"Eugenia's cottage should be just up ahead," Marcus said.

"Hopefully she can tell us something that makes this hike worth our time." Alexander replied.

"Still young, and he complains about a walk. Put another thirty years on those knees and then you might be allowed to complain. In the army, soldiers are expected to march twenty miles a day in their armor, carrying enough supplies on them to last several days. Maybe I should start making you do likewise so that little trips like this seem easy."

"Yes, but then you'd have to march with me to make sure I don't just walk out of sight and take a nap."

"Fair enough."

The two men continued to make their way along the dirt path through the forest. The sun streamed through the branches overhead as a light breeze moved through the trees. The path was broad and packed hard from heavy use, branches and vegetation regularly cut back to ensure the way was clear and easy to travel on.

The path ended in a large clearing with a small cottage set at the edge nearest the path. Beyond it Alexander could see gardens and various trees and bushes and a stream running through the middle of the clearing with a small wooden foot bridge spanning it and a wooden shed off to the side that was larger than the cottage. Surrounding the clearing was a chest-high wooden fence.

"Eugenia, are you home?" Marcus shouted as the pair of men stopped at the edge of the clearing. A moment passed before a blonde-haired woman in a pale blue dress poked her head around the cottage and then walked out to greet them.

"Inquisitors, what brings you out to my humble home?" She said with a smile as the two men removed their helmets yet again. "Here for a tonic? Ointment? Or just to visit?"

Alexander had come with Marcus to see Eugenia the herbalist a few times before. The townsfolk of Croton and the surrounding farms and nearby villages relied heavily on her knowledge of plants and medicines.

"I'm afraid we're here on official business, have a couple of questions for you."

"Oh? Well, let's go inside, then," she said as she began walking towards the door of her small home. The Inquisitors followed her into the cottage. The inner walls were lined with shelves, cupboards, and hooks. Every inch of the place was filled with tools, containers. Drying herbs hanging from the ceiling and walls filled the cottage with a strong, earthy scent. A bow, quiver of arrows, and spear rested by the bed in the corner and an axe leaned against the wall by the door.

"It would be a lot more convenient for me if you lived closer to town, or even in it." Marcus said as he entered the cottage.

"Yes, but a lot less convenient for me," Eugenia replied as she uncovered a pot on her wood stove and smelled whatever was inside, "I'd have mothers banging on my door every time their baby coughed in the night, old men pestering me at all hours for tonics to help with constipation instead of changing their diet," she continued as she added another log to the fire.

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"So, what business can I help the Inquisition with?" Eugenia said as she sat on a stool and rested her elbows on her worktable. Her hands were stained by the plants she worked with; her arms thin but toned from years of hard labor.

"We were hoping you could tell us what was in this," Marcus said as he gestured for Alexander to hand her the bottle. She took it and sniffed the bottle, unfazed by the pungent odor inside. "Bitter Kiss extract," she stated.

"Bitter Kiss? Isn't that plant poisonous?" Alexander asked.

"If eaten raw or ingested in large doses, yes," Eugenia replied as she swirled her little finger in the opening of the bottle before dabbing it on her tongue, "but the dosage determines whether a thing is poison or cure, as the physician Galetes wrote. A sip, just a tiny sip, of Bitter Kiss tonic each night before bed promotes health and vigor. Popular among young men engaged in hard labor, or old men who refuse to accept the realities of their age gracefully."

Alexander looked to Marcus, who looked back at him and nodded. "What about among women?" Alexander asked.

"Ah, so that's what this is about, is it?" Eugenia asked, raising an eyebrow and leaning back against the wall behind her stool. She sighed before saying "Bitter Kiss extract can help prevent conception, taken correctly. A larger sip, not quite a mouthful, taken on the first day a woman bleeds and then on the 8th day after that will help keep her belly flat."

"So, she was laying with someone, after all?" Alexander said, furrowing his brow and looking at Marcus.

"Possibly, though perhaps she wanted it for health." Marcus replied.

"If so, why keep it hidden from her parents?"

"Likely because it could be used to thwart conception. I do believe it is likely she was using it as a contraceptive, it seems the most likely explanation, but we cannot discount the possibility that she was taking it for its health-promoting effects but feared being suspected of unchaste deeds."

"Pardon my intrusion on this conversation happening in front of me in my home," Eugenia interrupted, "but who are you talking about?"

"Ah, sorry, we didn't mean to ignore you," Marcus apologized, "but Simone, the daughter of the baker Simeon, was found dead this morning. We found this bottle, empty, in a hiding spot beneath the floorboards where she slept."

"I didn't provide her with this, I swear it," Eugenia said, placing the bottle on the table and raising her hands, a note of concern in her voice.

"Could you tell use who you did sell it to?" Marcus asked.

"I'm afraid I can't." Eugenia replied before quickly adding "Not because I don't want to!" as she stood up and opened a cupboard door to reveal three shelves full of nearly identical bottles. "I couldn't pick this specific bottle out of any of the others I've used."

"Could you tell us who you did sell Bitter Kiss to, then?"

Eugenia snorted. "Most men within a week's journey who can afford it have bought it from me at some point, for themselves or their wives or, well, just their wives, I'm sure. Bottle like that, taken in proper dose, would last months for a man, a year for a woman. All I can tell you is that the courier boy, Patrick I believe his name is, comes by to pick some up for the men in town and drop off their payments."

"Thank you, we'll have to ask him about who his clients are when we return to town."

"Will that be all, Inquisitors?"

Marcus prodded Alexander with his foot. "One more thing," the younger man said as he put the bag of barley on the table in front of Eugenia, "Do you know anything about rituals-"

"Inquisitor, I've told you before," the herbalist interrupted as she threw up her hands and shook her head, "I can't teach you Thaumaturgy. I wasn't born with the gift, I can't instruct-"

"No no, nothing like that," Alexander said quickly, "We found a sack of grain hidden along with the bottle and thought perhaps she was attempting to use it in some spell."

"A sack of grain, you say?" Eugenia said slowly as she leaned forward and looked inside the bag on her table.

"Yes, barley, specifically, that's begun to sprout."

Eugenia frowned and nodded her head.

"Well, Inquisitors, it saddens me to inform you that your dead girl was pregnant."