I slept as best as I could throughout the night, sleeping on the other side of the house away from the women and in the spot I had claimed for myself. It wasn't so cold as to force me to stand near the fire, and my cloak would work well in keeping me warm throughout the night. The only real trouble was trying to sleep through any coughing Doireann might make throughout the night. But I had gotten used to that at this point, the weeks I had spent here teaching me to sleep despite the noise. Or perhaps I was too tired to be bothered by it anymore.

As was usual I awoke first. I was tasked with refilling the water pots everyday, since I was the strongest one here and that is a very intense labor. I know Brenna would do the job if I wasn't around, though. I got up, wearing my cloak and trousers but no tunic, and walked outside into the fresh morning air, tunic in hand. The trees were still shedding their leaves, and the ground was still mind numbingly colorful. Again there would be no clouds today, and I could sense no future rain. Another good day to harvest wheat and other crops. But for us, it's just another good day to forage within the forest.

Picking up two water pots by their ropes after dumping out whatever water remained within each, and after putting on my tunic, I headed towards the river to collect water. There would be others around as well, but like always I would not be given much mind. The pathway towards the village was littered with leaves, and the canopy of the forest becoming gradually more loose. More light would get in nowadays than was typical within the forest.

The wheat within the fields were golden, and men could already be seen harvesting the crops. The harvest this year was below average, but not dangerously so. We would survive another winter and have enough food for the coming spring, fortunate we are.

The river banks, with its gravely surface, was populated by a couple of people. One elderly man, Aran, was collecting water for his family. A couple of young girl, who were younger than me, were chatting as each collected their own share of water. I did my best to ignore all of it, and dipped both pots into the river to collect my share. Much less that I was afraid of being noticed as much as I didn't want to be noticed, too much attention isn't all that good. From experience, I mean. People calling out my name at random is very unsettling and I'm thankful for the hunt's bear attack becoming a memory rather than a staying talking point.

Walking through the village and back towards my master's house I catch the sight of my dad working in his own fields. He wore only his tunic and trousers, cutting away at the wheat and leaving the bundles on the ground for someone else to pick up and make into sheaves later. Most likely that someone else being a family member. He didn't notice me, and I'd rather not go all the way to him in order to greet him. The herbalist was adamant over me not making contact with anyone else. Not that I didn't want to, but both the strain of my forearms and the master's words reminded me I should go back to her home as fast as I could.

It didn't take that long to reach back to my master's home. Brenna was waiting outside, a stick in hand, twirling it between her fingers. Baskets next to her and ready to once again go foraging. I placed the pots of water on the ground and went inside for my cup, and Brenna's as well. Two vaguely orange cups, both essentially the same design and pattern. Nothing special about either of them, since we only wanted to drink from it and there wouldn't be much point in spending time trying to make it look pretty.

Heading back outside I handed Brenna her own cup, which she took with some degree of grogginess. We'd both drink water, and if Brenna wanted to clean her face then she could. One pot was mainly for cleaning and the other for drinking, after all. She decided to drink water, doing so after I already filled my own cup up. The water was crisp and cold as it went down my throat, not the most pleasant sensation as I had only just woken up. But I was thirsty, and thirst always improves the taste of water more than anything else.

Having both drunk our fill of water, and Brenna splashing her face with water so she could cast away her grogginess, we picked up our baskets and headed out to the forest to once again gather anything still left around. We could do this until the first snow, but we'd most likely reach a point where gathering anything else would be more of a waste of time than it was helpful. For now we'll gather baskets of acorns and bring those to the village for the villagers to do what they want with them. After some walking, towards a direction we had not walked before, Brenna spoke up.

"There's a way we can help Doireann." Her voice was nonchalant, almost unnatural. Was there? The best we could do would provide to her medicine were she to need it, but all else is up to the hands of the gods.

"There's more we can do than leave it to the hands of time," Brenna stopped walking and turned to me. I stopped as well to look at her. Her face was calculating, watching me carefully for something, her voice began to shake from tension. "Walk with me if you want to help. I want to do something. It won't take long, we'll both be able to go back to foraging quickly."

I don't know what Brenna was planning, and honestly she's starting to scare me a bit. But I nodded, and seeing that I nodded her demeanor became softer.

"Good. Follow me, then. We're going to my secret meditating area." She's only taken me there twice, once to simply show off her spot to someone and the other to see if meditating with someone else would be helpful. More of a distraction as it turned out, as my method of meditating made the air too "crowded," as Brenna put it.

Following Brenna as she turned back away from the original direction we were going and to the general direction of her meditation place, I noted the gradual increase of Brenna's shakiness. Her breathing was steady, and her steps as well, but her shoulders and hands would slowly and surely show her increasing anxiousness. We were close now to her meditation area, we weren't all that far from it to begin with although our original direction was heading in the exact opposite direction of where it was.

The trees around surrounded a small rock formation, dark and glistening with a steady stream of water falling from it's highest point. A small stream formed and lead towards the river, not very fast bit not very slow either. And definitely not large, but it's enough to wash yourself with if you really wanted to.

"Alright." Brenna's whispered, "Attie, take off your tunic and cloak. Stand under the waterfall, don't mind the chill water." Did I really have to do that? I'd prefer to not be freezing for the rest of the day.

"I'll do the same. The closer we are to what we wore as babies the better. But to preserve modesty let's at least keep your trousers and my skirt on." I looked at her to make certain she knew what she was saying. Taking a glance at me and then quickly looking away, she says, "it's part of the ritual. Just trust me. We'll be able to help Doireann, I need you to do what I say as I say it, to the word."

I nodded. She sounded serious, and wasn't just playing a prank on me. I took of the clothes I needed to. I do know Brenna's dress is actually a two piece one, a green skirt and a white long sleeved shirt. Relatively uncommon within our village but that's what she wore. I didn't look at her as I headed towards the small waterfall, the cold water underneath my feet leading to the slippery sensation of the small stream's floor. Eventually the slightly annoying pitter patter of water hitting my head made itself annoyingly obvious to my ears.

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I didn't look at Brenna as she walked over the stream herself and under the small waterfall. The waterfall wasn't large, so we were nearly touching as I waited for the rest of her commands. My chest pounding with anticipation of whatever she's going to do.

"I need you to close your eyes, turn to me, and count to ten. When you reach ten, open your eyes. Do you understand?" I nodded. I did as she said, closed my eyes and then turned to her. I counted. One, two, three, four, five, si-

I felt something hit me my abdomen, and an equally sudden force pull something out.

"Don't open your eyes. Don't worry, it'll be fine, trust me, j-just don't open your eyes please, Attie," Unfortunately, or fortunately, I couldn't abide by her command. I opened my eyes and looked towards my stomach. Warm fluid was flowing down from where I had felt the impact, and to my horror a wound had been placed there. I recoiled back, pushing Brenna away in the process, tumbling backwards and landing on my ass as I slipped on the slipper ground below.

Brenna had tears in her eyes, her hands quivering, holding her knife unsteadily with both hands. "Attie, it's going to be okay, I've been talking to s-some faeries. They've taught me a lot, I know I can trust them, just trust me. I'll be able to fix Doireann back to normal," her face which was previously only looking at her knife, turned to me and she repeated, "trust me, please."

Impossible. I got up with unsteady feet and walked backwards, keeping my eye on Brenna and my left hand on my wound. I don't know what she's doing but she needs to stop. She walks towards me, and I walk faster backwards.

"Attie, it's alright, you'll be fine. I'll drop the knife, just stay still for me. I can't treat you if you keep moving around so much." True to her words, she did drop her knife, tossing it over to where our clothes were. Showing me empty hands she makes a pathetic smile and motions with her mouth a 'see?' Should I trust her? No, this is too dangerous. Every alarm within my mind was blaring at me to either attack her now that she was unarmed, or run away. I was wounded, but the herbalist's home wasn't so far from here. But this is Brenna, she's not stupid. She wouldn't betray me, kill me, just on the words of a faery.

Would she? I stopped and watched her intently. She let out a genuine smile, her eyes glistening by the prospect of me listening to her words. But they quickly darkened again, an unknowable quality etching itself into her face. "Thank you, Attie. Now come, I'll treat your wounds. I've brought my bag with me."

She didn't move, only motioning her arms towards her clothes. I nodded, and with calculating moves made my way to her clothes. Why she didn't move there herself, considering she wasn't injured, I didn't know. But this is Brenna. But this is too much.

Almost on cue, the moment I let my guard down, a spike of ice made it's way towards my head. I had only a split second to fall down as quickly as I could towards the water, dodging the projectile and saving my own life.

"No! Attie, stop moving, it's not supposed to go like this!"

What the hell was that? Why would there be an icicle flying to my head? Why was there an icicle, did she throw it? I definitely didn't see her throw it. I moved as quickly towards the knife as I could, a steady stream of blood flowing from my abdomen into the water. But Brenna had her own plans, and she had already begun to move as soon as she saw I dodged the icicle. Running towards me through the slippery ground, moving through the slippery ground with care one would only get through experience she caught up to my slowed and intentionally deliberate movement and tackled me into the stream below.

"Stay still! Once I get this boon I will be able to bring you back, trust me Attie, please," the water was cold, my pants were soaked, this is getting more amd more dangerous by the moment. Brenna was trying to get her hands over my neck. It this were a year ago we would've stood equal chance, but the movement of time inevitably gave me a stronger body than she had. This was no longer a game, or an asking for a favor, I was fighting for my life and I needed her to get off me and away.

At least, that was my plan. But I could feel the water beneath me get colder, and ice start to form around my skin. What the hell is happening? I shoved and kicked Brenna off of me, much to the displeasure of my wound, and crawled away towards dry land and to the knife as best as I could. I felt the impact of another object upon my back, cold and harsh against my skin. I had gotten to land before the impact, and onto the knife, I tried to get up by my left leg was buckling beneath me.

I turned around towards Brenna, knife in hand and pointing at her, and felt at the spot of the impact and felt something cold, smooth, and hard stuck to my back. Is this an icicle? Did Brenna throw another icicle at me? Brenna had a horrified look on her face. If she was so scared why is going through with this?

"Put the knife down. I don't want to hurt you more, Attie, just stay still. Look, this is the power I've already been granted, if I go through with this I'll be able to fix everything wrong," as she spoke, her voice shaking with the starts of anger, small amounts of water elementals formed around her hands. Slowly adding to itself until a full icicle was formed, I scarcely understood what she did or why it worked. "See?"

The icicle floated and was again launched at my face, which I dodged more on accident as my feet gave in below me, forcing me to fall to the floor. What did the icicle on my back hit? Why was it so hard to stand up?

"Attie." Her voice ferocious, I flinched at the sound of it, she was taking steady steps towards me. I tried my best to stand up, but when that failed I tried my best to crawl and scoot away as fast as I could. She went down and scooped and splashed the water beneath her, magically forcing the water to remain in the air and form into more sharp ice projectiles to lob at me. These were much smaller than the icicles she threw at me before, more like needles. She intended to bring me down slowly rather than in one clean strike.

This was a chance, such small needles could be dealt with just through gritting my teeth. She had made a mistake and if I only had the energy to move my legs I would. With shaky legs I managed to successfully stand up, a small barrage of needles meeting my skin and inserting themselves deep into it. No, I've made a mistake, this is actually much more dangerous than I thought. All around my left side icy needles were protruding outward, as I had braced for the attack by shifting my back towards it and protected my neck and face.

But I could move still, the shaking within my legs leaving me as I took steady steps away from Brenna. She started taking steady steps forward once again, forming icicles from the splashing water before and throwing them as she walked. Protecting my face with my left arm I and holding my knife with my right, I made my best effort to walk away and block any incoming needles with my arms. Several embed themselves into my flesh, most in my arms but many in my abdomen. Some were even poking through my palm and into the other side of my hand. This is getting more dangerous than I think I'm capable of handling.

I hit a tree behind me with my back, a natural barrier. Slinking away behind the tree I stopped, placed my back against it, and then started walking away. The tree should block most projectiles, and if I walk deep enough she'd have to follow me into the woods. There's a lot more opportunity to be found here.

"Attie, don't you run. You'll bleed out if you run." I'm not going to listen to her. I started jogging, the best I could do in my current state, but I knew Brenna could easily catch up to me. "You're just going to die exhausted, Attie, get out of the forest you coward!"

Calling me a coward after stabbing me while my eyes were closed, when I followed your stupid instructions to the word, and you staying at a safe distance flinging sharp and pointy icicles at me after you've failed at killing me, isn't even funny.