Chapter 174: 175: Happenstance

It is the afternoon of the next day. After she had finished making the telescopes last night, Fresh had made a bunch of simple tools to attract more of the local craftsmen inside. Business is picking up again too, especially with the new rings that are, in her eyes, attracting an insane amount of attention. She supposes that the effect probably is really strong, like Basil had warned her about.

But despite all of that, Fresh is outside of the city, walking through the forest. Jubilee and Shamrock are running the store by themselves, together with Veli, who is helping out where he can. But Basil apparently really has become sick with some sort of flu and she’s still laying in bed, rarely shuffling past them like an undead, as she goes to the washroom now and then.

In truth, Fresh is needed back at the store, given the busyness of the business along with Basil’s absence. But she’s out here instead, looking for a herb that she saw a depiction of in her grimoire. More aptly said, the damp-grimoire had shown her the smeared ink drawing of the flower, after she accidentally dropped it and the page flew open right to the exact thing she needed. A plant said to help common illnesses, such as a cold.

Now, in truth, even Fresh knows that this is too convenient and suspicious to have just been happenstance. But the grimoire has never led her wrong, so she’s willing to trust its judgment. She spends a while, walking through the forest, looking for the plant. Eventually, she breaks through the clearing and finds herself at a familiar place near the edge of the mountain.

The grave-site of the man she had buried.

Looking down at it, she tilts her head, deciding that she has a minute to spare. Walking over, she bends down and starts collecting and retidying the stones that had been scattered by the elements over the weeks.

“I hope you’re doing well,” she says to the grave, not sure if the man on the other side can even hear her. It takes a few minutes, but eventually, the grave is back in shape. She notices that the grass and the flowers have regrown all around this area where she had dug up the soil. It’s cool outside, so Fresh clutches herself for a moment, rubbing her arms as she looks away off and over the side of the mountain, towards the distant world that lies beyond.

Turning her head from side to side, she tries to orient herself. She thinks that this way is east. So that means that straight in this direction, over the nigh-endless forest, is the noble-city she had heard about and then even further east than that is the eastern-city, far off in the desert.

After a few minutes, she says goodbye to the dead man and gets up, telling him to sleep well. She remembers when they first came up the mountain, her friends had mentioned that there were monsters up here, as there are monsters everywhere in the wild. However, the ones here near the city seemed to have been driven away and the forest is filled with little more than birds undergoing their journeys to some place warmer. She supposes that’s normal, outside of a large city like this. All of the monsters likely knew that they would get blasted or zapped by some drunk if they spent too long near the walls.

The leaves rustle above her head. Fresh, ready to keep walking, shoots a quick glance, expecting to see another bird. But instead, she sees a tiny head quickly pulling itself back into the foliage. A fairy?

“Hello?” she asks, but no response comes. Standing there curiously for a moment, she shrugs, adjusting her bag and then walks away, heading back towards the forest. Maybe there are fairies living out here, outside of the city? If what Veli and Jubilee had been implying this entire time was true, then she supposes that it might even be safer for them out here than in the walls of the city, as sad as that is. But the summer is over, the night will get colder and longer day by day. She isn’t sure if they will be alright, living in makeshift nests or hollowed out trees.

Fresh, surprised by her own ingenuity, gets a sudden idea. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a silver coin. “Hey,” she says, waving it to the branches. “I’m looking for something, can you help me?” she asks. Fresh points at the coin with her other hand. “I’ll give you this.”

No response.

Frowning, she turns around and walks away, having no choice but to look on her own.

“What do you want?” asks a voice from the treetops.

Delighted to get a response, she turns around again, not able to see the source of the voice, as they are still hiding out of sight. “I’m looking for a flower. It’s kind of purple and uh, has thin, spiky petals.” She circles with her finger through the air. “And the middle is also really spiky. Do you know where anything like that is?”

No response.

She sighs and despite having gotten no answer, she visibly sets the coin down anyways on top of a small rock, before turning to go again.

“Follow the cliff to the left,” it instructs. “You’ll find one or two after a few minutes.”

“Thank you!” She waves up to the trees where the indistinct voice had come from and hurries along through the forest, eager to find something to help her friend. Sure, she could have just gone to an alchemist or a trained herbalist, there are plenty of those in town. But, this feels like something she has to do herself. But maybe that’s just that nurturing pride of hers coming to the surface again.

A few minutes later, she finds the flower she is looking for and gently plucks it, apologizing to it and explaining that her friend needs it.

Delighted, she quickly heads back through the forest, making a bend around the grave so that she doesn’t disturb the shy fairy a second time. Not much later, she arrives back at the city and then, not much longer after that, she arrives back at the store. Though, she is a bit sweaty, since she walked faster than she had to.

When she arrives, it’s chaotic. There are dozens of customers and the shelves are already running low in some areas.

“About time, you lazy fuck!” barks Jubilee at her as she walks back in the door.

“Sorry, Jubilee! I’ll help you in just a second, I promise!” she says.

Jubilee rolls their eyes, handing someone back their change. “Did you find it?”

“I did,” says Fresh, jogging up the stairs and looking at Basil’s bed first thing as she arrives.

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“Welcome home,” says Basil, surrounded by tissues. “You didn’t have to go out of your way,” she says, smiling an exhausted smile.

“I did!” argues Fresh, walking over and checking her temperature. Though, honestly, she doesn’t actually know how to do that. Basil’s forehead is fairly warm. That’s bad, right? “You’re dying, Basil!”

“I just have the sniffles,” laughs the priestess, before grabbing a tissue and sneezing into it. Fresh narrows her eyes, going to the kitchen and pulling out the flower. Doing as the grimoire instructed, she pulverizes the flower into a coarse ground. “You’re supposed to check temperatures with the bottom of your wrist,” instructs Basil.

“Really?”

“Mhm,” nods the priestess, pulling herself back under the blanket. “That part of your body is very sensitive to temperatures,” she explains.

“That makes sense,” laughs Fresh, realizing that she’s been called out. Basil knew that she had no idea what she was doing. She boils a tiny amount of water, only a few sips worth and drops the Echinacea powder into it. It releases a very thick, nutty, almost bitter smell. After a minute, the concoction seems to be brewed through. Fresh uses one of the coughee filters to strain the liquid into a cup.

Bringing the cup over to Basil, she sets it down next to her. “Wait until it’s cooled down, okay?” says Fresh to the outline under the blanket. Basil has buried herself entirely. “It might taste kind of bad.”

“Thank you,” says the blanket-mummy, sounding very appreciative. Fresh bends over, tucking the edges of the blanket in beneath her, before quickly heading downstairs to help run the store.

The rest of the day is a chaotic mess. Customers and fairies zip left and right, buying all manner of things today. Apparently, Veli’s idea with the tools was already starting to work though, as among the many brightly clad adventurers, there were also many more common appearing laypeople and crafters who seem to have taken a liking to the tools. But more importantly, to the coughee and the snacks that they now discover for the first time.

It’s a busy day, but a fulfilling one.

Razmatazz

Some cute, but also dark, slice of life today. My favorite  x)

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