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I began to rely on writing out lists and recipes. But after a few days of this, Eilith rattled off a list of ingredients for something I had not yet made. I began to scribble it down and she slapped the lead from my hands.

“Memorize it, Halja! No writing.”

I stormed away in frustration, knowing she had set me up to fail, confused that a woman kind enough to house and heal a stranger could be so needlessly cruel.

And, sure enough, I forgot the recipe and had to tromp out into the snow to find her and ask for it again.

After it happened more than once, I began to resent her for it.

Was it fun for her to watch me struggle?

Was she just toying with me? It felt callous and cold.

Yet, slowly, my cognitive abilities began to improve. I memorized shorter, simpler recipes. I completed tasks without forgetting what I was doing halfway through. My mistakes became less frequent.

One night, I was finishing a new tincture she had dictated to me.

I had just strained the last of it, squeezing the remaining yellow-brown juices from the cheesecloth into a bottle when Eilith paused in her preparations of dinner to check my progress.

I watched her in anticipation, my fragile ego on the edge of shattering.

I did not want to cry in front of her again.

She tasted the tincture and smiled. “Good,” she said. “Now you couldn’t have done that three weeks ago, could you?”

She smiled knowingly at me, and I realized she had been training me.

She had been putting my brain through paces, making it work, getting it back in shape after the injury.

In the same way I was exercising Anam to stretch his scar tissue and rebuild his muscle tone, she was making me use my injured mind.

Just as everything had its place, every task had its purpose.

I thought of how much I had learned in my first weeks here.

How many healing tinctures and infusions I could make that I had never known existed before.

How I appreciated Eilith’s guidance. Her corrections may be direct, yes, but they were never harsh, never judgmental.

She was just as committed to teaching me as I was to learning, even though I was a total stranger.

A half thawed, fae-touched ice block that had just appeared on her doorstep one day.

“Eilith, can I ask you something?” I ventured as she corked the bottle and swirled the contents.

“I’ve always disliked when people say that. Just ask, Halja. And if I don’t want to answer, I won’t.”

“I feel like I ended up here for a reason. I don’t think it was chance that Byrgir found me and brought me to you.”

“There’s no such thing as a coincidence,” Eilith nodded in agreement. “But that wasn’t a question.”

“I like learning from you, being here. Can I… Can I stay and be your apprentice?”

“What did you think you’d been doing?”

I looked up to see her looking at me, smiling that knowing smile.

∞∞∞

I had just returned from exercising Anam in the early afternoon when I heard an unfamiliar voice drifting from the front of the steading. I rounded the corner of the cottage to see a young woman bundled up in a heavy traveling cloak, holding the reins of a small mare.

Eilith gestured toward me as I approached. “Halja will take your horse to the stable. Halja, this is Catriona. Catriona, this is Halja, my apprentice.”

“Hi, Catriona.” I smiled and stepped forward to take the reins.

When my eyes met hers, she stepped back with a sharp inhale.

I quickly dropped my gaze, snatching the reins from where she’d left them dangling.

I knew my large, black irises were a shock––it wasn’t an uncommon reaction––but it still stung every time.

Her eyes were a clear, crystalline blue, brilliant against her pale skin, framed by the long, dark curls escaping her cloak. Her beauty intensified the shame of my own appearance and her response to it. I led the horses away to the stable.

When I returned to the house, the two women were seated at the table.

Steam trailed lazily from mugs of tea in front of them, and Eilith had amassed a collection of tinctures, salves, and bags of dried herbs for Catriona.

I hung my cloak and hat, then poured the last of the tea into a mug for myself.

“We were just getting everything Cat needs in order,” Eilith explained. “She distributes medicines to a few households for me in the winter when I don’t travel to the village myself. Most of this is for her grandfather’s joint pain, but there’s a little of everything in there.”

I sat at the table and looked through the collection. I recognized most things, simple tinctures and tonics I had already learned to make, but some were new to me. I glanced at Catriona, but she did not meet my eye.

“Eilith, I have a couple more requests this time,” Catriona began hesitantly, before briefly looking my way. I immediately felt that this was not my place to be, and was about to rise and excuse myself, but Eilith noticed her look.

“You can speak freely in front of her,” she said. “She’s learning this trade and needs to see how the real work of helping folks is done. She’s harmless, I promise.” Eilith winked at me, and Catriona smiled shyly down at her mug. I felt the tension in the room loosen. “Go ahead,” Eilith encouraged.

Our guest glanced quickly at me again, this time meeting my eye before looking down, speaking to the table. “I need more contraceptive herbs, if you have them. I’ve run out. And… I’ve heard you can make love potions?”

“The contraceptives are simple,” Eilith said as she pulled out a large clay pot and began spooning dried herbs into a small bag. “You remember the dose?”

“Yes, of course.” Catriona flushed and kept her gaze down.

“The love potion, on the other hand… Tell me more about who it is intended for,” Eilith requested.

“Um, Samuel MacEaelar. He just bought the old Gutraidh steading.”

“I’m familiar. Do you know each other well?”

“A bit,” Catriona answered. “We danced all night at Yule. He invited me to come see the additions he’d made to the house. There are rumors he’ll be looking for a wife soon, once the steading is in order.”

Eilith smiled, “And he’s a good man? Was he kind to you?”

Catriona’s blush deepened. “He’s very kind. He speaks and acts like a gentleman. He bought all my drinks at Yule, and he thanked me after every dance, and… he made me a little cedar crown.” She touched her hair, remembering. “He was almost too nice.”

“Well then, it sounds to me like you won’t be needing a love potion at all, Cat.

I’m sure he’s already wrapped around your finger.

But if you’re feeling nervous and want to be sure, I can give you one.

” Eilith pulled open a drawer near the bottom of the floor-to-ceiling cabinets, removed a small, dark bottle, and handed it to Catriona.

“When you’re with him, get him to drink half. You drink the other half.”

“Thanks, Eilith. I know it’s a little silly but–”

“It’s not silly,” Eilith interjected, suddenly serious.

“Falling in love is the most beautiful and powerful thing we humans do. It is the most intense magic there is. But choosing a partner is also the most important decision we make. So you be sure he’s the right one, Cat.

Make sure he deserves you, earns you. You’re the prize. Remember that.”

“Thank you, Eilith. How much do I owe you for this?”

“You just take that one, dear, in exchange for a small favor. Bring these to the postmaster please?” She produced a small stack of folded and sealed letters, which she handed to Catriona. I saw the one I’d written to my mother among them.

Eilith packed away the rest of the haul, murmuring to herself as she totaled the cost.

“So, you’re fae-touched?” Catriona asked me abruptly.

“That’s what they say.” My palms began to sweat under her direct attention.

“Does it feel different? Can you, you know, do things with it?”

“I don’t think so,” I answered. “I mean, I don’t know how it feels to not be. I’ve always been this way. But it feels different in that people treat me differently, sometimes.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she stammered, “I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just I’ve never seen one… Someone like you before. You hear stories, but I didn’t know what it really looked like.”

“It’s alright. I didn’t mean you did, just that it happens,” I said.

She smiled, and I felt some of the tension ease.

Eilith convinced Catriona to stay for dinner and the two of them talked while I listened, busying my hands with carding wool.

Cat told us of Skeioholm, and the recent happenings with this family and that.

Skeioholm was a much larger village than the one I had grown up near, and the market alone sounded intriguing.

The deep and sheltered harbor meant it attracted much more trade than most other villages of Seonaid, and brought in goods and wares from all over Elvik, sometimes even other countries.

Most of the village of Skeioholm was fairly well-off, and enjoyed a good holiday party.

Cat took a particularly long time describing this year’s Yule celebration: The burning of the blessed yule log, the food, the mead, the dancing.

She told us what her dress looked like, how it flared as she twirled and danced throughout the night.

Her stories made me miss the celebrations in Skalmarnes, and I wondered if I might be able to attend a holiday festival in Skeioholm soon.

It grew dark as we talked and began to snow.

Eilith insisted she stay the night rather than make the long journey to town in the dark, so Cat took my bed for the evening and I made a bed of sheepskins near the hearth.

Rose, Eilith’s wolfdog, flopped down beside me.

I drifted to sleep with my fingers buried in her thick, warm fur.