Chapter 7 #3
His mother shakes her head. 'No, but he's been complaining for two nights now.'
I nod. 'And he's passing water, emptying his bowel?’
'Aye, though the second has been a bit of a struggle at times.'
'I see.'
I go to the cupboard and bring out some of the herbs that I still don't have names for but know by their look and scent. To make sure, I smell them both before grinding them together in the black stone pestle and mortar until they’re the consistency of a coarse powder, which I then put into a small pot and stopper with beeswax.
'Here,' I say. ‘Sprinkle this on his food. It will get things moving. But do come back if he's not well by tomorrow evening and we can try something stronger. Make sure that he eats fruits and vegetables with every meal.'
Claudia nods and takes the pot from me gingerly. She gives me an approving sort of look, as if I’ve passed some test in her eyes. She takes the boy’s hand, gives us both a nod and leaves without another word.
As the door closes, Jak gives me a wink. 'That was very well done, Bryn,' he says. ‘Claudia will tell everyone about you. It won't be long before they're coming to you and asking for your help instead of mine. Soon, they’ll see you as a friend to them.'
A sense of well-being washes over me, and I give him a wide smile. I'm well on my way to beginning my new life here. It's only the training that I must endure with Voss, and the fact that I must help catch Fiana that weigh on me now. The Dark Realms and the pits feel like another life.
I glance at him slyly. ‘Thanks, Fae Jak.’
He gives me a long-suffering look.
‘Why does she call you that?’ I ask, unable to hide my amusement.
He hangs his head and sighs loudly.
‘It’s what everyone here calls me.’
I raise my brows in question, my grin widening. ‘Why?’
‘Because, down the way there’s another Jak. A human Jak. So, to differentiate between us, they named me Fae Jak.’
I laugh. ‘Why not Healer Jak, or call the other Jak ‘Human Jak’?’
Jak snorts. ‘That would be fairer. I was here first, for fuck’s sake!’
I can’t stifle the laugh that explodes out of me.
‘Fuck off,’ Jak growls good-naturedly. 'Here.’
He hands me a piece of parchment with four lines of writing on it.
‘Want to come to the Trading Post and pick up these herbs with me? If you can stop laughing at my expense for five minutes, that is.'
'What are they for?' I ask, gazing down at the confusing jumbles of letters, though I can now recognize the ones that make up my name within the various words from the dreams I’ve been having every night of the white room.
He sidles closer to me and points at each in turn, going down the list as his body presses against mine in a seemingly innocuous way.
My breathing hitches a little and, when I can’t help the shiver that runs through me, I hope he doesn’t notice.
Did he just smell me?
I should move away. I shouldn’t give in. The mantra goes around and around in my head.
But it doesn’t stop me from leaning in just a little as he explains in that playful, knowledgeable tone of his.
'This one is the same as you smelled earlier for megrims. This one is for dizziness and lethargy. The last two are ingredients I need for a healing draft and for a healing salve.'
He presses a little closer, his voice somehow deeper, even more alluring. I can feel the heat of his body despite the clothes between us.
Surely I’m just imagining it.
‘Oh,’ I whisper noncommittally, and, when my eyes find his face, I see that he’s staring.
Our eyes meet, and he leans in. I do as well. We’re so close, just a little further.
No!
I step back and ignore how close our lips were to meeting.
Instead, I turn away and we leave the healer's rooms together quickly, with purpose. Wordlessly. We go out to the street via the apothecary. I walk beside Jak, trying to steady my heaving breaths and take my mind off the past few moments.
The silence between us stretches out awkwardly and for once I want to fill it. I say the first thing that comes to mind.
‘Was Mayson the one who?—’
‘Yes,’ Jak interrupts.
‘Did Morgan?—’
He nods. ‘He can’t hurt you again.’
The conversation ends abruptly, but as we walk in the open air, my mind begins to clear, and I don’t think about what almost happened. I refuse to. I try to forget it and act normally.
Some of the villagers we meet in the street don't even move out of my way now. One even waves at me and it really does seem as if they're becoming used to my presence.
When we get to the Trading Post, Jak is waylaid by an elderly man with a cane asking about a burn salve.
The hatch is wide open, so I walk straight in ahead of him, eager to do this myself.
But when I get to the front, Tavish himself is there, scratching in a ledger.
I hesitate as he looks up and openly sneers.
'The Dark Realmer,' he mutters with a roll of his eyes. As I near, he snatches the small parchment from my fingers.
'I don't have any of these,' he says, not even glancing at it, and throwing the list back in my face.
My eyes widen as I pick up the paper from the floor.
'There's no need to be rude,' I say angrily, unwilling to let anyone treat me as if I'm a slave any longer.
'I don't give a fuck,' he snarls low.
I hear a small gasp behind me, and I realize it's Claudia with little Orlan by her side.
'My apologies, Claudia,' Tavish says with a small bow. 'The Dark Realmer was just leaving.’ He gives me a scathing look. ‘You know how they are.'
Claudia surveys Tavish with an expression of such revulsion on her face that I’m glad it isn’t directed at me.
'This woman is a healer, and she has been naught but kind and accommodating since she came here.
What sort of people are we if we don't change our minds when something or someone is different than we expected?
We are all human. And the fire was two years ago.
And, anyway, you're the main tradesman of Halsford as well as a member of the Council, not some stranger or traveler. You hold a respected position, Tavish. You should not be using what authority you have to be speaking ill of those who have been given leave to remain here,’ she sneers, turning away and taking her list with her.
She gives me a determined nod.
‘Please tell your wife that I’ll see her for tea tomorrow morning as usual,’ she calls over her shoulder to the merchant. ‘Perhaps you should ask Bryn for a tincture for her as she was complaining of women’s troubles yesterday.’
I blink after the woman, taken aback. No one has been so overtly kind to me since I came here, and none of the villagers have stood up for me before. Jak and Morgan were right. If I show the people here who I am, they’ll want me here.
'When do you think you will be getting these supplies in?' I ask, hoping that Claudia’s words have had the desired effect and Tavish will be a bit more friendly.
But his lip curls into an even nastier sneer.
I glance behind me, and I see Jak on the other side of the road, his worried gaze flitting to me every few moments as he tries to extricate himself from the elderly man.
'Get the fuck out of my shop, you Dark Realm bitch,' Tavish snarls with such vehemence that I take a step back.
'Fine!’ I mutter, intending to leave.
Jak can deal with the trader if he has such a problem with me.
But he steps out from behind the table and gets close.
Too close.
Like the man in the alley.
Anger and fear I’d never admit to overtake me, and although he hasn’t hurt me, something happens that I don't expect.
I feel the same rush from inside me that I felt in the alley and, from high in the ceiling, something falls and lands right on Tavish's head, exploding on impact. A small bird’s egg, I realize, as the yolk drips slowly down his forehead and along the bridge of his nose.
He’s frozen in surprise for a moment too long and then, comically, staggers back and looks up into the rafters with a shocked expression on his face.
I slap my hand over my mouth as he remembers I’m still there and glowers at me, and then I turn on my heel and walk briskly out of his shop.
I did that somehow. I know I did. I’d discounted what happened in the alley as a coincidence, but I felt it just now. It came from me. But how? I wasn't hurt. That isn’t how this works.
Perhaps I’m being silly. Maybe it was just a coincidence.
It hasn’t happened before I came to the Light… I stop in my tacks in the middle of the street as I remember something from Merediea. It was before Locke took my memories.
At the time, I half-noticed but I had other pressing problems…
It’s so hazy, and I don’t think it’s because of his conjure.
I was trying to escape the paddock, I remember.
I was trying to find Locke. The others were gone and one of those odd attacks was upon me.
I was in desperate need, and I knew Locke had to be close.
In that moment, he was the only one I trusted.
There was a goblin. He was stopping me. I was angry, much as I was just now, same as in the alley.
The door slammed on his hand and the candle flared, setting his tunic on fire.
But then Locke was there and took me away. I’d forgotten all about it.
The power of the Kismet has always been latent, something I couldn’t control, something that worked through me, but this is different. This is my power. If I can harness it…
‘Are you Bryn?’
I turn to see a young woman holding a young babe in a doorway close by.
I nod and she beckons me.
‘Can I help?’ I ask.
She nods. ‘My name is Dawn. This,’ she lifts the babe in her arms slightly, ‘is Taramel.’
I glance back. Jak is still with the old man.
‘You’re Fae Jak’s new apprentice, aye?’
‘Yes, I am,’ I say hesitantly while trying not to smile at Jak’s nickname. ‘What seems to be the problem?’
Relief shows in her countenance.
‘It’s the babe. She feels warm to me. Too warm. Will you look at her?’
‘Of course, but,’ I look back again, ‘if you’d rather, Jak will be here in a minute. Would you like to wait for?—’