“Sorry that it took so long.” I told Jedda and his family members as I slipped out of my coat, boots, and gloves. “That kitty has been hanging around for a little while, and I wanted to see if he’d come in.”

“He’s very pretty!” Ena smiled.

“He is!” I agreed, then laughed, “Almost as pretty as Annie!” Going outside to tend to my animals had helped me to relax a little after the tenseness of the situation with Biren. There hadn't been an emergency patient for me to treat in quite a while, and it had startled me from my cozy little existence.

Speaking of my cats, Lou had wandered into the room, and immediately went up to sniff the black cat. She immediately flopped onto her back to show him her tummy, and started wiggling around, wanting to play with our little guest.

Diana approached more slowly, sniffing the air warily. Suddenly, she arched her back and hissed, growling angrily.

Well, that was odd! Reality was mimicking my dream from the night before! Although it was a little black cat Annie was reacting to, not some strange, shadowy being with wings and too many fingers.

“Diana!” I blinked, startled at her reaction. “Calm down, my love! He’s just visiting! I mean, he can stay if he wants, but I’m not going to make him! He doesn't have a home, like Lou didn’t!” I hastened to her side and stroked her fur. She turned and bounded away down the hallway. "Rude!" I snorted, shaking my head a little. Cats could be so persnickety!

“That’s unusual for her, isn’t it?” Marda asked. “She’s usually very friendly.” He’d broken his arm a couple of summers before, which had meant he’d visited my cottage often. During those visits, Marda had fallen a little in love with my Annie, though he’d liked Lou a good deal as well. She was such a silly creature that it was hard not to like her.

“Yes, yes she is, even with the farm animals.” I frowned, then sighed and shook my head. “Ah well. It’s alright. They’ll settle in. I’ll keep him in his own room at night so she can sleep in peace.”

“Good idea.” Ena nodded.

I sat back down and inspected their bandaging work. “Looks good! Thank you for finishing that for me.” I told them. “When I send him home tomorrow, remind me to send a jar or two of the burn salve with you."

“Yes ma’am.” Jedda nodded.

“Well, I have three empty rooms here, do all three of you fancy staying here with Biren tonight?

“No, I’ll head home.” Marda said, “My Jeani will want me there.”

“I’ll stay.” Jedda replied.

“I’ll stay as well.” Ena said, then turned to her older brother to ask, “Will you and Jeani keep the children tonight?”

“Of course!” he smiled, getting up and putting his boots and coat back on, then bade us farewell and left.

“I’ll start on dinner.”

“Let me help you!” Ena said, joining me in the kitchen.

After clearing away my work from earlier, Ena and Jedda both helped prepare the food, and we soon had a hearty soup bubbling away on the stove and rolls baking in the oven.

“I want to get one of those fancy ovens that Dern makes.” I told my companion as I stirred the pot of soup.

“I got one a few months back and I love it so much!” Ena told me.

“I’m so jealous!” I laughed, “Does it work well?”

“So well! It has four burners instead of two, and it cooks so evenly! Definitely get one if you can!”

“It’ll take me a little while to save up a bit more, but I think I can manage it by summertime, if I play my cards right.” I told her.

“Excellent! I’ll come over and we can break it in together with a baking party and a lovely tea!” She told me, smiling at me.

“Oh I do love a good tea party” I grinned back. “Do you like baking a lot?”

“Yes!”

“She’s good at it, too!” Jedda interjected.

“You’ll have to teach me some good recipes. I can do some basic stuff, but I don’t know anything really good.”

“I’ll write down my favorites and bring them to you!” she beamed at me, “In thanks for helping my Biren.”

“No thanks necessary! But I do appreciate it.”

“Of course we owe you our thanks!” Jedda said, coming into the kitchen area to help me set the table. “Your family has done so much for everyone in this area. So many folks would have painful disabilities, or have simply died, without your family and now you.”

“It’s our job.” I shook my head. “The gift is for helping others.”

“It’s alright to accept thanks, lass.”

“Well, you’re very welcome.” I smiled at him.

“Now, as to payment.”

“You know I don’t ask for a fee.” I shook my head.

“And I know that you should. We don’t have hospitals or infirmaries in these parts, and those places charge money. You work hard for everyone in the area, and deserve to be fairly compensated. I know you don’t ask so that people who can’t pay aren’t too ashamed to come for help, but we can afford it, I promise. You don’t charge enough for those salves you sell either. You should be making a lot more than you do, except for your kindness in keeping the prices low.”

“My parents did as well.” I mumbled.

“I know. They were good people.” He patted my shoulder, “And we miss them almost as much as you do.” Jedda had been my father’s good friend. He pulled out his wallet and pushed some money into my hands, saying, “Now take, this, lass.”

“That’s far too much!” I protested, trying to push it away.

“Take some and buy yourself a new dress, Winna. That one is falling apart. Then save the rest for your oven.” he said gently.

I frowned, but let my fingers curl around the gold coins. “Th-thank you.” I whispered, very aware that both of the elbows in the dress I was wearing needed patching. Again.

“No, thank you! You saved my son-in-law’s life!”

“He’d have lived. He’d have just been in a lot of pain, and have a lot of scars.” I mumbled, wiping my eyes to make sure no tears spilled out.

“That’s no kind of life to live.” Ena shook her head. “Thank you for helping us.”

“Th-thank you for always being so kind to me. Your family has helped me so much since my parents passed.”

“They’d have wanted us to. Besides, I’ve always thought of you as a niece.” Jedda beamed at me. “Now go put that somewhere safe.” he motioned at the money in my hand.

I nodded, then scampered down the hallway. Diana was sitting in the middle of my bed, and opened a sea blue eye to observe me. She maowed softly, then shut it again. Well, at least she wasn’t still in a bad mood.

Kneeling, I stashed the money in the box I kept beneath my bed. It wasn’t the most creative place, but crime was extremely rare in our neck of the woods, thankfully. If all went to plan, I'd soon have enough to buy that new stove from Dern, as I'd discussed with Ena. Once I had it, the baking possibilities were endless, and I'd be able to try some recipes that required a less finicky cooker.

Returning to the living area, I made sure all the food was done, and we sat down to a cheerful meal together. It was nice to have company while I was eating again. Well, human company. I loved my cats dearly, but they weren’t very good conversationalists.

“So, it was a fire in one of the barns, you said?” I asked, spooning soup into my mouth.

“Yes, in the one with the cows. We were lucky to get them all out.” Jedda shook his head.

“I’m glad you did. How are my old girls?”

“Just fine.” Ena assured me.

“It was strange, we can’t figure out how the fire happened. All I can think is that a lamp got kicked over, but all the farm hands swore they hadn’t left one burning in there.” the old farmer sighed. “In the end, no great harm was done. We can rebuild a barn, but lives can’t be replaced.”

“We’re lucky it didn’t spread.” Ena murmured.

“Very lucky.” Jedda agreed.

“I’m always scared of a fire here.” I told them, shaking my head. “That’s partly why I got the heating stones. Dern said there’s no chance of them causing a fire, that they’ll just stop working before anything like that happens.”

“Magic is wonderful, isn’t it?” Ena sighed happily.

“It is.” I agreed wholeheartedly.

Once the meal and the washing up was done, I settled down by Biren again to use magic once more. Diana didn’t come out, apparently still upset at the presence of the black cat. Normally Lou was my prickly cat, not Diana, and I was vaguely amused by the fact that she was sulking in my bedroom.

The black cat in question had settled himself on the corner of the now disused fireplace. The lack of my familiar was alright, for the moment though, because I could handle one session by myself. This session was just meant to keep the healing process sped up anyways, which my own magic was sufficient to do. But hopefully Diana would come out later that evening to help again, once I’d put the new kitty into his own room for the night.

“Please go settle into whichever of the empty rooms you’d like.” I told my two uninjured guests. “I’ll stay out here to keep an eye on Biren, and do healing sessions throughout the night just to make sure he’s doing as well as possible before I send him home.”

“Are you sure? Should I sit out here with you? Your couch is very comfortable.” Ena said, motioning at my sitting area.

“No, no, go ahead. I’ll sleep there between healing sessions. I’m used to it, and it’s no trouble. Please go make yourselves at home.”

They disappeared down the hallway, and I heard doors open and shut.

I finished using magic, and stood, dusting my hands on my dress. Approaching the fireplace, I addressed my new little friend. “Well, handsome boy, will you come with me to your own room? Diana is a bit uneasy about you being here, so I’d like to let her have the space to roam tonight. I don’t want to pick you up, but I’ll do it if I have to."

The cat blinked once, then I swear he sighed before leaping gracefully down from the fireplace and looking expectantly up at me.

“Well, alright then! Thank you!” I smiled at him. I led him down the hallway, and paused to listen to see which of the usually empty rooms were occupied, then took him to the remaining empty one. He followed me inside, and immediately hopped up onto the bed.

“Excellent! I’ll bring you food and water and a sawdust box.” I told him, then went and did just that, arranging them in separate corners of the room. “There we are!” I looked around. “This used to be my parents’ room.” I told him, although I’m not sure why. He was just a cat, after all. Shaking myself, I sighed and said, “Well, goodnight, little guy! I hope you sleep well!” Then I left the room.

As I was shutting the door behind me, Diana slipped down the hallway, and paused beside me, looking warily at the door. She sniffed the air warily, and gave another low growl, then backed away.

“Hey miss.” I knelt and stroked her fur.

She turned her large, beautiful sea-green eyes at me, and blinked slowly.

“I love you too, gorgeous.” I told her. “It’s so unlike you to be unwelcoming. What’s wrong?”

Another slow blink from my oldest friend.

“You’re usually so sweet.” I smiled, then bent and kissed her little forehead.

Diana maowed softly in response, then finally started to purr.

“Oh my good girl.” I scratched the bridge of her nose.

Sensing that I was giving out nose scratchies, Lou be-bopped her way down the hallway, demanding the same attention.

“It’s a good thing I have two hands!” I laughed as I scratched both of my cat’s noses the way they loved. “You two are my silly girls! Just because we have another kitty around doesn't mean I love either of you any less. I have infinite amounts of room in my heart for kitties.”

Ena poked her head out of the hallway, and smiled, “Aww!”

“They’re spoiled rotten!” I laughed, then told her, “The washroom is at the end of the hall, and I have hot running water if you’d like a nice bath!”

“Oh that would be lovely! We don't have hot water yet at our house! Father says sometime next year.”

“Did you say something about a bath?” Jedda poked his head out as well.

“You’re welcome to all the hot water you want!” I laughed.

“I think I’ll take you up on that, lass!” the old man chuckled.

I stood. “Well, I’ll leave you two to sort out who gets a bath first. I’ll take one when you’re done. Diana can sit with Biren when I’m busy, so you two can just go right ahead and rest.”

Ena caught my hand and squeezed it gently. “Thank you, Winna.”

“You’re very welcome! I hope you sleep well!” I smiled, heading back into the living area to check on my patient. He was still sleeping peacefully.

Given the amount of magic that had been used on him, I didn’t expect him to wake up for several more hours at least.

Settling down at the loom, I started to weave. If I could keep working regularly like I had been lately, I’d have several shawls finished by springtime, and could enchant them with simple heating and soothing magic to sell in the village. I’d done it before, and they were always snapped up.

I was so glad to have added them to my repertoire of goods to take to the village, and it was nice to be able to lean into my artistic inclinations a little. Most of my chores were just that, chores, but at least weaving was creative and productive.