The Journal of Chindi Acteul

The Journal of Chindi Acteul

A story in many parts

Part 3

When I wake up, I hear parolias outside my window. I am still covered in bandages, and when I try to look outside, everything hurts again. I decide to just lay there. Eventually Himip comes in, along with a man wearing what looks like a purple dress, with a bright green tiara.

“Hi, Chindi! Meet my husband, Grawli. The one that I told you about last night.”

“Wait, wait, wait. What did you tell her about me?” he asks.

“Just that you didn’t like to be woken up in the middle of the night, so she wouldn’t yell too loud for me.”

“Why would she be yelling for you?”

“You see, I told her to yell for me if she needed anything because she can’t really move. I mean, look at her!”

I blush with embarrassment as he pulls off my blankets.

“I see.” Grawli says.

He whispers something to Himip, and she whispers something back. I can’t really understand what they are saying, it is too quiet. Something about a healing potion, and that it would be too strong. They change the subject.

“Well, we are curious to know how you got here. Can you tell us?” Himip asks.

“Just please don’t make fun of it,” I request. “I was just trying to pick up my dad from work. It was a big mistake to bring that umbrella… Well, suddenly a big gust of wind blows me away! I am sent twirling through the air, and the next thing I know, I am falling! The only thing I remember after that is being here.”

“Just like how I remember,” Himip says.

“What’s an umbittera?” Grawli asks.

“It’s called an umbrella, and it is a bowl shape, kinda with a cane sticking out of the middle. It protects me from the rain,” I answer.

“Why not just drink a rain shielding potion? That sounds much easier than having a bowl on your head.”

I laugh. “You’re joking, right? A rain shielding potion?”

“I actually am not, as a matter of fact. I still think that you should just drink a rain shielding potion. At least cast a rain shielding charm!”

“So, you are saying magic is real?”

“Of course!” he laughs. “Watch this!”

I have no idea what he will do, and I am worried, too.

He then waves his hands, mutters something, and right before my eyes, a glass bottle filled with fluorescent pink stuff appears.

“There. A rain shielding potion. So you don’t have to use your umititter thingy.”

“Oh, thanks!” I take it, and tuck it under the blanket. “Do you think I could maybe brew some potions of my own? It doesn’t have to be a rain shielding potion, although that would be nice.”

“Well, a healing potion is pretty simple for a beginner, and it will definitely come in handy later. All you need is some powdered yukul bark, some kiwi juice, and a single taalk shell,” answers Grawli.

“Wait a second. First of all, wasn’t yukul bark in that potion that Himip fed me earlier? And second of all, did you say kiwis? Because kiwis are a fruit on Earth, too.”

Himip and Grawli each take a moment to think.

“Yes, yukul bark was in that potion that I gave you earlier. And that is strange that kiwis are a fruit on your planet too, because it seems like our worlds are very different. What do they look like on your planet?” Himip answers.

“They look like fuzzy brown things, but when you cut them open, the pulp is green,” I answer.

“Wow, it’s the same on Castello!” Grawli exclaims.

“Cool! Hey, how will I brew a potion when I am just laying here in bed, feeling like a blob?” I wonder.

“Maybe we could take off your bandages, and give you a healing potion!” Himip suggests. “Let me just take a peek…”

She rips off one of my arm bandages (the one with the rock underneath), takes out the rock, examines it for a few seconds, then takes a lavender bottle out of her pocket.

“What is in that bottle?” I wonder.

“This is the same healing potion you are going to make, but a little bit stronger. Instead of the taalk shell, there are a few parolia feathers, which has the same effect as the taalk shell, but just a bit stronger. The taalk shell just dissolves into the potion, but if you are using a parolia feather, you have to let it brew into the potion for a few hours and then fish it out,” Himip says. “It also thickens up the potion quite a bit, so that’s one downside.”

She uncorks the bottle, and pours it onto the cut in my arm. It looks like lavender glop. I can definitely tell she used parolia feathers. At first it stings quite a bit, but then I don’t really notice. I am too distracted by the cut healing right before my eyes. It is actually quite mesmerizing. In less than a minute, it’s fully healed, and the glop is gone, like it melted into nothing.

“That sure was fast! Now for the other 21!” Himip says, a little too excitedly in my opinion.

“How do you know I had 21 left?” I wonder out loud.

“Well, I remember that you had 22 wounds that I needed to bandage. I just healed one, so you must have 21 left.”

“That makes sense! But, can somebody get me some clothes?” I ask.

“Oh, I didn’t think about that. We’ll see if we can find anything that would fit you. Let’s see, do you think my clothes might fit you?” Himip wonders.

I scan her size, then compare it to my size.

Noticing that she was very small, I respond, “Yeah, I do think that. They might be a tiny bit loose, though, but that’s okay. I can always grow into them!”

Himip gives a quick nod and dashes out of the room.“That Himip, she sure does love giving away clothing to patients. It’s a wonder we have any Although we don’t get many patients these days…” Grawli fantasizes.

“You had other patients?” I exclaim, bewildered.

“Yes, we did. Didn’t Himip tell you we work as healers?”

I try to remember, but my memory had gotten so foggy when I was asleep that I have a hard time remembering.

“Oh, I guess she did,” I remember. But just as I say that, she bursts into the room, carrying a sparkling red dress with golden jewels sewn in. It has a very fine layer of golden dust covering it. She also brings in matching shoes, with 2 inch heels. They too had red jewels sewn in, but they also had silver buckles.

“Do you want to try these on when all of your bandages are off and your wounds are healed?”

“Oh, I would love to! They look very pretty,” I answered.

She peels off the bandages on my feet first, I am assuming so that I can wear the fancy shoes. My blood sparkled like the red jewels on the outfit. At least until Himip blobs them up with the lavender potion. Then the blood disappears, along with the wound and the lavender glop, and the poetic metaphor I was able to make. In its place was nice smooth skin.

“Wow, that really worked like magic! Of course it is magic…” I joke. We all laugh, even though it’s not a very funny joke.

“Hey, can you bring me the shoes?” I ask Grawli.

“No problem!” says Grawli cheerfully. He walks across the room, picks up the shoes, and does a silly little dance back over to my bed.

“Shall I put them on you too?”

“Sure! I am too lazy to put them on myself, and I am worried that I might break again if I try.” He slips the shoes onto my feet, and closes the silver buckles.

“These fit perfectly, thanks!” I exclaim.

“Aww, you’re welcome,” Himip answers.

Himip peels off the bandages on my legs next, and globs them up too. But somehow, while she is doing that, even though Grawli was still sitting down next to me, the dress appears closer to me than it was before. Strange. I must have subconsciously moved it with my mind. I didn’t know I could do that! Once I am fully healed, I sneak under the covers, and put on the dress.

“Well, now that that is cleared up, do you want a house tour? The options are the full tour, the partial tour, the deluxe tour, and the extreme tour.” Grawli asks.

I take a moment to think about it.

“Can you give me a description of the tours? I think I will be able to choose better if I know what the options actually are,” I respond.

“Grawli, do you want to answer her? I don’t really think I would be able to describe them very well,” offers Himip.

“Well, if you insist. The partial tour is a tour of the house. The full tour is a tour of the neighborhood. The deluxe tour is a tour of the entire city, and the extreme tour is a tour of the entire province. There is also the platinum tour, which is a tour of our summer home, and the house you are currently in,” Grawli explains. “You can only take the platinum tour once a year, unless you want to live with us, then you would be able to take it any time.”

I take a little while to decide, then I decide.

“How about the platinum tour? I know I can only take it once a year unless I live with you, but it seems like I will be here a while. Maybe the only way to go back to Earth is to be in another one of those big storms, and I am not sure I really want to go directly into the eye of a tornado again. I don’t think I really want to go outside. Well, it depends on the temperature. What is the temperature?”

“Let’s see. Which unit do you want? Harenhuit or Velxius?” Grawli asks.

“Which one is most similar to Fahrenheit?” I wonder.

“Well, Harenhuit sounds a lot like…whatever you just said. You know I am bad with all your Bearte terms.”

“It’s Earth, actually, not Bearte, but whatever. Harenhuit, I guess,” I retort.

“See? Even your planet name is hard to remember!” Grawli chuckles.

“I would say it is about 76º, Harenhuit. Very warm,” Himip guesses.

“It sounds like Harenhuit is very similar to Farenheit. Wait a second, though,” I hesitate. “There is a chance I might not be able to get out of bed.”

“We could get you a wheelchair, if you want. We have plenty!” exclaims Himip.

“Well, first I want to just try walking. If I can’t, then a wheelchair would be great. If I can walk, though, then I will take the tour on foot,” I offer. Himip and Grawli look at each other and nod. I try to stand up. I wobble a bit at first, before half-toppling over, half-sitting onto the bed. I try again a couple more times, and finally, on my 16th try, I am able to walk all around the room.

“I think no wheelchair will do me some good. And exercise!” I decide. Himip and Grawli lead me out of the room.