9 The Visit

The first medicine Brinn was allowed to make was to cure the sore throat she woke up with one morning.

          The healer took her to the storage room and had her collect the necessary stalks to boil.  After letting it simmer for 2 hours, she took out the mass of plants and squeezed the watery juice into a cup.  She added some mint and honey and it was ready to go.

          Brinn looked at it nervously. Talsha laughed.  "I wouldn't let you take anything that would hurt you.  That's why this is a good thing to start with.  If you did do something wrong, the worst that could happen is it just wouldn't work.  Now drink up."

Brinn decided she would never know unless she tried it.  She took a deep breath and drank it.

"Well?" asked the healer.

"Round and round and round we go…". Brinn recited the first line of a poem she knew to test her throat.  It definitely felt better, and the taste wasn't awful either.

"It worked!" she said.  She had made her first medicine.

"Congratulations," said Talsha proudly, "You are now a beginning healer."

The next step was to put the rest of the medicine into storage containers and put them away.  Brinn was then sent to bed for a nap to help her get well.

Just after the first snow had laid a light, white blanket on the world, Brinn's family came to visit.  It was a cold but beautiful day.

          It was almost lunchtime when Brinn heard horse hooves out in the yard.  When she came outside, she was almost knocked over by Martilia as she gave Brinn her biggest hug.  Martilia was followed by Brinn's mother, who smiled and gave her oldest daughter an even bigger hug.

          "How are things going, Sweets?" Brinn's mother asked, using an old nickname.  "You look well."  She held Brinn back and looked at her.

          "I am well, Mother."  Brinn smiled at her mother's worried look.  "We are well fed and certainly get plenty of exercise."

"I'm sure you do," added her father as he joined the group.  "You probably know these hills like the back of your hand by now." As they headed toward the house, he leaned a little closer.  "Seen any dragons yet?"

"No, not yet," Brinn answered.  She wondered if he seemed a bit disappointed at her answer.

"Welcome!" called Talsha from the house.  "You're just in time for lunch.  Brinn, while your mother and I lay some food out, why don't you go show your sister the animals?"

The whole time, Martilia talked.  She complained about having to do Brinn's chores at home while, in the same breath, she bragged about how good she was getting at helping with Mother's mending.

She loved the baby goat and kept giving it bits of dry grass through the fence.

Suddenly, Brinn felt a smaller hand grab hers.  "I miss you, Brinn," Martilia said, leaning into her sister.

Brinn squeezed her hand.  "I miss you, too, 'Lia."

"Do you like it here?" Martilia asked.  She looked around. "It seems like it would be lonely."

"We're too busy to be lonely.  It is nice to see you, though."

"I can't wait until I'm 14.  Mother says maybe I should go study cooking." Martilia giggled.  "She says I'm certainly good at cooking up trouble."

Both girls laughed and talked as they headed back for lunch.

After sandwiches and fresh onion soup, they all settled down in front of the fire with some tea.

"So, what news have you brought us?" asked Brinn.

"Well," her father replied as he stretched out in his chair, "I hear that Pell has been allowed to build one of his ships."

Brinn smiled. "He said he would.  I told him they wouldn't listen to a young pup like him.  I guess I was wrong."

Her father laughed.  "I guess they had a race with some of the models the builders had made.  Pell snuck in one of his and it won."

"Now that sounds like an industrious young man," laughed Talsha.

"Sneaky is more like it," responded Brinn with a grin.  She could just imagine the looks on the faces of the older ship builders.

"We didn't think we were going to make it up here before heavy snow fell," Brinn's mother told them.  "With Brinn gone, we haven't had as much help as we usually do, and we've been busy.  Since it is already late for snow, we decided to take advantage of the clear weather and just come."

"I am very glad you did," said Brinn happily.

"So am I," stated the healer. "I don't get visitors that aren't sick very often.  I very much enjoy the company."

They chatted a little more about people and places until, all too soon for Brinn, her father said they had to leave.  "We will already be traveling by moonlight before we get home.  Come give me a hug, Brinn."

Hugs and kisses were shared all around, and Brinn gave Martilia a pretty stone she had picked up while walking one day.

"When you miss me, just rub this stone.  Just don't throw it into the ocean someday because you're mad at me."

"I promise I won't.  Thank you, Brinn."

Brinn sighed as her family disappeared behind the trees.  Then, she turned and walked back into the cottage.