The stream was not far away, a lovely brook babbling through the forest. Kaitlyn set about gathering the nettles, appropriately called stinging nettles for their serrated leaves scratched at her skin. Fortunately, she did not have the rash Javorora developed when handling the plants.
It turned out Kaitlyn couldn’t leave the house for very long yet. About an hour after leaving the house she began to feel pain, and by the third hour Kaitlyn was limping. Javorora carried the nettles tied in Kaitlyn’s shirt while the young woman struggled back to the house. Kaitlyn was grateful to have the baked potato she could eat and slept most of the rest of the day.
Kaitlyn then began to develop a bit of a routine. When she first rose in just her chemise, she went out into the garden to weed, manage, or harvest. The wild of the garden was slowly coming under control and as she expanded the area she could manage, she found mint, basil, and rosemary growing. She had to completely move the mint which was trying to strangle out the other two. She also started a pile of pebbles big enough to prove obnoxious. She had always liked pretty pebbles, so she started a little pile in one corner of the garden. When she had finished tending the plants, she returned inside to begin working with the nettles.
First she stripped the leaves off the stalks and carefully rolled the stalks of nettle across the floor, gently breaking apart the woody pith and the skin from the inner fibers. She then worked on softening the fibers by laying them in the sun and using a pair of sticks to beat the fibers into a softer, cleaner and single strands. After three days of work she was finally able to sit down with some fibers at the spinning wheel. Keeping a bowl of water next to her to keep her fingers moist, she carefully began to spool the nettle onto a stick, since she didn’t have a spindle.
The day that Kaitlyn could finally make some repairs to her clothes was the first day Javorora did not come to see her. Kaitlyn had found a rusted needle among the rags from the table. She spent most of the morning try to sew with the fiber. It was much stiffer than she was used to working with from her father’s tailor shop. She also didn’t have any cloth to patch with, so she ended up sewing together holes and pinching together the pieces of cloth.
She returned to the stream the next morning and gathered as many nettles as she could. When she got back to the hut Javorora was waiting next to the well. The dryad had brought two baskets today and as she walked up Kaitlyn said, “Javorora, could you teach me to make baskets like that?”
“Sure, weaving baskets is pretty easy to get started,” the dryad said, “how are you feeling?”
“Better every day,” Kaitlyn said with a smile. It was true too, she was lasting longer and feeling stronger.
“Good, I won’t be able to keep coming every day soon,” Javorora said. “I wanted to make sure you were going to be alright if I didn’t come.”
“I think I will be,” Kaitlyn said, but she wished she could feel more confident. She had never lived entirely alone.
It was the eleventh day when Master Garthis returned to the the hut. Kaitlyn was in the garden in the back, carefully moving some carrot plants to spread them out and encourage their growth. When a shadow passed over her, Kaitlyn looked up and had mild panic at the massive winged profile. She scrambled toward the hut, and huddled in a corner.
The knock on the door wasn’t answered, Kaitlyn keeping silent and praying that whoever it was would leave. When the door shifted to the side instead of falling and Master Garthis looked in, he took one look at her and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“There was…. a monster!” Kaitlyn said.
“Oh! I am so sorry child,” Master Garthis said, “That is my friend who brought me here. Her name is Linnmel.”
Kaitlyn wilted and buried her face in her hands. Master Garthis stepped into the room and said, “Hmmm, the house is definitely self-repairing some things.”
“But not the door,” Kaitlyn pointed out.
“No, I brought you some hinges, a hammer and some nails,” Master Garthis said, “and a few other things as well. My housekeeper sent you a bolt of linen and a wool dress. She said she’ll find some shoes for you as soon as she can.”
“Thank you,” Kaitlyn said and stood up.
“How are you studies going?” Master Garthis asked.
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“Studies?” she looked confused.
He sighed and said, “You need to mediate every day.”
“Why?” Kaitlyn responded.
“It helps you explore your own magic,” Master Garthis explained, “You need to understand how your magic moves through you if you want to harness it. Most apprentice mages have only a little bit to explore and learn and they grow it as they develop. Your magic paths were blown wide open and the only reason you haven’t accidentally blown yourself up or something is because the house has been draining you.”
“Wait, blow myself up?” Kaitlyn asked.
“Well, it sometimes happens,” Master Garthis said, “with young mages they ignore their magic too much and it goes out of control.”
Kaitlyn frowned and said, “I don’t think I understand.”
“I promise you will,” Master Garthis said calmly. “For now I want you to promise me you will spend an hour a day mediating.”
Kaitlyn nodded and said, “I will try. I have so much I need to do…”
“This is important,” Master Garthis said firmly.
“So is eating,” Kaitlyn replied. “I don’t have a market I can buy food from. I am going to need food to make it through winter.”
Master Garthis’ expression softened and he said, “With magic you can enchant your garden to keep producing through the winter, or conjure food for yourself. When your magic paths fill you will have the power to do all that and more. You have the kind of magical potential most mages spend decades developing. You will only be limited by your own imagination and control.”
“Ok,” Kaitlyn said dubiously, “I will prioritize spending time meditating.”
“Good,” Master Garthis’ tone sounded relieved. “I haven’t taken an apprentice before, so I might make some mistakes too.”
Kaitlyn started a little at the word apprentice, then she blushed and said, “I will try to make you proud master.”
The wizard smiled and then sat on the stool by the spinning wheel. He said, “Tell me what you’ve been doing this week.”
“Well, mostly I’ve been focused on food,” Kaitlyn admitted. “And my clothes. They were in bad shape and I didn’t know you would be bringing me more, so I got some nettles and make thread so I could repair. I’ve done a lot of work in the garden too, weeding and spacing the plants there.”
“Nettles, interesting,” Master Garthis said, “and you used this spinning wheel I assume?”
“Yes,” Kaitlyn said, “It was harder than wool or cotton, but I figured it out. My father is a tailor, I used to help my mother create new threads.”
“Good,” Master Garthis said, “You are certainly looking and sounding much better.”
Kaitlyn nodded and asked, “Master, will… will I ever be able to go home?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Your curse… unicorns are more powerful the older they are. Your curse is creative as well because it will continue to renew as your skin does. “
“My skin?” Kaitlyn rubbed her arm.
He held out his hand, she put her hand in it and he touched the lines on her arms, “These are not scars, they are actually extremely finely written magical runes. If you look very closely you could read them. I had to cast a spell to enhance my sight to be able to read them. They are the instructions of the spell, but part of that instruction actually re-writes the instructions under your skin all over your body. Invisible everywhere else. I recommend that if anyone else visits here you cover these up. Mages, witches, and fae will all be able to read this if they look.”
Kaitlyn tilted her head and said, “Would it be dangerous to let others read it?”
“If it is fae, certainly,” Master Garthis said, “even minor fae will probably try to tempt you. It will be easier to just prevent them from knowing you have this… possible temptation.”
Kaitlyn then nodded, remembering stories of fae who tempted humans into deals which almost always tricked the human in a terrible way. She stood and said, “Can I offer you something? I don’t have much, but I have been improving the broth and I can draw you some water from my well.”
He smiled and said, “I aimed to improve that as well, let me go get the presents I brought you.”
Her brought in a small trunk about half a meter long and about as deep as Kaitlyn’s arm from elbow to wrist. He set it on the floor and opened it up. He set the bolt of light green linen and the brown dress. He also handed her a small bag with some cotton thread and several needles. He then pulled out a tea pot and a few eating utensils. He then pulled out a hatchet, mallet, nails and four hinges. Kaitlyn looked at the simple things with a sense of appreciation she never imagined she would feel for such simple treasures.
“Thank you so much Master Garthis,” she said fervently. “I can’t…. I just don’t even know how to tell you how much all of this means to me.”
“I can only imagine,” he said.
“With this hatchet I can finally make a real broom,” she said. “Can I make a self-cleaning spell?”
“They are very tricky,” the wizard said. “Putting it on something like a cup, will it clean the cup while you still have your wine or tea in it? How will the spell know when you are done?”
Her let her think about it. She pondered the thought and realized it was a challenge. If you put the spell on a table, would you be in the middle of cutting a vegetable and the spell sees the vegetable as “mess” and clean it? How would the spell know what you wanted?
“What if… what if you put it on a bucket to clean anything in the bucket?” she suggested.
“It might work,” he said, “you might also be unable to use that particular bucket for any other task.”
“Because if I put soapy water in to carry to the table…” she thought aloud, “it would possibly clean the water.”
“Or milk if you tried to put milk in it,” he said. “You would be stuck with a bucket that only cleans things and can do nothing else.”
She nodded and asked, “Is it always this…. complicated?”
“No, there are spells that are simple and obvious,” Master Garthis said, “I’m going have you start learning some of those. Like starting a fire.”
They spent an hour with him going over meditation again and then teaching her the simple spell that helped concentrate her magic and order it to heat a tiny thing. It took concentration, but she was excited that it would help her if her fire went out.