All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 60: Running Amuck

Of course, the family didn't take the coins without protest. But it was a fairly feeble one, and soon she was able to press the sum into Trent's hands. Still, she managed to keep their pride intact in the process. Arguing that she had already received too much of their hospitality and couldn't take food without paying for it. Perhaps she was being cynical, or her father's business sense had rubbed off on her more than she thought. Still, she felt like she was using the skills he had tried to teach her for better purposes. After finishing the negotiations, she mentioned the book she had retrieved. Unlike her father, she would be doing good instead of tricking people out of their money.

"So part of my studies have focused on the healing arts. Can I see your sleeve?" Bee addressed Trent. He growled in protest that he was just fine. But with his wife firmly on Bee's side, that didn't last long. With an exasperated look, he let her take his sleeve. Sure enough, there were spots of blood that Bee thought she had seen when he was coughing. She compared their color to the descriptions in the book. It was as she feared.

"Okay, so this is more serious than you probably would like to think. Your lungs are bleeding." Bee stated, flipping through a few pages.

"Nonsense! It's just a cough. I get them sometimes. Just caused by a lot of work, but I'll recover just fine once the harvest is done. Happens every year." Trent protested.

"This happens every year? As in, you cough up blood every year?" Bee asked, surprised and not completely believing him.

"Well," the man hesitated, "the blood is new, but I figured I had just bit my tongue rather hard at dinner." The last statement wasn't very convincing.

"No, the color of the blood is off from that. If you just bit your tongue, it would be this shade of red, not this shade." She indicated two passages in the book that she had been referring to. "But don't worry about it. I have some things that can fix it in a day or two." Bee returned to her pack and started retrieving some of the alchemy equipment. "I'm just going to need some clean water."

Tony had been rather quiet recently, but at Bee's request, he suddenly stood and jogged out the door. A look of relief crossed Mary's face. It seemed that this was something they had been worrying about for a while. Bee was just grateful that they seemed to trust her, a relative stranger and child, to know medicine. It was probably due to the relationship with the castle and regular interactions with mages.

Tony returned with a bucket of water. "I got this from the well. Is this enough?"

With a glance at the bucket, Bee estimated its volume. "It should be far more than we need. Can you go boil it for 10 minutes?"

Tony nodded, but Mary stood up and took the bucket from him, and went to put a pot on the stove. No longer having anything to contribute again, Tony moved to sit next to Bee. He and his father watched her set up her alchemy equipment carefully. They didn't disturb her as she was setting up vessels and scales, but once she started laying out bags of ingredients, Tony spoke again. "How long have you been practicing medicine? I'm surprised they started you off this young. Everyone knows that new apprentices spend most of their time cleaning."

Beatrice flushed. Was that true? Had she really been getting so upset about her chores when everyone started out that way? Well, that was behind her now. "A few months. I've mostly healed a few broken bones."

She knew she was exaggerating, but she figured a white lie would better put the room at ease. So Bee pulled out a mortar and pestle and began grinding some ingredients. She also started combining things into premade mixes so she could just throw them in when ready.

"Well, you certainly look like you know what you are doing," Trent commented. He looked impressed by her steady hand and confidence motions.

Since she wasn't doing anything too complex, Bee felt free to respond. Quickly, the men's questions turned her preparations into a miniature alchemy lesson. Clearly, they didn't know anything about alchemy. Still, she felt they were being more than just polite and engaging in conversation. After being alone for so long, Bee was happy to talk to someone.

When the water was done boiling, she was truly ready to begin. Her observers seemed to realize her need for concentration and mostly watched in silence as she worked combining everything. It took her almost 15 minutes. Trent was racked by a coughing fit twice more during the time. But somehow, she managed to get it right on the first try.

She was left with a small vial of violet, odorless liquid when she was done. She poured it into three smaller vials, stoppering two of them and handing one to Trent. "Drink this one tonight. And one each night until these two run out."

Quickly he tossed the vial back, grimacing at the taste. He waited for a second as if he was expecting a reaction. When he didn't, he looked slightly surprised. "Huh, normally, when I drink something, I feel the need to cough afterward."

Bee nodded. "Your symptoms will be gone for now. Make sure you finish both of those other portions tomorrow and the day after. If you don't, it will come back, and it won't be so easy to fix this time. I'll make a second set in case anyone else starts showing the same signs."

Trent nodded in understanding. It was a bit too casual for her liking, and she wasn't sure if she could trust him to take the medicine. But when she saw Mary shooting Trent a look, she figured it would be fine. Catching his wife's insistence, Trent nodded again, more seriously this time. "Don't worry, I will."

"Now, dear, Is there any particular way I should store these?" Mary asked.

Bee thought about it for a second. "The darker and colder, the better. They should last long enough anywhere long enough to see if anyone else is sick but better safe than sorry."

Something else occurred to her. She had used hortroot in the potions. Individually it was stable, but based on what else was in the potion... "After three months, be sure to throw them out. Don't let anyone drink them after that. In fact, pour them out away from your house or any plants you want to live."

A little taken aback by Bee's warning, Mary nodded. However, she wasn't done there. Instead, she reached for the bag of coins lying on the kitchen table. "After this, we certainly can't accept these."

---

I had a fun night chasing down earth demons. The better I got at it, the closer it became to the actual cleaning. After a while, it took on many of the same aspects. It was a repetitive, almost meditative task that could be completed without too much thought once you had a decent plan. Then, of course, there was the satisfaction of removing imperfections from the environment and all the other benefits.

This change in mindset almost made consuming the last one bittersweet. The whole process had gotten easier with practice, and I got much faster. Unfortunately, I hadn't considered my improvements when considering if I would finish removing all the demons before Beatrice's return. That led to my finishing much earlier than expected.

When I first realized that I would be done much earlier, I despaired slightly. I was hoping to keep myself occupied while she was gone. However, it didn't take long for me to dispel the thought as I took in my surroundings. Just looking at the wake of the last demons I vanquished was enough to tell me how much I had left to do in front of me.

Unfortunately, the effects of the demon were not all things I could take care of. It was disappointing, but I knew my abilities, and carpentry or furniture repair was not among them. Luckily it seemed that the earth demons were not very adventurous. They hadn't seemed to realize that doors were different from walls unless they saw someone go through them. This was convenient as it kept the damage to a minimum, as they weren't busting down doors right and left.

However, they didn't have the same issue with stairs that I did. That made it, so I occasionally had to wait until they came back downstairs once only a few were left. I shuddered at what other disasters must be upstairs. When Beatrice got back, I would have to insist that we venture up to put those rooms in order.

Still, after the last demon was finished, I began my more standard work of cleaning the floors with delight. I started in the bedrooms, systematically cleaning each one. Compared to the first time I cleaned these rooms, things went by orders of magnitude faster. That was despite the level of dirt being much higher than back then. It was unfortunate there was nothing I could do about the piles of splinters where there had once been chairs and wardrobes, though.

As I continued my quest to eradicate the dirt introduced to my home, I noticed that I had an observer. As I cleaned each room, I felt eyes on me. Something was watching me; I was sure of it. As I moved from room to room, I heard a light patter of something soft on stone following me. I was pretty sure I knew what it was, but I respected its desire to stay hidden as long as it didn't interfere with my work.

When I had seen this creature last, I behaved rudely, according to Beatrice. Unfortunately, I had no way of making amends, but I hoped that, perhaps, this fuzzy little beast was here to forgive me. While I would also appreciate an equivalent apology for the glass knocked over and the blatant taunting, I had a feeling that I was not going to receive that.

So I continued cleaning each room and righting the furniture to the best of my abilities. All the while ignoring my audience.

It wasn't until 34 minutes into the cleaning session, when I entered the twelfth bedroom, that I saw it. While I was under the bed chasing dust bunnies, I heard a thump. I finished catching all the bunnies. They never had posed much of an issue before, and to be honest, I didn't really even need to go under the bed for them. The only reason I did was that my air affinity didn't quite give me enough control to root them out without disturbing the blanket on top of the bed.

When I came out, I quickly realized what the thump was. It seemed the cat had jumped onto the wardrobe. I could see the silhouette of its pointed ears, along with a pair of slitted eyes watching me as I quickly visited the other corners of the room. I didn't acknowledge its presence, content to keep the companionable silence. Besides, I wasn't sure what to say yet, and I didn't want to scare it off.

Giving the room a quick once over, I was satisfied and moved on to the next one. The soft sound of four paws landing on stone let me know that the cat was following me as I moved to the thirtieth room.

This time the cat wasn't even trying to hide. I did appreciate it staying out of the way, though. It just jumped on the bed and continued to watch me intently. Occasionally as I moved, it cocked its head at me as if it was trying to figure me out. Despite my best efforts to keep my attention on my cleaning, I was watching it with almost as much intensity.