“Everyone’s been talking about Lord Kalos and his Maiden of Medicine and your book of magic. I wanted to come and see such a thing for myself.”
“Is that right?” I keep my tone mild, looking over at Metta. The woman refuses to make eye contact with me, a sure sign of guilt. So much for keeping Kalos’s location a secret. I’m not surprised, though. The road that winds alongthe edge of the Dirtlands backs up to their village, and so both they and Omos deal with travelers. Plus, they all love to gossip.
Varina beams, her veil fluttering as she moves forward and showing a flash of faded red hair underneath. “Oh, indeed. The Anticipation is always a source of interest, but having a god local? That’s special. Especially since Lord Kalos has taken you as his apprentice.”
My eyes go wide. He…what? “I’m not his apprentice! I’m his Anchor.”
“But you’re sharing his magic…?”
“It’s not magic,” I say again, though I feel like shouting it at this point. “It’sherbalism. You can literally find all this information in books. Anyone can learn it. No one needs to be a wizard to use it.”
They both stare at me as if I’m speaking in tongues.
“Here, I’ll show you how it works,” I say, pulling the book out of its leather wrappings.
For the next hour, I open the book to different pages and show Varina how to read it. I point at the symbols and go over them, and how to find the plant, the season it grows in, and how to prepare it. She makes fascinated sounds and gazes at the pages with intense focus. She asks a lot of questions, and I’m pleased she’s taking the book seriously. If anything, she’s more enthusiastic about it than Metta is.
Varina sighs when we get to the last page, running her fingers over the final drawing. “That’s all so far?”
I nod. “So far, yes. It’s been a bigger project than I anticipated, but I think it’s going to be really effective once it’s completed.”
“To be certain.” The priestess smooths her veil back from her round face. “The knowledge should be shared with everyone. All the villages nearby will benefitfrom such a gift.”
She gets it. I get an excited flutter in my stomach. Varina sees the vision. “Yes, exactly! Everyone can use it.”
The priestess flicks to the back of the large book, thumbing through the empty sheets of vellum before closing the book once more. “Can we borrow it for a few days?”
Her question throws me for a loop. “Borrow…?”
Metta clasps her hands together. “Yes! Priestess Varina heard about the book and came here specifically to make a copy for her town. They want all the secrets, too.”
“Still not secrets,” I say cheerfully. “And, I mean, it’s not done…”
“I’m only going to be here a few more days,” Varina replies. Her fingers brush over the book again in a covetous way that makes me feel strangely possessive of it. “I want to copy down as much as I can in that timeframe, and we can return it to you.”
“It’s not a problem, is it?” Metta asks. “You were going to give it to us anyhow, were you not?”
“Of course I was.Am.” I keep smiling, even though I’m feeling wildly reluctant over this plan. I’ve put in so many hours working on this one single book that now the prospect of handing over the fruits of my labor feels…strange. But like Metta says, that’s always been the plan. I just…what if they spill something on it? What if someone tears a page out? “You can always come with me to the monastery and copy there,” I say, gesturing behind me as if Omos’s home is just over my shoulder. “We’re staying with a very kind monk?—”
“Alas, I cannot spend the night under the roof of another god,” Varina interrupts with a reluctant expression. “Belara is a jealous goddess. Surely Kalos has told you all about my Lady. I am afraid I will have to copy it here.”
“Sure. Belara. Of course.” I know more about Belara than I would like. Namely that she’s the goddess of beauty and she’sKalos’s ex-lover and that he was furious when she spurned him. That was millennia ago, but it’s hard not to be a little fixated on stuff like that given that she’s a goddess and I’m a mortal with chipmunk cheeks. It makes sense that she’d be a jealous goddess, but that doesn’t mean I’m eager to hand my book over to a perfect stranger.
Metta’s gaze is trusting, though. And I suppose I must cut the cord at some point.
Reluctantly, I close the book and hold it out to Varina. “It’s information to be shared. Of course you can borrow it.”
“Fabulous! You know, we have something very similar back at our temple in Eagleton.” Varina beams at me. “Not nearly as well organized as this, but still worth a look. If you’re ever in that area, you should visit and see it.”
“Oh, you do?” I’m surprised—Metta had seemed so confused about a book of cures when I’d pitched the idea. I look over at her, and Metta’s still smiling, her gaze equally bright. “I wouldn’t mind, no. How far is Eagleton from here?”
“Just a few hours’ walk,” Varina says. “You head north until you hit the river and follow the road along it. You truly can’t miss it.”
A similar book to mine. With more symbols, I wonder? Perhaps they’ll have ideas on how to handle some of the trickier ailments that defy my ideas on how to boil them down to easy-to-understand pictures. “I’ll check it out. Thank you.”
We talk for a bit longer, but Varina wants to get started on the book. The priestess immediately commandeers the largest table in Metta’s small house and lights several candles. She pulls out a bound journal of her own and flips it open, setting it next to my book and picking up a feather quill. Varina frowns down at the small pot she pulls out next, eyeing it with disdain. “Where’s your ink, Metta? Mine’s gone and dried up.”
“As if I’ve got ink.” Metta snorts. “I’m a simple woman, not a scholar.”
