“Ah, don’t worry. This isn’t my blood,” Nana said as she took off the robe with Ring’s help. “The previous patient broke an arm when operating the machine, so it’s a little messy.”
“R-really?”
“That’s right. Come here. Let me take a look at your eye.”
“She’s so confident and strong. Is she really of the same age as me?”
Momo swallowed hard. She took off her eye mask carefully and slowly approached Nana.
“Right. Just like Wendy said. I should have sufficient magic power to cure you,” Nana mumbled after a preliminary examination and handed Momo a bowl of liquid medicine. Then she patted the bed next to her and said, “Lie down after you drink it. It’ll only take about 10 minutes.”
Momo heeded Nana’s words, and, to her astonishment, saw the latter take out a knife.
“Your, Your Majesty… Wendy…” Momo said while looking at the two spectators helplessly. She was almost going to cry.
“Well, Nana,” Wendy said. “Can’t you take things slow and give our new sister a bit time to get used to it?”
“But this is the normal procedure,” Nana refuted in surprise. “If I don’t cut the old wound open and remove it, my magic won’t work.”
“That’s true, but you can first have a small chat with her…”
“Well, in that case… how about talking about my previous patient? I feel it easier to cut a limb with a saw than an ax.”
“No, not this….”
“Correct,” Roland rejoined. “A saw can ensure a clean cut, but I don’t think it’s going to be easy to cut a big bone, like a thigh bone, with a saw, right?”
“Neither for a scull. Those female nurses are no stronger than me by any means. If Anna could help me, that would make my life a lot easier.”
“My fault. But it’s simple. I can design an electronic one for you later. How does that sound? I assure you that you can break a bone within a second.”
“Your Majesty, please stop!”
“Ahem, sorry, I can’t help when it comes to technical issues…”
Their voice gradually drifted off.
Momo turned away and, dimly, saw Nana talking to the king and Wendy while gesturing with the knife in her hand from time to time, as though she was going to do an experiment on her.
Cut? Saw? Ax?
Her eye lids became increasingly heavy as sleep crept over her. “Sorry, Thylane, I probably wouldn’t be able to see you again after this treatment.”
“Ah, she’s asleep now,” Roland said after he noticed that Momo had closed her eyes and fallen asleep.
Nana raised her scalpel and nodded at the two. “Now, I’ll start.”
Nana thus made a cut into the socket, removed the old wound and cleaned up the skin around it. Soon, blood oozed out and soaked the gauze. During the whole process, her arm remained stationary except for her fingers and wrist. She had to complete this initial step manually. Her nimble operation was the sole result of a long-term training and practice.
“Amazing…” Wendy muttered under her breath.
“I have to be fast,” Nana said while twitching her lips. “When I was in the field, I only had half a minute for each individual patient. If I couldn’t give them an emergency treatment as fast as possible, I might not be able to save other patients.”
“That’s why she’s become so swift,” Roland thought to himself. “You’d pass out at the sight of blood in the past, and those chickens — ”
“Your Majesty!” Nana exclaimed in agitation while rolling her eyes. “Don’t ever mention it! You were the culprit.”
“Alright,” Roland conceded while waving his hand.
“Plus…” Nana paused for a second and said, “I like the way I am now. At least, I’m much stronger, right?”
For a split second, Roland seemed to see the little girl he used to know again.
Roland stroked Nana’s head involuntarily and said, “Of course.”
Several minutes later, Momo’s eye was cured.
“The sleeping fern will lose its effect in two hours. Such little amount won’t cause harm to a witch, so she’ll be OK once she wakes up,” Nana said while looking toward Wendy.
“Thank you,” Wendy said smilingly with a nod.
“By the way, how much magic power do you still have?” Roland asked casually. “Could you take a look at me?”
Wendy’s expression immediately changed, and Nana grasped Roland’s arm in a sort of trenchant manner.
“Are you hurt?”
“No… I just feel that my nose is running lately.”
“Then you should go seek Lily,” Nana said gruffly as she withdrew her hand. “I took a look. There’s nothing wrong with you.”
“That’s what I thought,” Roland said while averting his eyes as Wendy cast him a suspicious glance.
It appeared that Nana was not omnipotent. Roland was not sure if she could cure those”underlying illness”, as these invisible diseases were not, technically, injuries.
Anyway, he had to do some research later.
When Momo slowly opened her eyes, a slope of orangey red clouds slid into her view. The clouds soaked in golden rays gradually faded to purple and drifted off in the distance. She could hear the rustling of the grass in the breezes, and occasionally, a few leaves rose into the air and brushed past her cheek.
Everything was so peaceful and sweet.
“I’m still alive…”
Momo thought.
But Momo soon noticed something unusual. Her vision seemed to have expanded, and the distant scene had become clearer. She raised her head and found Thylane look into her eyes smilingly. The latter said, “You finally woke up.”
It was not until then that Momo realized that she was sleeping on her friend’s legs, and they were currently right in front of the Witch Building.
“How long did I sleep? Where’s Wendy?”
“She brought you to me and then left,” Thylane said while shrugging. “You slept for the whole afternoon, although Wendy said you’d wake up in two hours. She told me that it was normal even if you didn’t wake up in time. It’s a sign of recovery. You’ll feel better after waking up. How are you feeling? Can you see with your new eye?”
Momo sat up and studied the surroundings curiously. She had thought that half of her world would be submerged in the darkness forever after her eye had been removed. She had never expected to see the world in its entirety again.
“Thylane, what should I do?” Momo muttered.
“What’s the matter?”
“How are we going to repay them for their kindness?”
Thylane was stunned for a second before she burst into a laugh. She looked up at the sky and said, “I don’t know either, but Wendy told me to work hard. This is how we can repay them. By the way, Wendy already told me what I should do in the future when you were asleep. I’ll work with Nana Pine who just helped you, and provide medical services to Graycastle.” At these words, Thylane scratched her nose and said in embarrassment, “Although I still don’t know how I can help treat patients…”
“But my ability…” Momo said while clenching her fist.
“Wendy mentioned you as well.”
Momo looked up and burst out in surprise, “Really?”
“Yes!” Thylane confirmed while nodding. “It’s His Majesty’s idea. He wants you to work in the Administrative Office with Ms. Scroll and help with the operation of the kingdom.”
“Huh?” Momo could not believe her ears. “Can I?”
“You need to ask yourself,” Thylane said in amusement and pushed her at the back. “I haven’t even figured out how I’m supposed to work here, but I think as long as we keep studying, we’ll know one day.”
“I’m not as confident as you…” Momo muttered in a hushed tone. “Do you think we can live here forever, like living in our home?”
“In fact, I also asked Wendy the same question.”
“Yes?”
It took Thylane a while to reply this time.
“She said of course we can, because it’s already our home.”