The Druid Settlement

Eventually, the farmer was so happy about having gotten rid of the cockatrices that he agreed to lend them a horse for free. He also lent them a map with some points of interest, like a swamp full of pretty dangerous monsters that they were going to avoid - even if Nona was a bit curious to see what kind of creatures lived there - and a druid settlement that had become their next destination.

“Are you sure you are okay?” Nona asked with concern, causing Adish to huff with resignation from the horse that he was now riding.

“I’ll survive. But I’ll definitely be better when the swelling goes away.”

Thorny snorted while shaking his head. “Among all the mages that we could come across, we surely won the lottery with this one.”

“Thorny…”

“What? Come on, admit that a mage that cannot use magic is pretty useless.”

“Hey, I can use magic!”

“Exactly! And he saved me from being petrified.”

“Oh, yeah, he did. And then he was about to die because of the damn allergic reaction he got after doing a simple dispel spell.”

“OK, for starters it was not a simple dispel spell. Nona was practically petrified when I casted it, so I had to go with a Greater Restoration one.”

“...Ah, really?”

“Yes, really . That’s why the reaction I got was so strong, and the reason my usual antidote failed to be fully effective.”

“Well, at least your face is no longer thrice your normal size, and you can wear your glasses again!”

“Thank you for the great encouragement, Nona.”

“You’re welcome.”

Thanks to their new animal companion, they reached the druids’ settlement in half a day, since they could travel to Nona’s usual rhythm without having to make any pauses - of course, Thorny didn’t waste the chance of reminding Adish the ‘slowpoke’ he was.

A couple of strong druids were guarding the entrance of the place when they arrived. They exchanged a look when seeing Thorny with Nona, but eventually allowed them to enter.

“Don’t try anything funny, imp,” one of the guards said. “We are a pacific community, but we won’t hesitate in throwing you out if you cause trouble.”

“Roger that, boss!” Thorny said with a mocking military gesture that caused the druid to half-close his eyes and Adish to exhale an exasperated sigh.

“Don’t you think it’s too risky to bring him in?” Adish whispered towards Nona once they were inside the camp with multiple tents, making the most of Thorny getting distracted by one particular tent from where a delicious aroma of bakery was coming. “It would be safer if he waited for us outside while we do the shopping.”

“Ah. Oh. Yes. I see your point.” Nona said, furiously trying to win time to think about a credible excuse. “But don’t worry! It’s true that Thorny may be a little intense sometimes.”

“Well, if with ‘intense’ you mean ‘annoying as hell’ yes, he definitely is.”

“But he is good at heart, so he won’t do anything that can negatively affect us.”

Adish didn’t look very convinced, but at that moment Thorny came back, preventing the mage from saying anything else.

“Hehe, you better save some money to buy one of those buns or I’ll steal them myself.”

“Sssh, don’t say that kind of stuff aloud!” Adish nervously said when seeing some druids that were passing by threw some reproving looks towards Thorny.

“Don’t worry, he was joking.” Nona started looking around, missing the ‘I was not’ / ’He clearly was not’ that both Thorny and Adish said at the same time because something caught her attention. “That must be the herbalist’s shop that the farmer mentioned. Let’s take a look.”

The herbalist in question was hard to miss, since it was one of the few wooden buildings in the area, and the gigantic sign on its roof saying ‘HERBS’ left little room for error.

Nona knocked on the door a couple of times with energy and was about to open it when she heard a ruckus of broken glass at the other side.

“For the Goddess’ sake, Vesper, this is the third set of glasses that you break this week!”

“S-Sorry, grandma. Those knocks were so loud that they surprised me!”

“Well, this time I must admit that I felt my poor old heart stop when the door trembled like that.”

Nona blinked before turning towards Adish and Thorny.

“Did I really knock–?”

“--so hard that the whole building trembled? Yep. You did.”

The fact that Adish nodded agreeing with Thorny made Nona gulp.

At that moment, the door of the shop opened brusquely, revealing a nice-looking old lady that had a not-so-nice frown on her wrinkled forehead.

“Very well, who is the brute who had called with such force that–”

“I’m so sorry!” Nona bowed so low that her torso ended up perpendicular to the ground in a sudden display of respect that caused the old lady to open her eyes in stupor. “Sometimes I don’t control my strength but that’s not an excuse. If I caused you some trouble please let me know and I will do everything in my hand to–”

“A-Alright, alright, take a deep breath, child.” Nona remembered to adjust her bangs before straightening her position to look at the old lady, who stared at her in disbelief. “Oh my. I was expecting a brute at the other side of my shop, not a little girl like you. You look even younger than my Vesper.”

That last sentence caused Nona’s eyes to focus on the young druid that was now crouching on the floor of the shop, cleaning up the mess of broken glasses and spilled liquids.

“Let me help you,” she rapidly said, rushing inside the shop. The effusive action mixed with the wide smile that Nona offered Vesper caused this one to gulp and nod but kept her eyes averted the whole time.

“Well, maybe you could start with the list of surely-expensive-as-hell-things we need for your antidote while our overstrong fella here cleans up the mess,” Thorny said.

“Antidote?” The old druid finally turned towards Adish and made a small grimace. “Oh dear. Indeed the imp is right. The ingredients for an antidote to magic allergy are neither cheap nor easy to find.”

Adish and the herbalist were still speaking about ingredients and different options to create the antidote when Nona finished helping Vesper. The druid - which was quite taller than her - merely bowed in her direction before rapidly disappearing in the backroom, without meeting her gaze or spelling a word.

“Don’t take it personal,” the herbalist told Nona, pausing momentarily her conversation with Adish. “My grandchild is just extremely shy, and only talks openly with the people she knows she can trust.”

“It’s ok. My third bigger brother is just like that, and he is one of the nicest people I’ve known.”

Nona’s words put a small smile on the herbalist’s face before turning to Adish again.

“So, coming back to the topic,” Thorny said then impatiently, “our options are to buy all the stuff for this weakling’s antidote–”

“Hey, don’t call me weakling.”

“--which we can’t do because we don’t have enough money; or gather the ingredients ourselves, which would imply visiting that swamp that we are NOT going to visit; or becoming errand boys for you during the next days to have enough money to buy those damn ingredients, did I miss something?”

The herbalist made an apologetic smile before talking. “Well, if you happened to have a rare stone or something valuable like that maybe we could–”

“NO, WE DON’T HAVE IT!!”

After Nona profusely apologized for Thorny’s rudeness, they agreed to spend the next few days in the settlement helping the druids until gathering the money necessary for the antidote.

“Seriously, can’t we just continue this trip without that useless mage?” Thorny whispered to Nona while Adish continued talking to the herbalist to estimate how much money they would need. “He is just a waste of space, and he is stealing an important spot in our team.”

“Thorny, he needs the antidote because he used magic to protect me, remember?”

“Yeah, and those wolves would have eaten him if it wasn’t for you, so you are even!”

Nona shook her head. “Sorry, Thorny. But we are a team now, and I’m not going to abandon a friend.”

Thorny huffed. “You call a stranger friend too easily. One day you will regret being that innocent.”

Nona looked at Thorny, but she couldn’t formulate the question that came to her mind, since at that moment Adish joined them.

“OK, in summary, we need 11,560 coins for everything we need.” Adish pointed at Thorny when this one was opening his mouth. “And before you put the blame on me, the food AND equipment you need are even more expensive than the herbs.”

“Damn, that money is ten times what we have now!” Thorny exhaled a pained gasp. “We’re going to spend ages in this village.”

“And the best part is that tonight there will be a small gathering to give some offerings to Tsevrah.”

Nona’s face illuminated when hearing that. Tsevrah was one of the most worshiped Gods in her village, so participating in an offering would make her feel a little close to home.

However, before she could express her happiness, Adish talked again.

“Seriously, I can’t fathom why people waste valuable resources like that.”

Nona had never understood the expression ‘a slap in the face’ until that moment when he heard Adish pronounce those words.

“What do you mean with ‘waste’?”

Adish looked quite surprised, probably because it was the first time she saw Nona look so serious.

“Well, it’s evident that these people are lacking resources. Any material they gather must be quite precious, the exorbitant prices they have are proof of that. So they should use them prudently instead of throwing them away to some imaginary god.”

“They are not throwing anything away,” Nona protested, not bothering to hide that she hadn’t liked Adish’s words. “It’s a show of respect for the gods and goddesses to watch over us and protect us.”

Adish clicked his tongue again. “Well, you’re free to believe whatever you like. Just don’t ask me to do the same.”

The mage was about to turn around to leave when Nona talked again. Her pulse beat faster with the question that left her mouth.

“And what do you think of the Wish Bearers?”