Love for a Mother - Part 2

Ira’s hand shot to cover her mouth, and I grimaced at the sight. I just hoped this woman was simply in a slumber, unable to realize what had happened to her. If she were conscious, I wouldn’t even be able to imagine how much of a toll on her mental health it would be.

But that wasn’t the only surprising thing. Beside the human statue, sat a young girl. She looked to be around the age of ten, if not a little younger, with long, light green hair. Curtain bangs hung on her face, some strands falling into her eyes. She sat there curled up, with her legs pulled to her chest. Her face and clothes were covered with dirt. She looked unnaturally skinny and sickly pale. Part of me wondered if she was deathly ill.

“Keep a watch on the child for me while I ask about her situation”, I said to Ira, who was still frozen in horror.

“Okay”, she responded quietly. I constantly saw curse after curse, and while this was one of the worst I had ever seen, I still wasn’t particularly distraught. I think this might’ve been a reality check for her. I could only hope that she was able to overcome this feeling. It wasn’t a bad thing to be empathetic, but sometimes you needed to be able to put those feelings aside.

I strolled over to the nearby vendors and pointed towards the woman in stone. They fed me information on rumors about who they were and why the woman was cursed. The cursed woman was named Evara, and her child, who remained beside her, is Asha. One rumor said she neglected her child, who loves her enough to remain by her side, even though Evara showed no sign of coming back. Or another rumor, that Asha was the love child of the Evara’s lover and some other woman, leading to the abuse of her child. Or the last, that she was looking to sell Asha for gold, obtaining the wrath of Wishmaker. Each one of the rumors was equally as grave as the other, and I was beginning to have little sympathy for her. Asha was skinny enough to have not been fed properly for at least months. But this might be all a misunderstanding. Some families are simply too poor to be fed properly. Who knows, Evara could give her child plenty of love, but have little food to give her. Either way, little Asha’s problems would not be solved simply by her mother turning to stone. No one in this village was going to take care of her. As shown by everyone passing by her with little regard.

After obtaining all the information I could, I slowly approached Asha with Ira once again by my side. I relayed everything I had learned to her, and we agreed to question Asha first before doing anything else. As we got closer, I began to see discoloration on Asha’s skin. Her arms and legs, layered with yellow bruises. There were far too many and in varying places to be considered an accident, and my stomach began to sink.

“Hello”, I began, crouching down to Asha’s size, “My name is Nia, and this here is Ira. We’re not from this village, but we were hoping to ask you a few questions, if that’s alright.” Asha lifted her head from her knees as we approached, and her shoulders tightened. I don’t think she was used to anyone coming up to her.

“What kind of questions?” Her little voice sounded so weak.

“Ones about you and your mom,” I answered, a small smile on my face, “Can I ask for your names?” Always start with the easiest to answer questions.

“My name’s Asha, and my mom’s name is Evara.”

“And how old are you?”

“Thirteen”, she said, her body beginning to relax. I hid my surprise at her age. She must’ve been malnourished for longer than I thought.

“What are you doing out here?” I asked, lowering myself even further by sitting on the ground with her. My fingers ran through the grass.

“I’m waiting for Mommy to come back. The others said that since Mommy treated me badly then that meant she was punished. But if she gets better, that means she is all done with her punishment, right? That she would be a good mommy to me.” She looked at me with pleading eyes, as if to beg me to confirm her line of thinking.

“Your mom has to get better first,” I said, avoiding directly answering her. “I can help you with that. Would you like me to?” She tensed up once again, pulling herself tightly into a ball. Asha pondered the question for longer than I expected her to. What was going on in that tiny head, I couldn’t even think to guess, but eventually she had an answer.

“I think I’d like you to.” Her voice was even quieter than before, and she sounded unsure. I couldn’t blame her. For a young thirteen-year-old girl, she seemed quite thoughtful and kind even through her circumstances.

“I’m able to fix her, but only at nighttime. Do you know what that means?” I said in a sing-song tone. She shook her head at me.

“That means we get to go get some food, and then we’ll come back here at nighttime. How does that sound?” I stand and offer her a hand. She gently outstretches her own and intertwines her hand in mine.

“I don’t have any money to pay for food”, she says honestly.

“Don’t worry Asha, it's on me today”, Ira grins. “Do you have a favorite food?”

“Chicken!” Asha began to stand, and I could see her excitement begin to grow. Ira grabbed hold of her other hand, and all three of us together walked through town in search of the place that looked like it had the tastiest chicken. We received growing stares as the villagers recognized Asha but grew startled at seeing her roaming the village instead of sitting with her mother. Instead of compassion or sympathy, they instead wore faces of resentment and disgust. We spoke with Asha the entire way in order to distract her from the negative attention, and I only hoped she hadn’t noticed and only had thoughts of her piping hot chicken we were about to provide.