4. The blue miracle
Hun empire, somewhere in the mountains
Further out, beyond the northern Chinese border, somewhere in the mountains, a complex, multi-storied building stood on a hill, connected to many other houses and towers. But it had neither elaborate decorations nor special colors. It was just a huge stone house made of ordinary wood and roof tiles. The former old monastery didn't longer fulfill its function as a place of worship. Instead, it was renovated many years ago and renamed a health cure residence. Since the wars in the country had calmed down, only a few animals with ailments have come here. Instead, it was increasingly older people who had to recover from illnesses and the like. The employees weren't monks either. Most of them had medical training or were proficient in all kinds of care.
Including Liu. She had been at this facility for a few years and actually she liked her job a lot. Until four years ago. From that moment on, everything was different from usual. Not because the job had become more difficult, but because of the type of animal what she was. She was the only peahen in this house and actually she could have had any patient. But Mr. Furu, the head of the health cure residence, had assigned her a very special patient four years ago. First, Liu was pleased with the task. But over time, she got a little bit annoyed. And that wasn't because of the injury severity of the person. She found it difficult to go into the kitchen every morning and pick up breakfast for him. Even the cook didn't miss a joke when she put the food on a tray.
The cook, an old badger, gave her a skeptical look as he stirred a bowl on the stove.
"Are you sure you want to try it again today?" He slapped a pinch of herbs into the pot. "He'll throw it back on the ground anyway."
"Maybe I'm in luck today," the peahen said hopefully. Her feathers were white around the eyes, the rest of her and the neck were more dark brown and further down it turned a dark green. Her eyes were green too, and she wasn't old at all.
"Luck?" the cook repeated in disbelief. "With him?" He laughed loudly. "Ha! Rather, sugar lies on the mountains..."
"I'll try it today anyway," she interrupted the conversation. Then she took the tray and left the kitchen.
It wasn't far to his room. As every morning, she stopped at his door and pushed it gently aside. She stopped in the doorway in surprise. The room was still darkened by the curtains, but nothing moved in the bed. He was still sleeping. That was rather unusual. Otherwise, he was always awake before she brought breakfast. On tiptoes, she crept cautiously to the bed. A slight smile crossed her mouth. She seldom saw him sleep. At least since his burns had healed well. After that, he had never allowed her to be in his near when he was asleep.
Gently, she put the tray down on the bedside table and slipped over to the window. There she gently pulled the curtains aside. As soon as the first ray of sunlight hit the opposite wall, the figure started up in bed.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
The peahen was so frightened that she pressed herself protectively against the wall. Their eyes met. He sat in the bed and stared at her as if she were a burglar.
She swallowed hard. "I... I wanted... I brought breakfast."
But he narrowed his eyes, which scared her.
"You seem to have forgotten how to call me correctly... Apologize!"
Liu took a deep breath before bowing. "I beg your pardon, Lord Xiang."
The blue peacock didn't deign to look at her longer and looked skeptically at the food on the tray. Liu had calmed down enough that she dared to go back to the bed. There she wanted to put his pillow on the front edge of the bed so that he could lean against it with his back when straightening up. But he pushed her away.
"I can do that on my own!"
She sighed. "As you please."
While he was sitting up, Liu pulled out a small, short-legged table. Then she placed it on the bed of the blue peacock so that he didn't have to lean over to the bedside table for the tray. Then she put the tray down on the small bed table.
"Taste the food!" He ordered.
She sighed again, but she didn't argue with him.
On the tray was a bowl of rice soup, next to it was a pot of tea and a cup.
She had already suspected that he would ask her to taste it. She took a spoon out of her shirt. First, she took a spoonful of soup, which she swallowed down under the attentive gaze of the peacock, then she poured some tea into it, which also disappeared into her mouth.
Then she bowed. "Enjoy your meal."
Quickly she went to the door, but he didn't even let her step over the threshold, when he thundered: "Nobody can eat this food!"
Before she could stop him, he raised his wing, and everything that was on the tray before flew through the air and smashed to the ground. Stunned, she stared at the rubble field.
"Clear that away!" He snapped at her.
While she was collecting everything again, she felt his spiteful look on her neck, which made her angry.
"As an employee, you are really not good," he grumbled. "It surprises me that someone like you was assigned to me."
Liu gritted her teeth. She took the tray, put the broken pieces on it and put away the bed table. Then she took the tray and with her back to him, she went to the door.
"Today is your bathing day," she said tonelessly. "I'll be back this afternoon then. Do you need anything else?"
"Yes. Better service!" He growled.
Her hands clenched around the tray. "At least I can still do a job. In contrast to you." She turned to him. "The only thing you can do is feeling sorry for yourself."
With that, she turned and left the room.
Everything was quiet for a while. First, Xiang sat completely motionless in the bed. Then he cried out loudly. Filled with rage, he knocked the blanket aside and swung his feet over the edge of the bed. He put his legs on the floor, but in the next moment he fell forward and hit the floor.
Groaning, he propped himself up on his arms and looked back. He had miraculously recovered from the explosion in Gongmen City, but his right leg has completely been palsied since then. He heaved himself up by the bed with difficulty. His left leg, which was still working, relieved him a part of the walking work at least. Nevertheless, without a supporting device or a crutch, he couldn't walk alone. He had refused a walking aid from the start. Only when he had to go to the bathroom, he allowed it. And especially when nobody was watching him.
With a gasp, he sat down on the bed and felt his numb right leg. He clenched his fist and hit it bitterly.
"Why aren't you working?!"
His fist was trembling. Then he pressed his hands on the edge of the bed. Then tears rolled down his cheeks. He hastily wiped his eyes. Then he buried his face in the pillow. He hated howling like a little child and if so, no one should see it at least.
She knocked. As agreed. But she still opened the sliding door with hesitation. Xiang was already sitting in the bed. Fortunately for Xiang, she didn't see his tears.
"The bathwater is ready," she informed him.
He nodded with an indifferent expression. He didn't even seem to care if he had to swim with sharks. The peacock pulled the blanket aside and slid to the edge of the bed. Liu stood next to him on the right side, where his lame leg was. Then she pushed her left arm under his armpit so that he could touch down with his left, still healthy leg without falling over. Then he leaned on her and he hobbled out of the room with her at her side.
Fortunately, the way was not long. It was only a few doors down the corridor where they came to a room labeled "Bathroom". The bath water was already in. The room had filled with the scent of bath products. Xiang sniffed. The last bather had used pine oil. Everything smelled of fresh forest, which made him feel sad about freedom.
"I think, you can go into the bathtub alone, right?" Liu said indifferently.
Xiang growled and allowed her to sit him down on a stool behind a screen. There he took off his shirt. The bathtub was right next to it. Then he moved hand over hand along a bar next to the bathtub, which was also a help for the handicapped people. At least if you were strong with your arms. It was a hard process, but he didn't want that she brings him in the tub like a toddler. Maybe he could even have done everything on his own. But Liu was right. He had let himself sink too much into self-pity.
While he was sitting in the tub, Liu had withdrawn a little further away to the window and passed the time counting the birds flying by. The residence was in the mountains, but a little forest grew in the area.
Meanwhile, Xiang had grabbed a small cloth. He quickly dipped it into the water and threw the dripping scraps of cloth in Liu's face.
"Scrub my back, slave!" He ordered.
She stared at him angrily and wiped the bath water from her face.
"I'm a nursing assistant, not a slave," she thought bitterly.
But she didn't reply and grabbed a sponge. Then she stepped up to him, dipped it briefly in the bath water and rubbed his back with it. Xiang sat in the tub with crossed arms and seemed to find her treatment more of a nuisance. After stroking him a few times, he pushed it away again.
"That's enough! You have no talent for that anyway! Give me a towel!"
Liu had to control herself extremely not to throw the sponge in his face. Instead, she put the sponge aside and took a large bath towel. Then she helped him out of the tub and brought him back on the stool, where he could rub himself dry.
While Liu was waiting until he was dry, she looked at his feathers. In some places its plumage had been so badly burned that no more feathers had grown back there. Fortunately, however, the feathers in the plumage next to it covered the respective places. It was a miracle that he had come this far, which is why she secretly called him the blue miracle.
The peahen smiled. Somehow, she liked his plumage. Light blue, dark blue... No comparison to his strong burned...
"Do you like what you see?!" Xiang snapped at her.
"What?" Liu blushed. She hadn't noticed how she was staring at him. "Uh, no... yes! Uh, I mean..."
Hastily, she handed him a new shirt. Snorting anger, he snatched it from her hands.
"Voyeur!" He scolded quietly and pulled on the fresh dark shirt, which harmonized well with his plumage. But Liu looked away quickly, so she wouldn't stare at him again.
The way back into the room wasn't difficult, but the mood between them was clearly changed. And no sooner had she put him back in the bed than his grumbling started all over again.
"If you think, you could break me then you are wrong," he snapped. "I don't need your feigned pity!"
Liu took a deep breath before turning back to the door.
"I suppose you want to skip lunch today. Then I'll bring you dinner later."
With that, she left the room without another word.
Mr. Furu was sitting cross-legged in the yoga room, which, apart from him, wasn't occupied at the moment.
Mr. Furu was a whistling hare, or whatever his species were called, a pika. But he didn't look anything like a rabbit. His ears were so rounded and his shape so small that everyone thought he was a rodent at first sight. Usually, Liu rarely went to see him. But today she finally had enough.
No sooner had she entered the room, she came straight to the point.
"Mr. Furu!"
The old pika didn't look up, just continued meditating. "Oh, greetings, dear child. What brings you here?"
Liu took a deep breath. "I want to ask you that you assign me a new patient."
Again he kept his eyes closed. "Really? How come, my dear? I thought you would be perfectly fine with treating a patient of your kind."
The peahen went deep inside before answering. "Yes, I was. And I was very grateful to you for that, too. But... I just can't go on like this. I mean, I... I did everything for him! I changed bandages, treated his wounds, given him medication, applied ointments. I washed him, I fed him, I have given him something to drink, plus sleepless nights because of his seizures, later the feather care, massage, acupuncture, claw cutting and even pedicure. - I took care of him like a mother... And for what?! Insults and scoldings! Every day! I can't hear that anymore!"
Still his eyes closed, the little pika raised his voice.
"My dear good child, I remember how you once told me that you would do any work here in my house. On the other hand, I would send you back to your original place of work, where you came from."
He glanced over at her with his right eye.
"Do you want to go back to the laundry?"
Liu looked down. "No."
"Well, in this case, I expect you to be grateful for getting you out of there," Mr. Furu continued. "Besides, you've known him for almost 4 years. Do you think someone can just take care of him? Nobody would volunteer for it. And given his degree of disability, he will probably still need care for a very, very long time. Mainly because he doesn't bother to take care of himself."
He paused for a moment. "Do you have something to oppose this?"
Liu sighed. "No."
The pika nodded with satisfaction. "Well, in this case, back to work."
It was hard for Liu to get ready for the bed that night. At least that peacock had eaten his dinner. Even if only under protest. As the peahen combed her feathers, she kept going through the same question: Why was she doing this for him?
This question haunted her until she was in bed and also after she turned off the light. Even when she lay down and closed her eyes, it haunted her on and on.
"I don't need your feigned pity!"
Was Xiang right after all? Her pity was not an act, but was it only pity? How often did she have to think about the first day when he came to the health cure residence...
4 years ago…
"Liu, my good child. I have good news."
Liu looked up in surprise when Mr. Furu walked into one of the empty patient rooms. She had been busy making a bed with new sheets.
"I have the perfect patient for you," the old pika continued.
"The perfect patient?" She shook out the pillow which she was holding in her wings and laid it on the bed. "What are you talking about?"
"The king sent it to us."
"The king?"
That confused the peahen even more.
"I was also very surprised... But see for yourself."
They left the room and went a few corridors where they came to another room. There stood a stretcher, on which lay a figure wrapped in bandages. There were a lot of burnt feathers underneath.
The peahen's eyes grew wide. She was close to ask "What is that?" Instead of "Who is that?"
But Mr. Furu already had an answer.
"My dear, your new patient," he announced, pointing to the stretcher.
Liu's mouth stayed open. "Good gracious, what happened to him?"
"Explosion accident. Severe injuries. It's a miracle that he is still in one piece. But I don't think that he will fully recover again."
In the meantime, the peahen had stepped to the end of the stretcher where she assumed the head. The person was not only a bird, but also a peacock. She reached out to him and stroked his head. She saw a faint blue beneath the glued feathers. He must have been a beautiful peacock.
At that moment, the peacock winced at her touch. His eyes opened a crack. When he saw her, he avoided her hand and ducked his head. He wanted to run away.
"Remain lying down!" She called.
The peacock was about to jump up. Liu struggled to hold him. She could feel his fear.
What was he afraid of?
"Don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you!"
Sighing, she turned on her back.
Yes, it was pity.
With an oppressive feeling in her stomach, she pulled the blanket higher, with the tormented thought in the back of her mind that the next day would be the same as today.