Atraeya spent the rest of the week reading her book. She did eventually find a recipe that would help recover the earth. Depending on how much mana she put into the potion, the strength, and the quality of the ingredients, it could be very strong. But it merely replenished the earth of it's lost nutrients. This potion resulted in bigger, more flavorful crops. It didn't speed up the process of growing crops, nor cause more crops to grow than the normal amount. It wasn't what she was looking for exactly, but perhaps if she made a weak potion it could potentially offset the loss of crops from the wild boar.

  She was reading a bit faster as well, with a bit more ease as she became familiar with the writing style of whoever wrote these recipes. Occasionally she asked gramps about what a word meant, and find she had pronounced it wrong. It was embarrassing but at least she learned something from it.

  By the end of the week, Atraeya was anxious to finally get out of the house. No one had found the sickle, and she wasn't about to mention it to gramps. He would have surely gone on a tangent by now had he found it. Which meant either the sickle was behaving as expected, and only being active at night and had not been found, or it was too far to register the field they had and was still lying in the grass from when the boar attacked it. She would need to find it soon.

  "She's in here. Been resting in my bed since she can't walk." Gramps' voice was muffled through the walls, yet still loud enough to warn that someone else was here. She needed to hide the book, quickly, so she shoved it under her pillow. Just in time, as gramps opened the door slowly. Behind him a woman, dressed rather nicely.

  This woman wore a flowing green skirt, embroidered in tons of white flowers along the bottom, and vines reaching up towards the waist. A white shirt with wide, drooping sleeves and colorful embroidered flowers were tucked under her leather stays, painted or dyed with even more flowers. Her waist held a belt, with all sorts and sizes of bags and pouches alongside it, and embroidered with letters. Her brown hair had been put up in a messy bun on the top of her hair, and a pair of spectacles kept some of the stray hairs in place.

  Her first action was to cover her forehead with her hands. Her eyebrows knitted together in easily readable confusion. "I'm Marrint, the one who fixed up your leg after your Chief did such a horrible job. How are you feeling?"

  She pulled off the covers before Atraeya could say anything and began to inspect her leg. Turning it this way and that, lifting it feeling all around. Her face became more and more concerned. "I feel fine," Atraeya said.

  Marrint looked up, bewildered. "Truly? Elmer says he hasn't given you any of the herbs I gave him. It's been an entire week. You should be in much pain right now, or at least crying!"

  Atraeya tilted her head. When it only elicited more stares she shrugged her shoulders.

  Marrint stood up and urged her to as well. "Alright then, stand up. I want to see you walk."

  She glanced at Elmer, who nodded, and followed the woman's instructions. She stood on her feet, tentatively putting a bit of pressure little by little on her broken leg, until she was standing upright. All the while, Marrint was looking increasingly frustrated. Truth be told, she had already been able to walk — more like limp — from the bed to the nearest kitchen chair at least since about three days ago.

  "By all accounts it doesn't make any sense…" she mumbled. Then she crouched down and started to undo all the bindings. "And it still doesn't hurt?" Atraeya shook her head.

  Once the last of the cloth was pulled back, she could see a huge scar, running the entire length of her leg. The skin stretched and discolored, a new scab forming over where, presumably, her bone had been sticking out. Her hands drifted towards it, tracing the rough skin up and down her thigh. To think she had been so close to death from a wild boar.

  Marrint brushed her hands away as she inspected the scar herself, her spectacles now in use. She had to grab hold of the mattress to stop herself from tipping over from all the prodding. "Remarkable. It's as if you've experienced six months of natural healing in the span of a week."

  Elmer chuckled nervously, earning a look from the both of them. "Well, you know what they say. Children heal faster than adults. Their bodies haven't accumulated as much pain as we have in our lifetimes."

  "This is much more than that. You haven't secretly taken a potion, perhaps?"

  The both of them shook their heads, Atraeya more violently than Elmer. "I can assure you, Madam, we haven't had a witch in these parts in years," Elmer said.

  "That's not what I asked though, was it?"

  Elmer gulped, and went quiet for a moment. Then he cleared his throat before he spoke. "It was just one. I've been saving it for emergencies. You should have seen the amount of blood on my floor."

  Atraeya honestly couldn't tell if he was lying or not. Did he really give her a potion? Or was her witch mana truly responsible for her fast recovery? But the excuse was accepted, and Marrint went back to inspecting her leg. "For a scar so big the potion must have sat well past it's expiring date, I assume. I can give you a lotion to minimize the scarring if you'd like. Now, take a few steps."

  Atraeya did as much, limping and wobbling a bit as she walked to the door and back to the bed. Merrint nodded along, as if she expected this reaction. All the confusion in her face from previous interactions were erased. "Right, then. In that case, I expect you'll be back to normal in another week or so if you play it safe. Just keep off that leg." She took off her spectacles and placed them back in her hair. Her other hand began to dig in one of her pouches. "My Lady will certainly have an interesting report… We're here all day, so stop by your Chief's house this afternoon and I should have that lotion ready for you."

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Atraeya nodded. She wouldn't be going anywhere, but gramps also agreed, thankfully. She didn't want such a large scar on her leg for forever. But something Marrint said bothered her. "Report?"

  The woman snorted a laugh. "Of course. I'm the only doctor in this barony, which means I belong to my Lady, Lady Brockrote. She's kind enough to care for her people and asked me to check up on you after the town came to her in such a panic about a young child who got gored by a wild boar. We all thought you wouldn't live, since you're so young. But my Lady insisted otherwise and demanded I go help," she said with a smile on her face.

  Atraeya could only stare, wide eyed and mouth agape. A noble who cared? She had never heard of such a thing. All the kind she knew of were the rich kind who didn't care who they hurt to get what they want. She had heard countless stories like such back in the capitol. Maybe it was different out here in these rural lands. Folks live closer together, have less services, and need more help from the wild animals that wander into the village. Everyone would have to work together just to survive, and she had experienced first hand how well everyone knew each other.

  "Please be sure to send her our heartfelt thanks," gramps said. He guided Marrint out of the house. When he came back, Atraeya made sure to ask about the potion. "No potion. You just heal faster, on account of being a witch. But for a doctor, a potion was the easiest answer."

  Atraeya nodded. She bought it rather quickly. "But is it wrong to have a potion? Marrint seemed to have changed into a different person when she asked…"

  "Potions just mean witches. But since I assured her I used my last one on you, she didn't have any reason to investigate further." His eyes sharpened as he looked directly at her. "That is the exact sort of reaction you can expect should you go behind my back and start brewing potions to grow food."

  She slumped against the headboard. He figured it out, it seemed. "I just wanted to help," she said.

  "I know," gramps said softly. "I know. But you can't just go around dropping potions willy-nilly. If people start noticing changes from what they usually expect, then they'll start asking questions. Questions you can't answer."

  If she thought about it real hard, it made sense. The people out here have certain expectations for the way the world works. If she changed that with her potions, they would no doubt start a witch hunt. "So no earth potion…?"

  "No earth potion." Gramps nodded, glad she finally understood, and left to do his chores.

  So back to her book she went, in search of other potions that would be more subtle in their help. She found recipes for cleaning, fortifying, fertility, ice, charisma, and even one for turning an animal into a familiar. Maybe if she found a stray cat she could use it. But for now, the cleaning potion would be of most help with little risk of being found out. It would certainly make laundry easier.

  She also found a recipe for a sleeping potion. Judging by it's description, it was only supposed to give her a good night's rest. Since she was injured, she had slept for more than what the potion would do. It was also Mira's last potion, and since she knew she was a witch, Atraeya thought to repay her by replacing it. The ingredients seemed simple, one of which were planted right in front of the cottage. Perhaps a lot of the villagers needed a sleeping potion, if the previous witch had to plant so many poppy flowers.

  As the week passed by, she memorized it recipe and slathered on the lotion the doctor had made for her. It worked nicely, and left her skin smooth with only a tiny sliver of a scar. Like she had never gotten hurt in the first place. By the end she was good as new. She no longer limped either, so no need for a cane like gramps.

  The late summer sun hit her skin the moment she stepped outside. It was already hot and humid, and it wasn't going to get any better as time passed on. Atraeya began to search for the sickle. The plot of land Atraeya had dug and cultivated with her own bare hands was torn to shreds. Various half grown vegetables were upturned from the boars digging, green stems broken in half and browning, sprouting berries trampled and squashed. All her had work, gone. In just one night.

  It was devastating. She wanted to cry. And gramps wasn't even allowing her to use a potion to fix it. That's what potions are supposed to do though! It's not her fault that the rest of the villagers didn't like witches. If all the rest of the plots were similar to this, they would surely starve. She had to fix the problem before it grew beyond her. After she found the sickle of course.

  It was not anywhere near the vegetable patch. Thankfully, this meant it was not working in the middle of the night where someone could see. She expanded her search, not fully remembering where the wild boar had been that night nor where it had chucked the tool. It had actually managed to land somewhere behind the house, of all places. At least no one stole it. With relief, she dusted off the dirt and stored it back inside the closet.

  She then attempted to fix the garden, starting with composting anything that had been violently ripped apart. That was over half, and it took her most of the morning. Sweat trailed down her forehead and back as she walked back and forth. Her arms and legs were sore by the time she finished that part. Probably because she had been laying in bed for two weeks straight.

  Next she then started to tie things together with string and re-plant some of the baby vegetables that still looked good enough to still grow. Strangers she still hadn't met yet passed by to see her work on a garden that only now was being fixed. Atraeya paid them no mind. Their looks wouldn't help grow her food faster.

  In the end, it was… presentable…

  She wasn't entirely sure if anything would grow for this season even after throwing it all together. Which all the more urged her to make an earth potion. This town had been nice to her so far. She simply couldn't allow it to starve out.

  With the sun dropping in the sky, she wouldn't have the time to head over to the cottage and brew some potions. It would long be dark by the time she finished. A shiver went down her back the moment she recalled her experience with traveling through the forest at night.

  In the end she decided to get dinner started a bit early. Gramps walked through the door, completely surprised. It was her first time making dinner since she got here. He watched her for a bit, wary. But Atraeya had been watching. It wasn't that hard. Well, this time it was a bit hard. The vegetables were a bit charred on the ends since she couldn't time it right with the other foods. Gramps didn't complain though. He happily ate the food she put in front of him.