Stranger Skies (The Borderlands Saga #1)

6. The Wolf in the Woods

She warned Enendoa about her atrocious cooking capability. The witch ignored her warning, and started teaching Thalaea how to cook on the very first day, as soon as she'd been settled into her new room.

It was a tiny bedroom, located above the kitchen. She had a bed, a desk, a small wardrobe, and a table for her wash bin. Her window looked out onto the herb garden and, beyond that, Steelmint Forest. Thalaea felt the forest call to her instantly, and she wondered how long it would be until she could go out there. Perhaps Enendoa would send her in search of herbs? Her hearts beat faster at the thought.

But it seemed Enendoa intended to live up to her promise to make Thalaea dislike the older witch. At least for the first few days. She insisted on keeping Thalaea running around constantly, bringing in water from the pump, sweeping the kitchen, doing the dishes, and learning the basics of cooking. It was all contrary to her nature, and she resisted it every step of the way, but soon Enendoa's lessons started to stick. By the end of the first eight days Thalaea could make a loaf of bread that was passing edible, at least, and create a broth that, while not amazing, was not terrible either.

These were huge victories, as far as both of them were concerned. Soon Enendoa put her on other things.

"We'll finish your cooking education later," the witch had said with a gusty sigh.

The next eight days were spent on a task far more tedious, though at least it was one she was good at: copying the old grimmeries in the library into new, blank books.

That was the "witch's secret" that kept the books from falling apart: centuries of apprentices copying grimmeries by hand. Enendoa had done it, as had the witch before her, and now it was Thalaea's turn.

She didn't know why she was so good at penmanship, nor reading — these were skills she had never cultivated in her previous life. But, along with her ability to not only understand but also read and speak Minae, she was able to write it, and neatly.

The very first book she copied was the first one she'd read — the one that had revealed her True Name. She took her time with it, being incredibly careful to copy each word exactly. The maps she traced onto new pages, deepening the lines once she'd determined they were correct. This book was incredibly important: it held clues to Minae's history with the wolves, and she knew she needed to find out all she could about that.

The second book Enendoa had her copy was a manual of herbs, done by an Isedoe, a witch who had come several generations after the first Thalaea. The herbs in this manual hadn't been around during the first witch's time — they'd been imported by the Minae from their old lands, and by the time Isedoe was alive they'd spread throughout the lands. By the time Thalaea was done copying this book, she knew all the herbs by heart.

At the beginning of the third eightday, Enendoa put her on gardening in the back. This, Thalaea was thrilled about. She felt a pull to the greenery and when she started working with the herbs she could hear them speak to her, telling her their secrets. Within a few days she knew what half the herbs were used for, and their names, without consulting a book.

She was so excited about this that she gushed to Enendoa about it over their dinner midway through the week. Enendoa simply snorted.

"Told you you were a witch."

Thalaea laughed. "You were right."

By the end of that week, she knew each plant in the garden intimately, and had coaxed new blooms out of some of them — despite it still being deep in winter.

In the fourth week, Enendoa started taking her on gathering trips into the forest. They grabbed their baskets and trekked out in the early day, before dawn. The days were ever so slowly getting longer now, and gathering was made easier by this. They never went more than a mile into the forest, and always returned by sunset. Enendoa taught her how to gather Steelmint, Mourning Thornbush, Woolly Bittercress, Bluethorn, Burning Creeper, and so many more. When they returned to the cottage, Enendoa would teach her how to process the various herbs they'd gathered during the day. Some they used for healing, others were poisons they kept on hand. Others still were used in rituals for Saeas.