00:00 Adira: Willing to See, Scene 2
00:46 Eiluna
01:28 Welfrid
02:28 Never Normal Again

Scene 2: Midnight Contemplations

Adira's stomach wouldn't settle. Deep pain in her gut - or was it her heart? - it made it feel like the life was draining out from her like water swirling through the sand and disappearing into the earth, never to be seen again. Would anything be left of her when all of this was over?

She sat cradled on the front porch, overlooking her sleeping little town. The full moon illuminated everything in the valley with its blue-white glow: the sloping roofs of homes and businesses, sheds and barns; fences and pens for horses, chickens, cows, and donkeys; winding roads and pathways, developed, at first, with little rhyme or reason.

Eiluna

This was Eiluna, her little hometown. They lived on the village's south side, at the top of a gentle slope. Their horses were tucked away in their stalls, silent. Her garden spread across the back of their small property behind the house.

What would become of them all if her father died? The only thing she understood was that life would never be the same. Perhaps it was too late, and life would never be the same regardless.

And did she want things to remain as they were? While there was nothing specifically wrong with her life, she also felt so much was lacking. But maybe that was from the devastation writhing through her insides. 

Welfrid

In the distance, a donkey brayed. She sighed. Her father was not any better. The apothecary had tried sucking out the poison and recommended a drinkable concoction to flush out any venom. But he hadn't seemed optimistic, and that scared Adira the most. Welfrid was a kind man, a bit eccentric, with wispy gray hair and a smile for all his customers. He chatted jovially with Adira whenever she visited his shop in town, fetching herbs for her mother that they didn't grow in their garden. He would have shared as much hope with them as he could. The fact that he had looked nervous and somber shook Adira almost as much as first seeing her father on that stretcher had.

Her brothers were upstairs in their room, her mother tending their father in the bedroom she shared with him just off the kitchen. Hopefully, she would get some sleep, although Adira doubted it. Fussing and fidgeting was her mother's way of coping, but she would need to keep her strength up for the days ahead.

Never Normal Again

Her father was feverish and seemed in intense pain, fading in and out of consciousness. He had begun spasming as the night wore on and was pale to almost looking blue. As far as Adira knew, he had said nothing since returning home. The last thing Adira could remember him saying to her was, "See you tonight," as he kissed her forehead before leaving for the fields that morning.

Life had felt so normal just that morning - what seemed an eternity ago. Adira used to think of her life as too normal, and it was part of why she had left for her trip to Bemia. Normal for her family meant constant and routine, and she had wondered if their home life would ever change. 

But at that moment on the doorstep, Adira wished her life hadn't changed. She felt a twinge of guilt as if her inner desires could have brought this tragedy on them. If her father died, their life would never be normal again.