Chapter 18: Parting Ways
TWO weeks had passed since the day the earthquake struck.
With every day that went by, the number of people out searching for those who had never returned decreased, while the number holding funerals for the lost increased. Amid the endless ringing of funeral bells that filled the skies over the town, Milosh’s clinic was packed more than ever with the injured and sick who came pounding on his door.
Many more were left waiting in a line snaking outside the clinic and down the street; some slept in the line waiting for their turn, while others would return in the morning hoping to be seen by the doctor. Far more would have died had the earthquake hit during the harsh winter or the summer months. Fortunately, they were currently experiencing the mild weather of late-spring when flowers bloomed in profusion. Those who had lost their homes wouldn’t freeze to death from the cold of winter while they sought to rebuild.
A further blessing was that unlike with floods and droughts, the earthquake hadn’t done much damage to the fields and fruit trees. If they happened to run out of food, they would only have to wait a short while for the wheat-harvesting season to arrive. Though the aftershocks hadn’t let up yet, each person, one after another, managed to lift their head and gradually begin to put their life back together.
Hereh and Unen hadn’t returned to their cabin in the forest since they left and they stayed at Milosh’s house instead. Hereh treated the sick and injured alongside Milosh—while Unen assisted Zola—they each completed whatever they were capable of doing each day.
As one of those long days came to a close, Unen was preparing a late dinner with Zola in Milosh’s living room at the back of the clinic. Hereh, who had finished his work ahead of Milosh, went upstairs to check on Simon.
By the time Unen finished putting Hereh’s plate of food on the table, Milosh charged into the living room like a stampeding bull.
“What’s the meaning of this?! HEREH!” He began to yell, but blanched and accidentally bit his tongue when he realized the key person wasn’t even in the room.
“If you’re looking for Hereh, he went upstairs to examine Simon.”
“O-Oh. He did?”
“Did something happen? You’ve got a scary look on your face,” Zola asked reproachfully.
Milosh awkwardly scratched his head. “No, um, uh?” fumbling for words, his eyes wandered the length of the room.
Shortly after, they heard the stairs creak overhead.
A dark frown creased Milosh’s brow once again. He marched over to where Hereh was descending into the living room and used his body to block his path.
“Hereh, it sounds like you told Amh your child died in the earthquake when he asked. Amh’s wife wanted me to convey her condolences to you.”
Zola gasped. Beside her, Unen quietly pulled on the rope of her memories, searching for one that fit the name. I’m pretty sure Amh is the carpenter who fixed up the cabin for us three years ago.
Milosh leveled Hereh with a hard glare and deliberately lowered his voice to a threatening growl. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but think about how Unen must feel. You’ve gone and killed her off to everyone else here.”
“Unen has already given me permission to do it.”
“What?” Milosh’s voice cracked. He flipped around to look at Unen.
Unen slowly nodded to him.
Ignoring the dumbfounded and confused statue otherwise known as Milosh, Hereh dispassionately explained as though he were only talking to himself. “I wish I could’ve pretended to be alone and single, but it was implausible to pull off when so many knew a child was with me. But as luck would have it, aside from your family, there appears to be no one who can clearly recognize Unen’s face or name, so there’s still hope.”
“Hope for what?!”
Hereh accepted Milosh’s menacing gaze head-on. “Milosh…from now on…I want you to treat Unen and I as complete strangers.”
“I keep asking you for an explanation! Give me one first!” Milosh shouted angrily.
Hereh’s expression didn’t waver. “You asked me again and again why we never came into town.”
“…I did,” Milosh conceded, uneasy about the strange turn the conversation was taking.
Hereh cast his eyes down. “I am…being hunted down by people I was once allied with.”
“You’re being hunted?” Milosh parroted, his eyebrows shooting up. “C’mon, you came here six years ago. Do you think they’re still after you after all this time?”
Hereh wordlessly turned away.
Milosh sighed loudly at his friend. “What in the world did you do?”
Unen glanced from Milosh to Hereh. As Hereh said, he informed Unen of this before he’d told Milosh. However, he hadn’t told her a single thing about the cause—why he was being hunted.
Perhaps he would tell the reason to Milosh? Unen’s hopes were quickly dashed, as Hereh merely kept his gaze trained on the ground.
Milosh scowled at his tight-lipped friend for a long minute. Then he sighed once again, letting the tension out of his face. “I’ve got a pretty good eye for people. I can tell you’re not an evil person just by looking.”
“Thank you.” Hereh’s wisp of a voice unsteadily shook the air in the living room.
Milosh put both hands on his hips as if to bring the conversation back to the main issue and peered at Hereh’s lowered face. “So? You’re thinking your hunters might catch up to you?”
“Not might—they will. They will unquestionably capture me after I’ve drawn this much attention to myself in one location. It’s only a matter of time now.” Hereh stared into Milosh’s eyes, truly cornered unlike ever before. “I don’t want to get you guys—and most of all, Unen—involved in this trouble. Your family can insist you were only involved with me for trade. But the same doesn’t apply to Unen. That’s why I have to do whatever it takes to hide my connection to her.”
“Hereh, you can’t be—” Milosh sharply sucked in his breath.
A lonely smile touched Hereh’s lips. “Milosh, the other day you promised you would do me three favors.”
Hereh had obstinately declined Milosh’s offer of gratitude for having saved Simon’s life. “I won’t be satisfied until I thank you,” Milosh had appealed on many occasions, but Hereh only stubbornly turned him down. It had gotten to the point that Milosh jokingly promised three favors as a parody of a fairy tale.
Milosh reluctantly nodded. Hereh held up the first three fingers on his right hand and began to list his demands.
“First favor: please don’t ask for any more information about why I’m being hunted. Second favor: I want you to quietly let me leave when the time comes. And for the last favor…won’t you please allow Unen to stay with you and your family? As the one who constantly pestered me about moving to town for her sake, you must understand what I was thinking when I came to this decision, yes?”
Milosh stood motionless for some time. He merely stared at Hereh in silence.
Before long, he staggered back to the table and slumped into the nearby chair, like a puppet that had its strings cut.
“You’re going to leave on your own no matter what—that’s what you’re saying.”
“Yes,” Hereh softly affirmed, then pulled a pouch from his pocket.
Unen remembered seeing that pouch before. It was the leather pouch he’d always carefully tucked away at the bottom of his bag for emergencies, right from the day they started traveling together. He must’ve brought it downstairs with him when he heard Milosh’s angry holler from Simon’s room.
Hereh revealed the contents of the pouch on the tabletop. Countless augite and gold coins caught the lamplight, scattering colorful sparkles across the room.
“I doubt this will be enough for what I’m asking of you, but please use this for Unen’s expenses—”
“Don’t need it,” Milosh curtly said over Hereh. “Don’t you dare belittle me, Hereh. I can easily raise a child or two without your charity.”
Not even a fragment of hesitation remained in Milosh’s eyes. But at that moment, he realized something important he’d forgotten to do and glanced diffidently to his wife.
“You don’t mind, right?” he asked, seeking Zola’s approval.
Zola smiled and put her arm firmly around Unen’s shoulder, winking teasingly at Unen when she froze in her embrace. “Of course not! I’ve always wanted our second child to be a girl, so it all works out!”
“Besides, you’ve taught Unen about all sorts of things, right? Seems to me like she’ll turn out to be more useful than our Simon! She’s more than welcome here,” Milosh added warmly, and smiled at Unen.
“Thank you,” Unen replied, the words rising from the bottom of her heart from where she stood in Zola’s embrace.
Of course, her heart ached as if it were being squeezed in a blacksmith’s tongs at the thought of separating from Hereh in the near future. But regardless of the pain, the fact Milosh and Zola had accepted her and Hereh’s requests shone a shimmering light of hope into her despair like a star twinkling in the pitch-black night.
Hereh let out a single sigh of relief and slowly gazed at each of their faces. “Thank you, Milosh, Zola. You too, Unen… I’m sorry for forcing you to go along with my selfishness…”
Unable to find the right words to say on the spot, Unen merely shook her head, filled to the brim with unspoken emotions.
✦ ✦ ✦
THE resulting discussion between Zola, Hereh, Milosh, and Unen produced a backstory for Unen. “Unen is the child of a peddler. She lost her parents in the earthquake that happened to hit Yezero when they were visiting to sell their wares, so she was adopted by her father’s friend, Milosh.” They were going to proactively circulate the story throughout the town.
“I’ll help you out as best I can, until my hunters are nearly here.”
“Don’t be stupid. We both know it’ll be me helping you out.”
Zola burst out laughing at Milosh’s ridiculous pout. Infected by her laughter, Hereh, Unen, and even Milosh himself cracked a smile.
Four laughing voices shook off the veil of darkness for a while after.
✦ ✦ ✦
TWO and a half months passed, and the day they had to part ways finally came.
One of Milosh’s acquaintances, who he had asked to inform him if any outsiders turned up, told him that two strange men had appeared in the neighboring territory asking for Hereh.
Hereh prepared to leave that day. The following morning, he left the clinic while it was still dark. Unen and Milosh saw him off.
“Listen to me closely, Unen. The world will open before you. You must never forget that.”
Those were the last words Hereh left behind.
“Come back safe,” Unen had said to Hereh, harboring some small hope. She said those words anticipating he would answer with a promise to eventually come back.
Hereh’s eyes opened wide in surprise. Then he smiled sadly, and left without saying anything at all.