I took her hand and rose, ready to start another day of searching.

“So what do I need to use in order to do a reanimation?” I asked her.

“Well, in your case, you’ll want some rather specific reagents: phlox flowers, nettles and a shed skin of some sort. I’m fairly certain we can find the nettles -stinging nettles, mind you- and the shed skin relatively easily, but I’m not so sure about the phlox flowers. I’m not sure they grow wild here in West Virginia. Not natively, at least,” she replied.

“Nettles, huh? I’m gonna grab something to hold it, because I do not want to deal with that rash,” I said, ducking back into the tent. I grabbed a dirty shirt, and tied it into a makeshift bag, fully expecting to burn it once we were done with this trip. I then went and grabbed a quick snack to have for the day, and we walked out of the cave, striking off towards the small waterfall.

“Well. This is likely going to be a challenge. I have never heard of phlox, and we will be lucky to find some snakeskin at this time of year. Nettle should be fairly easy. It grows in damp areas and disturbed soil, like old farms and such. I’m not relishing the idea of touching it, though. Yeah, this is going to be difficult. How much of each do I need?” I concluded.

“Well, phlox are grown in flower gardens, right? They probably spread on the wind, or by some other animal. We are in the wild, so if you know where snakes nest, we can probably find some shed skin, and I think I saw some nettles by the creek. As to how much? That will be up to you to determine. Your intuition will be the only guide you will have. Not because I don’t want to or can’t, but because I simply don’t know. You do things very differently from anything I’ve encountered in my five thousand years,” Katira replied with a shrug.

I nodded, conceding the point. From everything I’d experienced this week, I was a bit of an anomaly when it came to Necromancy. “Well, I guess we’ll just see what happens then, won’t we?” I asked with a smile.

Katired smiled back and nodded and we began searching in earnest for my reagents. Once we reached the waterfall, a quick glance told me that there were no nettles around, so we headed downstream, eyes scanning for any trace of the plants.

We didn’t find anything for the first few hours. Just more mint and several terrified crayfish. I spied several fallen logs on the opposite side, but investigations proved fruitless. I had no idea how far we had wandered from the cave, but it was probably rather far.

Having found nothing on this side of the stream, I decided to cross it and wander into the wooded area on the other side. I figured I could do with the change in scenery, as I probably had a sunburn by now.

We traipsed into the woods, being mindful of the undergrowth. I made sure to mark our path with some deadfall leaned up against the trees at unnatural angles so we might be able to follow them back to the stream.

We saw several lizards skittering through the undergrowth, a plethora of spiders, and even saw a fox in the distance. No nettles or phloxes or snake skins, unfortunately. I was about to give up and turn back towards the creek when Katira took my arm gently and pointed to a shaded clearing in the forest.

“Master. Look over there. I think that may be nettle.”

I looked over and saw a patch of rather tall, green plants that looked like gigantic peppermint, only with spiky holly-like leaves. I approached cautiously, not wanting to come in contact with the plant if I could help it. I pulled out my multitool, clamped the pliers on a leaf, and pulled it off the plant.

I took the leaf a distance from the patch and inspected it closely. Under the right angle of light, there were, indeed, small translucent hairs all over it.

“Yep. This is nettle. One whole plant should be enough, I think,” I said, heading back to the patch.

The plants were nearly three feet tall and bushy. I carefully placed a stick against a stem, and cut it off at the ground, making sure the thing wouldn’t fall on my back. I gently sliced the thick stem into sections, and put them into my makeshift bag, which Katira helpfully held open for me. Once the nettles were secured, I tied the shirt to a long stick and carried it like a bindle.

“One down, two to go!” I said happily. “Let’s get out of here and find a field. More likely to find wildflowers there, and if we’re lucky, we’ll find a phlox or two. What do you think?” I asked, looking at my familiar with a smile.

“I think that’s a wise choice, Master. It’s after noon, and I’m sure you’re getting hungry. Hopefully, we will find the other two reagents soon. Let’s go,” she said softly, and we began our trek out of the forest.

On our way back to the stream, I caught sight of a field off to my left. I pointed it out to Katira, and she agreed that it would be a likely place to begin our search. After about an hour, we emerged from the canopy, and I walked over to the stream.

I took off my shoes and socks, and dipped my feet into the cool waters, relishing the relief. Katira sat beside me, and leaned back on her hands, looking at the clouds.

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“You know, I never thought I’d be doing this, Master.”

“Doing what?”

“Teaching Initiates. Working with my Master instead of for him. Being treated like I was a person, not a tool. You’ve done things for me that haven’t happened in hundreds of years. But being trusted enough to teach? That’s a new thing for me. Thank you, Master.”

I chuckled softly. “Treating you like a person shouldn’t be a bonus. It should be the norm. No matter the form you take. Even if you have been taught that you aren’t a person, as far as I’m concerned that is exactly what you are to me. A person. Someone I care for. Someone I care about. And as long as I may live, that’s what you’ll always be treated as.” I patted her hand, and closed my fingers around hers.

We sat there in companionable silence for a bit, and I ate the snack I’d brought. I pulled my feet from the water, let them dry and put my footwear back on. We rose, and headed off into the field to look for our last two reagents.

As luck would have it, I spied an old shed skin on the ground not ten feet into the field. Snatching it up, I stuffed it into a pocket, and continued on. One more item to go.

I stopped in my tracks. “Come to think of it, I’ve never actually seen a phlox. Nobody really grew flowers when I was a kid, and I’ve never had any real desire to grow them, myself. Let’s check the Grimoire,” I said.

As I opened the Grimoire, Katira rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Master? You don’t know what a phlox looks like?” she asked, crossing her arms beneath her breasts.

“Nope,” I said as I leafed through the entries on the plant. “Figured I’d know it when I saw it. I do know that there are several different species. Are any preferred? Like with the mint?” I asked as I found the correct entry.

“No, as they all bear similar enough energy that it doesn’t matter. Unlike mint which has a distinct difference in the energies of the plants. All mints will work, but some just work better,” she replied, tapping her foot as I searched through the entry.

There were several pictures of different phlox species. It appeared that at least one of my predecessors had been from the US, and there was a separate list for each species. Handy. As I flipped through the pictures, I spied one that looked familiar.

“Oh shit. I’ve seen these a few times. Never knew what they were until now. In fact, I think I see some over there by that pile of stone,” I said, closing the Grimoire. “Shall we?” I asked, offering my arm to the lady beside me.

She wrapped her arms around mine and held herself close to me. “Yes, Master. Let’s go.”

We walked off a ways from the stream towards the pile of stone, chatting amiably with each other. As we neared it, I felt a chill, as if I’d walked through a barrier of some sort and stopped in my tracks.

“Katira? What the fuck was that?” I asked, my voice low and quiet.

“What do you mean, Master?”

“I just felt like I walked through a wall of ice water, is what I mean.”

“I didn’t perceive it, so I cannot say.”

“Let’s, uh…let’s get what we came for and leave, okay? I suddenly feel very uncomfortable.”

Katira nodded and we slowly approached the pile of stones. As we neared, my unease began to grow more and more insistent until it was all but shrieking at me to turn and run. I stopped in front of the patch of beautiful blue flowers and knelt.

“This is a grave, Katira. Someone is buried here. It’s not a dump, nor was it an accident. Someone chose to be buried here, in the middle of nowhere, with nobody nearby, and only a cairn of stone to mark their final resting place,” I said softly.

“How do you know this, Master?”

“I’m not sure. Something just screams sacred space here. It commands reverence and respect. Whoever this was, they were highly regarded and loved. And they loved this area so much that they demanded to become part of the land,” I said with conviction. “I wonder who she was,” I murmured.

“What did you say?” Katira whispered.

“Hmmm? Oh, I just wanted to know who this was,” I said.

“No. You said she. Why did you specify she?” Katira asked, her hands trembling.

“I did? Huh. I don’t recall a pronoun leaving my lips, but if you say I said it, then I’ll believe you. What’s got you so worked up?” I asked, standing and taking her trembling hands in mine.

“My former Master. She would talk about her late partner frequently. How much she loved this area. How she never wanted to be away from it, even in death. How the two of them would sit on that-”

“-boulder and watch the fish and the crawdads play in the pool beneath the waterfall. How they would walk through the woods together, foraging for nettles and mushrooms and berries. And how her wife picked the wrong mushroom one day, and was found dead in their home. Destroying Angel, wasn’t it?” I asked quietly, receiving a tear-filled nod from my familiar.

“How?” she asked through her tears.

I looked down at the grave, the unease I once felt replaced by something different. Something profound. As I stared, realization flooded through me, and I looked up into my familiar’s beautiful, bloodshot eyes. “Because, if I had to hazard a guess, either your former Master or her wife lives on in me,” I said in a whisper.