Chapter 54: Chapter 54

The next two days were completely uneventful. The days were long and there was nothing to do but talk. After we ran out of stories to tell, my mother taught us songs from her childhood for us to sing. I quickly learned I was completely tone-deaf and so was Charly. The two of us singing sounded like we were torturing small animals. Neither of us inherited our mother’s calm melodious voice. To everyone's surprise, though, the best singer was Donte. He was even better than most professionals I could remember from Aurielle’s life.

He taught us a great many songs and lullabies his mother used to sing, but he quickly decided that Charly and I were not allowed to sing them ever again. It was far too painful to everyone’s ears.

At the end of the second day, we found a village and almost unanimously decided that spending the night at an inn would be better than another night in the wagon. only my father wanted to keep going. The sun had not set yet, and he believed it was better to keep moving as much as possible while we had light.

Luckily for us, he was outvoted. While my parents got rooms for us at the inn, Charly, Donte, and I were free to roam through the village as we pleased.

“Alright, let’s find some trouble!” I shouted excitedly.

“I do not think we are going to find much here,” Charly replied shaking his head, “This village is even smaller than the last one.”

“Never underestimate my ability to find something fun,” I said with a big grin, “You never know what a little place like this might be hiding. This could be a secret bandit camp or maybe there is a corrupt mayor we can expose. The possibilities are limitless.”

“Really?” Donte said, practically bouncing in excitement.

“That’s right,” I replied, placing my hands on my hips and puffing out my chest in pride.

“We really need to work on your definition of fun,” Charly said with a sigh.

Confident in my ability to attract trouble, I led the two of them into town, but much to my dismay I failed to find anything. This was a perfectly innocent village, filled with happy people. The closest I got to something interesting was when Sylvie and Nox picked a fight with a stray dog. Watching the two miniature animals scare off a dog many times their size was entertaining, but it was hardly what I was looking for.

In the end, I gave up. There was nothing in the town I could find in a single night. Instead of wasting more time looking for trouble, Charly decided we should visit the local apothecary. We had used all our medical supplies in the last village, and it was important to stay well-stocked in case of an emergency.

Stepping into the apothecary, I was hit with a wave of overpowering odors. Thousands of dried herbs hung from the ceiling, and while one or two might have smelt nice, that many all at once made it difficult to breathe.

A small old woman worked at a counter covered in yet more herbs. A mortar and pestle in her hands as she crushed multiple herbs into a fine paste with ease that only came from decades of experience.

“Hurt or sick?” The old woman asked without looking up from her work.

“What?” Donte asked.

“Are you hurt or are you sick?” The woman asked, “Those are the only reasons anyone ever comes here.”

“We were actually hoping to buy a few supplies in case of an emergency,” Charly replied.

The woman looked up from her work for the first time, looking at Charly with squinted eyes. “What do you want? I cannot spare much. Harvest is right around the corner and winter is right behind. Every year some idiots get themselves hurt and come crying to me, using up all my stock.

“We are out of bandages, disinfectant, and numbing agent.” Charly rattled off quickly. “I would also like to get something in case of fever if you have it. We are traveling north and it is getting colder. I want to be ready in case someone gets sick.”

The cranky old woman began muttering under her breath with a string of words I could not hear, but I doubted they were nice. “How many in your group?” she asked, finally speaking at an audible volume.

“Five,” Charly replied.

The old woman quickly gathered up nearly a dozen different glass bottles. None of them had labels, and all of them were filled with what looked like the same puke green colored paste. She quickly pointed at the bottles. “These four for disinfectant. These three for numbing pain. These five for fever. Do not drink the disinfectant or numbing agents or they will make you sick. Only drink one swig a day of the fever agent a day or you start seeing things. It is not for fun! Understand?”

“How do we know these things work?” Donte asked curiously as Charly handed out the bottles for us to hold.

“Don’t insult me brat!” The old woman shouted angrily, “I have been curing people for over sixty years. I was taught by one of the greatest physicians this continent has ever seen. I have seen and treated more sick and injured idiots than you can possibly imagine.”

“You were taught by Chlora?” I blurted out in surprise as I realized that I recognized the bottling method the old woman used and the old familiar wax markings on the top.

The old woman was taken aback for a moment as she looked at me for the first time. “That’s right. I did not expect someone so young to know her name.”

“Who is Chlora?” Donte asked curiously.

Charly spoke up before I could. His voice filled with awe and respect. “Chlora was the royal physician that served the Immortal Empress. During her life she cured countless diseases others considered untreatable. When Wren was sick, I would read her work wishing I could do what she did. She was truly the greatest physician this world had ever seen.”

The old woman nodded proudly as if it was her being praised. “It has been so long since I heard her name, I thought people had forgotten about her. You children knowing so much warms this old heart.”

“What are you doing in the middle of nowhere if your teacher was so amazing?” Donte asked curiously.

“You really are a rude child,” The old woman complained, “If you must know, having a great teacher does not mean being a great student. I made mistakes and could not live up to her name. so, I came here. A quiet place, far away from snot-nosed little brats who think they know medicine better than I do.”

“What was she like?” Charly asked curiously. “The records on Chlora only detail her achievements, not any of her teachings or methods.”

“Obsessed.” The old woman replied, shaking her head. “As with most geniuses, all that mattered to her was her work. However, if you are curious about her methods, I might be able to help you more than the church.” The woman disappeared into the back of her shop for a moment, before reappearing, holding three large tomes. “Since you seem so enthusiastic, I will give you an opportunity I do not usually give anyone else who comes through here. These are copies of the lessons she used to teach us. I created them after she passed away, hoping to preserve her legacy, but few were interested in something I created. I have dozens of unused copies now, all collecting dust. If you are interested in learning, you can have these.”

Charly was incredibly excited as he picked up the books. His hands practically shook as he cracked the first one open. The text inside was messy but extremely detailed.

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“I would love to learn!” Charly shouted.

The old woman nodded in satisfaction at Charly’s excitement. She handed the books over freely, not charging us anything for them.

Charly was in a hurry to get back and start reading his new treasures but remembered his manners at the last moment.

He bowed deeply with the best formality he could muster. “Thank you for this… um… I never got your name.”

“Eres.”

I froze for a moment, then smiled brightly. Memories of a child from long ago sprung to mind. Eres, the adopted daughter of Chlora. I would never have been able to recognize her, she was nothing like that bright-eyed little girl from so long ago. All the same, I was happy to see her doing well after all these years. Too many who followed me fell into misfortune because of my actions. It was good to see she was doing well, even if it was just a small peaceful life far from the capital.  I knew deep down I could not tell her who I was, but just knowing she was here was enough to bring a smile to my face.

Charly bowed a second time. “Thank you, Miss Eres, for giving this. I promise I will treasure them, and learn what Chlora had to teach us.”

Eres laughed and patted Charly’s head. “Do not take it so seriously. The books are just a whim of an old woman. All I ask is that, if one day you find you are not suited for Chlora’s teachings, give the books to another so that her legacy can live on.”

“I will. I promise,” Charly replied.

After leaving the apothecary, Charly hurried back to the inn, leaving Donte and me alone in the village.

After a bit more useless searching as the two of us wandered the village, I sighed in defeat. “I do not think we are going to find anything entertaining tonight, Donte.”

“That’s ok,” Donte replied, “I really like it here. It is so quiet, nothing at all like Akte- Aktaio.”

Donte and I walked through the nearly empty street. Now that the sun was setting, the villagers were hurrying home for dinner and to prepare for the next day. The few shops in town began closing their doors, and the only sounds were the endlessly chirping insects.

“Was your home like this?” Donte asked curiously.

“A bit bigger, more shops, a proper town square, and church, but yes. Ortus was very much like this.”

“One day, I think I want to live in a place like this,” Donte said, staring up at the sky, “I think my mum would have liked it.”

“She would have loved it.”

Donte’s eyes grew wet, but he quickly shook away the tears. “What about before Ortis. What was Aurielle’s home like?”

I hesitated for a moment, unsure what to say. “She… I never had a place that was I could ever really call home. At least, not one that I can remember. When I was little, we never stayed in one place for more than a couple months. It did not get much better as I got older. I think the closest I ever had to a place I could call home would be the Tempus. A small, junkheap of a ship the Calamities and I used through most of our lives. It is mostly rust and patchwork repairs now, but for a long time it was home…”

“A ship? But don’t you get seasick?”

I chuckled at Donte for a moment. “Wrong kind of ship. While we could put it down in the water if we wanted, our ship could fly.”

“Fly? Really? That is amazing!” Donte shouted, practically bouncing in excitement.

“It is common in the Thirteen Divisions. There are wonders in the divisions you cannot even imagine. I can show you one day if you become strong enough to follow me.”

“Strong enough? How strong do I have to be?”

“Passing through a manmade rift between realms can be dangerous. based on my guess, you would need at least ten times your current power if you want to survive the journey.”

“Ten times stronger… how long would that take?”

I shrugged. “Everyone is different. Only hindsight can know that.”

Donte grew quiet for a moment but then brightened up. “That fine! I am getting stronger every day I know I can reach that strength sooner or later, but for now, tell me more about the different realms. What are they like?

I smiled as I described a few of the more interesting places I could remember. I told him of places where mountains floated like clouds, of cities that spanned entire continents, and of creatures that seemed straight from a fairytale. His eyes sparkled in fascination with each new and amazing place.

“I once visited a city even bigger than Aktaio, floating in the ocean. Every day the city would move from place to place, and all of the people on the mainland said it was moved by magic, but the truth was stranger than that. Once we arrived at the city, we learned that all of it was built on the back of a giant turtle.”

Donte laughed and the two of us talked as the sun set and stars lit the sky. Donte was absolutely enraptured by every tale. We found a grassy hill and laid side by side watching the moon slowly rise as I told Donte about many things, I had not even told my family about. Tales of the many dangers I had faced among strange and unpredictable places, and the stories of the rare peaceful moments outside of the war.

The stories only came to an end when my parents had to come find us. We both got in trouble, but I felt it was worth it.

 

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