Chapter 8 - Small Miracles

Myria awoke feeling... well. Well and rested. And warm. And slightly constrained. She discovered upon becoming fully awake that the feelings of warmth and being constrained were directly related. They were due to the fact that she was stuffed between the wall and Jessica, and at some point Jessica had decided she would serve as a giant cuddly blankey, had snuggled up as close as possible, and then sprawled half of her limbs on top of Myria.

The feeling was not wholly unpleasant, and very comforting in a way that was quite different from how she had felt when she and Jonathon had been in close physical contact. But she quickly became aware of one pressing problem with the situation.

Myria grimaced. "Jessica?"

"Mrmf," was the less than expressive reply. It appeared that Jessica was partially consuming a portion of her pillow, which begged the question of how she was obtaining sufficient oxygen.[1]

"Jessica?" What is protocol in this situation? Should I actively attempt to awaken Jessica? Or wait and hope that she will awaken or shift over on her own? Would it be improper to physically remove her without waking her?

After some consideration of her predicament versus the potential for offense, Myria settled for extracting one arm and gently poking Jessica in the side. "Jessica. Please move to the side. I must get up."

"Mrmfrm?"

That at least was recognizable as a question from the tone. "I must get up Jessica. Please. It is becoming urgent."

"Mrm?" Jessica slowly extracted her face from the pillow and turned it toward Myria. Opening one lid and fixing a bleary eye in Myria's general direction, she managed a "Whazzit?" Myria watched as the eye finally focused and appeared to sync up with Jessica's brain, at least partially. "Mrng Mrya. Zup?"

Myria waved an arm, attempting to express urgency. "I must attend to body functions. Without delay."

That clicked, and the rest of the brain seemed to engage. "Oh!" Jessica rolled aside with a slight laugh, and Myria staggered out of the bed and promptly ended up on the floor.

"I… am impaired." This was disturbing. One of her legs refused to hold her weight, and was disobeying direct commands.

Jessica laughed again. "Yeah I think your leg's asleep."

"What do you mean? How can only part of me sleep? That is a brain function."

Jessica sighed and plopped back face-first onto her pillow, mumbling "too early for this" before extracting it long enough to explain that it was a circulation thing. "Give it a second, try moving it around. Wiggle your toes or something," she managed before again seeking the solitude of a face full of featherdown.

Myria found that the remedy worked, though the nerves in her leg were having some sort of minor malfunction, telling her that there were small things crawling on her skin, which was clearly not true. After managing to get it working somewhat, she managed to stagger downstairs and out to the privy without falling again.

Required business[2] attended to, she noted the sounds of Jessica's parents at work in the bakery. It was surprising and troubling that neither had sought the assistance of either her or Jessica, and she resolve to ask Jessica about it. She also paid Jonathon's room a brief visit, but finding him sleeping still she opted not to wake him but instead returned to Jessica's room.

There she found Jessica more awake, sitting on the edge of her bed and attempting to rub the sleep from her eyes. "Oh, hey again. Sorry about the whole personal space thing."

"What do you mean?"

"I kinda had you crowded in there. Ma says that I'm like smoke in a room when I sleep. I kinda expand to fill the whole space."

"I see. I did not mind, other than the 'sleeping leg'. I noted, however, that it is later than usual, and your parents are working. Why did they not awaken us to help in the bakery?"

"Oh that." Jessica snorted. "I'm guessing it's because my parents are either still thinking I'm all fragile and need the rest, or da is still so miffed he didn't want to see my smug face around." She illustrated the point through an expression that seemed to combine humor with a strange appearance of fierce satisfaction. Myria guessed that was what 'smug' meant. "You missed all the fun last night I think. I bet you were out like a light as soon as I left the room."

"I believe so. But I cannot imagine how the conversation with your parents could have been enjoyable."

"It definitely wasn't at first." Jessica sobered a little. "You were right about at least part of it. Da was all 'It's too dangerous to have Myria around.' and 'It's not good for Jonathon to be so attached to her.' and 'She should be with her own kind.' Now that was a laugh."

Myria tensed. "My own kind? Do they know?"

Jessica smirked. "Are you kidding me? No way! I mean, they know you're a bit… uncanny. But they don't know about the whole 'don't mess with Myria unless you want to see what you're made of' thing." The smirk wavered for a second. That wasn't all that funny when she thought about it.

"Then what did your father intend by 'my kind'?

"Oh he means your social class thing. Remember what we talked about?"

"Ah. Yes. But I have no money, and I find I did not particularly enjoy the company of those women we met, who are supposed to be of my social class."

"And that's exactly what I told da, and he got all huffy so ma had to calm him down again. And then I said that since you had no money right now, and you were like a guest and all, it would be a mortal crime to just turn you out." Jessica grinned broadly and she narrowed her eyes. "Now that got da's trousers in a twist and he got all red and gave me what for."

"What for?"

"What for. He went off on this tirade about me not showing proper respect and blah blah blah. I'm surprised it didn't wake you or Jonny. Ma was giving me hand signals behind his back." She illustrated waving a hand in a small circle "So I just let him get it out of his system. Then ma took my side and he knew he was beaten." She rubbed her face again. "But it took a while. No wonder I'm tired."

Myria shook her head. "That all sounds unpleasant and not satisfactory at all."

"Don't worry about it, it all worked out." She paused. "Well, he did score a few points. Like you can't stay in Jonathon's room cause suddenly it's not proper." She shrugged. "It's not like you could do anything anyway with him all banged up and bandaged up like that," she added, peering at Myria from the corner of one eye.

Myria felt her face warm. "Jessica. I do not believe you should be discussing such topics with me?"

Jessica giggled. "Oh don't worry about it. I mean it's a little oogy thinking about my cousin snogging, but I don't get totally creeped out by the idea. But the point is, you can stay here in my room until you can get your own place again. How cool is that?"

Myria thought for a moment. "Actually it was quite warm."

Jessica looked exasperated again, "Myria, I meant-" and was interrupted by Myria raising her hand.

"Wait one moment." Myria smiled hesitantly. "I was attempting to make a joke. Did I succeed?"

Jessica's jaw dropped, then morphed into an honest smile. "You crafty thing you. Yep. Aced it in one!" Standing, she gave Myria a hug, and they went about their business getting ready for the day.

After tending to their remaining morning ablutions, they made their way downstairs to find Rosemarie and Pars both looking a little tired, but working steadily. It had apparently been a long night for them as well. Rosemarie greeted them warmly, while Pars was at best polite to Myria, and carefully eyed Jessica.

At least it was an improvement over the prior evening. While he was still very unhappy with the current arrangements, he had to admit that having Myria around seemed to have sped up Jessica's recovery. Of course there was a downside, that this meant her normal teenage prickliness was also resurfacing, as he learned last night. "Outnumbered and out femaled," he muttered, and turned back to his work.

A few hours later, Myria and Jessica were in full swing, and the bakery was beginning to actually feel like a fully functioning business again. Jessica was kneading dough for the mid-day baking and Myria was handling the previously baked goods. She was trying to determine whether it was coincidence or not that Pars had assigned her to take care of 'that Genuan bread' visitors from there couldn't live without. Pars meanwhile was tending the ovens while Rosemarie handled customers.

Most of the customers fell into two categories. The servants of the wealthier ones were there buying baked goods, bread and pies mostly, with a few cakes by special arrangement, on behalf of their employers. Then there were the working-class customers, who could not regularly afford such treats. Instead, they would file in with already-prepared food and, for a small fee, Pars would pop it into the oven for them.[3] Mostly these took the form of meat or fruit pies with a smattering of specialty breads or other dishes that they would serve for the afternoon meal.

Thus Myria was happily slicing the crusty Genuan Bread into thick slabs. She was enjoying not only the effort but also the alluring but slightly terrifying smell it gave off, when she discovered something new and quite interesting.

Her body, she discovered, was amazingly adept at many things. But it could not be counted on to avoid sharp edges.

At first, there was no pain. Then an intense itching/burning sensation emanated from the cut as her body told her brain of its extreme displeasure with what had just happened to her forefinger. Myria stared at the cleanly sliced flesh, fascinated as the initial wave of pain receded.

"I have cut myself," she murmured, and her eyes widened as rich, dark liquid began to ooze, slowly at first and then with greater speed, from the separated tissue of her finger.

Jessica turned from her own work, and cringed in sympathy. "Ouch! Yeah, you have." She grabbed a nearby towel. "Here, wrap this around it and hold it above your head."

Instead of doing as she suggested, Myria lifted her hand up to eye-level, marveling at the way the blood swelled and pooled at the site of the wound, and then trickled down her hand to drip onto the floor. "I am bleeding!"

Jessica's eyes flicked from her hand to Myria's odd expression. Is she in shock? No… "Um. No kidding. Now take the towel?"

Myria seemed unable to tear her attention away, and shook her head slowly, "You do not understand. I am bleeding!"

Jessica lowered the proffered towel and eyed Myria carefully. "Ok Myria. You are seriously creeping me out, and you're getting blood everywhere. What is the big deal? Yes you're bleeding. All. Over. The. Floor."

That added information seemed to finally snap Myria out of it. "Oh! Yes. Yes I see. I am sorry." She reluctantly took the towel from Jessica and wrapped it around her finger somewhat mournfully, and elevated her hand as Jessica suggested. "It is just that, I have never bled before."

"You've never been cut before?"

"No I did not say that. I have been injured before." She lowered her voice. "But I was not like this then. I did not bleed. Now I am more like you." She smiled, her eyes shining.

Ohhhh…."Right. Got it." She gave Myria a sympathetic but slightly wary look. "Well that's great, I guess, but try not to do it too much. Blood is supposed to stay inside. And nobody likes scars."

"Yes. Yes of course. I will have to be more careful now."

"You do that. I don't want you cutting yourself on stuff. That will freak people out. And then there's germs and stuff." She looked at the towel. "I guess I should get a real bandage, and something to clean out the cut. It didn't look deep, but we don't want it getting infected."

Myria frowned slightly. "Infected?"

"Yeah. Dr. Lawn told me about it. There are like these little bugs that get into cuts, and they can make you sick."

Myria's eyes narrowed. "I am not sure I would allow that."

"Not allow… wow. Now that's not something I ever heard someone say. But still better safe than sorry, right?"

"Yes I suppose you are correct." Myria looked at her finger carefully, wrapped in the towel, and her brows knit in concentration. "There, that should be sufficient."

There was a long, drawn out moment where Jessica forgot to breathe. Then… "You didn't."

"Why not?"

"Let me see that!"

"Did I do wrong?" Myria was looking left and right, suddenly realizing that she had again done something uncanny.

"I said," Jessica continued carefully, "let me see it."

With growing unease, Myria unwrapped the bloody towel and let Jessica inspect the finger.

Shaking her head, Jessica murmured. "Not even a scar."

"You said that-"

"I know what I said." She stepped back and tapped a tooth thoughtfully. "You, my friend, are full of surprises today. No don't get upset, but don't go letting people know you can do that either, ok? You'll have a line out the door of people wanting you to lay hands on them." She considered a moment. "Hey waitaminute. How come you didn't heal up Jonny that way?"

Myria looked embarrassed. "I tried. But for some reason it was difficult and gave me an ache in my head. I was only able to do some repairs. Susan said it was interesting." Myria had not found it interesting at all.

"That's probably just as well. Here, let me get rid of the towel, and you clean up the blood before my parents start asking questions."

"Yes. I suppose you are right."

[1] The ability of teenagers to sleep in contorted positions with their faces crammed into a pillow or forearm without self-asphyxiating or, like some warped topiary, permanently taking the shape of a pretzel, is a mystery to parents and Auditors the universe over.

[2] Visits to the privy were still definitely at the very bottom of on her list of "things I particularly enjoy about being human." She had tried, several times, to determine if there was some way to avoid it. None of them ended well.

[3] This was actually common practice in roundworld cities, before ovens were common fixtures in every home. Locals would prepare their own dishes and pay the baker to supply that portion of the preparation.

A/N: *cough cough* there's like... a button down there, just below this text. Has the word "review" on it. Wonder what it does? *cough cough* ;-)