Railiana Monroe's Arc

Chapter 9 of 10

Aria came at midday, three days after buying the bundle. She was the young apothecary from the village, the one who healed burns and worked till she couldn't see straight. She smelled of medicine before she reached the gate. Railiana had promised her a field tour. Now she stood by the plot and wished she hadn't. The plants had shifted overnight. New stalks she hadn't planted twisted up from the soil. She did not know what any of them would do. "Show me," Aria said. No greeting. She stepped straight to the beds. Railiana caught her sleeve. "Wait. Some of these are new. I haven't tested them." She pointed to a half-formed stalk with a pink bud. "That one wasn't here yesterday. I don't know if it's safe to touch." Aria looked at her hand on the sleeve, then at the plot. "Then we find out carefully." They worked the rows together. Railiana named what she knew. The red root for pain. The blue flower for cooling. The vine that killed hunger. Aria crouched over each one, sniffed, wrote marks on a scrap of paper. She did not rush. Then Railiana saw the pink bud had opened. Its petals glowed and dripped a thin sap. A bee crawled across it and dropped off the leaf, still. Railiana's stomach turned. "Don't touch that," she said. "Look. The bee." Aria stopped. She studied the dead bee without moving closer. "You were right to warn me," she said. "That one is poison, or close to it." She marked her paper. "We leave it. We fence it off." Railiana felt the fear loosen in her chest. The plants were unpredictable, yes. But Aria wasn't reckless. Together they could sort the safe from the deadly. By the time the light slanted low, they had marked every plant. Twelve safe. Four unknown. One poison, roped off with twine. Aria stood and brushed dirt from her white dress. "This field is worth more than my whole shop," she said flatly. "I've tried every herb I own for the fever. Nothing cooled it." She held up the blue flower's leaf. "This might." Railiana's heart lifted. "Take what you need for it." Aria shook her head. "Not enough. One flower won't test a cure. I need dozens. Maybe more." She named a number. Railiana's hope cracked. Her plot held six blue flowers. Six. "I can't grow that many by frost's end," Railiana said. "Then grow them faster." Aria pointed past the plot, toward the pond that glowed beyond the trees, and the cluster of warm stones stacked by the shed. "You made frost crops with those. Use more. Fill the whole field." Railiana looked at the small plot, then the wide frozen ground beyond it. The tour was over. Aria trusted her. But to save the fever cure, she'd have to push the pond's magic harder than ever, across land she had never dared to plant.