Chapter 8
Eight
“Right, so when does the shuvirum go in again?”
Mira squinted at the page – placed at a safe distance from the stove and the pot bubbling away on top of it – to check the steps again.
Almost done. She grabbed the tin full of the finely ground mineral, measured out the smallest of the spoons, and sprinkled it in so it would distribute evenly and not clump.
She’d learned that after two ruined batches, and so far, it seemed to be helping.
The colour was nice and even, the smell fresh and minty, not burned and acrid, and the temperature seemed to be just right.
Now to take the singular ogdenberry and-
The brew started hissing the second she dropped the berry in, and immediately Mira felt the panic set in. No, not again! She’d been so careful, how-
Crush berry before adding to avoid reaction.
Mira cursed. Oh, for crying out loud, how did she forget-
Shrieking, she sought cover when the liquid started popping large bubbles and splattering all over the stove.
With a string of obscenities that would have made Uncle Lochlin proud, she wrapped her hand in a stained towel and pulled the pot off the heat.
Thankfully, the ruined potion inside got a handle on itself almost immediately and stopped its assault on kitchen and cook.
Growling, Mira dragged the pot over to the stone sink and dropped it in a little heavier than strictly necessary.
“Good job, Mira. At this rate you’ll go broke buying new ingredients before you ever sell your first bottle of anything.”
With a last baleful look at the mess on the stove, Mira dropped the towel, yanked her apron over her head, and stomped outside into a nice spring afternoon.
She sat heavily on the front steps, rested her chin in her hands, and stared out over her front garden.
If one could call it that. She had found a pair of rusty shears out back in the shed and cut the stone path free, but hadn’t found the time or motivation to touch the rest of the mess.
Good thing, too. Who knew how long she would last, anyway.
With every attempt, every ‘simple’ recipe she messed up somehow, that little voice in the back of her head grew louder.
She’d been a fool. She’d bitten off more than she could chew.
She should’ve sold the house and used the money to tide her over while she found a new job.
She should’ve known this would never work out.
Groaning, she rubbed her hands down her face. If she went back now and had to admit this to her family, she would never live it down.
“Woof!”
Blinking, Mira lowered her hands and peered into the sunny afternoon. A yellow blob by the fence came into focus, and Mira watched a fuzzy tail wag enthusiastically while two pairs of ears were raised in curiosity.
“Hey.” Mira listlessly waved at the dog. “Are you alone? You didn’t run off, did you?”
Poppy barked again, but before Mira could decide what to do about a lost dog, she saw Kayden emerge from behind the untrimmed hedges of the empty house next door. He was wearing a loose jacket and a hat, and his usual tool belt was nowhere to be seen.
“Mira.” He stopped next to Poppy by her fence. “Is everything all right?” He gestured vaguely at his face. “There’s, um. I think it’s soot?”
“What?” Mira wiped at her cheek as she got to her feet. “Oh. That must’ve happened when I made the fire.” She trudged down the stairs and to the fence. “Are you taking Poppy for a walk?”
He laughed. “Poppy takes herself for walks, I’m just supervising.” He leaned on the fence, entirely unconcerned by the prospect that it, too, might fall down just like the gate had. “What were you doing?”
“Practising,” Mira muttered. “Not very successfully.”
“Practising what?”
“Potions.” Mira made a face and tried to bury the embarrassment at her failure. It was fine. She’d never done this before, after all. “Not very successfully.” She sighed deeply. “I think I’ll call it a day. Not like I can do much until I clean the pot again.”
“Potions?” He glanced behind her at the shop extension of the house with its newly clean windows. “Wait, are you taking over the shop?”
Mira resisted the urge to squirm under his questioning look. “I’m trying to, anyway. So far, I managed to make a single thing, and it’s the wake-me-up. Not sure I can sustain the shop on that alone.”
He made a sympathetic noise. “You’re not a potioner?”
“No.” Mira scratched the back of her neck. “I used to sell clothes at a Golden River emporium.”
“Ah. Yep, that’s a big change, all right.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Maybe you could ask Yoni for some tips. She’s dabbled a little, she might have some pointers for you.”
“The woman who owns the greenhouse?” Mira asked, surprised. “I thought she was just growing the supplies.”
Kayden shrugged. “I know she’s read some books and experimented in her kitchen before. Seeing as her house is still standing, she might have had some success.”
Uncertain, Mira looked at the house, its pastel purple paint standing out among the brighter colours down the street. “I didn’t get the impression that she’s the type to just give advice like that.”
Kayden grinned. “Ah, you’ve met her? She does have a sunny personality. Once you know her. For a long time.”
Mira eyed him dubiously. “And that helps me right now how?”
He winked. “Maybe I can put in a good word for you. For old time’s sake.”
Mira huffed out a laugh. “It’s been twenty years and you didn’t even remember my name.”
“Psh! Who cares.” When the dog at his side began whining rather pathetically, Kayden looked down at her with fondness.
“Yes, we’re going, don’t start.” He looked back up at Mira.
“Do you want to come along? Clear your head a little? We’re not going very far, there’s a path into the forest just up the road that loops back down to the town proper.
Used to be popular with tourists, so it’s not very difficult. ”
“I don’t know.” Mira glared back at the shop. “I need to clean up and put the shop back in order.”
“And you can still do that later. A good walk clears the mind like nothing else. Right, you unholy creature?”
Poppy gave an affirmative bark, and Mira couldn’t help but laugh. “Fine. I could do with a break.”
She didn’t bother returning to the shop. She simply went to wash the soot off her face, grabbed her hat and keys, and locked the doors behind her before she joined Kayden and the impatiently prancing Poppy. Kayden rolled his eyes at her, but he was still smiling.
“No mistaking you for anything but a city girl.”
Mira gave him a puzzled look. “Why?”
“Nobody locks their doors here to go on a walk.”
“Ah. Habits, I suppose.”
They set off, with Poppy taking the lead.
When they passed the last house on the street, empty and its front garden looking even worse than Mira’s, she briefly spotted a bushy tail between the weeds.
It twitched before it disappeared and Marigold, presumably, went to stalk the rodents breeding underneath the porch.
“You can catch some of mine, if you feel like it.”
There was a faint meow, but the cat didn’t show itself. Kayden chuckled.
“See, that’s already the first step to making friends with Yoni.”
Mira gave him a sidelong glance. “What, making friends with her cat?”
“Of course. The way to a woman’s heart goes past her cat.”
“Did you try that?”
He guffawed. “What, me? No, I’ve got no interest in that sort of thing. I just noticed that every time someone did after she became single again, that cat has made her opinion known loud and clear.”
“Seems a bit of a strange dating strategy to me.”
He put his hands in his pockets. “It’s working for Yoni, so who am I to judge.”
They turned right just a minute or so beyond the last house on the street, onto a wide dirt path that led past the dilapidated fence to their right towards the treeline ahead.
A faded wooden sign, the once bright red paint peeling, indicated that this was the ‘Blackbird’s Trail’, and another one underneath, smaller and painted yellow, showed the distances to the connecting trails further in the forest. One of the signs had been crossed out by way of a thin piece of wood shoddily nailed over it.
“Does anyone still maintain those trails?”
“Some of them,” Kayden said. “Mostly the ones close to the town. Every now and again we still get people coming here for the fresh country air.”
His tone left no doubt about what the thought of that particular type of tourist. Mira couldn’t blame him.
She knew the type – the exact kind of people who would recount their trip to this ‘quaint little hamlet’ to their friends like it had been some sort of charity mission.
A twinge of guilt reminded her that she, too, had thought about Emberglen this way, though not with quite as much pity.
“Maybe some of them really do like it here,” Mira mused. “It’s so nice and quiet.”
“Mhm. Bit too quiet, if you ask me.”
He sounded serious now. When Mira looked at him from the corner of her eye, he was looking straight ahead, to where Poppy was sniffing along the edge of the path.
“Because of all the people moving away.”
“Not just that. Everyone who stays…” His shoulders lumped a little.
“It’s hard not to think about what’s going to happen, is all.
Sure, they talked big game about that Golden River store ‘revitalising the town’, but so far that hasn’t exactly happened.
They brought a manager from the city and hired some younger folks right out of school, all part-time, that’s about it. ”
“Sounds like Golden River,” Mira greed darkly.
“Right, you used to work for them. I’m guessing we shouldn’t hold our breath for this salvation to ever come?”
“I highly doubt it.” Mira shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t even know why they’re here, it’s not the usual location for a store.”
“Maybe they just liked the view that much.” Kayden blew out a sigh. “Well, they have some fancy treats that Poppy likes, so there is that, I suppose.”
“I thought she prefers wood sprites.”
He snorted. “Not these days, she doesn’t. She’s learned her lesson about going after the wildlife.”
As if on cue, Poppy, roughly twenty yards ahead, gave a bark, then another, as she paced back and forth on the path.
“Poppy!” Kayden called, and the dog stopped, all four ears perked. “Heel!”
It took a second, but Poppy obeyed, joining them as they approached a bend in the path.
“What’s the matter with you? You know it’s not dinner time yet.”
Another bark, and this time, a response came from just behind the bend.
“Is that dog leashed?”
Kayden shared a glance with Mira and grabbed Poppy’s collar. “She’s under control.”
They stopped and watched as two people rounded the bend, a short woman with a pinched, white face, and a taller man with a shock of red hair in a fashionable haircut.
Both of them were wearing walking suits that screamed ‘we only just got these for our holiday’, and the man was carrying a lumpy messenger bag.
They didn’t seem too happy to be here, glancing left and right into the woods. A few feet away, they came to a halt.
“Excuse me.” The woman looked them up and down. “You’re locals?”
Mira opened her mouth, then closed it again. Technically yes, but whatever they needed, she probably wouldn’t be of much help.
“We are.” Kayden sounded odd; too guarded. “Do you need help?”
“Just directions.” The woman sniffed daintily. “We heard there was a famous pond or something here.”
The man next to her looked like he had a tooth-ache, but nodded.
“The Sweetwater Spring?” Kayden pointed over his shoulder, to where he and Mira had just come from. “There’s a trail back there. Blackberry Bramble. But-”
The woman cut him off. “Thank you.”
She and her companion set off again at a brisk pace. Kayden called after them.
“Hey, that’s pretty far to start now, don’t you want to…”
They found the sign and took a sharp right, disappearing from sight.
“…wait until tomorrow.”
Mira looked after them. “That kind of tourist, huh.”
“Yeah. That kind.”
“Is the spring that far?” Mira glanced up to where the sun was still filtering through the leaves. “There’s still a few hours of light left.”
“It’s probably enough, but they’ll be cutting it close. I’ll let Emilia know, they’re probably staying at the inn. If they don’t show up for dinner, she can call a search.” He made a face. “I hope there’s not going to be a search. I’ve had a long week.”
“Why would you be needed?” Mira watched as he let go of Poppy, who began bounding ahead again. “Is she a search dog?”
“Well, if you want to call it that. She just got really good at sniffing things out after her. Ah. Accident.”
“That’s an odd side effect for sprite dust. I always thought it just made you really itchy.” Mira narrowed her eyes. “Was Uncle Lochlin making that up, too?”
Kayden chuckled. “No, that’s the case for people. With animals, it’s… Well, some do just get itchy, but usually, they react to it in some way. Change of coat colour, growing extra… bits, that sort of thing.”
“Oh, is that why I’m supposed to use it in the advanced fertiliser?” Mira wondered. “That makes a lot more sense now.”
“You do?” Kayden scratched his chin. “Honestly, I don’t know what goes into that sort of thing, that’s more Yoni’s area of expertise.” He grinned. “Hey, do you think you could mix something up that makes my tomatoes purple? That sounds like fun.”
“I… don’t know? I’m still trying to brew the things that I have actual recipes for. I’ll let you know once I get into the experimenting phase.”
“Awesome. I’m sure you’ll get there in no time.”
Mira wasn’t quite so sure about that, though she kept that to herself.
Right now, the mood between them was light again, with Poppy going back and forth between them and whatever interesting things she found along the path and the afternoon sun making the day feel like early summer, rather than the middle of spring.
No need to get gloomy again. And who knew, maybe the next time would finally be the charm.