Hok reached out and took Seh's hand. “You were poisoned. You are lucky to be alive.”
Seh took a deep breath, and Hok saw tears forming in the corners of his closed eyes. “I remember,” he said.
PawPaw cleared her throat. “Why don't we let your brother rest awhile? I'll come back and give you a thorough examination later, Seh.”
“Yes …,” Seh replied. “I'd like to be alone.”
Hok wasn't surprised.
“Have a good nap, then,” PawPaw said. She stood and left the room. Cheen helped Sum stand, and they followed PawPaw out.
Hok let go of Seh's hand. “I'll come back later, too. If you still want to be alone then, just let me know.”
Seh nodded and Hok left the room. She found PawPaw waiting for her.
“So, what do you think?” PawPaw asked.
“Considering what he's been through,” Hok said, “I think he looks good.”
“I'd have to agree,” PawPaw said. “That is why I didn't bother to poke and prod him just yet. I was concerned that he might have suffered some sort of paralysis, but he lifted his head when he spoke and he gripped your hand. I also saw his toes move.”
“Paralysis?” Hok said. “I never thought of that.”
“Depending on the poison used,” PawPaw said, “there could have been permanent damage to the pathways that carry signals to certain parts of his body, particularly to the internal organs and limbs. This is especially true if the poison came from a venom as opposed to a plant.”
“I suppose AnGangseh could have used a venom-based poison,” Hok said.
“Exactly,” PawPaw replied. “After all, her name does mean Cobra in Cantonese. She probably wanted to immobilize him.”
Hok nodded. She thought about sharing what little she knew about AnGangseh, especially the part about AnGangseh being Seh's mother. In the end, though, Hok thought better of it. If Seh wanted his secrets shared, he should be the one to do it.
Hok rubbed her eyes. She was exhausted.
“Let's get some rest ourselves,” PawPaw said. “When we wake up, I'll make us some rice and a nice pot of ginseng soup. We'll need all the energy we can get. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Over the next several weeks, Hok and PawPaw established a routine. Each morning they would travel to the village to check on the scores of patients, and each evening they would return to PawPaw's house. Hok kept her head clean-shaven and continued to wear the clothes PawPaw had given her the first day. The outfit was a lightweight gray peasant's robe and pants that fit Hok well and suited the increasingly warm weather.
In some ways, Hok's life at PawPaw's house reminded her of her life at Cangzhen. While she didn't particularly enjoy pretending to be something she wasn't—a boy—at least life was relatively peaceful here. She worked hard with PawPaw, but she had always worked hard at Cangzhen, too.
Meanwhile, Seh slowly began to recover, though he had not yet gotten strong enough to leave his bed. Sum was recovering much quicker, and she and Cheen spent much of their time fishing on the slowly receding river and keeping an eye on Seh. Hok wished she could spend more time with Seh, but she was gone all day and exhausted at night. The few times she did try and talk with him, he shooed her away or pretended to be tired. She assumed he was upset that she was gone so much. She didn't blame him.
In time, the number of village patients decreased to where Hok only needed to be in the village a few hours each day. However, she was busier than ever. She spent any remaining daylight and often some of the night roaming the surrounding forest with PawPaw, collecting herbs and berries and other medicines to replenish PawPaw's severely depleted stockpile. Hok tried a few times to convince Seh to join them, but he was never interested. PawPaw said that Seh was now able to walk around, but Hok had only ever seen him in bed with his eyes closed and a pout on his face.
There was a point when Hok thought Seh's downhearted mood had to do with his snake. She'd seen it slither out of the house on more than one occasion. However, it always returned, usually with a rodent-shaped lump in its midsection.
Hok began to worry about Seh. While his physical health had improved greatly, his mental state appeared to be deteriorating. He was growing increasingly moody, and often said things that were downright mean if Hok asked to examine him. He would only let PawPaw attend to him, and Hok felt that her brother was beginning to slip away from her. While they had never been extremely close at Cangzhen, they had a strong mutual respect that Hok had always felt, partially because Seh had known that she was a girl but had concealed it from everyone.
Hok felt that that respect was now gone, and it bothered her. She used to think that he was upset that she spent so little time with him, but now she was certain there was more to it. She wanted to know if she had said or done something to cause this. Or perhaps his behavior was just an unfortunate side effect of the poison. Regardless, Hok needed to know if she could remedy the situation. She decided to talk to Seh about it.