CHAPTER 25

ZARIA

 

The man convulsed violently beneath my hands, his eyes rolling back… and I realized there was no one else to help but me.

 

“This is accordance,” Uncle Thomas said, glancing at me briefly. “Body speaks so we listen. Not everything needs hospital machine.”

 

I swallowed, shame creeping up my spine. I’d complained about my life, my fear, my past, while this woman was watching her husband struggle to breathe because the system had failed them so completely.

 

Uncle Thomas was already inserting the third needle. His hands were so perfectly aligned. No, I could never do that without puncturing an artery. It was a good thing I did a related study back in Brazil.

 

Wang assisted, lighting the moxa and positioning it carefully. The smell intensified into earthy. The children watched silently now, eyes wide with fear and hope.

 

I stood frozen in the corner, feeling utterly useless.

 

The wife kept talking, words spilling out of her like she needed to empty herself just to survive the moment. How they had borrowed money last season. The harvest was poor. How her husband insisted on working anyway because the children needed school fees.

 

I clenched my fists.

 

I wish I already knew this. I wished I could help instead of standing there like an ignorant city girl who thought hospitals existed for everyone equally.

 

Slowly, gradually, the man’s breathing eased. Not fully, but enough that the panic in the room lessened a little.

 

The wife noticed first. She gasped, pressing her hand to her mouth.

 

“He’s calmer,” she whispered.

 

Uncle Thomas nodded. “Heat inside. We release. He must rest. No field for a week. Wang helps.”

 

Wang adjusted one of the needles.

 

“Thank you!” She nodded furiously, tears streaming down her face as she bowed repeatedly, thanking him over and over.

 

I watched them work together, showing years of practice.

 

With this skill… I would feel really helpful.

 

When they finally stepped back, the man was sleeping. The children climbed closer to him, hugging his lower body tenderly.

 

“Papa,” one of them whispered.

 

My eyes watered.

 

Outside, the noise of the village continued as if nothing had just happened. I followed Uncle Thomas out, unable to swallow the lump in my throat.

 

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “For what I said earlier.”

 

He waved it off. “You don’t know and that is normal.”

 

“But I should,” I replied. “I complain too much.”

 

He studied me for a moment, then nodded once. “You learn. That’s why you are here.”

 

Really. Was it?

 

Wang joined us, wiping his hands. “He’ll be okay if they listen.”

 

The wife rushed out again, bowing deeply to all three of us, pressing her palms together. “Thank you. Thank you. We have little, but—”

 

Uncle Thomas stopped her gently. “Go sit with him.”

 

She obeyed immediately.

 

I looked around at the compound again, really looked this time. The cracked walls. The open doors. The people are moving in and out freely. Well, it wasn’t poor in the way the city described poverty.

 

It was worse.

 

“Uncle,” I said slowly, “teach me.”

 

Thomas raised a brow. “Teach you what?”

 

“This,” I gestured vaguely. “So next time I don't just stand there.”

 

He smiled faintly. “First, you watch. Then you learn. City girlmust unlearn many things.”

 

I nodded, standing off to the side at first, unsure where to put myself. My hands hovered uselessly at my waist. Uncle Thomas hardly stopped talking, issuing instructions, asking questions, scolding one man for smoking too much while examining his tongue with a wooden stick.

 

“You,” Uncle Thomas said suddenly, pointing at me without looking. “Sit.”

 

I blinked. “Where?”

 

“Anywhere you not block people,” he replied. “And watch.”

 

So I did.

 

I perched on a low stool near the doorway, watching every movement. A woman with swollen ankles sat across from me, groaning softly when Wang pressed along her calves and explained something in a low voice.

 

A young boy cried dramatically while his grandmother scolded him for exaggerating before Thomas even touched him. Somewhere behind me, someone laughed too loudly, probably out of nerves.

 

This place was chaotic.

 

But it worked.

 

At some point, I noticed Wang glancing at me.

 

“You okay?” he asked quietly when he had a moment.

 

I nodded. “Yeah. Just… overwhelmed.”

 

He smiled slightly. “That goes away. Eventually.”

 

Before I could ask him what he meant by eventually, a loud argument broke out near the entrance. Two men were shouting over each other and dragging a third man between them.

 

The third man was pale, sweating profusely, barely conscious.

 

“Move,” Thomas barked, already on his feet.

 

A woman, probably the wife, followed close behind, wailing and clutching a cloth soaked in blood.

 

I froze.

 

She dropped to her knees, sobbing. “Please. Help him. Please.”

 

“He fell,” she cried, words tumbling out fast. “He fell from the ladder. His chest… his chest hurts. He says he cannot see properly.”

 

My heart slammed into my ribs. “This is internal bleeding. This man needs a hospital.”

 

Uncle Thomas shot me that look again.

 

“You see blood and think hospital,” he said sharply. “You don’t listen.”

 

“I am listening,” I insisted, stepping closer despite myself. “He fell. That’s trauma.”

 

“And government hospital will take him after how long?” Thomas countered. “You think ambulance come here?”

 

I didn’t have an answer.

 

When it was done, the man was helped into a sitting position… and his wife cried again, but this time in relief.

 

I swallowed hard. That could have gone very differently.

 

When the crowd thinned slightly, Thomas finally turned to me properly. “You still think hospital is only answer?”

 

I hesitated, then shook my head slowly. “No. I think… context matters.”

 

He nodded. “Good.”

 

I took a deep breath.

 

“You think too much,” he said slowly, studying me.

 

“Maybe,” I replied, licking my dry lips. “Thomas, that man Wang mentioned before. You know, the one in coma…”

 

“...how long,” I continued, keeping my voice calm, “can someone stay like that?”