Page 10 of The Elven Healer's Apprentice

When my father was alive, he had possessed a full head of silver hair. My hair marked me for what I was, the offspring of the outcast, an elf who died for an unworthy cause.

Thomasina saved me. After finding me ravaging the bean crop in her back garden, she dragged me into her home, a hovel I had to bend in half to fit inside. Even as a teen, I was almost full-grown. Thomasina fed me, bullied my story out of me, and set me straight on what to do. The next day, I appeared on my uncle’s doorstep.

In my uncle’s home, I knew love, support, and companionship. Emrys and I became close friends, almost brothers. Even when I went off to train as a healer, I never forgot the hobgoblin who had shown me great kindness. So, when it was time for me to strike off on my own and establish my home,I showed up at Thomasina’s door. With her husband long dead and her children all grown, she willingly accepted my offer.

“Sit,” Sina ordered, pointing toward the elf-sized chair at the table. Usually it was the only chair, but another stood opposite it. The sight of it reminded me of the woman.

I sat before broaching the subject. “Sina?”

“Soup and bread for now, then roast and vegetables for lunch.” She peered into my face. “Herbed nubbling bread for you for dinner with polni pie and brown berry cobbler.” She crossed to the pot warming on the hob. Dishing a generous helping into a shallow bowl, she nodded toward the bread on a board in the center of the table. “Cut your own.”

Sliding the bread over, I used the knife next to it to slice. “About the girl—”

“Food first.” She set the bowl in front of me. “I will talk. You have had your turn, and it is best you listen before jumping to conclusions. Someone might get hurt.”

“But—”

She cut me off with a glare and handed me a spoon. “Four bites before I begin. Not another word from you until it’s all gone.” Bustling off to check on the roast, she didn’t even give me a backward glance.

True to her word, when the fourth bite entered my mouth, she started talking.

“After you brought her to us, the girl healed fast. She was asking for work before the week was out. I didn’t let her because she wasn’t strong enough, but she showed her inclinations early. Questioning everything we did with a natural curiosity that was heartening to see.”

Sina pulled the roast from the oven and set it on the end of the table opposite me. The room filled with the scents of rosemary, thyme, sage, and another I couldn’t identify. As she checked the temperature, she continued speaking.

“About that point, we heard the news the curse had trapped you among those in the king’s fortress. Patients had been appearing at our gates like they usually do, but we knew that you wouldn’t be returning soon. I sent Lippin off to find Junipergo. While he was gone, Adela stepped in to help. By the time Junipergo arrived with Lippin, she had demonstrated her skill.”

I shoved the last bite into my mouth and protested with a full mouth. “But she doesn’t know how to treat elves.” My own people made up most of my clientele.

Sina shot me a warning look over her shoulder.

“I finished the soup,” I protested.

She turned away. “Do you remember the wife of the butcher you were so concerned about?”

“I do.” The elf was unusually small, and her husband was a normal-sized male. They had tried for children while still young, an unpopular decision among my kind since childbirth brought far greater risks to us than most other species. About fifty percent of my cases comprised elven pregnancies. The rest tended to be strange or complicated cases that most other healers refused to treat, which was how I had earned the position of king’s healer. “Did she reach full-term?” The butcher’s wife had been struggling the whole pregnancy and been only a month away from delivery when I left.

“She appeared at our gate the day before Junipergo arrived. Pre-term labor, blood show, and in great distress.”

“Did she live?”

“Adela brought her through. The child came and needed a bit of extra care, which I had no experience in.” Sina wrinkled her nose. “Caring for hobgoblin children is quite different from elves and humans.”

“You did pretty well with me.”

She laughed. “Half-grown gangly boys, those I know what to do with. Feed them, give them advice, and set them on theirway. Babies, not so easy.” She began preparing the oven for polni pie. “Junipergo arrived and Adela had the mother comfortably resting, babe in her arms, and the whole situation under complete control. Right then and there, he declared we didn’t need him.”

“Fool,” I muttered.

“No, fool.” Sina passed by and pointed to the bread in front of me. “Eat.” She pulled a pot from the storage shelves and set it over the fire. “A few hours of instructions on what herbs were poison for whom and he left her in full control. He appears once a month to deal with cases needing magical intervention and that is it.”

I stared down at the crusty slice in front of me. “It sounds like I owe her an apology.”

Sina whirled around and peered at me. “What did you do?”

Chapter Four

Adela

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