~Untold, Chapter 4

It wasn't long before Mistress Bove decided that Raine had learned enough from the spell book to begin coming on house calls again, though she suspected that it had more to do with her frustration over Cara's relative incompetence rather than her own progress, which was slower than Raine liked to admit. The text was dense and learning the language was difficult, though she worked diligently night after night. Cara had expressed curiosity in what she was doing, and when Mistress Bove wasn't around, Raine would show her the heavy volume.

"So it's written in the Angelic language?" Cara asked, leaning over the book, he fingers brushing delicately over the aging pages.

"Yes. And it describes healing techniques that only magic users can do," Raine replied in hushed tones, knowing that Mistress Bove could come back at any time. Genis sat in front of the door, staring determinedly at a wooden puzzle meant for significantly older child, and making good progress on it. Hopefully he would inadvertently warn them of their employer's approach when the time came.

"You're so lucky you're an elf," Cara said wistfully. Raine winced at the statement. She hated it when people brought up the lie that still only Mistress Bove knew the truth of. She hadn't even told Genis—he was too young to understand such things anyway. The longer he believed he was a full-blooded elf, the better. "Magic seems so wonderful. I wish I could do it," Cara continued, unaware of how uncomfortable she was making Raine.

"Well, I'm not really very good at it yet. And from what I can tell, it can be pretty dangerous." In fact, Raine had been through the first thirty pages of the spell book so far, and it was completely comprised of warnings against the frivolous uses of magic and the potentially deadly consequences of flawed technique.

"Well, I'm sure you'll get better. You're really smart, Raine."

"Thanks, Cara."

"Now will you teach me some of the Angelic language? I love the way it sounds when you read it out loud," Cara said. Raine grinned and started repeating the first lessons she had received from the priests from the Martel Temple. Soon Cara was reading the first pages of the book out loud on her own, though she didn't know the meaning of what she was saying. Mostly, she liked the sounds. Whenever Mistress Bove was out, the two of them would sit around the book and Cara would read aloud in her crystal clear tones, her soprano voice pronouncing the words in a way that Raine never could. They were careful not to let Mistress Bove know that Cara knew anything of the book at all—let alone that Raine was teaching her to read it. Somehow they knew that the shrewd old woman would not take kindly to such a revelation.

Life went on as before, but Raine soon grew restless. As much as she loved Mistress Bove and was grateful to all of her help, she began wondering about her life before Iselia again. She began to lose focus more and more often as she pictured far off lands and circles of stone—ruins fascinated her more than anything. She loved the idea of worn stone and places that had history. And somewhere in the back of her mind, she thought that if she could just find that circle of stone from her first memory, everything else would come tumbling back—she would find her mother, she would live a normal life, she wouldn't have to hide her identity any longer. She could go to school and learn anything she wanted, she could actually travel the world with Cara and Genis like they had always planned.

"Raine, pay attention to what you are doing. That poultice is too thick," Mistress Bove chided as the young half-elf's mind wandered one afternoon when she was sixteen. Genis was hungrily reading a book in the corner that dwarfed his five-year-old frame. Cara, however, was nowhere to be found. She had been spending less and less time with Mistress Bove and more time with Jack, one of the village boys. She and Raine still spoke often, but the half-elf was getting more and more frustrated with her constant talk of that sleepy-eyed teen.

"I'm sorry," Raine said quickly, trying to focus her mind back onto the task at hand. Cara had recently confided in Raine that she thought she might marry Jack, that she thought maybe he was "the one." But the more Cara talked about him, the more Raine disliked Cara. It was unfair, she knew. Part of her was jealous, not of Jack's attention in particular, but of any boy's attention. Raine had begun eying the village boys a few years ago, and she was just beginning to feel painfully alone as all of her peers in Iselia began to pair off. And as Cara talked more and more about Jack, she talked less and less about traveling and learning—the things that Raine had liked about Cara in the first place.

"Raine," Mistress Bove said sharply. "Don't grind it into nothing. Come on girl, you've been making this potion for years. Get your head out of the clouds and back in the room where it belongs."

"I'm sorry," Raine replied softly, and Mistress Bove sighed.

"It's alright, girl. Now, whatever is troubling you, put it behind you. We have work to do." Raine's mouth quirked into a small smile at the typical response, and secured her now completed poultice into one of the many jars on the shelf behind her, and moved on to beginning an apple gel. She hummed a tune that Cara had taught her as she worked, until Mistress Bove told her in no uncertain terms that tone deaf individuals should never hum in her presence.

That winter, Raine's world turned upside down.

A nasty flu had swept through the village. Mistress Bove had been particularly stiff since the first frost, but Raine hadn't been over worried until she started to cough. It had started slowly. Raine had tried to convince her to let her heal her—she had been practicing on rabbits and dogs for years now, and she could even heal herself—but the old woman would have none of it.

"You keep that magic far away from me," she insisted even through a coughing fit.

"But, if I could just…"

"No. If you want to practice on anyone, try Cara's little man friend. If you kill him, I'll get a full time apprentice back. If you heal him, then at least I won't have to hear her incessant squawking that he's going to die." Genis, who was huddling next to Raine's leg, giggled at her comment.

"What are you laughing at, boy? That was not a joke." The 5 year old pouted at that, and he dragged his feet all the way back to the cottage. When they reached the door, Mistress Bove's face turned into a wrinkled smile, and she ruffled Genis' hair. "You're a good kid, Genis. Don't let the world take that from you," she said cryptically. Genis cocked his head and followed her inside, immediately reaching for the book that he had been struggling through.

The next morning, old Kita Bove couldn't get out of bed.

"Mistress Bove?" Genis said tentatively pulling at the thick quilt that covered the healer's frail form. Raine stood nervously off to the side, wondering what she should do. She knew Mistress Bove wouldn't want her particular brand of medicine. She also knew that her teacher of the last five years would die if she didn't do something.

"Genis. What is troubling you?" she rasped.

"You're sick," he said. "Can you fix yourself like you do everyone else?" he asked, his deep blue eyes betraying both his hope and his fear. Raine wanted to sweep him into her arms and hold him tight, but he was starting to get too old for that. So she merely waited, hugging herself tightly, trying not to cry.

"Not this time, I think," she said sadly. "Why don't you run and play in the snow, and I can watch you from the window?"

"Okay," Genis said a little uncertainly. He hesitated at the door after he pulled on his thick coat, but Mistress Bove waved him out the door with a slight motion of her shaky hand. When he closed the door, the old woman sighed heavily and closed her eyes. Raine still stood in the corner, unsure of what to do.

"Girl, don't you look at me like that. I've known this was coming for a long time." Raine bit her lip, and felt mana well up through her fingertips despite herself, casting a soft golden glow through the cottage. "Stop. None of that now," Mistress Bove said.

"But…" Raine whispered thickly, feeling the first tears slide down her cheeks as she stared at the light dancing slowly across her palms.

"Shh…It's alright, girl. It's alright. Now, come here. We have a few things to get straight." Raine nodded weakly and tried to compose herself as she crossed the room.

"I've already sent for another healer from Triet. I know him, and he will serve the villagers here well. You should not feel obligated to stay, and neither should Cara." Raine opened her mouth to protest, but Mistress Bove cut her off with a raise of her brow. "Stay here if that's really what you want. But I for one hope you find a school. That's where you belong—you need more books than you can find in Iselia. And your smarts are wasted in this place. Bring Genis with you, start him in school early. You two deserve it." Mistress Bove broke off into a coughing fit, and it was all Raine could do to keep from wrapping her guardian in the warm golden light that felt so close at hand.

"I-I could heal you," Raine said desperately, unable to contain herself any longer. The old healer hacked out a laugh.

"Girl, that would be like trying to bandage a leg back onto a body after a bear bit it off. It gets messy, and it won't work. It's my time." Raine's lip trembled uncontrollably and tears ran steadily down her cheeks. "There, there. I want you to have something. Under the floorboards—do you remember? Yes, there," Mistress Bove said when Raine lifted the heavy wooden plank. Underneath were those same dusty, leather-bound books she had spotted years before. She lifted the top one out, and opened to the first page.

This Journal is the Property of Kita Bove, the first page said in Mistress Bove's neat, heavy script. Raine traced the letters with her finger before looking back at the dying woman.

"Take it," Mistress Bove croaked. "You are welcome to all of the rest, but that is the important one." Raine nodded solemnly, crossing the room once more to the woman who had taken her in all those years ago. "You take care of yourself, now," she rasped. "And Genis, too. You deserve the best. Thank you for brightening an old woman's life. Now, help me sit up a little so I can watch Genis play like I promised." Raine helped her sit up, and cried silently as the old healer looked out the window stroked Raine's hair with her knarled fingers until she fell into a peaceful sleep. By the time Genis came inside, Mistress Bove was gone. He shook the snow out of his hair before he crawled into his sister's lap as she cried, and Raine stroked his hair as Mistress Bove had done for her.

"Mistress Bove isn't going to wake up, is she?" Genis asked quietly over the soft noise of the crackling fire.

"No, Genis. No, she's not." He nodded, curled into an even tighter ball and fell asleep in Raine's lap. Eventually, Raine fell asleep as well. When Cara found them in the morning, she called for Jack and a few other young men from the village to help bury Mistress Bove. Raine watched silently as they lowered her into the grave and poured the frozen dirt over her frozen form.

She hates the cold, Raine thought as the last shovel full of dirt was placed on top of the mound. A simple stone grave marker was placed at her head, and all of the boys patted Raine on the shoulder before they walked away. Soon, only she, Cara, and Genis were left.

"I'm leaving Iselia," Raine said without looking at Cara.

"Come now, Raine," Cara said. "This is home. I know we used to talk, but we can't just leave. We're not kids anymore."

"This isn't my home," Raine said, suddenly hit with an intense image of that ring of stones and the memory of the sting of salt in her eyes. I thought I had forgotten that, Raine thought. "Genis and I are going—you can come or not."

"Raine, Jack asked me to marry him last night," Cara whispered. "I said yes. This is where I belong." Raine suddenly felt her anger flare.

"Fine. You can stay here with Jack,"Raine spat. "Have a nice life, Cara. I hope it's enough for you." Raine said, gathering Genis into her arms. He shivered against her chest, and she stalked to the cottage she had lived in for the past 5 years.

"Wait, Raine! Don't be angry, please. Raine! Please!" she called after them.

"Bye, Cara," Genis said softly just before Raine closed the door. She didn't glance back at the only real friend she had ever had. Instead she put Genis to bed and began packing—she wanted to leave by dawn.