When Ginelle woke up the next morning, she enchanted what was left of the food and gave it to the wolf and dragon to fill them for the day. She left a few unenchanted bits for herself and that would do until they made it to the house, which only took the Ruki less than a few hours to fly the rest of the way. The house itself looked rather nice from above as they moved up towards it. It had two floors, a rather decent porch, and had a nice clear patch beside it that would be perfect for a garden. After Ruki softly put Garrak down first before making his landing, Ginelle was quick to hop off and take a look around. The house was indeed as deserted as Ruki had advertised, but it didn’t seem in bad shape because it. She knew a little hard work would get the place look rather hospitable in no time. Ginelle was slow to walk inside, and Garrak even entered with her just in case someone or something was inside. There were some cobwebs and a lot of dust, but the place looked better than the young witch hoped it would. As she walked outside to take another look around, she noticed that Ruki wasn’t around anymore. She didn’t think much of it at the time and thought he was taking a look around to find a place for him to nest close by so she would no longer have to take a long hike just to visit him.

“This place looks great!” Ginelle said, looking over at Garrek. “What do you think about it?”

“There’s no stable,” Garrek said, “Where should I stay?”

“In the house with me obviously,” Ginelle said, rather amused by the question. “If it’s just the two of us, the large room on the first floor can be used for your space. I would make me feel safer knowing you’ve got the bottom floor well guarded while I sleep upstairs.”

“It would be my honor to reside below,” Garrak said, as he was also well aware that he’d be right beside the kitchen, which would allow him to smell anything the young witch would be able whip up there.

“Alright then,” Ginelle said, “Let’s get this taken care of before supper.”

“Before supper?” Garrak repeated, “That’s a little ambitious.”

“Not for me my furry friend,” Ginelle said as she took the dragon tooth out of her pocket. She held it tight and recited the same spell that had always used to cause her trouble. Moments later Ginelle was able to create half a dozen mirrors of herself. All the mirrors turned to Ginelle to await instructions.

“Alright then,” Ginelle said, pointing to the mirror beside her, “You’ll clean the porch and the outside windows. You two handle the upper floor bedrooms, and you two are responsible for cleaning all the floors. I’ll take care of the kitchen, so leave that to me.”

All the mirrors nodded and walked off to perform their duties without question or complaint. With several Ginelles working on the house, it only took one whole day to clean the place up. There was already furniture inside the house, but it needed to be taken outside and cleaned up before anyone could use them. Ginelle herself worked on the kitchen because this was where she intended to spend most of her time, so she wanted to personally get acquainted with that room while the mirrors did their work throughout the house. About ten hours after they had started, the mirrors suddenly vanished, which was what Margorie said would happen after a certain amount of time. Ginelle wanted to know how long she’d get so she pushed them until they faded away. They had done most of the needed work around the house and Ginelle was able to finish it up herself rather than regenerate new mirrors. It wasn’t until it started to get dark that she realized neither of them had bothered to look for food.

“I can always search for something,” Garrak offered.

“No need,” a voice boomed out as Ruki arrived. As he came into land, there was another creature in his talons, but this one was already dead. It was a rather odd-looking creature that appeared to a cow but had a bit of fur.

“What is that?” Ginelle asked, inspecting it a bit.

“It’s called a Wallbie,” Ruki answered as he seemed rather proud of himself. “They’re local to these parts but they’re wild animals. I got it from the mountains, not some poor bloke’s farm.”

“I appreciate that,” Ginelle replied, “We don’t need the negative attention so no stealing livestock.”

“How do we cook it?” Garak asked.

“That’s the easy part,” Ruki said, as he blew a burst of flames out of his mouth at it for a few seconds. He then used his claws to flip the carcass and then blow flames at it again. He repeated this process a few times and Ginelle was quite impressed with the dragon’s cooking technique. The fur was burned right off, and the meat was cooked rather well considering how often it was flipped over.

“That looks and smells rather good,” Ginelle said, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Ruki said, “I cooked it a bit more just to make sure it was good for you to consume as well.”

After they ate, Ginelle let Ruki know what they were doing around the house and the progress they had made. They got a lot of work done but there was still much to do.

“I need some water,” Ginelle said, “to really scrub down some parts and to also watch the sheets and mattresses that are in there.”

“There’s a well close by,” Ruki told her, “Very close as it’s just a short walk to the house. If there isn’t any water in it, we can always fetch some from the river at the bottom of the valley.”

“No need,” Ginelle said, “I can take care of the well.”

After supper she walked over to the well, and there was no water in it as Ruki had feared. It didn’t matter as Ginelle still had a water specialization, and with the help of the dragon tooth she had no problem filling it back up with fresh water. Once Ginelle had access to a water supply, she generated a few mirrors to take the water back to the house and clean it up even further. It took a few days with several mirrors working really hard, but the house looked almost brand new rather quickly. Yet Ginelle knew despite all the work being put in by herself and the mirrors, eventually she was going to have to do the one thing shew was afraid of which was visit the small town that was at the bottom of the valley. It was about a few leagues away, but if she took Garrak out there they could ride out there in about an hour. She dressed rather casually and mounted her wolf before looking back at Ruki.

“I’m afraid you can’t come with us.” she told the dragon.

“I’m aware,” the dragon said, “I will use my time here for find a nice place to nest. That should keep me occupied while you’re gone, but just promise to be careful down there.”

“We’ll be alright,” Garrak said, “We should be back before supper.”

Garrak didn’t want to be away from the house that long, so he carried Ginelle down to the town at a very decent pace, making good time. He slowed down however as he started to get closer to the town. This was something that Ginelle was worried about as well, as a young red headed woman riding a dire wolf into town was sure to catch everyone’s attention. Men and women started to watch as the young witch rode the wolf into town and was watched by many as the big wolf walked over to the center of town.

“It’s a nice-looking town,” Garrak said to Ginelle. The young witch heard what the wolf was saying, but to the townfolk all they heard was snarls and growls from the big wolf. Only Ginelle could understand what he was saying.

“I like it,” Ginelle replied, “But don’t cause trouble for us. The ability to trade with this town might be vital to our survival. We just need to find a way to generate income and supplies for the house.”

It was at this point where a man walked up to Ginelle and her wolf, but before the man could get any closer the wolf turned to face the man and gave him a rather harsh snarl.

“I wouldn’t sneak up like that,” Ginelle called out to him, “Unless you want to lose your arm to my furry friend here.”

“I’m sorry,” the man asked, “I don’t mean to bother you, but I must ask you something.”

“What is it?” Ginelle asked.

“I don’t mean to be blunt,” The man started, “but are you a witch?”

Ginelle sat there on top of her wolf and thought long and hard about what her answer might be. She had to remember that Ruki had flown them a great distance and they were far away from the kingdom that meant to imprison her. That also means their persecution was far away as well, and there was a chance the people here might be a little more accepting. She had to take that chance and hoped the town people would be alright with it. Ginelle took a deep breath before answering.

“I am,” Ginelle replied.

“What kind of magic can you do?” he asked him.

“That’s kind of personal,” Ginelle answered.

“I’m sorry,” The man continued, “I am desperate for help.”

“What kind of help to you require?” Ginelle inquired.

“Healing,” the man informed her, “My child is sick and has been for a while. Can you help her?”

“You are in luck, kind sir.” Ginelle said, smiling to him. “Healing happens to be one of my specialties. I will do what I can to help your child.”

“Thank you!” the man said, happy to hear that. “Please follow me!”

The man led the way as Ginelle continued to ride her wolf, which continued to get stared at by the many townsfolk that happened to be around. When they arrived to the house he was leading them towards, Ginelle dismounted her wolf and followed the man inside. Inside the house was a young child, no more than eight being tended to by her mother. Upon being told what the witch was there to do, the mother stepped aside and watched as Ginelle inspected the kid to see how ill he was. He was sweating, had a burning fever and even spots all over his body. It was a fowl illness, but it didn’t seem too much for Ginelle as she knelt by his bedside and placed a hand on his chest. Without revealing it to child’s parents, Ginelle reached into her pocket and held the dragon tooth tightly to ensure that her healing spell had a little extra kick to help bring this boy back to health. As she began to heal the boy, her parents watched in awe as the spots slowly began to vanish and his skin return to its normal pigment. Seconds later after she had completed her work, the young boy let out a loud gasp and slowly opened his eyes. Thanks to the help of the dragon tooth, the healing had completely wiped away any sign of sickness, as the boy looked like he was never sick in the first place. His mother was ecstatic as she came over and hugged the now healthy boy.

“I can’t believe it!” The father said, looking back at Ginelle. “What can we ever do to repay you?”

“I came into town for supplies,” Ginelle said, “If you could help me with that, I would appreciate it.”

“I know the man who runs the supply shop,” the father answered, “Let me take you there.”

Rather than ride her wolf around again, Ginelle walked beside the big wolf as they strolled over to the supply shop. She left the wolf outside again as she and the father walked into speak with the shop owner.

“Get this woman anything she wants,” the father told him, “And put it on my account.”

“Alright,” The shop keeper said.

“I won’t take too much,” Ginelle assured the father, “Just what I need to take back to my camp.”

She grabbed some basic supplies, stuff that Garrak would have no trouble carrying back to the house with her. While she was browsing the store to pick her items, the shopkeeper and the father were talking off in the corner. Moments later the shopkeeper walked up to her and stopped her.

“He said you healed his boy,” The shopkeeper said, “Is this true?”

“It is,” Ginelle said.

“My kids have the same illness,” the keeper informed her, “If you can heal them too, you can anything you want in her for free.”

Ginelle didn’t like the idea of doing more healing, but she liked the idea of not burdening the father of the last child she healed with a large tab. She followed the shopkeeper upstairs to discover a son and daughter that both were ill with the same spotted fever. Using the dragon tooth to aid her spells, Ginelle had no issue healing both children who were perfectly healthy again. The keeper’s son even had a scar on his leg from a fracture he had the year before, but the scar and the limp had also healed! The dragon tooth had taken her healing skills to the next level, as it healed anything the boy had rather than just the illness that was nagging him. The shopkeeper was beside himself and true to his word, he allowed her to pick anything she wanted and none of it was left on the previous father’s tab. Ginelle didn’t abuse the keeper’s generosity and took only what she needed for her kitchen plus a few extras. She grabbed some fresh linens for her bed, and even a few tools and seeds to start a garden with.

“I hope I didn’t take too much,” Ginelle said as she packed her bag with the supplies.

“Nonsense,” the keeper said, “I am forever indebted to you, my dear. If you need anything else, please let me know.”

“Thank you,” Ginelle said, “If there are other children sick with this illness, please let me know and I will take care of them as well.”

“I will let the townsfolk know,” The keeper said as he shook her hand. “I am grateful for your help, as is my family. Thank you.”

“I was happy to help,” Ginelle said as put all supplies onto her wolf’s back. “That’s not too much, is it?”

“It’s not bad,” the wolf answered.

“I’ll walk with you to ease your burden,” Ginelle whispered to him before turning back to face the two fathers looking at her. “Farewell and thank you for the supplies.”

As Ginelle and Garrak started to walk out of town, word had already gotten around town that a witch had been healing children stricken with the deadly illness that was going around town. Many of the town folk had gathered at the town square, and when they spotted Ginelle and her wolf they walked over to speak with her. There were at least a dozen parents that also had children stricken with this illness. She looked at them and listened to their pleas for help before taking a deep breath.

“It appears we’re not going anywhere,” she informed the wolf.

“Apparently not,” Garrak agreed.

“Will you help us?” one of the mothers called out.

“Of course, I will,” Ginelle said, smiling at her. “Can someone lead me to a place where I can rent a room for the night?”