It was late afternoon the next day before Astrid spoke at length. She sat at the table, sipping a cup of medicine Esmeralda had brewed. It was piping hot, and she handled it gingerly. Esmeralda’s eyes stung and her gaze scanned lazily around the room. She strained to enunciate her words clearly enough for Astrid to understand.

“Can you tell me what happened, songbird? Do you remember?”

Astrid did not react immediately. When she spoke her voice was shaky and wounded. “I think I remember everything.”

Esmeralda waited for her to speak, a blanket of dread settling over her heart. Astrid drank from her mug with slow, careful movements.

“Last night, I took the artifact and left on the motorcycle.”

“What? Why? Where did you go?”

Astrid closed her eyes, letting Esmeralda’s questions hang in the air. Immediately Esmeralda felt ashamed of her reaction; and the longer the silence lasted the more crushing and embarrassing it felt. Astrid sipped her medicine.

“Es, I need you to let me talk.”

Esmeralda nodded and muttered an apology. Astrid continued.

“I took the artifact because I thought it was giving you nightmares. I thought it was affecting you somehow. I got it out of the house to see if it would help.”

Esmeralda chewed on her question for a moment before asking it. “Why didn’t you ask me for permission?”

“What?...Why? When? You wouldn’t let me talk to you...You stopped talking to me. I thought if I asked you about it, you’d get mad and refuse and then I’d never get rid of it.”

“I would never dismiss you like that, s-”

“You just did!” Astrid spoke forcefully and the effort made her cough; Esmeralda felt like her skin was burning as she watched Astrid tremble, clutching at her ribs. She said nothing and waited for Astrid to speak again.

“Es, you shut me out for days. You wouldn’t tell me anything - not about your dreams, not what you were even trying to do with that thing when you tried your...whatever it was.” Astrid shook her head; her eyes glittered with tears. “Just like you always do. You never let me in.”

“Please, Astrid, please stop.” Esmeralda barely got the words out. “I’m sorry, Astrid. I’m sorry. I know I was wrong. But please, I’ll do anything you need me to. Just - I’m sorry.” The words fell out of her like something had broken inside her. Astrid began to cry more fully, tears trailing down her cheeks in silence. Dark circles nested under her eyes, Esmeralda noticed, and her colour looked bad.

“Thank you, Esmeralda. I know you want to help me. But I want to help you, too, really help you, and I can’t unless you let me.” She drank the last of the medicine in her mug. “I was going west, just to go. I was going to drive until sun up and then come back.”

Astrid paused. Esmeralda was full of questions, but she stifled herself.

“I was riding - slowly - and all of a sudden something smashed into me. I didn’t even see it, I just felt it hit me.” She winced; Esmeralda’s eyes darted to her left side, where she’d been bleeding. “It was strong, whatever it was. It bowled me over, completely off the bike, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground and hurt. I crawled out of the road because I thought it’d be safer in the woods, waiting for you.”

Esmeralda took a deep breath, squeezing her own hands together. “Is that all that happened?”

Astrid nodded.

Esmeralda looked down at the cup of tea she’d been ignoring, imagining its deep ocher colour running kilometers deep. “It was an animal that attacked you. There’s a bite on your side; that’s why you were bleeding.”

Astrid looked a little surprised, but said nothing. Esmeralda sensed that her energy was dropping.

“Astrid, thank you for doing all that. I think you were right - the nightmares stopped yesterday. I think it was that thing.”

Astrid smiled wide; it had been a long time since Esmeralda had seen her do so. “That’s good. I’m glad.”

As their conversation petered out and Astrid’s energy faded, Esmeralda gently took her hand and helped her back into the cot, where Esmeralda stroked her hair until she fell asleep.

Watching the orange sunlight of dusk grow fainter on the walls Esmeralda’s mind wandered; she thought of Silvia, Pru, and herself, as Astrid’s chest rose and fell steadily under the blankets, and her hair hung soft between Esmeralda’s fingers.

Placing a hand softly against Astrid’s freckled face, Esmeralda began to cry.

“I’ll tell you,” she choked. “I’ll tell you everything. I promise.”