After a week of being bedridden because of the pain, I felt a small shred of worry start in my gut at watching Noa vomit over the side of the ship. It didn’t appear like seasickness to me, and I was wholly basing that off of my own battle with it. We’d been at sea for a few weeks now, my own seasickness had gone, and it didn’t make sense to me, or to any of the crew, for him to suddenly get sick. I got more suspicious when I returned to our cabin after getting some air to find him sleeping. If he wasn’t throwing up or talking with Tal’kka, he was occupied at the little table.

He was on his side with his eyes closed, covered in sweat. I put my hand to his forehead; I didn’t need a thermometer to know he was running a fever, a really high one. As much as I would’ve let him overheat and melt his brain, I knew him dying wouldn’t bode well for my own safety. I may be the mother of his heir, but his heir was too young to take over his estate and duties, and I was completely out of my depth to give Benu a hand. I shook him awake. I needed him to be awake.

His eyes were red and glassy, his face abnormally pale. His arms were wrapped around his middle, and he let out a small groan. I wanted to tell him this was how I felt but stopped myself at how awful he seemed. The more I looked at him in the crystal lamp’s light, the worse he continued to appear. His eyes were sunken, his ears could barely stick up. “Why…did you…wake me…up?” He still had the strength to sound like a schmuck, at least. “Do you…need something?”

Noa began to push himself up, hands shaking as he moved them away from his abdomen. “You have a very high fever.” He let himself fall, returning to his original position. “Does your stomach hurt?” I slipped into my work persona, pretending he was just another person who walked into the emergency room. He gave me a defeated look, and I forced him onto his back. I palpated his belly, wanting to remove the thought it wasn’t from something he ate, only for him to wince and let out whine. I pressed the area a little more deeply, wracking my brain to remember what could cause his intestines to feel so off. “You didn’t eat anything you shouldn’t have, did you?”

He rolled back onto his side. “No,” he said. “I’ve been…eating the…same things…you have.” He closed his eyes as I told him that I may not know for certain if his intestines were bloated, it certainly felt like it to me. “How do you…know that?”

“I’m a doctor.” Barely, I was careful not to add that. While I did have a license to practice by the time I got whisked away to this world, I had only held it for a year or two. I was still being monitored by my superiors, less due to lack of ability, and more because of rumors I was using Nate for career advancement.

I had to work twice as hard to prove myself, so I didn’t appreciate it when Noa let out a small chuckle. “Ny’yom’a allowing…women to be…doctors? You must…be joking.”

I sighed. “I was never a woman to begin with.” He let out a scoff. “Anyway, you must have eaten something.”

“I haven’t.” He quieted for a few minutes. “Unless…I’m being poisoned.”

“If we’ve been eating the same foods, then why aren’t I sick?” I asked.

“The portions,” he said. “I eat the…bigger ones.” He grabbed my wrist, eyes as clear as they could be. “Don’t tell anyone.” He seemed genuinely sacred. “They can’t know…I know.”

He stopped eating the meals set aside from him, instead taking just enough of mine to sustain himself until we got to shore. I wasn’t entirely convinced he had been poisoned for weeks, but his health improved and didn’t continue to deteriorate as he stopped eating his food and began to eat mine. We didn’t speak of this to anyone, not to Tal’kka or G’wala, brushing it off as a cold. An uneasy feeling crept into me, though, the more that was used as our cover story. It grew and grew the closer we got to the colonies.

We disembarked at port, no one to come collect us. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but the idea of us being utterly alone, with no guards or eunuchs to accompany us, was of no help to quelling the dread in the pit of my stomach. I walked close to Noa while he carried our luggage, Tal’kka and G’wala walking behind us. We weaved through the streets of the market, Noa leading us to what I assumed was an inn. Instead, the inside was a tavern filled with people I could barely tear my eyes away from. I had become used to seeing animal ears and tails, but in addition to the Yu’ottuan, were those with horns and demon-like tails, those with the lower bodies of snakes, and those with various colors of bird wings attached to their backs. I would’ve stood there staring if G’wala hadn’t tapped me on the shoulder to get me following Noa again. He marched up a flight of stairs and right into a room, setting the luggage down before heading back into the hallway to wait for our other companions.

An entirely too short conversation took place, and we walked down the stairs and out of the tavern. Noa held my wrist, dragging me through the market once more as his nose sniffed out food. I half expected him to foam at the mouth at the first whiff of anything edible, instead his grip tightened, and his tail wagged slowly. He ear twitched as he pushed his way through the crowd, and he stopped suddenly, turning his head to face a woman at a stall. She waved, black cat ears in the air. “Paha Noha,” she practically purred. “What brings the Vahi back to the ‘biggest political mistake ever made’?”

“You.” He pointed a finger at her. “You owe me six gold.” He let go of my wrist to slam his hands on the counter of her stall, leaning against it in an act of intimidation.

She leaned forward and crossed her arms under her chest, pushing her bosom up and giving him just enough of a view down her white dress. “Six gold is so…hard to come by.” Her eyes shifted up and down his body. “Maybe we can work something else out?”

I felt jealousy rise in me as he seriously considered her advances. It was dumb for me to feel this way, he had a whole harem back in Yu’ottu, slept with countless women and men before me and that barely bothered me anymore now that I saw how terrible a person he was. He wasn’t Nate, no matter how much he looked like him. Yet, this woman making advances on my husband, made me want to tear all her hair out and choke her with her ridiculously big necklace. I decided to hold myself back, at least until Noa spoke once more. “Sure,” his nails dug into the wooden top. “Give me your necklace, Kana.” Her hand covered it protectively and Noa held his out. He waited until she reluctantly unclasped it and let it fall in his palm. “If I see you ever again…” He let his threat hang in the air and grabbed my wrist once more, resuming his mission. Once I felt we were out of earshot of her, I asked him what that was all about. “She drugged and stole from me the last time I was here,” he spat. “Make her life a living hell, Sae, if you see her again.”

We ate whatever it was Noa had sniffed out. It was a sort of pizza, an uneven flattish bread, smeared with a green sauce and fresh vegetables. I watched the people walk by, noticing those with darker colored skin and less clothing than the rest. Slits were carved into their necks or under their ribcage. Some sported colorful paint on their faces, others had dark inked geometric shapes tattooed on their bodies. A cloaked figure walked by, escorted by two knights in front and behind him, hands resting on the hilts of their swords. People made room for him, something I hadn’t realized I missed so much now that we weren’t in Yu’ottu. With how the people treated Noa back home, I guess I assumed it’d be similar here. He was important enough paths were cleared for him, women fawned over him, and he had contact with the Su’a. I wasn’t quite sure how far up the hierarchy the Su’a was, but he certainly was higher than Noa in status.

Noa clicked his tongue and muttered something under his breath as the cloaked man passed us. Tal’kka let out a small chuckle, leaving G’wala and I in the dark as to whatever was so funny. The anxious feeling in my gut subsided fully as we finished our food. I felt somewhat better at having figured out it was only hunger causing me to feel this way. Until it suddenly came back in full force as we wandered around the market, my hand forced through Noa’s arm.

It all happened so quickly none of us caught it in time. The only indication anything was wrong before Noa fainted, was him stumbling a step. I had only assumed he caught his shoe on the street until he almost took me down with him. G’wala caught him before he fell face first into the pavement, holding him upright as he regained his composure. “What’s the matter, Vai?” Tal’kka took the words right from my throat.

Noa kept his hand against his side, keeping his head from drooping to look at it. “I…don’t believe I can walk,” he said. Tal’kka said G’wala’s name, and he turned around to give Noa a piggyback ride. “I’ve…been stabbed.” He put a hand in one of his pant’s pockets. “And been robbed…again.”

On our way back to our lodgings, I asked Tal’kka if he could find some a few things for me. He broke off from our group, and I kept one eye on Noa and the other on anyone who felt suspicious to me. I doubted we would find the culprit in the mass of people, but keeping G’wala or I from being stabbed as well was much more important. I choked back a quip that he was afraid of his own blood, the color slowly going from his face enough to keep it down.

I did a quick visual sweep of our room once we returned. Nothing appeared to be out of place, leading me to believe this wasn’t a premediated crime. I had G’wala boil me water while I looked at the would on the floor. Noa kept his gaze squarely on the ceiling, clenching his jaw and wincing as I pulled the fabric of his shirt away, the air coming into contact. The edges were coated in blood and difficult for me to see. I touched away from the wound, pressing areas of skin in and waiting for his reactions. It wasn’t a foolproof method of seeing if an organ had been nicked, but it was what I had without water.

G’wala brought me the water I’d asked for and Tal’kka returned with the items I had requested. I cleaned my hands in the hot water and around the wound. The edges were jagged, whoever had done this wanted to cause as much damage as they could in that short time. I poured alcohol over a hand and the wound, Noa letting out a high pitched and squeaky whine as I stuck fingers into the gash, feeling for even the tiniest bit of a tear in an organ. If I hadn’t been focused on saving his very, very slow death, I would’ve played around with the laceration, give him just the tiniest taste of the pain he had put me through. Instead, finding no nicks, I pulled my fingers out, washing the blood from my hand. I felt Noa’s muscles contract as I made the wound bigger, cutting away the uneven edges to give myself an easier surface to sew shut. I pulled the needle in and out, tying off my stitch and bandaging the area.

Noa slowly pushed himself up. “How do you feel about women doctors now that one’s saved your life?” He fiddled with his shirt, a moment away from answering before he captured sight of the blood on his hand. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and I grabbed his upper body to keep him from slamming on the hardwood floor.