mother remained stable for the rest of the night, for the worst was over. The three caretakers relaxed their tight watch over her, growing confident of her slow and steady recovery.
"Do you have a spare room with access to irrigation?" Nausicaa asked Asbel the next morning during breakfast.
"What are you up to now?" He bounced back suspiciously; she always had the most unrelated requests for the strangest ideas in that resourceful mind of hers. The girl laughed merrily at his response.
"I want to build a lab to irrigate pure water through some more temulsa plants. That way we will always have enough fresh temulsa leaves for boiling the medicine."
"Oh… I think I know of the right place." When they finished eating he brought her to a small room at the edge of the building; it was near their kitchen but also next door to a water spout, directly connected to the well outdoors.
"This should work wonderfully." Nausicaa beamed when she saw it.
"Do you need help?"
"No, I think I'll be fine. You can stay with your mother. I'll come find you if I need anything."
"Allright; have fun!" He hollered as he left. He returned to his mother's room to sit by her, and eventually started talking to her. Nausicaa had told him earlier that people in comas could still hear and recognize voices, so speaking to her might help her wake up… He fully trusted Nausicaa's expertise, often drawn from astute observations, and heeded her advice. At first the boy wasn't really sure what to say, feeling self conscious and awkwardly conversing with himself. But over time he relaxed, and began to tell his mother random things: how Pejite was doing, the newest gossip around town, his adventures to Merinth and back. He found himself describing Nausicaa, telling his mother of her strange yet lovable personality, quirky personal habits, and selfless acts of love upon protective instincts. He stopped and chuckled when he realized how much he had divulged.
"Wish you could meet her soon." He ended softly with a smile, and glanced down at his mother. A frown strayed across his features as a curious thought flitted through his mind: what if she could hear every word he had spoken? What if her mind was untouched by the disease and still incredibly active - even though her body lay unresponsive? That was even funnier an idea to dwell upon, and he patted her hand lightly.
"Don't worry; you'll meet her when you wake up." He added reassuringly. "I'm gonna go check on her, make sure she hasn't gotten into mischief." The prince rose and left a servant to watch over his mother while he returned to Nausicaa.
He found the girl still hard at work, but for a moment thought he had walked into the wrong room. The place looked almost unrecognizable: an hour ago it was completely empty but now it had transformed into an exotic area, with pure, pristine water trickling smoothly in troughs everywhere. It appeared organized and artistic, with water containers of all shapes and sizes, placed high and low, all stacked in an orderly fashion. He wondered exactly how much temulsa she planned to grow in here… hopefully not the entire room, for that would most certainly be a waste of her artistic landscaping.
"Hi." She sang when she finally noticed him. "How does it look?" She asked; he continued to stare in awe at the sight before him.
"Wow… It's beautiful." He managed to utter; the girl beamed at his praise.
"Did you do this in an hour?" He murmured, still amazed.
"Yeah." The girl replied with a quizzical smile.
"Is there anything you don't know how to do?"
"Of course! I just don't know what they are yet." Asbel laughed; he would probably spend the rest of his lifetime simply trying to keep up with her.
"She's getting stronger every day." Nausicaa came to stand by Asbel, looking down at his mother. The woman still lay comatose, though not as frightfully pale before - so that she merely appeared asleep. The faintest hue of colored seemed to be returning to her cheeks.
"Yes; the medicine is working." Asbel answered optimistically. Presently a serious expression settled over Nausicaa's features and she turned to him.
"Asbel, I have to go back to the Valley. The sick ones at home might not have survived." The boy glanced at her, and nodded in understanding.
"Right. You sure you don't need to rest?"
"No, I'm fine." He observed her concernedly; she seemed a little tired after last night.
"I'm just worried you're working yourself too hard. You barely got any rest since we left Merinth."
"I can handle it. Just keep giving her the tea, and keep the water running under the lab." She placed a quick kiss on his lips, and smiled at him.
"I'll be back in two days." She promised him.
Early the next morning she left on her glider and reached the Valley before sundown. She spent the rest of that day checking on the sick, and helping them regain their strength during their weakest stages of their recovery. After a lovely dinner reunited with loved ones and close friends, she got ready for bed and then practically crashed onto her mattress (which she had sorely missed) and fell asleep with Teto happily curled up against her. It truly felt wonderful to be home again.
The following day she was up at the crack of dawn, energy relatively replenished and ready to start another busy day. The girl spent hours cleaning up her "secret" lab deep down in the heart of the tower, reorganizing the plants in order to make room for her newly acquired collection from Kerlin. She carefully gathered all her treasured new possessions from the famous doctor, and stored them in safe places, away from extreme temperatures or water damage.
All the while in the Valley her thoughts kept wandering back to Asbel. It was ridiculous how much she thought about him: how was he doing, what was he up to? Where was he now? Maybe he's with his mother at the moment, or boiling tea? She almost despised herself for being so preoccupied, so smitten that her brain couldn't leave him alone for more than thirty minutes. Her own strange behaviors drove her insane! She constantly wondered how he was faring, what he was thinking, what he might be needing help with...eventually she gave up trying to snap out of her pathetic state. Deep within her heart she partially enjoyed this well-meaning obsession, for it was evidence of her affection for him... she realized that the many consecutive hours she spent with him on the airship had already integrated him into her life.
And it's only going to get worse. She mumbled sarcastically to herself.
If she would have these "withdrawal" symptoms, living in separate countries would be more difficult than she imagined. So when she flew back to Pejite the next day and saw him down the hallway, she ran towards him with joy, as if she hadn't seen him in ages. He received her with open arms and gladly absorbed the impact of the embrace.
"God, I missed you." She sighed, relieved to feel his arms around her again. She closed her eyes to feel him chuckling amusedly against her.
"You did? It's only been two days."
"That's forty-eight hours!" She protested emphatically.
"And?"
"You know how long that can feel?!" She returned in an animated fashion.
"Only because you cram so much into a single hour." She was about to reply but he silenced her with a light kiss on her lips.
"Missed you too." He admitted. "How was the Valley?"
"Good…" she trailed off; the Pejite caught the strange tone in her voice.
"Everyone with Gullera is recovering well?"
"The young child had already died, but the others are slowly getting better."
"Oh… sorry to hear that."
"It's all right… is your mother awake yet?"
"No." He answered calmly, though she sensed the slightest bit of anxiety from deep within him.
"Keep talking to her; she'll be awake soon."
"I'll start singing if I have to."
Nausicaa stood by the windowsill in Asbel's room, overlooking all of Pejite as the moon casted a mysterious shade of blue over the sandy-golden buildings. She took a deep breath and inhaled the cool night air; in an odd way Pejite felt like another home away from the Valley… perhaps because it was Asbel's city, and by extension she regarded it as a place for comfort and security as well. Her heart definitely felt more at ease here, now that Asbel was always within arm's reach. She was just reflecting on these strange observations when he came to stand by her. They briefly exchanged glances and a smile; Asbel watched her for a few moments before speaking up.
"You like it here?" He began gently.
"Yes." She replied: it was a unique city with a different culture but she enjoyed it just the same.
"Can you imagine yourself living here?" He prodded; she sensed him steering the conversation and she raised an eyebrow.
"What are you asking?" She inquired cautiously, before they diverged down different lines of thought and tumbled into miscommunications. The boy waited for a moment before speaking candidly the thoughts on his mind.
"Stay here with me; move to Pejite." He finally revealed, then nudged with an even quieter voice, "Rule with me." The girl heard these words and were slightly surprised. The idea had crossed her mind in the past, but she had never seriously given much thought to it. His last statement also had a mysterious ring to it...did he just...?
"Are you asking me to marry you?" The questiom caught Asbel off guard and he stopped to think.
"…Eventually."
"What?" She chirped and cocked her head in a bird-like fashion at his strange answer. He laughed at her confused expression.
"I think we both agree that we're not quite ready for that yet... unless you want to get married now?" It was his turn to be nervous.
"No... not necessarily." She answered slowly.
"Exactly. Which is why I'm asking you to move here first; see if you like living here. And if you do, then we can think about getting married, when the time is right." He watched her head give the most imperceptible nod, though deep within her eyes he noticed hesitation. She found it to be a very sensible proposition, but wondered if she had the stamina to leave the Valley. Those lush green hills and ever-changing winds were her home - where she had grown up all her life as princess, and died once to protect...with villagers and houses that she knew well and loved dearly. Asbel recognized the expression on her face when she was thinking hard, and decided to let her mull over the idea. He brought a hand to her face, and tenderly ran his fingers through her hair.
"Something's bothering you..." He said softly, and her eyes flickered to him nervously. "Think about it?" The girl nodded, more apparently this time.
"I will." They spent the rest of the evening enjoying each other's company, simply happy to be together in the present moment.
Ahh, thank you lovely readers for reading! Hope this story has been living up to your expectations. A couple last dialogues to mention, and then we're done!