Until I Leave III

As soon as they heard that Hanson had fainted, Carolyn and Atla jumped from their seats and hurried over to where the commotion was. In the centre of the village square, across from the building where the weekly classes took place, a crowd of villagers had surrounded Hanson, who laid unconscious on the ground.

"Everyone! Please open the way!"

"It's Miss Doc, clear the path!"

Upon recognising Carolyn, the villagers quickly gave way for her.

"Thank you. Someone, please call Mr. Teri as well."

"I'll do it!"

While a volunteer ran off to get Teri, Carolyn went to check on Hanson. Fortunately, she had come down to treat a patient, so she had her medical tools with her. After checking his vitals, Carolyn was first relieved that he didn't seem to be in any life-threatening danger. It seemed his arms were positioned to hit the ground first and ended up absorbing most of the impact instead of his head.

"Hanny! Is he okay?!"

As Rilis burst into the scene, looking as pale as a ghost, Carolyn raised her head to reassure her.

"Thankfully, he seems to only be asleep."

"Whew. Gosh, he worried me so much."

Rilis' eyes showed tears of relief, and once the rest of the crowd began to breathe easy, Carolyn continued.

"Still, I'm still not sure what caused him to collapse. Did anyone see anything?"

"I only saw him leaving the school and then suddenly dropping to the ground."

"Yeah, it was the same for me. Man, was that scary."

"I don't know what we would do if something ever happened to the chief."

After concluding that he could be moved safely, Carolyn asked a few men to carry him to his house. No one appeared to know the cause behind his sudden fainting, but she judged that getting him on a proper surface to rest would be much better than leaving him here.

"Lyn, he'll be okay, right?" Atla asked.

"Of course. I won't let anything happen to him."

Carolyn gave Atla a hug to help settle her fears before following the group carrying Hanson along with Rilis. The bedrooms were on the second floor, but Carolyn judged it too risky to carry him upstairs, so she had the men lay him on a couch in the living room instead.

"Thank you, everyone."

Rilis thanked the men, but her eyes remained on her unconscious husband.

"Nah, you don't gotta thank us. Everybody knows how much Hanson's done for the village, so of course we gotta help out if he's in trouble."

The men still seemed worried, but they left the room leaving Carolyn and Rilis to take care of Hanson.

"Ms. Rilis, could you remove his shirt for me? Mr. Teri should be here soon, so I want to prepare a few things in the meantime."

"Ah, of course."

Carolyn could have done everything by herself, but she believed it would be better if Rilis moved her hands rather than drowning in her worries. In the year since they first met, Rilis hadn't shown any sign of aging, but as she took care of Hanson, she seemed to lack her usual youthful glow. Carolyn tried to explain that he would be fine, but it didn't look like Rilis would relax until Hanson awoke.

Soon after Rilis took off Hanson's shirt and wiped off his sweat, Teri entered the house.

"What's his condition?"

Teri usually kept a relaxed attitude, but his gaze became sharp when it was time to treat patients.

"Based on my understanding, he fell unconscious due to exhaustion. Fortunately, his arms seemed to have taken most of the impact, so there's no sign of a head injury. Still, I haven't given him a thorough inspection yet, so there could be something I missed."

"Mmm. I'm sorry, Rilis, but could you give us some space?"

"Ah, sure. He'll be okay, right, Teri?"

"Leave Hanson to us. You can focus on the kids in the meantime."

"Okay."

Carolyn felt a prick in her heart when she glanced at the dazed Rilis, but she quickly shifted her focus to helping Teri treat Hanson. After a series of tests, Teri finished his analysis.

"As you said, the cause appears to be exhaustion; most likely, he hasn't been able to sleep properly. The damn fool."

"A lack of sleep? Should we ask Ms. Rilis about it?"

"No, she likely doesn't know about this."

"?"

Carolyn was confused, but she held back her questions and waited for Teri to elaborate. Once he was done examining Hanson, Teri took a seat in a chair across from where he slept.

"A few weeks ago, he secretly came to see me for medicine to make him sleep easier. I recommended a tea blend to relax his nerves, but apparently it wasn't enough. Even if he could start sleeping, it didn't last for long, but he didn't ask for anything more. Of course, I wouldn't thoughtlessly give him anything with a stronger effect either, so I inquired about what was stopping him from sleeping to see if I could help him on that end. Ultimately, I couldn't do anything about his problem, so I asked him to come back if anything changed, but judging from his condition, he probably hasn't slept for days."

"So that's why. And he hid this from Ms. Rilis? Does it have something to do with what's stopping him from sleeping?"

"That, you'll have to ask him yourself. If I stay here for too long, I might slap his careless face, so I'll head back. You can stay here for the night. I imagine he'll wake up soon, but there might be things he wants to say to you."

Teri left many of her questions unanswered, but that wasn't strange for him, so she didn't complain. After Teri left, Carolyn helped Rilis take care of the children and do house chores until Hanson awakened.

"Lyn, do you think I'm a bad wife?" asked Rilis after putting her youngest child to sleep.

"Of course not. You're a great wife, and Hanson loves you."

"Yes, I believed that too, but... I noticed that he was having trouble sleeping, but since he went to Teri and didn't seem tired, I didn't ask him about it. I just thought, that he would be fine, like always, and this is the result. Because I was such a stupid and inconsiderate wife..."

"Ms. Rilis..."

Carolyn found it hard to come up with words to soothe her, so she hugged her from behind like how her mother used to comfort her. They were about the same height, but this was the first time Rilis ever seemed so small. Perhaps because of the sleeping children, or maybe for her own sake, she only whimpered in place. And all Carolyn could do was embrace her so that she knew that she wasn't alone. After a couple minutes of shaking, some vigour returned to Rilis' eyes, but a cloud hovered over her heart that suppressed her sunny smile. Thankfully, Carolyn didn't have to see her in this sad state for very long.

"Rilis..."

It was a voice at a volume so low it could have been mistaken for random noise, but neither of the two misrecognized it. They dashed into the living room and found Hanson sitting up on the couch he was lying on.

"Sorry, how long was I out?"

"Hanny!"

With a lunge so strong that Carolyn was slightly worried about Hanson, Rilis leapt at him.

"Uof! What's wrong, Rilis?"

"I was worried, you idiot! If you had such a hard time sleeping, why didn't you tell me anything?"

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. I just didn't want to worry you."

"Well, we see how that turned out."

"You're right. This is my fault. How can I make it up to you?"

"Well, first, you have to promise to never hide stuff like this from me again."

"Sure."

"As for the rest, think about it yourself!"

"So you're leaving it up to me. Okay, I'll do my best to make you forgive me."

Although this was a nice scene, it made Carolyn feel like a third wheel. Still, it was a small room, so once he had the presence of mind to look around, Hanson quickly noticed her.

"Oh, Miss Carolyn. Were you the one who treated me?"

"Just first-aid. Mr. Teri handled the rest."

"Yes, you better thank the two of them Hanny. Plus Barry, George and Filo helped carry you inside."

"I see. I really have made trouble for everyone this time."

"That's right. I hope you're reflecting,"

Suddenly, Hanson's growling stomach interrupted Rilis. He blushed and tried to ignore it, but Rilis certainly wasn't feeling kind enough to let it pass.

"Oh my, what a loud stomach! You must be feeling really hungry after passing out before lunch. Shall I go make something?"

"...Yes, please."

"Should I help?"

"No, you can stay here, dear."

With a smile, equal parts relieved and mischievous, Rilis went into the kitchen.