Stirring from her deep sleep, Silva stared at a brown-spotted thing, a toad, its outstretched eyes curiously surprised by her awakening.

A foible ribbit sound came from it, but she didn't want to startle the amphibian. It looked so relaxed sitting on her chest, with its orangish fore-coloring beaming with the rising sun. Yet, Silva grimaced from the tight bandages on her face, causing the toad to jump back.

Reluctantly, she wriggled her arms to her face, seated comfortably under a woven, white blanket and soft bed. As Silva touched her face, she felt the overwrapped cloth around it, almost entirely covering the skin. The only parts that weren't bandaged were her eyes, ears, and lips, providing her breathing room at least.

She felt the rest of her body, wincing from a taped bruise on her side, which spurred prior memories of her battle. She could remember only bits of it, as her head began to spin every time she tried to piece them together. An outside interference and the wounds to her head had meddled with her brain yesterday, but Silva wasn't sure what.

Moreover, the toad who was with her soon tapped Silva's nose by spreading its tongue, ribbiting again afterward. A clattering noise followed behind the room's door, alerting Silva to look around somewhat. All she found were piles of dresses around the room, as well as different scarves and sashes with multiple colors on them. There was a headlamp by the left corner of the room, an end table, and several dressers and wardrobes, but most were either empty or closed.

Soon the door opened, revealing a young, light-blonde-haired girl wearing a blue-and-white dotted dress. She noticed the toad licking at Silva's face, motioning it to hop off of her instantly.

"Józef! What are you doing outside your terrarium?" the girl scolded the toad, picking it up before it could escape her clutches. "Oh, Miss Silva, you're awake! Please stay there while I check your bandages."

Silva did as she was told, waiting for the girl to come back. She heard the ribbiting pleas from Józef as it exited the room, somehow displeased that it was leaving Silva's side. A few minutes passed, and the girl returned, with a bowl of ointment in her hand and a roll of bandages in another. She knelt beside Silva, starting to check the stability of the cloth.

"Oh no," the girl stated while inspecting, "The swelling on your nose isn't healing as quickly as your other wounds. Looks like we'll have to put more ointment on it and replace the bandages. Keep calm, Miss Silva. It'll only take a few minutes."

And it did, but Silva winced as she slowly tore the cloth off her face, revealing her battered and bruised skin. But the redness of it had settled down, except for the nose, which was the area where she'd taken the most damage.

Now that I realize it, it has been a little harder to exhale ever since I woke up, she thought, which is why they kept my mouth unsealed.

Next, the girl dipped her finger into the pale-yellow cream in the bowl, rubbing on Silva's nose. Its smooth and cold texture felt great on her skin, aiding against the inflammatory pain.

"Mountain tobacco works wonders for bruises on the skin," the girl told Silva. "The daisies usually grow in various mountain ranges in Czahunlia, where the land is cultivated enough. Of course, others buy or grow it to enrich their tobacco products too."

Silva looked at her intriguingly, which initiated an impish reaction from the girl.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Silva," she said. "I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Aleksandra, but you can call me Leksy, and people say I have a habit of talking too much to patients. Oh, and I'm sorry about my room, turns out most of our beds downstairs are in use and you've got to deal with the mess I have in here. Oh, and forgive me for rambling on."

Aleksandra, Silva repeated, finally meeting with Andreja's daughter, turns out she's not as shy as Guren told me. She's also very knowledgeable in herbalism while only fifteen. I suppose she got it from her mother.

"Mountain tobacco," Silva repeated, emitting her words slower than usual, "Missus Andreja really is an amazing herbalist. Tell me more about the ointment."

Leksy warily fumbled her fingers off Silva's nose, surprised about her fascination. Leksy rubbed off some of the excess ointment on a drying cloth, placing the bowl of it on her end table along with the used bandages she'd taken off. Due to her faltered reaction, Silva mused if Leksy was shyer at second glance.

"Well," Leksy started, "First, Mama mashes the daisies and pours pignut oil on the top, leaving them out under the sun to dry. Then, she makes sure to add beeswax after it's dried to harden it, cooling it for several days in our icebox until it turns into a creamy, healing ointment."

Listening openly to Leksy's words, Silva recalled each step and ingredient used. For that matter, she was amazed at how many herbal and non-herbal ingredients Andreja utilized for her remedies, like beeswax and pignuts, which weren't commonly found in northern islands like Czésta. Even though Silva studied botany through books and in nature, she could learn so much more about it.

"Actually," Leksy added, gleefully rubbing her hands together as she got up, "I made the most recent batch of it since Mama's had her hands full with making other remedies for the sick. I was...wondering what you thought of it, Miss Silva."

Silva observed Aleksandra's look of achievement and suspense, figuring she enjoyed taking after her mother's work. In that case, she made sure to express her gratitude by giving Leksy a satisfied smile.

"I can already feel it numbing the pain," Silva responded. "It's cold, soft, but not too much of both. I think it does its job well."

Leksy nodded, picking up the bowl and bandages on the end table and walking towards the door. "Oh, I'm glad to hear you like it, Miss Silva," she said. "Please don't hesitate to call me again if you need anything. I'll be in the kitchen preparing your breakfast."

Before Leksy could leave, Silva called out her name immediately. "Aleksandra, wait!" she exclaimed, grabbing the girl's attention. "I actually wanted to talk with Missus Andreja about something important. Do you happen to know where she might be at the moment?"

"Oh, you can call me Leksy, Miss Silva," the girl inferred, saying it was what everyone called her. "Oh, sorry! I think Mama's in her office right now, and she told me not to bother her as she's trying to find a better relaxing remedy for our patients. Sadly, their conditions have worsened, and our remedies are losing their effect. But Mara's glad to be rid of our bandit situation, thanks to you and Guren."

As Leksy exited the room, Silva pondered on the girl's words while attempting to calm her senses. Breathing in and out, Silva mixed her thoughts with the coolness of the ointment, reaching for a possible conclusion to the problems arising in her head.

Alas, there were too many to count.

More minutes ticked on through the day, and Silva lay on Leksy's bed in silence. Fortunately, she could recount most of the events yesterday, from their arrival in Mara to their victory at the monastery. Perhaps it was from her wounds, or the flames inside her that resonated with her internal fears. Either way, Silva was glad to have opened her eyes and talked to someone, indicating she was alive.

Still, she didn't want to spend her whole day lying in bed, but her body ached whenever she struggled to move it. Silva knew her wounds wouldn't fully heal for some time, unwilling to spend another week waiting to recover. Besides, she was getting hungry.

Before long, Silva was able to move out of bed, wincing from her hips and back. Not noticing them before, there were red spots underneath the tied bandages, and Silva suspected it was from Kamil knocking her down the hill. Just remembering her battle with him gave her shudders, and the man's snake-like expression and strength would remain in her thoughts for quite a while.

There were the piles of clothes that she made sure not to trip from, as it would make her injuries even worse. Yet, Silva was amused by Leksy's room, since it reminded her of how the orphan children left their clothes, toys, and books scattered around the floor. Sisters Avery, Tianna, and sometimes Beatrice scolded them afterward, teaching them proper etiquette and manners as a responsibility.

Silva remembered she too was one of those orphans.

Opening the door slowly, Silva peeked her head and ears out to the main room, where she noticed the ambiance in the air again from her first arrival here. There was Leksy, hustling to and fro on the kitchen sill and sink. She continued scrubbing the residue off every opal-white dish and wooden bowl and placing them back into the cabinets. Silva looked at the kitchen table, realizing her breakfast was already there, waiting patiently for her entrance.

"Morning, Miss Silva," Leksy announced, jamming the last wooden bowl into the back of the cabinet. "Or is it early afternoon? What day even is today?"

"Thursday, July 8th, I believe," Silva stated, surprised that only six days passed since she and Guren left the Siegfried manor.

"Oh, it's July!' Leksy proclaimed, leaving Silva a bit dumbfounded. "My, it's great that we had plenty of rain yesterday, as the soil needed it after all the scorching heat we've had the past few weeks. That's not including all the pesky little insects that try to enter our house and eat our plants. Maybe I should ask Mama to make some herbal repellant for the critters."

Chowing on her bread rolls, bacon, potato skins, and porridge, Silva almost spat out her food after realizing it. The mosquitos! she recalled. There are plenty of them this season! But these can't be typical mosquitos. They have to come from someplace else.

Maybe they're...migrating! From someplace else! But where?

Silva finished her breakfast quickly and thanked Leksy for the food. She then offered to wash her own dishes and help with any other work around the house.

"Oh no, you shouldn't!" Leksy replied, consoling Silva that she'd done enough already. "Just get some more rest, okay? Shoot! I've got to attend to our new patients now! Excuse me, Miss Silva, I'll be gone for some time. Make sure to rest!"

Another hubbub of responses came from Leksy as she dashed out of the Kozar household, with a lot on her hands. While Silva felt guilty about not doing anything, more rest was required for her nose and hips to heal in time. Yet, Andreja's office door creaked open, and Silva's curiosity overwhelmed her. She decided to see if Andreja was available to talk to at the moment.

First, Silva politely knocked on Andreja's door, asking if she could come in. Silence sputtered for a bit until Andreja opened the door to greet her. She was dressed the same as when they first met, with the same unkempt hair and glasses, showing she was hard at work.

"Good morning, dear," said Andreja, giving Silva a tightly-gripped hug. "I'm sorry I couldn't check on you sooner. But, I see that Leksy already took care of you, which is good. Has she left already?"

"Yes," Silva responded, feeling the warmth of Andreja and her yellow robe, "I don't want to intrude on your work, but there's something I've been meaning to ask you ever since we arrived in Mara. Would you-"

"Of course!" Andreja said, already ushering Silva inside her office. "Oh, and mind the mess, dear. I don't usually bring people in here, not even my own husband or daughter."

Silva wondered whether that meant anything, studying the contents of Andreja's office. It was a large, oblong-shaped room, with a glass-paned structure in the middle, wide enough to fit under the room's bright ceiling. On the left was a window to the clinic's garden, enclosed with glass into the building and hidden well from the public. Mountains of shelves stood by the window, almost like a library, with books on botany. Silva peered inside the glass structure, where the sunlight beamed upon arranged glass bottles in rows, each holding a growing plant inside.

To the right of the structure, there were lots of tables holding squared, rectangular, or sphere-shaped glass tanks, each of them carrying fauna and flora inside. A testing area, with a workstation and a spyglass, was located on the opposing side. All in all, it was a captivating room, like a reserve of nature and all of the surprises it had to offer.

Silva fawned over the fauna inside their tanks, observing frogs, toads, lizards, birds in hanging cages, and other sea creatures too. Noises of ribbits, squawks, hisses, and snaps followed as Silva proceeded to walk past every "terrarium," or as Leksy had called them beforehand. Some sea creatures, like crabs, sea snails, and clams, were recognizable from the Hunspr seashores. However, there was one Silva had never seen before, observing its sluggish patterns in the sand and seagrass planted in the sand.

This particular creature which caught Silva's attention was hiding in a patch of seagrass and a fake cave, noticing Silva's piercing gaze. It had a reddish-white-coated exoskeleton, a small tailfin, and squid-like arms squiggling around its head. Once Silva's presence alerted it, it released a batch of dark-black ink and scurried inside the cavern.

"Don't mind Maja," Andreja told Silva, standing beside her, and studying the sea creature's movements. "She's usually timid when people intrude on her private space. She is a cuttlefish, native in the northern parts of the Skévody Sea. In fact, Klement bought Maja from fisher merchants last year, and she has been a great contributor to diseases ridden by mosquitos."

"Wow," Silva expressed, trying not to stare at Maja any longer. "What a beautiful fish. Do you use her for your remedies? I thought you focused more on herbs, Missus Andreja."

Andreja grinned, motioning Silva to the terrarium where Józef the toad resided and several more toads that ribbited along with him. Once Józef noticed Silva, he happily hopped off his rock platform, trotted past the dirt and grass-filled ground, and gazed at Silva.

"Józef is my oldest creature," Andreja said, reaching inside the terrarium and picking him up. She stroked his backside gently, which prompted a playful ribbit from the toad.

"I love animals," Andreja continued, "Especially ones that people don't usually keep as pets. Even if they don't contribute to my research, I still like to take care of them. I bet my annoying, older brother told you I love toads, right?"

Silva frisked at her mentioning Markus. She then remembered the purpose of their conversation.

"Yeah, he did," Silva replied, giggling. "But I also told him that his sister is a crazy, old lady who keeps a bunch of animals as her pets. I'm sorry for calling you that, Missus Andreja."

With that, Andreja laughed along with Silva, not offended that Silva described her in that way. She placed Józef back in the terrarium, sliding a glass slab across the top so the toads wouldn't escape.

"He must have bothered you a lot for you to say those things," Andreja claimed, walking with Silva to the glass structure. "I can't tell you how many times he teased me as a child for my interest in toads. But my mother would scold him, telling him I could like whatever I wanted to like. Well, it was because of our beautiful garden that the toads from the forest pond would always gather there. Mother loved that garden..."

Andreja trailed off, recounting her words. Then, she escorted Silva into the glass structure, and Silva saw so many herbs and plants growing inside it. The panes helped bring the sunlight, and the soil was fertile and dispensed enough for them to survive. A bucket of water was sitting on the floor, almost empty.

"I forgot to tell Leksy to get some more river water," Andreja said to herself, sighing and turning to Silva. "Anyway, this is my personal garden, where I grow and observe plants Klement has gathered from around the land. If they become a health benefit for the townsfolk, we grow more in the communal garden. To be honest, I've been having trouble trying to concoct a new remedy, which is why I've been holed in here for most of my days."

Silva nodded along, remembering what Leksy had told her. "Missus Andreja," she said, studying a pinkish-white plant, "I wanted to ask you about this sickness that Mara is affected with. Well, two sicknesses, but the other one can wait. What kind of sickness is causing such extreme symptoms for the people?"

A moment of bottled-up quietness followed, but Silva didn't face Andreja yet. She wanted to know if Andreja would answer her.

"You seem to really care about their well-being," Andreja replied. "I can see why my brother risked his life trying to find and protect you. Emilie didn't tell me everything, but I do know that you're kind, Silva."

"We call it 'sleeping sickness'," she resumed, leaving Silva feeling warmth in her cheeks. "Once they're affected, patients will experience abnormal brain-related functions, like spasms or rapid sweating. A potentiality is that they go into deep comas afterward, with a possibility that they never wake up. It's the most bizarre disease Klement and I have ever dealt with, and we've spent months trying to find a cure. Yet, after all my herbalist research, and Klement's physician research, we still haven't healed Mara."

Silva turned around, facing Andreja's grim expression. "Mosquitos," she stated.

"Yes," Andreja acknowledged, stunned by Silva's statement. "We suspect that the cause of the disease is from overpopulating mosquitos in this area of Vyngard. But we still are unsure about where they are coming from. Perhaps if we study the bandits' horses that were bitten, we can assume which type of mosquito they are."

Silva heeded the information, inferring that the horses had to survive long enough to be studied in the first place. She had no idea what had happened with the rest of the False Knights who survived the battle, including Yakup. Maybe she could ask Andreja that later.

"Is it because of the Eddon's warm water?" Silva asked Andreja, going back to her own experiences in the river. "Maybe it's attracting the mosquitos to migrate to southern Czésta, and Mara is the southernmost town, which is why it's been hit the hardest with this disease."

"Hmm," Andreja hummed, fixing her glasses in speculation, "Lovro would sometimes inform me of complaints about the river being too warm, but I never guessed it could be attracting the mosquitos. But we still can't inquire where since the Eddon is such a large river, running from north to southern Vyngard."

"It has to be from the southern Hunspr!" Silva blurted out, grabbing Andreja's interest yet again. "When Guren and I were moving toward the monastery, I decided to ambush them by concealing myself in the river. Once I was submerged, I heard loud, croaking noises from underwater, almost as if something was trying to pull me down the river and into the sea. Perhaps those noises are what's drawing the mosquitos along the Eddon."

Andreja pursed her lips, unsure if Silva's explanation was plausible. Whether or not it connected with the mosquitos, Silva knew that she had heard something in the river, causing her to lose focus of her thoughts. Perhaps it was also enticing her to sleep, much like the "sleeping sickness" that Mara's townsfolk were experiencing.

"I wonder if you're right," Andreja said. "I'll talk to Klement about it and we'll see if our research on the horses confirms what you've said. Anyhow, I remember you saying there was another sickness you had to tell me about?"

Just talk, Silva said to herself. Talk to her, and maybe she'll understand. That's why you came here in the first place!

Yet, her words were faltering, reminiscing all her absurd claims. This was from ancient, forgotten history, a fairy tale whose parallels connected with Silva's world. Those connections could only hold on so far, as a logical, real-life argument from someone else could shatter it completely.

Illusion or not, Silva wanted to pursue it. Because that was what she decided, not anyone else.

"Stone...sickness," she proclaimed. "Do you...know of it?"

Just like that, the woman who specialized in caring for the sick and dealt with the early death of both her parents looked at Silva with a regretful face. What reverberated through her blue eyes enveloped the entire room's atmosphere, and then a surge of dark-black, hazy fog surrounded her. Andreja Kozar's shadow looked like it would ravage the herbs she worked so hard to grow.

"You never cease to amaze me, Silva," she responded. "Are elves really that wise? You've seen into a dark mystery that Markus and I have held inside for so many years. We've both changed a great deal from it, reformed into an alternate, newer version of ourselves. But that childhood of ours will always haunt us, and you've learned about it. How?"

Silva paused, unable to process the strange sayings Andreja revealed to her. Something inside kept her calm and encouraged her not to dismiss it.

"Markus trusts me," Silva explained, "And I trust him because he means everything to my purpose in life. He told me the story of your father, Olaf, and how his fascination with archaeology led to an ancient ruin, where he was given magic that would eventually kill him and his wife, Matylda. With the mana of Earth inside them, Olaf broke the curse of the Huns and overused his magic abilities, causing him and his wife to perish of what Markus calls 'stone sickness' when you were just children."

"I've come to ask you about it," Silva continued. "I fear Markus will soon develop the same sickness after everything he's used his Earth magic for. But I don't want him to die yet, not in that way."

While Andreja was listening, she exited the glass garden and strolled to her library. She then found a plaid-green-covered book and strode back to Silva. Andreja held it tightly in her arms because it was important to her.

"Markus told you all that," Andreja inferred, with some of her darkness relaxing. "Yes, I too know how my parents died, but I've tried to use herbalism to find a cure for it. I remember when the physicians sat on our chairs with a blank face, telling us that there was no more they could do for them."

"But how? Professional medics, with gifted healing magic from the Divine Order, couldn't treat my parents' paralysis? So, I cursed magic and what it's done to the minds of this land, and I've turned to herbs to cure the sick. And the miracles that Klement and I have accomplished in our time, from wherever we may go, is proof of it."

"As well as that, I've studied this 'stone sickness' that Markus calls it, developing a remedy that might be able to help him if this 'curse of the Huns' that my father discovered is even real or not. It's a muscle and nervous system remedy, which will in time improve the blood flow to my brother's body and brain while reducing the amount of mental stress he suffers from paralysis. It requires a mixture of three herbs, Jan's wort, the Valerian root, and lebka, also known as skullcap."

"Jan's wort, originating from the famous Fornayn warrior Jan Anders, is a yellow-green flower that will help with mental stress. It's the only herb that I have been able to acquire and grow more of in my garden."

Andreja then directed Silva to the back of the glass garden, where Silva saw at least a dozen of these flowers aside from each other. Some looked old and rotting, others looked newborn and lively. Even so, the touch of the flowers was pollen, which would attract bees and their wax too. The overall radiance of the flower was also expressive, gleaming the brightest along with the other plants in Andreja's glass garden.

"The Valerian root," Andreja continued, "Helps with the brain's nervous system. It is common in the forests of Ilasloyka and near the high fells bordering Ilasloyka and Eéin. Skullcap is common to the Hloubkŷ Marshes and is used for blood flow around the body. Both of these are extremely rare, which is why my research on them has been halted. Alas, there is no other remedy that will offer the same effect as this one, despite my constant studying and practicing. Without all three of these herbs, there is no cure possible for a paralysis such as the one my mother and father died from."

Having said this, the regretful blueness in Andreja's eyes surfaced again. She stood hopeful still, clenching her book.

"It hurts me whenever I think back on it," Andreja recalled, "Knowing that I couldn't help them, or at least soothed their pain. It is why I chose to live this life because I couldn't bear with someone else suffering from something they couldn't control."

Something like a curse, Silva thought. Something you can't control. Something that's tied to your fate for the rest of your life. The curse...of the Huns.

"What...was your curse, Missus Andreja?" Silva asked.

She didn't mean to be invasive, as the words came out of her mouth before she had time to think about them. The truth was that Silva had thought of this before, and now was the chance she could ask Andreja about it.

Andreja hesitated, but Silva wanted to know from her gaze that Andreja could trust her. Silva would support her and her family as much as she supported the Siegfrieds.

"Intuitive as always, dearest," Andreja said, chuckling to herself. "I suppose that's a quality of yours I'll have to get used to. Let's leave this office and head downstairs to the living room. We can talk more then."

Thus, Silva followed Andreja out of the office, while Andreja placed her book atop the workstation. After opening the door for Silva, Andreja held onto her shoulders as Silva grunted from walking down the staircase. It looked like Silva needed time to heal before she could properly walk, which bugged her a bit. Talking to Andreja though was nice, especially because she was Markus's sister, helping her be more approachable.

They entered the living room, which looked the same as before. The only difference was that Guren was there, quietly reading a turquoise-tinted book, its backbone enshrined in painted gold. Once he noticed Andreja and Silva, he put the book down, studying Silva and her bandaged wounds.

"Feeling any better?" he asked her, and Silva nodded.

"Better than ever," she replied with a toothy grin.

"You don't look like it," Guren retorted. "Man, their leader made sure to make ya look fouler than before."

Silva's ears twitched, trying to control herself from snapping back. Andreja made sure to do it for her, pinching her nephew's left ear while she had the chance.

"How about a 'thank you', huh?" she chided him, her tone changing from before. "I should write to your mother again and tell her how much I think another trip to the Guard would sound. Would you like that?"

"No, please don't, auntie!" Guren cried, expressing his disapproval like a child. "I'm just fine here, I mean, in Eddington! Please, auntie?"

Andreja harrumphed, letting go of his ear and sitting down beside him. She crossed her arms, ushering Silva to sit across from them. Silva did so, approving of the scolding Andreja was giving Guren.

"Then behave like a good warrior," Andreja replied, "And listen to what I have to say. You can read your book about merfolk later."

Guren frowned but ultimately listened to his aunt. Silva was surprised that the Kozars even possessed a book about merfolk for Guren. Looking back at the living room's shelves, she could see why. Perhaps a few of them had some important history or folk tale within their pages. It could pass Silva's recovery time as well.

For now, she had just asked Andreja an even more important question. She included Guren on the topic as well, believing that he needed to hear what she had to say. Even so, Silva was intrigued to hear about anything Andreja talked about, sitting postural on the couch, and keeping her body comfortable.

"Guren," Andreja started, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Dearest, did Silva tell you anything about Markus? Anything that should...concern me?"

"Auntie," he responded, whimpering, stirring himself up with caution. "It's...um...it's too awful and absurd to say. I can't."

"Listen, Guren," Andreja told him. "I know there's another reason why you and Silva came here other than your new position in Eddington. Frankly, I'm not so sure that you're telling the truth, but I won't write to your parents else you tell me what's really going on."

Silva retracted a bit, misjudging Andreja's perception skills. Sure, their arrival in Mara was unexpected, but Guren even forged the letter so that it was credible. Still, Andreja was speculative enough to question why they stopped in Mara and why Silva accompanied Guren.

"Right, okay," Guren confessed, speaking the truth. "Silva and I think that something bad is gonna happen to pops. Whether it makes sense or not, well, I can't say. That's why we wanted to meet with you and see if Silva's claims about this sickness are real."

Andreja lifted her hand off Guren's shoulder, nodding to the two of them. "You are kind," she told Guren. "Despite everything that your father's hidden from you, all the time that he spent away from you, you still believe in your heart that he shouldn't suffer a fate of consequence. Markus is far from a good man, but I know that he doesn't deserve the curse given to him by his father."

"It's time we stop hiding our secrets," she declared with a hint of clarity in her eyes. "I'll tell you another story of my mother and father, one more detailed than my brother's. It won't justify all of my father's foolish decisions in his life, but perhaps you'll understand him and us more by knowing the truth."

Leaning close to the table, Andreja cleared her throat. Silva gulped, preparing for whatever would come next.

"My mother and I," Andreja revealed, "Were princesses of the Cižek royal family, blood-related to King Edvard of Edelbanks."