Chapter 18

After convincing Poe that there was no way he could help, she got to work on the cleaning potion. With the jugs it would be easier to handle the potion than multiple vials.

She started off with the boiled water, as usual, except she didn't fill the cauldron to the top like she did the last time. The rest was filled with the algae water. Once the boiling water was ready, she dumped the jar of ash and the tallow into the pot and stirred. She only added the chopped strawberries once it seemed to mix well enough. The recipe called for grated, but she couldn't find one, strangely enough.

Airway focused on making sure the potion was fed an adequate amount of mana. This one seemed to eat it up at an alarmingly fast rate, and strained her concentration to its limits. But she was getting better at controlling her mana, and was able to succeed. Once the mana took enough, its hue shifted to a clear tone, almost like clear spring water, and smelled faintly of strawberries.

She inhaled the scent, a smile breaking out on her face. Maybe instead of fruit, she could use other nice smelling things, like pine needles or lavender. There were a million different things she could make it smell like. She briefly wondered if she could make it smell like home. Not her home in Verdantvale, but her home. The one in the capital. The iron of the forge on her left, the bread bakery on her right, and the fireplace burning of lavender after her mom cooked a chicken. That would require multiple ingredients though. She would have to experiment a bit next time.

Once the potion was cool enough she poured it all into a jug she could most easily carry. This one would be of most use at home. In the time Atraeya had lived with gramps, she had a sneaking suspicion that a lot of the cookware had not been deep cleaned in a while. And she wasn't going to do it either. Not when she could just wait to learn a potion to do it for her. Additionally, all of gramps' clothes had this certain… old person smell to them. It would be much nicer if they smelled of strawberries instead.

Atraeya smiled to herself as she shut the lid tight and began to look for her next task. Since Poe had come around, perhaps she could give him a charm? Gramps had said Mira can hold a secret, but she wasn't so sure about her son. If she could bribe him into secrecy with a gift, make him complicit, he wouldn't be compelled to blab about it. Something simple would do, and beneficial. Either health or luck. Health was easiest, but luck would mean they could equate any good thing happening to him to the charm. Folks would certainly take it away once they knew it was a witch who made it, and knowing adults, no amount of reassurance from kids like Poe and her would change their mind. It was the perfect gift.

She searched around the cottage for some baubles she could turn into a charm, but there wasn't anything feasible around. For a split second she thought of turning the glass orb into one, but since she had just come to realize the price of such a pretty thing, it might draw too might attention, or worse, be rejected. No, that wouldn't do. Instead, she decided to make a bracelet with some string in a drawer she had found.

Once she filled the cauldron with water and started the fire, she sat on the bench with the strings. The trickiest part was the beginning, where she had to wrap it around her wrist without it falling off. Poe's hands were a bit bigger than hers, so she made sure to leave a bit of extra room for him, which only made her job that much difficult. Finally, Atraeya could begin to braid the string together into a bracelet. Her hands weren't as nimble as they ought to be, and like all of her attempts at crafts, the result was a lopsided, twisting mess with knots in all the wrong parts.

Atraeya frowned, and briefly considered redoing the entire thing, but the water was already boiling. Poe will just have to accept it. She'll make sure he does. With a resolute nod, she dropped it in the boiling water, and used her wand to focus her mana on the charm, turning it lucky. As it absorbed the water. It sunk to the bottom, and eventually turned green, where before it was plain white. The water was from the river, so it must have been the result of the magic.

She let it sit for a few moments, and watched as the green became more apparent before she dumped the boiling hot water outside. The green braided bracelet flopped on the porch, still steaming hot. In her excitement to grab her charm, she almost burned herself, and dropped it nearly as instantly as she picked it up. Now she just needed to find Poe. Best do it while the sun was up. He was probably lurking around the forest for forage-able foods.

Atraeya carefully scooped up the bracelet with her apron, and held the ends up so she wouldn't have to touch it again. The forest was rather quiet today. And by that she meant there weren't any other kids chatting or shouting out what they found. She followed the worn path back to the log base where the kids usually met, keeping an eye out for Poe, but he wasn't anywhere near the cottage or the base. She decided to wait for him there, admiring the charm she had made all on her own. Hopefully Poe would like it.

Out the corner of her eye, a crow hopped around, pecking at the ground and flapping its wings in excitement. It must have found some worms, probably. Or beetles. It cawed loudly, and hopped again. When she looked over fully, a squirrel, breathing heavily, had fallen from a tree in a clumsy lapse of judgment. And the crow was laughing at it.

A split second was all the squirrel needed to lunge at the crow. Feathers fell from the wings as the crow jumped up with a scare, trying to fly away. The squirrel was too fat, and they both tumbled to the ground. The squirrel was lightning fast, and scratched and clawed at the crow. They both screeched, one in offense and the other in pain. The crow kicked up it's little claws, trying to kick it away and took a stab at it with its beak. The squirrel jumped back and ran off but it had done it's damage.

The crow tried to fly away, but the wing was broken, and an eye was now missing. It only managed to get an inch or so off the ground before tumbling down. She couldn't just ignore the poor thing, even though it was rude to laugh. Carefully, inching forward, she approached the crow. It noticed her immediately, and though cautious, it didn't try to run away.

From a closer view, its wing was definitely broken, and sort of hung off at an angle. Atraeya held out her hand for it to hop on. "May I see your wing?"

It stared at her warily, but as if understanding her, hopped on her open palms after a few moments of study, deeming her worthy of trust. At least for now. She brought the crow up to eye level, inspecting it for additional damage. Besides it wings, it had some scratches, and its eye socket was bleeding.

"Well, I think I can fix you up, if you'll let me. I can make you a health potion and all you have to do is drink it. But it might take a while to make. What do you say?"

The crow angled it head, then cawed once at her. He made no move to get away so Atraeya took that as a resounding yes. She placed the bracelet in her pocket and made her way back to the cottage, where she found Poe peeking from behind a tree, staring at the cottage. Atraeya wasn't trying to be sneaky, but once she got close enough, the crow went to the edge of her fingers, and cawed loudly. Poe screamed out in a fright, and whipped around to see her and the bird, which promptly laughed again. After taking a moment to calm down, he said, "When did you leave?"

"Dunno. I wanted to give you a present!"

Poe's eyes squinted in suspicion as she began to dig through her pocket. "What do you mean present?"

She thrust the green bracelet in his face once her fingers grabbed on to it. He flinched, and eventually grabbed it, turning it around and inspecting it. It's plain green color and basic design showed no hints to its purpose so she decided to help him out. "I made it so it's lucky. If you wear it, good things will happen to you more often."

Atraeya smiled at him. Her eyes darted between the bracelet, obviously proud of her creation, and Poe's face, slightly disgusted and still wary. "Is it… safe?" he forced out.

"Of course! I swear, I swear! I told you I won't make anything bad," she said, as her shoulders slowly slumped. "Don't you believe me?"

Poe's eyes widened as he realized his error. He rushed to put on the bracelet. It was a bit of a fumble, but he eventually got it on. A perfect fit. "Of course I do! I was just, uh, testing you! And you passed, as I knew you would."

She giggled. It was obvious he was lying to cheer her up, but it did work. The tense atmosphere dissipated in an instant. "And for my next trick, I'm going to fix up this crow and see if I can turn it into my familiar."

"A crow?" Poe eyed it, still weirded out by its previous attempt to scare him. "At least it's better than a black cat. I heard those are bad luck. How are you gonna do it?"

"Well, I first need to find the recipe for a healing potion in the grimoire, then I need to see if it also tells me about familiars."

At the mention of the book, he stiffened and glanced away, his eyebrows scrunched up in concern. His mouth flopped open and closed before ultimately deciding not to say what he was thinking. "Do you need any help?"

"No. I need to check the manaprint of the ingredients or else the potions won't work. Don't want to poison anyone, right?"

"Right…" Poe slumped slightly. Atraeya did feel bad he couldn't be of use, but it was easier than explaining how painful it could have been had he stuck around while she brewed a potion. He probably had no idea what she was talking about either. A manaprint wasn't common knowledge, and Atraeya only knew it because it was one of the first things her teacher told her.

"It's basic knowledge for a witch," her teacher had told her. "You cannot do anything without this information." And she was right. From making her wand to finding ingredients, she needed to know exactly what properties the mana in an object held. She was told disastrous consequences await those who ignore it.

“Well, give a shout if you need help. I'll just hang around the area.”

Hopefully he didn't stick too close. She proceeded into the house, where she set the crow down on the table. It walked around for a bit, taking in the sights, before it noticed the book she had pulled out. It tilted its head, wings fluttering a bit, and cawed once again. It was a rather curious bird, despite being injured.

“I know I saw it here somewhere,” she reassured the bird, as if it could understand her. In response, it hopped closer and peered at the pages. Her reading skills were rapidly developing, since she had spent those few weeks sick reading. It still took her a minute or so to read the recipe name. In the meantime, the crow had made itself comfortable by her hand.

“Found it!” she exclaimed after a few minutes, startling the bird awake. It glared at her, angry at having been disturbed from its rightful sleep. “A health potion. Let’s see here…”

The potion needed ingredients with a manaprint high in Body, for starters. Though the grimoire noted it was possible to swap it for Mind, should the afflicted disease be an injury of the mind, like for soldiers who stay awake late into the night after coming home. A correct diagnosis was important, as the wrong potion could cause further harm rather than solve it. The recipe itself called for chamomile, garlic, and marigold. All crushed in a pestle until fine, then slowly added into boiling water one ingredient at a time as it dissolved.

Seemed easy enough. She stared at the crow. It wasn’t able to go anywhere, but she would feel bad leaving it. “Do you know where the flowers are?” Atraeya asked. It tilted its head. Silence. “Figures. I know just the thing.” She scooped it up and placed it into her basket. Its small head peeked out from the edge, but otherwise didn’t seem too concerned. It merely stared up at her as she picked up the basket and left the cottage.

Atraeya first began her search around the immediate area, hoping the previous witch had secretly planted some other flowers. No such luck, as it looked like the poppies forced out all other flowers. Instead, she made her way to Poe, who was just off the trail sorting through all the food he had found. “Alright!” Poe turned to see her, eyes wide in surprise.

“Are you done already?”

“No. But I found the recipe, and I need help finishing the ingredients. I need garlic, chamomile, and marigold.”

Poe thought for a moment, his hand absentmindedly scratching the back of his head. “Well, there’s some garlic over there, but it doesn’t seem like it’s fully grown. There are some marigolds a bit north of here, past the forest, but I haven’t seen chamomile. One of the neighbors might have them in a garden.”

Atraeya wanted to look at them anyway. The recipe didn’t specify the age of any ingredients, so a young one should be just as fine as a fully grown ingredient. Poe led the way towards a small patch of green stalks just off a deer trail. She touched one of the green stalks, and found it easy to determine the manaprint that way, without having to dig up the entire plant and risk killing it off before it could be harvested. She needed one today, so she quickly went through the ones available and chose the one with the highest in Body. Pulling it up, the garlic bulb was larger than what she would consider a baby, but it would have to do.

Moving on, they went north through the forest. Poe pointed out some other wild vegetables and greens that she could have sworn were weeds and grass. Eventually they reached the tree line, and her eyes had to take a moment to adjust to the bright sun bearing down on her. Before them a field of orange and yellow marigolds swayed in the wind. Atraeya gasped in awe as her feet carried her into the flower field. It was a sight to behold on a clear day. So many to choose! So many to search.

Too many, in fact. She had no way to check all the flowers here. She only had so much mana to check, and two hands weren’t enough either. But she only knew how to touch them to determine their manaprint. Was there a different?

While Atraeya was thinking of ways to add range to her manaprint detection, Poe went ahead and began to pick the flowers at random. Then promptly shoved them in her face. “Will any of these do?” he asked.

She blinked a few times in surprise, and went through the process of touching each flower. There were only 5 so it wasn’t time-consuming by any means. None of them had any sort of acceptable range in Body. She shook her head. Best get to work before Poe picks the entire field apart. The crow hopped out of the basket, and dug through the flowers for its seeds to eat. When it wasn’t doing that, it seemed content to rub itself on them to cover itself in its fragrance, it’s broken wing awkwardly hanging askew.

Within the hour, Atraeya had found four flowers high in Body, and Poe had found two. It would have to do. It was already the afternoon, and they still needed to find the chamomile, all the way back in the village, then go all the way back to the cottage and make the potion.

Atraeya tutted to the crow and held out the basket, hoping it knew what she meant. It was time to go, and she didn’t want to leave it with its broken wing. It seemed like it didn’t want to leave her, having stuck close by after all this time. And after a few moments, it happily hopped inside, with a marigold in its beak. “Oh? Taking a trophy from your outing today?” Atraeya giggled at it. It looked back at her in triumph, and she was sure it was caw just as happily had its beak been free.

“So what are you going to name it? Is it a boy or girl?”

Its name was the last thing on her mind, admittedly, nor did she know what it’s gender was. “Ummm… No clue. Blackie?” That seemed a neutral name as any, and an accurate description too.

Poe, on the other hand, seemed devastated, his mouth agape. “That’s a terrible name! What about… Bark? Or Chirp? Or One eye? Or Jester? Or…” He proceeded to list dozens of names on the way back to the village, all of them horrible. Atraeya was grimacing by the time they crossed the bridge.

“You’re just as bad at names as I am,” she said. Poe slouched, but he didn’t refute. At least he knew.

“Maybe your grandfather will have a better idea.”

Atraeya gasped. Would gramps even let her keep the crow? She intended to make it her familiar, which mean it would stay close to her, but if he didn’t allow it indoors, then wouldn’t it look suspicious if a crow was always hanging outside their house? No, gramps couldn’t know. He always said no to her idea.

She stopped and turned to her friend. “You can’t tell him about the crow! He’ll kick him out for sure.”

“Really?” Poe rose an eyebrow. She rapidly shook her head. “Fine, fine. But it has to have a name if you’re going to make it your familiar.”

“I’ll think about it. Let’s just find the chamomile.”

It took a little while longer as they combed through the dirt roads of Verdantvale. Eventually they found some planted in someone’s potted plant, and a little ways away, clustered along the edge of the lot. To not be accused of theft, they chose to browse through the ones growing from the ground. She only found three that were higher in Body than the rest, and not by much, unfortunately. “It’ll have to do,” she muttered.

“Is that it then?” Poe asked.

“For a health potion, yes. I still need to find the recipe to make it a familiar.” Poe nodded along, but it was clear from his vacant eyes he had no idea what the difference was, or why she needed two difference kinds. “Let’s go. I need to make this before the sun goes down.”

They rushed back to the cottage. They decided to leave the crow in the cottage for the night, so Poe was off finding nuts for it to eat and a bowl of water while she made the potion. Atraeya set the basket on the table and started to boil the water. The crow sat inside, content to watch her in one place. Once the fire got going, she pulled out the pestle from the cabinet and got to work grinding out the flower petals.

Once she was halfway through, arms aching in her rush to get it done before sunset, she heard a sound distract her. A muffle caw. Atraeya turned around to see the crow had hopped out of the basket, and was now teetering on the edge of the table toward her, pointedly holding out it’s flower to her. It attempted to caw again, still muffled. “Did you want me to use your flower in the potion?” she asked, as if it could understand her. She held out her hand under its beak, and it opened, letting the flower drop in her hand.

This marigold was the wrong type. It held plenty of Body, but Mind was it’s strongest attribute. Atraeya cautiously dropped it in the pestle, watching the bird for any signs of anger. It just took a seat and watched. Well, the recipe said Mind was OK, but were crows normally this smart? She was beginning to get creeped out.

The water was boiling by the time she finished grinding the three ingredients to an almost dough-like paste. In her rush, she didn’t realize she should have mashed the garlic separately. Too late now. It was time to mix. She pulled out her wand, dumped the contents of the pestle into the water, and began to stir while pouring mana into the mixture. Her arms were tired by now, but she couldn’t stop. The sun would start to set soon. Staying any longer meant endangering Poe as well as her self.

About ten minutes of steady stirring later, the mixture in the cauldron shimmered and turned a deep pink. Atraeya sighed in relief and rotated her wand arm, desperately attempting to relieve it of the exhaustion and aches. The crow cawed, impatient. “Alright, alright. Calm down. You’ll have to wait for it to cool anyways.”

She began to dig through the cabinets, but once again was at a loss for potion holding vessels. She could put it in one of those jars, just for tonight. The crow likely won’t drink all of it. Atraeya shifted her attention to the ingredient jar wall, looking for an empty one. There was one labeled glue, and while it wasn’t empty, it had dried up after being left along for who knows how long, and was easy enough to scrape out.

“Atraeya!!” Poe shouted off in the distance. Right on time. She found him just outside the cottage clearing, where he was sitting last time. “I tried to get closer, but it feels weird.” He was sweating, and slightly pale. She could tell he tried to force it.

“Then don’t. That’s what mana feels like when a witch makes potions. It’ll hurt you.”

Poe merely nodded, and held out the items in his hand. One held a bowl of water, and the other a rather large leaf filled with various nuts. The ends of the leave curled up, making it the perfect natural bowl shape she needed. The crow would have an easier time drinking the potion from this for sure.

Carefully, she took them both from him. “I’ll give this to the crow, then we can go home. I’ll only be a minute.” Poe nodded again, and sat down a few feet away. Now she really felt bad. Maybe he could use some of the health potion as well.

Back inside, she caught the crow eyeing the steaming jar, and briefly wondered if it already tried to take a drink. “Alright, here you go,” she said, as she placed the bowl and nuts down. Then quickly replaced the nuts with the potion. A slow, steady pour from the jar onto the leaf kept most of it in place. Once the leaf was about halfway was when it began to flatten out, so she stopped. It only took half the jar, but that still might have been too much for the crow. It was so tiny.

“Drink the potion first, then you can eat.” She pointed to emphasize the point, then refilled the jar. Atraeya didn’t bother to watch the crow drink it, and quickly left out the door after grabbing the basket and the cleaning potion. “See you tomorrow!” she called out.

Poe sat in the same spot she left him, face buried in his knees. She held out the jar. “Drink this, it’ll help.” The farther they get from the place the better he’ll feel, but he couldn’t move until she healed him with the potion. He looked visibly worse too. Did he not move far enough away?

A shaky hand reached out to the jar, and she knew he had gotten worse. A normal Poe would have questioned it a million times, worried about what sort of potion it was. This Poe gulped it down without a second thought. “If you find any chunky bits, that’s the glue. Don’t eat that.”

He froze, and his cheeks puffed out a bit as he swished the liquid around, then gulped. No glue chunks, thankfully. At the end he burped, the color in his face already rapidly returning. She let out a sigh of relief and took back the jar, placing it in her basket. That was too close.

“Thanks,” he said.

Atraeya held out a hand to help him up. “I should be thanking you, for helping me all day.”