Chapter 7

Healy and Dalia drag the unconscious body of Asin to Lealy’s cabin and lay her down on the floor beneath the window. Dalia puts her mother’s arms closer to her body and her legs together and places a stained cloth that Lealy hands to her, under her neck. She then turns her head around the cabin. A narrow bed is placed in one side and the other walls are covered with metal shelves, except for where the cabin window and door are. The shelves are filled with jars, folded cloth and other things that Dalia does not recognise. There is a barrel of water, a broom and a basket full of unfolded cloth by the door.

Healy picks up a glass jar from a shelf and pours some fish oil in a copper bowl. Dalia leaps over the water barrel.

“Is this water clean?” she asks. Lealy takes out a few dried leaves from a tin box, powders them with the palm of her hand and adds it to the bowl.

“Not for drinking! Wait a bit… I’ll fetch you some drinking water soon,” Lealy replies. Dalia pours water all over her baldhead and her body. She also splashes some water on her mother’s face and sits beside her.

“It’s not that hot… The nights will be cool in here!” Lealy says with a surprise in her voice.

“I need to keep my skin moist… Especially my head. Otherwise my skin will crack,” Dalia replies, relieved by the cool moist of the water. She notices how Lealy is staring at her hairless head. She wants to explain but doesn’t know what to say. Lealy takes out a few more dried leaves from different jars and tins, puts some turmeric powder into the bowl and stirs the oil and the powders. She points to Dalia to take out some cloths from the basket by the door. But Dalia needs her metal plate finger tips to be able to pick things up. Lealy takes them out from a sack that hangs down her waist. The leather bands have tangled into one another. Dalia looks at the silver shine of her metal nails and picks them up with difficulty; she can’t tie them around her fingers. Lealy nags and sits in front of Dalia, untangles the leather bands and carefully ties them around Dalia’s fingers. Dalia is amazed by the fine and delicate motion of Lealy’s short, fat fingers.

“Were you born this way?” Lealy asks. Dalia nods.

“Why have you really come here? You know that I haven’t believed a word you said…You were lucky that Master Tirad came to give the ruling! If it was anyone else, they would have thrown you in to the sea,” Lealy continues. Dalia thanks her and Master Tirad and assures her that she hasn’t lied.

Healy checks the washed cloths and takes out three napkins that seem to have fewer stains on them. Asin has a cut on her side and there is still fresh blood around the wound. She washes the cut again, spreads some powdered leaves over it, puts some of her handmade poultice on the wound and covers it with a cloth. As she attends to Asin’s wounds one by one, she continues her questioning.