AN: Hello! 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 (edited 27 Apr 2020)
Disclaimers: I don't own any of Miyazaki's characters, but I will admit that I am terribly in love with them.
Chapter 21: Returning Home
"You're almost home." Nausicaa uttered softly, as the land of Pejite grew barely visible in the distance. Asbel stood next to her on the deck, watching the sun emerge as a glorious sliver of blinding light, rising from the horizon.
"I know; hopefully my mother is still alive," he sighed worriedly. He then turned to her.
"Will you stay in Pejite with me first? Just for a few days?" He asked somewhat shyly.
"Of course." She returned kindly.
They made sure to inform the rest of the crew: Nausicaa would disembark with Asbel to make sure his mother recovered first; meanwhile the airship would continue to the Valley. Once the situation in Pejite was under control, she planned to return home on her glider. She left instructions with Tersa in case anyone in the Valley had developed Gullera.
"Tersa, you know what to do?" Nausicaa confirmed one last time before arriving in Pejite.
"Yes Princess. Start boiling some of the mulsa leaves to cure the sick, and the rest goes 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."
The couple began packing the small number of personal belongings they had brought with them on this journey. Nausicaa made sure to gather both mulsa and temulsa leaves, as well as the emergency medical toolkit Kerlin had left with her.
Once they landed the aircraft inside the Palace, they wasted no time in exiting the plane, making sure to grab Nausicaa's glider. 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." One 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 herbal medicine 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.
Within twenty minutes the first brew of mulsa 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. Asbel's mother was breathing on her own and had all the basic reflexes, but otherwise all other voluntary activities were absent. A kindly doctor who looked in his fifties rose to meet them; Nausicaa walked up to the bed, cup of warm liquid in hand.
"Can she drink fluids?" She immediately inquired of the doctor.
"She may have the gagging reflex, but she cannot swallow on her own." The man replied; Nausicaa continued to observe the woman worriedly.
"She needs to drink this medicine immediately; it's the only thing that can cure her." The doctor nodded in understanding, and with his help they fed her the liquid in incremental sips, making sure it went down her esophagus and not the trachea to her lungs.
"How often do you think we need to do this?" Asbel asked Nausicaa.
"Kerlin had said right before meals, three times a day," Nausicaa answered thoughtfully. "But I think we should give it to her more frequently, given her condition."
They eventually decided on giving her one dose every three hours, around the clock, and also set up shifts to watch her through the night. As the hours ticked by, her wheezing grew increasingly labored, inciting worry in their hearts. All three were aware that the upcoming night 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 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 the cure 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 he noticed all had become eerily 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 wrong?" 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 informed. "The nerves are unable to send signals to the muscles for breathing."
Nausicaa 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 inquired urgently.
"We'll have to start manual ventilation first," The doctor decided. "It will prolong her life, but it won't help her to resume breathing on her own."
The doctor had already begun to clear away the quilt covers, when 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, this is Edrophonium. Can you inject it directly her bloodstream?" A grave expression spread over the physician's features and he hesitated.
"That is a toxin; I must warn you of the risks."
"I understand," Nausicaa replied. "But it can stimulate respiratory muscles in cases of neuromuscular blockade. It may be our only option; unless you have any other stimulants?"
"None that will act quickly enough to rescue her."
"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.
Holding up a syringe needle, the doctor drew up a minuscule volume of the chemical and neared the bed. Apprehension 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 resuscitation maneuvers and chest 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 was overly potent and toxic, and sent her into muscles into sustained contraction instead? 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. All three of them leaned forward to see the patient's chest rising and falling, albeit at a slightly faster pace than normal. Her lungs resumed their function, and in relief the caretakers could finally breathe with her as well.
"I must say that was some quick thinking and ingenuity there, young lady." The doctor praised when they had recovered somewhat from the adrenaline rush. "I have never heard of using the 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 maintained a tight watch over her, but grew increasingly confident in her 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 peculiar requests and unique ideas in that resourceful mind of hers. The girl laughed cheerfully at his response.
"I might build a room to purify more temulsa plants," she explained. "That way we will always have enough fresh 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 enthused 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."
Leaving Nausica to her own devices, he returned to his mother's room and gradually started talking to her. Nausicaa had mentioned to 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, as they were often drawn from astute observations, and decided to try it. For the first thirty minutes the man wasn't really sure what to say, feeling self conscious and awkwardly conversing with himself. But in time he relaxed and began to talk to his mother of various things: how Pejite was doing, the newest gossip around town, his adventures to Merinth and back. He found himself describing Nausicaa at length, recounting 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. The curious thought flitted through his mind again: what if she indeed 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 think I should probably go check on her, just to make sure she hasn't gotten into mischief." The man 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 was 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. He secretly hoped she would not fill the entire room with temulsa, for that would most certainly be a waste of the beautiful landscaping.
"Hi." She sang when she finally noticed him. "How does it look?" She inquired of the man, who continued to stare in awe at the creation before him.
"Wow… It's amazing." He managed to utter; the girl beamed at his praise.
"Did you do this in an hour?" He murmured, amazed.
"Yes." The girl replied with a proud smile.
"Is there anything you don't know how to do?"
"Of course," she replied cheerily. "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.
Asbel observed Nausicaa carefully from behind, taking his time to memorize the image of her silhouette glowing in the pale moonlight. She seemed to be ruminating about something, while looking out over the land from the windowsill of his room in the Palace. The woman's appearance was utterly divine and ethereal, with her carefree hair tossed by the wind and her feminine curvatures highlighted against the night sky.
He sighed; time with her was running out. She had agreed to stay in Pejite to ensure his mother recovered, but after that she would need to leave for the Valley. The unsettling reality haunted him constantly, lurking in the back of his mind like foreboding clouds looming over distant plains. He had just found her again and they had ignited passion in each other's hearts, but would their story merely end as an intense but short-lived affair?
Knowing that the days were limited, he treasured every second with her all the more, and felt the urge to lavish as much time and attention on her as possible while she was still within arm's reach. Pushing his gloomy thoughts aside for now, he approached her from behind and slipped his arms around her waist. She heard him approach, and relaxed into his embrace with a contented sigh.
"Hi," she finally whispered, a contemplative smile gracing her lips.
"What are you thinking about?" He murmured in her ear, before tenderly placing his lips where her neck met her shoulder, reveling in the softness of her skin.
"Not much." She breathed, though to be honest she had been mulling over the exact same concerns he had. Several seconds of silence passed between them.
"Is it too much to ask you to stay?" He whispered tentatively, with yearning audible in his voice. Her eyes grew wistful but she did not turn around.
"That would be lovely, wouldn't it..." She sighed, not really answering the question.
I just don't think it's possible... she thought to herself.
In silence they both pensively looked out over the kingdom, unsure of how to solve the dilemma they would soon face.
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!
A/N 27 Apr 2020 - If any of my old readers are re-reading this, you may have noticed I changed the name of the drug from Theophylline to Edrophonium. It's a hair-splitting, minor detail... but since writing the original story I learned the real use of theophylline (bronchodilator that treats asthma / COPD) and I just couldn't leave it uncorrected. Edrophonium is also a real drug! Not used that often nowadays though, but much more fitting for the "neurons not getting through to the respiratory muscles" problem. If you're interested in the medicine behind it, look up myasthenia gravis... I loosely based her respiratory failure on a myasthenic crisis. ;)
