Chapter 24
After the healing of the well and stream, Isika recovered slowly. Along with resting to get strong again, she was trying to learn to shield herself. Asafar spent hours teaching her. Olumi sat in on the lessons, listening in perfect stillness, his hair coiled around him on the ground. He and Asafar became good friends, and Isika loved the sight of them striding around the camp together, Asafar nearly twice the height of the short librarian, the librarian’s long locks swinging in the dust. He sometimes carried them over his arm to keep them out of the sand, like he was a servant carrying a towel.
At times, waves of poison ache nearly overcame her, and she would stumble and fall while walking, losing all strength. For some time she thought it was exhaustion from such a big healin
