Berganashio - Chapter 35

To read the preceding chapter to this story, follow this link below:

https://vocal.media/fiction/berganashio-chapter-34

Keenwai was amazed at the speed of which Finy wildly tore through the woods. He and Kunya pursued the deranged, skeletal meerbird.

Kunya was breathing deeply from running. "The merfarie tears... they didn't work!" She was confused and disappointed. "I thought they'd bring healing instantly like with the blinded meerbirds..."

The two of them didn't want to fly because woods were so thick. If they flew up too high, they were concerned that they would lose Finy completely. After several intense moments of pursuit, they caught up to her. She stumbled and rolled into the dirt. Trying to get back up, Keenwai clutched her bone thin arm. Finy tried to bite him ferociously.

"You can't take me!" She appeared even more mangled and matted in the light now.

Keenwai dodged another lunge from her, "We aren't trying to hurt you!"

"We only want to help you!" Kunya gently reached out a paw to pat down some of Finy's filthy feathers that were so sparse that she doubted that she could even fly anymore. Indeed, the sickly, crazed meerbird's heart was beating incredibly fast. Her skin was so thin, you could seen her heart beating through her chest.

Finy tore away from them both and scampered into one of the caverns of Mem. She was determined to escape her pursuers. It was the same cave that the fairies had recently been trapped in, until the giant had freed them by moving the boulders that were blocking them in the cave.

This time Kunya caught Finy and started carefully whispering in her ear. Keenwai could not make out what she was saying to his mother though. Kunya was desperately trying to calm her down and gain some level of trust, long enough to reason with her.

For a brief second, Finy's body relaxed. Kunya started reciting a childhood poem.

"One touch of the Wind,

her reach is just around the bend.

Her hand will send you up, up, up,

high, away from River's laughs and grins."

Kunya stopped. Finy was staring down at her dark reflection in the water. It was the same water that had been turned sweet after the queen of the fairies had heard the voice and relinquished her unforgiving heart.

Kunya, also looked at her reflection in the water.

"You could sure use a bathing," she couldn't help but see that Finy was less manic after hearing the short poem recited. "You're so covered in mud from the pit back there! And now I am too!" She looked down at her fur.

Kunya splashed a bit of the water on Finy's bottom paws. The caked mud seemed to hang on for dear life. The water and Kunya's soothing voice were breaking through slowly. Kunya slowly dipped into the water and pulled Finy in after her, cradling her body in a maternal fashion. Finy's entire body became mostly limp. Kunya smiled, "Now, hold your breath we're going under for just a second."

Some of the mud was loosening from Finy's body. The shell of mud surrendered from her body and feathers. The two female meerbird rose back up from under the water. Kunya cradled Finy as if she was a new baby meerbird pup. Keenwai watched them in the water with pure fascination in his eyes. Standing still, he admired Kunya's gentleness. Typically, meerbirds never swam at all. Most of them tried to steer clear of large bodies of water. Their breed preferred dryer terrains. It was rare to ever be fully submerged in water.

This sweet water was different though. Kunya pulled Finy up above the water. Some of the water ran down on Kunya's thin delicate lips. "It tastes sweeter than most water!"

Finy's eyes became clearer and she shook her head. "It does, you're right!" She copied Kunya, tasting a mouthful of the refreshing water herself. "Something about this water tastes..." She thought for a second..."eternal! As if I could never forget the taste of it, I mean. Yes! I feel alive!"

Keenwai and Kunya looked at one another. Indeed, Finy's eyes no longer appeared to be crazed. She was lucid. Her body was calm and still now.

Finy sat on the edge of the water, dangling her bottom paws in the water, pleasurably. "I simply don't remember where I've been at all." She looked at Kunya, trying to search her face for answers. "How did we get here, Kunya?"

Kunya gasped. "You've remembered my name!"

"Of course, I remember your name." She repeated the name again. "Kunya. My son has been in love with you forever, it seems." She looked back and winked at Keenwai. "Right, son?"

With tears in his eyes, Keenwai knew with certainty that his mother had been healed. Yes, she had been washed clean from the delusion and bondage of the sheckleberries, at last! He sat down and hugged his mother tightly.

It seemed that Finy didn't remember any of the time she had spent under the power of the sheckleberries. She didn't even recall recently being in the mud pit at all. It was heartbreaking to have to recount that the previous chief Hatan had died of natural causes. They caught her up on many things that had happened since she had been away.

"So, Bargan is out there somewhere too?" Finy asked.

"He is. Hopefully. Though we have not seen him in a very long time," Keenwai answered her.

They had found a decaying log outside of the cavern and cracked it open. The three of them were eating several juicy grubs that they had found in the log. Finy was especially hungry.

Kunya was thinking deeply, mostly about her anointing that she had received on the past anointing day. The anointing of healing had proven to have many surprises. She share her thoughts with the other two meerbirds. "With healing... there's never a formula exactly. It's pretty unique and special for everyone, I think. I've learned that healing is a bit mysterious. The timing has to be right. Sometimes, it comes quickly. Other times it takes longer, and you've got to get a bit dirty first before it occurs..." She faded off, still pondering the past events.

Keenwai thought of the mud pit and nodded. "That makes sense, like with the vials of merfarie tears, they brought sight back to the blinded meerbirds. That was sudden!"

Kunya put her paw over the empty vial that still hung around her neck. "But the tears, they didn't work for Finy... but I'm glad the sweet water in the caves did!"

Finy yielded a curious look in her eyes. "You two need to tell me more about these merfarie creatures...They sound very interesting, indeed! Healing in their tears! Why, never heard the like of such a thing!"

"Oh, we have plenty of time to to tell you all about them!"

The three meerbirds set off to try and find Bargan, Keenwai's long lost brother. He had been drawn away by the sheckleberries himself. With higher hope, they now knew what the antidote for the evil berries was!

Author's Note:

Stay tuned for chapter 36 which will be coming soon...