“Mrs. Hansen? What are you doing here?” Donna asked, surprised. “Your daughter just got out of the infirmary!”

“The healer checked her over and she's fine.” Mrs. Hansen said. “In fact, she saw you three walking by our house and she wanted to thank the Marsh Man for helping her.”

Alex looked at me with a questioning look.

“She left a while ago.” I said.

“She was so happy when she came into the house.” Mrs. Hansen said. “I heard these weird sounds from under the house and when I looked outside, a snake, two huge spiders and no less than ten finger lizards were scurrying away.” She looked right at me. “She said you cast a magic spell on her to protect her.”

“You WHAT?!?” Alex yelled and I winced.

“I... I didn't.” I said and the three of them gave me intense stares. After a few moments of silence, I sighed. “I gave her one of my protection wards.”

“You mean that ugly wooden thing around her neck that she won't take off?” Mrs. Hansen asked.

I nodded. “As long as you hang it up in the house, for the next seven months or so, it'll keep all the crawling things away.” I admitted and then felt a little panicked. “Please! You can't tell anyone! If the Hag knew I told you...” I said and touched my mangled ear.

The three of them had sad faces.

“David.” Alex said and put a hand on my shoulder. “Relax. We won't say anything.”

I looked at Donna and Mrs. Hansen and they both nodded. I sighed in relief and relaxed. “It's Gloria's, so don't take it on her or sell it. I'll know it if you do.”

“You shouldn't threaten people like that, David.” Donna said.

“He didn't threaten her.” Alex responded. “He just told her he'll know it if she removes it from Gloria's possession.”

“He implied...”

“...what? Did he say anything threatening? Did he say he'll take revenge on her?” Alex asked. “Tell me what he threatened her with.”

Donna opened her mouth to speak, then she closed it.

“Yes, that's right. You're projecting your own knowledge onto him. He doesn't understand that his words, spoken innocently, can be taken harshly.” Alex said. “You are assuming, just like all the villagers here, that he's going to do something bad... and you don't have any proof that he would.”

“Alex, he...”

“...was sentenced for a crime that he didn't commit. The old CO said so.” Alex said. “He's also conscripted into the army, so anything he does now reflects on us. It's our job to make sure he behaves properly.”

“That's what I was trying to do.” Donna said, her face a little angry. “He can't be saying things like that.”

“He only... only... told Gloria's mother to let her keep the thing he gave her. He didn't say anything else. At all. He didn't even say it with anger, or in a heated voice, or anything else.”

Donna frowned at him and squinted her eyes. She also stayed quiet.

Alex nodded and turned to me. “David, now that I've corrected one person's wrong assumptions, now it's time to correct yours.” He said and then explained, in pretty good detail, that even innocent statements can be turned into malice and hatred, especially if they don't hold the person saying them in high regard. It was doubly bad in my case, since I was the Hag's apprentice, official or not.

I nodded when he was done and turned to Mrs. Hansen. “I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't mean for it to be threatening. I just don't want Gloria scared if you take it away.”

Mrs. Hansen smiled at me. “It's all right.” She said and looked at Alex. “I agree with the lieutenant. I didn't get any bad intentions from you. Although, I did wonder what you would do.”

“I would cancel the enchantment.” I said and the three of them looked at me in surprise. “It's my magic. I can feel it when I'm near.”

Alex and Donna glanced at each other and then looked back at me.

“I can feel you a little and Mrs. Hansen a lot when I concentrate.” I said, without mentioning that I was using the vigilance technique, too. “She took a healing potion and a general health potion.”

“H-how did you know that?” Mrs. Hansen asked, surprised.

“It takes a lot more magic to finish the healing potions.” I said with a shrug.

Alex and Donna stepped away and leaned in close to whisper to each other. I didn't tell them that I could clearly hear them.

“I've heard of mages feeling magic nearby.” Alex whispered.

“I haven't heard of potions giving off enough magic to qualify.” Donna responded.

“We need to get one of the garrison's mages to check it out.” Alex said. “If one person can tell...”

“...we might be small glowing beacons of magic, even if we're not magic users ourselves.” Donna said.

“Which means we can probably be tracked with it.” Alex said with a smile. “For as long as the potion lasts, anyway.”

“The magic user in question would have to stay within their range of abilities.” Donna added.

“We'll mention it to the CO when we get back to the garrison.” Alex ended their conversation and looked at me and Mrs. Hansen as they stepped back over to us. “Sorry for interrupting. We just had an interesting idea come up.”

“Of course you did.” Mrs. Hansen said with a knowing smile. “How long have you been seeing each other?”

“About six months.” Donna said and then blushed a little. “Off duty.”

“Uh huh.” Mrs. Hansen said and held the large stewing pot out to me. “It's a little old, since we haven't had much need for it.”

“Do you want it back?” I asked and accepted it.

“If possible.” She said and gave me a searching look. “Gloria said that you needed it to make more magic potion?”

I nodded. “I can't make it in front of witnesses. It's a secret recipe.”

Mrs. Hansen laughed. “You sound like me when I'm making my secret sugar bread.”

“You make that?” Alex asked, surprised.

Mrs. Hansen gave him a pleased smile. “I take it you've been to Gail's?”

“A time or two.” Alex said and glanced at Donna, who's face stayed a consistent red.

“Well, when I get that pot back, I'll bring over a fresh pan of them for you.”

“I'll be done in half an hour.” I said and looked at Alex and Donna. “Mack has a shack out back behind the general store that's full of crates of my empty potion bottles. Check with Diane if she took them for me or if I have to get them myself.”

“I'll do better than that.” Alex said with a smile. “I'll use his hand cart by the dock to bring them here.”

I chuckled and nodded, then the three of them left. Once they were out of sight, I looked to see that all of the firewood was gone. I put a very small amount of number ten potion into the bottom of the pot to thicken it and let it set as I cut up a plank and shredded some of it. I went over to John's huge fire pit and built a nice fire.

Once I had the fire going a few minutes later, I needed water. I checked on the pot and it needed a few more minutes to set, so I looked around for something I could use. I found a bucket behind his house and checked it. It didn't have any holes, so I ran down to where the dock used to be and dipped the bucket in to the brim.

I brought it back and checked the pot, which was nice and solid on the bottom now. I used the waterproofing potion, so nothing would stick, and placed it on the rack above the fire.

He must cook near-deer whole or something. I thought at the size of the fire pit and added half a bucket of water. Or he really liked seeing big fires. I chuckled and made more planks to build a work bench for myself. It was stable and wasn't perfect, since I was using my potion so sparingly. I wasn't going to have that problem soon, though.

I opened my pack and dug out my little mold squares and my ingredients, then added what I needed and used number ten potion to fill the molds. They were done only ten seconds later and I quickly prepped and ground up the ingredients properly. I added them in the right order and stirred it, added more water to nearly fill the pot, and let it simmer. I carefully added some of my gland extract when it was time and waited.

“Please tell me you're done.” Alex's voice yelled from down the road.

“You can come on down.” I said and put the molds away. “I only have the magic infusion part left.”

“We were getting weird looks from people.” Donna said with a smile as she helped balance the overloaded hand cart. “Diane came with us and Mack only cursed at her for a few minutes before he let us into the shed.”

“Now you know why I switched to helping Diane.” I said with a grin and she laughed.

“She said it was your idea to open another store.” Alex said.

“I asked her why she didn't open her own.” I said with a shrug. “She knows so much about what people need, so I thought she should do what she wants instead of doing nothing.”

“Mack was begging her to come back to the store with him...” Donna started to say.

“...and bring her products with her.” Alex finished for her.

“Of course he would.” I said with a shake of my head. “He would have her work for free and make a ton of money from her.”

“She's still living there, too.” Donna said.

“He did take care of her all winter.” Alex said.

“He's not really a bad man.” I responded and checked the potion. It was ready.

“He's just really focused on business and making money, pretty much above all concerns.” Alex said and I nodded. “Did you know that more people than normal didn't make it this winter?”

I shook my head. “You've been with me since I came here.”

Alex let out a sigh. “You're right. No one would tell you anyway.”

“Nope.” I said and applied the waterproofing potion with a rag to the inside and outside of the bucket and let it dry, then dipped it in the simmering cooking pot and took about a quarter of it out. I went to the boat and slowly poured it into the bottom of the boat. It wasn't enough, so I went back and got more. I ended up using nearly half of the potion to cover the entire inside with an inch of potion.

“How are things going?” Mrs. Hansen asked as she walked down the road to us with a covered pan in her hands.

“I didn't take into account having to use the potion when I told you how long it was going to take.” I said. “I'm sorry.”

Mrs. Hansen laughed. “It's all right. Why don't you take a break and have some sugar bread?”

“The boat has to sit for a few minutes and then I need to cover the bottom a bit.” I said and put the bucket down.

“Can I use that old table?” Mrs. Hansen asked.

_______________

You have a choice to make.

A) Agree. B) Decline. C) Show off a little. D) Take the pan. E) Laugh. F) Choose two.

Definitely A and possibly C. I think I want to impress them. I thought. So, yes. I'll choose C and then A.

_______________

“I didn't have much magic potion left when I made it.” I said with a smile. “Give me a minute.”

Alex, Donna, and Mrs. Hansen stared, quite shocked, as I performed some marsh magic for them and made the table become a perfectly smooth surface. I made four chairs that looked identical to the child sized one I had made for Gloria, and put them around it with the child one on a raised platform on the end.

“Now you can use it.” I said as I sat down on a chair and waited for them to sit down, too.

“I did not see what I just saw.” Alex muttered.

“You did, dear.” Donna said as she pat his back and then she sat down. “What was it Mr. Phelps said? A table crafted by a master?”

Alex chuckled and shook his head and sat down, then Mrs. Hansen did as well.

“Who's the little chair for?” Donna asked.

“Gloria.” I said and pointed.

The three of them turned and saw her peeking out from behind one of the piles of logs. She still wore the ward around her neck.

“You were supposed to leave that at home.” Mrs. Hansen said.

“I'm never taking it off.” Gloria said, quite defiantly.

Alex and Donna looked at each other for a moment and then back at her.

“You might as well come here and join us, seeing as how the Marsh Man made a place for you.” Mrs. Hansen said.

Gloria beamed a smile at her mother and jogged over to the table, then carefully climbed up onto the chair. It put her at the same height as us and that made her smile even bigger.

“Fresh out of the oven.” Mrs. Hansen said and took the cover off of the pan and the smell filled the area around the table.

“I love mama's cookie bread!” Gloria exclaimed.

After Mrs. Hansen cut it up into large squares and served it to us, I had to agree. It was delicious.