"What are ye suggestin'?"
"I'm nae suggestin' anythin'. Just... thinkin'." She shifted slightly, turning her head to look up at him. Their faces were very close suddenly. Magnus could see the gold flecks in her hazel-green eyes, the faint freckles across her nose. "When we get there, let me speak with them. Ask questions. Sometimes people tell a healer things they willnae tell their laird."
Magnus wanted to argue. Wanted to tell her that his people would tell him anything he needed to know.
"Fine," he said.
They reached the village as the sun began its descent toward the western horizon. It was smaller than Magnus remembered, maybe twenty cottages scattered along the rocky shore, with a few fishing boats pulled up on the beach. Smoke rose from only half the chimneys.
Too quiet. Too still.
Magnus dismounted first, then helped Ada down. She stumbled slightly when her feet hit the ground, her legs stiff from riding. He caught her elbow to steady her.
"Thank ye," she said.
He released her immediately. "Stay close."
Torvald and the guards were already moving toward the nearest cottage. Magnus followed, Ada at his side. An old woman appeared in the doorway—Olivia, he remembered, the village elder's wife.
"Me laird." She bobbed a stiff curtsy. "Thank God ye've come. It's bad, me laird. Real bad."
"Show me."
Inside the cottage, ten people lay on pallets near the fire—three young women, a boy of perhaps ten, four girls, and two older men. All were pale and sweating despite the cold, their breathing shallow and rapid.
Ada moved forward immediately. She knelt beside the woman first, pressing her hand to her forehead, then checking her pulse at her wrist and throat.
"How long has she been like this?" Ada asked Olivia.
"Two days, me lady. Started with a headache, then the fever came on fast.”
Ada moved to the boy next, repeating the same examination. Magnus watched her work—quick, efficient, her movements confident despite her obvious youth. This wasn't her first time treating the sick.
"Have they been able to keep anythin' down?" Ada asked.
"Nae much. Water, mostly, from the well, but even that comes back up."
"And when did the others in the village start fallin' ill?"
"Three days ago. Started with old Callum down by the shore, then spread to his family, then to the others." Olivia wrung her hands. "We thought it was just bad fish at first, but then more took sick, and now—" Her voice broke. "Now we dinnae ken what tae dae."
Ada got up, moved to where Magnus stood near the door. "I need tae speak with ye. Privately."
Magnus followed her outside. Torvald joined them, his expression grim.
"Well?" Magnus asked.
Ada glanced back at the cottage, then at the other houses scattered along the shore. "I need tae ask more questions first, but—" She hesitated. "It's nae a normal sickness. It's spreadin'too fast, affectin' people too similarly. And if it started with the family by the shore..."
"The water," Magnus said, the realization hitting him at the same moment.
Ada's eyes widened. "Aye. I'm thinkin' it might be the water."
They stared at each other for a moment, the shared understanding passing between them like a spark.
Magnus frowned. "We've had nay problems with the wells before."
"That daesnae mean somethin' hasnae changed." Ada looked at him directly. "Let me speak with the villagers. Let me find out who's sick and what they have in common. If we’re right, if it is the water, we need to ken which well is affected before more people drink from it."
