HOLES TO FILL

Part One: Nothing But Smoke And Mirrors

Chapter One: A Handful of Complaints

--Recommended Listening: Zenobia's Grave (A Champion Has Risen) from Ogre Battle (download it from )

START.

Strike. Noon.

"Very good. And if I move here...."

Strike. Dodge.

"Yes. And then...."

Strike. Slide.

"Ow!" Drey yelped, as the wooden sword struck his hand; and he dropped his own stick and drew his arm back quickly to cradle the bruised fingers to his chest. "Nnnn.... Kaj, that was mean!" he cried miserably, looking up with watery eyes through the screen of grayish-purple hair that slid over his forehead.

Kaj raised one slim eyebrow skeptically. Fourteen years, and Drey still tried to exploit Kaj's (theoretical) compassion. A chuckle threatened to break his stern countenance and he frowned harder. "You left yourself open," he said simply, shrugging his shoulders in nonchalance. See? It didn't work. Like always. Now stop trying. His own pale blue hair rustled quietly as it moved against his back. "What was I supposed to do?"

"You could have just pointed it out!" Drey answered, borderline violence tinting his voice and his green eyes flashing as he glared up at his friend, though the effect was somewhat (greatly) diminished by the childish pout that scrunched up his face. He thrust his injured hand towards Kaj, giving the taller boy a good view of his faintly red knuckles. "You didn't have to hit me!"

We're training in close combat.

Would an enemy pity you?

Kaj blinked and stared at the hand in front of him for a moment, a little startled at Drey's sudden ferocity. Surely he hadn't really hurt him; he avoided it at near any cost.... But Drey was still holding out his hand, almost expectantly. Kaj sighed then and reached out, taking a hold of Drey's fingers and pulling his arm closer to him as he leaned down and briefly brushed his lips across the bruised skin. Then he moved back, shaking his head in a suspiciously condescending manner.

Needless to say, that wasn't what Drey had been expecting.

Shocked, Drey just stood there, his arm still partially stretched out and his mouth still partially open, his face slack in the dazed expression of a fish suddenly held out of water and not quite sure how to react. "Ah...." he finally managed. "That...." He trailed off, though, as Kaj turned a glare of his own towards Drey.

He was annoyed.

"What was I supposed to do?" Kaj asked again, even his words tense. When was Drey going to grow up? And this wasn't the first time Drey had taken a slip-up to heart; recently they even seemed to be becoming a regular occurrence, and Kaj didn't know how much he could take without snapping and doing something rash. Honestly, it wasn't as if Kaj was deliberately trying to hurt him.

But still...

Calm down.

He was losing control over something so little. As the elder of the two, that was unacceptable. He settled for explaining himself. "According to you kids, kissing a wound is supposed to make it heal faster, or some such nonsense. You should know by now that I always do the reasonable thing."

Of course. He's -how- many years younger than you? And besides that...

'Alright, alright.'

'I'll give him a break.'

Leaning his makeshift sword over his shoulder he turned away and began to walk off. The lesson was over for the day. Sometimes he wondered why he even put up with Drey at all.

Because you promised.

Remember?

Someone had to.

"I'm not a kid! I'm almost 15!"

"Congratulations."

"-Kaj-!"

Kaj suppressed a groan at the whining note in Drey's voice and turned back to tell him to stop complaining, that it couldn't even be considered an injury, that Seamhen would laugh him out of the clinic, to stop acting like such a child.... And instead found himself staring down the barrel of a cannon. Metaphorically. Drey had already launched himself towards Kaj by the time the older boy was able to process what his eyes took in. In one instant, Kaj stared in mild surprise at the brown and purple shape coming towards him, blurred with speed, and in the next, he found himself lying on his back on the ground, a very smug (and rather heavy) Drey perched on his stomach. The younger boy smirked down at him, not even bothering to brush back the strands of hair that had come free of his bandana yet again. "You left yourself open," Drey said finally, mimicking Kaj's own words, and beaming with pride at being able to catch Kaj off his guard.

'It was a fluke.'

Keep telling yourself that.

Someone has to protect that ego of yours.

Kaj's eyes narrowed slightly, and a smirk of his own tugged at the corners of his lips. "Is that so?" he asked quietly, before his hands swooped up and caught Drey's waist, rolling the boy off to one side and tickling him mercilessly.

Finally, Kaj pulled back onto his heels, allowing himself a small smile as he stood, brushing grass and dirt from his clothes in a cursory gesture and keeping half his attention on his 'victim'. "Well then, I guess we're even."

Drey cracked one eye open and looked up at Kaj from where he still lay on the ground, his clothes rumpled and dirty (he was going to have to wash them sometime tonight now), and his face flushed from laughing so hard that he could hardly breathe. "Not...fair. You...cheated..." he said breathlessly between gasps for air.

Kaj rolled his eyes, and then raised his hands in a soothing gesture. "Alright then, say I was cheating," he replied carefully, not truly conceding that he had actually done any such thing, for that would have been the same as saying that he was in the wrong, which was absolutely unacceptable.... "Hypothetically, what could I have done to make up for it?"

"Another hour," Drey answered immediately, and then paused, propping himself up on one elbow, his eyes sparkling with suppressed laughter. "Hypothetically, of course."

"Of course."

Drey did laugh then, and collapsed back down, sprawling across the grass carelessly as he looked up and saw patches of blue sky through gaps in the miasma clouds. He smiled broadly and drew in a deep breath. After a moment, he spoke. "You know what, Kaj?" he said, closing his eyes as if he were going to sleep. "These are good memories."

The word 'now' hung in the air, unspoken.

Kaj looked down and felt a sudden jolt of nostalgia. Fourteen years, he thought again. Drey's whole life, and most of his own. Their families were so intertwined at this point that Kaj could hardly imagine what their lives would have been like if they –hadn't- grown up together.

Ah, but you had a chance to discover that, you know.

With an angry sigh, Kaj turned from that line of thought. His decision was already made. There was no need to think about it anymore.

Drey opened his eyes and tilted his head onto its side so he could see Kaj. "Hmmm? You say something Kaj?" he asked.

No, nothing.

But what I thought on the other hand....

"No, nothing," Kaj answered. He drew his fingers through his hair and walked over to Drey, leaning down a little and reaching out his hand. "Come on, you've already wasted five minutes now."

"Ah! Not fair!" Drey cried, grabbing Kaj's wrist to hoist himself up from the ground, and he began searching frantically for his wooden sword. Finally, with a triumphant, "Hah!" he spotted it nestled in the grass next to the lantern that held the crystal.

"I know, I know. I'm a horrible person. Now let go of my hand and pick up your weapon so we can continue."

"It's a stick!" More whining.

"Whatever. -Let go- of my hand."

Drey paused for an instant, the carefree smile on his face faltering for a fraction of a second, and then he stuck his tongue out in yet another childish display of rebellion as he stalked off to pick up his stick, a highly annoyed Kaj pulled behind him.

"Drey..."

Drey simply stopped walking, no warning, so that Kaj just barely kept from running into his back, and Drey stared at the dark green grass curling up around his sandals.

"You're not...not mad at me, are you Kaj?" His hand still gripped Kaj's wrist, his fingers tightening almost sporadically, as if they weren't entirely under his control any more.

Kaj frowned then, puzzled as always by Drey's rapidly changing moods. Why couldn't people be easy to predict?

Ah, but that would take all the fun out of life, wouldn't it?

You aren't -really- angry with him, are you?

Again, Kaj said nothing as he tried to sort out the thoughts in his head. Of course he was angry. A little bit, at least. He had the right to be irritated at Drey's whining, didn't he? Admittedly, Kaj might have been a little terse with him from time to time, but Drey never seemed to take it seriously. If he was worried about Kaj being angry with him, why didn't he bring it up earlier?

Because even at his age, he knows how you would react.

'When was Drey going to grow up?'

Sound familiar?

The sudden freedom of his hand brought Kaj back from his thoughts. Drey had released his wrist with a near silent chuckle; so quiet you could barely hear the self-deprecating tones that saturated the slight sound. But they were there. Drey shrugged sheepishly and looked back over his shoulder, all smiles again. "Yeah, I probably deserve it, right Kaj? You do tell me that I complain a lot. Maybe I should...listen more, or something."

Kaj didn't know what to say to that.

Good move.

Silence can be taken to mean anything.

Maybe it's more like: Good move in any situation but this one.

"Drey...." Kaj began quietly, grimacing as he struggled to think of something appropriate to say. "No, I'm.... It's not...."

It's not that hard.

Three simple words.

Drey shrugged again, laughed again, and wove one hand in a dismissive gesture. "Hey, no, seriously, it's fine. Don't worry about it, okay? I just gotta grow up a little. No problem." He kneeled in the grass next to the lantern and looped its thin cord around his wrist a few times, then reached over to pick up his wooden sword. "No problem at all, you know?" His voice was quieter that time. Then he stood, canting the stick over his shoulder as he turned back to Kaj. "I, I was just kidding about the whole extra hour thing. You've already wasted the whole morning on me, so you definitely don't owe me anything." He glanced down at his feet again, suddenly seeming as awkward as Kaj had. His dark blue bandana had lost all usefulness as it began to slide down over his forehead as well, pushing more hair into his eyes, but he didn't make any move to fix it. "Yeah, so....I guess we can head back now, if that's okay...." And he stepped forward, walking past Kaj without waiting for an answer, still keeping his head down.

You're an idiot; you know that?

Three words!

Kaj turned then, quickly, and his hand reached out to grip Drey's arm, almost cringing himself when he realized how tightly he was holding on. He made no move to loosen his grip, though, and waited until Drey looked back at him to speak. "I'm not mad," he said, quietly, like always. "Okay?"

"Kaj!"

Both boys' heads came up as the voice wafted across the fields. Kaj took a quick look back at Drey and let go of his arm before looking over Drey's head. "It's Dah Rin," he said as the blond ran towards them, and then frowned slightly. Dah Rin was a close friend of his, and had been for many years. And in that time, Kaj had almost never seen him so...frantic? By the time Dah Rin reached them, almost dropping the lantern he had brought with him, Kaj was growing anxious himself.

"Kaj," Dah Rin said finally, looking up at the other boy with more than restlessness and unease in his eyes. "...You have to the village." His own words were broken by his labored breathing, much like Drey's had been earlier, but there was something crucially different in his face that sent a strange chill through Kaj's body. "...It's Ciel."

'It's Ciel?'

What's wrong?

Kaj stared past Dah Rin at the dark roofs of Burniver that stood above the gently rolling hills and fields all around, and then snatched Dah Rin's lantern from him and began to run, not even hearing the shouts that followed him over his own heartbeat. His greyish-blue hair whipped around his head, so similar to the tall grass that lashed around his legs as he ran into the town, his head swiveling from side to side as he realized that he had no idea where to go now. His chest was being crushed; he could feel it, something dark and impossibly heavy coming at him from all sides, frozen teeth and claws ready to pull him apart.

"Kaj!" Then his mother was waving at him frantically from the doorway of the small pale building that served as a hospital, her thin face tense and drawn with worry.

Hospital?

'No.'

The doctor was standing behind his mother, looking over her shoulder placidly. At least, that was Kaj's guess. He had no idea what was going on behind that large, lumpy helmet. Seamhen was not just the only doctor in Burniver, he was also the only Yuke, and had lived in the clinic for longer than Kaj had been alive, a true worker of miracles. Kaj dropped the lantern uncaringly from his hand next to the building and walked inside, catching his mother in a brief embrace as he stared at Seamhen, the question silent on his tongue but voiced in his eyes. The doctor nodded, and then turned down the hallway in front of them. 'Too slow!' Kaj wanted to scream, as he followed after the Yuke. 'You're going to slow!' He was impatient, and was finding it more and more difficult to keep himself from running. A single, sobering thought restrained him, though. He wasn't completely sure which way he wanted to run. Part of him was screaming to push past his mother and the doctor and find Ciel. The other side, the coward part, he thought with a grimace, whispered incessantly to him to run as far away as he could.

He continued to walk.

Soon, (no, it had been years, a -lifetime-) Seamhen stopped in front of a door. A plain white door with the number seven painted above it, but nothing else to distinguish it from the others. It could have been the door to a morgue, or to heaven. It could have led to Kaj's own room. Then the Yuke opened the door and motioned for Kaj and his mother to go in. He reached out as they moved past him, though, and put his hand on Kaj's shoulder.

Oh, no, you don't need to warn me.

Hell waits.

Isn't that right, Doctor?

"I advise you not to get too close," the doctor cautioned in that mellifluous, sing-songy voice that all Yukes shared. "The poisoning could possibly affect you as well."

Poisoning?

As in....

And for an instant, Kaj hesitated at the door, wavering between the black, horrible worry for Ciel, and a sudden, almost overwhelming concern for his own safety. The instant passed, though, as quickly as it had come upon him, leaving in its wake a searing disgust for his own superficial thoughts, and he pushed past the doctor and into the small room.

He didn't care about poison.

This was his little sister, after all.

What struck him first were the other people in the room. Turning his head to one side, he saw his parents standing together against one pale wall, as if they were actually taking the doctor's words seriously. His mother cried softly into his father's arm, while his father was staring adamantly at the small bed backed into the far corner. At the little girl wrapped loosely in blankets, her dark green hair spread carelessly across the pillow, stark in comparison with her pale, too pale, skin. Then Kaj was at her side, kneeling down and carefully taking her hand in his, cringing inside at how thin and fragile her fingers felt.

Oh, you poor boy.

Have you never touched Death before?

Kaj's eyes were focused on Ciel's face.

Where was her smile? Her laughter? Her sharp eyes glinting with excitement at the latest tales from the caravans.... If it weren't for the shallow breaths rattling in her limp form, and the occasional convulsive tightening of her hand, Kaj might've thought....

But no.

Ciel was alive. Of course she was. His little sister had always been strong; she would have never let anything tie her down like this.

And now he was talking about her in the past tense.

With a great effort, Kaj forced his voice to retain some semblance of calm as he looked over his shoulder at the Yuke still standing in the doorway. "What happened?" he asked quietly, feeling strangely lightheaded from the blood racing through his body at multiples of its normal speed.

The doctor stared back at Kaj levelly. "Miasma poisoning," he replied softly, with only the slightest hesitation. Kaj could hear the frown in his voice. "Usually, it takes at least forty minutes for the body to be corrupted this far, but at her age, and taking into consideration the fact that she was already ill...." A pause. The doctor shook his head once. Then, "Twenty minutes, maybe less. She would have experienced symptoms almost immediately, but she most likely believed that they were caused by her fever."

Kaj didn't respond. Moments crawled by, marked by the relentless ticking of the wooden clock hanging on the wall. The sound hurt; like hammer strokes on the bedposts.

Nails in the coffin, boy.

Watch as we seal her away.

His mind was spinning, tearing away from his hard-won control, and he had to all but force his next question out through gritted teeth. "Is there any way to tell how she was exposed to the miasma?"

Another pause. The doctor was tense; no helmet could hide that. He had seen it countless times; the temporary loss of self-control brought about by such stressful circumstances could quickly lead to anger and violence. Hidden behind metal, Seamhen could have smiled. So much like his father, this young Selkie. Choosing his words carefully, he continued. "She must have left the confines of Burniver without the protection of a crystal."

"Impossible."

Kaj's reply hung in the air, defiant. "She is not an infant; she is nearly thirteen. She would never do something so foolish." He glanced over at his parents still huddled against the far wall, his eyes sharp with contempt. "And you!" he continued, more forcefully than before. "This is your -daughter-! How can you act as if she's nothing more than a monster just because she's ill? I don't understand how...you people think." Kaj's voice cracked once. He turned back to the small white bed, his shoulders hunched slightly.

Yes, that's right.

Blame them.

Blame those that have to watch their own children suffer.

Is that not a punishment itself?

"Kaj," his mother said after a moment, stepping forward once, then twice, her arm reaching out for her son. "Please...."

A cry from the hallway cut her off.

"Let me go! I want to see her! Ciel! Where are you?"

BREAK.

Drey watched as Kaj ran off towards the village, and then turned back to Dah Rin with barely a pause. Concern and impatience warred in his eyes. "What happened to Ciel?" he asked simply. 'No lies,' he thought. 'I don't want them.'

Dah Rin looked back at him, and then turned away, gesturing for Drey to follow as he began to head back towards Burniver. "She's sick," he answered finally, and then held up one hand to forestall Drey's questioning. "I don't know anything more about it; their mother ran up to me, asking me to find Kaj and bring him to the hospital, that Ciel was sick. Other than that...." Dah Rin shrugged helplessly.

Drey nodded absently, but his steps quickened. How he wanted to run the rest of the way, tear across the fields like Kaj had done. His eyes slid to the side, to Dah Rin. The older boy's steps were as short and rushed as his own, and Dah Rin's jaw was clenched tight. He wanted to run as well. "How is Maekyl?" Drey asked quietly.

Dah Rin walked a little faster; his eyes narrowed a little more.

"Maekyl is fine."

Drey remained silent.

"Her little sister is sick, too."

They began to run.

BREAK.

It took far longer than Drey had hoped to reach the village, and then from there to the hospital. The pale, one story building now seemed to loom above him as Drey moved forward, the door a great cavernous mouth or a tunnel that led to a tomb.

Drey preferred to think of it as nothing but a door.

It didn't help much.

And it was then that he noticed that Dah Rin had fallen back a few steps; his arms were pressed against his sides, and his hands pulled into loose fists. The blond hair that hung to the middle of his back, bound though it was, swayed in the rising wind. That was probably Dah Rin's most distinguishing feature: Selkies tended to leave their hair unbound; even Kaj did so. Drey himself wore a bandana wrapped around the top of his head to keep stray strands from falling in front of his eyes, though with little success.

Dah Rin's voice interrupted his thoughts and he came back to himself with a start.

"Ah.... Drey, I...." And Dah Rin paused, unsure of how to continue.

What was it with everyone being unable to speak?

Drey smiled warmly then, and he waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Don't worry about it. I'll tell her you stopped by." Inside, Drey cringed, and he felt a sudden urge to strike himself. How had he forgotten? "I'll let you know what's been going on, okay?"

Dah Rin relaxed visibly and let out a quiet breath. "Thanks, Drey," he said. Then he laughed, a weak, forced sound as he scrubbed his hand through his hair, retying the ends together with a piece of string. "You know how it is, my mother wanted me to make sure the cattle were brought in before evening and...." He glanced up at the sky; the sun was just past its zenith. "...and it'll take me a while to...do that." He stared at his feet, not even bothering to look back at Drey. "So, thanks. I'll see you later." His eyes still averted, Dah Rin waved goodbye and near ran to his house.

It was only after several minutes that Drey was able to walk into the hospital himself.

BREAK.

Inside, the building was much less threatening. Almost comfortable. Well, maybe not almost. Long windows covered the front of the building, now behind him, throwing slanted bars of light across the floor. Drey's shadow was stretched out in front of him, elongating and exaggerating his figure into a ridiculous form, reminding him of the jesters that would occasionally visit Burniver if the weather was nice. He walked forward a few steps, glancing at the closed doors around him apprehensively, somewhat hesitant to continue down the hallway in front of him. Low mutters came from somewhere off to his side, and as he came to the decision to ask whoever was speaking for help, an unmistakably familiar voice rose above the mumbling. Drey could hear the anger in it clearly. "Kaj..." Drey said quietly, turning back to the hallway. Drey could still hear him, and began to follow it, and even after Kaj's voice had stopped, he could still guess where to go.

Then a door behind him was flung open, striking the wall violently with a loud crack, the harsh sound echoing through the hallway. Drey moved back a step in surprise, staring at the young girl trying to make her way out through the doorway, fighting against the woman that kept a tight grip on the girl's wrist.

"Aya Noh, what are you doing?!" the older girl asked tersely, trying, with equal success, to pull the younger one back into the room. "Get back in here! Doctor Seamhen told you to stay in bed for the rest of the day, no exceptions!"

They were sisters, Drey knew. The elder of the two was Maekyl, the one Drey had promised to talk to. But...what was he supposed to say? He couldn't very well interrupt, it wasn't his place, but he had promised...He was either a coward or an interfering little kid. He still stung from talking with Kaj. He was -not- a kid!

So he did nothing.

"Let me go!" Aya Noh cried, her pale purple hair stringy and limp as it fell over her forehead. She pulled at her sister's grip once more, her bare feet scrabbling for a better hold on the horribly smooth floor, but she still couldn't free herself. Biting her lower lip, she drew her other arm back, and turned suddenly, striking Maekyl across the cheek with one cruel movement. "I want to see her!"

Maekyl stumbled back at the force of the blow, releasing her hold on Aya Noh's arm as she tried to catch herself on the doorframe. Aya Noh fell forward across the hallway, and leaned heavily against the far wall, one hand covering her mouth in a useless attempt to stifle a sudden, violent fit of coughing.

And still Drey didn't move.

What would he have done?

Aya Noh pushed herself away from the wall forcefully, pointedly not looking at her sister as she began to make her way down the hallway. "Ciel!" she yelled out, looking from side to side at all the closed doors just like Drey himself had done. "Where are you?"

She had almost reached where Drey stood when Maekyl called out to her once more. "Aya Noh! Wait!" Her voice was different from a moment ago, Drey noticed. It was no longer demanding; there was a near pleading note in her words now. Maybe that was why Aya Noh turned back to her.

And neither spoke.

Then Maekyl laughed. Unlike Dah Rin's that had been forced and painful to listen to, Maekyl's laugh was almost light-hearted. She rubbed her cheek absentmindedly with a small smile on her face, as she looked over at her little sister. "As stubborn as always, aren't you.

"It's the fourth door on the left. Look for the number seven."

Drey could see a matching smile spread over Aya Noh's face for a moment, and then she ran past him towards the fourth door on the left.

It was then that Maekyl finally noticed Drey standing there.

Her cheeks turned red, and Drey knew that she was embarrassed. Family matters were kept within the family. That was how it was. Drey felt awkward as well, having intruded on something like that, and he wanted nothing more than to run after Aya Noh and find Kaj and Ciel. But he had promised Dah Rin. That took precedence. "Maekyl?" he began, forcing himself to sound calmer than he truly was. "Dah Rin asked me to let you know that he can't stop by right now, and that he says sorry, but he'll talk to you later." He winced. Trying to explain things made them sound worse. It was times like this that he wished he had Kaj's eloquence.

Maekyl stared at him for a moment before nodding. "Alright," she responded. "Thanks, Drey." She frowned a little, and tilted her head to one side, wondering. "Did he say...why he couldn't come in?"

Drey froze. "Um...." He struggled for an explanation. What had Dah Rin said? "His mother wanted him to take care of the cows," he said quickly, trying to sound as convincing as possible. Which was no easy task.

It came as no surprise that Maekyl didn't look as if she believed him. Drey wished he could have said something more comforting.

Slowly, Maekyl raised one hand to her cheek again, and looked down at her feet. "I don't...fight with her like that all the time," she said quietly, as if she were trying to convince someone of that. Drey began to speak, but she continued. "I...I just didn't want...her to know...."

Drey stared at her for a whole minute, his eyes slowly widening. Then he turned and ran towards the fourth door on the left.

Maekyl wanted to cry.

BREAK.

The voice was familiar.

Kaj looked up from Ciel's bedside, unsurprised when Aya Noh ran into the doorway. It made sense, he thought, that she would be here. Aya Noh and Ciel spent as much time together as Drey and Kaj did; they might as well have been sisters. No, it made sense that she would be here as well.

"Ciel!" Aya Noh said quietly, oblivious to the tired sigh from the doctor and the incredulous stare from Kaj as she saw the other girl lying motionless on the hospital bed. For an instant, she couldn't move, she could have sworn that she had been Stopped, for all that she could breathe. Was this why Maekyl hadn't wanted her to leave the room? Then she had rushed forward, near falling to her knees at Ciel's side, and she looked at her friend's face closely, her eyes searching the features anxiously. Looking over her shoulder, she glanced up at Kaj, unable to ask what she most wanted to know.

Kaj was shocked by the look of stark horror on the young girl's face. What could he say to that? Why would someone feel like that at all?

'If something were to happen to Drey, would –I- look like that?'

Would you like to find out?

"She's fine," Kaj said quickly, realizing almost immediately that he had said it not only for Aya Noh's benefit, but also for his own. He needed to hear the words aloud, even if they were from his own mouth. Even if they weren't true.

Aya Noh looked back at Ciel, at her thin arm spread out on the blanket, and had to bite her lip again to keep from crying aloud. Instead, she reached out suddenly and latched onto Kaj and Ciel together, hunching over her arms. "Oh Ciel, I'm so sorry!" She felt Kaj's hand tense under her own, and she looked back at him, her eyes shining suspiciously. "I didn't know this would happen! I knew that she had been sick, but she said that she was fine now! Kaj, I'm sorry! We were just playing in my yard...." Her face began to tense up, and her teeth sank into her lip. "And then...she was coughing, and wouldn't stop, and then I started coughing too, and she fell down and didn't get up....I'm so sorry!" And she started to cry. Her hands came up to her face, trying to hide behind her fingers, pressing her fists against her eyes to stop the treacherous tears.

Kaj just stared, completely at a loss for what to do.

'Stop crying!'

'I don't know what to do with that!'

He reached out his arm slowly, and rested his hand on her small, quaking shoulder, in an attempt to comfort the girl. He almost jerked back when Aya Noh clutched at his wrist desperately, still crying. Apologies tumbled from her mouth, mostly jumbled and incoherent amongst the sobs.

Kaj suddenly glared at the doctor and his parents. His eyes screamed, 'Look at her! Look what you've done!'

Then he saw Drey standing in the doorway, looking at him carefully, as if he was worried that Kaj was still angry with him.

Kaj had to look away. Wetness pricked at his eyes and he squeezed them shut. No more tears! He wanted to scream. He opened his eyes and stared at Ciel's face instead.

At least Ciel wasn't crying. It might have killed him.

BREAK.

After a half an hour or so, Aya Noh had quite literally cried herself to sleep, and Drey had called Maekyl in to carry her back to her own room. Then the doctor pulled Kaj out into the hallway to speak with him alone. Drey stayed with Ciel.

"The plain truth," Seamhen said in answer to Kaj's question, "is that there is very little hope that Ciel will ever be able to recover. Like I said earlier, she was already weak when exposed to the miasma, and she's so young! I have already done everything I can. Magicite can only do so much; it does not work miracles, however much we may pray."

Kaj couldn't even nod.

The Yuke continued when Kaj remained silent. "And she isn't the only person to be admitted today because of miasma poisoning. As you have probably guessed by now, Aya Noh was affected as well, but not nearly as severely, and she has already begun to recover."

Kaj spoke then. "Seamhen," he said quietly. "Aya Noh said that they were playing in her yard when Ciel began coughing." The doctor nodded, agreeing. "But that means that Ciel wasn't exposed to miasma by leaving Burniver. If you're absolutely positive that miasma is what has caused her condition...." Here he looked up at Seamhen, and waited for him to nod before continuing. "...then they must have been exposed to it while in Aya Noh's yard."

Another nod.

If Kaj had been paying attention, he might have been annoyed.

As it was, he was too bewildered by his own conclusions to be angry at all. His mouth opened once, than twice as he tried to find a way to put what he was thinking into words.

Seamhen did it for him. "The miasma has begun to infiltrate Burniver," he said plainly. Kaj stared up at him with a mix of confusion and dread, and he spoke again. "There will be more who fall ill from miasma poisoning before the day is out if they are not warned. But, it may also cause a panic if not handled correctly. And a panic..." Here he looked directly at Kaj. "...is exactly what is not needed."

And yet another nod as Kaj agreed. The reasons for his sister and Aya Noh's sudden hospitalization would be kept quiet until a plan had been created. "Would you let the town elder know that I must speak with him immediately?" the doctor asked.

"Of course. But...

"I have one more question.

"Was there really any chance of the miasma poisoning affecting others in the room?" I'm not worried; I just want to know.

You know what?

I believe you.

Seamhen didn't answer for a moment, and then he shook his head. "No, not at all."

Kaj turned to leave, when the Yuke put his hand on Kaj's shoulder again. "Kaj," he said softly, his smooth voice pained. "I'm so sorry."

'I've heard that too many times already.'

What else could he say to you?

Short of lying, of course.

Kaj bowed to the doctor, and then turned and walked out of the hospital, not once looking back.

END.

There you are, the first chapter! It took quite some time to work it into something I was happy with, so I'm hoping that it goes over well. Please let me know what you thought. praise, problems, suggestions, I'll take it all. I'm eternally grateful to everyone who took the time to read this through; you guys are priceless! Ja!