Let me help you

Tinsae sees something wrong with Hati’s head

It aches my heart to see you peacefully soak in the water like it’s something you’ve yearned for a lifetime. You look like a tired old soldier despite your age. There’s an immeasurable weight on your shoulders; the weight of the dead. And the tired hatred that gnaws at your very being. To lose everyone you hold dear in such a violent manner is a tale as old as time. I’ve seen its effects before, I’ve seen how it destroys the very soul of a person.

The agony and anger within your gaze is shared by many others in this world. 

But there’s something different about you and your anger. Something that worries me deep in my core. Your coppery smell, the sickly sweet smell of blood that sticks to you like a vice. The dark shadows dancing in your gaze.

I look at my fingers that touched your scar, that hurt you, partly afraid that I’d see them soaked in blood and the blackest of goo. But of course they’re clean of any such substances. It makes me feel a little silly. 

But I still can’t help but to wonder.

Wonder if I should just leave. If I should just leave you and everyone else to your fate. I don’t want to see how things will unfold, how you will murder the ones responsible. How you and Camilla will destroy yourselves.

But shame follows that thought, it makes me squeeze my amulet. I shouldn’t leave. Not right now, not when everything is uncertain. I need to be here for you, for my friends.

I cannot condemn you for what I don’t know to be true. Your pain is natural, as is your amnesia. Everything else could very well be the figment of my imagination.

Even if I was right, there is still time for me to steer you away from the direction your fate has led you. 

There must be some way I can help you.

I’m already doing everything to find your family that’s still alive. 

But I need to do more. 

I caress my amulet. I seek comfort from its smooth surface, unsure how to proceed. I can’t mend your anger in one evening, I can’t undo the things that were done to you.

I close my eyes and focus on the amulet, on Taweret. 

And realize that there is something I can do. There is something that prevents you from remembering. 

A cleansing ritual might be exactly what you need.

Taweret, please help me help my friend.

I light up the healing incense, and the candles, all the while muttering a prayer to my goddess. The cleansing smoke slowly fills the air and you start looking drowsily content. A bang of guilt makes me bite my lip because I didn’t ask for your consent for the ritual. 

But what if you’re wary of foreign gods? I cannot take that chance. I need to help you.

Just let me help you, dear. Let me and my goddess help.

I need to help.