The recovery section in Heartforge Citadel was quite cozy and smelled like a combination of yeast and antiseptic. Joan Rhodes lay on a makeshift bed, looking at a luminescent moth that had flown from the vent. Her skin was not vibrant, but it was not lifeless either. She had the ability to use her right hand, and she was able to drink broth, but she did not have the power to speak.
Benny was Mushroom Mycology from a book and works given to Joan. She would look at the pictures really intently. The 'Doctors' a group of former cultists and healers, had the brain as a vase glued back together and that it is quite fragile, said her brain was healing, but like a broken vase glued back together.
Maxine came daily to see her. Instead of taking care of Joan, she treated Joan as a malfunction, and when she saw no improvement, she would get angry. Maxine informed Benny that Joan's recovery was coming to a halt. Speech, movement, and memory restoration would take years, she said.
Benny was okay with that. They were not in a hurry. She totally understands it, Benny said. She looks down when I talk about the good old times. When I mention the Vat-Bread or the new water, she is very composed.
Before language, comes feeling, Maxine said. Her feelings are returning faster than her speech. She experiences the world even before she can tell it.
When Benny was leaving that night, Joan held his arm tightly. It was a feeble grip, but it was heartfelt. Her blue eyes were glued to his, and she whispered the word B…en…
His name.
Benny cried, putting her hand under a cover, and he said, "I'm here, Mom."
S...safe? asked she.
He responded in the affirmative. We are safe. It is quiet.
A tear traced her cheek. Her lips moved, a smile almost. She was going over the line. She was coming back to be a person, the aftermath of war.
The news got around. Captain Rhodes made an announcement. It was interpreted by the town as a signal. The woman who was a fighter for the old ways and had even fought to protect the new was her waking up to it. If she could recover, then maybe the world could.
The next day, Naomi came with a jar of delicious mushroom nectar. She talked about quotas, council politics, and disagreements with ex-members who wanted the situation to be as it was before.
Joan was all ears. When Naomi was through with her talk, Joan pointed at Naomi, then at herself, and finally at the room, indifferently.
Naomi understood the gesture. Yes, she said. Now we are together in this. All of us.
It seemed like they had just reached a new agreement.
Not long after, Lucien Gray came, he was quite apprehensive. He was carrying a bundle wrapped in cloth. "Captain, I've been working on something. A fake arm."
He took off the cover. It looked like it was from mushroom materials and threads, and had a crystal hand. "It goes with your nerves. It gets learning from you.
"And it is linked with the mushroom network. So, you would be able to sense what is going on in the city," he finished.
It was one to link the leader in pain to the world she had saved.
Joan looked at the arm and then at Lucien. She felt the fingers with her hand. They turned warm. She acknowledged with her head.
The fitting would take weeks. Learning would take even longer. But she made her decision.
Maxine was there. She knew that new was between Joan and the gadget, the human and the network. It was a new link in the system. The link of choice, not of taking.
She returned to her lab, keeping an eye on the switch, the nurseries, the heart. She was always curious to know the working. Now she sees a completely different one, made bit by bit, out of need, sorrow, and the will to heal.
It was, she thought, a better puzzle.