East

"What is it, Moonbeam?" Suvdin asked.

For a moment, I debated what to say. I had no reason to distrust Carter's claim. He wanted me to survive, but the idea of facing something as horrific as the Black Death, something that wiped out over a third of the population of the world at this point in history, was kind of creepy. It didn't seem right that Ghoajin had to do it alone.

"I think I know a skill I can use to help out," I said slowly. "I can't get the Great Plague. I can help Ghoajin."

Suvdin hesitated. "Yesen Yeke is not likely to approve, Moonbeam. You are a gift from the Eternal Blue Sky," she said. "Our clan chief will not wish to put you in danger."

"But I won't be in danger."

"We can ask his permission. Besides, there is nothing to be done for those who catch it. We remove them from camp to protect everyone else, and all but one out of a hundred survives."

It sounded horrible to segregate the ill and leave them to die, yet I understood the rudimentary medicine of this era couldn't handle such a sickness. It was the men in the tent dying - or then entire camp if it spread. I was kind of grateful she doubted I'd be allowed. It was the skill I looked forward to the least, even less than skinning an animal, because of the horror stories that remained in history classes and literature about the plague.

"You can also swim," Suvdin pointed out. "Few of us can or will."

"How does that help you?"

"We will figure it out."

I sighed and prepared myself for another day of grueling manual labor that left those around me laughing and me less convinced I could ever fit in here.

The day went as I expected. Tired, sore and hungry, I joined the family in Ghoajin's tent for a feast after nightfall. I was too exhausted to ask her about the patients she treated in the tent, too tired to do much more than eat and offer Flowers smiles whenever she glanced uncertainly my way.

Suvdin showed me back to my tent and I started to get ready for bed - then paused.

Batu wasn't back yet. I had thought he meant to return today at some point. There was no sign he'd been back to the ger, either. I was looking forward to a night alone - but not if it meant he was in trouble or anything.

The man can handle anything. I reminded myself he was the champion of his people. If he got hung up somewhere, he was likely helping other clans take out their enemies or something, not lying in a ditch somewhere hurt.