Page 62 of Stars in Aura

She didn’t need a scan to know he was dying.

The chrono on her wrist ticked on.

This was the cost.

The tonnage of her penance.

Without a word, she knelt before the child and held out her hands.

The grandmother hesitated, then placed the boy into Issa’s waiting arms.

He was just skin and bones, far too emaciated, under a healthy weight.

Issa pressed her palms against his frail, swollen belly, closing her eyes and allowing the energy within her to rise.

Warmth surged through her fingertips, golden ribbons of radiance weaving over the child’s dermis, sinking deep, burning away the sickness with every heartbeat.

His body shuddered.

A feeble, keening whimper escaped him, but his miniature digits curled around her wrist.

The tumor beneath her hands shrank, its unnatural mass dissolving, leaving behind only smooth, healed flesh.

His breath evened.

His pulse grew steady.

The boy stirred, tiny fingers reaching upward, touching her face.

Issa let out a slow, controlled exhalation and pulled back, handing the child to its parents.

The grandmother sobbed.

The couple clutched each other and their baby, their tears falling over the young one’s wide-eyed face.

Words of gratitude spilled from their lips, a blend of blessings and thanks, spoken in hushed reverence.

Thenanapressed a jar of honey into her hands.

The father followed with a compact bundle of herbs wrapped in cloth, a gift of whatever they could spare.

Issa took them, unwilling to be rude.

She had nowhere to place the gifts, but in moments like these, the exchange mattered.

She stood and bowed to the bundled family and exited, like she always did, to give the the privacy they now needed to heal their souls.

‘There are more,’ Zera whispered.

Issa sighed. Of course, there were always more.

‘Show me.’

12

Relentless Pursuits

Ki’REMI

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