ã€ŠThe Little Witch of Verdantvale [slow burn, slice of life, potion making]ã€‹


 1. Escape From Home

    The only sounds Atraeya could hear over the bumpy wagon and pouring rain were the distant rumbles of thunder, creeping ever so closer. This carriage didn¡¯t have a cover over it either, so naturally she was soaked to the bone. Even attempts to make herself smaller by curling up her knees and keeping her head down only served to send shocks of cold, hard rain down her spine.

    It¡¯s not like she had any choice though. It was the first wagon to pass by her that didn¡¯t mind picking up some 12 year kid like some stray. Though, she suppose she was, if her grandfather didn¡¯t want her either. ¡°Too many mouths to feed,¡± her mother had told her, right before she threw her out with only the clothes on her back. Of course that had only been some pathetic excuse to rid herself of a witch. Atraeya¡¯s family had been doing just fine up till they found out. Yet they all stared at her like she was a monster the moment they all found out.

    If she hadn¡¯t heard where her grandfather lived, Atraeya would most likely had been running around the streets, stealing and begging for food. Who knows how long she would have survived doing that.

    Grandfather supposedly lived in a small village out east, named Verdantvale. It sounded like a village with beautifully green rolling hills and plenty of farmland and game to hunt. A paradise compared to her current situation. Freezing winds collided into her, prickling every inch of exposed skin and sending deathly cold shivers from her face to her toes. Lightning struck in the direction they were headed and the rain felt that much heavier.

    Just this morning the sky was dark and dreary, but by now it was pitch black and she couldn¡¯t even see the rain. She just had to deal with this little setback for a little longer, then she¡¯d be fine. Atraeya tucked in her arms in a hopeless attempt to keep herself warm.

    When the carriage came to a stop, she had no idea how long she had been in it. Her legs cramped and ached when she hopped down. Now no longer bundled up, a shiver ran through her and her teeth chattered. She wrapped her arms around herself. The merchant glanced at her with a concerned look in his eyes, but said nothing as she walked away.

    Which house was her grandfather¡¯s? She desperately tried to think back on her mother¡¯s stories from her time as a kid. She always talked about a blue house by the river. Atraeya looked around. She couldn¡¯t even see the river. Did she get off on the wrong stop? Was she going to die out here, all alone, where no one knew where or who she was?

    Panic and grim thoughts filled her mind as she picked up her pace to explore the village. It was smaller than home, so it shouldn¡¯t be that hard to find. If this was the right village. Tears welled in her eyes and she broke into a run. At least now the blood was flowing and it could keep her warmer than just standing around.

    After a few minutes she did find a river, thankfully. A small sliver of hope bloomed. Now all she had to do was find a blue house. The houses in this area seemed to be mostly made from raw materials, and surrounded by small farms. Finding one that was painted should technically be easy, if she could see the colors on the houses in the dark.

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    After a few minutes of walking around, Atraeya found a house that looked older than the rest. Weeds everywhere, chimney half collapsed, shutters boarded closed, and if her eyes didn¡¯t deceive her, a dull blue paint job. It wasn¡¯t exactly what she had hoped, but there were no other blue houses around. This was it. She gulped, and for a moment, thought her grandfather must have died if the house looked so dilapidated.

    A loud crack of lightning reminded her that she needed to get out of the storm either way. Atraeya rushed to the door ¨C slipping over upturned rocks in the process ¨C and knocked on the door.

    Silence.

    And more silence.

    She was about to knock on the door a second time when she heard a thump. Thump. Thump. The sound got closer and closer to the door. Fear spiked in her heart. It creaked open, just an inch. And out popped a pair of old green eyes, and furrowed gray eyebrows. The same green as hers and her mother¡¯s eyes. This was grandfather.

    He stared at her, shivering head to toe until he recognized something and opened the door wider. ¡°Mel?¡±

    Atraeya shook her head, wet wavy hair clinging to her face. ¡°Mel is my mother. I¡¯m her oldest daughter, Atraeya.¡±

    Grandfather squinted his eyes at her, as if just now noticing the age difference, then his eyes widened. ¡°So you are. So you are.¡± He began to look around. ¡°Where¡¯s your mother?¡±

    Atraeya couldn¡¯t help but frown. Should she tell him that she¡¯s a witch? No. He¡¯s old. He wouldn¡¯t understand. He would more likely slam the door in her face. It was best to go with the excuse she herself was given. ¡°She kicked me out. Said she had too many mouths to feed,¡± she scowled.

    Grandfather shook his head, then moved from the doorway. His cane clacked against the floor as he did so. ¡°Come in, come in. Let me get you something to dry off with. And leave those muddy boots by the door.¡±

    She looked down to see her entire pair of boots, and a good chuck of her socks and the bottom of her favorite yellow dress was caked in mud. ¡°Oh no¡­¡± How was she supposed to clean that off? It was the only dress she owned. Now it was all dirty and stained and she¡¯d have to walk around in dirty clothes forever.

    ¡°Why are you crying dear? I¡¯m not going to kick you out. At least, not until I figure out what¡¯s going on,¡± grandfather said. He came back to her with some clean rags and guided her to a makeshift fireplace, since the chimney wasn¡¯t usable. ¡°But for now, warm up by the fire. I¡¯ll get you something to sleep on. It¡¯s very late you know.¡± Grandfather hobbled off again while she stood by the fire. For an old man on a cane he sure could move fast.

    While he was gone she contemplated whether it would be worth it to get out of the wet clothes when she had no backup. She had her shift on, but that would be much too cold, and was also likely wet. But staying in all of her wet clothes, now gathering a pool of water under her wrinkly feet, would be much worse.

    At last her grandfather came back with a quilted blanket and some furs to layer on. Along with an old shirt of his. ¡°You¡¯ll not want to stay in those wet clothes. You¡¯ll get sick,¡± he said as he handed her all the items. ¡°I¡¯m going back to bed. We¡¯ll talk in the morning, OK?¡±

    Atraeya nodded and watched as he disappeared behind a door. Her attention shifted to the old shirt. It could work. She wouldn¡¯t have to worry about sleeping in wet clothes. And with the layers of blankets, it should hopefully be warm enough that she wouldn¡¯t notice the cold.

 2. Convincing the old man to let her stay

    Once Atraeya had gotten changed and set up the bedding, she fell asleep faster than she could blink.

    Pots and pans clanking around and the sunlight in her eyes woke up her up. She did not feel nearly enough rested. The storm storm had passed in the night and now all that was left was a muddy farming village, with puddles and debris scattered everywhere.

    With a huge yawn, Atraeya bundled the blankets around herself and headed to the table. It was set with some sort of plain porridge. It tasted terrible. Still, she was starving, and would eat anything to get rid of the hunger pains. This was more than she''s had to eat these past few days of travel. She and her grandfather ate in silence.

    Once the bowls were emptied, she placed them in the wash bin. "Now. Let''s talk," her grandfather said.

    Goosebumps ran up her arm. Her heart beat faster. Grandfather had said that in such a distrustful way that she instantly wanted to beg for forgiveness. Of course, it was only natural he would be suspicious about a random granddaughter showing up on his doorstop in the middle of the night.

    "So, how did you get here? Where''s your luggage?" he asked.

    "I took a carriage. It took almost a week and it even rained on the way over," Atraeya pouted. "I don''t have any luggage. Mom kicked me out immediately after..." She trailed off, not wanting to say it out lout. It would make it all that more real.

    "After what? Mel wouldn''t kicked out one of her own kids for no reason." Atraeya could only squeeze her blanket closer under scrutiny. Would it really be OK to tell him?

    She glanced up from the wood table and saw her grandfather staring at her, armz crossed. It didn''t look like he would take any lie she gave him. Those eyes looked like they had decades of seeing lies. She looked down again. "...I''m a witch," she mumbled.

    "Huh? Speak up, I can''t hear you."

    "She kicked me out because I''m a witch!" She bolted up from her chair and shouted him down. "The minute she found out I was a witch she literally shoved me out the door! Then she locked it and wouldn''t open it no matter how hard I pounded on the door or scratched at the handle. I thought it was a mean joke until it got dark and she still wouldn''t let me in."

    Teardrops hit the table before she could realize she was crying and pouring her heart out. Would that be enough to not get kicked out? She didn''t want to sleep outside again. Not after having such a comfy bed in a long time.

    "Oh," was all her grandfather said. He leaned back, taking in all the information.

    "Please don''t kick me out. I promise I''ll be good! I''ll help out with whatever you want, and I''ll do all the chores, and the farming, and--"

    "Alright, alright. Calm down. I''m not going to kick you out. Do what you want, but you should keep your witch stuff to a minimum. Folks don''t take too kindly to witches here. But I won''t tell anyone either."

    He wasn''t going to kick her out? She looked back up to see him regard her warily, but unable to not help out his own blood. Great, now she just needs to prove how helpful she can be. This place looked like a complete mess, so she could start there. Grandfather must have noticed with the look in her eyes as she immediately began to scan the room, looking for things to clean and fix. "I''ll be off now. Feel free to help yourself with whatever you see here. You better get dressed, too, before the neighbors see you."

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    With that, he put on his shoes, and his straw hat, grabbed his cane, and talked out the door. The house was silent and ripe for her to fix.

    He''ll... be back, right?

    No, she couldn''t let herself think like that. Of course he''ll be back. This is his home. Anyways, first thing''s first. Her clothes. Picking them up from a pile on the floor, all of them were still wet, to her complete surprise. It was then that it dawned on her why her mom always hung her clothes out to dry. It''s not like she could go out and hang them right now though. The shirt being lent to her only just barely reached her knees. Completely unacceptable. Unless...

    Atraeya began to dig around until she found what she was looking for. Another sheet long enough for her to use as a skirt. She tied it around her waist. And although it was much better than going out in just a shirt, she still felt a little naked without her stays. She would need to wash her clothes quickly.

    She found a wash bin and washboard in some closet and some homemade soap, half used and in a cupboard. Once everything was gathered, she tossed her muddy clothes in the bin and went outside. She was immediately blinded by the bright sun. Clear skies for days, thankfully. Maybe then her clothes will dry quickly. She waited for her eyes to adjust, enjoying the chirping birds and billowing wind in her face.

    That''s when she noticed. It had been rather dark when she arrived, but looking over the yard, it really was a mess. It looked like it had been well abandoned for a long time. Grass up to her stomach. Tree branched everywhere. Random junk thrown about. Even the fields were full of weeds. It was unclear whether there was food growing there at all. Well, at least she had her work cut out for her. It only fueled her determination even more.

    The river was only across the street. From there, she first shook and beat out as much dried mud from her clothes as she could before dunking them in the wash bin. Even after scrubbing as hard as she could, the bottom edges were still stained brown. Oh well. It was much better than before. No mother needed. She can do this all by herself. Though she did wonder how she was able to clean her clothes so well all the time.

    Either way, now it was time to hang them up to dry. She managed to find some string and tied one end of it to a broken down post in the yard, and the other end to a window hinge on its way out. It was lopsided, drooping, and honestly looked like it could blow away at any second. There wasn''t anything she could use to clip here clothes in place either. She just had to pray they wouldn''t fly away when she wasn''t looking.

    At some point, a woman stopped in front of the house. "Oh? I haven''t seen you before," the lady said. "My name is Mira."

    "I''m Atraeya. I''m the granddaughter of the old man who lives here."

    At that, the woman smiled. "Aww, that''s so nice of you. We were beginning to think he didn''t have any family that cared about him. Where are you from?" Mira stepped closer, eyeing the mess around them, particularly the newly hung laundry.

    "I''m from the capital," Atraeya replied, attempting to keep it a secret that she was kicked out.

    "Oh my! So far away! I hope the trip wasn''t too bad?"

    Disregarding the cramped carriage, stuck there for nearly a week, eating whatever she could forage whenever it stopped, and getting rained on in the last few hours of the trip, oh, and the whole reason for traveling so far west: Getting kicked out of her home. Then yes, it wasn''t too bad.

    But she wasn''t going to say all that to some stranger. Instead, she smiled politely and said, "Yes, overall it was a fine trip. I arrived just last night."

    "Just last night? In all that rain? Ah, so that''s why you were doing laundry. But where are the rest of your clothes dear?" Mira looked her up and down. Obviously judging her for what she was wearing, rather, what she wasn''t wearing.

    Atraeya glanced down, then back to Mira apologetically. "That''s all I have."

    "Oh dear," she tsked. "That won''t do at all. Follow me, I have just the thing." Without waiting for an agreement, she started to walk away. Atraeya was still barefoot, and not wanting to dirty the hem of her makeshift skirt, lifted it a bit and quickly followed the woman.

 3. Miras Kindness

    Mira''s home was just a few houses down. They were neighbors, but her house was much more nicer and cared for than her grandfather''s home. Inside was well lived in, but still everything had its place. It reminded her of her home.

    "Pardon the mess, Atraeya. My good-for-nothing son must have ran out the house the minute I left and didn''t bother to clean up," Mira said. She looked exasperated at it all. This sort of situation must have been common.

    "I don''t mind. It looked familiar to my own home." She smiled, and Mira smiled back at her.

    "I have a daughter as well, y''know. A little older than you. She just recently grew out of her clothes and I hadn''t gotten the chance to get rid of them." Mira ventured further into the house and came back out with a chest. "Go on and give it a look. See if anything fits. I don''t mind giving you any of it. You really shouldn''t be outside without your stays, dearie."

    Atraeya dug in to find plenty of clothes, well worn and parts patched in areas too well worn. She didn''t mind though . At this point she would take any of it.

    In the end, she ended up taking two skirts, a shirt, a slightly larger stays than she currently had, an old shift, and a petticoat that lacked some of its luster. Overall, it was quite the haul. "Thank you so much, Mrs. Mira. This would be a great help!"

    "It''s quite alright. I imagine Elmer wasn''t ready for you to come visit."

    "Yeah. That''s why I want to do as much as I can to help out!"

    That''s when Mira laughed. Not a giggle, or a chuckle, like she had been doing before. A full blown laugh that nearly startled Atraeya out of her skin. "If that''s the attitude you have, then you''ll have nothing to fear! Elmer likes folks who pull their own weight."

    With that, she bundled her "new" clothes under her arms, and went back home. Her grandfather, who she now knew as Elmer, still wasn''t home. Atraeya quickly took the chance to get dressed properly. First the shift, then the under petticoat, then her old stays. A quick sniff test told her she didn''t need to wash them just yet. After her stays were firmly laced in, she tied her pocket around her waist. An important piece of garment for her upcoming projects. After that, was her white shirt and petticoat, and lastly the skirt she was given -- a deep blue, with white flowers embroidered along the bottom.

    There. She felt better now that she was fully dressed. There was only one problem. Her shoes. They should have gone on first, but they were still outside and covered in mud. And she couldn''t exactly run around barefoot either. At least, that''s what her mother always said. But that was in the city. Here, the roads were made of of dirt, so it didn''t matter. And she kicked her out too, so her opinion doubly didn''t count.

    Deciding that her mother''s opinions and warnings were useless and out-of-date, Atraeya went back outside to began to pick up the front of the house.

    Glass bottles, broken branches, rags, and even various rusted tools. All hidden in the tall grass that likely hadn''t been cut or tended to for months. She sure had a difficult time trying to clear it out. It was backbreaking work and she had to be extra careful where she stepped. Just when she thought she had found it all, there was more to pick up. She even found a few mushrooms growing around. Now, whether it was poisonous or not was another question. She''ll have to ask her grandfather when he got back. She set them aside on the table before going to see if she could find a sickle to cut the grass with.

    That''s when the door opened. "What''s that pile of junk doing outside my house?" her grandfather asked. He held a cloth bag filled with food. He must have went grocery shopping. Two people eat more than one, after all.

    "Welcome back, grandfather. I thought I''d get started at helping out around the house, and saw that the yard could use a bit of work. Do you know where the sickle is? So I can cut it."

    He eyed her a bit, probably just now noticing her change of clothes. But he acquiesced to her request. "You won''t get anything done with a sickle. The scythe is in that closet there." He went to put away the new food when he noticed the mushrooms. "Oh, you found some more of these did you? Good for a fever." He nodded to himself and put them away with the rest of the new food.

    Once Atraeya found the scythe, back outside she went. Now she could get started for real. She chose one corner of the lot, and began to slowly make her way across. More backbreaking work with only the occasional wind to cool her down. Atraeya had never done this before so her body ached badly. She just knew it was going to hurt all over tomorrow morning. She subconsciously began to go faster and faster as the sun sunk into the horizon.

    In a rush to get it done, and still in bare feet, it was inevitable that she stepped in some broken glass she had failed to gather beforehand. She cried out in pain and lifted her foot.

    A small trickle of red trailed down her food. It was only a small piece of glass, thankfully. It was easy to miss, really, it was. If she had shoes on... So maybe her mother was right about shoes. But surely she can''t be right about everything.

    Atraeya hopped over to the side wall of the house to lean on, and carefully plucked out the tiny clear shard. It''ll stop bleeding soon enough. She made sure to pick up as much glass as possible, and then avoided stepping in that area entirely. She''ll clean her shoes tomorrow.

    By the time she was done, she had uncovered bits of more trash. But also had, at one point, ended up in the unused farm field. There were still bits of weeds and grass, maybe some stray crops mixed in, and it definitely needed to be tilled. This was way more work than she bargained for, and the sun had already set. But now they could farm, and contribute to the town. Maybe even spend less on groceries. She didn''t know how much her grandfather could do with his poor leg.

    Her stomach growled, loudly, interrupting her thoughts. She had never worked so hard before, so it was no surprise that her stomach had put up a protest. It was time to go back inside, where she could rest and cool off. Maybe scrounge up a meal.

    She didn''t have to though. The moment Atraeya walked through the door, the smell of dinner hit her nose. Some sort of stew? A bowl was placed on the table, still steaming. grandfather must have timed it perfectly, so it could be ready by the time she was done. Her stomach rumbled again, her tongue salivating.

    Atraeya dug in as fast as she could. She wasn''t sure if it was merely the hunger that made it taste better than it was, or if grandfather really was that good of a cook. The tender meat soaked in broth was delicious enough but even the soft vegetables were good too. And she didn''t like vegetables much either. Most of the time they were too bitter or sour, but here it was pleasant. She was halfway through the meal when bread was placed in front of her. Only a loaf, so she broke it in half and dunked her half in the broth to soften it up first.

    "You did a lot of work out there. Good job," Grandfather said. She beamed a smile at him. She worked real hard out there, and even felt proud of it. Even Grandfather recognized her hard work! There was no way he would kick her out now.

    "Thanks! Tomorrow I plan on tilling the soil, then we can finally plant some seeds in it." Grandfather furrowed his brows but still nodded along. Did she say something wrong? She had never farmed before so she wasn''t completely sure how it worked. "Is that not how it''s done?"

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    Grandfather blinked a few times before he shook his head. "No, no. That''s fine."

    Atraeya finished her meal, licked her fingers, and got to work cleaning the dishes from the bucket of water in the kitchen. The water had gotten dirty rather quickly. If only she knew how to make a cleaning potion. So much could be done faster if she just knew that one potion. Maybe she could experiment later, but she would have to be careful about it. Do it some secluded area. She had noticed early on a forest to the east, passed the river. She could experiment there.

    Once the dishes were cleaned and dried, Atraeya finally saw that a designated sleeping area had been fixed up for her. A corner by the broken fireplace, with a thin mattress stuffed with a mix of straw and old rag, and a folded blanket on top. The clothes she had haphazardly thrown about were nowhere to be found. He must have put them away for her.

    She turned to her grandfather and smiled. "You made a bed for me? Thank you, grandfather."

    He humphed. "There''s no need to be so formal. Grandpa is fine."

    "Oh? In that case I like gramps better."

    He humphed. "That''s fine too."

    Atraeya had been exhausted from the day''s work, so she set out the mattress and blankets. Out of the corner of her eyes, gramps had pulled out a few tools and chunks of wood. She never saw what he intended to do with it, as she was knocked out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

    The next day came all too soon, with the birds chirping and sunlight seeping through the broken window shutters directly into her eyes. What would be her next project for sure. With a sigh, she wiped her eyes open. That''s when the smell his her. She sat up, and noticed a bowl on the table. No gramps in sight.

    She got dressed as quick as she could. The same as yesterday. The bowl was filled with more grain porridge. Atraeya didn''t hear gramps wake up or cook breakfast. Had she really been so deep asleep? Back home she had been a light sleeper. Work out in a farm sure was tiring.

    Today she really did need her boots, so once she downed her breakfast and cleaned her dishes, she grabbed her socks and went outside. Oh yeah. Her clothes were likely dry as well. Shoes first, though. They laid by the door, dry mud cracked at the curves. it would be simple to clean them out now.

    First she banged them together -- away from herself -- to get all the bigger chunks out. Then she grabbed one of the reeds by the river to scrub off the rest. Simple work. Only took a few minutes. While she was there she used another reed to wipe her dirty feet down. The bleeding had stopped but it was so dirty she had no clue where the cut was. And she didn''t want dirty socks again.

    It felt nice to be able to put on socks and shoes again. Now her feet were safe from anything poking out of the ground again.

    As Atraeya took down her laundry, footsteps shuffled behind her until they came to a full stop. "Ummm..." someone started. "Do you know the old man who lives here? Did something happened to him?"

    She turned around to see a rather timid-looking young woman. She held a basket of baked goods, and was worriedly looking at her hanging laundry and the yard she had cleaned up. "No, nothing''s happened to him. He went out today. I''m his granddaughter."

    Relief washed over the woman''s face. "Oh thank goodness. He''s rather old, you see, so I had feared the worst. My apologies." The woman held out her basket. "I''m Trina. My mother said to give this to him as thanks for fixing our fence. But I suppose you can give them to him for me."

    Atraeya gladly took the food. Something other than porridge, at last. The more food the better. Under the cloth covering contained muffins and more vegetables. "Thanks. I''ll be sure to let him know you stopped by."

    "Thank you. See you later." The woman waved goodbye and left.

    Atraeya placed the basket of goodies on the table and continued on with the laundry. Once that was done, she got to work on the farming area. It was a small plot. Only big enough for a personal harvest. It shouldn''t take her more than a day to be done with, thankfully. But she was a bit upset she had another full day of backbreaking endeavors ahead of her. Various people stopped by to introduce themselves. It seemed that gramps was pretty popular and handy. He seemed to be earning his keep by fixing things around the village since he couldn''t farm like everyone else did.

    The sun touched the horizon by the time she went inside. Gramps was also there, somehow. She had no idea when he had arrived. He seemed to be plating the food just as she entered. There was a bag next to the basket. "A lady named Trina came by this morning with that basket as thanks for fixing their fence." Gramps merely nodded, so she added, "What''s in the bag?"

    "Seeds. For planting. Got them from our Lord. He was ecstatic that I would be able to pay taxes this year, but was worried we were planting too late." Gramps placed her bowl of food in front of her. It was a valid concern. It was already mid-summer. That wouldn''t leave much room for crops to grow.

    Unless...

    No. She didn''t know any potion recipes. If there was one that made crop grow faster, it was out of reach. Not to mention she still needed to make her wand, first. They would have to pray and hope for the best.

    "Yeah. I''m sure the crops will grow good enough to please our Lord," she said. She had no idea what would please the lord but it sounded like something she should say.

    Gramps eyed her strangely as he sat down to eat. "Are you gonna use one of your potions to make ''em grow fast?"

    Atraeya nearly choked on her stew. "Um. I... Don''t have any potions. I never learned any recipes before I got kicked out..." She hoped he was asking for reassurance that she wouldn''t do anything weird to the crops, hoping that would make him happy. But all that did was make him slouch a bit.

    "Oh. Well then. Just work the farm as best as you can," he said.

    She couldn''t help but tilt her head in confusion. Was he expecting her to use the potions? Did he want her to make potions that would help out? But magic was what got her kicked out. Would he not do the same if she used it to help pay taxes, whatever that was?

    That was great to know, but she still didn''t know anything. She had only gotten halfway to making her wand before her mother found it and snapped it. Even if she had all the ingredients to make a potion right now, she couldn''t. Well then. Suppose the first thing she needs to do is find a nice stick to turn into a wand.

    Atraeya nodded in determination, and finished her dinner and the dishes. Once everything was cleaned up, she made her way to the door for the second time today. "I wouldn''t go out there at night if I were you," gramps said.

    She stopped, her hand already on the doorknob. "Why not?"

    "It''s dangerous out there at night. Lots of predators come out a night. Like wolves and coyotes."

    Atraeya shuddered. The last thing she needed was to be hunted by something like that. With a resigned sigh, she got ready for the night instead. The wand will have to wait. Gramps pulled out various wood parts and tools to work with, just like yesterday night. But just like yesterday, she was too tired to keep her eyes open for a second longer once she laid in bed.

 4. New Friends

    Atraeya fell into a routine by now. Wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, do the dishes, and head outside. She made sure to grab the bag of seeds. Inside it were all kinds of different seeds. All in different shapes, sizes, and colors. Gramps must have really gotten the bottom of the barrel if they couldn''t have even bothered to sort out the seeds.

    She groaned. This was going to be much more work than she thought. Still, she worked. Gramps was here this time, so anyone who came looking for him, which was a lot, she could direct inside.

    As such, it came as a surprise when a group of kids her age and younger timidly came up to her, and asked for her, specifically. "Are you Atraeya?" a brown haired, green-eyed, mousy looking boy asked. Most of them seemed to have basket in their hands.

    "Yeah. Who are you guys?"

    "I''m Poe. This is Menor, Firo, Sebena, and Caldrin. Let''s go play! You haven''t gone to the forest yet, right?" How those kids knew that escaped her. And she did need to go there to find some wood for her wand. But she also had seeds to plant.

    Atraeya glanced down at the bag of seeds. It was about halfway empty but now, but only a third of the field had been sown. She frowned. "Can''t we play tomorrow?"

    "No way! Tomorrow will rain, we can''t play them," Poe said.

    "If it''s gonna rain tomorrow, then I definitely need to plant these today," Atraeya frowned at her bag of seeds. She might be done early if she hurried up. It''s not like there were a lot of seeds.

    The kids all began to whisper to each other for a few moments. Then Poe turned to her again and placed his hands on his hips. "Alright. We''ll help make the holes. That should make your job easier, right?"

    If she didn''t have to poke holes in the dirt for the seeds, her job would basically be cut in half. "Yeah! That would be a huge help!"

    "OK everyone. Pick a row and let''s dig." These kids got to work for her, each picking their own rows and making neat holes that all lined up in quick succession. All she had to do was sow the seeds. Five rows of seeds were all done in the blink of an eye.

    Atraeya understood now why farming families tended to be rather large. "That''s all the seeds. Thanks everyone! I''ll put this away and be right back." She rushed inside to drop off the bag. Gramps was also there, carving some bits off a block of wood. He glanced up from his work, surprised she was inside and the sun was still up. "I''m done planting the seeds, gramps. Some kids from the village invited me to play with them in the forest."

    He nodded with understanding of the situation. "I see. Don''t stray too far from ''em. You don''t know those woods like those kids do. And I want you back by dark."

    Thoughts of wolves and coyotes coming out and chasing her through the woods sent a shiver down her spine. "Yes. Thanks gramps!" She ran out of the house before he could change his mind. After all  those days of work, it was time for some fun! Once the kids saw her running out, they also began to ran towards the forest.

    They took the dirt road north along the river , where a small, plain bridge allowed them to cross. The dirt road continued north, but there was a feint human-made path that went directly to the forest. Naturally, the tallest of the group was in the front, Poe. He was about her age, but he was already putting on muscle. He must have been helping out his parents. It''s no fair. Why do boys always grow up first?

    A few others from the group kept pace a few steps behind Poe, all still running. Even the youngest, a five year old, was able to keep up with everyone. Unfortunately for Atraeya, she grew up in the city, and had never had to run this far or this far for this long before. She kept trailing further and further behind until she stopped altogether, gasping for air, heart pouting in her ears. Her legs almost buckled the moment she stopped. Poe must have realized she had stopped, because the next thing she knew, his head popped in from under her face.

    Startled, she stumbled back and on to her butt. He was also panting, as were the rest of the kids, but they didn''t look nearly as tortured as she felt. They must have done this near every day. Judging by their confused stares, they must not have realized someone could be so weak.

    Suddenly she could feel the embarrassment of inadequacy. She should be able to this much at least, right? Everyone else can, so she should too. Poe''s hand shoved in her face interrupted her thoughts. "Sorry. We should have slowed down," he said after he helped pull her up.

    "No, it''s my fault. I should be faster." Atraeya expected them to agree with her but instead they looked uncomfortable. Ah, it must have been because she was so bad at running. "I promise I''ll get better!"

    Poe turned away. "Anyways, let''s continue on. We have a spot in the forest and spread out from there." She followed them in towards their spot. Their speed was now a more manageable brisk walk. How embarrassing. The spot wasn''t that deep in, and there was even a well trodden trail that led to a clearing, cooled under the shade of the canopy. A campfire sat in the center surrounded by logs  large enough to sit on. She bee-lined straight to a seat. Her legs still ached and her heart continued to race.

    Others sat around her on the logs and they began to form a plan. They were looking for things to eat, and had planned to split the area based on who had gone where previously. This was the perfect chance to find a worthy stick.

    "Since Atraeya is new and doesn''t know the area, she can stick with me," Poe said, proudly pointing a thumb at himself. The other kids nodded in agreement. Of course no one would want the girl who can''t even run properly. "Stick close to the clearing. If you can''t see it, you''ve gone too far. And give a shout if you need help," Poe gave out a set of warnings. The group seemed like they had heard them all before. With that, the group split up. Poe and her went to the east side of the camp. As they were talking, Atraeya review what she was told about wand making from her secret mentor back at the capitol.

    A wand is required for any potion making. To make one, imbuing the potion mixture with mana is a requirement for all known potions. But it''s extremely difficult and inefficient to do so without something to focus the mana through, like a wand. It acts as a funnel for mana into an object. How much mana a wand could take and channel efficiently is determined by the quality of the wand.

    A wood wand is made from young, pliable wood, and should preferably be fresh off the tree branch. The wood is the main component, and should be carved no longer than the witch''s forearm. The length of the wand can be straight or swirled, but swirled would make it more efficient, even if it''s more difficult to carve. Under no circumstances should the wand length zig-zag.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    As the handle is for comfort only, it need only be sanded down, but common accessories are leather strips for a firm grip. More fanciful wands may include quartz crystals on the hilt for more mana, or copper, silver, or gold lined handle edges for more efficiency. Atraeya was too poor for any of that, so she would keep to simply sanding it down.

    Once deep enough, Poe began to point at various things and teach her. "There are all kinds of plants and mushrooms in here that are edible. Take that bunch of leaves for instance. Those are actually wild leeks hidden in the dirt there." She couldn''t even figure out what he was pointing at until he started digging. A few moments later and out came some pathetic looking leeks. "Well... better than nothing."

    They smiled at each other and continued on. The forest was open enough for them to walk around freely, as long as they picked up their feet to avoid the raised roots. The only branches on the ground were thin and weak. More like twigs than proper branches. Atraeya had to keep her eyes above her to look for something more sturdy. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could spot Poe picking various greens, mushrooms, nuts, and berries.

    He spoke up first. "So, where ya from?"

    "The capitol. There''s lots more people there than this place. But the air here is cleaner I guess."

    "Whoa that''s so cool! The capitol is so far away. Like, at least a week! My mom said you made it here all by yourself. How''d you do it?"

    "Huh? Is your mom the one that gave me those extra clothes?"

    "Yeah that''s her. She wanted to sell them but gave them to you instead. You better show your thanks."

    Her heart dropped. Did she make some blunder already? She was only a few days in and was already upsetting some people. She''ll have to figure something out quickly. "I will, I will. Don''t worry." Atraeya doubled her efforts to find a good branch. She could give Mira a potion as thanks. Clothes were expensive, so she must have lost out on a pretty penny. But what potion would she like?

    That''s when Atraeya saw it. The perfect branch. Baby leaves still budding. Thin and spindly. Once she took out it barks and shaved it down a bit, it would be the perfect size for her hand. The only problem was that it currently sat at almost twice her height. "Hey! Help me with that branch!"

    Poe looked up to where she pointed. "Huh? But there''s no food on that branch." It seemed this guy was motivated only by his stomach. Atraeya sighed.

    "Not for food. I want it for something else. Lift me up already."

    Poe continued to look at her dubiously, but nonetheless crouched down so she could sit on his shoulders. She hefted up her skirt -- "No peeking!" -- and climbed on. With a grunt and a heave, up they went. They were a bit wobbly at first but after a tipsy scare, got used to it. Her eyes met the branch at the perfect height. Up close, it looked even younger than she initially thought but it would have to do.

    Taking a branch for a wand was a special process. Simply ripping it off the tree or cutting it off rendered it as a plain broken tree branch. Here, Atraeya needed to grip the ends of the branch as wide as her arms would allow, and pour mana into it. It would then "melt" off the tree and she would have the perfect branch to turn into a wand.

    "Hey are you almost done already? You''re kinda heavy," Poe grunted out. How rude.

    "Just a bit longer... And... There!" It was quicker than last time, but the branch came away, and the excess fell to the floor. Poe shouted in surprise and nearly knocked her down. "Hey, watch it!"

    The warning came too late. The pair came tumbling down. Atraeya landed on her back with a loud thump. Her stick flew out of her hands on impact. Pain shot throughout her body. She was sure she would be hurting tomorrow. She let out a pained groan as she got up. "Are you OK?" she asked.

    Poe sat up, also with a groan. Bits of leaves and dirt stuck to his brown hair. "Yeah. You?"

    She nodded, and got up to clean the sticks and dirt from her own wavy red hair. "Yeah. Wait. Where''s my stick?"

    "Don''t tell me you lost it after all that?!" Poe jumped up and began looking around for it.

    "I wouldn''t have lost it if you hadn''t dropped me." She also began to search. It certainly couldn''t have gotten too far. Now that the stick had her mana in it, she would need to continuously add more of her mana into it until she finished carving it. If it were to run out of mana before then, it would simply be a normal stick and she would have to find a whole need stick.

    It wasn''t long until she heard some excited mumbling and leaves rustling. When she turned, Poe was gathering some plants. He caught her staring. "What? They''re Stinging Nettles. Good for soup."

    Atraeya rolled her eyes and continued the search on her own. She wandered up and down the trail where she fell until she spotted her branch half hidden amongst some dead leaves far enough away. Thankfully it hadn''t snapped or anything. A quick glanced told her that the mana was still in tact and didn''t interrupt its manaprint formation. But to be sure, she pumped a bit more mana into it. "OK. I found the-- What''s that?"

    Just beyond the trees she spotted another clearing. Except, this one had a house. Run down and covered with vines and cobwebs, but still a house. Poe gasped when he saw it. "Th-th-that''s the witch''s hut! Don''t get any closer!" He clutched onto her arm, yanking her back and begging to her to get away.

    "Why not? Does a witch live in there?" It would be nice if there was. She could learn a few potions from her.

    "There used to be one. My mom said she used to make potions for the village. Then one random day, she cursed our Lord! Gave him boils all over his face and almost killed him! And to avoid being executed, she ran away." His voice dropped to a whisper, as if someone could hear them. "Some say she''s still on the run to this day."

    Her head tilted to one side. That didn''t seem right. "She sounds like she was just minding her own business. Maybe the Lord did something to deserve it?"

    Poe immediately clamped a hand over her mouth. "SHHH! What if someone hears you?"

    She glared at him and yanked his hand off. "There no one here, dummy! I''m going in."

    Poe refused to follow after her. He violently shook his head and shouted after her, "I''ll just forage around here."

    That suited her just fine. There was no telling what kind of things were inside that house. She might even be able to use some of it, but Poe might figure out she was a witch in the process. Judging by how they ran off the last one, she wanted to avoid that. She would have to learn by herself, now that she was sure there wasn''t a witch to teach her.

 5. The Witchs Cottage

    As she neared the house, she could see the cracks in the walls. The holes in the roof. The dirt and rubble creeping in through the open, broken window. The vines covering half the house. The witch who had lived here had been gone for a long time. Anything left would be a goopy, expired hazard.

    Atraeya decided to try the door first, but no luck. It was locked tight. The only other entrance was the aforementioned broken window. The one covered with spider webs and rubble. Hopefully there weren''t an vicious animals that made a nest inside. The rubble led right up to the windowsill, allowing her, and any animals, an easy climb inside. With a few careful steps, she was able to reach it and peak inside.

    Nothing but quiet and dust, from what she could tell. Deeming it safe enough, she climbed through and hopped down. A plume of dust kicked up beneath her feet. All around her, vials of mysterious contents tipped over, long since dried up. Bottles and bowls scattered about or broken, as if the witch had left in a hurry, as the story told.

    Any liquid still in a jar had a murky tinge to it, a film of mold layered on top. Any food that hadn''t been eaten by the local wildlife also had mold and was rotted to the core. It stunk of animal dung, and she hoped that whatever animals that found fit to do it''s business in here had already migrated elsewhere. They wouldn''t nest and eat where they pooped right?

    Atraeya doubted she would find any witchy things in here. She couldn''t even tell what were in these jars lined on the wall. They had some kind of writing on them. But she didn''t know how to read. Some were goopy, some still a liquid. Some a powder, which looked fine at first glance, and some had strange body parts that could dust at a mere touch.

    Floorboards creaked under her steps as she wandered around. A messy bed behind a curtain, dusty clothes thrown about. Doors to a closet thrown wide open, empty for all except some rags in the shape of a bird''s nest and a moth eaten coat. A rug askew on a wobbly floorboard.

    ...A wobbly floorboard?

    Ignoring the built up dust from the floor that dirtied her hands and dress, she turned over the rug. Indeed there was a floorboard that hadn''t been placed back probably. It only need a little bit of wiggling and it yanked free. Inside was much more spacious that she thought. The first thing she saw saw a squished down hat. Red, with a wide brim, and a pointed tip. It was a funny looking hat, so she put it on. Below the hat was a rather thick book.

    It heavy enough that it took a heave to free it from the floor. The book was intricately adorned around the edges with gold. A single sapphire lay as its centerpiece, embedded perfectly into the leather cover. Though, the leather had been wrinkled and cracked around the spine where a book usually bends. It held no title either, on neither the spine nor the front cover. Otherwise it looked like the perfect book. Inside, the pages had aged and yellowed. Just by the smell, Atraeya could tell it was quite the old book. Ages must have passed since its first creation.

    The first few pages were blank, but then there were more words on the paper than she had ever seen. From top to bottom, lines and lines of words filled the page to the very brink. Tiny notes squeezed in between the lines and around edges. Additions with fresher ink, or some places scratched out and revised. Some pages had drawings on them. One of which caught her attention. It was a strange flower, with wide petals, but then beside it the petals were gone, and all that was left was a strange bulb. There was also a word below these pictures, but since she couldn''t read, she would have to find someone who recognized the flower. Maybe Poe would. He seemed to know everything.

    Atraeya shut the book gently, for fear it would crumble into a mere wisp of dust. A book was much sturdier than that, but she was unfamiliar with how strong a book could be. With her stick in one hand, and the book in the other, she hoisted herself over the window, rushed down the mound of dirt, and ran back to where she left the other kid. "Poe! Poe!"

    She found him off to the side, foraging just like he said he would do. At her shouting, he stood up and rushed to her. "What? What is it? Was there a witch?"

    "Huh? No. But look at this!" Atraeya held up the book for him to see. His eyes widened. "I found it in the floor."

    "The witch''s book! Are you cursed now!? Put it back! Hurry!" He took a few cautious steps back.

    "Oh, calm down you scaredy-cat. Here, do you know what this flower is?" She opened the book to the page with the flower.

    Powe leaned into the page and squinted until a vague look of recognition passed his face. "It''s not in color, so I can''t be sure, but it looks like a poppy flower."

    "Poppy flowers? No wonder it looked familiar. I think I saw some around the cabin. Maybe the witch kept a lot of the regular ingredients she needed."

    Poe frowned and glanced back in the direction of the cabin. "Can we go now?" he asked.

    Atraeya wanted to stay out here for much longer now that she found something interesting. But doing so risked them finding out she was a witch. And she also finally had her stick. She couldn''t do much with it until she properly carved it. With a heavy sigh, she closed the book. "Fine. Let''s get out of here."

    She hugged the book tightly in one arm, and held her stick in the other. The forest was still unfamiliar, so he had to take big steps and hold onto various branches and tree trunks to traverse the area. Her speed was already painfully slow, but the added luggage she carried made her even slower.

    Poe waited ever-so-patiently a few feet ahead as she carefully navigated down a steep step. He had noticed how much difficulty she had with her hands full. "I can hold your stick if you want." But that was the last thing Atraeya wanted.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "If you want to help, then hold the book."

    "No way. I''m not touching that thing! What if it''s made of human skin and it curses me?"

    Atraeya stopped and stared at him. "Are you stupid? Magic doesn''t work like that. Duh."

    "Of course it does! Everyone knows that!" Poe pouted and crossed his arms. "I''m not stupid..." he mumbled.

    "You have to ingest magic. That''s why there''s potions."

    "How would you know!? Maybe your skin is ingesting that magic on that book!" Poe curled away from it when she stepped closer. She could feel that it had a manaprint. But that was completely different that what Poe was complaining about. If she tried to tell him about manaprints though, he would just use it against her and ask how she knew.

    "It''s just a book, Poe. Don''t be such a wuss." Atraeya continued on through the path, and after a moment, so did Poe.

    Eventually they came back to the clearing. The rest of the kids had already arrived and were resting on the logs, chatting. "Alright, time to share the loot," Poe said. The kids gathered in the center, and all at once began to trade and bargain some of the stuff they found for others they liked more.

    Atraeya could only awkwardly stand to the side as she didn''t have anything to trade. She had been so preoccupied with finding her stick and book, that she didn''t even realize that they did this because they had to, if they wanted to eat. She felt a bit guilty as she thought back to gramps. From what she could tell, he had been relying on a lot of handouts from the neighbors. Was he also hoping she would bring back something from her trip out here?

    Once they were done and everyone had an equal amount of foraged goods, they all left the forest together. Somehow they had spend the whole day in the forest. The sun was beginning to set, and crickets chirped loudly as the temperature cooled. It was a long walk back, with aching legs and arms full of loot. Everyone had smiles on their face though. Back in the village, folks were packing up for the day and the kids split off to their respective homes. Just where did the time go?

    Eventually it was just her and Poe. "We do this every couple of days. Rotate out the areas we cover or else we''d pick the whole forest clean in no time. We were out the day you showed up. Would have grabbed ya if we knew."

    "It''s alright. There''s plenty to do around the house so I doubt I would have been able to go with you guys anyways."

    "Yeah. Your grandfather is too old to be able to keep up with repairing the house. My mom was happy to find out he''s got someone to look after him now."

    "Your mom?"

    They stopped in front of his house just in time. The same house she had gotten her spare clothes from. Mira stood outside, a broom in one hand. She smiled once their eyes made contact. "Why, if it isn''t Atraeya. How nice to see you, dear. And I see you''ve met by no-good son who leaves his dishes everywhere."

    Poe winced at the sudden nagging. He must have heard it plenty of times judging by his face. She couldn''t help but giggle at it. "I gotta go..."

    "See you later," Atraeya waved goodbye and watched as Poe went inside. Mira nagged him some more about picking up after himself before leaving for the day. She gave a playful whack to his bottom with the bottom of broom when he passed by, then waved her goodbye.

    "Tell Elmer I said hi!" She agreed with a nod and walked off towards her own new home. Would her mother ever nag her again? She ignored the ache in her heart and tried her best to convince herself that it was better to not be nagged by whatever mothers deemed most important. She had better things to do. Like make a wand.

    Atraeya managed to walk through the door the moment bowls of soup were placed on the table. "How did you know when I would be back?"

    Gramps chuckled. "Those kids always come home at around the same time when they go out to the forest. Figured you''d be out all day when you went with them." He continued plating the table with a wistful, nostalgic look in his eyes.

    "Did... mom do that too? Go to the forest all day?" Atraeya took her seat and placed her stick on her lap. She dare not put it down for a second. Not after going through the trouble of filling it with so much mana.

    He smiled, as if remembering a distant memory. "Oh yes. All the time. She would bring back an entire basket of food." Gramps glanced at what she had brought - a stick and an old book - and gave her a consolatory smile. "It''ll take a while to learn, I''m sure. Seems like you found something more exciting?"

    The rest of the food was finally placed on the table and she could finally dig in, only speaking in between mouths full of food. "I found a good stick to make my wand, and also the witch''s recipe book in her cabin. At least, I think it''s a recipe book. Can you read, gramps?"

    "No, not at all. Don''t go showing that around to folks, you hear? You''ll get strung up. Does anyone else know you got a witch''s grimoire?"

    Atraeya slunk in her seat. Her enthusiasm for her food suddenly waned. "Poe, Mira''s son. And maybe her too. She was outside when me and Poe were talking." She glanced up to see gramps close his eyes, but eventually nodded.

    "Mira knows how to keep a secret," he said.

    They ate the rest of their dinner in awkward silence. The stick on her lap was bursting with mana by now. It should be safe to leave alone, but she still didn''t want to let it go. But she also needed to do the dishes.

    As she stood in front of the sink, trying different ways to keep hold of her stick and do the dishes, gramps came by and placed his woodworking tools on the table. "Here," he said. "I''ll do the dishes today. You get that wand working." Gramps must have been just as eager as she was if he was offering to do the dishes.

 6. A Brand New Wand For a Brand New Witch

    First, Atraeya began by snapping both ends of the stick to the length of her forearm, making sure to supply mana to each end so it wouldn''t disrupt the process. After that, she pulled off the bark. Her fingers were too small and clumsy for this part, so it took a while, even with the help of a knife. Gramps kept glancing at her while doing his own projects, but both knew she needed to do this herself or it wouldn''t be her wand.

    Only once the stick was bare and the proper length could she begin to carve. She held one end of it, and made a notch a little past where her hand was. This would become the handle, made a little longer so she could grow into it. She took the handle side, and cut and sanded down the edge to a round stump so it wouldn''t poke her or give her splinters.

    Then, she worked her way up to handle, carving in diagonal lines that ran the length of the handle, then more diagonal lines running in the opposite direction. This pattern would make it easier to grip, so her wand wouldn''t slip off when in use. There was no way she could get strips of leather.

    Next, she carved out and sanded down a ring where the handle met the wand. This was to further stop her hand from slipping. By now gramps had long gone to bed, but she couldn''t stop now.

    Now the fun part. She had deeply thought what she wanted the length of her wand to look like. She could swirl it, or make it extra pointing, or carve grooves along the side. It didn''t have to be the best wand, at least. It was her first wand after all. She would grow out of it sooner or later, and would know what kind of wand would be better.

    She decided to start with a swirl. Except, not only did it take forever to figure out and carve, but her hands cramped and were just too tired to work anymore. One tiny mistake ended with her throwing the tools and her wand to the table in frustration. All around her on the table and the floor, and even her dress, were covered in wood shavings and dust. Hours must have passed since dinner had finished. She didn''t want to, but it was time to sleep. She could finish it in the morning.

    Atraeya cleaned up the mess she made, stripped down to her shift, and curled herself into her sleeping corner. Her hand still tightly clutching her half-carved wand. It was not yet complete, so even now there was a small risk of it failing should it not have access to the mana necessary.

    A cloud CRACK of lightning, followed by a deep and long rumble startled her Atraeya awake. She jolted up from her sheets to hear heavy rain pelt against the roof. Streaks of rain snuck past the half broken window and on to a rag that was supposed to catch it. Then the smell of breakfast wafted into her nose. Just how long did she sleep?

    A quick glance at her hand revealed her wand, thankfully, still in tact. She could feel it practically bursting with mana. It could safely be set down now, but would slowly leak until she finished carving it. Best to hurry with her food. She didn''t want to know what would happen to her hard earned, half-finished wand if she left it like this any longer.

    Breakfast was more porridge, and some stale bread. She barely tasted it as she wolfed it down. Doing dishes was possible now, at least. She could stick the handle in her mouth and hold it with her teeth, so her hands could be free. Then once that was done, she raced to put on her clothes from yesterday. At last she could finish her wand.

    Looking at it with fresh eyes, Atraeya spotted how ugly it looked. The handle grooves were wobbly, the stopper was crooked, the two swirls she had managed was already veering off course, and the entire rest of the length wasn''t straight at all. This was the worst wand she had ever seen. Granted, she had only seen one other wand by mistake. But anyone could see this one had shoddy workmanship.

    It would just be better for her to stick to a simple wand, then. With a huff and a sigh, she tried her best to fix the swirls at the base, and even out the rest of the wand length. For simplicity''s sake, she decided on a blunt end. She feared that if she went with a point end, she would somehow mess that up as well. It took a while, but by the time she finished it had mostly been fixed. Some parts were still uneven. And the handle was still a mess.

    But it was her wand. She made it. All by herself.

    Atraeya triumphantly raised her wand. Her face beamed a proud smile. The mana inside the wand had taken to it, and stabilized. For once, something had gone right. Now she can do so many more things. Like make charms and potions, as a proper witch should, and determine something''s manaprint, which should help make more effective potions. All she had to do was use her wand to envelope the object with her mana, and it somehow was supposed to come to her what properties of mana the object had.

    She rushed to the cupboard, ignoring gramps'' curious look, and pulled out the first food she could grab. A tomato. She gripped it in one hand, and carefully pointed her want at it from the other hand. Nothing happened for a while. Did she need to do something? She focused on the mana in the wand, and bade it to envelope the tomato. "Come on! Do something already!"

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    Then she focused on the tomato, instead of her mana, and felt the difference. It had a greater Luminosity, a low Soul, a high Body, and very little Mind. She couldn''t describe how she knew. It was like it popped up in her brain somehow. It was weird. But overall, the manaprint of this specific tomato mean that it was great as food ingredient, not so much as a potion ingredient.

    Another option that was now available to her was imbuing objects with a will. Well, technically anyone could do it, but it took forever to do, and tons of time and mana to replenish when it ran out. So most didn''t bother. But a witch imbuing a will would last for a lifetime. Or, should, if she does it right. In her excitement at her new found freedom, she decided to do so right now.

    Atraeya dug around in the closet until she found the broom. A regular ol'' broom, dusty on the bottom, and the handle a bit worn in for years of use. She went and placed it on the table. Gramps glanced up from his own work, but said nothing. Like the tomato, she grabbed the broom with one hand, and pointed her wand towards it with the other hand. It had no magic in it, not even a trace of a previous mana, which was perfect. If it did she would have needed to throw out the old magic, which would have extended the time needed to complete this task considerably. Especially so, since she had no idea how to toss out old mana.

    She knew this process was going to take multiple hours, so she made herself comfortable in the chair. When she was ready, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She began to will the broom to sweep. Sweep, sweep, sweep. She kept thinking such thoughts all while feeling her mana flow through her wand and into the broom.

    Minutes passed into hours. The storm waned off and on all day. Gramps rustled around the house, doing various chores and commissions. Nobody came knocking, or disturbed her, not even gramps. At some point it looked like he wanted to use the broom but gave up.

    Atraeya focused her all into getting this broom to sweep all on its own. Her wand arm had ached for a while now, and she could feel herself nearly empty of mana, but she couldn''t stop now. A general rule of thumb for all magic was that once something had been started, it cannot be stopped in the middle or the witch would have to start all over again. She could feel like she was on the edge of a breakthrough. Just what did she need to do to finish this off?

    The broom was filled with mana, that much she was certain of. She could tell it had the command of "sweep," but how would she know it could execute the action? Would it continuously sweep until it ran out of mana, even if there was no dirt? That would be a waste.

    As she was thinking of a condition that would allow the broom to only sweep when there was dirt, it glowed ever so slightly momentarily. After that, it wouldn''t accept any more mana. Had she done it? Atraeya carefully set the broom on the ground, as if she were about to sweep, and slowly let go. After a moment, the broom began to move on its own! It had actually begun to sweep!

    "Yes! I did it!" Atraeya shouted. She turned to gramps, whose eyes were glued to the broom. After a moment, he gave a nod, clearly impressed. One less task for the both of them. If she could continue delegating the menial household chores to mana, she could prove to him and other folks around the town that she was not a danger to them. It''s going to be great.

    Her stomach rumbled a bit. Even though she didn''t move all that much today, she was still tired and hungry. It must have been from expending so much money. Gramps must have heard her stomach. His attention turned towards the windows. It was still heavily raining, but it was much darker than before. Time really flew by. "It just about time for dinner," he said, and began to put away his tools. "Atraeya would you like to help?"

    She nodded. "I''d love to." Now that she had her wand, she was going to look for all the was she could improve her daily life. Could she imbue a will into a spoon to constantly stir a pot? She could also make a cleaning potion so they can cook with cleaner water, and making doing the dishes easier. She glanced around the house as she was preparing the food. The fireplace would have to be manually fixed, but after that she could make a protection charm for it so it wouldn''t be destroyed so easily.

    "Watch your fingers," Gramps interrupted.

    She had grabbed a knife and had been mindlessly cutting. Her fingers were dangerously close to such a sharp object and had been stopped just in time. Atraeya sighed in relief. She didn''t have any potions of healing either, so that would have been a disaster if she had actually cut her fingers. She''ll have to stock up on those as soon as she could. "Right. I''ll focus now."

    They continued to make dinner in silence. And eat in silence. And clean up in silence. Once everything was done, she pulled out the book she had taken from the witch''s hut. Atraeya opened it to once again be overwhelmed at the sight of so many words jam packed in the pages. If all of these pages were as filled as the ones in the beginning were, then it must have plenty of recipes.

    She was aimlessly paging through the thick book when she happened upon the same image from yesterday. Two flowers, one with the petals and the same one without. Only now she knew it was a poppy flower. It was labeled in the bottom. Two words. Was that how one spelled poppy flower? Probably. She made a mental note about it and continued onwards.

    A few pages later, and the next image she saw was a well, with a potion being poured in it. This could have been the word for well, since it was only one word. Atraeya nodded to herself as if it all made sense. This could be how she can learn to read. If she was correct, of course.

    She quickly went through the rest of the book to see what other pictures were labeled. A baby. Worms. A deer. Fish scales. In fact, there were quite the variety of animals in the book. So many that she had begun to wonder whether she had grabbed a bestiary instead of a grimoire.

    At the end of the book she came to a few blank pages. If she had some ink and a quill, she wanted to write down all the letters that she knew of. But since no one knew how to read, no one knew how to write, so no one here would have owned one. Except the lord. The witch too, but their ink might have dried up by now, like the rest of the items on their shelves.

    Atraeya sighed, and decided to simply commit the whole words to memory. Maybe one day she''ll be able to read the entire book.

 7. Sick From Using Mana

    Words were boring. Atraeya didn''t know what they said. She couldn''t remember which letter meant what sound. And what very little pictures that littered the pages weren''t exactly clear about what the label was labeling. She had nodded off before she knew it. Perhaps she was tired from using all that magic. Or perhaps the book was too boring. That seemed more likely. She had just about fallen asleep in her chair when gramps startled her awake by clearing his throat.

    "It''s getting late. You''re old enough to know when it''s time to go to bed aren''t you?" She couldn''t argue with him there. She was old enough to travel by herself. She was old enough put herself to bed when her body told her to.

    With a slow, sleepy nod, she slid off her chair that she had been sitting on for the better part of the day. Her butt tingled and her legs ached, but she managed to trudge herself to the corner of the room and fall fast asleep.

    Atraeya tossed and turned all night, and woke up late. Really, really late. Her whole body now ached and shivered. But her face and hands burned. When she sat up, she felt like she could heave. The consequences of using too much magic.

    She had been warned against doing so, but in her excitement she failed to regulate her mana, using too much of it on the broom, and now her witch body didn''t have enough to circulate. With no potions to drink, and no way to make any, Atraeya was stuck in bed for half the day until she could feel strong enough to not want to vomit whenever she sat up.

    Gramps had peered in on her when he came out of his room. "You''ve been in bed all morning. Sick?"

    "I''ve got no more mana. My body can''t move. I''m sorry I couldn''t do more¡­"

    "Don''t worry about that nonsense, and just focus on getting better." In the end, he made more porridge and bread, and sat them beside her on the floor, before leaving for the day. At first it made her nauseous just knowing it was there and she wanted nothing more than to toss it across the room. She bore through it though, and the feeling subsided a few hour later. A few nibbles was all it took for her to gain her appetite again, like her stomach suddenly remembered it hadn''t eaten all day. By then it was cold and goopy but she didn''t care.

    It was enough to get her out of bed, at least. Atraeya still didn''t feel fully recuperated. No magic today it seemed. She didn''t want to get sick again, and she doubted she had any to spare anyways. And no way was she going to read that boring book again. No matter how useful it might be. Barely any pictures and way too many letters.

    Instead, she made sure her wand was hidden and out of sight, since she didn''t need it today. Then also made sure the broom had finished its work. She planned to go out today, and didn''t want it going off if gramps had brought someone inside. That sort of thing would raise all sorts of suspicions.

    Today''s plan was to go ingredient hunting. Even though she can''t use magic, she didn''t need it to gather parts. Especially the ones already gathered from the witch''s cottage. Nothing was going to stop her from collecting for future potions. She would need to get plenty as well, since she had no recipes of her own and would need to experiment. Gramps was expecting her help, after all. She couldn''t just expect him to keep her around without pulling her weight. And with Poe out of the picture this time, she could take all the time she needed to look over that shelf.

    With a nod to herself, she went digging around the house for a spare basket. Easy enough, then she was on her way.

    Outside was a bit muggy and muddy from the previous day''s rain. If she wasn''t careful, she would dirty her clothes again, and would need to wash them so soon after already cleaning them. And she was not keen on doing all that again without a cleaning potion. Atraeya carefully made her way through the sloppy, muddy fields and into the shaded forest full of puddles.

    Nobody was here, which put her mind at ease. She didn''t need to hide anything from anybody today. Through even more puddles and must she finally found the witch''s cottage. It was just the way she left it. Except now there were animal prints in the mud mound leading into the broken window entrance.

    She gulped.

    This was either a peaceful animal, or a horribly wrong idea.

    Carefully, inch by inch, she closed the gap between herself and the cottage. Her hand covered her mouth, and her eyes frantically darted between the ground and the cottage in an effort to not miss something obvious enough to trip over and alert the animal on the inside. This was a most definite bad idea, but her need for potion ingredients and her insatiable curiosity bid her to continue onwards.

    She took one step into the mud with a loud squelch and almost let out a squeal in disgust. Thankfully, her hands were faster and she managed to clamp her mouth shut before her shouting could be heard. That was close, but the hem of her dress was much closer to being dirtied at the moment. She promised herself she would be quite this time for sure, and hoisted the hem up high enough and carefully climbed up, one squelch at a time.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Of course, Atraeya had failed to realize that just because she wasn''t making noises out of her mouth, didn''t mean that she wasn''t make any noise whatsoever. Once she peeked her little head over and through the window, her eyes met with about a dozen deer, all staring right at her with their black, beady eyes glinting in the dark.

    That was when she screamed, like any girl her age would have, ad they also encountered such large animals they had never seen so close before. The deer in turn also cried out in fear, and began to scamper about in a panic. One deer rushed right toward her, who stood in the way of the only exit they knew, followed by the rest of the herd.

    Atraeya screamed out again, and in her attempt to quickly scurry out of the way to not be trampled, she slipped and slid down the side of the mud and onto the porch, dirtying her outfit and landing flat on her face.

    Deer began to pour out from the window, with a stampede the kicked up mud, flatting parts where their hooves landed, and the rest flying off. It landed on her back and her hair. An overwhelming blow to her self-confidence and her chores. She tried to curl up and protect what body parts she could. By the time the rush had passed, everything was covered in mud. From the cottage walls, to the porch floor, to her. From head to toe. Atraeya looked upon her dress in devastation, and as the adrenaline wore off, burst into tears.

    It really was a terrible, bad idea. She should have stopped and gone back the moment she saw those tracks. She could have waited a few days for them to leave but nooo.

    After she had calmed down enough to wipe her tears away and sniffle a bit, she climbed back into the cottage. No longer caring about getting dirty. They were all gone now, so it should be safe. Hopefully. She peeked in again only to be met with blessed silence.

    With another sniffle she climbed in, careful not to step in deer dung, and headed straight to the wall with all the jars on the shelves. Her first instinct was the powdered ones. Those seemed most likely to still function as it should. She grabbed a jar at random ¡ª a soft powder, bright in yellow like the sun, or dandelions. She thought it would smell rather pleasant and promptly shoved her nose in the jar, only to be assaulted with a smell not unlike a strong fart.

    Atraeya loudly coughed and promptly slammed the lid shut. That one had surely gone bad.

    Not wanting a repeat offense, she chose her next jar carefully. This one was full of seeds. Almond shaped, black and white stripes, and when she cracked on open it revealed a small beige kernel. She thought about tossing it in her mouth, but a quick glance at the yellow powder, now situated on the far end of the shelf, assured her that no, she absolutely should not eat anything in here. But this one was going in the basket.

    She spotted a jar filled with dulled fish scaled, more jar filled with mummified animal parts, and an entire shelf lined with various types of bones. All labeled, of course they were labeled. She only pouted for a moment before moving on. There were even some jars filled with what once might have been familiar to her, if her nose was right. Vinegar, ammonia, olive oil, charcoal. Atraeya had no idea the witch had used such a variety of ingredients. She began giddy at the thought of experimenting with them all as she pocked them. So many possibilities!

    With a nod to herself, Atraeya made her way back home just as the sun had began to set. And desperately thinking up an excuse as to why her clothes were covered in mud. Perhaps gramps wouldn''t be home yet, and she could just change into something else? She could hide the clothes under her bed until she made a cleaning potion.

    Unfortunately for Atraeya, it was just her luck she walked in right as dinner had begun to be served. To her surprise, it wasn''t more porridge and bread, but instead a medley of roasted vegetables and what looked like a whole duck. Meat! Her mouth drooled at the very sight.

    "Hold it! Don''t you dare think of taking another step inside this house! How could you come in here caked in all that mud, huh? Even your face is filthy. Tch. Don''t you have the decency to at least dip yourself in the river? Why, when Mel was younger, she always ¡ª"

    Atraeya placed her basket of goodies on the ground and immediately dipped out of the house. This was a rant, forged and perfected with the wisdom of time. Her own mother''s rants were always long-winded and naggy. No way did she want to see where her mother got it from. But at least the river seemed like a good idea. She didn''t know why she couldn''t think of it before.

    Because it was cold.

    The sun had just passed the horizon, and the stars had begun to twinkle into being. Even though it was much warmer earlier today, enough time had passed that the water had cooled. This wasn''t the way she wanted to get clean. But she needed to be quick. She took off the shoes. Those can be cleaned tomorrow.

    On then did she ¡ª reluctantly ¡ª wade in fully clothed. She did her best to remove the chunkiest bits of mud on her clothes, and rub the dried on bits behind her sleeves and socks, and even behind her neck. By the time she had rubbed her face with some water did she start shivering. It was only when she needed to clean her hair that she hesitated. Dunking herself was the quickest way. But it was so cold!

    But she didn''t want to be here a moment longer. There was meat on the table tonight. She took a deep breath, plugged her nose, and went under. Most of it came off the moment it came into contact with water, but she ruffled it up a bit just in case. Now she was finally clean enough to go back inside, dripping wet. She made sure to leave her shoes outside the door.

    "It may look like a little bit of mud to you, but now you''ve got the broom going and Mel¡ª oh." Gramps stopped ranting long enough to notice her now dirt-free self. He gave her a sharp nod of approval. "Better. Don''t do that again."

    "Yes, gramps." Atraeya changed into her loaned pajamas in the other room before sitting down to eat. It was a feast for her taste buds. She didn''t normally like vegetables either, but these ones were so delicious. She ate her plate clean in mere minutes.

 8. The First Experiment

    True to her word, Atraeya had begun to experiment first thing the next morning. Well, after breakfast of course. Gramps had left a bit ago, so she was free to scrounge up whatever she could. Making a potion was rather simple. Almost every potion started with boiling a pot of water, so that was what Atraeya did first. She didn''t know how much water to pour in, so she filled the entire pit. Next, the ingredients.

    Potion types still had guidelines, but as long as they could be linked back to the potion she was attempting to create is should work, theoretically. And she wanted to make a cleaning potion. Her outfit from yesterday hadn''t been completely cleaned with her quick dip in the river. So for her first step, she went looking around for ingredients that could help clean. Her first instinct was to grab a bar of soap. That definitely cleans things. There were 3 bars, so she was sure it was OK to take just one. But which one? "Well, cleaning is hard work, so maybe a bar with a high Body manaprint?" she thought to herself.

    All three bars were rather weak after she investigated with a sliver of her mana. But it would have to do. Next she decided on charcoal. Just a few pieces. Why? Atraeya had heard one day from passing that fire can clean some things. But she couldn''t exactly put fire into a pot of water, so she chose the fire starter. Her final choice was alcohol. Any alcohol, really. She didn''t know how it cleaned, but it did. It''s just, she had never seen gramps even drink the stuff so would he have any?

    Atraeya started her search in the kitchen, and when that failed, searched for tiny hidey-holes around the fireplace. She found dust, sticks, and various shredded cloths but no alcohol. Then it came to her. Gramps would hide it in his room. She had never been in there, and it scared her to do so. But for the potions, she must. Atraeya braved her heart and peeked inside. Empty. Of course it was empty, gramps left earlier this morning. But it was also neat. A made bed, with warm sheets. A rug beside it. Candles on the nightstand. A desk, filled with little wooden sculptures around the edges. In the corner behind a divider was the washtub. That is where Atraeya spotted it. A wine bottle. A quick shake revealed it was already 2/3rds gone. She assured herself that gramps won''t miss it.

    Back in the kitchen, the water was well into boiling by now. She cut the soap into small squares, and set it aside. Then she crushed the charcoal into powder with a mortar and pestle, then set it aside. First the alcohol. She ignored her curiosity for what it tasted like and tossed the whole thing into the pot. Then she poured the powdered charcoal. Then lastly the soap. The water began to bubble and Atraeya knew in that moment things went wrong. She desperately grabbed her wand and began to pour mana into the mixture in her novice attempt to fix it. The bubbles continued to rise and rise, and soon it overflowed from the pot and poured out onto the fire. "No, no!" She tried putting more mana into it, stirring vigorously.

    The door opened just then, and in walked gramps. She gasped, caught dead in her tracks. Seconds stretched on. Finally he slammed the door closed. "Just what do you think you''re doing?" He hobbled closer, attempting to clear his throat.

    "I-I don''t know! I thought I could make a cleaning potion but-" gramps coughed, "but it''s not working somehow!" The fire sizzled as more of the mixture slipped out. Gramps continue to cough, a little harder now, as he neared the pot. Atraeya was fully panicked by now. Hot water splashed back onto her wand had. She yelped, and dropped the wand into pot.

    Everything went into overdrive then, and things happened too fast for Atraeya to notice. The pot exploded to a burst of suds and bubbles at the same time that gramps collapsed on the floor, coughing violently and gasping for air.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Atraeya was stunned into silence. She had no idea she could mess up so badly. This was why people feared witches. This is why they said people like her were a danger. She could feel mana all around her, surrounding her and cloaking her like a warm blanket. But to any normal person, someone like gramps, it must have been an anvil on his chest. He laid there on the floor, gasping, his arm outstretched to his cane that skid across the floor to her foot. Would she lose him too? Would she have to move again? Or be an orphan? Or be sold as a slave? Would she be forced to live in the woods like the witch from before?

    She had to save him. She needed to move.

    Move.

    Move.

    Move.

    MOVE.

    Atraeya''s legs finally took a step, then another, and she broke out of her trance. As best as she could, she helped him stand up,she could feel him shaking, and directed him towards the front door. She burst the door open, and just like that, the feeling of a warm blanket was gone, replaced by a cool wind on her cheeks. Gramps gasped. Color returned to his face almost immediately.

    "Let me get you a chair," she said, face scrunched up, voice full of worry. She made sure gramps could stand by himself before racing back to fetch the dining chair. The pressure was no longer so noticeable as before, but it still wasn''t safe for gramps to come back in until she was sure all of the mana was gone. Gramps took a seat outside the door, still silent, still focused on breathing.

    Fear crept into Atraeya''s mind like a creek flowing downhill after a heavy rain. Silence was always bad. She was going to be punished. Yelled at. Maybe even beaten. Tears silently trailed down her cheeks in anticipation of the scolding she was about to get. "I''m sorry," she whispered. "I''m sorry. I''m sorry. I didn''t mean to. I-I-I just wanted a potion to clean stuff. But I¡­ I''m sorry."

    Gramps finally turned his cold eyes to her. She flinched under his gaze. "You must never mix another potion in this house again."

    Atraeya sniffled and quickly nodded. She understood the rule immediately. Even if he didn''t forbid it, she didn''t want to make potions in place where gramps could so easily collapse from one wrong mistake. She should have known from how far away the witch''s cottage was to ever attempt such a thing. She would also have to bring back all the ingredients she took and put them back. Bring her own potion making supplies over there. But she was too scared to make anything right now. "I won''t, I won''t! I''ll¡­ I''ll clean up."

    Atraeya went back inside and wiped her tears. She could no longer feel the mana inside. But the house was a mess. Soap everywhere. Gritty charcoal bits splattered on the floor. And the whole house reeked of alcohol. Not to mention her clothes were also dirty. That was two sets of clothes she now needed to manually clean.

    Where did it go wrong? Did she put the wrong ingredients in, or was it the wrong order? Did she put the mana in too late? Was it when her wand slipped into the pot? Atraeya cautiously peeked inside it. The bubbles now mostly faded away to reveal a murky mixture, the charcoal and alcohol swirled but unmixed. At the very bottom lay her wand, the tip burnt. Was it even still usable?

    She fished it out of the pot, and gently pushed forth a sliver of mana. Barely any made it out compared to before. She focused and tried to force more mana through, but it was a struggle. It might need to be replaced, but she didn''t want anything to do with mana and potions right now. Instead she focused her efforts on clean up the place. The poor broom had already gotten started and was failing miserably with everything soaked in water. By the time she finished, the ambient mana had fully dispersed and her clothes were thoroughly dirtied.

    She looked up to see gramps leaning on the front door. That''s when she realized she never gave him his cane back. "Oh! Here." She had put it on the table, out of the way while she cleaned. Once he gained his cane back, gramps was able to drag the chair back to it''s proper location. "All that''s left is to toss out the mixture."

    "Don''t toss it out here. Go to the forest. It stinks."

    "Really?" She took a whiff. It didn''t smell like anything. Had she gone nose blind? But not wanting to risk anything further, she obeyed the order. She poured whatever was left into a spare bucket, and hauled it through the fields and into the forest. She was going to dump it anywhere, but if it stunk, perhaps she could pour it out by the witch''s cottage. To ward off any other animals who thought about turning her future potion hut into their home.

 9. The Result of Ignorance

    Atraeya awoke to the most rancid, putrid stretch she had ever had the displeasure of smelling. It wasn''t even dawn, yet the odor was so strong as to wake her from her sleep. Something of a mix between a dead animal and food that had been moldy for a few weeks. Except worse. She gagged and covered her nose as she sat up. It was a truly awful stench that permeated the entire house. Just where was it coming from?

    Just then, gramps came out in his pajamas, a candle in one hand and clutching his nose in the other. "What''s going on out here?"

    Atraeya shrugged. "It stinks so bad it woke me up. I''ve never smelled something this awful before." Not even the city smelled that bad. Together they searched around the house for a few minutes, but nothing was out of place, nor had anything snuck in. "Maybe it''s coming from outside?"

    "I sure hope nothing died on our doorstep¡­" Gramps mumbled, and made his way to the front. He cracked the door open, wary to find anything strange. Nothing seemed wrong, so he opened the door a little more, and stuck his candle out. Atraeya peeked from behind. At first glance she didn''t see anything, but somehow, someway, the stench was even worse outside. She nearly gagged, and covered her entire lower face with her hands. It didn''t help, of course.

    They continued their search, carefully investigating the edges around the house for anything that tried to sneak in or had died. They couldn''t find anything. "I feel it," gramps said. Atraeya stopped and looked at him, her face puzzled. "That same feeling as before. I thought I told you to toss out that potion in the woods."

    He felt the mana? "But I did! I went all the way to the cottage out there before I dumped it."

    Just then, shouts came from the distance, and footsteps raced up to them. A boy, a little older than Poe, came over. "Trina thinks it''s a witch. Town meeting in the square," the boy said before rushing off to the next neighbor.

    Cold sweat trickled down Atraeya''s neck. Things had gone from bad to worse. Gramps will surely kick her out now. No one liked a trouble maker like her, so he would definitely point fingers at her to save his own skin. She dared to spare a glance at him. He looked¡­ defeated. Her own body slumped over as the realization hit her. Where would they take her? Would they even keep her alive? "Wh-who''s Trina?" She dared to ask.

    "Trina''s the chief. She handles most of our problems, and the ones she can''t she asks our Lady. She''s probably already called for her. Come now, let''s hurry up and change." Gramps headed back inside. Should she pack? She wanted to grab her wand and book, but that could only implicate her even more. It would need to be left behind. And she didn''t even have a bag to pack things in. Would she need to run off with nothing again? Gramps shouted for her to hurry up, snapping her out of her thoughts.

    The two of them quickly got dressed, and headed toward the town square. Or, what could be called as such for a small village in the middle of nowhere. Really it was just a big space of compacted dirt in front of someone''s house. Possibly the person in charge of the place. Streaks of light had crested the horizon by the time most folks showed up. Some even covered their nose with handkerchiefs. Atraeya had grown used to the smell, but judging by people''s faces, most hadn''t.

    "It''s a witch! I feel the mana in the air!" someone said.

    "One of those children must''ve been playing around and cursed our air," someone else said.

    "Calm down, Trina. How do we know the old witch hasn''t come back?"

    "It''s been a dozen years Ricky, she must be in a different country by now. But there are a number of children of awakening age here in this village," a fourth person said.

    "Don''t you be putting my children up to blame! My Poe wouldn''t dare make any of that witch brew nonsense." Atraeya recognized Mira''s voice. She was a couple of feet away, arms crossed and glaring at the one who had spoken before. Poe stood beside her, clutching to her skirt and eyes wide, taking in all the people talking over each other.

    Atraeya couldn''t do so though. Any minute they might find out it was her. Gramps might decide to put the blame all on her and end this whole scene. She didn''t dare look at him though.

    "I''ve never seen you before¡­" a voice said. Suddenly eyes all around turned toward her, downcast. Staring. Judging. They seemed to close in around her, accusations just at the tip of their tongue.

    "She''s my granddaughter. Her mother sent her over to help me out."

    If they heard gramps over all the ruckus they didn''t say anything. Their eyes squinted, as if they tried to feel for any mana around her. She was glad she left her wand at home.

    "What''s all this?" A voice cut through the crowd like a knife. Everyone turned to see a woman on a horse approach, wavy blond hair down to her back, clad in a loose orange dress. Her face was half covered by her draping sleeves, evidently surprised by the smell of the area. A second woman sat on horseback to the side and slightly behind. She took out a book and quill, ready to write at a moment''s notice. As well as two guards that flanked the rear, also on horseback, clad in chainmail armor and a spear in hand. The crowd kneeled for her, as Trina made her way to their Lady.

    "My Lady, it''s a witch! One has come to our village and poisoned our air. We beg you to save us." Trina kneeled.

    "Has the old bat come back? When did this foul air begin?"

    "We have not seen hide nor hair of the witch we have previously run out. But there are a number of children around awakening age. And this stench had arrived at some point in the night, My Lady."

    "Round them up," the Lady said. She hopped off her horse, prompting the others to follow her lead. Quickly the children were brought to her, and forced to kneel. Poe was one of them. Atraeya had tried to sneak back, but one person noticed and grabbed her arm, yanking her forward.

    Poe looked at her with wide, scared eyes. He must be trying to figure it out as well. A new girl arrives, they find a book, and now suddenly the neighbors start throwing witch accusations. If gramps didn''t rat her out, surely Poe and Mira would. Atraeya focused her attention back to the Lady that approached them.

    She looked beautiful, though her face was still scrunched up at the smell. All the kids were placed in a line in front of her. She stopped in front of each one, and studied them. The guards behind her glared much more fiercely. Atraeya was trembling by the time the Lady stopped in front. Her eyes squinted, and she stood by her just a little longer than she did the others. Time ground to a halt. Silence so loud she could hear the grass across the bridge rustling in the wind. Atraeya shut her eyes for the moment her world would come crashing down.

    But it never did. The Lady continued down the line and observed a few other kids, one of which was on the younger side and lost control of their bladder. "There are no witches among these children." The crowd became uneasy at that statement. She held up her hand to silence them. "This foul air does not seem to be harmful except on one''s sense of smell. Do not bother me again with such trivialities, especially at the break of dawn." The Lady of Verdantvale spared one last glance toward Atraeya before mounting her horse and heading back home.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    Once she was sufficient distance away, the folks around Atraeya began to grumble their discontent with their Lady.

    "I can''t believe she would just ignore us like that!"

    "I wish the Lord were here. He would have found the witch and gotten rid of it."

    "Yeah! What kind of investigation was that?"

    "Trina, how could you accuse our own children of being a witch right on front of our Lady?"

    Atraeya listened as all manner of arguments broke out, with Trina mostly being on the defensive. They seemed upset that any one of their children could be a witch, but also didn''t want to believe a witch moved back in. Just what was it were they looking for then?

    Gramps had put his hand on her shoulder before long, and nodded for them to go back home. "Before anyone starts pointing fingers at you," he had said some ways away from the crowd.

    She followed after him in a daze. She was still alive? Nobody found out? It was only when they were both safely inside did she speak up. "You¡­ didn''t tell them I was a witch. Why?"

    Gramps slowly turned to face her. Sadness etched into his wrinkles, for just a moment, before his face morphed into annoyance. "If I did that then I''d have to let everyone search my house, and I''d be arrested for harboring a witch," he said matter-of-factually. Atraeya''s shoulders slumped. "You made a mistake, but you''re just learning. That''s expected, so no need to twist your stomach in a knot over it." Gramps shook his head and headed for his room, mumbling to himself.

    Gramps had stood up for her, in his own way. But the lesson she learned was that potions were dangerous, to herself and those around her. Especially if she didn''t know what she was doing. Gramps could have died, and the mess she made practically dug her an early grave. Atraeya glanced at the book and wand she hid under her bidding. No magic. Not right now, at least. It was too scary. She didn''t want to hurt gramps again. No, instead she will try to learn how to read. Once she could read the recipes in the book, then she would make something simple.

    Atraeya nodded to herself. It was a solid plan. One that she hated, since reading and studying were so boring. But it had to be done. First she would need to figure out all the letters, and find a way to memorize them and their sounds. She didn''t have any ink and paper, but gramps carved wood. Maybe she could carve out the letters instead? She would need to find some wood for that though.

    It had been a few days since she went to the forest with the rest of the kids. They should all be awake after experiencing that crowd. And this time she could get actual food, instead of just a stick. "Gramps! I''m going out!" Atraeya shouted. She began rummaging around for a basket she could take. The memory of everyone swapping various food had left an impression on her, and she didn''t want to be left out again.

    Before gramps could say anything, she had found a suitable basket and rushed out the door. Dawn had peeked over the horizon, giving way to light yellows and pale blues. It was mostly bright out by now, but the cool night air still brushed past her face as she dashed to Poe''s house.

    Mira opened the door. "Oh! Atraeya," she smiled. "It''s nice to see you, dearie. What brings you here?"

    "Can Poe come out? I wanted to go the forest with everyone."

    Mira turned around for a moment, but now her smile was a bit awkward. "Poe is still eating. But you can come in and wait if you''d like." Oh. That''s what she forgot. As if on cue, her stomach growled. Mira laughed as she ushered her inside. "I''ll get you a bowl as well. I see you were so excited you forgot to eat, hm?"

    Atraeya blushed and took a seat beside Poe. He had been shoveling food in his mouth, with barely any time at all to chew or swallow. "You''re gonna choke like that one day."

    As his mouth was too full to speak, his mother spoke for him. "That''s what I keep telling him, but he never listens." Mira shook her head as a bowl of oatmeal was placed in front of Atraeya. Poe did the only thing he could do. He glared at her, continuing to shovel food in his mouth.

    "Atraeya do you¡­ know how to read?" Mira asked. She wrung her nervous hands together. It''s clear she didn''t want to ask this, but with what happened this morning, her curiosity about the book she saw must''ve been too great.

    "Um. No¡­ My parents didn''t think I would be running the shop so they didn''t want to teach me."

    Mira slumped, her eyes wide at how openly Atraeya spoke. "I see. That''s too bad. Knowing how to read would give you far more opportunities than this backwater village could. I''m sorry your parents didn''t think so."

    Poe snorted. "You grabbed that book and you don''t even know how to read?"

    "Stop it Poe. Lots of folks around here can''t read."

    "Do you know how to read?" Atraeya asked.

    "Oh, no, not really. I can sign my name but that''s it."

    Atraeya gasped. That''s it! That''s how she can start to learn the sounds of letters. Well, some of them. "Can you teach me?!" she blurted out.

    Mira rapidly blinked for a few moments. "Me? But I just said I don''t know how to read."

    "I just want to know your name! Please?" she pleaded. Poe looked at her weirdly and Mira looked about ready to give in. Eventually she sighed.

    "Fine. But only if you can find something to write on that isn''t paper. I don''t have any ink."

    Atraeya cheered and hollered. She was now desperate to go in that forest. Maybe there were other folks in town who knew their name. It would make learning to read much easier. She began to eat as fast as she could, but Poe had a sizable head start on her. It was no surprise he was done first. Mira made him do the dishes while she finished, and then they were both out of there.

    They went around to other houses and got the other kids, who were all too desperate to get away from the village that was eager to turn on them. This time, Atraeya was able to run all the way from the river to the forest. She still couldn''t keep up, but at least no one had to stop on her account.

    A shiver passed through her as she entered the shade. Inside the forest was much cooler than out. The morning dew caught the few rays of sun that managed to pass through the canopy. The birds had awoken and sung their morning songs. Atraeya had never been here so early in the morning. There was a certain peacefulness among the trees. She could feel herself calming down and all of her distressed thoughts from this morning melted away.

 10. Learning to Read

    "Since me and Atraeya went east last time, we can go west. She still doesn''t know the area that well," Poe said. That worked for Atraeya, since it was true, and she really only knew Poe. He was easier to talk to, and knew how to look for food. The rest of the kids determined their group and split up. This time, she paid attention to whatever Poe pointed out. She would commit it to memory, of all the food she could find in the forest. Chestnuts, leeks, spinach, various berries, celery, asparagus. Poe tried to point out a few mushrooms, but she couldn''t wrap her head around them.

    Eventually her brain had overloaded with too much information and she began to look for her stick. She picked up various kinds with all kinds of thickness. For writing, it was best to get find one that could provide as much writing room as possible. But she had never written before so how much space was actually needed?

    "Don''t tell me you''re looking for another stick¡­" Poe mumbled.

    "It''s for your mom, so she can carve her name in it."

    "Why are you so interested in writing?"

    "If I can learn to write, I can learn to read. Then I can read the book."

    Poe groaned, as if his complaints were obvious to everyone but her. "But it''s just a book! If it was actually important then someone would just tell people the important bits."

    Atraeya paused. That was true. But she couldn''t tell him that the only person who could read its contents to her had been run out of the village. "Well¡­ I won''t know how important it is unless I read."

    Poe only sighed. But he must have been curious too, because he helped her find a good enough stick. By the time they found one, the sun had past it''s peak for a couple of hours. She wanted to go home now. She already got everything she needed, but the other kids weren''t done yet. Poe and her sat around the logs, where Poe tried to teach her about when these foods were available and how often she should pick them. It went in one ear and out the other.

    Once everyone gathered, they huddled up and exchanged all kinds of foods. Atraeya ended with with a batch of fresh strawberries. She couldn''t wait to share them with gramps.

    By the time the sun was low in the sky, not quite sunset but almost, most of the younger kids were yawning, after forcibly woken up so early in the morning. They made it back early this time. When she spotted Mira, she ran up to her, and showed her the stick. "You can carve your name in this!" Atraeya proudly smiled.

    Mira was a little shocked at first, but eventually recovered enough to smile. "Alright, come on in," she said. The both of them bounced inside, Atraeya a little more excited than Poe. They hastily set down their baskets, and ran to the table. "Poe, go get the carving knife inside the storage."

    She waited patiently as everything got set up. Once Mira began to carve out the letters, her eyes squinted and she watched with bated breath as letters formed into words. How the lines and curves were made. Her eyes were entirely glued to the branch. It was only when Mira was done did clock that something was off. "Mira" seemed like something simple to spell, but when it was written down it seemed much longer. Her faced got all scrunched up as she thought it over, staring at the letters. She didn''t know how to read, but something is clearly off.

    Laughter broke her concentration, and she looked up to see Mira with a wide grin. "Mira of Verdantvale. That was how I was taught to sign my name."

    Atraeya''s eyes sparkled like the night sky. She had gained more than she bargained for. So there were three words, not just one! She looked back down at the bark, and could now see spaces in between some of the letters. Three words. More letters for her to learn than she thought she would get. Her finger pointed at the first one. "This says Mira?" When she got a nod and an affirmative tone of voice, her finger drifted to the next word, which was only two letters. "So then this one says of. And this one is Verdantvale."

    Mira nodded once more. "My oh my, how smart you are." Pride swelled within her. Really though, she was only guessing.

    "But which letters are which sounds? How do I read this?"

    Mira shrugged. "I only know those are the letters that make my name. I''m sorry I can''t be of more help."

    "That''s OK." She picked up the branch and her basket. "Thank you, Mira!" she called out as she rushed out the door. Her footsteps pounded against the dirt roads as she ran back to her home, breathless and excited. She burst through the door, startling her grandfather, and dropped the basket on the table.

    Now it was time to get to work. Her fingers traced over the letters carved into the bark, mumbling to herself, sounding out each word slowly at first until she figured out where one sound ended and a different one began. It took her an entire hour to figure out how to read "Mira" and by then it was time for dinner. She focused so hard on the letters that she didn''t smell the food cooking, nor did she notice gramps had slid a plate in front of her.

    "Atraeya!" he called out. She jumped out of her skin and looked around. Gramps sat across from her, as grumpy as he normally was.  "Put that stick away and eat your food before it gets cold," he said. She quickly scarfed down her food, not caring what it was, and did the dishes in record time. Atraeya had come to like the studying, now that she knew what the words were. And if she knew what all the letters were, she would know all the words as well.

    Next, "of" was rather quick to figure out, but "Verdantvale" was so long, and with such complicated spelling to boot. It baffled her long enough that gramps had to come out of his bedroom some time after going to sleep, that she had not noticed of course, and yelled at her again to stop wasting candles and go to sleep.

    The next morning she unintentionally slept in, and after breakfast she got straight to work tending to the field. Some sprouts had come in by now, so she had to make sure they were watered and had enough space to grow. And after she was done with that, the clothes needed to be washed as well. It took her the entire morning, and some of the afternoon to get everything done. At least she didn''t have to sweep. Imposing a will was simple. She could probably do it to the dish rag so she would spend less time doing dishes. And once she made a cleaning potion, then the dishes could would be done in no time.

    Atraeya grabbed a clean dish rag, and laid it flat on the table. Her wand was still tucked under her bed, from when she hastily stashed it yesterday morning. She reached for it, but just before lifting the bed, she looked around. There was no one here, of course. So she grabbed hold of the wand, holding it close to her body like it was some dirty secret. She stared at the broken window, double checking no one was peeking in, before she finally relaxed a little to perform her magic.

    With a deep breath, she placed one hand on the rag, and the pointed end of the wand in the center. She closed her eyes, and searched inward for the mana in herself. For all of the channels that moved her mana throughout her body, and focused them all to move toward her hand. It warmed a bit, and she forced it out through the wand, onto the dish rag, as she thought of all the ways a dish rag would need to behave.

    An hour later, she could feel the dish rag was now filled with her mana. It couldn''t take much, apparently. She cut off the mana, willing it to start moving. But nothing happened. Maybe it needed dishes, and there weren''t any to clean. At least she didn''t feel as drained as when she did the broom.  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    At long last, all her tasks were done and she can continue with learning to read. She glanced at her stick. Mira of Verdantvale. Would that be enough letters to read the book? Atraeya bit her lip, and glanced at her bed. The book laid under it. It was worth a shot, at least. She dragged it out, and flipped open to a random page. "_otion¡­ potion? Potion of¡­ _leep? Does it make the drinker jump high? What''s that letter?" She figured she would get nowhere with pondering it''s usage when she could look at the ingredients. "_eat_er_, popp_ _ee_ _"

    Atraeya scrunched her eyebrows together in thought. It made no sense. There was no use going through the rest of the ingredients list when she could barely understand the first two. She needed more letters. She sighed, and shoved the book back under her bed. Maybe she could find more folks who could sign their name. She grabbed her stick, and a carving knife. But when she opened the door, dusk was setting and gramps was hobbling through the yard. It was too late to go anywhere.

    "Where are you going?" Gramps asked.

    "No where, apparently," she mumbled.

    "Come help me make dinner." In his free hand, he held a basket of groceries. Bread, vegetables, various grains. Not much variety, but that''s where the basket of forest forageables came in. As they got to preparing, her thoughts drifted back to the words. If she wanted to learn more letters, she would need to find more people who knew how to sign their name. Would gramps know? Old people know everything.

    "Gramps, is there anyone in the village who knows how to sign their name? Besides Mira."

    Gramps hummed at the question. His knife scraped against board as he cut up some vegetables. "Hmmm. Well, there''s the Lady. But you can''t ask her¡­" Atraeya would never. "There''s Bali, down the road past Mira''s house, and his wife Jess. They''re out all the time so you''d have better luck catching them out an about. And of course our Chief would know how to sign her name. She might know a few letters too, but I don''t think it would be right to ask her either. Hmmmm Devra should also know how to spell her name¡­"

    Atraeya desperately tried to remember all of those people gramps began to list off. She asked what they looked like and how to find them.

    The next day, she set off early, with her branch in one hand a carving knife in the other. Well, the carving knife was carefully holstered in her pocket so it wouldn''t stab her. The first person she found was Devra, tending to her garden. It seemed to have more flowers than food. Her face was weathered from years in the sun, and small streaks of gray ran through her hair. Her clothes were old, and patched up in many places. "Um¡­ Good morning. Are you Mrs. Devra?" Atraeya called out.

    The women looked up, and after a moment squinted at her. "Oh! You''re Elmer''s granddaughter!" She laughed and stood up, brushing the dirt from her hands with her apron. How did she recognize her? Her confusion must have been written on her face. "Oh, don''t give me that look. You''re the gossip of the whole town. A brand new kid comes in all alone, and lives with that grumpy old man who''s said nothing about you. Quite mysterious, eh?" She winked, a playful smile wide on her lips.

    A little gasp escaped her lips. Atraeya was completely shocked. She thought she was doing a rather good job of hiding who she was but apparently that''s the opposite of what she should have been doing. That''s why they looked so weird and angry when they smelled the failed potion. She should have been making friends with everyone instead.

    When Atraeya didn''t answer, Devra continued. "Anyways, what can I do for you, dearie? You didn''t come by just say ''Hi,'' now did you?"

    She held out her stick, which Devra took with a look of confusion. "I''m trying to learn how to read, and gramps told me that you know how to sign your name. Can you write it down so I can learn the letters? Mrs. Mira already signed hers."

    "Ah," she said. Devra turned it around until she saw Mira''s handwriting. Another smile slowly formed, more sly than the previous one. "And why do you want to learn how to read? If you''re gonna live all the way out here you won''t need to."

    Atraeya definitely couldn''t tell her about the book. She decided to go with what Mira had talked about. "I can get a good family if I know how to read."

    Now Devra was studying her more closely. Her eyes drifted up and down, scanning for all kinds of information. "I see. I suppose you are at about that age. All right then, you got anything to write with?" Atraeya pulled out her sheathed carving knife and handed it over. As she carved out her name, she continued to speak. "You know, if you really want to learn to read and write so badly, you should just ask Chief Trina. Oh, don''t give me that look. You first saw her the other day right? She''s not normally that scary, I promise. She''s just scared of witches."

    That was precisely the problem. No way was she going there. Instead she watched quietly as Devra carved her name right below Mira''s. It was much easier to read her handwriting than Mira''s or the book''s handwriting. Once Devra was done, she flipped it over to her and smiled. There it was. More letters. Atraeya smiled back at her. "Thank you!"

    "So, who are you off to next? Anyone else know how to spell their name?"

    "Gramps said Bali and Jess know."

    Devra nodded. "There''s also Curie. She lives down the street from here, but she might already be in the fields."

    She thanked her again, and left for the farming fields. Indeed, there were already about a dozen people working away. If she knew how to read, they wouldn''t need to work so hard. The potions would do most of the work. And if she made them happy, they wouldn''t want to run her out of town like they did the last witch. She watched where she stepped, and made her way through the fields to the closest person, asking for Curie.

    Eventually she found her. The woman was toiling away at the fields, with part of her skirt hitched on her girdle, away from all the dirt and mud, and her black curly hair pulled into a messy bun. She was hunched over, picking at various things in the dirt. "Excuse me," Atraeya said. The woman glanced at her, then went back to work. "Are you Curie?"

    "Who''s askin''?"

    "I''m Atraeya. I''m Elmer''s granddaughter."

    "Well, Atraeya, I''m a bit busy. What do you want?"

    She held out her branch. "I was told you know how to write your name. Can you please carve it onto my stick?" Curie snorted, but said nothing. After a few moments, Atraeya realized she was ignoring her. She frowned. "Please?"

    "I''ve got better things to do than carve my name in some stick."

    "But¡­ I want to learn how to read¡­" Atraeya seemed to deflate with each passing remark.

    "No one wants to learn how to read, kid. Go bother someone else."

    Her arms dropped to her side, and she hung her head, completely rejected. Curie didn''t waste another word on her, which left her with no choice but to leave. Hopefully, Bali and Jess wouldn''t be so rude. She trudged on. The young couple were apparently hunters. If they weren''t butchering their catches then they would be out hunting. Following gramps'' directions, she eventually found their house a few minutes later. It was a bit quiet, and looked like any old house. One story.  Thatched roof. There was a shed off to the side. Maybe that was were they were?

    As she inched closer she heard voices. Two of them, a man and a woman. Whispering and giggling. She peeked her head past the entrance way. The two were intertwined with each other, the same way married couples do. "Why are you covered in blood?" she blurted out.

    The couple jumped, the woman yelled out in surprise. Their heads snapped to look at her as they pulled themselves apart. "Cause we''re in the middle of working. See?" The man pointed to a wild turkey hanging from the ceiling. Or at least, she thought it was a wild turkey. It had been cut up quite a lot by now and it was hard to discern.

    "That didn''t look like working."

    "Wow, I didn''t realize the auditor was coming by today. My apologies," the man grinned as he leaned on a desk behind him.

    "What''s an auditor?"

    "Basically someone who makes sure you''re doing your job correctly and all your money is in order."

    Atraeya nodded like she understood but she didn''t. Why would someone need to check that? "Well I''m not here for that. Are you two Bali and Jess?"

    "We are. What do you need, little miss?"

    "I''m trying to learn how to read, and would like you to carve your name in this branch so I can learn the letters."

    "Who told you we can write our names?" Jess asked.

    "Gramps." The two glanced at each other, and she figured she said something wrong. She didn''t want to get gramps in trouble though. "But it seemed more like a guess when he said it¡­"

    Bali shrugged, and was the first one to hold out his hand. "Alright then. Do you have anything to carve it with?" Once she handed the carving knife over, he was able to carve his name in no time, then handed it over to Jess. She was a little more careful, and time seemed to stretch into an eternity as Atraeya bounced up and down at the idea of new letters to learn.

    She grabbed the stick the moment they were done, and suddenly it all clicked once she saw Jess'' name. The ''s''. It was a Potion of Sleep, and it was asking for poppy seeds. She screamed in delight, holding up the stick far above her head as she did so. Her legs kicked up, and jumped all around on the spot. "I understand now! Thank you!" Atraeya shouted to the couple as she ran back home. They were left in the dust, and no idea what she was on about.

 11. Atraeyas First Charms

    Atraeya burst through the door, and headed directly to her book. She flipped through the pages, scanning for the one the she had attempted to read earlier. Sure enough, it said poppy seeds. Of course, the image of the poppy on that same page should have been a clue but she had ignored it. She didn''t think it was actually relevant. But thinking on it now, she realized something as precious as a book would only have information it needed to have. It would have been important to recognize a poppy flower for a potion.

    It took her a painstakingly long time to read the instructions. She kept having to re-read her stick of names, sounding out all the letters until she came to the one she needed. It took her a couple of hours to get through the entirety of the instructions, and even then she couldn''t understand words like "embed" and "imbue." She also learned the "th" sound from feathers, the "u" sound from around, and the "w" from water after sounding them out a few times.

    Essentially, the instructions wanted her to "embed" the poppy seeds into the woolen balls, wrap the feathers around it, then drop them into boiling water. "Imbue" mana into the concoction while stirring, then bottle it when done. Studying like this sort of reminded her of the witch back home, in the capital. She had sat her down and drilled it into her how to make a wand. She wasn''t able to teach her much before Atraeya was kicked out, but that one moment was enough to make a mark on her.

    When would she need a sleeping potion though? Under the instructions were more instructions and warnings. Something about effects? It was too many words for her to concentrate on, and it quickly became overwhelming. Well, it didn''t seem too important. As long as nobody collapsed while she made the potion everything will be fine. She was excited to try it out, but didn''t know where to find any of those ingredients anyway. She didn''t see any wool or feathers when she was taking from the witch''s cottage. Maybe they were somewhere else in the cottage, or she might have to go around and find her own.

    Atraeya thumbed through some more pages, but, not wanting to go through her stick of names again, didn''t find anything that caught her eye. Instead she turned her attention to the fireplace that sat one one end of the room. It was dusty and falling apart, with a heap of ashes piled at the bottom, and if she tried to light it up she wouldn''t be surprised if the entire house went up in flames.

    Which was another thing she needed to do. In addition to making a protection charm, she might also need to make a fire warding charm. The fire warding charm should be first, then she needed to fix the fireplace, then she needed to attach a protection charm on it. Her eyes glanced around the house, and all the other little things that needed to be fixed. She would need to make a lot of protection charms.

    Thankfully, most charms don''t need many ingredients. Most just need an object dipped in mana water and salt. What made a charm, a charm, was the witch''s will when using the mana. Potions worked on a similar rule, but needed the proper ingredients to work properly, which is why they were more expensive, and harder to make.

    The fire protection charm should be for the whole house, which meant it needed to be stuck on the house to be effective. Her thoughts drifted back to the broken down fireplace, and how she would need to place the bricks back into place. If she could get just the powder mix of mortar, split it in half, then she could pour the charm mixture into one half for the fire protection charm, and the other half could be used as the fortification charm for the fireplace itself. She was sure there was some bricks on the outside that need to be fixed up. It just needed a small section for it to apply to the whole house. She just needed to find it.

    Then the only problem left would be to find the mortar. She hadn''t had the chance to explore Verdantvale. Not thoroughly, so she didn''t know who worked where. She didn''t even know what gramps did when he was gone all day. Well, today that changes. She wandered around outside for a bit, and found Mira doing chores in her yard. "Excuse me, Mira?"

    The woman stopped and looked over, and soon her whole face was smiling at her. "Oh my! Back so soon dearie?"

    "Do you know where I can find mortar? For bricks."

    "Brick mortar? Why on earth would you need something like that?"

    "I want to help gramps repair the fireplace."

    "Oh, how sweet you are. I had noticed it looked a bit dangerous from the outside, all falling apart like that. I can''t imagine how it looks on the inside¡­" she tsked to herself. "Well, I don''t know if anyone sells it, but try asking Hal."

    Another new face. Mira sure was knowledgeable about everyone here. "Who''s Hal?"

    "Oh, he used to make the houses around here. The village has grown a bit stagnant nowadays so he hasn''t had much work to do, poor thing. He''s real good at it too, so if anyone is to know anything about that sort of line of work it would be him. He lives 2 streets down. Look for the house with the yellow chicks painted on it"

    "Yellow chicks, got it. Thank you, Mira!"

    Atraeya followed her instructions. It wasn''t long before she came upon a house with chicks painted along the bottom of the house. Not only that, but there were also about a dozen chickens and a rooster to boot, all hanging around the house. It was quite rowdy, and some of them even watched her as she approached, carefully stepping in a way to not hurt the chickens. She could feel their beady eyes even as she knocked on the door. A few of them dared to approach, cautiously.

    The door swung open. "Who are you? What do you want?" The man seemed only slightly younger than gramps. White hair, but not as many wrinkles, and could walk around just fine without help.

    "My name is Atraeya. I''m Elmer''s granddaughter." At the mention of gramps, he narrowed his eyes. "You''re Hal, right? Mira said you worked on houses before."

    "Yeah that''s me. What do you want?" he repeated.

    "I''m trying to fix gramps'' fireplace, and I need brick mortar. Do you know where I could find some?"

    Hal stared at her for a moment, then smirked. "Yeah I can get you a bucket of it. It''ll cost you though."

    Atraeya froze. She didn''t have any money. And she didn''t know if gramps had any either. How was she supposed to do this if she didn''t have money? Maybe he''s open to trade? She peeked up, to find that smirk still plastered on his face. He knew she didn''t have money. He might know gramps'' situation as well. Were they so broke that everyone know they didn''t have money? "I don''t¡­ do you want to trade instead?"

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    Hal''s smirk grew. She was like a fly caught in a web. "Tell you what. Me and Elmer go way back. I''ll do this as a favor for him. That fireplace of his looks pathetic anyhow. You run along and tell him what you''re up to. Come back in 3 days and you''ll have your mortar."

    Relief washed over her. She could barely contain her giddiness. "Thank you! Thank you! I will!"

    "You''ll need to mix it yourself though. I''m not as spry as I used to be."

    "Of course! I''ll be back in three days then." With that she ran off, startling the dozen chickens sitting around her.

    As promised, when she returned three days later after finishing her chores, a bucket of  powdered brick mortar was waiting for her. She tried to pick it up with the handle, but it was too heavy for her, even dry. She heaved and heaved but only succeeded in turning her arms to jelly. She instead opted to just drag it through the dirt until she managed to reach home. Less strenuous, but she still needed a break by the time she managed to reach home. Her arms ached to the core. Even trying to lift them hurt. Living out in the country sure was a lot of work.

    Once Atraeya had rested long enough, she got to work. First she divided the brick mortar into two buckets. A charm can only have one effect, after all. In one bucket, the mortar would become a sturdy charm, for the fireplace so it could stop breaking down. In the second bucket, a fire protection charm, to stop the house from burning down. Then she just needed to make the charms. She filled a pot of water from the river, and began to boil it. She fetched the salt, and her wand. Once the pot had reached a boiling stage, the poured a handful of salt into the water, then she poured her mana in, making sure to stir as she thought of the sturdy charm she wanted made.

    Atraeya wasn''t exactly sure when to stop. She didn''t get any sort of fullness from it, or any feedback at all, in fact. She furrowed her eyebrows, concerned. What if she ended it too early? She didn''t think anything bad would happen if she gave it too much mana. Charms typically work better the more mana it was given. Well, better safe than sorry. She mixed it for a few more minutes before she cut off the mana. All that was left was some sort of spatula to use the mortar and put the bricks together. She had gotten one yesterday, but she wasn''t sure where she left it.

    "Is it ready yet?" Gramps walked in through the door. She had told him her plan, and he offered to toss up the bricks that had fallen, since she wouldn''t be able to keep going up and down. The mortar mixture would dry up before she would be finished.

    "Where''s the spatula?" she asked.

    "I put it under the counter. Is it not there?" She peeked under. Nothing. "Hmm¡­ Maybe it''s by the fireplace¡­" He shuffled over to it, where he dug around a pile. Eventually he exclaimed, and held up the item they were looking for. She figured he might have put it there so they wouldn''t forget.

    "Great, thanks, gramps. Are you¡­ feeling OK?" Atraeya remembered his reaction to the potion gone wrong. She glanced back at the charm mixture, fresh off the oven and still steaming. Surely he would have some sort of reaction to it.

    "I''m fine, get up to the roof now. I put the ladder on the south side."

    "Right." She nodded, and brought the pot outside. With the water still hot, it mixed easily, and she stirred with all her might until she was sure it was ready to be used. Only, now the bucket was heavier. She wasn''t sure she could bring it all the way up the ladder. If only she could use magic to lift things.

    Still, she needed to get it done. She dragged it through the yard, placed the spatula in her mouth, and took the ladder one step at a time. Her hands turned red, and her knuckles turned white from the grip. Her arms screamed at her to let it go, but that would just waste everything. She managed to get up to the roof though, miraculously, and let out a long breath she had kept in.

    Everything is going to hurt tomorrow morning. She hauled it a bit more, careful where she stepped, and arrived at the broken down fireplace in one piece. It was much worse up close. Half of it was gone, and the parts that were still there were crumbling. She arrived just in time to fix it. Any longer and it would have completely fallen apart.

    Atraeya peered down the hole, to see gramps look up back at her. "Ready!" she shouted. On his count, gramps tossed a brick up. The first toss wasn''t hard enough, and only went halfway up. The second toss she missed the timing to grab it, but she managed to grab it by the third attempt. Now, all she needed to do was follow and mirror the pattern of the fireplace. She slathered on some of the mortar, and placed it in its appropriate place. Then the next brick was tossed, and she did the same thing.

    This continued for the next hour, as they worked at a steady pace. She took her time to make sure it was even and aligned. And when she was done she could admire her handiwork. It was perfect, but she did it, with her own hands. And a little help from gramps, of course. She felt¡­ proud, even.

    Atraeya had never done this sort of hard labor when she lived with her parents back in the city. Any work she did there she couldn''t figure out what it''s purpose was. But here, it was obvious. Gather in the forest and work a garden to eat food. Clean around the house so the bugs don''t get in. Fix the fireplace to stay warm. She made a difference here, and she liked it that way.

    For the first time since she arrived, she didn''t want to go back home.

    Sure, she was angry at her mother for kicking her out. She grumbled and moped about it. But deep down, she was secretly hoping someone would come pick her up. But she made a friend here, and she was sure gramps was happy she was here, too. No one was yelling at her here. No one was taking her food, or her clothes. She has felt full for the first time in years. She had her own bed¡ª well it wasn''t exactly a bed, but it was all hers.

    "Atraeya?" gramps called out, snapping her out of her thoughts. "I don''t see any more bricks. Are you done?"

    "Yeah!" Most of the mortar was gone, so she could actually lift it now as she climbed back down the ladder. Next was the fire protection charm. Her arms and legs ached still, but she didn''t feel safe without it now that they''ve fixed the fireplace.

    She began the charm process all over again, and took the few moments it took to boil water for a rest. By the time the charm water was ready, gramps had found spots to patch up. There was only one spatula, and she wasn''t sure if she was the one who needed to apply the charm, or if anyone could do it. So they decided to play it safe, and have only Atraeya fix the bricks.

    This took only half an hour, as there wasn''t much to patch, all the bricks she needed were close by, and she was now familiar with the process. Unlike in the fireplace, she could feel the mana reach through the old mortar, spreading throughout the foundation. It worked as intended, and when she filled in the last brick, she felt it seal in place. The house was now officially protected against fires.

    She let out a cheer, and looked to gramps for praise. For a second she could swear she saw a smile, but it disappeared just as fast as it showed up. Instead he gave her a nod. "What do you intend to do with the leftovers?"

    This bucket was still half full, and combined with the other still left a little less than half of all she was given. "Maybe the cottage can use it? It''s in quite a state¡­" she mumbled to herself.

    "Great. Daylight is still strong so you should get moving before it dries. Take all that other stuff with you too."

    "Other stuff?"

    "You know, those dangerous jars you brought home from that place. We shouldn''t have that in the house."

    Oh, the potion ingredients. She wanted to do that anyway, but more to protect gramps. She nodded, and gramps left to go inside. If she poured the two buckets into one then she was sure the charm would break. Well, it''s not like that place was particularly important. If she wanted to spend mana, it should be on her own home, to make it easier to live in. Atraeya intended to turn that cottage into her own potion laboratory. Things were sure to break once she started to regularly visit, so there was no point in wasting her mana on such meaningless things.

 12. Repairing & Cleaning

    The witch''s cottage was a peaceful sight to behold, now that is was free of deer. Fallen leaves had collected around the porch and the roof. The pile of dirt by the open window still had clear imprints of her shoes and the deer tracks from when she climbed up in the mud. Atraeya shivered at the memory of the deer stampede. The door was still broken, so the window was still her only way in. Her first order of business should be to fix the door so she wouldn''t have to keep dirtying her boots, now that she intended to use this place more often. Gramps would surely have another fit if he saw them and no way was she going through all that again.

    She set her bucket of, thankfully still wet, brick mortar on the porch, and proceeded to put the ingredients back.

    As she had no idea what any of them said, she had no way of knowing if there was a system in place. She tried to put them back where she found them, but as it had been a while since she last saw the shelf, she wasn''t a hundred percent sure if things were in their proper place. Over the past couple of days, she had kept trying to study words from the book, but some letters were harder than others and didn''t stick as much. Reading had become easier, but only the words she already figured out for the recipe, not whatever these labels were.

    That was a problem for future Atraeya though.

    On the bottom of her basket, hidden below jars of various ingredients, she had also hid her book. It would be no use to keep it at home, and should someone find it, would make her look suspicious. Even if they couldn''t read it. She decided to hide it where she first found it: under the creaky boards in the bedroom. She had plans for this room, but for now, she needed to inspect for any place that needed mortar.

    The cottage was mostly made from wood, and not even the foundation was brick or stone, so the mortar was useless for most of the house. The chimney¡­. Well, it wasn''t in great shape, but it was still usable, unlike gramps'' house. She could use the mortar to seal some of the windows. Parts of the wood seemed to have lifted up around the edges, letting in a draft. That should be an easy fix. One of the pillars on the porch had also been broken at the bottom base, causing a slight slant on the roof above it. The mortar should, at the very least, be able to hold it in its proper place, even if it wasn''t meant for that.

    While she was fixing those up, she also searched for any chips, cracks, and holes in the wood paneling to stop any insects from squeezing in. It didn''t take long to fix, thankfully, since there wasn''t much overall. She didn''t want anything coming in to mess up her potions. If all humans reacted like gramps did to all that mana, there''s no telling how something as small as a bee would react. There was still so much left, though. She didn''t want to leave it to harden in the bucket, and it wasn''t like she could just toss it anywhere. Instead she tried to shuffle it out and spread it all along the foundation. Nothing would be getting in, that''s for sure.

    Once that was done, she was able to start working on clearing the dirt and dried mud from the porch.

    "Atraeya? There you are!"

    She jumped at the voice. She didn''t expect to hear anyone out here. How much time had passed anyway? A quick glance at the sky told her the sun was beginning to set. She had been out here for much longer than intended. "How did you find me?"

    "I had a feeling you were here. Your grandfather has gotten worried about you, so I said I''d go and find you. What are you doing?"

    "Oh, I''m just cleaning the place up. I''m going to use this house as a laboratory for all my future potions." Atraeya puffed out her chest in pride. She was cleaning a place she had claimed all her own, and planned to use it to make as many potions as she could that would help out around the place. She felt she had every right to be proud.

    Poe only stared, baffled, unable to comprehend. "Do you even know how to make any potions?"

    "I do! I know one that can help you sleep! Do you know anyone who might need one? I don''t have the ingredients though¡­"

    "No clue. Let''s get out of here before the wolves come out and we get lost."

    She could only pout, since he was right. She didn''t want to be in the middle of a forest when night came and the trees blocked the moonlight. Most of the dirt was cleared, so the next time she came here should only need a quick scrape. Then she could finally fix the door.

    And so they left together, reaching town just as the sun passed the horizon. Gramps and Mira were sitting out front, chatting. Gramps carving and Mira sowing. He seemed to notice their presence first as they arrived. "Did you finish up?" he asked.

    "Well, I finished the mortar. But there are still something other things that need cleaning."

    "You''re going back?" Poe interrupted.

    "Oh, what are you cleaning up, dearie?" Mira said.

    Atraeya decided to ignore Poe. "The cottage in the woods. It could be a good place to store stuff, right?"

    Something passed on Mira''s face, a twitch, but she couldn''t pin it down. She must have known whose cottage it belonged to, but decided not to say anything. It made Atraeya nervous. Mira nodded after a moment. "Just be careful, alright? Come now, Poe. Time to start getting ready for bed." They said their goodbyes and she and gramps went home as well.

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    The next morning, Atraeya woke up bright and early. She wanted to get all her chores done as soon as she could so she could spend all day in the cottage. She let out the broom, and put the dishes by the self cleaning cloth. She was in the middle of weeding when an idea came to her. If she could imbue the sickle to weed for her, she could save so much time.

    She rushed to tell gramps her bright idea the second he woke up, only to get a definite and resounding "no."

    "What? Why?" she whined.

    "What do you think will happen when a neighbor passes by and sees a sickle pulling up weeds all by itself?"

    She pouted, but did not acquiesce. It would save so much of her time. She didn''t want to get caught, of course not. She just needed to be careful. Gramps wanted potions, didn''t he? "What if we only let it out at night?"

    Still he shook his head. "Someone could still see it. No."

    "Fine," Atraeya said, punctuating her reluctance with as big of a sigh as she could manage. It was all for show, of course. If she couldn''t convince him, she would just need to do it behind his back. After all, everyone should be asleep at night.

    She grabbed her basket and her wand as gramps ate his breakfast. She also needed her name stick if she were to make any progress with the labels. It ,was useless to keep it at home when her book was someplace else. Then she grabbed the sickle from outside and headed out.

    The cottage was just as she left it. In fact, maybe even a bit better. The mortar she had used up dried nicely. Now that she no longer had to worry about outside, she took to cleaning up the remaining dirt from the from door. It was back breaking work, but at least the shade from the surrounding trees provided some relief from the late summer heat.

    The door squeaked when she opened it for the first time in however long. At least it worked, though. No need to get an entirely new door.

    Inside, though, really needed help. Now that she was going to be spending more time here, she took a closer look at the inventory. The front area was similar to her house: a small and quaint kitchen area, with shelves of ingredients lining the back wall, plain wooden dining table and chairs, a brick fireplace, and a wooden bench, with enough space for two or three. Cushions and a blanket laid on the bench, but the moths had gotten to it, leaving holes and stuffing to spill out. A few potted plants here and there, either dead or completely overgrown. There was also an thick layer of dust on every surface, and Atraeya''s nose itched just a little at the thought of rousing it from it''s spot.

    On the back wall a curtain, half open, led to the bedroom of the previous owner. Its bed was unmade and dirty, the rug well worn, and the closet empty except the coat from before. And no animals had decided to make a nest from the last time she was here either, thankfully. She didn''t think she would ever forget those deer.

    With everything checked out, it was time to get to work cleaning the place up. She opened the windows so the dust wouldn''t stay in, then made some rags from the moth eaten cushions and began to dust. She had to move the bed post around but eventually was able to drag the rug out from under it, and air it outside. She found a broom too, which now felt unfamiliar after so long without using one. Perhaps she could use her mana on this one as well.

    With nothing but the sounds of nature to distract her, she fell into a zen state as she tidied up the place. The cupboards, the sweeping, the dusting. It felt relaxing in a way Atraeya never felt back in the city, or at home. It was nice. Invigorating, even.

    It was then that she felt¡­. Something. But the moment she focused on the feeling it fluttered away. Not a spying feeling, but something she had not felt before. She went back to her cleaning, but then it came back after a time. She snapped her body towards the source. Mana?

    She followed the feeling, where it led to the bedroom. The most confusing thing was that she knew exactly where it sat. In the potted plant.

    Which, thinking on it, should not be alive at this moment. It had been away from the windows, in the dark, and had no way to get water. It was a strange plant, completely alive, and yet not. It was filled with mana, nearly bursting. She was afraid that if she touched it, it would explode. But the thing she sense wasn''t the plant itself.

    Atraeya stuck her hand in the dirt, digging around a bit, until her hands wrapped around something round.

    A clear glass ball, with a leaf encased in it. She had never seen such clear glass before. What a marvel. When she held it up to the window, it sparkled and displayed vibrant rainbows on the floor below her. "It must be expensive," she whispered in awe. The leaf inside looked like the same one from the plant. However, when she turned her attention back to it, the plant had wilted, and all the mana dispersed.

    "Oh no! I destroyed the plant!" She shoved the glass ball back inside, but nothing happened. The plant didn''t come back to life, nor did the mana help it grow anew. It was disappointing, but there was nothing she could do for it now. She looked at the glass ball once again, watching it glint in the light. Such a small bauble had kept this plant alive.

    Could it do other things, then?

    Better to keep it safe for now. With no better hiding spot for it, she decided to place it back inside the pot, and get back to cleaning.

    On a whim, she decided to place a sliver of mana inside the broom, just to get a feel for it. From what she could tell, it was old. It''s existed for generations, at least. Many different types of mana once used this broom. Drops of mana dotted the broom, but not enough for it to use. It had been enchanted before, with a memory of its work to boot. All it needed was a touch up.

    Atraeya took a seat and infused the magical broom with more mana for it to work once again. It happened a lot quicker this time. Was she getting better? Or did the broom take the mana more easily, having been used to a lifetime of purpose? She couldn''t tell. But thanks to it, she was able to get back to cleaning other things, and finished earlier than she thought she would finish.

    In her cleaning frenzy, she had investigated the cupboards, and found not only the usual plates and utensils, but also a giant cauldron, with a wooden spoon inside it. Cast iron, with a thin film of mana baked into both the cauldron and the spoon. She had set it back where she found it, for fear of damaging it, but it was the most existing find in the cottage. Well, second most exciting, right behind the book.

    With daylight still available, she sat herself at the table, with her name stick, and went looking through the jars of ingredients. She still had not memorized the letters and their sounds, so it took her hours. There was just so much to read. The previous witch must have been extremely skilled and knowledgeable. How Atraeya would have loved to learn from her. Or from any witch, really. There was only the one back in the city, and she didn''t exactly impart much knowledge. This left behind book would have to do. And for her to learn from it, she would need to know how to read.