"Better. I feel ready to return."
"Good. You need a bath first."
"No bath."
I wasn't certain what it was about … ah. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I recalled they considered the streams and ocean to be the blood of the earth, and therefore, sacred. Ghoajin had also explained that a person's smell was part of his or her soul, and so to lose it in a bath was an insult.
"You have …" germs. He wasn't going to understand what those were. "… illness on your skin. It could infect others."
Grumpy looked down at his arms.
"Trust me," I said, amused.
"I do, goddess. You and Ghoajin healed me. If you say I need to bathe, I will." By his tone, it was going to be as trying of a task as healing from the Black Death.
You and luck are what healed you. I doubted anything I'd done here made a difference. The disease seemed to need to run its course.
"How fares Batu?" he asked and sat down beside his clansman. He touched Batu's forehead. "He is better."
"He is," I agreed. "Hopefully he will recover as well as you did. Are you ready to return home?"
"I am," Grumpy said. "But I will stay with you until Batu is healed. It is only honorable."
These men and their bizarre sense of honor. But I needed the help. He had already rolled up the sides of the tent, a duty that drained me of energy. My gaze went to Batu, and I studied his bloated features. Of the few thoughts my fatigued mind had managed to form the past two weeks, life here without him was the one I couldn't comprehend. It was a different feeling than that I had about Taylor. Batu was a different kind of man, and the world here wasn't anything like the Old West.
I feared what my future held, but it seemed a little less scary with Batu at my side. I didn't fully comprehend my emotions for Batu except that I needed him to survive this with desperation that left me close to tears.
"Rest, Moonbeam," Grumpy said kindly. "I will watch over him. Ghoajin will be here soon, too."
I should have resisted, but I was exhausted. Standing, I crossed to the bed and dropped into it, soon deep in sleep.
Batu awoke the next day, and two days later, he was able to sit up and drink on his own. He didn't stay up long, though, and Grumpy and I worked to keep him stable over the next few days, while his boils disappeared and his skin began to return to a healthier color.