The Fire and the Sky (Book 3 of the... - Chapter 6: Chapter 6

The only sound May could muster was a short, strangled cry.
Was she dreaming?
Had she fallen for some kind of trap?
Her brain howled for her to flee but her body would not obey.
"Ah, you're awake." Emandi lowered themself beside the nest of blankets and stared at May stoically. "Shall we begin?"
"What. What's happen." May could barely string two words together. "What's happening?"
"We're going to fix you," Emandi said, gesturing to her body still huddled beneath the quilt.
"But your face. Why are you–"
Emandi waved off her question with a casual flick of their paw. "I'll explain when we're finished." They nodded at the quilt. "Whenever you're ready, darling."
All May wanted to do was pull the covers over her head and hide. Surely this was all just a terrible, exhaustion-induced nightmare. Yet despite herself, she muscled through the fear and folded the quilt down, pressing her trembling lips into a tight line.
Emandi's eyes narrowed. They leaned in and sniffed at May's mangled flesh; the metallic funk of blood made her stomach turn. The creature was truly massive and, in this moment, May was petrified. With their eloquent vocabulary and bipedal movements, it was easy to be distracted by Emandi's more human qualities. But now, with their giant feline head and gore-soaked maw snuffling a mere breath from her pounding heart, May half expected something to snap – the animal that Emandi appeared to be suddenly overcoming all other senses and driving them to devour her alive.
Instead, Emandi drew back and met her frantic gaze with a steady one of their own.
"This isn't as bad as it looks," they told her. May wasn't sure if they were talking about her wound or the situation. In either case, she had her doubts. "Still, I should be frank with you: this is going to hurt. But don't worry, it will be over quickly."
May's breath escaped her. "What will be–"
Emandi opened their mouth. Blood spilled from their jaw, teeth, and tongue, glistening crimson in the firelight.
"Wait!" May cried.
Emandi did not.
What Emandi did was drag their rough and bloody tongue from the base of May's ribs up to her collarbone. Their body was feline, and their tongue was no exception. May shrieked, as the steel wool texture seemed to shred the skin from her body. She panicked and squirmed, trying to escape, but the great cat's powerful paws pinned her arms like a bird's wings.
In the final split second of agony, May couldn't tell if she was going to vomit, pass out, or both. Her vision grew dark around the edges, and then...
Nothing.
Emandi sat back. "Apologies for the trauma. I realize it's a terribly painful experience."
May blinked. She looked down to find her chest covered in blood, but she felt no pain whatsoever. "What did you do?"
"Exactly what I said I'd do," Emandi answered gently. They reached back to the pot – removed from the fire while May slept – and pulled a rag from the steaming water. Wringing it tightly, they handed it to May. "Get cleaned up."
Baffled, May took the cloth and did as instructed. She mopped the tears from her face and the blood from her body and gasped when she saw the skin underneath.
The wound was gone – not even the scar remained. In fact, the only sign that anything had happened was a faint sheen to the skin; any place where Emandi's tongue touched now glimmered like polished moonstone.
Emandi, who had retreated to the shadows, lapped noisily at their water supply. When they meandered back to the fire, their chin dripped and the fur of their face was stained the color of rust.
"How do you feel?" they asked.
May laid a hand across her chest. "I feel wonderful." Her voice was full of reverence.
Emandi smiled serenely. They dropped onto all fours and crawled into the nest, curling around May like a wreath and resting their head atop their mighty paws. Their soft fur and radiating warmth surrounded her like and embrace.
"Go on then," Emandi purred, a sly smile cutting across their face. "Ask your questions."
May didn't hesitate.
"What are you?" she asked, blunt and to the point.
"I am an Emandi," the creature replied as if that should have been obvious.
May squinted. "I thought that was you name."
"It is what I am, so it may as well be what you call me. I have no other name."
This made May sigh. She was too tired to be playing games with a magical creatures in the woods, and gratitude alone wasn't enough to stay her patience.
"What are the chances you'd be willing to just tell me what that means without me having to ask a million questions first?"
Emandi chuckled and lifted their enormous head. Their magenta eyes flowed faintly. "Fine, have it your way. The Emandi were the first fauna – the only true children of the Sun and the Earth, in fact."
May frowned. She new what Emandi was referring to. The old stories were the myths that told of how, at the beginning of time, the Moon fell in love with the Ocean, and the Sun with the Earth. Their unions brought forth the flora and fauna that now inhabited the planet. But Emandi's version of events didn't exactly fit with the version of the story May had grown up believing.
"I thought they created all life."
"They planted the seeds." Emandi pointed a clawed toe at themself. "Everything else was the result of what you humans call evolution."
"Okay, what about this?" May tapped her chest. "Can all Emandi do that?"
Emandi rolled onto their back and stretched long, their legs twisting in opposite directions as they yawned. "I thought you didn't want to ask questions."
May let out a frustrated groan and gave the creature a nudge. "C'mon, I want to know."
All around her the nest rumbled with the vibration of Emandi's purring.
"Alright, no need to get pushy," they said with a toothy grin. "The Emandi have always possessed the ability to regenerate our organic bodies. It's how we survive for millenia."
"Wait," May turned this new piece of information over in her mind. "So, when you said the Emandi were the first fauna on earth... do you literally mean you were one them?"
"We all were."
For a moment May simply stared, trying to wrap her mind around the idea that the creature lounging at her side was truly ancient. She reached out a tentative hand, curious to experience them through this new lense, but hesitated. Surely it would be impolite to assume she could simply pet one of the oldest creatures on the planet as if they were some kind of common housecat. Emandi blinked at the hand hovering between them. They dipped their head and nudged it beneath her palm.
May felt blessed.
"So, this ability to regenerate is what keeps you alive?" she asked slowly. "How does it work?"
"It's a simple matter of transposing organic material. In many ways it's just like eating, except I can choose whether or not my meal is broken down for caloric energy or diverted to restoring parts of myself that are failing. Mind you, I've rather simplified the process but the concept remains the same. Somewhere over the centuries we discovered the same ability can be used to repair the bodies of other."
The image of Emandi's blood-soaked face intruded on May's thoughts. She swallowed, forcing herself to block out any idea of where the organic material needed to heal the gash in her chest came from.
"I'm guessing this ability has something to do with how you created a body for Em?"
Emandi shrugged, acting modest as if they hadn't worked the ultimate miracle. But May could see the pride in the cat's smile.
"Like I said," Emandi replied. "My explanation is a significant oversimplification, but the short answer is, yes."
It was a lot to take in, and if May thought too hard about it – if she picked too much at the edges of her rapidly expanding universe – her mind began to ache. She was fascinated, but she was also so tired. She slumped against Emandi's side and lay her ear on their back as it rose and fell with each breath. The plushness of their fur was warm and luxurious against her bare skin, and the flow of their breathing lulled her. She was nearly asleep when Emandi spoke softly, jarring her.
"Where is she May?" Their voice seemed to echo through her entire body. "What has become of Emanthy?"
It was a question May assumed would come, but hearing it out loud still stung.
"She's with WIND." She assumed Emandi, having played the role they did in Em's rebirth, had privy to her history as Audrey.
Beneath her heavy head, Emandi shifted.
"That doesn't make sense," the great cat insisted. "Emanthy was grateful to leave that life behind. She was starting over and, as far as I had been led to believe, she was doing so with you."
May sighed. "She may have been trying to give up the ghost, but it wasn't ready to give up on her." She paused. Just thinking about they way Jeremy, Connor, Rue, and Priva had upended their lives brought every conflicting emotion of compassion and anger come flooding back anew. She had to take a slow, deep breath before she could will herself to continue. "They found out about her and tracked us down. They needed her help dealing with the Loyals."
It was an oversimplification of her own.
"Without you?" Emandi asked gently.
"She thought I'd be safer this way."
Emandi made a pithy incredulous sound. "Based on the way I found you I would say that was a considerable misjudgement on her part."
This made May laugh – not hard, but at least genuinely.
"And what were you doing out in the wilderness alone, May?"
She turned her head and found Emandi watching her closely.
"My first stop is Tenna. Do you know it?"
Emandi nodded, so she continued.
"My friend Dominic sent for me, said it was important."
"And after that?"
May felt a half-smile pull at the corners of her mouth. "I'm going to find the fallen wishing star."
There was a beat of silence between them. The tip of Emandi's tail gave a couple small flicks.
"Be careful May. That star has caused a lot of trouble."
"Oh, I know," May said. She crawled close so they were face to face and dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "That's why I'm going to find it.
And when I do, I'm going to put an end to all that trouble once and for all."