For All The Right Reasons Pt. VI "Fear"

[Veloras Itana 0]

For All The Right Reasons

Pt. VI

"Fear"

 

Her sleep was fitful, almost convulsive. Sweat continued to bead on her forehead and quivering lips as Ranik sat watching her. Itana tossed and turned, she murmured constantly and, mostly incoherently but, a few words could be made out quite clearly. 'Borhyas', a curious word for a child to use. It was usually used with regard to ancient death rituals. It means ghost, spirits of the recently deceased. And, it was hardly ever used in present day Bajor. The other word Ranik could make out was 'Itara'. Itana's twin sister. He knew whatever was upsetting her it had to do with her separation from her sister. He'd been uncertain about separating them for this long from the start and, now as he stroked her sweat-soaked hair and considered the day's events, he really wished he had left her behind. He had so wanted for his brother to see at least one of his children and, he still hoped there was a chance that it would happen.

 

"Itara!" Itana woke with a start, she bolted upright from the ground so quickly that Ranik nearly hadn't moved his own head in time to get out of the way. Her eyes darted around wildly as she pulled her knees to her chest and began rocking back and forth muttering something Ranik could not make out.

"Itana, look at me." He said softly, cupping her chin in his hand. "Look at me child. Are you all right?" He asked, hoping for at least a nod in response but Itana didn't move. She just stared in terror at the cave wall. "Itana!" His voice grew louder and he put his hands on her shoulders, giving her a gentle shake.

Slowly, with tears brimming her lower lids, Itana looked up. "They're dead." She said in a half choked quivering voice. "All dead now." Her head shook back and forth once in a slow sweeping manner and, Ranik had to snatch her into his lap to keep her from hitting her head on the rocks that covered the floor of the cave. Her eyes rolled back in her head and once again she went limp. But, this time, Ranik was not content to leave her unconscious. He was overtly terrified himself now. His eyes moved over the faces in the cavern.

"Is there a healer here?!" He shouted to the two closest people who shook their heads somberly and pointed toward the cave entrance.

"We have no healer. He was killed a month ago. But, he had two people in training to be healers that would be with the wounded from the settlement. You could take her there."

Ranik wasted no time, he lifted his daughter, clutching her to his chest and ran for the area where the wounded were being treated. Inside the curtained off corner of the caverns that housed the medical unit, Ranik quickly approached the healthiest looking person he could find, figuring that would be the healer.

"Please," he cried to the first healthy person he saw. "My daughter she's....there's something wrong. I don't know what it is. Trauma maybe, or stress. I don't know but, she keeps fainting." Ranik's voice was nearing a rant by this point.

The woman raised a hand to the side of his arm with a warm, compassionate smile. "All right, sir, come this way. We'll have a look." Her tone was in no way patronizing despite the fact that she knew there was little they could do for emotional trauma here and, there would be no time for a thorough exam. She had real wounded to tend to. Still, she felt for the man. She always felt for the families of victims of this war. Even after so long her heart could not harden to the point where she would turn anyone away, even if all she could do was help to allay their fears for a moment or two.

Healer Mila Jeranas examined Itana as thoroughly as she could given the equipment she had and the fact that she was called out five times to attend more serious cases. She could find nothing wrong with the child save for two mildly infected scrapes on her knees, rather nasty looking blisters on her feet, a case of borderline malnutrition and physical responses consistent with post traumatic stress disorder. The child was exhausted. Despite her unconsciousness, she was not achieving R.E.M. sleep. Something, probably nightmares, was obstructing recuperative sleep. In short, there was nothing she could do. She doubted this would be what her father wanted to hear but, it was the best she could do. She cleaned and bandaged Itana's knees and feet and emerged from behind the curtain looking a bit tired herself.

 

"Veloras Ranik?" She glanced about the crowded chamber, smiling as she noticed he had dozed off himself. "Sir," She shook his arm lightly.

 

Ranik woke abruptly. "Y-yes. I'm sorry. It's been...a long night." He replied. "How is my daughter?" He looked at her hopefully.

 

"She's fine. Tired and a bit underweight but fine. From my examination, it looks as if you were corr...."

Jeranas was cut short by Itana's screams, which resonated through the cavern and, both she and Ranik dashed back to her side. She had stopped screaming by the time they reached her. She sat, hunched in the corner against the wall. Her whole body shook so badly it could be seen from across the cavern. She rocked on her heels and toes back and forth in a slow rhythmic sway. Her eyes stared straight ahead at nothing, wide and terrified. Her lips moved as if she were speaking but no sound came. The sight was heartbreaking and Jeranas couldn't remember ever wishing she could help someone more than she did this poor, terrified child with the raven-hued curls and bright purple eyes.

Ranik knelt beside her, putting a hand to the side of her face, his eyes burning with new tears. "What is it Itana?" He said softly. "Please sweetheart. I can't help you if you won't tell me what has you so afraid."

"No." Itana's voice was seething and angry but so quiet it could hardly be made out. It had forced itself free from behind clenched teeth and balled fists whose knuckles dug into the hardened soil of the cave floor so hard that fresh droplets of blood could be seen as she raked her knuckles across the stones.

"Itana?" He persisted, brushing a stray curl that hung in her face. "Look at me." He lifted her chin with his forefinger.

Itana's lips quivered again, looking as if she may cry but the tears didn't come. She looked at him squarely as her knuckles gouged a trench in the rocky dirt. "They're dead! They're dead and it's your fault!" She shouted, turning away from him toward the wall. "Get away from me!" She was screaming now, tears pouring from her eyes as she shoved him away.

"Who Itana?" Her father demanded, feeling the sting of his daughter's rejection like a disrupter blast. "Who is dead?" He asked, more pleading now than anything else.

"My mother!" She shrieked in a choking hoarse gasp that sounded like she'd been hit in the stomach. "My baby brother!" She continued, coming to her feet and hammering a fist into the wall. "My sister!!" She howled, slamming her head against the cave wall. "You killed my sister!!" She collapsed back to her knees crying as Ranik and Jenaras looked at each other and then at Itana in complete confusion and horror.

...To Be Continued

 

Reject

Are you no one

Feel you nothing

You know I'll bet you think

You have a good reason to be living

In the limelight of the fortunate ones

you're too weakened by the poison

That they feed you in the living lie

They don't believe you

Cater to no one

Trust in nothing

Little impotent one

~Disturbed