3.3

After Emri had settled in and gotten a little more sleep, Acker came and fetched Faver sometime while it was still dark. Not long after, Acker came back and hurriedly gathered up a few things, after which he departed swiftly. Just about dawn, Faver returned and seemed to be trying to avoid waking Emri, but she was already awake, not having been able to sleep again since he’d left. She kept worrying about how she hadn’t gone to that last tent after Remal had confronted her.

Confounding person! Maybe she should have gone anyway, but at that point she’d been convinced that he’d follow and scrutinize her every movement. Still, she now blamed herself for giving up, especially since her fears were now being confirmed. Before she could bring herself to ask Faver what was going on, Aron and Rinna had appeared, followed by Nathley. A brief discussion between Rinna and Faver in hushed tones made it clear that two people had died that morning, both from the tent where Acker had been sitting with Hin and his children. Apparently, Acker had noted the first one’s passing earlier when he’d come and fetched Faver; there were already people digging a grave for that by the time the second passed away just before Faver returned. Rinna went hastily off to see to further arrangements. From what she gathered of some chatter to one side between Aron and Nathley, the people normally would wait at least a full day or more before having a burial; Nathley was lamenting that the camp was going to forgo the usual traditions and timing, Aron was reminding her how the circumstances required expediency.

Emri felt devastated. She’d been so determined to do everything she could so that this camp wouldn’t lose any more of their people, and yet… she’d failed. She wasn’t merely disappointed in herself, either – she knew that there would be many in the camp who’d be greatly saddened by the losses, and she felt sad for them, too. She began to cry, even though she tried not to. This whole time, Remal had been sitting in his cot on the other side of the tent, glowering. She thought he must be saddened as well, but more and more she thought he only looked incredibly angry. He appeared to be in such a supremely dark mood that offhand she couldn’t think of anything to compare it to that seemed to fit the expression so well as that of the darkest thundercloud on the point of breaking.

Rinna having left, Faver’s attention had turned to noticing that Remal and Emri had both been sitting awake and listening the entire time. He seemed to not feel any announcement was needed at that point, but went and put a hand firmly on Remal’s shoulder. As for Aron and Nathley, they saw that Emri had started crying, and sat down each on either side of her. Nathley hugged her, and Aron took one of her hands in his and patted it. Touched at how they would make a point of comforting her when they surely had more reason to be sad themselves, and feeling bad about knowing that part of her sadness was disappointment at herself, Emri only cried more. She put an arm around Nathley as best she could, and gave Aron a nod.

Meanwhile, she heard Faver speaking to Remal. Faver was saying that he had previously thought those two would have died sooner, and others more besides. He declared it to be almost miraculous that they had lasted as long as they had. That they hadn’t all passed, left hope that some of them might still recover. Not that Faver was in any way making light of the deaths, but by his tone and manner it seemed that he was trying to calm Remal by assuring him that it was nobody’s fault. Did he think that Remal might start making threats again?

Angrily, Remal growled at Faver. “Even so, I still have a right to be upset, don’t I? I don’t have to like it, no matter how optimistic you may feel about the rest of them!” He waved vaguely in what seemed to be the general direction of all the tents that still contained sick people, swiped Faver’s hand off his shoulder, and snatched his shirt up from where it had been laying carelessly.

He shot Emri a look that she could only view as suspicious, or as though he thought she had no right to mourn the passing of people with whom she was barely acquainted. She countered by refusing to flinch, though she still had tears coming from her eyes. She was more glad than ever of the kind presence of the people nearest to her at that moment; that and Faver being close by as well made her feel somewhat protected, though Remal’s angry glaring still made her feel threatened. He only stared for a moment, however, then he looked away, tugged his shirt on over his head, and stalked out of the tent. For a moment, Emri feared that Faver might stop him leaving, but the Healer merely tutted and shook his head resignedly as the younger man left, then handed Emri a cloth to wipe her face on before taking Aron aside. She didn’t hear what they were talking about as they left the tent, but didn’t think it was anything she needed to hear about anyway.

Nathley sat and cried with Emri for a little while longer, while outside could be heard the sounds of the camp stirring into full activity. Soon enough, Faver returned and let Emri go with him while he went around and checked on his patients, having dispatched Nathley on some errand or other. All the work that needed to be done today couldn’t stop on account of the deaths, especially for everyone who was trying their best to prevent more of them. There would, however, be a short burial service of sorts later that morning for those who were closest to the deceased, and for any others who wished to attend who could reasonably stop their work for a short time.

The first to die that morning had been one of the Elder leaders, one who had been helping fetch water from the lake before falling ill; the other was one of the scouts who had been the first to explore all the way around the lake. Not the first to have reached it, though – Emri had gathered from what Nathley told her, that the first to have come across the lake had also spent a fair amount of time exploring this side of it before the camp arrived, had been one of the first to get sick, and one of those who had died of it before Emri joined them.

Nathley met up with Faver and Emri at the service; it was somewhat removed from the camp, out away from the lake and near the hills, where the ground (although rocky) would be up above the elevation of the watery marsh around the lake. Acker was assigned to stay with the sick in Faver’s place, and Faver’s wife and child must have been busy as well; Emri didn’t have any idea how well they knew the deceased, but it appeared that only a small percentage of people from the camp were attending anyway. Many, if not all, of the Leaders that Emri had seen previously were in attendance, Rinna and Aron standing with them while one of the Elders spoke. She also saw Remal and Hin standing with a small group of people who had an air about them like most were either Scouts, Hunters, or both. Each and every one of them had at least some dirt on them like they had taken part in the digging, and away to one side could be seen places where there had been previous burials, the ground having been obviously disturbed and not yet settled back down on itself. Hin looked to be deeply moved, and Remal – while not exactly looking un-fearsome – had managed somehow to put a mournful expression onto his face. Emri turned away quickly, lest he notice her looking and start glowering furiously again. There were a number of other people also there that Emri hadn’t met yet, though some she was certain that she had seen in passing or who had been helping tend the sick.

Once the Elder finished speaking and those closest to the deceased had a chance to speak a little, some of the Leaders and most of the others headed back to the camp. The Elder Leaders and close family in attendance mostly stayed behind for now, looking on while those who had probably helped with the digging began to fill in the graves. Faver offered his arm for Emri to lean on while walking on the rocky ground, as he had on the way out to that spot. They walked quietly, except for Faver instructing Nathley to go fetch Remal back as soon as he was finished there. She therefore stayed back, and Aron fell in beside them, with many others nearby including Rinna with some other Leaders walking together.

Just as they neared the camp and all started to head for different parts of it, a crane called out loudly from the direction of the near part of the marsh. At the very least, most of the people there seemed convinced it was a crane, though someone commented that its call was a bit different from the ones they had heard already in that area, though similar in some respects.

“Maybe it’s a related species that isn’t as common as the others we’ve heard.” Aron commented.

“It certainly sounds like that could be the case.” Emri agreed, though hesitant to comment on it. She didn’t expect anyone else there to understand it, but she could recognize part of the sounds in the crane’s call as clearly being words from a language very different from what the people of the camp spoke. It wouldn’t translate directly even if she tried to, but essentially… it was a summons.

Upon returning, Faver checked in with Acker and then began preparing to go out hunting herbs. While the rest of the camp had started to move the majority of the tents and things off to a new location, Faver had Emri and Aron help him gather up some baskets and sacks to collect herbs in. Rinna went off on some other errand, but soon enough was back to join them before Nathley returned with Remal. Brylin appeared with them, and by the look of it she had made Remal wash up a bit, and she had taken the liberty of changing the bandage on his shoulder so Faver wouldn’t have to. With his hair all wet, Remal looked almost like a disheveled lion who’d been caught in the rain and was unhappy about it. He didn’t say a word, and avoided making eye contact with anyone, but nevertheless followed Faver’s instructions. Brylin brought Emri a basket with a long rope handle to go over the shoulder; she helped Emri with it and admonished her to be careful. Nathley wanted to go along with them, but Faver had some tasks that he ordered her to help Acker with instead, since there were still some preparations to be made for the tents with the sick people to be moved on the following day. Brylin offered to help with all of that, so she and Nathley wished them well as Faver and Emri set off, accompanied by Aron and Rinna, with Remal grumpily trailing behind.

Emri insisted they must venture farther into the marshes than before, to look for more of the fern with the bulb on its root (and not only because they were likely to find larger ones deeper into the marsh) and though Aron was hesitant, and Remal vehemently objected, Rinna and Faver were not too difficult to convince. However, although they overruled the other two on going into the marsh, they agreed with them that they should all go up in the hills first, and only venture into the marsh on the way back to camp from the hills. Emri couldn’t think of a very good excuse to give for why she might want to go into the marsh first, so she agreed, hoping that it wouldn’t be held against her to delay more than she already had.

Aron and Faver helped Emri keep her footing while navigating up the hillside. She was explaining to them what sort of places they should look for a plant related to the Firesparks, when Remal sharply interrupted.

“Someone should find you a walking stick, so you can manage better without needing help.” He sounded derisive, but he himself was once again using his spear as a walking staff, and carrying a basket in his other hand.

Emri shook her head. “I want to practice how to manage without.” How could she explain her reasons for preferring to carry as little as possible? In any case, she would rather have her hands free on the steeper areas, to grab at rocks and help pull herself up a slope. She glanced at Rinna, and was slightly gratified to see the woman doing just that.

Remal scoffed, however, saying: “Well, then do that.”

Before Aron and Faver could suggest otherwise, Emri waved them off and did her best to scrabble up the slope by Rinna. Rinna was a little faster at the moment, but Emri still managed to climb up. She thought she’d do better with more practice, but the important thing was that she could actually go uphill using her hands, somewhat better than she was at only using two feet and trying to keep her balance on the less-steep-but-still-uneven, shifting-gravel ground that covered much of the hillside. Aron looked amused, and then followed suit while Faver picked a longer path back and forth on a nearby area instead of going up the steep part. Remal had a look on his face that Emri really wasn’t sure how to interpret, but it seemed unpleasant in some way. He snorted and followed Faver. Rinna patted Emri encouragingly on the shoulder, then gave Aron a hand up as he finished climbing and joined them up the slope.

They started looking around for plants, but this area was adjacent to where Hin and Emri had been hunting herbs with Rinna on the previous day, and they didn’t find much of the one they’d collected before. So, they climbed farther up into the hills, and by the time that Faver and Remal caught up, Emri had managed to locate a plant that was indeed related to the minty-scented ‘Piedmont Firesparks’, near the foot of some high cliffs. Rinna, meanwhile, had been explaining to Aron what she recalled of how to identify the other one, and once Remal caught up, he started interrupting and correcting Rinna, causing Aron to look slightly bemused. Faver was greatly interested in the plant that Emri had found, and discussed it with her for a bit before summoning the others to get a look at it. After that, and after differentiating between what Aron and Rinna had found that was what they wanted, and some other similar plants that wouldn’t be as useful, they spent some time hunting around along the hillside at that height, heading northward until they reached the stream that Hin had scouted up along in that area before going back downhill. Hin wasn’t there to tell them about it, of course, but Remal had known he’d gone up around there, and commented to them all that he was unsurprised that Hin had dismissed the area as not being as good for crossing the stream as the place they’d crossed at farther downhill above the marshes.

Heading back down alongside the stream (except where the stream fell in a cascade and the ground was too steep to do anything but head away a bit and double back while descending) they reached the place where the scouts had crossed before, but instead of crossing it they then headed southward away from the stream, but down the slope at an angle to come to the lakeside and an area of mossy ground near the place where the marshes were narrowest between the lake and the hillside, the lake coming to meet the stream where it tumbled down the last bit of slope at the foot of the hills.

Abruptly, Remal shoved something at Emri, and she blinked a moment before realizing that he’d stopped short of hitting her with it. It was a long, stout branch that he must have picked up from under one of the tough, scrubby trees that appeared here and there up on the hillside among the boulders, the gravel, and the smaller plants.

“Take it.” He demanded gruffly. “Even if you don’t want it for walking, you should have something to check the ground in front of you if you still insist on going into the marsh.”

Being unable to think of any reason to refuse, Emri slowly opened her hand while she considered it, then grabbed the stick in one quick motion. She didn’t have to pull it away from Remal, however, since he promptly released it the instant that her hand closed around it.

“Thank you…” she said. A little uncertainly, she thought.

He grumbled something that may or may not have been an acknowledgement, and walked off.

Emri looked the stick over for a moment. It was stout enough that it could be used for a support, but not so stout as to be very heavy, nor that she’d have difficulty getting her hand around it. Moreover, she could see places where it clearly had recently been divested of whatever remained of smaller branches, whether they’d been attached when the stick was found, or if they’d broken off previously. Some places it looked like branches removed had been cut off easily, but other places appeared to have required a bit of whittling to cut them off cleanly without leaving bits sticking out that one could scratch oneself on, or catch on one’s clothing. Had he done that while walking along the hills, also looking for plants? Maybe it was no big thing for him, but to her it seemed like a thing that would require a fair amount of skill and practice.

While she was marveling that he would have done that for her, Aron approached and offered to walk with her. She didn’t want to refuse, so she walked with him into the marsh and helped him identify the ferny plant they were seeking, until they had found several between them. Meanwhile, the others had spread out, all walking slowly and cautiously since the marsh was full of places where the ground went soft and silty, which even where not too deep to walk in, sucked on one’s foot when a person moved to take further steps. Some places seemed to have gravel or larger rocks that must have fallen off the hills at some indeterminate time long past, but the larger ones were slimy and slippery, so that even if they weren’t smooth under the moss and the mush, they were still too slick to put a foot on. Occasionally, there were places with firmer ground, and as much as possible they tried to keep to those.

Emri noticed that as they’d started out, Faver and Rinna had each picked out a reed that would be a long, tough stalk not easily bent, and used those to probe the ground ahead of them from time to time. Remal used his spear, and appeared to have positioned himself mostly in the middle of where everyone else was spread out, and kept looking around at everyone as though to check how they were getting along. Faver and Rinna were now farther away, and part of the time Emri didn’t even see them anymore, since there were some reeds and other marsh-loving plants which grew in large bunches, taller than the majority of grasses and ferns around them.

Aron was cautious about them going as far into the marsh as they had already gone, but she’d kept pointing out more of the ferns they wanted every time she saw a good one farther in, using the walking stick to check the ground. Now, she thought it was a good time to let him ‘convince’ her not to go farther, but she asked him to go get a particularly large fern that she saw a little way off. She promised to wait there and walk back with him afterwards, and handed the walking stick to him to use, so he readily agreed, and set off.

Almost as soon as Aron had gotten far enough away that Emri thought she could speak quietly without being overheard, she caught a recognizable voice softly calling a greeting to her from close by. That is, she thought she recognized the voice, mostly, but it sounded a little different from what she was used to. It appeared to be coming from one of the iridescent dragonflies nearby, which alighted on a patch of tall grass within arm’s reach.

“Hello,” she greeted the being, but not in the language of the camp’s people. “Were you sent with a message, or have you come of your own volition?”

“Both.” Came the reply, in the same language. “I saw you appeared upset about the deaths. You’re not responsible for that.”

“But I-”

“You aren’t.” Emri couldn’t see any expression on a dragonfly, but the tone used was firmly insistent, and the shiny insect flicked its wings and hopped to a different part of the grass.

“Can’t I be upset about it anyway?” Emri retorted sulkily, and was reminded of how Remal had spoken to Faver earlier. She closed her mouth instead of saying more.

“Sure, you can be upset by it. Don’t put too much on yourself, though. And… don’t use magic for that.”

“I-”

“I can tell you did, though it wasn’t much. You know you have to refrain.”

“I just wish-”

“Even if you had the training to do it properly, you know why it’s forbidden to simply heal them all with magic. And-”

Emri had been about to speak again, but stopped. She sighed instead.

The dragonfly continued. “And you know it’s the same reason why your mentor couldn’t come here and heal them. Be grateful you are allowed to help at all, and don’t make me remind you again.”

Emri nodded. She understood, though she didn’t like it because she hated to see anyone suffer.

“I know.” The dragonfly said, as though it could read her mind. Emri didn’t think it literally could, but knowing who it really was, she expected it could get closer to mind-reading than anyone else – except maybe her mentor himself.

“So did you say that my mentor had a message for me as well?” Emri prompted.

“He asked me to remind you that you need to arrange to meet him soon. Don’t delay long, or you’ll have problems. Your treatment only lasts about half as long in these lands. Maybe less.”

“I remember.” Emri acknowledged resignedly.

“Good. Be sure to make arrangements accordingly, and use the signal we agreed on.”

“I will. I just… I need a couple of days to make sure there will be enough medicine to treat everyone in the camp. I want to stay close to them until then.”

The dragonfly made a sound remarkably similar to a ‘tsk’ with a muttered something about her taking after her mentor. Speaking up, it said: “All right, but don’t forget you can’t go as long as you used to. You remember how problematic it can be.” That last was clearly a statement, not a question.

Irritated, Emri spoke louder than before. “Oh, be off with you!” She waved dismissively at the dragonfly as if in a half-hearted effort to shoo it away. Not as though she had anything near the kind of power it would take to make this one do anything it didn’t expressly choose to, but only because she wanted to show how much she disliked talking about that.

A little amused chuckling sound came from the dragonfly, and picking itself up off the marsh grass it flitted about her for a moment, whispering a caution for Emri to be careful. Turning to follow it and pretend to swat at it (not really trying to hit the dragonfly) she noticed that Remal was closer than before, watching her.

“Goodbye,” she whispered. “Go.”

The dragonfly made a couple of swooping loops (just to tease her, she thought) and took off.

“You alright?” Remal called out from where he was, coming closer.

“Yes!” She replied, nodding. She wasn’t sure if he saw it clearly or if he heard her. She didn’t want to call out very loud, and she had promised Aron she’d stay there where he could find her again easily.

“Where’s Aron?” Remal demanded, when he was close enough to speak at a normal volume instead of shouting. Normal volume, but suspicious tone. “Did you lose the stick?” He kept coming closer. “Have you been bitten much? Where did Aron go? I thought he was with you.”

How was she supposed to answer any of that, with him stringing questions together like they were beads. She picked just one question to begin with. “Aron is just over that way, he’s coming back. I-”

Remal was almost within arm’s reach, and indeed, started reaching out like he would grab her arm. She waved dismissively at him like she had with the dragonfly.

“Come with me, we’ll get you back to shore.”

“No, I told Aron I’d wait for him here!” she started to step backwards away from him, but found the ground wasn’t steady there at all, so she wavered, trying to keep her balance.

“Stop!” Remal rushed forward and grabbed her arm as she had it sticking out for balance. At first, it put her more off-balance, but he pulled in a way that actually helped after all. “What did you do with the stick?” He asked, in a scolding tone.

“Loaned it to Aron, of course!” Emri pointed with her free arm. Fortunately, Aron was almost there. She had seen him on his way back only a moment ago, but Remal hadn’t seemed to see him there and Aron disappeared behind some tall reeds briefly – but now seemed to have heard them talking and hurried the rest of the way back.

“I’m here!” Aron declared, triumphantly holding up the plant Emri had asked him to get, and interrupting before Remal could say more. He seemed to be trying to catch his breath, but also in a hurry to say something more so Remal wouldn’t argue with Emri. “Let’s go.” He put the plant in the basket Remal had dropped, picked it up and handed it to him (whereupon Remal let go of Emri’s arm to take it), then Aron handed Emri the walking stick and took hold of her other arm. “The others are probably heading back by now, too.”

Remal grunted acknowledgement (though he scowled at Aron) and followed them out of the marsh.

3.2

Although Remal had managed to get a bit of sleep earlier in the evening, it wasn’t enough to make him stop feeling tired. However, once he’d woken up to see that girl Emri at the work table by herself, he was again wide awake and alert. He was annoyed with Faver for it; she wasn’t supposed to be left on her own like that, unobserved. She hadn’t even been in the camp for an entire day, and Faver was trusting her like an old friend! Remal worried that one day, that sort of attitude would land Faver in danger… hopefully not because of this visitor, but really it was too soon to be sure.

Remal hated not being able to do anything to fix things, but since Faver hadn’t approved of him helping mix medicines (and Emri refused his help anyway) Remal had to find other things to keep himself busy. He couldn’t stand to be idle, and merely keeping watch on someone wasn’t an active enough pursuit for him. Fortunately, he had remembered that his spear would have to be sharpened after the encounter it’d had with gravel earlier that day. Upon inspection, the blade hadn’t been nicked up as much as he’d feared, but it still took a bit of doing to get the edges properly sharpened, straight and keen.

The blade of the spear was fine bronze, though not the very finest – it was still rather skillfully crafted, all the same. It had been made by an uncle from one of the outlying hamlets on the western side of the Downs, a place which had been attacked around the same time as Remal’s own town, but by people from a different warring faction who were rumored to have carried off everyone they didn’t kill, to use as slaves. No one from that hamlet had made it out to come away with the camp when they left Oxhale Downs, except a handful who had been away from that hamlet at the time, or moved from there previously. Remal didn’t know whether that uncle who had made the spear was alive or dead. Remal’s cousin, one of that hamlet’s few survivors who hadn’t been there when it was attacked, declined to go with the camp and instead went to look for survivors taken captive. Maybe she would find her family, or already had by now… but Remal doubted it. Even if any of them were still living, he didn’t think his cousin was likely to be able to find them. She’d insisted on trying, though. Maybe Remal would have gone on that doomed trip with her, if he hadn’t had his mother and other close family to protect. In any case, he was sure he would never see any of that branch of the family again.

He wished those relatives could have escaped with the camp, and not only because they were family. In his opinion, the smiths they had with them were not as skilled as his uncle had been. Even so, they were short on supplies and opportunity for the smiths to make new things. Most of the time these days, they never set up a full forge fire anywhere, and only rarely would build up temporary structures that would just get hot enough to mend a few things here and there when they had time for it.

That made a spear like Remal’s quite valuable to him. He could hardly afford to replace it, even if they ever came across any town or village that had anything near as good of quality to trade. Most people in the camp had already long since traded what they had which was of any value but not strictly necessary, for provisions along their travels. There wasn’t much left that could be traded in the future, except what the Leaders and some others had held back for emergency use (what little was left of that, anyway) and everyone in camp had done what they could to get as much food as possible through foraging, hunting, and putting a priority on keeping the remaining flocks alive and well. They had far less animals than they’d started with, so it was more important than ever for those who could hunt, to bring in wild game as much as possible. There was a forest a little way north of the lake; once they had moved the camp away in that direction, he and others might be able to find a respectable quantity of game there, perhaps including large game.

Though Remal couldn’t afford a new spear if anything happened to this one, he had saved a few coins for the purpose of getting a new hunting knife if he ever came across a good one for sale someplace. Or, at least, a newer knife. The hunting knife he had already, had been handed down to him and was not as fine of bronze as the spear, but it had been made with considerable skill – by his grandfather, who had taught his blacksmith uncle. The knife had been given to Remal while he was still a boy, when his father and older brothers first started teaching him to hunt and skin animals. It had seen a lot of use in its time, and while it had originally been a long-bladed knife, it had been sharpened so many times over the years that it wasn’t quite so long anymore. He was used to its current length, though, and quite liked the balance it had. It was good enough to be reliable if well-maintained, but he tried not to sharpen it any more often than strictly necessary. It had been awhile, though, so after sharpening the spear he’d given some attention over to honing the knife.

For good measure, he also checked over the utility knife that he had on him as well. It was older and shorter than the hunting knife, being used for all sorts of mundane things like cutting rope, textiles, bark, or any time he might need to cut branches, whittle wood, or any other cutting tasks he wouldn’t want to dull the hunting knife on. He actually ended up using that to cut string next, keeping himself busy by looking for places on his shirt that could be mended. Aside from a tear that had been over where his shoulder got injured not long ago, there were a number of other smaller places that could use a bit of repair. He wasn’t particularly good at that kind of work, but if he took his time at it, he could make serviceable repairs.

Still, Brylin was quick to critique his work when she brought over some seed cakes and berries for everyone there to have supper while settling in for the night. Brylin poked at the shirt in Remal’s hands.

“Why didn’t you tell me this needed repair? You know I could mend it better in less time.”

Remal sneered at his sister’s smugness. “It doesn’t need repair. I’m only fixing a few… little irregularities so that I have something to do while I have to sit here. You have plenty of more important things to keep you busy, than to bother with this.”

“You could be napping instead.” Faver suggested, coming over and giving Brylin a kiss on the cheek.

Remal rolled his eyes. “Not sleepy. Maybe later.”

“Speaking of keeping busy,” Brylin said, now addressing her husband, “you’d better not be planning to work all night. You need your sleep, too. I know you’re exhausted.”

Faver nodded and gave Brylin a quick kiss on the lips. “We’re just finishing up and putting things away now. We’re basically out of herbs for these medicines anyway. Have to hunt some more tomorrow.”

“Just so long as you get some sleep tonight.” Brylin commanded, then turned her attention to Emri, offering her a seed cake with a handful of berries. “Try this, and make sure you get some rest too, miss. Take better care of yourself than these fools.”

Emri muttered something that was probably some expression of gratitude at Brylin which Remal didn’t hear clearly, then Brylin gave Faver a hug and kiss goodnight, and excused herself with another admonishment to everyone there to get some sleep.

Remal heaved a sigh of relief that Brylin left soo soon, then saw Emri looking at him, so he narrowed his eyes at her. It was gratifying to see her respond by opening her eyes wider and turning back to her work.

Faver clicked his tongue at Remal, then went back to cleaning up his workspace. He had some bottles there that he’d put the new medicines into, and it looked like Emri was putting labels on them.

Nathley came in to report to Faver. They briefly discussed how many of the temporary helpers and relatives of people who were sick, would be staying by them through the night, and that Faver wanted Nathley and Acker to stay by Hin’s boys, with Acker going around every so often to check on everyone. Remal saw Faver hand Nathley a note which probably had instructions for Acker so that Nathley wouldn’t have to relay everything secondhand.

Meanwhile, someone came in with a cot for Emri to sleep on that Brylin sent over, and Faver instructed for it to be set up by the work table. By the time that was done and everything had been cleaned up and put away for the night, Remal had gotten well and truly bored of looking for places to mend on his shirt. Not that they were hard to find, only that they seemed unimportant to him. Insignificant places, minor damage. It was wearable regardless.

He was glad when Faver put out the lantern, leaving only a small candle burning on the work table. The same had probably been done in all the tents where the sick rested; lanterns put out with only a candle here and there. They probably didn’t have a lot of candles left in the camp beyond those, but Faver wanted a close watch kept on everyone who was ill, and they’d want to have at least a little light to see by even when everyone was resting.

The last thing Faver did before settling down on a chair by the door to nap, was to have Emri hold the candle for him while he checked Remal over to make sure that everything appeared normal with him and that his shoulder didn’t need to be cleaned and re-bandaged again yet. Faver declared everything to be fine and that they’d change the bandage over Remal’s shoulder in the morning, then ordered him to rest and saw to it that Emri had a good blanket and got tucked in comfortably, then took up his place by the door.

Remal was fairly certain that none of them actually slept much, only having catnaps in between the times that Faver got up to go around and check on the sick people, and when Acker came in from making checks of his own and exchanged notes with Faver. When Faver himself went to make rounds, he motioned for Emri to stay behind, still wanting there to always be someone in the tent with Remal, to keep him under observation. He probably didn’t really think it was necessary anymore, but Faver was professional like that, always following through with what he said he’d do.

Remal wasn’t convinced that Emri was actually asleep during the times that she appeared to be napping, and for his own part, he pretended to be asleep while keeping tabs on Faver’s movements and watching Emri. When she looked to be genuinely asleep (probably) Remal observed that the blandly neutral look on Emri’s face appeared almost normal for a sleeping person, in candlelight and with eyes closed in what seemed to be a relaxed manner. If he didn’t know better (from having observed her throughout the day) then he possibly wouldn’t have figured there was anything strange about her by the way she looked then – well, not by her face. There seemed to be something a little odd about the way she rested with her arms in front of her, one crossed over the other. Not crossed in the way that a person might normally fold their arms in front of oneself while sitting or standing with the elbows bent at right angles, but instead having the elbows only slightly bent and the wrists being near each other. He wasn’t sure what was so odd about that, just that it seemed unusual. He couldn’t think of a time that he’d ever seen someone sleep like that.

Combined with how strikingly normal her face looked at the time, it reminded Remal of how surprised he’d been that her hand would be as soft and warm as a normal person’s hand, when they’d first met and shook hands briefly. That led him to wondering if the skin on her face – since it was of a remarkably smooth complexion – would also be as soft and warm as it might be on any normal young woman. It would, wouldn’t it?

Faver stirred, and Emri’s eyes opened. She clearly saw Remal had been watching her, and stared back at him coldly.

Embarrassed at being caught staring (and maybe a little because of what he’d been thinking) Remal tried to act as if she’d stared first, sending a bit of a glare back at her before pointedly looking away.

Then Remal saw that Faver was watching them as he stood up and stretched. Catching Remal’s look, Faver rolled his eyes at him and pursed his lips, giving Remal a small, disapproving shake of the head before exiting the tent to make his rounds.

A little later, after Faver had gone back to sleep and Acker had come in and gone back out, Emri got up and went out. Remal had been trying harder than before to appear asleep, only looking out through the tiniest crack between his eyelids. He thought he saw Emri glance at him with a suspicious look before leaving, so he waited until he was sure that she wouldn’t notice, then got up to follow her. It seemed that Faver might have been just barely awake enough to notice, but he stayed put in his chair and made no move to hinder Remal’s leaving.

Out in the other tents, most of the people minding the sick were dozing, only stirring if the people they were minding coughed, mumbled feverishly, or moved about in another way. Then they’d check to see if the person needed water or some other sort of help. Otherwise, all was still and quiet. Being practiced at stalking wild game, Remal could move very quietly when he chose to, and anyone he passed who wasn’t sleeping and looked straight at him didn’t seem to think anything of it, probably expecting he was only trying to pass by quietly so as not to disturb anyone’s rest. He was, however, trailing Emri and trying his best to not be noticed by her. He stayed back as he followed, only approaching enough to keep her in his sight from around tent doors and the like. He was fairly certain that he was doing well at it and she hadn’t noticed… but would he be able to tell if she did? She seemed to be a rather unpredictable person, sometimes reacting not at all or only very little, and other times seeming to startle over very minor things.

Emri seemed to look at every sick person, but only stopped by the ones who were worst off. She appeared to take longer than necessary on checking how feverish they were. After she moved on, Remal looked each one over briefly, not noticing anything strange except… there was a faint floral scent of some kind that there didn’t appear to be a reason for. On second thought, it was perhaps the same scent he’d noticed earlier when Emri had been mixing something on her own, when she claimed that it wasn’t anything different than before. The faint scent dissipated quickly, however, as if it were following Emri and not staying with the sick people. They had balm applied to their foreheads, but it only smelled like the one that Faver had approved of, and there was no sign of anything else on them.

What was she doing? Remal tried following closer to see if Emri was administering some kind of new herbal concoction to the patients. She didn’t appear to be, however, and though he was as silent as ever, she looked back at him as though completely unsurprised that he’d been following her. Infuriating.

She continued on as if he weren’t there, so instead of following at a distance like he had been, he caught up with her between two tents and stopped her before she entered the next one.

“What are you doing?” Remal demanded.

“Nothing.” Emri replied. “Just checking on people.” Something in her tone of voice sounded… nervous. Like she had something to hide. The moon was bright out at the time, but unsurprisingly, he couldn’t read any clear expression on her face, and she stared back at him without flinching. Without blinking, even. Absolutely infuriating.

He sucked air in through his teeth and then bit his lip. Otherwise, he might have started yelling, and then he’d never hear the end of it from Faver. Grabbing Emri’s hands, he looked them over. They were not only empty, but clean. There was no sign that she’d been handling any medicines just now with her bare hands, nor that she’d even touched the balm that was on the foreheads of the people she’d been checking.

Frowning, he wondered if perhaps what she’d actually done earlier was to put on some kind of perfume, except that between then and now, wouldn’t he have noticed it? Besides, it seemed to be even fainter than before, dissipated to almost nothing. Could someone else have been wearing some novel new perfume, and only coincidentally had been nearby at the times he’d noticed that scent?

He couldn’t have imagined it, could he? He was not in the habit of doubting his senses. Bemused, Remal glanced around. There was no one else in view, the closest people were in the nearby tents and no one had gone in or out of these while they’d been standing there. Something about this was puzzling in an exceptionally frustrating way. While he was looking elsewhere, he only noticed how sharply Emri pulled her hands away because of the sudden change in temperature. Oddly, in the cool night air her hands had felt warmer than he’d expected them to. He watched her clench her fists and then stretch her fingers, then dig her nails into her palms again. Suddenly, she tucked her hands behind her back as if hiding them away. He looked at her face, which appeared inscrutable for a moment until she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Leave me alone.” She said in a low tone, then hastily made her way back to Faver’s work tent. She stumbled a little in her hurry, but somehow managed to not fall, so he didn’t bother to help. She really was… odd.

Since he was right by there anyway now, Remal went through to the last tent, where Acker was dozing near Hin and his boys. Hin looked up, and in response to a questioning look from Remal, Hin made motions indicating that things were ok with them. Of course, those boys had only just taken sick; there were others there in the same tent who’d been sick far longer and were very badly off. Clearly, Acker didn’t want them to be disturbed; when he looked up, it was to wave Remal off with dismissing motions. Hin nodded and then also motioned for Remal to go back, so he did.

Upon his return to Faver’s work tent, Remal got a rather severe look from the Healer, who then insisted on checking him over before making him lie down and tucking him in securely. Remal immediately loosened the blanket up again so as not to feel constricted and confined, but in any case Faver ordered him to stay put for the rest of the night. He briefly wondered if Emri had been given similar treatment; she looked to have also been tucked in and might have been sleeping… but he doubted that.

3.1

While Emri had been walking around to check on the sick people with Faver, most everyone around seemed either resting or busy with their tasks, and rather than bother Faver, afforded him some space except for when he addressed someone directly. Still, she hadn’t felt as though he was keeping a close eye on her, but rather giving almost all his attention to those who were ill, and often not looking at the same ones at the same time as her.

So, Emri had ventured to use a little magic on some of the people that she and Faver visited. She was really quite concerned about the worst-off ones, and he seemed to be too. That wasn’t surprising in the least; in fact it would be far more surprising to her if he weren’t more concerned than she was, since he knew these people personally.

Faver had said that these who were the most ill had already been close to dying before they were given medicine. It seemed to her that it wasn’t enough, this late for them, but some were lingering longer than Faver had expected, and many who were not quite as badly off hadn’t worsened. He said he would have expected some of these to have died already, and the next-worst ones would have been at death’s door by now - but weren’t - and so Faver was confident that the medicine was helping.

Still, Emri found it frustrating that she couldn’t do more. In places where people had skill in healing magic, this would all be fairly easily cured. She wished her mentor could be there to help, but he couldn’t. She knew why he couldn’t be there - it was just an empty, idle wish. She really felt bad for all of these people, both those who were sick, and those who cared for them and were their relations.

In any case, Faver suggested that they ought to give the medicine to more people now, and Emri agreed. He’d wish to give some to all of them, but they didn’t have very much of it yet, so Faver instructed some of his helpers, designating specific people to take charge of giving doses of medicine to different sets of patients based on the severity of their illness. He had it all figured out in his head how he wanted it and which of his helpers he wanted doing what. Emri found it somewhat impressive, and didn’t concern herself over whether any other way of organizing things might be more efficient or done differently in other lands. She was there to help Faver, not attempt to take over management of anything.

When they had returned to the work tent and seen how much of the medicine Acker had mixed up while they’d been going round the sick tents, Faver was obviously pleased. Acker had also mixed up some more of the poultice, and Faver resolved to take him round to not only provide those he’d instructed with more of the medicinal drops, but to instruct others on applying the poultice. As many people would be finishing up their work for the day by now, Faver wished for as many people in the camp as possible to have the poultice applied to bites they’d received, with a priority on the most recent bites.

So as they left with what had been made so far, Emri took over what there was left to do. The stems and roots of the plants that had been set aside earlier when the leaves had been removed could still be useful, but not as effective. She set about cutting them into very small pieces so she could mash them into a pulp. While she did so, she added a little magic energy to them. These plants had a very low magic power to begin with, smaller than related varieties in other parts of the world, and likely would have had even less if they’d been found growing in some place more near the center of this quadrant of the world, instead of at the feet of the nearby mountains.

It seemed to her however, that especially in the roots there was a higher level of life energy than similar varieties in other parts of the world where there’d have been more magic (such as on the other side of the mountains) and Emri hoped that a little added magic would help release that life energy into the pulp to create a more effective medicine than it otherwise would.

The people in this part of the world, despite having little to no magic, seemed to have an unusually high amount of life energy. It would seem strange to her, except that she had already noted before that people in other lands with more magic, who were said to be descended from the same common ancestry as the people here, also had high levels of life energy. Those two kinds of energy, while transferable, were not easily converted from one form to the other, and could not be used for all the same things. Usually it was expected that no living thing would have high levels of the one without also having high levels of the other.

Perhaps, then, it was only because this quadrant of the world had so little magic in it, that the people here lacked it. Perhaps many other things in these lands also had higher life energy? It wasn’t something she was used to noticing as much as magic energy, however, and the severe lack of magic in this area was so glaring, so jarring to her that she wouldn’t ever be able to overlook it for even a moment. It meant that while here, she couldn’t easily replenish any magic she might use. That alone would ensure she would only ever use small amounts, even if she hadn’t promised to avoid using any. (and in particular, to not use it in front of people who didn’t know magic)

Especially with no one watching her now, if she didn’t need to be cautious about how much magic she used, she would have loved to use magic to more quickly and completely pulverize the bits of herb that she’d chopped and had been grinding up in the mortar. It was quite a pulpy mess by now, but she didn’t like how long it took to do, nor did she like how awkward she was with these simple, rudimentary tools. Doctors and apothecaries in other parts of the world she’d been to had varying levels of technical skill and more advanced tools. Sometimes, more complex and fancy but not actually more useful, but… some had tools that could do the same work faster, more efficiently, and with greater ease of use. However, even in those places where they had many advancements and greater surgical knowledge than these people, she had only seen two places where the people had greater knowledge of herbs, and interestingly enough, in neither place did people use complicated tools. Tools different than the ones here, but uncomplicated ones. People in those places did use magic for simple and routine tasks, though. Completely impractical in this part of the world.

Emri had been so absorbed in what she was doing and what she was thinking about, that she almost didn’t notice Remal get up from the other side of the tent and approach where she was working.

“Are you mixing something new now?” Remal asked. “It smells different from before.”

It was a little startling anyway, but with effort Emri maintained her composure – fairly well, she thought. She kept still for only a brief moment, then resumed her work. This next part involved squeezing juice out of the pulp she’d made, so it could be added to the next batch of medicinal drops to be made from the bulb of the other plant. The pulp could be mixed with parts of the other plant to make more of the poultice. Regardless, this wasn’t a plant of a sort where different parts would smell different from each other. Differing strength of scent, but not different scents.

“It shouldn’t smell any different to you.” Emri said curtly, wishing Remal were someplace else. Anywhere else. “It’s the same plant as before.” Why should he imagine it was any different? Was there something wrong with him? Also, why should he have woken up now? Surprisingly, once he had finally fallen asleep, he’d seemed to have been sleeping pretty deep. Although she, Faver, and Acker hadn’t been speaking while they were all there working, ever since Faver sent Nathley and Aron out earlier, they had gone in and out of the tent and generally kept busy the whole evening with processing plants, mixing medicines, and writing notes with those scratchy charcoal sticks on bark paper.

Remal hadn’t answered back to what she’d said, but Emri could feel him staring at her from close by. Too close for comfort. Well… Faver had told her that if Remal made a nuisance of himself, she should tell him to get out of the way. She might as well try it, more or less.

“I don’t need any help with this,” she said flatly, “and it doesn’t help to have you standing right there. Would you go back over where you were before?”

“Maybe.” Remal snorted derisively. “If you’d ask nicely and say please.”

Infuriating. However, Emri had never before been so grateful for all the lessons on deportment the Elders back home had insisted on. She’d hated it at the time, but otherwise would probably never be able to maintain her composure now. Truth be told, however, she was just as annoyed with herself for having failed to use the proper form of cultural niceties in making a request, as she was with Remal for making a fuss over it and speaking in such a disdainful manner.

Emri replied in a slow and measured way. “Would you please, go back over where Faver told you to rest, since I don’t need your help here.”

Remal stepped away, but before she had a chance to feel relieved about it, Emri realized that he’d gone in a different direction from the one she expected. He’d gone to another corner of the tent that was closer, by the far end of the work table.

Pausing her work, Emri looked over to see what he was up to. He’d retrieved a spear that had been resting there against a cabinet, which looked like the same one he’d been carrying earlier that day. She couldn’t be entirely sure if he was only examining the bronze blade on the end of the spear, or if he was looking past it to scrutinize her. Could it be both at the same time?

She stood very, very still - as still as she ever had when under examination. She didn’t even blink or swallow.

“These medicines of yours had better help.” Remal said after a few moments. He fingered the edges of the spear blade, as though testing them. “You know what happens if anything you do harms our people, if it hurts them and makes them worse off, or kills anyone faster than they’re already dying?”

Emri allowed herself to swallow before replying, but otherwise maintained her stillness. “I… wouldn’t be allowed to stay with the camp.”

“If you’re lucky.” Remal scoffed, with a narrowed gaze and a small twitch on one corner of his mouth. “If you can get away fast enough.”

Emri’s composure slipped a little. She blinked and felt her brows draw together in puzzlement.

Remal stepped closer, though Emri was further puzzled by how he held the spear like a walking staff and not as if he were planning to use it. It did not match his tone, which was low and threatening. “Because… unless the bitter-tasting stuff I’ve already taken turns out to be lethal for someone as healthy as me, I won’t let you leave alive.”

Emri stepped back, immediately thinking to herself that it was the wrong reaction. It had been without thinking, and she inwardly scolded herself for losing control like that, for breaking her composure so entirely.

“You will do no such thing!” Faver barked, striding into the tent. He stepped between them and started pushing Remal back over towards the cot he’d assigned Remal to earlier. “Don’t exaggerate so much, Remal, and stop being a bully. I won’t have you being mean to someone who is assisting me in my work!”

Remal allowed himself to be shepherded back over to the cot, though he made a low sort of grumbling sound, and paused to pick something up from the floor next to the cot. It looked like a leather pouch that had been sitting on his shirt there. Having grabbed it, he sat grumpily on the cot with that in one hand and the spear in the other.

“Moreover,” Faver continued, addressing Remal with his arms crossed over his chest, “the medicine has already been proven effective in slowing the progress of the illness in those it’s been given to. Some even look to be improving already. It hasn’t harmed you or anyone else and I am confident that it never will, so quit talking as though it might!”

If Faver had heard all that, then how long had he been listening at the tent’s entrance before walking in? Emri didn’t know why he would have done so, but it must mean that Faver had believed there was no real danger in Remal’s threatening behavior.

Remal pulled a dark, flat stone out of the pouch and began to sharpen the spear blade with it, in a manner that seemed slow, careful, and deliberate – almost as though it was a simple, routine maintenance task that he wanted to make sure was done properly. He had a scowl on his face, however, as Faver continued to lecture him.

“Emri knows what she is doing, and you – who never cared to learn much of this work and never properly apprenticed to it – do not. No matter what Rinna and the Leaders request, I can’t have you getting in the way here. If you don’t calm down, if you keep annoying me and my assistants, then I’ll have to order you to be confined to your tent with your mother, and set Acker to watch you, with Hin or whoever else it might require to keep you there.”

Emri wondered why keeping Remal out of the way might possibly conflict with anything the Leaders might want. Wasn’t Faver’s work their highest priority right now? Emri suddenly felt like she was eavesdropping, and turned back to her work. Though she tried to ignore it, she could still hear Faver and Remal talking anyway.

“Whoever else?” Remal scoffed. “Like Brylin, and Nina too?”

“Brylin, maybe. Not Nina.”

“Don’t you think I’d listen to Nina?”

Faver scoffed this time. “Sure you would. You’d probably take orders from her even if you wouldn’t listen to me or anyone else. The problem is, she wouldn’t have the heart to keep you confined anywhere.”

“Probably.” Remal laughed, an oddly discordant sound over that of the spear being sharpened.

Faver ordered Remal to stay put and keep quiet, then approached Emri and gave her a light pat on the shoulder. He spoke in a soft, confidential sort of tone, but Emri wasn’t convinced it was quiet enough for Remal to not overhear. “He may growl a lot, but he’s like a pup whose bark is worse than his bite. Well… except in situations where there really is a serious threat that he can fight against. He’s probably annoyed that he can’t fight this one. You’re helping us fight it, though. Eventually, he should agree with me that you’re on our side, and not a threat. So don’t worry about him, ok? Keep standing your ground.”

Faver offered Emri a reassuring smile and examined the work she had just finished. Nodding, he started to chop up the last of the marsh fern, passing the leafy top parts to Emri. In return, Emri passed him the small bowl she’d used to contain the juice she squeezed out of the pulp she made before. Transferring that pulp into another bowl, she started putting the leaves from the fern into the mortar. The recipes were now familiar enough to not need further discussion.

Faver’s words turned over in Emri’s mind as they got back to work. Did she seem worried to him? Was she worried? Shocked, or stunned? Remal had sounded gravely serious, though Faver seemed not to take it literally. Could he really have been exaggerating? Maybe it was just as Faver said, that Remal needed to become convinced that Emri was on their side. In which case, it meant that Remal simply didn’t know any better yet. Until he could become convinced – if he ever could – would it be best to just avoid him?

If Faver compared Remal to a dog or some other less-sentient creature acting on instinct instead of reason, then Emri wondered if it would be best to treat him in ways easily understood by that sort? Maybe that was why Faver told her to stand her ground, to order him out of the way if necessary. So she shouldn’t show fear, then. That should be relatively easy to do, if she wasn’t afraid of him – was she? Perhaps… concerned. Concerned about what he might do, whether he’d make trouble for her, if he’d cause problems. It seemed like sometimes Faver and others might not take him seriously, but she felt it would be a mistake for her not to. No, she didn’t think he scared her, only it was more like she felt she should be cautious, because she couldn’t predict what he might do. It was irritating and distracting, and… a little bit of something more. Was he intimidating? Maybe. He had something of a… presence… that she wouldn’t describe as imposing, but… as though he could make her feel smaller.

It was true that Remal was taller and (unsurprisingly) more broad-shouldered than her – but he wasn’t so very much taller, and it wasn’t as if he was like some people she’d seen who were more heavily muscled and bulky, but he did look strong and was probably much stronger than she was. She had never been the sort of person to very easily be made to feel small, even when around people who were taller, people literally bigger than her. Even back when she had been a young child, actually physically smaller than many other children (before she’d grown to be taller than average among those of the same age group) she might have felt small in a way, but differently – like she’d felt small but as though her parents and siblings were always there to keep her safe.

Around the Elders, however, it had always been the opposite of being around family. They had made her feel small, but not safe. Exposed, instead of protected. Not as though she really thought they would do anything to harm her, but… always that they had the authority and ability to make all sorts of things unpleasant, and she could never be certain how harsh or lenient they might decide to be at any given time. That had been less about them being bigger than her, and more about what they might do and the way that they always looked at her so… critically. They all would stare at her in a serious, severe, and judgemental way; always as if they were looking through her to seek out any faults they could find, and were deciding which punishments to assign for each one.

It had been a long time now since anyone had made her feel small in the way that the Elders had; ever since she’d left her homeland to travel with her mentor, no one else had looked at her in the same kind of way as they did, just looking to find fault… like Remal kept doing. So suspicious, so judgemental. She doubted that Remal had anything like the kind of authority among this people as even the least of the Elders back home had there… but he seemed to be able to make her feel the same anyway. She didn’t think she really believed that he’d hurt her (or, at least, that Faver or someone else would stop him if he tried) ...just like the Elders back home wouldn’t have physically harmed her. It was that Remal might make things difficult for her and not feel sorry for it, like he’d think he was doing his job, or doing the right thing, even if it really wasn’t. He seemed so serious, severe, hard-faced and mirthless; distrustful and always looking to find fault, the way the Elders always did.

Her mentor, on the other hand, had more power and authority than all the Elders, but he had never made her feel small at all, only inexperienced. It had never been as if he wanted to make her feel bad about it - only that in comparison to him, probably anyone would seem like an amateur in his fields of study. Oddly, she sort of felt that way around Faver, though the amount of study she had done in the years spent with her mentor, of plants and herbal remedies, might mean she knew more than Faver did. Maybe it was that Faver had more practical experience than her, in actually treating patients and compounding medicines. He appeared quite confident and comfortable in that role, and finished mixing the medicine he was making in less time than it took her to do the same. He didn’t appear judgemental at all over her not having finished her own tasks, was nothing but encouraging to her, and calmly worked on one last batch of the fever balm.

“We’re going to need a lot more of all these herbs,” Emri observed, “and I want to go myself so I can look for some variety of this one.” She indicated the now-empty jar that had contained the last of the ‘Piedmont Firesparks.’ “There likely wouldn’t be the same variety as that in this area, but I think there should be something of the sort up in the hills, possibly higher up than where we found the others. Even if any we find are wilted this late in the season, their dried leaves should work at least as well as what was left in this jar.”

Faver nodded agreement. “I’ll come with you.” He threw a look over his shoulder at Remal, who had stopped his sharpening when Emri spoke. Faver used an indulgent tone with him this time. “Of course you can come, too.”

Remal looked about to say something, but Faver put up a hand momentarily and added: “As long as you don’t annoy me, and you get more rest tonight.”

Remal huffed, and busied himself with something else.

2.6

Arriving at the work tent followed by Acker, Faver was dismayed though not terribly surprised to find Remal arguing with Aron. Nathley was standing between them, and it looked like Emri was attempting to keep busy over at the farther end of the work table.

Faver grabbed Remal’s arm sharply and Remal yelped. Aron went quiet, Acker pulling on his sleeve. Nathley stood still and looked to Faver, while Emri carried on working.

“You’re supposed to be resting!” Faver scolded Remal, with a scowl.

Remal scowled back at him. “Sure, you tell me to rest, but you also demand that I stay here, where people keep talking constantly.” Remal next shot a glare at Aron. “Including talking about me.”

Faver squeezed Remal’s arm harder and tugged him towards the bed. “Enough. Quit complaining and lie down, and I’ll see to it that things quiet down soon.”

Remal grumbled something that might have been a warning about who he wanted to leave, but Faver gave him a light shove on the shoulder and started scolding Aron. He thought that would get Remal to shut up, and it did – mostly. Remal muttered a little bit more while taking his time to sit down, but at least he was doing that and being quiet enough to not interrupt.

“What were you thinking, Aron? You were only supposed to keep an eye on Remal – not get near him, talk to him, or have him help. He’s too tired to act reasonable and peaceable, and he’s supposed to be resting! Even if he can’t sleep, I want him to stay put laying down and rest.”

Aron had the decency to look a little sheepish and regretful, though he nevertheless offered lamely: “It started out okay...”

Faver waved dismissively, cutting him off and prompting him to keep silent.

“Nathley.” Faver said curtly, and the girl gave him her full attention. “Tell me what happened, Nathley. Wait.” Knowing her, she’d probably start describing everything that happened after he last left the room, if he didn’t specify. “Just tell me what they were arguing about.”

When Faver had ordered her to wait, Nathley paused with her mouth open. After he clarified what he wanted, Nathley looked around a moment, seeming to think it over before answering.

“Well… Remal helped us identify a plant we were looking up in the Herbal, and that was the last ingredient we needed to find, so… he then tried to help with the medicine, but he didn’t like for Emri to give him instructions about how to mix it, so he got annoyed. Aron scolded him for it, so Remal started arguing with him.”

“Alright.” Faver declared. “That’s enough time wasted on that. What’s the progress on the medicine? Have you been taking notes?”

Nathley nodded. “Show me.” Faver said, then realized that Acker was now at the work table beside Emri, looking over some papers and writing a note that Emri was reading as Acker wrote it. “Are these them?” Faver asked, stepping over to stand beside Acker. He only paused long enough to see Nathley nod again before starting to read over the notes.

“Is this the full list of ingredients?” Faver asked Nathley.

“Yes. That last one is what we looked for in the Herbal. It-”

“You can tell me all about that later. Is there anything you hadn’t written down yet?”

Nathley nodded, and showed him her arm, where there was a shiny, somewhat oily look to a patch of skin there. “We were testing the consistency of the balm and Emri said it was a little too thick.”

Aron held up his arm as well, which showed a patch of skin that had been given similar treatment. “Remal disagreed with her about the best way to thin it down.”

“Okay, okay!” Faver waved at them to be quiet a moment. He turned back to what Acker was writing, and saw that Emri had added to the notes in response to what Acker wrote, and he had written back, and so on. It appeared to be a brief discussion of what Emri had been doing to thin down the balm, and Acker agreeing with her on the method. He looked to Faver and nodded.

Faver reached over and dipped a finger into the bowl, then examined it closely while rubbing a little of the mixture between his thumb and forefinger. “It’s good.” He said, nodding approval to both Emri and Acker as he put his hand closer to his face and sniffed it. The balm could be smelled from farther away of course, but he wanted to determine how strong it smelt up close. It appeared to be entirely suitable for the required purpose.

“Here! Nathley.” Faver dipped his fingers back into the bowl, and waved at the girl with his other hand. When Nathley stepped closer and looked up at him, Faver used his fingertips to paint a streak of balm across her forehead, smoothing it as evenly as he could while still applying it quickly.

“How’s that feel?” He asked, while testing a little out on his own face. It did feel cool on the skin; hopefully it would be even more so for anyone with a fever.

Nathley nodded enthusiastically. “I think it feels like it’s supposed to.”

Faver cut Nathley off from saying more, and turned back to Emri. “I like your formulation so far. If it works better than what we’ve used in the past, we’ll add the formula to my notes. Time to try it out on more people, especially the ones who need it.”

Emri had muttered a quiet thanks when Faver approved, and then passed him the bowl when he reached for it. Turning back to Nathley, Faver said: “Here’s what you’re going to do. Take this around – Aron, you go with her – and apply it to the people with the worst fevers first, and then to anyone else with a fever. Like this.”

Faver gestured to Aron to hold still, and made sure that Nathley watched him put some balm on Aron’s forehead. Then he handed her the bowl and ushered her over next to Remal.

Shaking his head in disapproval, Faver chided: “Remal, why are you still sitting? Lay down.” He pointed emphatically, and Remal (scowling) took his time doing as he was told.

Faver gave a curt nod and crossed his arms in front of him. “Alright, Nathley, show me you can apply the balm evenly without using too much each time. Practice on him.”

Nathley shot him a brief apprehensive look. He raised an eyebrow and inclined his head as though to point her towards the task. The teen did as she was told. She was clearly nervous, but did an adequate job of applying a little balm to Remal’s forehead. Remal, however, appeared entirely indifferent except for an annoyance at being used for a test subject, though he had volunteered for it initially. Faver resolved that in the future, he wouldn’t accept Remal as a test subject again. He would have rolled his eyes if Remal had been looking, and if Nathley hadn’t quickly turned back to look at Faver for approval.

“Well done, Nathley.” Faver gave her a light pat on the shoulder that he meant for encouragment. “Now take Aron and make sure he learns, too, so he can help you. After you finish, go around and see if anyone helping tend the sick might need anything, and then if Aron would like you to help with any of the preparations for moving, do so.”

Faver ushered them both out of the tent, and silently mouthed to Aron to keep her busy. Nathley was a reasonably good helper, but he didn’t need her back in the work tent tonight, and it’d be much easier to keep everything quiet without her there.

Rounding on Remal again, Faver was gratified to see his young brother-in-law still laying down, as instructed. Remal was watching him, though, with a look that would surely intimidate most any creature he might encounter while out hunting… or else goad them into attacking. Faver tutted at the fellow, pulling the blanket up to tuck him in like a child. “Here now. No more of those sour looks of yours, Remal. If you keep tightening up your face, you’ll never relax. Shall I give you a sedative?”

Remal glowered in response, but Faver only gave him a hard stare in return. With an air of giving up, Remal sighed heavily and shook his head, seeming to also attempt to smooth out the frown lines in his forehead and compose his face into something suited for repose. His voice, however, retained an accusatory tone as he said, “No sir, that won’t be necessary… if you can keep things quiet in here, as you said.”

“Not another word.” Faver stated, meaning it both as a command to Remal for his behavior, and a commitment regarding his own.

Returning to the work table, Faver found that Acker had been writing back and forth some more with Emri, and when she looked up at his approach, he gestured for her to not speak. Pointing at the series of notes on the table, Faver took up a charcoal stick and joined in on the written discussion. He looked over the notes Nathley had made, and saw where Acker had made corrections and additions, having been discussing it with Emri in a series of notes down a few sheets of paper. Asking some questions of his own, he made notes for clarification on a couple of points in the formula, and then set that one aside for Acker to copy down in ink for a final draft later. Pulling out his own notes from before when Emri had been teaching him the formulations of the other medicines, Faver showed them to Acker and they began working out a good set of written instructions for each, also having Acker practice mixing both of those in order to learn them.

From time to time Faver looked over at Remal, who now appeared to be either sleeping, or at least resting calmly. Otherwise, most of the remainder of the evening passed in Acker learning to mix the medicines, and with Faver and Emri finishing up the written instructions and taking stock of what requisite supplies they had on hand. When finished with that, Faver took Emri with him to make a round checking on the patients, leaving Acker to continue mixing what medicine could be made from the supplies they still had, and to keep an eye on Remal.

Faver checked that the people tending to the sick were also taking care of themselves, reiterating to some who he knew hadn’t been sleeping much, that they should try to sleep more tonight. Lamps and lanterns were being lit, but in some corners they had already been turned down and a number of people were already dozing. That is, some of the helpers were asleep; almost all of those who were ill had been sleeping fitfully most of the day, and still were. Faver also looked all of them over briefly, checking on their symptoms and noting how the balm had been applied. He couldn’t spend much time on most of them, but Emri appeared to be particularly worried about those who were worst off and had the most severe fevers. She paused longer over those, lightly resting her fingertips just to the side of where balm had been applied, with her brows drawn together and an expression in her eyes that looked to him like one of grave concern.

He observed that Emri also appeared to be tired. She moved a bit lethargically, and somewhat awkward though it seemed like she was trying to be careful. He decided to inquire after her well-being, though he waited until they had gone round all of the patients first. Walking outside all of the tents instead of back through them to return to the work tent, Emri briefly stumbled in the failing light on an uneven patch of ground.

Faver grabbed hold of her arm to steady her, then held on lightly while standing still instead of walking again.

“Are you alright? Tired?”

“Yes. No- I mean…” Emri breathed out slowly. “I’m alright. Maybe a little tired, but not so much that I can’t help finish making the medicines that will be needed tomorrow.”

Was that simply worry in her eyes, or something more? With the rest of her face remaining blandly expressionless (as seemed might be normal for her) Faver felt it was more difficult to be certain. He wondered if she might be ill-at-ease here, uncomfortable around so many people she’d only just met.

“How are you otherwise?” He asked. “I wondered if… it might be too crowded in these tents at times. Perhaps it might be stressful for you?”

“Oh. Um…” Emri looked around a little, then back at him. “The number of people around doesn’t bother me much – that is, I don’t really mind crowds – it’s just… well, what matters more is what kind of manners those people have. I mean, most people have been really welcoming…” she trailed off, seeming reluctant to say more.

Faver nodded. “Some aren’t so welcoming, though. Right?” He gave her a light pat on the arm that he hoped was reassuring. “I could tell you that everyone means well, only wanting to protect everyone else… but I personally don’t think it excuses rudeness. I’m glad to have your help, and it won’t do any good for anyone to get in the way of this work. If Remal, or anyone else, makes things difficult for you, let me know. Or, of course, you can tell him off or ignore him. Helping our people get better is more important than anything that Remal thinks, or believes he needs to do.”

Emri nodded solemnly. “Helping the sick is most important. I sincerely hope they can all recover, although some…” She looked down.

Giving a small shake of the head, Faver patted her arm again. “We must hope for the best. Things are not as bad as they might have been, and many begin to improve.”

Looking back up at him, Emri spoke in a more resolute tone. “You’re right. Hoping for the best is important. Even with everything your people have been through, it’s good that you and others hold on to hope and optimism. To be less suspicious than others, more accepting, and to maintain faith in a better future for your families. It’s- it’s so…”

“It is important.” Faver agreed.

“It’s not just important.” Emri gave a slight shake of her head, then looked him right in the eyes with a piercing gaze. “It’s everything. Everything!”

Faver didn’t disagree with that, but he wondered if that sudden intensity indicated something more. It probably wouldn’t do any good if she got worked up now, though. She was tired, and so was he and everyone else. Feeling a little cautious, he nodded. “We don’t give up. Now, shall we go finish up today’s work?”

Though it was a short distance to the work tent from where they stood, Faver offered his arm for Emri to hold onto the rest of the way back. She hesitated a bit, but then nodded and took it.

2.5

To make sure Emri had time to eat, Faver didn’t want to hurry on his way to fetch Acker. Besides, he was certain Rinna wanted to talk to him, and he needed to check on everyone. At least, he intended to go around to each tent that had sick people in it, make sure the helpers and relatives of the sick were tending to the illness as he’d instructed, and personally look over the people who were worst off. He wished he was capable of always checking each and every single one himself, but there were too many. If he even tried to tend to everyone personally, he’d never manage to do anything else – including sleep.

Some of the sickest people had gotten worse, but not as much as he’d expected, and others of the worst off had, marvelously, not gotten worse at all since the last time he’d checked on them. They didn’t seem to have improved – yet – but a day ago he’d had every reason to think that most of these would have died by now. The way things had been going with the progression of the illness, and the few who had died previously… it had to be on account of the new medicine that no more had died today, even if some remained on the point of it. He wasn’t sure if they’d all still be alive by the morning, but he believed their chances were far better now than they had been before.

Rinna appeared to be pleased at Faver’s assessment of things; he’d want to think it was only that she’d be as glad as him for the same reasons, but she made some comment about Emri having been walking around all the sick people earlier, that sounded like Rinna had been concerned… about what? Did she really think Emri would have… interfered with the treatment of the sick people in some negative way? She didn’t say so outright, but she certainly sounded skeptical and cautious in a way that Faver felt was unwarranted.

Faver pulled Rinna aside, just out of the tents. “You’re sounding paranoid, like Remal. What’s wrong with Emri checking up on those who are ill? She’s assisting me, and like any apprentice of mine, it’s reasonable for her to look in on my patients, especially since there are too many for me to be always checking on all of them myself. She’s helping, and I don’t see any reason why you or Remal or anyone else should think that she isn’t!”

Rinna pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest, taking up a stance that was remarkably similar to what Brylin did when she didn’t intend to give an inch of ground. The look didn’t sit as well on her, though.

“Aron told me,” she said, in a very unsympathetic tone, “that you were displeased about Remal being assigned to keep an eye on our visitor.”

Faver took up a stubborn posture as well, and adopted a lecturing tone. With some people, it was important to let them know you wouldn’t simply be walked over, even when you were cooperating with them. “You know Remal. He’s the sort of person who tends to get in the way more than help, when it comes to my sort of work – especially with the sullen way he’s been acting towards almost everyone. Emri hasn’t done anything to harm anyone, and I don’t like seeing people act antagonistic towards someone who is sincerely trying to help all of us. I don’t like for you or any of the other leaders to encourage anyone – especially Remal – to be even more suspicious in this situation. It does no good for any helper of mine to be getting intimidated and startled at every turn, who I need to be focused on the work that needs to be done. Besides, it’s no way to treat a guest, and she’s done nothing to deserve unkind treatment.”

Feeling somewhat relieved that Rinna wasn’t interrupting him, but continued listening, Faver went on. He had a right to lodge complaints and express his concerns, after all. “You know it’s not good for Remal, either, don’t you? I worry that he’s already more paranoid and negative than is good for him. The strain of it, combined with this attitude he’s had of being overprotective not only towards his own relations, but this entire camp of people? It’s too much stress for him to be taking on, and I hate to see anyone encourage it!”

Faver huffed, and Rinna raised an eyebrow with a look as though questioning whether he was finished. Having relaxed his stance somewhat while talking, Faver straightened up and fixed Rinna with one of his most serious looks, raising an eyebrow himself in what he thought was a challenging manner, daring her to refute anything he’d just said.

Rinna sighed, put a hand to the side of her head, and offered a small smile. “Encouragement? We hardly gave him any encouragement at all. We only thought that if he appeared to be wary of a stranger, it’d be useful if he were assigned to report back to us about anything he might notice or find out.”

Faver relaxed a little, but still gave Rinna a serious look. “In that case, when you ask him to report to you, would you encourage him to look on the positive side a little bit? I don’t want him making an occupation out of suspicion, paranoia, and fear. It’s one thing to gather information, and quite another to assume the worst by default and go looking for it.”

Rinna folded her arms again, but looked down this time. “I know you like to always look for the best in everyone, but… you know pretty much everyone in camp has good reason to be less trusting than they used to be. Remal’s not the only one who feels that way, although… you may be right in thinking he’s taken it farther than most. The Leaders’ Circle has… gotten a lot of complaints about him. He tries to help everyone, but is always on alert and can’t calm down, so he acts stern and impatient with everyone and gets on the nerves of a lot of people, stressing out everyone who is already on edge. Remember how he upset that whole village on their market day? All he had to do was let Hin ask if they’d accept having our camp set up nearby and trade with them, but he reacted threateningly to a routine challenge, and would have gotten into a fight if Hin hadn’t dragged him off immediately.”

Faver smiled a little, and chuckled.

“It wasn’t funny at all!” Rinna protested sternly, with a glare at Faver.

“Not that part, no, but what Jambry did to handle the situation afterwards, that was funny.”

“I shudder to think of it. That old guy is a piece of work, no doubt.”

“It was hilarious, and it worked.”

Scowling, Rinna waved a hand dismissively. “Never mind that. The point is, many of us think that Remal needs to be kept busy so that he’ll bother less people, but there’s only a handful of people who can put up with him and who he might listen to.”

“Mostly just Hin, I think. Isn’t that why Hin has been taking him on the longer, more roundabout scouting trips most of the time? So he’d be in and around camp as little as possible.”

Rinna looked back at Faver. “That may make things easier on most, but it’s not the best thing for Hin, and also… Hin has reported that it doesn’t help change anything. He says it’s because it allows Remal too much time to think on his own, and that he’s stuck thinking all the same things over and over and isn’t actually working through any of it. He thinks Remal needs something different to occupy his mind, instead of just working himself to death. Many of the Leaders, as well as Elders who’ve been consulted, think the same, and wanted to take the opportunity to give him a different sort of assignment as soon as one presented itself. Besides, it’s doubtful that Remal would simply stop acting suspicious and prickly, so we might as well put it to constructive use. I don’t think Hin is the only person Remal listens to, either. There’s also you.”

“He doesn’t listen to me. Not without arguing over it, anyway.”

“That’s better than most. Actually, I’ve realized there seems to be one person he doesn’t argue with, and that’s Nina. Now, Aron and I were thinking earlier, that Emri probably needs more time to get to know you and others, before she’d be willing to volunteer much information about subjects she’s avoided so far. She seems to respond well to Nina, though.”

“So you want to drag my daughter into this little scheme of yours?”

“I wouldn’t put it like that, but if she’s around, Remal might be less argumentative with you, and Emri might talk to her more. We want Nina and some of the other children who often help with foraging while minding the flocks, along with some of the older people who do the same and are good at teaching others, to have a lesson on identifying the new plants. You’re convinced these medicines of Emri’s are helping, so we’re going to want a lot more of those plants, which means teaching more people to recognize them.”

“So if you want me to have Nina around to work with Emri, does that mean I can send Remal off to get him out of my way?”

“How about sending him with Emri and Nina, out gathering plants.”

Faver sighed. “I suppose that might be practical… especially if an additional adult goes along.”

“Good. We’ll coordinate with you tomorrow about getting a group together for an herbs lesson. I think that tomorrow evening, after part of the camp is moved, would be a good time. Then, when the herders take the flocks across the river on the following day, they will know what to look for.”

“Alright.” Resignedly, Faver shrugged and continued on to the last tent, where he had stationed Acker. Rinna followed along. Hin was there with his boys, so Faver took the opportunity to check up on them. Hallen and Zaneth were sound asleep, so Faver inquired quietly about them. Hin said that Safia had been doing better after eating and having a bit of rest, so her mother had taken her to get cleaned up and to bed. Eloisa had briefly returned with a snack for supper and had also verified to Hin that Safia hadn’t any recent insect bites. After seeing that her sons weren’t any worse, she went back to stay with Safia.

Acker nodded to Faver and then pointed out to him where the boys had been bitten numerous times. He avoided waking them, so Faver didn’t look them over completely, instead trusting to Acker’s assessment. Faver had seen some of it earlier, but hadn’t noticed the full extent of it. He asked Hin if he’d seen it before the last trip the boys had taken.

“No.” Hin replied sadly. “After their previous trip fetching water at the old spot, I didn’t check them over myself. They said that they had hardly been bitten at all.”

“Well, they were fibbing to say so. Maybe they were just trying to be tough, and maybe they didn’t want to worry you. These bites all look like they came from that previous trip, or earlier. Since Safia didn’t get any bites on the last trip to the new location, that place should be relatively safe for others to go to.”

“I agree.” Hin said. “I believe a couple of our more experienced scouts already left earlier, so that they can bring back more water for everyone who will be staying here after the rest of the camp moves tomorrow.”

Faver nodded. “We’re going to make more of that poultice for the insect bites. We may need to prioritize applying it to people who have been bitten but haven’t gotten sick yet, but I want these two boys to be treated with it as well. I’ll probably have someone do that later tonight.” Faver then motioned for Acker to join him. “Come with me. We’re going to teach you to make the new medicines.”

As he and Acker started back to the work tent, Faver could hear Rinna whisper to Hin. She was probably going to take him aside for a private chat, too. Some people were never finished strategising.

2.4

Aron took their empty bowls and spoons back to the people who had prepared dinner and were now cleaning up. Avoiding Brylin and others who tended to pull people into conversation in order to gossip, Aron hurried back.

He was concerned that maybe Nathley would be having a difficult time keeping to a whisper, but he returned to find the girl quietly helping Emri gather up ingredients. Not being one of Faver’s regular apprentices, she didn’t know where everything was, but Nathley had helped out enough now to at least know where to look.

“Can I help?” Aron asked in a whisper.

“Do you know how to use this?” Emri asked, indicating a small mortar and pestle for grinding up herbs.

Aron nodded. He wasn’t acquainted with all the things that Healers might use in preparation of medicines, but basically everyone from their part of the world tended to learn early in life how to grind up grains, seeds, herbs and other things that could be used in cooking. Usually if it was for food preparation, the tools were a larger size set so as to accommodate batches of grain and seeds for making biscuits, seed-cakes, and the like; but they were basically used in the same manner. It was a simple process of putting the ingredient to be ground up into the mortar, and then using the pestle to smash, grind, pulverize, and otherwise make increasingly smaller pieces out of things. It was good for mixing such ingredients together, too.

“Everyone knows that.” Nathley whispered, looking over from the herb cabinet, as if Emri had asked if he knew how to walk, or something else that one might expect any person in the world to be capable of no matter where they were from. Maybe where Emri came from, not everyone learned to help with the cooking? But he had seen her helping Faver earlier, and Emri clearly didn’t need anyone to teach her, so naturally he assumed what she meant was for him to help by grinding something up.

“What do you want me to start with?” Aron asked.

“This bunch of herbs here.” Emri replied, passing him some of the new herb that… wasn’t the one from around the marsh. That one was sort of like a fern with a bulbous bit above a long root, but this one had feathery roots all in a jumble, with leaves that were rounded, broad, and all in clusters.

“Just the leaves.” Emri added, still speaking quietly. “Please pull them off and set the rest aside. When the leaves are in a pulp, we’ll add the oil. If Nathley can find it.”

“It’s here.” Nathley spoke up, a little too loud. Aron shot her a look as she set the bottle on the work table next to a couple of others. It had a label on it that no doubt indicated which type of oil it was, but Aron couldn’t read it from where he stood. He started pulling the leaves off the herbs Emri had passed to him, putting them into the mortar as he did so.

Nathley spoke so quiet this time that Aron could barely hear her. She had difficulty keeping to a consistent volume of speech, but she did try. “I’ve been looking for that, um… the powdered camble pit. I am sure I saw some the other day. Is that the last thing?”

“There is one other herb, if there’s some here. I’m not sure what you’d call it, though. We can do without it, but it would really help a lot, and I think it should be fairly common where you’re from. I haven’t seen any yet around here, but there might be some variety of it that would be easier to find earlier in the year, in warmer weather…” Emri mumbled something else like she was thinking to herself, then said that the name she knew the herb by was… something completely unintelligible to Aron. It didn’t even sound like any word he knew.

“How about you describe it?” Aron suggested. “If it is common where we came from, then maybe we can figure out what it is anyway. I know Faver’s store of herbs has been running low on a lot of things, but maybe there might be some of whatever it is.”

Nathley quietly voiced agreement, and also held up the jar that she’d found. She shook it lightly, and the tan powder inside shifted back and forth. She set it next to the other things on the work table. “What sort of plant is it?”

“Hm…” Emri thought it over a moment. “It helps increase the cooling effect and absorption of the kind of balm we are making. It has a scent and taste similar to but not quite the same as… in some places they compare it to mint, in other places they say it is like menthol. Maybe you have a variety of mint, so you might know of a plant that smells similar? The flowers have no notable scent, different varieties have different sizes and colors, but the flowers always have five petals, full and pointed, with a fuzzy center. The leaves usually have some amount of fuzziness to them and tend to be dark green and pointed at either end – though they come in varieties with varying shades and sizes. The stalk is usually soft but kind of reedy, with a hollow center. The sap inside the stalk has a stronger scent than the leaves, but basically smells the same. It sort of grows in a branchy way... sometimes short, compact branches and sometimes longer more spindly ones. The leaves alternate sides along the branches, so the branches also grow… never across from each other, but it branches sort of erraticly and either more or less frequently depending on whether it’s growing more compactly or not. In some places it grows big enough to be like a bush, but sometimes it’s not much bigger than this one.” Emri indicated the plants that Aron had been pulling leaves off of; each whole plant could fit in one of his hands, open with the fingers extended.

“The only things I can think of similar to that,” Nathley said, “are varieties of mint… except they have their leaves and branches opposite each other, don’t they?”

Emri nodded. “In some places people think of them as related, though they really aren’t different varieties of the same thing.”

Aron voiced his thoughts. “It sounds like they could be mistaken for mint, though… maybe most people where we came from wouldn’t realize they’re different. Since they come in a lot of different varieties, and you don’t seem sure which variation we’d have seen, it might help if Faver has a picture of it. Nathley, do you know where Faver keeps the Herbal?”

“Oh, sure, we should look in there. I was thinking we should ask Faver, but since he’s not back yet maybe we can find it sooner in the Herbal.” Aron thought there’d probably be others in the camp who would have helped gather herbs at one time or another and might know of it, but considering how busy everyone in camp was right now, he preferred to see if they could figure it out themselves first.

Nathley started moving some things around to get at a box down under the work table. Emri had a curious tilt to her head, so Aron said: “Maybe you’ve studied from an Herbal Tome before? Each page has a detailed drawing of a plant, with notes of uses and additional details. I’ve heard that some people put their medicine formulas in the same book, but Faver has a different one for that. Most of the pictures in the Herbal were painstakingly copied by the previous Healer, who made many trips to a Healer’s association in a city over in the neighboring region. They’re considered valuable, and taken care of as well as can be under the circumstances.”

Emri nodded. “I mostly have studied from live plants, but I have seen different sorts of compilations like what you are describing, used as training manuals or reference in some places.”

Meanwhile, Nathley carefully lifted the box up and set it on the table. Unlatching the box, she flipped the lid over, which also opened up the side that joined the lid to the box. The interior of the box was lined, the lining connecting the side and lid so that when opened, it became a surface to open the tome on without needing to remove it from the box at all.

The pages were all fine parchment, artfully drawn and lettered, and most had been colored as well as having written descriptions of the colors in case the ink couldn’t match exactly, or might discolor over time, as some pigments did. The pages were held together by brass rings on one side, which could be pried open in order to add additional pages to the collection.

Nathley gingerly opened the Herbal, slowly turning the pages with a look of serious contemplation on her face. She had a reputation for being a little clumsy at times, but when she really tried hard, she was able to be careful with delicate things, or to work fine detail into items she was crafting.

Aron looked over the pages from one side of Nathley, with Emri being on the other side.

“This is beautiful,” Emri whispered, “and very detailed.”

Aron nodded in agreement. “Yes, I think so too. Is there anything else about the plant that might help us identify it?”

“Hm.” Emri pointed at the current page. “It looks like these drawings all include the roots, which I hadn’t thought to describe before since I was thinking about how it would look to someone finding it growing someplace. Most varieties have shallow, clingy roots and like places that drain well but either are humid or have frequent rain. It grows best in warm climates, or the warmest part of the year in temperate places. There are many varieties suited to different parts of the world, but they all like places where it’s warm, and full sun for part of the day with shade the rest of the time.”

Aron considered what Emri was describing while Nathley kept turning pages. “Even if Faver doesn’t have it, if it’s something known to be edible, then the people who go out gathering, and the people who mind the flocks, would probably be able to recognize it. We could ask them to look for some, especially if you think there’s likely to be a variety around here that would closely resemble a type we’d have back where we came from.”

Emri nodded slowly. “With the cooler weather here, it probably would have already seeded some time ago and much of the plant might be withered, but dry withered leaves could still be useable if in good condition. I didn’t notice any earlier, but I was focused on looking for the other plant and didn’t think of it. If there’s any around here, it’s most likely up in the hills, possibly higher up than where I was looking for the other one. Common places to find them are around rocky outcrops and cliffs… in some parts of the world, it’s only found up on cliffside ledges and nooks. I’d like to search for some the next time I go out looking for the other one.”

Aron muttered an agreement, and the three continued looking at pages. The tent was quiet for a minute except for what sounded to Aron like Remal turning over, but then suddenly there was a tap on his shoulder and Aron looked around quickly. Remal appeared on his other side, however, pushing Aron out of the way in order to stand next to Nathley.

“Haven’t found it yet?” Remal said, reaching over in front of Nathley to slide the Herbal tome in its box over so he could turn the pages himself. “it’s probably in the next-to-last section.”

“There are sections?” Aron looked over Remal’s shoulder. He had noticed that similar plants seemed to be near each other in the book, but so far had thought it looked like it all went from one sort to another similar sort, to another sort similar to the last but more different from the previous, without any sort of markers or other indications of the tome being organized into definite groupings of pages.

Remal ignored Aron and went on, turning the pages more than one at a time but carefully so as to not damage any. “Sounds like you’re looking for Piedmont Firesparks.”

“I might have seen something with a name like that.” Nathley moved over to the herb cabinet, motioning for Emri to take her place closer to where the tome was now located in front of Remal.

Closer to the back of the tome, Remal turned pages more slowly, examining each one. Aron watched as Emri slowly edged closer so she could have a better look. He saw her eyes flick back and forth between Remal and the Herbal, but otherwise he’d have sworn that there was no change anywhere on her face… well, maybe a slight tightening of the jaw muscles? Her posture, however, seemed to indicate caution. Remal looked tense, but he usually did anyway, these days. Aron was sure he’d noticed, regardless.

“This one. Is this it?” Remal queried. He pointed at a page, but then turned back to the previous one, saying: “This is really similar to what you were describing, too.”

Emri looked the page over, then turned it to look at the following page. That one, labeled ‘Piedmont Firesparks’, appeared to have long stalks and branches, dark leaves long and narrow, with clusters of small red-orange star-shaped flowers. The other page was labeled ‘Condor’s Breath’ and looked more compact and leafy with wider leaves that weren’t as dark, and the flowers appeared to be sort of pale yellow or cream-colored, more rounded but still coming to points around the outside. Otherwise, they looked to have all the same features as each other, fitting what Emri had described. She looked over the next few pages where a couple more plants had some similarities as well, then turned back.

“There’s a people,” she said slowly, “that have done extensive work in cataloging plants from all over the world. I believe their name for this one would translate into your language as something like ‘Fireburst Stars’, and this other one could be translated as ‘Condor’s Stars’ or sometimes ‘Condor’s Roost True Stars’. They both are varieties of the same plant, which those people call ‘True Stars’ or ‘Shlow Stars’.”

Remal pointed out the written notes on one side of a page. “These ‘Fire’ ones are found around the higher hills, rocky outcrops and gravelly areas of the Downs, mostly the West and South side, away from the areas with the denser forests. They’re used in quite a few common remedies, and I’m pretty sure Faver has run out of the distillation of the sap, but might still have some of the leaves since that is one that Mother used to always keep a lot of.”

“Oh! A large jar?” Nathley exclaimed from over by the herb cabinet. She turned her attention to a large drawer under the cabinet and rummaged around for a moment.

Remal nodded absently, though Nathley wasn’t looking. “I don’t remember this other one. Mother copied a lot of pages from the Healer’s association in Lynchberg. She said some of them were from the areas farther North and West, that we didn’t see in our area.”

Emri’s brows drew together a little, but Aron wasn’t sure what to make of it because neither her tone, nor anything else seemed to indicate any kind of sentiment. “Did you study with her?”

“No.” Remal replied curtly. “I was no good with formulas and mixing things, I only helped Mother hunt herbs. Sometimes I look for them for Faver, if he lets me know he needs something.” Remal then gently closed the tome and flipped the lid of the box back over it. He had it latched in an instant. “This is only used for looking up plants when necessary, and is never to be kept open while anything is being measured out and mixed, understand?”

“Certainly.” Emri said, stepping back away. She bumped into Nathley, who was standing behind holding the jar. Aron was worried for a moment, but Emri kept on her feet and Nathley kept hold of the jar. Remal shot them a disapproving look, then stowed the box down under the work table in its (relatively) safe spot.

Turning, Emri examined the jar that Nathley offered for inspection. It was a fairly large jar, but didn’t have much left in it. Aron joined them in smelling the remaining dried leaves once the stopper had been removed. It did have a somewhat vaguely minty scent. Aron looked in. Although the jar’s contents partially had the appearance of dried leaves, there didn’t seem to be any whole ones, only pieces that were mixed in with the minute remnants of countless other leaves, little bits and pieces that had long since broken down into what was almost a powder down in the bottom of the jar. He thought it must have originally contained whole leaves, though, because if it had all been powdered to begin with, then there wouldn’t have been those larger pieces mixed in.

Remal looked it over as well, then declared: “If there’s any in this area, we’ll find some.” He took the jar out of Nathley’s hands and transferred it to the work table. “Is that everything? How do we mix this up?”

Emri followed. “Since what’s left of this one is so faded, with a faint scent, I think we should mix it with the oil first, then let it sit while we mix the rest. Let’s use these two bowls.”

Aron motioned for Nathley to help, stepping out of the way. There really was only room for three at the work table. Still, he kept close by in case there might be anything he could help with, and so he could monitor the proceedings.