“She’s just jealous because there’s only two witches in this town and you happen to be the only nice one. She’s threatened by you, O. Just because she claimed being the village cleric first doesn’t mean she’s better at her work than you are.”
A small smile formed at the compliment. “Thank you, but I didn’t even bother going to the infirmary. I already knew what she’d say.” Minro was too small not to get along with its inhabitants, so Orelia had conceded the cleric title to the snide woman years ago. Besides, Rotha had studied medicinal methods for decades before arriving in Minro. She had complex knowledge of healing methods, aside from what witches were naturally capable of.
“Maybe this is your chance to get out of here,” Teegan said, excitement growing in her voice. “You’ve always wanted to see more of Nivinia. Go somewhere else. Start over. Have enough adventure for the both of us.”
“I can’t leave you and Jax here.”
Teegan’s honey eyes softened. “We’ll be okay. I don’t want you to leave, but maybe this was a good thing. You can finally get out of this place and fulfill your dream of seeing the world.”
Dreams mean nothing if you don’t execute them, she’d overheard a dwarf say one night at Shaley’s Tavern. Orelia hadn’t given much thought to it then, dismissing the statement as intoxicated pessimism.
Dreams offered hope, and despite how dangerous hope was, a seed of it still lingered inside her.
“I’d love to explore,” Orelia said, “but I don’t have enough money to make it anywhere. Not to mention, whatever’s in those woods would probably eat me alive before I could even make it as far as Dallton.”
They both chuckled. Teegan hopped off the porch and smoothed her linen dress, her finger snagging on a hole near the hem. “I’m working tonight, and I need to pick up Jax from the matron before she makes a fuss about me being late again. Let’s get ales at Shaley’s tomorrow and we can figure this out?”
Orelia didn’t want to say she couldn’t afford to, but she agreed, needing her friend’s company more than ale anyway. “Do you want me to watch him? I have nothing but time now.”
They both chuckled.
“It’s all right. I’m going to spend a few marks with him, and I already told the matron I’d drop the little hellion off again before my shift. He loves that old woman just like every other kid in this village, but maybe tomorrow he can see his Auntie O.” Teegan waved goodbye and bounded down the hill, back to her ramshackle home on the other side of town. Orelia watched her friend’s curls bounce until she became a distant shape amongst the wildflowers. Neither of them had much, but they had each other.
She pulled the purse Beron had given her out of her pocket and counted the coins again. Six silver, plus the three from her emergency jar. She could make it work for two, maybe three months, if she stretched her rations. But even that would be pushing it.
“What in the hells am I going to do?” Orelia said to the blue afternoon sky. An eastern wind picked up, sifting through her hair,and making the tips of the trees dance. She didn’t know if it was a sign that everything would work out, or if it was only the wind, and she was just desperately trying to conjure a good omen out of nothing.
The spring breeze carried the fruity scent of plumroses and pulled her attention back to her decaying garden. Sunspots danced on the soil, giving her an idea.
Orelia pocketed the money and headed into the house, grabbing the gardening book off the shelf above her bed. She was careful not to break the binding of the tattered tome as she carried it outside, flipping to the section on root vegetables.
She pulled a tie off her wrist and gathered her auburn hair in a knot on top of her head. Orelia flicked a wrist, and the lid to the wooden storage box by the back fence slid away. She rested the lid against the water pump to her well, then lifted three bags of seed out of the box and checked to make sure they hadn’t sprouted. Satisfied they hadn’t, she summoned the stool she kept on the porch, took a seat, and began reading.
Maybe Teegan was right. Maybe Beron dismissing her wasn’t the end. If she read the gardening book and did everything it said, her idea could work. Thankfully, food grew twice as fast in spring as it did in winter, so if she planted now, she could harvest in two months’ time. It wouldn’t be much, but it might be enough to hold her off while the rest of the fruits and vegetables grew.
Images came to her rapidly, building her excitement.
Fat, juicy tomatoes.
Plump, yellow squashes.
Herbs, potatoes, carrots in droves.
Plumroses she could sell in bundles.
Orelia smiled as she read her broken book in hopes it would stitch her shattered life back together.
three
Orelia stood in thegarden with her hands on her hips. Two months later, and nothing had grown except one abysmal leaf sprouting out of the dirt. The herbs had burned up in the sun, despite the mild weather, and the plumroses drooped on their bushes.
Pathetic.
She’d done everything the gardening book said to do—she watered the squash sparingly, left the potatoes and carrots alone, and kept a close eye on the tomatoes.
Orelia plucked a squishy tomato off the vine and turned it over to see black spots dotting the bottom. She threw the poor excuse for a fruit over the fence with a mighty grunt. The tomato disappeared into the brush, pulling her eyes to the gate that often clanged against the fence, reminding her she needed to replace the busted lock. She’d put all her time and effort into the garden, ignoring the rest of her home, and it had all been for nothing.
Orelia slapped away the ends of the emerald scarf tickling her face and wiped the sweat from her brow. She watered the garden on a schedule, but a solid rain hadn’t come for a halfmonth. Gray cloudsteased her on many days, only to move on, leaving Orelia and her plants begging for rain.
