Pain

A loud hissing sound flew past her head. Immediately

after was a screech from a beast. Helena hesitantly opened her eyes and saw a wolf with an arrow through its eye socket, laying dead near her feet.

"Don't just sit there. They won't be stunned long."

As she tried to stand her leg refused to listen. As if responding to her weakness another lunged at her.

Another couple of arrows killed another beast.

The young ones got spooked and ran off.

The grumpy mans face grew sour and stared at her with hatred. He wasn't even attempting to hide it.

"Where is my daughter? Did you abandon her after all? I know she was with you. Why are you alone?"

He pulled back his bowstring and aimed an arrow at her. She was shocked at this hot headed man.

"I ... left her in a tree. I lead these beasts away from her." His face softened a little and he turned and walked in the direction she pointed. Still full of hate.

"If you lied to me, I will never forgive you." And he ran off calling for his daughter Eustacia. His eyes focused on the trees while still watching out for wolves. Theo patted her shoulder and only then did she realize he was still in her death grip.

"Theo... are you alright? You aren't hurt are you?" Helena was looking him up and down for injuries.

She only stopped when he started crying looking at her still bleeding leg. She dug around in her storage pouch and pulled out some bandages. Theo was determined to do it for her. Though sloppily bandaged, it did stop the bleeding.

Helena wasn't sure what to do now, she couldn't walk.

That grumpy man hated her guts. And she now knew these woods had wolves in them. They were as good as dead. Theo offered her his shoulder, so they hobbled along. Though it hurt, she could put a little pressure on her leg.

After nearly half an hour of hobbling along they heard something behind them. Out of sheer reflex, Helena put Theo behind her. Even though she was scared, she was also ready to fight whatever came out of the bushes.

"Hey.. I'm sorry kid. Come stay with us until you recover." Huh? The Grumpy man? Without waiting for her response, he picked her up and carried her on his shoulder. She knew he looked strong, but to carry her with one arm was astonishing. Why the sudden change of mood. Theo trailed along beside them still sniffling. He knew Helena almost died because she went to protect him. Theo's sniffling was the only sound they heard through the otherwise silent walk back.

Once they arrived back Evania was waiting with fresh bandages and some warm drinks. Evania redid the bandage for her after applying some healing ointment. Theo had fallen asleep crying and clutching the corner of her shirt. She pulled his fingers loose and The Grumpy man picked him up and put him in a bed in another room. Eustacia was also exhausted and fell asleep, it was her room that Theo was placed in.

While the two young ones slept after a tough day.

"Thank you for saving my baby. I can't thank you enough. My husband Avel has been so rude to you. I'm so sorry. Please stay here until you heal up."

Avel was embarrassed by his own actions, not only was he overbearingly rude to these kids, he threatened to kill the same person who saved his daughters life. He was ashamed of himself

The three spent the night chatting and getting to know one another. Evania had said something peculiar, any food she eats tastes bitter? Understanding washed over Helena. She was sick

and would die without treatment. All the little things she noticed added up. No wonder it felt like she was missing something. This was the sickness she herself had gotten at a young age. It was highly contagious, but the cure was simple enough, you just had to grind the petals of a Tirb flower and eat it after processing it propery.

As soon as she made the connections in her head the Venture cube appeared in front of her.

[ Hidden Venture

You found someone infected with Tirbre Fever and know how to cure it.

How would you like to proceed?

______________________

Option one-

Report it to the Adventures and receive a reward

Reward - 10 silver pieces

Penalty - none

Option two-

Don't report anything

Reward - Nothing

Penalty - Potential Death

Hidden Option

Cure the Tirbre Fever, (Time limit 4 days)

Reward - 2 gold pieces

Penalty - None ]

Stunned, Helena picked option three.

"Excuse me, I just wanted to ask you, do you have Tirbre Fe" Evania gasped and Avel stared daggers into her. Which made her stop talking mid sentence. "Did you report it?" He asked coldly she just shook her head no. He sighed.

Helena spoke up again "can you not afford to cure her?" They looked at her like she was insane

"Cure? what are you talking about, it isn't cureable."

Helena grabbed her storage pouch, and rustled through it until she pulled out a couple of flowers.

The couple flinch, This child had the most poisonous flower known to this land and called it a cure?

It was illegal to even have this flower, for fear someone would use it to harm another person.

"But it is though? You really didn't know? No wonder you let the disease get to the final stages." She pulls the petals off one of the flowers and hands it to Avel.

He flinched even harder inside knowing a poisonous flower just touched his skin. But if this could cure his wife... He would try anything. Like she said it was in it's final stages. This could be their last chance.

"soak these in salt water overnight, that will get rid of the poisons and then grind it into a paste. Add the paste to a pot of tea. Make sure it boils for 3 minutes. Then you have about 5 doses of the cure. Let's all drink a cup of tea tomorrow"

They were shocked but hesitantly followed her words. After Avel put the petals into the salt water, Helena asked if they minded letting her borrow their garden. She buried the second flower and was about to use her power to make another 2-4 flowers pop up from the ground. Since she didn't have enough of these flowers she would grow a couple more. [Grow] But to her surprise the whole side of the garden touching the house was full of those flowers.There were at least 300 to 400 flowers.

What was going on? She blamed adrenaline before, but what was happening now? Have her powers gone haywire? The couple was even more shocked. A magic user?? One that claimed to have a cure to their death sentence to boot.

"uhmm I'm sorry, I didn't mean to grow that many."

The couple looked at each other , and then back at her "it's illegal to have these flowers near your house, much less to purposely grow them... " her voice trailed off.

Helena thought for a moment, "do you have a favorite flower?" Evania recalled her homeland she left when she was very young. The flowers her mother loved.

But they can't grow here cause they only bloom in the snow. But she nodded "Can I have your hand for a moment?"

They were confused but Evania put her hand in Helena's. "Close your eyes and think about those flowers, their shape , their color, even their smell as vividly as you can." [Flower mimicry] As soon as she opened her eyes, the flowers that were just the poisonous death,were now the ones of her homeland. With tears in her eyes, she said "I didn't think I would live to see these flowers again..."

Helena explained, these are the same flowers from before, I only changed their appearance. You can make more cure from these the same way" Her voice started trailing off. Although a very cool trick it was one she could only do once a year.

Helena was getting pretty tired and Avel helped her hobble her way to the guest room. Avel and Evania wondered if this girl's appearance in their lives was a blessing, or a curse. They would wait and see without jumping to conclusions again, after all she saved their baby. Helena slept a very long time. The sun was high in the sky before she awoke again.