***
Days went by and the man's grip was getting stronger. His temperature was still elevated but not to a dangerous point. There were slight infections around the area of skin where the fibers were still deeply embedded. Agatha and Despina painstakingly removed little bits of the cloth each day. The leeches were doing their job well, cleansing the dead skin, but the condition of his eyes was unknown. The possibility of total blindness was not out of the question, judging from the severity of the burns on the rest of his body. It would be impossible to know until the bandages were removed. Each day the nun would sit next to him and tell him a little more of the tale of Anna.
"I never told you how the story of Anna ended. After she left Crete, she worked as a volunteer at the Evangelismos Hospital. In her eighth month, she delivered three weeks prematurely. The doctors put her to sleep, and when she came to, they brought her a stillborn baby. A dead baby." She wiped her tears.
The grip became even stronger, and then he let go. "The same day she gave birth, a man named Dr. Vassili Tsipras proposed to her, but she refused him. Her mother never came to visit her. Her only faithful companion was an old nun who stood by her day and night and waited for her to get well. Then Anna followed the nun to the convent. When the old nun died, Anna became the Abbess. I wish I could give the story a different ending but ..."
As the days went by, more and more of the bandages came off, along with the damaged skin. Anna administered soothing and healing creams. Today, she decided to remove the rest of the cloth that was around the man's lower neck.
Despina caught her as she suddenly was about to fall backward. There was a ring and a cross! The cross she had given to Nikolas was around his neck! There was no mistake about it. Her voice trembled. "Where did you get this cross? Where? Did Nikolas give it to you? And the ring. Whose ring is it?"
"What is going on, Elder? I have never seen you this upset before."
"Thank you, Despina. God must be testing me."
"Is there anything I can do, Elder Agatha?"
"Yes. Let's take off some of the dead skin around his mouth. That will make it a little easier for him to take solid food."
"Yes, my Elder," said Despina as she removed the overlapping skin from each side of his mouth, releasing his lips. "In a few days you will be able to eat, mate," cheerfully reassured the young novice.