Botanicaust

things were in there. ” She pointed to the basket, now overturned.
    The woman shook her head. She plucked a small pouch from her waist, and Tula saw her entire belt hung with such bundles. “ She ain ’ t no healer. He got fever in his blood. What you got to trade? ”
    “ Trade? ”
    “ I got fever tea. And medicine for infection. ” The woman ’ s eyes slid to the fire, where a tightly woven basket steamed next to the coals.
    Tula had never met a cannibal healer before. She didn ’ t know they existed. And they were willing to trade? What did cannibals want? “ I brought fish. ”
    Glancing down, the man toed the dirty carcass.
    The woman acknowledged the catch with a nod. “ Good. We talk trade while we eat. ”
    The man scooped up the fish and carried it to the fire. With the knife Tula had left at camp, he deftly split the body and arranged it on sticks over the coals.
    Tula ’ s attention wasn ’ t on the man or the fish. As the scent of cooking fish filled the camp, she watched the woman cover Levi ’ s burn with a clear salve and then plaster leaves over it. Even with the baby tied against her chest, the woman worked with such confidence, Tula didn ’ t say a word. All her days as a Conversion Psychiatrist, she ’ d never imagined witnessing such skill and compassion from a cannibal, especially for a stranger.
    Taking the steaming basket from the fire, the woman stirred it. Then she removed the leaves binding Levi ’ s wrist. The pain must have roused Levi, because he struggled. “ Run. Tula, go. ”
    She leaned forward. “ Shh, Levi. She is a doctor. ” She put her mouth over his.
    Red lines ran from the wound up his arm like small rivers from a lake. The woman clicked her tongue. “ Takes strong medicine to fight fever once it in the blood. It gets to the heart, he dies. ”
    “ Can you help him? ” Tula knew the woman ’ s words were true. She was surprised the cannibal knew so much about infection. They were supposed to be ignorant. Maybe not all of them . Their ancestors had been smart enough to survive the Botanicaust, after all.
    “ I have astra root. Very potent. Very hard to find. I use it on your man, you give good trade. ”
    Relief flooded Tula. “ If you save him, whatever I have is yours. ”

    “ Eat. ” Brin pointed to the fish in Tula ’ s hands. They sat near the fire, Osula and Brin sucking at the fine bones of the fish with relish. Even the baby, Heide, opened her mouth every time her mother lifted her hand to take a bite. Osula put a tiny flake on the child ’ s tongue, and the toddler smacked with pleasure.
    They also roasted the cattail roots Tula had gathered, and Brin pulled them out of the fire with a pair of sticks. He pushed one over to Tula. “ Hot. ”
    The sweet smell rising from the crack in the blackened husk had a not unpleasant perfume about it. “ I don ’ t eat plants, ” she said.
    They looked at her like she was insane. She was about to tell them she didn ’ t need to eat, but held back. Her differences were driving a wedge between them. Instead, she sniffed the bite of fish in her hand. Although she needed protein, she couldn ’ t make herself sample it. Prickles popped up all over her skin as Brin watched her suspiciously.
    Between her thumb and forefinger she pinched off a nibble and put it on her tongue. Her gag reflex bent her forward, but she forced it to the back of her throat. Without chewing, she swallowed the fish. Her stomach churned.
    “ You tell us about flame runnas. ”
    Tula tried to explain genetic modification, and how her skin worked to make food out of sunlight. She found herself using the rhetoric she used on her patients, and some of her previous zeal re-ignited. What if she could be an emissary for change to the cannibals as well as Levi ’ s people? She could convince people to convert before the Burn Operatives reached them. Cannibals would make pilgrimages to the Protectorate and beg for conversion.
    The idea of photosynthesis was fantastic to the couple, and Osula asked to touch her. She lifted Tula ’ s hand and sniffed, her strong fingers tracing knuckles and the softer flesh up Tula ’ s arm in curiosity. “ Sweet. Like tamarisk flowers in spring. ”
    Unsure of what tamarisk flowers smelled like, Tula pulled her hand back, nervous she smelled particularly delicious. “ The Protectorate seeks to make things so no one needs to eat each other anymore. ”
    Osula flicked some bones into the fire. “