Zally's Book (15 page)

The cacao pod!
I sat up straight. Imishi was describing our hasty exit from the swamps when I excused myself for a moment and whispered my request in the ogre's ear. With a grin, he hopped in front of me and led me to the palace kitchen.

I pulled the cacao pod out of my satchel, along with Abuelita's recipe for
chocolatl
that Queen Patchouli had given me. I quickly scanned the recipe, then looked around the kitchen.

Surprisingly, they had everything that I needed.

With Grimblehart's help, I found a medium pot and very carefully cut the chili pepper lengthwise. I put on gloves to remove all the seeds, knowing that if I used my bare hands and then later touched my eyes, it would really hurt. Then I boiled the chili pepper with two cups of water until the liquid was reduced to one cup. With a spoon, I carefully strained the chili pepper from the water and set the chili water aside. While the chili water was boiling, I took all of the cacao beans from the pod, toasted them in a flat pan, and let them cool. In another flat pan, I quickly toasted the fine cornmeal and set it aside to cool as well.

In a large pot, I cooked the cream, vanilla bean, salt, and Aventurine cinnamon sticks over medium heat, stirring constantly until bubbles appeared around the edge. The Aventurine cinnamon sticks were flecked with copper and made the mixture glow orange until I reduced the heat to low. Then I added the honey and whisked the mixture until the honey dissolved. I took the pot off the heat and removed the vanilla bean and cinnamon sticks.

When the cocoa beans were cool, I ground them to a powder using a
molcajete
and put the ground cacao into a medium bowl with the toasted fine cornmeal.

While I worked, I thought about the fairy queen
and how much she was needed. I considered how brave it had been for Kir and Imishi to leave in search of help. How lucky I had been that Queen Patchouli had sent me here. I had seen so much of Aventurine and made some very good friends. As these thoughts ran through my head, the ground cacao began to glitter with sparkles of gold.
Is this the magic of the cacao?
I wondered.

A quarter cup at a time, I stirred two cups of the cream mixture into the cacao-cornmeal bowl and kept stirring until the thick liquid was smooth. After pouring this mixture from the bowl back into the pot with the remaining cream mixture, I returned the pot to low heat to simmer. Then, a bit at a time, I poured in the chili-infused water, tasting it until the flavor was spicy, but not too strong. Lastly, I whisked the whole mixture until it was frothy. Finished, I took the
chocolatl
pot off the heat and poured the drink into four heavy mugs on a tray that Grimblehart brought me. The cacao pod itself had closed once more, and I put it back in my bag. I had never been so thankful for the long hours I'd spent in the kitchen of my family's bakery.

Grimblehart hopped beside me as I carried the
tray of steaming cups of
chocolatl
back to the queen's chambers. The smells of cacao, chili, vanilla, and cinnamon filled the air. Still engrossed in Imishi's story, the queen readily accepted a cup of the warm, fragrant liquid from me. I gave one cup to the ogre, handed one to Imishi, and kept one for myself, setting the tray off to the side.

11
The Healing

When all of us were seated, Imishi and I finished telling the story about the volcano, the spider, and the jaguar. I took the Shadeblossom from my pouch and gave it to my friend, who presented it to the fairy queen. Queen Carmina gasped in amazement. This gave me the opening I needed to ask questions about how the queen had been blinded and whether she knew of any cure.

The queen gave a sigh. “I am afraid there could be no cure for this blindness, even if I still had my healing powers.”

“Can you tell me more about what your powers were like—how they worked?” I asked encouragingly. I didn't quite understand this yet, and it seemed like the powers might be the key to everything.

A wistful look came over Queen Carmina's face.
“I had the gift of identification, of diagnosis. Simply by looking at any creature, I could tell what was wrong. Once I understood and told my fairies what the problem was, it was a simple matter to direct them in what to do for the healing poultices. That part is not magic, but observation. And how can I observe without my eyesight?”

Imishi noted, “We have all the splints and poultices, bandages, and healing drafts, but without the queen to tell us which illness to treat, we are lost.”

There was a nagging something that didn't quite make sense to me. “So your gift, or magic, or whatever that was—you just looked straight at a person or creature, and anything that was wrong would pop into your head?”

Carmina seemed taken aback; then she said, “No, not exactly. By looking, I could see a creature limp, or an ogre's hair falling out, or perspiration running down a pale face, or a rash on the legs. Things like that. Then by touching them, I could feel a fever, a tremor in the muscles, and so on. By listening, I could hear a cough. A certain smell could warn me of a specific illness. All of those things I was able to put together in a way I simply cannot explain. And then, yes, I would simply
know
what was wrong.”

Tears filled Imishi's eyes. “I am so sorry, my
queen. It is my fault that you lost your sight and your gift. I had hoped that the Shadeblossom—”

The queen squeezed Imishi's hand and shook her head. “I know of someone else it can help, though.”

“All right,” I said. “I understand that you were blinded by the spider poison. That's how you lost your eyesight. But how exactly did you lose your
gift?
”

Queen Carmina shrugged as though this were obvious. “I lost my sight. I can no longer see the patients who come to me for help. Without my vision, I am powerless.”

“But the poison didn't actually change your magic or make it go away, did it?” I pressed.

“Does it matter?” The queen hung her head. “I need all of my senses to understand what is wrong.”

“But Imishi can see,” I pointed out. “All of your other fairies can see, can't they?”

“We do not know what to look for,” Imishi said. “We cannot interpret signs of illness or injury that Her Majesty would instantly recognize.”

We all sipped our
chocolatl
. The flavors of cacao and spices mingled with a hint of sweetness on our tongues. The queen held her cup close to her face and breathed in the comforting scents with pleasure.

While we sat in silence, I thought for a moment. “You still have your mind, your hearing, your taste, your senses of smell and touch, right?” I asked.

“Yes, but …” The queen's voice trailed off.

“Then what if someone
told
you that their leg hurt, or that they were limping? Instead of looking at it—searching for a bulge or lump—couldn't you examine it with your fingers?”

The queen cocked her head to one side. “Perhaps. But that is not enough. I need to know so much more.”

“Then ask,” I said. “Guide us. Tell me something you might need to know. Pretend Grimblehart is the patient.”

The ogre grinned. “I'd be happy to be the patient, if it will help Her Majesty.”

Queen Carmina nodded gratefully and asked her first question. “What color is Grimblehart's skin?”

“A pale, blotchy grayish green,” I answered immediately. “Except for his knuckles—they're very red.”

The queen reached over to touch the ogre's hand and ran her fingers along his knuckles. She nodded. A small smile crept onto her face. “Then my friend is quite healthy,” she concluded, “though perhaps he has
been washing too many dishes.” Now her smile grew so that her dimples showed for the first time. “But I have an ointment that's good for that.”

“See?” I said. “You can still do lots of good, Queen Carmina.”

Imishi's face lit up at the sight of the queen smiling. “I will be your eyes, Majesty. I can look at the sick and wounded for you and describe everything.”

The queen squeezed Imishi's hand. “It could work. And with practice, I can teach you what to look for. But I must help you and our faithful parrot friend first.”

“No,” Imishi said gently but firmly. “Our lives are not in danger. We must find those who are in greatest need.”

“Then I will rely on you to tell me which creatures those are,” Queen Carmina said. She stood, took a deep breath, and spread her wings, which were a vibrant ruby red.

Monty hopped impatiently from one foot to the other and squawked, “Get to work, get to work!”

The
chocolatl
made from the beans of my cacao pod seemed to have an extra special restorative property, because even after we climbed down the hundreds of
steps, Imishi and me each holding one of the queen's hands, none of us were tired. In fact, we all felt energized and eager to get started.

Queen Carmina, Imishi, and I spent the remainder of the afternoon visiting countless cubicles, stalls, mangers, ponds, nests, nooks, and crannies where sick or injured innocents had been staying for the last few weeks in Kib Valley. First we went to see Kir's sire, Xel, the king of horses. Xel lay in a corner on a bed of straw. A bowl of alfalfa and oats nearby seemed not to have been touched.

When I felt the waves of anxiety and heartsickness radiating from Kir, I threw my arms around the golden horse's neck and buried my face in his mane. “We'll do everything in our power to help,” I promised.

Kir nickered and bobbed his head. From the window, the faces of the other horses in the herd looked in with concern.

Imishi led the queen over to Xel, and the fairy healer knelt beside the horse to examine him. “I am sorry it took me so long to visit you, cousin,” Queen Carmina said. To Imishi, she added, “He feels warm, and he is too weak to stand. How does he look?”

Imishi cleared her throat. “Tired. He doesn't seem to be able to hold his head up very high. He's
wheezing a lot, and there is a sticky substance coming from his eyes.” After that, the fairy girl appeared to be at a loss for words.

“How are his hooves?” Queen Carmina prodded. “Does he have any wounds?”

Again, Imishi described what she saw.

I felt a nudge from behind and took a few steps toward the sick horse. Another nudge, and I was standing by Imishi. Behind me, Kir gave a whinny. I understood what he meant for me to do. What had I been thinking? I sat down cross-legged near Xel's head. I looked into his sickly eyes and started thinking comforting thoughts, as I had with Kir.