Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [161]
Wataru turned and began to run.
Chapter 12
Meena
Wataru bent back through the tunnel of light-arriving at the chapel ruins at the symbol on the ground. He thought he had run the whole way, but he wasn’t out of breath. He hadn’t even broken a sweat.
Nearby, Kee Keema stood atop a rocky outcropping. Alongside him was the slender silhouette of Meena, the two of them framed by the rising morning sun. Their faces were cast in shadows, making their expressions impossible to read.
Wataru silently climbed to the top of the protruding rock formation. Kee Keema and Meena looked at each other. The waterkin shook his head ever so slightly as if to say, “Best not to ask.”
“Kutz and Trone have already gone back,” Kee Keema said in a cheery but slightly affected manner. “We should go too and get ourselves some breakfast.”
The three began to walk along the outcropping. Wataru took care where he placed his feet, keeping his eyes on the ground below. The next time he looked up, the day had fully dawned.
He turned and glanced back at the barren land they had just left—the grasslands, the rocky crags. Vision. The wind whipping across the grass stung his eyes.
That’s why I’m crying…it’s the wind stinging my eyes. Or maybe it’s the beautiful view.
Not because I thought, just for a moment, how much I’d like to show it to Mom. That’s not why I’m crying. I’m not a little boy, not anymore.
Yet his cheeks were damp. Kee Keema stopped for a second and looked at him, then resumed his plodding pace forward. He motioned to Meena with his eyes as if to say “Let him cry.”
Up to this point, the cat-girl had been walking behind Wataru. Now she hastened her pace to catch up to him. “Did you see your mother?”
Wataru nodded. He wiped his face with his arm.
“I’m glad.” Meena gently patted the boy on the back.
“She was asleep, so…we couldn’t talk,” Wataru said. “I wasn’t there long enough to explain anything anyway.”
“I’m sure she understands. I’m sure she knows you were there, even if she was asleep.”
Wataru lifted his eyes to look at her. Meena shot him an encouraging smile. “That’s how mothers are. Even when they are far away, they know how their children are doing. Perk up, Wataru. If you’re sad, she’ll sense that, right?”
Wataru blinked. A final teardrop fell from his eye. “Right!”
According to the doctor’s analysis, the well water by the chapel ruins had been contaminated with a strong insecticide for repelling insects and other pests. When Wataru told him about the skeletons he had met by the altar in the underground chamber, the doctor said he would very much like to examine those bones.
“If they died by insecticide, the bones would bear traces of it. I wonder if they all died from drinking that water? That would clarify at least one aspect of Cactus Vira’s curative activities.”
“Isn’t it a bit late to worry about what happened?” Wataru asked.
“Of course,” said the doctor gravely. “No amount of investigation will bring back those who have died. But if we expose the facts about Cactus Vira, about exactly what sort of man he was, then perhaps we can prevent people from being fooled the next time some crazy guy comes along.”
Meena’s wounds were raw and exposed. The doctor administered more ointment and scolded her for not being careful. She yelped at his brusque treatment—yet, for some reason, sat there with a big smile on her face. It was like looking at a different person than the cat-girl Wataru had seen in the crowd only a few days before.
Where did she come from, I wonder? Why was she with the ankha refugees from the North? Where did she learn to move like she does? How did she come to wear the Mirror of Truth? Wataru had so many questions he wanted to ask that he tagged along with Kee Keema during his hospital visit later in the day.
Meena saw the look on his face when he entered the room and beamed. “You want to know my story, don’t you,” she said, anticipating his question. “One thing you should know is that originally, there were very