The next morning I leave the house, after preparing Sour Cream her morning treat, filled with a little anticipation and dread and the source of said feelings in hand. I have the ribbon rolled up and clutch it tightly to make sure no accidents happen. Cursed items are said to have a mind of their own after all. And supposedly all kinds of unlikely events can occur around them, more often than not leading to some kind of disaster.

The adventurers are not back yet either, thus I'm not too worried about not opening the shop in the morning. Not today anyway. It probably won't be long now though. While I can still smell smoke in the air, it isn't as thick as yesterday. There is no more thick, black smoke column in the distance anymore either. In all likelihood they are still busy extinguishing any embers and once that is taken care of, they will head back home.

And in all likelihood they are going to spend the rest of the day celebrating a job well done. I doubt anyone will need any potions. Except maybe for my hangover cure gums. I'll have to make sure that no one uses them to cheat at drinking games.

First things first though. I cross the village square and enter the temple's antechamber. As is custom I take off my sandals once again and wash my feet at the small basin intended for just this purpose. Unlike the last time no one stops me from dropping a few coins into the offering bowl today.

Like last time Wislawa, the priestess, seems to have already expected me. She greets me with a smile as I enter the actual hall of worship with the large, salty pool framed by countless enchanted candles.

“Welcome back Valeria! What can I do for you today?”

I bow my head slightly and raise the hand holding the enchanted ribbon that is bothering me.

“I enchanted this ribbon last night and it didn't turn out at all like I intended. I might have just made a silly mistake, but I can't help but worry that I might have created a cursed item by accident.”

She nods and guides me towards the pool.

“Come and join me as we ask the divine to pierce the veil of uncertainty. One way or another we will reveal the true nature of this little thing.”

We get undressed and climb into the briny pool together. The priestess puts the ribbon into a ornately carved wooden bowl which she lets float in between us as we kneel opposite of each other.

This isn't quite like my last visit here, when I asked for a divine boon. There will be no visions today. No, this is much simpler by comparison. Yet, I have a part to play, even it is to only to kneel with the priestess who does the actual work.

As the ripples in the pool die down the priestess starts to intone a prayer.

“Sun mother, provide the light. Dawn maiden, guide our eyes. Mother and maiden, pierce the veil and revel the truth. Tell us about the true nature of this item.”

The light seems to flicker for a moment, then a divine whisper reaches my ears. Almost like when I use a skill, except it seems to come from further away, probably because it is primarily intended for the priestess.

[The item is what it seems to be. It is not what it was intended to be, but this is not the result of a dire curse or anything else of that nature. While it isn't what it was supposed to be, there still might be good use for it.]

We let out the breath we have been holding, almost in unison. While this means that I must have screwed up somehow, it still is good news, everything considered. The alternative certainly would be worse.

The priestess flashes me a smile while we get back out of the pool with its salty water.

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“Well, it looks as if things aren't as dire as you feared. If you don't mind me asking, what were you trying to create?”

I answer as we dry off and get dressed again.

“I'm trying to enchant a collar or something like that for Sour Cream, the cat living with me, so that ticks and fleas and the likes won't bother her anymore. And I wouldn't mind having something similar. That is why I used one of grandma's old ribbons for the first experiment.”

The priestess nods as she accompanies me to the antechamber.

“An enchantment similar to the ones we have on our beds? Very practical. Except it didn't turn out as intended. I had a look at it with a skill myself. I hope you don't mind. It might still be useful to one of our local beekeepers. You don't keep any yourself, or do you?”

I ponder that idea for a moment. She isn't wrong. It could be quite useful for beekeepers. To bad I'm not one though.

“I have plenty of bees buzzing around my place whenever the weather is good, but they are either wild bees or someone else's.”

She nods, smiles and gives me a brief hug.

“Well, I could spread the word around our local beekeepers, if you don't mind. Maybe one of them will buy it?”

I return both the hug and the smile.

“Please do.”

She doesn't let go of me right away though, as there is still something else she wants to talk about.

“You remember my request from last time?”

Of course. She wants me to enchant some blessed candles for her every once in a while. I nod and she continues.

“Some of the candles inside are burning pretty low. Could you enchant a new batch for me, so I can replace them when they go out?”

As I nod once more she outright beams at me.

“Wonderful. Please wait a moment. I already prepared some candles for you. I'll be right back.”

She is true to her word. Almost within the blink of an eye she returns with a small cloth wrapped bundle.

“Here you go. Three blessed candles. Please enchant them for me. I'm not in a hurry yet, but I'd really like to have them ready for when I need them.”

I accept the bundle with the candles and shift it to my off hand, together with the apparently not cursed ribbon, so I can shake hands with Wislawa properly. Then I'm off.

My first way is back home, where I deposit both the candles and the ribbon on my workbench. I write a quick note, that I will open the shop a little later today, on the design board as well and place it out front. Then I head upstream to the bathhouse. I really need to wash up after the dip in the salty pool of the temple. Else I'll get all crusty from the salt before long.

As I return, there is a familiar face waiting for me. It is Elzbieta. She is sitting on the bench next to the front door, oblivious to the bees and other bugs buzzing around her, as she snores some cute little snores.

I decide to let her enjoy her nap in the morning sun for a little while longer, as I quietly open up the shop. She looks like she needs the sleep. I start a fire in the fireplace as well and set some water to boil. Next up pluck some of the dried herbs hanging from the rafters, to make a tea mix recommended for pregnant women.

When the water is hot I make two cups of hot tea, adding a little honey for good measure. I, of course, don't need any tea like that but drinking some won't hurt me either. And I don't want it to look like I made a cup of tea just for her.

I wait for the tea to cool a little, then I head out to the still snoring Elzbieta. After setting the tea down well out of reach, I poke her shoulder lightly to wake her up.

I was afraid she would wake with a start, but she actually takes a moment to come around and when she does she blushes and gets up to stretch herself.

“Sorry about that. Last night was a little longer than I initially anticipated. That fox was a really sly one, but I got it in the end!”

I nod and hand her a cup while taking a sip from my own. Bleh. Herbal tea. Even the honey can barely save it.

“That explains why you were fast asleep. It doesn't explain why you were sleeping here instead of in a bed at the inn though.”

She blushes a little more and pulls a crumpled paper from a pocket.

“I wanted to do your mana mill quest again. Got to take advantage of the fact that there is no competition for the easy money right now.”

I grin and sit down on the bench, patting the place next to me, inviting her to sit back down.

“Well, lets finish our tea first. The mill doesn't run away after all. This isn't one of my nightmares after all.”