Vera awakened, but the child was missing. In his place, she saw an innocent black feather.

She stretched her body for a moment, then plucked the black feather from her bed. 'Maybe this is a gift from him,' she thought as she walked outside her room. She brought the feather close to her eyes. 'As far as I can see though, this is nothing special. This is much like a rooster's feather. Quite a shame he didn't stay for breakfast, nor say goodbye.'

She shrugged it off as a quirk of his and left it on a counter. To be safe, she grabbed a book (Basic and Intermediate Curses and Its Counters, it read) left on the said counter and placed it between its pages.

"At least you're right on time," said Meda as she noticed her approaching figure. "Would you do this for me?"

Vera felt dread as she approached Meda, 'Please not potatoes. Please not potatoes. Please not-'

Her heart sank as she saw the potatoes and the knife in Meda's hand. She grabbed the items from Meda's hands with a heavy heart.

'Not again.'

---

"What is this?" Meda calmly asked as she saw the peeled potatoes. Vera closed her eyes as she braced for a hit. Meda just took a deep breath.

"At the very least, they're better than yesterday."

Vera tried to open one of her eyes. Seeing Meda's calm expression, she let out a sigh of relief.

She walked away (more like ran away) from Meda and prepared the apothecary for customers and patrons as Meda resumed her cooking session.

---

There were few customers for the day. Vera was staring at the space for the past hour for the last customer left an hour ago.

'It's so boring,' complained Vera as she slouched. 'I wish I could go outside.'

Meda, upon seeing her bored face, chuckled softly.

"Sarah," called Meda. When she received no response, Meda walked towards her, who was absently staring at nothing.

"Hello, Sarah?" she waved in front of her face. The girl was pulled out from her daze.

"Huh?" said Vera as she pointed at herself. "Me?"

Meda just gave her an incredulous look. "Yes, who else is Sarah here?"

She recoiled in shock as she remembered. 'Crap, I always forget I'm called Sarah in this world.'

"Uhhh-" Meda cut her off.

"I know you're bored. Seeing that there will be few customers for today, I'll just ask you to bring those," Meda gestured at the salves inside the cupboard near the door, "to the orphanage. Just follow the road ahead, and turn left when you see the huge oak tree, and you'll see it."

"Okay," replied Vera. Deep inside, she was filled with joy. She can finally do something worthwhile! She put the salves inside a bag, and off she went. She inhaled and felt the cold air travel through her nose.

'Finally, a breath of fresh air!'

"Wait a minute," called Meda. She walked towards Vera. She handed her a bag of potatoes."Bring these with you, too."

'Where did she hide this? I haven't seen a hair of this last night!'

Nonetheless, Vera accepted it and followed the cobblestone path ahead.

---

Meda stared at her retreating figure. 'Something seems different about her,' she just smiled wistfully. 'What a weird child.'

She went back to her quarters to brew another batch of potions. 'It seems that there'll be no visitors today. Maybe I could start brewing. What should I brew today?'

She walked towards her vast collection of books and scrolls. She browsed it in search for a potion recipe. 'Magical Jinxes and Hexes? Nah, not enough ingredients. What about Doozy Woozy Wuzzy? But I still have lots of sleeping and calming potions. Hmm...'

She continued browsing her collection. She discarded the easy ones such as Potions for Beginners, or those that require too many ingredients like the Slave for Passion: Love Potions and other enchantments. After some time, she finally settled with the book Healing Wounds and Pains: Medical Potions by Septimus Aspen.

Meda flipped its pages and examined its contents. She settled for brewing the Soothing Grace, a potion that can numb the pains when consumed.

---

An hour of brewing later, Meda was halfway through the process. She glanced at the instructions to find the next step.

Add a stem of snakewood, then stir the potion five times in a counterclockwise direction with 5 seconds interval for each stir. This will turn the mixture into a purple liquid.

She grabbed the wood beside her knife. She was about to drop it in the cauldron, but she noticed that the wood was not the right one. 'That was close. This is foxwood,' Meda just scratched her head. 'Let me get that snakewood for a moment.' She put the potion in a stasis, then walked towards her personal ingredients cupboard.

'Where did I put that again?' Meda's eyes roamed around the cupboard. There were several opened scrolls below it, with a cup of water adjacent to the said scrolls. Above the cupboard, she saw several rare and precious ingredients such as basilisk scales, unicorn hairs, dragon saliva, and the like. She finally noticed the snakewood situated just above her reach.

She struggled to reached for it. In the process, she knocked the cup of water down, spilling its contents on the scrolls beside it. She paid it no attention as she was focused on the snakewood.

When she finally had it in her grasp, she walked towards the cauldron one more and cancelled the stasis. She dropped a stem of snakewood in the brew, and watched it sink on the murky liquid. She grabbed her stirring rod and stirred it in a counterclockwise manner. The potion turned purple.

She looked at the book for the next step, but she heard a grunt at the front door of the apothecary. She put the potion in a stasis once more and put a bookmark over the page of the recipe. She cleansed her hands first, then went to the doors of the apothecary.

She noticed a man with brown hair limping towards the couch as his silver-haired wife assisted him. 'The man may need a ligament, muscle, or bone-mending potion, depending on his injuries.' Meda cleared her throat. The couple looked at her.

"What do you need?" asked Meda.

"Uhhh," asked the woman nervously. "Are you the owner of the apothecary?"

Meda just raised her eyebrows in reply. The woman immediately apologized.

"I'm sorry," gasped the woman. "Do you have a potion for his injury? He unfortunately stumbled upon our way here. He's clumsy." The woman whispered the last part. The man sputtered at his wife's sentiments.

"No I'm not!"

Meda ignored their quarrel and focused on the woman's statements. 'On their way here? Does it mean that they have another purpose? Hmmm...' Meda approached the couple, who were still bantering.

"Excuse me for a moment, if you may." The couple stopped in embarrassment. Meda just touched the injured leg and mumbled a spell to check for injuries. The man winced in pain, but still kept quiet and still.

"He has a torn ligament," declared Meda. The couple let out a sigh of relief. "He just needs a ligament-mending potion. It'll cost you around 3 silvers," continued Meda. "Let me just find it." The couple nodded.

Meda found the potion sitting on the counter, beside a book. She took it and handed it at the couple. The woman gently applied it on the man's injured leg. The man felt the pain dissipating as the ligament repaired itself. The woman handed her three silver coins, which Meda gracefully accepted.

"Is that all?" asked Meda, despite her having a hunch that this was not the case. The couple shared a look between them. The man shook his head.

"No," said the man. "Our real purpose for this trip is because my wife and I are..." the man trailed off. "Are..." the man stared at her eyes with his own. She saw a fire ignite within those green eyes of his, daring her to mock him for what he will say next. "We are having troubles with having a child."