It was early morning and the morning dew, sickeningly sweet settled on the flowers in the garden and mom was up already. I had assumed she’d already been out to check on the flowers to see if her peonies had been beaten down by the rain last night. As I got up, I stretched inhaling the scent of petrichor I loved so much but stopped feeling my hair stand. The room was chilly but nothing I wasn’t used to; I decided to ignore my body’s reaction and get dressed.
Mom always told me that as soon as I reached the proper age things would change and I’d be doing things for myself, I just didn’t realize 16 was that age. Sometimes I still missed hearing her voice in the morning to rouse me from my reverie but lately, my mornings have been filled with nothing but a lonely silence. I stood at the window looking at Leo, my cat lazing in the bed of flowers, positioning himself carefully as not to crush them since mom had always been rather protective of her garden. I suppose an herbalist has to since it is our lively hood. I never really cared for the profession but I enjoyed the time I’d get to spend with my mom making different potions that we’d sell as regular medicine to not disturb the townsfolk of our basic magic skills.
This town had never been fond of anything they considered supernatural, in fact, they scorned it. If it upset the image of their perfect town, they turned it away and if you resist, they’ burn you without a second thought and call it “upholding peace.” I would always ask my mom why we stayed in such a town but she’s always given me some roundabout answer and remind me to be careful of who I talk to. I knew there were colonies of witches somewhere, I hadn’t the foggiest where but there was a time when a huge number of witches were turned away. They had to have gone somewhere so why not join them? I could practice freely and grow my power instead of hiding my potential in the shrewd of small-minded people.
After a moment of reflection, I sat at my vanity brushing back my hair. My family had a strange strain of white hair which is incredibly rare, especially for our race but my mom spoke nothing of it. She did tell me however that the only other person to ever have it was one of our female ancestors centuries ago, but she’d never tell me anything about her. After getting dressed and brushing back my hair I went to join my mother in the cellar and as expected she was adding some mugwort to a mixture, for a customer no doubt.
“Who’re you mixing that for so early in the morning?” I asked throwing on my apron and tying it around my waist tightly. I watched as she added the mugwort changed the fluid in the clear bottle from brown to a soft milky white before she set it down and covered it.
“There’s a lady in town with a worm infection, she can barely keep anything down and they don’t know how long she’s gonna hold up so I need you to deliver this as soon as possible.” She handed me the sealed bottle and rushed me out the door.
“Teleport if you have to but don’t be seen” my mom added before slipping the address in my pocket. I nodded and grabbed ran down the winding path that led to town before ducking behind some trees holding the bottle close to my chest and the address in my hand.
“Lanua magicae” I whispered before appearing behind the house of the sick woman and ran to the front door, knocking with urgency. In almost an instant a tall, strapping man who had looked beyond exhausted, without a word he looked at the bottle in my hand and allowed me in gesturing to the stairs. I made it to the top of the stairs and it was obvious to find which room the woman was in; I could feel the aura of death seeping out of the bedroom and spilling on the floor around my feet that only I could see. As I made it into the room, I saw the sickly female on the bed with a bucket next to her and a cold sweet on her brow. At first glance, she appeared to be dead but I watched as her chest slowly rose and fell. She wasn’t dead merely at death's door. I closed the door to begin my work. She was such dire condition I felt the need to do more to speed up the healing process so a potion wouldn’t be enough.
I tilted her head as I poured the potion down her throat and sat next to her pressing my hands against her abdomen and whispered a soft incantation my mom taught me in case of emergencies. It would activate the potion faster killing the worms almost instantly. However, I didn’t see the woman open her eyes as I was pressing on her abdomen. Her eyes filled with shock and disbelief watching my hands radiate as I healed her. I stepped back after my work had been done and left the bottle on the nightstand before going down to see her husband who had his head in his hands.
“She’s going to be alright in a few days, just give her the medicine twice a day and keep her fluids intake up. I’ll be taking my leave now,” I said with a small bow before leaving the man speechless. Since I was in no rush, I walked home letting out a heavy sigh here and there. This was a normal day for me. In these times people became deathly ill on the regular and without people like my mom and I the death rate would be much higher yet they scorn our kind. It almost upset me helping them but at the same time, it felt necessary to save them from themselves. They’d always taken us for granted but I didn’t know until the next day that it was my turn to be thrown out like the witches before me.
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