Entering the main room had every head turning.

"Glad to see you on your feet boy.  You had me worried there for a while."  A racking cough caused Sergei to double over.  Eldrick saw the tea sitting in the cup on the table and went to gather it up for his master.  Sycamorea was quicker and had the cup in hand before Eldrick could cover the distance between himself and the table.

"Here Sergei, breathe in the steam.  When you can, drink it."  Her voice was gentle and full of warmth for the old man.  Her motions seemed to be caring.  Why couldn't she have approached him like that for the teaching?  She didn't have all the information and thus was doing what she thought best at the time. 

How was it, that he could feel compassion for the one who had caused him such pain?  Well, there it was, the difference between someone who could think through a situation and someone who only reacts with emotion.  He needed to keep his emotions bottled during the examination for his elevation to a journeyman or he won't pass.  That was becoming more difficult as time passed.  He definitely needed to fall back on training, instead of letting things get to him.

He finished crossing the distance and sat down beside Sergei, whose coughing had eased and was drinking his tea.  Bogdán came out of the backroom, a tray full of dishes balanced on his palm, a pot of tea in his other.  Placing the pot on the table he started handing the food to the diners.  Seeing Eldrick he flushed.

"I am sorry, I didn't know you would be joining the others for breakfast."

"Same as mine, please.  He is going to need the nutrients,"  the elder was looking toward Sergei.  Eldrick noticed the matching scowls. 

"I understand your fear master druid.  But as the one who has been able to get him out of the bed, please let me assure you I am not going to bring any harm to the chap."  Turning his attention to Eldrick he gave a half-smirk and a wink.  "Sycamorea, why did you not teach him how to ground himself before anything else?"

"Elder, he was already magically trained, I assumed that had been part of his instruction."

"Never make assumptions.  The training on the prime planes is not the same as ours.  Not everyone understands the need to ground and center."  He sliced a piece of some yellow fruit, the juice flowed sluggishly from the pulp.  Taking the slice he popped it into his mouth and chewed slowly.  Eldrick wondered why he was being so methodical.  There was much to this gentleman that he should learn but wasn't sure if he had the time.  Slicing another piece of the fruit he raised it towards his mouth but stopped partway there. 

"You see, young lady, not everyone has the same desires when seeing a naked woman, though you do have a body to make most men want to ravage you, and probably half the women as well." he gestured with his fork and fruit.  "Playing with emotions may work with some, but before you try you need to have all the facts, especially if your message has come by sprite.  They spread the news everywhere, and so those who are sending messages that way have learned to be cautious and only pass along the basic information if there is anything to hide.  Which is just good sense."  He popped the fruit into his mouth, chewing slowly. 

"Now what didn't you get about the situation you found yourself in when trying to train young Ellie?"  He looked back to Eldrick, "you don't mind if I call you Ellie do you?  If so I apologize and will refrain from doing so in the future."  Eldrick thought he could see wheels turning behind the elder's eyes and before he could respond, "but I am pontificating we should eat.  Everyone, please think on what I have said while you eat."

"Sir, I don't mind in private, but in public, I would prefer to be called Eldrick if you will." 

Bogdán placed a platter in front of him.  Some of the items were unfamiliar to him.  He poked at them tentatively.  Looking up from his platter his gaze passed between all the faces seated at the table.  Glimhook looked surprised, Sergei appeared consternated, Sycamorea wore a shocked expression, Petal was just eyeing the plate with avarice in his eyes while licking his lips, Elder Cuán wasn't paying any attention to anything but his plate of food.  Well since this was his breakfast he had better eat something.  He tried a slice of the strange fruit Elder Cuán had started with.  There was a sweet spice to it, he could almost see a spicy sauce made from the meat of the fruit.  He looked at his plate and was surprised to not see any meat.  He was told he needed meat, but if this is what a drus recommended, he wasn't going to argue.  So far all the advice the older man had given him had been beneficial, why not this as well.  He found he was hungrier than he had thought, looking down at his plate he noticed it was empty.  He felt replete after the meal.

Eldrick turned to face Sycamorea, "Can we try that training again?  Please remember there are things I have no knowledge of and so I am likely to make mistakes if  don't understand."  He looked over to Sergei, "Are you going to be okay while I do this.  I don't know how long it will take."

"My dear boy, take as long as you need.  I am not a young man, but I didn't get this old by being impatient.  There are going to be times when you will wish to rush a decision.  I would recommend you curtail that urge.  You will notice that our ranks are slowly dwindling,! the new journeymen all seem to fail the trials in one form or another.  Take the time to consider everything."  He lifted his cup and took another swallow.  "I have enough tea for a few days.  I can always try to get more.  The only thing I know is in it is honeysuckle."

"I nearly forgot, I have the recipe from Amare.  But it is in my other trews."  He wished he had remembered earlier about that.  Wait he wasn't thinking clearly during the past few days.  He looked at Sycamorea.  She nodded and rose from the table.  Eldrick followed suit and trailed her down the hall.  As they came to the door to her room he felt a sudden tightening of his chest. 

"I... I... I don't think I can do this.  At least, not in there."  His breath was fast and shallow.

She reached out placing a hand on his shoulder.  "I understand,  Let me gather a few things from the room and we will go to the yard.  It might be better anyway.  I am going to explain the more advanced version of grounding and centering." 

As she opened the door, Eldrick caught a glimpse of the interior.  On the floor were a couple of darker spots on the wood roughly where he had been at the time.  Swallowing, he tried to slow his racing heart and calm his breathing.  He hoped this wasn't going to be his reaction to every new place.  Well, it shouldn't be, he was fine in the room he shared with Sergei and Petal.  He would much rather share a room with Sebastian.  Why did they have to leave so suddenly?  Would Sebastian understand?

A hand on his arm brought him out of his reverie.  "I am ready to go, shall we?"

Eldrick stood there a moment dumbfounded.  Is this the same person who had confronted him the first morning here?  She was treating him with kid gloves as if she were afraid of him. 

Was she afraid of him?  Why?  What had he done to her?  He couldn't think of anything to cause her to fear him.  Was it his magic? Didn't she say she had seen him unshielded?  He shook his head to clear his thoughts and followed her out the back to a spacious green. 

The grass felt comforting under his feet and the associated energy felt different too, almost a taste.  The scent of the air held a freshness not noticed before.  She walked into a circle of flowers and sitting down, motioned for him to join her.  Entering the circle everything changed.  Almost as if something were choking off his connection to... well, everything.  Remaining calm he drew a deep slow breath as he sat in the circle.

"Okay, before we start, I could tell by your reaction you noticed the shift in energy.  Good.  I had this circle crafted years ago when I was in training."  Her face flushed with what Eldrick could only assume was embarrassment. 

"You see I needed to learn to cut myself off from the outside in order to focus on my lessons.  The only way to reach the energies outside the circle is to truly ground yourself."  She placed a hand flat on the ground.

"Imagine there are roots coming out of every part of your body that is in contact with the mother.  Let them grow down as far as you can.  Once you feel they are deep enough, draw the energy up through them.  Draw it all the way to your crown," she placed a hand on the top of his head. 

"Not out the top of your head but the point where it is almost out.  Then send it back down and out through those roots.  This is likely to take some time to practice and get used to.  You need to be able to do it almost instantly.  This way you are always grounded unless you are riding a carriage or wagon.  You can even do this while riding horseback.  Why you would want to is another question.  It is best to be grounded yourself not through something else because you could inadvertently harm the creature unless you know exactly what you are doing."  Eldrick noticed she could talk up a storm when she wanted to.  Her voice felt mildly hypnotic, all he wanted was to sit here and listen.

"This is almost like working in a group.  The focus of the group needs to control the flow of energy they take from others, so as not to draw too much and harm the other members."

She looked at him quizzically, "I don't understand.  What is it like working in a group?  Have you done this?"

"I have, it can be both exhilarating and scary at the same time.  I have done it a total of four times I believe,  Twice I was the focus.  The first time I was the focus I didn't consider the rate of the flow, nor the limits of those who were working with me."  He paused to consider the ramifications of his actions.  "After that first session we, that is Amaryliss and I, went about making sure everyone knew how to shield so that I couldn't take more from them than they had to offer."

"I see, can you show me?"

"I can, but I thought you were trying to teach me something."  He looked at her and saw curiosity lurking behind her eyes.

"Sometimes learning something new can be a way to teaching someone a different technique if it is relevant.  You said this may be like working in a group so I would like to be the judge of that, if I may?"  Eldrick could hear the sincerity in her voice.  He was almost tempted to say yes just to hurt her in a way that she had hurt him.  He reconsidered the thought because it was cruel and he wouldn't submit another to that if he could help it.

"I would love to but I don't have any magical work that needs to be done.  I wouldn't know how to show you the aspects which you are looking to experience."  He looked at his crossed legs in front of himself and let his senses flow downwards dragging imaginary roots with them.  As his senses went down he could feel the changes in energies as he passed through different stratification levels.  He sensed earth, water, air in pockets, and finally fire.  He wasn't sure how far down he had gone but he felt he shouldn't go any deeper.  He withdrew his senses but left the roots in place.

"Okay, I think I have gone as deep as I can.  I have found layers of each of the elements.  That is all four, no wait there is a fifth, life?"

"Wait a moment, did you say you could reach fire?  That is deeper than I have ever been able to reach.  Is there anyway you can show me?"  Her eyes were alight with hope. 

This gave Eldrick an idea.  A way to both get confirmation and demonstrate what it is like to work in concert with another.

"I think there is a way, but you need to go into a trance.  I hope you know how to do that."  He watched her face carefully for any sign of dismay.  A tell-tale indication that he would need to teach her how to enter a trance.  Instead what he saw was her slip efficiently into a trancelike state.  Extending a mental hand, she took it gently, yet firmly.  Once the connection was made, he opened himself to her for the understanding of what he was sensing through the 'roots'.

As they progressed down his roots, her mental choking at the halfway point let him know she had never gone deeper on her own.  He tried something he had never considered before.  This was a mental exercise, so he gently wrapped her mind in the fire energy; a buffer between her mind and the pressure.  He believed this was a good idea because he could feel the pressure himself, though it didn't bother him in the same way.

"This as far as you have ever been?"  Though the voice was entirely mental he could sense his lips moving to them.

"Yes," her mental voice was shaky and Eldrick thought he could sense her swallowing her fear.  "Whatever it was you did seems to have relieved some of the pressure.  I can feel all the elements travelling up to you, and then returning.  I am curious as to how you can reach the fiery core of Corrigenda and not have it consume you in its power?"

Eldrick froze, both mentally and magically.  The core of Corrigenda?  The realm of all the magic in Corrigenda?  How is that possible?  Could it have something to do with the ring stuck on his thumb?  Subconsciously he placed a finger on the ring.  Was there a pulse there?  Or was that his own pulse?  Either way, it seemed to beat with the same resonance as the magic flowing through him and back into the earth.  If shoes separated one from the beat of the world how could he feel it through the moosehide trews?  His footwear was constructed of the same stuff.  His clothes hadn't been boiled for hardness as the soles of his shoes had been.  Could that be the difference? 

The sound of a strangled cry brought his thoughts back to himself.  He hadn't realized he had started travelling back downwards again and had reached the core and was about to enter it.  That was an audible cry, not a mental one.  He checked and noticed that Sycamorea was still with him and her essence was burning away.  He couldn't let that happen.  He retreated into himself then released her from the link.  He was afraid if he had released her while they were down there, she wouldn't have been able to return to herself.

In a panic, he reached for her with his senses, he could sense where she had been burned.  He had to do something though he didn't have what he needed. Magical healing would cause more problems since they were magical burns manifesting in the physical.  Some were internal, which meant he would need to find some way to stop the burning there, or it would be permanent damage even with herbal remedies.  Without thinking, he pulled on the water and life energies comingling them.  Sending them into the internal burns without allowing them to remain, simply passing through the area to stop the burning before it couldn't be repaired. 

He needed chamomile, honey and aloe if he could find it, also, cream to mix it all together.  As he looked around he noticed the circle was neatly planted with chamomile flowers.  Why hadn't he noticed that before?  Because he hadn't been paying attention.  Idiot, what was it Sergei has told you a hundred times if he has told you once.  A druid must always pay attention to his surroundings because one never knows when you may find something you need just growing in the open.

He gathered thirty flowers from around the circle so he didn't break it.  He placed them in Sycamorea's lap and then picked her up.  She was lighter than she looked.  Hastily, he carried her back into the inn.  He took her to his room and laid her down on the bed.  He didn't think he would find the aloe but figured he could work without it.  Scooping up the flowers he rushed to the kitchen.  Ignoring Bogdán, he grabbed the kettle, pumped water into it and hung it over the fire.  He began to search for a mortar and pestle when a meaty hand fell on his shoulder.

"All right, youngen.  What be ye searching fer in me kitchen?  It must be important if yer gonna ignore me when ye come rushing in here, makin' a mess of me stuff."  Eldrick found himself being spun around to face the dwarf.

"I need a mortar and pestle, to make a burn salve.  I don't know how a dryad deals with burns but if they respond like humans I know what to do."  His voice was slowly rising to a higher pitch as he spoke.

"All right, calm yerself down.  Sycamorea burned?  By the Eldritch," Bogdán's eyes began darting around the room.  "Top-shelf fourth cupboard on the left.  Grab the marble one, not the wooden one.  You got the water boiling that is good."  He reached up and grabbed a small saucepan from the rack above the table.  Starting to strip the heads from the flowers he piled them to one side.  Eldrick took the stems and started to strip the leaves.  Once there were three piles of flower parts on the table, Eldrick grabbed for his knife only to notice he didn't have it.  He was looking about frantically when Bogdán's voice broke through to him.  "Look up."

Looking up he saw a collection of knives and a couple of cutting boards.  Grabbing one of each he began slicing the stems lengthwise.  Having them all sliced in half, he chopped them into smaller pieces.  Dumping the bits into the mortar he grabbed the pestle and began to grind them into pulp.  After the first couple of attempts, he scooped some back out in order to pulp the remainder more efficiently.  He thought he heard a grunt of approval from Bogdán. 

Looking over at Bogdán for a moment he saw the old dwarf stripping the petals and tossing them into the pot.  He couldn't waste time watching what the other was doing, he had his own work to attend to.  He needed to apply this salve as soon as possible.  He could tell the old dwarf was working with similar efficiency.  Together they made short work of the process.  Each responding to unspoken cues once the stems were pulped he shifted them to a pot, sliced the leaves and was pulping them as well to try to get as much of the oils free as he could before adding water and boiling them to extract more.  With all the flowers boiled, the pots were removed from the heat and allowed to cool enough that the pulp could be removed and the excess moisture squeezed out of them.  As each handful was removed the moisture was shaken off the hand back into the pots.  With the pots placed back over the heat to boil away the water and leave the essential oils.  Bogdán came over with a small tray of food.

"I ain't never seen anyone work so quickly or diligently on making a salve before.  Ye must have healer trainin'.  Now would ye mind a tellin' me how me goddaughter happened to get burnt?"  He gave Eldrick a piercing stare as if waiting for a lie.

"Well, sir, we were working on the magical training."

"'Nough said.  I dunna blame ye, I just wanted ta make sure ye was an honest bloke.  She never did know how ta not let her curiosity get the better o' her.  She said you were freaky powerful, an if she didna shield herself proper like..."

"It wasn't that sir." Eldrick interrupted.  "She was teaching me grounding and centering when she learned I could ground deeper than her and she wanted to experience it.  So we linked in cooperative magic so I could bring her down with me.  When we reached her maximum depth, that is the depth she could reach on her own she began to panic.  I wrapped a shield around her and we continued down.  I didn't know MY shield wasn't strong enough to protect her from the core of Corrigenda.  When I heard her cry out, we returned to the surface where I broke the link and did what I could."  He picked up a piece of fruit and popped it into his mouth.  He used the time it took to eat the fruit to pull himself together.  There was way too much going on here.  He really needed to learn everything he could from her but he wasn't going to try to pull it from her mind.  That meant he would have to wait for her to heal.  He also needed to find the ingredients for Sergei's tea.  "I am going to need some supplies for Sergei's tea as well."

"Sycamorea first, then you can give me the list and I will have Èibhlin fetch the ingredients."  He looked at the pots slowly boiling away.  "On second thought, Èibhlin get in here please."

"Bogdán never bothers to look for anyone he only bellows."  The voice came from under the table.  "Èibhlin do this, Èibhlin do that, Èibhlin go here, Èibhlin get that.  For once I would like to see him get something other than food for himself."  She climbed out from under the table and looked up at Eldrick all wide eyed.  "Sir druid, I didn't know you were here."  She curtsied to him.  Turning her head to look at Bogdán she stuck her tongue out.

"If you will excuse me I need to get the list from my things."  Standing, Eldrick left the room.  As he passed through the dining hall he saw Sergei sitting at one of the tables talking with one of the satyrs and Chase.  He didn't say anything because he was in a hurry to get the list of ingredients for the tea. 

Upon entering his room he went to the pile of laundry which hadn't been attended to yet and pulled the folded paper from the pocket of his trews.  He had noticed the blood on the outside and fervently hoped it hadn't penetrated the paper.

Opening the paper he was disappointed to find that the paper had indeed been soaked through with blood.  He thought about the lesson he had just had and the ability to draw on the elements.  Could he do something with that to clean the paper yet still leave the ink legible?  He thought it was possible but why risk it if he didn't have to.  He could try copying it by hand first then try to decipher the script in the blood.  But first, he needed paper and a pen.  He knew where he could find both but he wasn't sure if Bogdán would appreciate it if he ripped a page from the ledger.

Clutching the list in his hand he returned to the kitchen.  Somehow, he didn't need to ask as sitting on the table was a piece of paper and a pen.  Sitting back down he began to copy the list.  He was amazed at the fact that he only needed to try to decipher one of the ingredients and that all the amounts were still legible.  With the help of Bogdán and Èibhlin they figured out the missing ingredient by the last four letters of its name, Rosemary.  Èibhlin snatched the list and vanished.  Eldrick was beginning to wonder if invisibility was something that brownies could do naturally, or if it was just remarkable speed on their part.  Either way, it was disconcerting to watch.

The chamomile tea was ready, so Eldrick offered to take it to Sycamorea if Bogdán would watch the pots boiling.  Bogdán nodded and poured a cup of tea for Eldrick to doctor with cream and honey.  Cup in hand he left the kitchen and headed back to his room.

He found Petal pacing the foot of the bed.  "What happened to Sycamorea?  She won't answer Petal"

"She was burned, it was an accident but I feel responsible."  He looked over at the prone figure.  "Sycamorea, I have some tea for you which should help with the internal burns.  Could you try sitting up or do you need help?"

She slowly shifted into a sitting position, trying to cradle her stomach and arms.  Eldrick helped her drink the tea.  Once the cup was empty she turned to look at him.  "You acted fast.  I shouldn't have been so eager.  You learned several lessons today not just the one I wanted to teach you.  Thank you."

"Oh no, you don't," he placed the cup on the stool.  "We need to remove that dress so we can get at the burns.  Bogdán and I are making a salve for them."  He reached across and began to untie the laces.  "Believe me when I say I take no pleasure in this."  He looked over at Petal who stood there with his eyes wide as the top of the gown fell below her breasts. 

"Petal, I could use your help.  I need to lift her off the bed so we can remove her dress.  It needs to be done gently or else it may stick to her burns."  He watched to see if Petal understood.  With a nod, Petal rose into the air and grabbed a hold of the waist of the dress to lift it gently away from the body.  Once Petal was ready Eldrick gently lifted her off the bed.

Petal flew slowly backwards removing the dress by inches at a time.  With the dress clear of Sycamorea, Eldrick eased her back down onto the bed.  Her burns were dark spots on her skin, like the remnants of burnt wood.  Eldrick winced at the sight.  He hoped there wouldn't be any scars but he had no way to know how she would respond to the salve.  Petal walking along the side of the bed reached out a hand to pass over the black spots.

"Petal no feel heat.  Ellie did good.  Dryads, when they burn, tend to continue to burn and smoulder unless something is done to stop it."

Eldrick wondered about that, how had what he had done stopped the external burning?  "I am not sure what I did but if it worked great."  He glanced over at Sycamorea and considered the fact that even with the fires extinguished she was probably still feeling the burning sensation. 

"Petal, I have a request.  If you can, would you please keep her cool with your wings?"

"Petal can do that."  He was looking at her like a starving dog looks at a bone.

"Petal, she is a patient not a piece of meat.  Put your eyes back in your head."

Petal looked over at Eldrick, a pout on his face.  "Petal seen Eldrick looking at Sebastian like a piece of meat when Sebastian was patient and Eldrick was healer."

"P..P..P.. PETAL!!"  He turned to leave before he throttled the mischievous little sprite.  Petal was right of course, but Eldrick didn't need his personal life broadcast all over the Faelands.  As he left the room he heard Petal laughing.  Shaking his head he closed the door.  Petal, he knew was not one to shirk his duty.  Eldrick had to admit Sycamorea was beautiful, but he felt more envy than anything else.

When he got back to the kitchen he took an old, battered pot and added some scream to it.  Found the honey jar and added the same amount of honey then considered that some beeswax would be nice as an emulsifier.  He didn't know if Bogdán had any, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"Bogdán, do you have any beeswax?" looking around he noticed Bogdán wasn't in the kitchen, the pots were sitting on the table with a nice thick oil on the bottom of them.  Grabbing a couple of spoons first he stirred the honey and cream to blend them but they wouldn't seem to blend.  He placed the pot on the stove to heat while he stirred it all together.  Once he had the consistency he wanted he removed it from the heat and started adding the oil from the other pots to the cream honey mixture.

Bogdán came in the back door just at that moment, a large chunk of honeycomb in his hands.  "I hope that is still warm enough for this or you may need to put it back on the heat," he said gesturing with the comb.

Eldrick felt the side of the pot it was still hot to the touch.  "I think so, but if we need to we can put it back on the stove."

Bogdán nodded as he crossed the room to place the wax into the pot.  Eldrick stirred it as the wax melted into the mixture.  Looking into the pots he noticed that Eldrick hadn't started on the second pot yet and began scooping the oils from one pot to the other while Eldrick stirred the salve.

"Why did ye choose cream of all things?"

"I honestly don't know, it just sort of came to me.  I never finished getting through the apothecary tomes before I had to leave.  It just felt right I guess."  He shrugged as the salve thickened.  "I guess you are going to need to keep it in cold storage.  Which might be a good thing for burns."

Bogdán looked at Eldrick and laughed a great belly laugh.  "Ye be a good un.  I haven't laughed so hard in many a year."  He slapped Eldrick across the back, "Ye have a good head on ye.  Now that this is the right consistency we should put it in cold storage long enough for it to cool down."

Eldrick's eyes crossed at the force of the blow.  Picking up the pot of burn ointment he took it to the cold storage and set it inside.  Returning to the table he sat across from Bogdán.  "Why is it that sometimes you can hear fine and other times you don't hear what is said to you?"

"Well..." Bogdán began and then stopped to think about it.  "I think it has to do with how close we are.  I mean a table length and I can hear fine any farther than that and it seems to be just a lot of nonsense, so's I try to read lips.  I guess I ain't no good at that yet."

"Okay," Eldrick chuckled, "I guess I am just going to need to make sure you are nearby when I am talking with you."  His left wrist throbbing reminded him that it wasn't healed and he had stressed it out with Sycamorea and the ointment.  Now that it wasn't an emergency situation the pain came flooding back.  "You wouldn't happen to have any willowbark tea do you?" he asked.  "I do believe that I am going to be screaming rather soon."

"Let me see that wrist, youngen.  For the love of Amar, ye've done gone and opened it up again."  Rising he placed the arm on the table.  "Now don't ye be goin' nowhere.  I'll be right back."  Turning he headed for the storage room.  When he came back to the table he had a roll of bandages and a jar of ointment. 

"Right, let's see what we can do about that there wrist."  Placing the bandages and ointment on the table he opened the roll and removed a small bottle with strips of willow bark inside.  He reached for a teapot, put a few strips of the bark inside and handed one to Eldrick.  "Chew on this here until the tea be ready."  Pulling the ever-present kettle off the fire hook he poured water into the teapot.

Eldrick wondered just how many teapots this guy owned.  He had heard rumours that dwarves liked to drink but he had yet to see a single drop of alcohol in this inn.  He placed the willow bark into his mouth and started chewing on it.  The bitter taste reminding him why he preferred the tea which could be sweetened with honey. 

He turned his face away as the bandages were removed, he didn't want to look at it.  He feared the damage he may have caused.  Was he going to be able to regain full use of his hand.  As the last of the bandages came away there was a sharp pain.  Forgetting he had the willow bark in his mouth he swallowed to avoid screaming.  His eyes narrowed as he looked over at Bogdán. 

"You could have warned me."

"Nah lad, if'n I'd done that ye would a tensed up and it would a hurt even more.  Best get it done quick and surprise like.  Less reaction, ye still chewin' on tha' piece of bark?"

"NO, I swallowed it as you tried to rip me apart."

"I did no try ta rip ye apart.  I simply needed to remove tha' bandage."  His eyes never left Eldrick's.  "Now I hope ye are comfortable cause this is gonna sting."

Eldrick sat there waiting for the sting but nothing seemed to happen.  He waited a few moments just watching Bogdán.  Bogdán just sat there watching Eldrick, a grin starting to form at the corners of his mouth.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Tea?" Bogdán had the teapot in one hand and was getting up to get a teacup.

"I thought you said this was going to sting?"  Eldrick could feel his anger rising.  "Why don't you finish with my wrist already?"

"Oh, I was tying it off when I said this was going to sting.  Ye see if someone gives ye a warning and it don't happen youngens like herself get angry, If'n ye don't give a warning about something hurtin' ye get angry.  There be no pleasen the likes of ye."  Handing Eldrick the cup of tea he passed over the honey pot.  "Sycamorea be the same.  Lessen she's takin a shine to ye.  If'n that be the case ye better hope ye can pass her off to someone else, real quick like."

Eldrick finally gathered the courage to look at his wrist.  The bandages were healer perfect, and the wrist felt slightly numbed.  "What type of ointment is that?"

"That there ointment is a family secret.  I have more put up, so ye can have that jar.  Use it only on cuts, scrapes and abrasions.  It ain't much good fer nothin' else.  But it works miracles on those."  He leaned back on the stool and poured himself a cup of chamomile tea, adding a small dollop of honey.  They sat there in somewhat companionable silence while they drank their tea.

Having finished their tea, Eldrick stood up and went to the cold room for the ointment.  With it in his hands, he returned to the kitchen. 

"Do you have some jars we can transfer this into?"

"O' course," Bogdán replied rising from his seat.  Walking over to the cupboards he opened one, reaching in he picked up a jar, bringing back he placed it on the table. Eldrick, setting the pot of ointment on the table picked up a wooden spoon.  Scooping the ointment from the pot he filled the jar, making sure to not leave any air pockets.  He was only halfway through the pot of ointment when he saw that the first jar was full.  Sealing it he looked over at Bogdán, indicating the need for another jar.  "Go, tend to Sycamorea I will finish this here task."

Eldrick needing no further encouragement grabbed the jar and made his way to his room.  Arriving there he noticed that Petal had been true to his word and had fanned her with his wings the whole time.  Eldrick could see the toll it had taken on his friend.

"Petal I have the ointment, you can relax."  Hearing this Petal floated over to the foot of the bed and wilted into a heap.  "Sycamorea, I am not sure how much this may hurt, but it should be comforting."  Removing a generous amount of the ointment he gently applied it to her burns in a thick paste.  He watched her expression change from pained to relief as he slathered on the ointment.  Her face lost most of the tension and began to relax, as did the rest of her body.  He hadn't realized just how much pain she had been in until this moment.  "I think I am going to need to find someplace else to sleep for a couple of days.  Or would you prefer to be moved to a different bed?"

"I would prefer my own bed.  Papi knows where it is.  Why hasn't he checked on me?  Does he know I was burned?"

"Yeah, he knows.  He helped make the salve.  I can get him if you would like?"

She nodded.  With the pain fading, she drifted off to sleep.  Eldrick could feel a tear starting to trickle down his cheek.  He hadn't realized just how tense he too had been.  Why couldn't he do anything right?  He should have been able to shield her from the heat.  Had he chosen the wrong element?  It was likely.  He needed to find a book on this, though he doubted there was one.  He was going to have to write it himself.  While he was musing he absently made his way back towards the kitchen.  No one had said there were five elements.  Why was this never discussed?  He entered the kitchen as a thought hit him.  Could the five elements have anything to do with the different forms of magic?  Earth, air, fire, water, and life.  What was the significance?  He knew there had to be a correlation, but how would he find it?

"Well, youngen, how she be doin'?  Come on speak up."

"She's sleeping," he mentioned absently.  "She wants to be moved to her own bed.  She's currently in mine."  His voice hollow sounding in the room. 

His mind was still trying to wrap itself around the concept that there were five types of magic and five elements.  There had to be a connection.  He wasn't going to figure it out in a day.  This may take his entire life if he could live a long enough time to figure it out.  A clap on the shoulder brought his mind back to the present.  Looking down he saw Bogdán looking up at him, concern on his face.

"She be in her own bed now.  Have ye been standing here the entire time I been gone?"

"How long have you been gone?  I didn't even notice you leave."

"Must be some powerful deep thoughts fer a youngen like yerself to not notice tha' the sun is settin' and be darn near dinner time.  I been gone a good while tending to Sycamorea and ye have been standin' in the same spot fer hours."  He shook his head in dismay.  "Git out into the hall and I will be bringin' out yer dinner.  And fer the others too."

Eldrick turning looked at the fire. The scent of roasting venison hit his nostrils causing his mouth to water.  He hadn't had venison in quite some time.  He left the kitchen so Bogdán could finish preparing dinner without a gawker getting in the way.