Words were boring. Atraeya didn't know what they said. She couldn't remember which letter meant what sound. And what very little pictures that littered the pages weren't exactly clear about what the label was labeling. She had nodded off before she knew it. Perhaps she was tired from using all that magic. Or perhaps the book was too boring. That seemed more likely. She had just about fallen asleep in her chair when gramps startled her awake by clearing his throat.

"It's getting late. You're old enough to know when it's time to go to bed aren't you?" She couldn't argue with him there. She was old enough to travel by herself. She was old enough put herself to bed when her body told her to.

With a slow, sleepy nod, she slid off her chair that she had been sitting on for the better part of the day. Her butt tingled and her legs ached, but she managed to trudge herself to the corner of the room and fall fast asleep.

Atraeya tossed and turned all night, and woke up late. Really, really late. Her whole body now ached and shivered. But her face and hands burned. When she sat up, she felt like she could heave. The consequences of using too much magic.

She had been warned against doing so, but in her excitement she failed to regulate her mana, using too much of it on the broom, and now her witch body didn't have enough to circulate. With no potions to drink, and no way to make any, Atraeya was stuck in bed for half the day until she could feel strong enough to not want to vomit whenever she sat up.

Gramps had peered in on her when he came out of his room. "You've been in bed all morning. Sick?"

"I've got no more mana. My body can't move. I'm sorry I couldn't do more…"

"Don't worry about that nonsense, and just focus on getting better." In the end, he made more porridge and bread, and sat them beside her on the floor, before leaving for the day. At first it made her nauseous just knowing it was there and she wanted nothing more than to toss it across the room. She bore through it though, and the feeling subsided a few hour later. A few nibbles was all it took for her to gain her appetite again, like her stomach suddenly remembered it hadn't eaten all day. By then it was cold and goopy but she didn't care.

It was enough to get her out of bed, at least. Atraeya still didn't feel fully recuperated. No magic today it seemed. She didn't want to get sick again, and she doubted she had any to spare anyways. And no way was she going to read that boring book again. No matter how useful it might be. Barely any pictures and way too many letters.

Instead, she made sure her wand was hidden and out of sight, since she didn't need it today. Then also made sure the broom had finished its work. She planned to go out today, and didn't want it going off if gramps had brought someone inside. That sort of thing would raise all sorts of suspicions.

Today's plan was to go ingredient hunting. Even though she can't use magic, she didn't need it to gather parts. Especially the ones already gathered from the witch's cottage. Nothing was going to stop her from collecting for future potions. She would need to get plenty as well, since she had no recipes of her own and would need to experiment. Gramps was expecting her help, after all. She couldn't just expect him to keep her around without pulling her weight. And with Poe out of the picture this time, she could take all the time she needed to look over that shelf.

With a nod to herself, she went digging around the house for a spare basket. Easy enough, then she was on her way.

Outside was a bit muggy and muddy from the previous day's rain. If she wasn't careful, she would dirty her clothes again, and would need to wash them so soon after already cleaning them. And she was not keen on doing all that again without a cleaning potion. Atraeya carefully made her way through the sloppy, muddy fields and into the shaded forest full of puddles.

Nobody was here, which put her mind at ease. She didn't need to hide anything from anybody today. Through even more puddles and must she finally found the witch's cottage. It was just the way she left it. Except now there were animal prints in the mud mound leading into the broken window entrance.

She gulped.

This was either a peaceful animal, or a horribly wrong idea.

Carefully, inch by inch, she closed the gap between herself and the cottage. Her hand covered her mouth, and her eyes frantically darted between the ground and the cottage in an effort to not miss something obvious enough to trip over and alert the animal on the inside. This was a most definite bad idea, but her need for potion ingredients and her insatiable curiosity bid her to continue onwards.

She took one step into the mud with a loud squelch and almost let out a squeal in disgust. Thankfully, her hands were faster and she managed to clamp her mouth shut before her shouting could be heard. That was close, but the hem of her dress was much closer to being dirtied at the moment. She promised herself she would be quite this time for sure, and hoisted the hem up high enough and carefully climbed up, one squelch at a time.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Of course, Atraeya had failed to realize that just because she wasn't making noises out of her mouth, didn't mean that she wasn't make any noise whatsoever. Once she peeked her little head over and through the window, her eyes met with about a dozen deer, all staring right at her with their black, beady eyes glinting in the dark.

That was when she screamed, like any girl her age would have, ad they also encountered such large animals they had never seen so close before. The deer in turn also cried out in fear, and began to scamper about in a panic. One deer rushed right toward her, who stood in the way of the only exit they knew, followed by the rest of the herd.

Atraeya screamed out again, and in her attempt to quickly scurry out of the way to not be trampled, she slipped and slid down the side of the mud and onto the porch, dirtying her outfit and landing flat on her face.

Deer began to pour out from the window, with a stampede the kicked up mud, flatting parts where their hooves landed, and the rest flying off. It landed on her back and her hair. An overwhelming blow to her self-confidence and her chores. She tried to curl up and protect what body parts she could. By the time the rush had passed, everything was covered in mud. From the cottage walls, to the porch floor, to her. From head to toe. Atraeya looked upon her dress in devastation, and as the adrenaline wore off, burst into tears.

It really was a terrible, bad idea. She should have stopped and gone back the moment she saw those tracks. She could have waited a few days for them to leave but nooo.

After she had calmed down enough to wipe her tears away and sniffle a bit, she climbed back into the cottage. No longer caring about getting dirty. They were all gone now, so it should be safe. Hopefully. She peeked in again only to be met with blessed silence.

With another sniffle she climbed in, careful not to step in deer dung, and headed straight to the wall with all the jars on the shelves. Her first instinct was the powdered ones. Those seemed most likely to still function as it should. She grabbed a jar at random — a soft powder, bright in yellow like the sun, or dandelions. She thought it would smell rather pleasant and promptly shoved her nose in the jar, only to be assaulted with a smell not unlike a strong fart.

Atraeya loudly coughed and promptly slammed the lid shut. That one had surely gone bad.

Not wanting a repeat offense, she chose her next jar carefully. This one was full of seeds. Almond shaped, black and white stripes, and when she cracked on open it revealed a small beige kernel. She thought about tossing it in her mouth, but a quick glance at the yellow powder, now situated on the far end of the shelf, assured her that no, she absolutely should not eat anything in here. But this one was going in the basket.

She spotted a jar filled with dulled fish scaled, more jar filled with mummified animal parts, and an entire shelf lined with various types of bones. All labeled, of course they were labeled. She only pouted for a moment before moving on. There were even some jars filled with what once might have been familiar to her, if her nose was right. Vinegar, ammonia, olive oil, charcoal. Atraeya had no idea the witch had used such a variety of ingredients. She began giddy at the thought of experimenting with them all as she pocked them. So many possibilities!

With a nod to herself, Atraeya made her way back home just as the sun had began to set. And desperately thinking up an excuse as to why her clothes were covered in mud. Perhaps gramps wouldn't be home yet, and she could just change into something else? She could hide the clothes under her bed until she made a cleaning potion.

Unfortunately for Atraeya, it was just her luck she walked in right as dinner had begun to be served. To her surprise, it wasn't more porridge and bread, but instead a medley of roasted vegetables and what looked like a whole duck. Meat! Her mouth drooled at the very sight.

"Hold it! Don't you dare think of taking another step inside this house! How could you come in here caked in all that mud, huh? Even your face is filthy. Tch. Don't you have the decency to at least dip yourself in the river? Why, when Mel was younger, she always —"

Atraeya placed her basket of goodies on the ground and immediately dipped out of the house. This was a rant, forged and perfected with the wisdom of time. Her own mother's rants were always long-winded and naggy. No way did she want to see where her mother got it from. But at least the river seemed like a good idea. She didn't know why she couldn't think of it before.

Because it was cold.

The sun had just passed the horizon, and the stars had begun to twinkle into being. Even though it was much warmer earlier today, enough time had passed that the water had cooled. This wasn't the way she wanted to get clean. But she needed to be quick. She took off the shoes. Those can be cleaned tomorrow.

On then did she — reluctantly — wade in fully clothed. She did her best to remove the chunkiest bits of mud on her clothes, and rub the dried on bits behind her sleeves and socks, and even behind her neck. By the time she had rubbed her face with some water did she start shivering. It was only when she needed to clean her hair that she hesitated. Dunking herself was the quickest way. But it was so cold!

But she didn't want to be here a moment longer. There was meat on the table tonight. She took a deep breath, plugged her nose, and went under. Most of it came off the moment it came into contact with water, but she ruffled it up a bit just in case. Now she was finally clean enough to go back inside, dripping wet. She made sure to leave her shoes outside the door.

"It may look like a little bit of mud to you, but now you've got the broom going and Mel— oh." Gramps stopped ranting long enough to notice her now dirt-free self. He gave her a sharp nod of approval. "Better. Don't do that again."

"Yes, gramps." Atraeya changed into her loaned pajamas in the other room before sitting down to eat. It was a feast for her taste buds. She didn't normally like vegetables either, but these ones were so delicious. She ate her plate clean in mere minutes.