Stranger meetings

The snow had been falling more and more frequently after that.

Nothing out of the ordinary, it had even come later than usual, but in that time, around the middle of december, it had become the usual companion of these mountains.

Due to the weather, moving around while it snowed was not exactly what could be called “a good idea”, which was why Grandpa and Ingrid became somewhat a mainstay in my house.

Now, if you haven’t understood the logic of them remaining in my house when they had their own, and when the elf could just run there without problems, don’t worry.

I hadn’t understood it myself, and I still have not, but it had to do with Lucrezia’s, and I still have to be used to the sudden familiarity, training.

Naturally when one of the two idiots, one being an old dwarf the other being a fool, hit a tad too hard, I was the one to heal.

…Maybe that was the logic, I would not put it past them, but if it was, would it have not gone against my own code to heal them for the fourth time and more than a single digit?

That made me question their intelligence, but it was not like I could do much more, other than making sure to not use reagents that were truly hard to find, to use and/or both.

Few things still grew at this moment of the year that were connected to medicine, after all, and due to Astrid’s belly growing far faster than it should, something that made me fear for the chances of she having multiple children, even the use of more than one salve a week could end up with lethal connotations.

On the other hand, if a bone broke again for the elf, there was a real chance that it could take months to settle back, but she was by far the less in danger, with her being able to punch through rocks.

Grandpa, despite having his own way to enhance himself, was not even in the same league, so at least taking some ingredients was, in its own way, necessary.

Which was why, in one of the truces we had had in the two weeks after the blessing, and after the first true blizzard had passed, I found myself looking around for some moss, or some tree barks, or some-

I really had to hope no one back at home read this, because it would really be hard, as I had said once, to explain and be believed.

Strangely the spirits were amused by my own internal musings. Not.

But at least they did help me find some of these ingredients, alongside Hunin and Mugin, the little cows eating more than ten berries each to help me find the ingredients necessary, and the haul itself was good.

Maybe I could do more pain-killers and anti-biotics with these, the second would be a life saver in case something went wrong after the birth of Ivar and Astrid’s child, alongside with any kind of blood I could give her.

I would have to make sure that no one touched liver, something I had already been saying, and to save some just in case.

I had already a base for something that could be considered a “surrogate” of blood donation, but I had never been in the situation when it was necessary to use, so-

I heard the neigh first, weak but clear.

It was a sound that I automatically translated to “Why, why.”

I turned towards the direction of the neigh, and I could see, from afar, an extremely tired horse, a mare if the sound that came to my ears was good enough to understand, with some leather bags on her back, and atop of her a hooded man, tall but not too tall, with a comfortable but dirty mantle, who hands were red and whose breath came out in short puffes.

I walked towards them, it was strange to find travelers, above all in this time of the year, while above me Hunin and Mugin flew, little eyes in the sky, weary of this stranger.

When I reached them, the stranger barely turned his head and I could see the red eyes and the black bags under them, all of this despite the shadow of the hood.

His eyes lighted up when he saw me, understandable due to the danger, and he asked, hopeful: “My good man, you cannot understand how seeing another person’s fills me with gladness. Is this the Hamlet of the Yvette the Adamantine, or at least close to it?”

Now that I was close I could see that his hands were trembling, and that the horse was very close too keeling over, so instead of answering in any way that would make this madman decide to continue traveling, I instead answered: “Look, I don’t know what the hamlet here is called, no one does, but I have a roof, and…”

The spirits started clamoring in my head, but I continued, the stranger’s eyes full of pain and tiredness, and my oath being my oath: “-and you need rest. I will give you a roof for today’s, and when you are rested you may speak with Grandma about your travel. She will be able to help.”

The spirits were shouting something, but I could not understand it, and the stranger’s head bobbed up, his eyes lighting up for a moment but then nothing more: “That would be of much help, my good man. Lead the way, and do not worry for me. I will not fall so easily, and I have my ways.”
The mare said something, spoke something, but I could not completely get it while I directed this well-mannered man towards my house.

There was something amiss, but it was probably my tiredness, and nothing more, I was sure of it.

Maybe I would have been able to sleep on it, and Grandma or Grandpa would been able to help this time, so that this matter would not drag on too much.