"So you make a right out of here," Flora said, drawing a detailed map on a piece of notebook paper after they had finished their meal. "Three miles down you make a left. Then it's past this big tree after the second stop sign." She smiled at Mulder as she recapped her pen. "She usually closes at seven, but this time of year, people come to visit for all that fall has to offer and so she stays open later. I'll call her though and let her know you're coming."
"Thanks, Flora. We really appreciate it," Mulder said with a grin, taking the map and looking at it with a nod. "I'm sure it will be exactly what we're looking for."
Scully cleared her throat and he glanced at her as he folded the paper. She stared at him and he smiled again, his attention back to Flora.
"I'll get your check and be right back."
"Thanks."
Flora took their plates and walked back to the kitchen. Scully continued looking at Mulder, his excitement practically bouncing off of him, if his fingers tapping the table were any indication.
"Mulder," she said quietly as she let out a breath. "You can't-"
"Fauna's Folklore, Scully," he said with a grin. "Flora and Fauna. Come on. How are we supposed to not at least go check out the shop when they have been named so aptly?"
"Mulder, their names don't tie to this case in any way."
"Gotta keep an open mind, Scully. See the forest for the trees."
"Speaking of forests," she said warningly. "We're not going into any tonight. Or cemeteries, or out to that rock either. We can go tomorrow when it is light out and we can see where we are stepping. Let's try to keep injuries to a minimum on this trip, yeah?"
He laughed and nodded, rapping his knuckles gently on the table.
"Good," she said, picking up a napkin and wiping up a drop of leftover soup.
"So I know I said I would only be getting your bill," Flora said, carrying two plates. "But, this is our pumpkin spice pie, with spiced caramel syrup drizzled on top. Can't visit Vermont without trying the syrup in some fashion or another." She set them down before placing the check on the table and grinning. "The pie's on the house." Winking, she walked away and Scully looked at the piece of pie in front of her.
"Well," Mulder said, and she looked at his piece, noticing that his looked different than her own. "It's on the house. Two slices. But… you've got more whipped cream than I do. What does that do for our research?"
"Sets it back a little, I suppose," she said, picking the fork up off the plate and taking a bite of pie and whipped cream, moaning as the sweet spices hit her tongue. "But I'm not complaining."
"Didn't think you would be," he said with a laugh, taking a bite of his own pie and humming as he nodded. "That's fantastic."
"Even better when you have more whipped cream," she teased, taking another bite and pulling her plate closer when he tried to steal some of the coveted whipped cream.
Fauna's Folklore shop was a combination gift shop and apothecary, offering up homemade soaps, lotions and creams. Everything was bottled in old fashioned containers, the labels printed in a New England font.
Mulder grinned as he looked around, pausing at the shelves with drawings of Sarah Blackwell near the old bridge, leaving packages near doorsteps, brewing potions, and standing forlornly on the edge of the rock. She was always depicted in a black dress and cloak, her golden hair hanging long and loose.
"No pointy hat or broomstick," Scully murmured and he gave her a look, before picking up the drawing of Sarah setting down a package wrapped in paper and tied with twine.
"Imagine living in a time when there was limited access to medicines and someone created something to help alleviate pain and heal the sick, but it wasn't used and you were shunned simply for helping."
"Being a woman is the more likely story," she said, staring at the expression on Sarah's face as she stood on the rock. "While my experience isn't exactly the same, my own expertise has been met with disdain and questioning at times. If Sarah had been a man, they undoubtedly would have listened to and at least tried what was offered."
"Times change, but they also don't," he said quietly, putting the drawing back on the shelf. "Not how we want them to anyway."
"No. They often don't."
He looked at her and she smiled slightly. He nodded and they continued looking around the shop.
A woman, in a midnight blue dress and long black cloak, who looked incredibly similar to Flora, walked out through a doorway, laughter heard behind her. She smiled at the other customers in the shop, then her eyes landed on Scully and she grinned as she made her way over to them.
"You must be the FBI agents that Flora called about. I'm Fauna."
"We are," Scully said, raising her eyebrows and reaching for her badge. "I'm Agent Scully."
"She mentioned your red hair," Fauna said, only glancing briefly at the badge, her eyes staying on Scully. "She knows my weakness for redheads."
"Oh," Scully said, her cheeks growing warm. "I see."
"She also mentioned you," she said, turning her attention to Mulder and smiling. "But, you'll have to excuse the fact that I was more interested in meeting her."
"Agent Mulder, and I completely understand," Mulder said, shaking his head and laughing. "As she is the better half of this duo." He placed his hand on Scully's lower back and patted it gently.
"And I would say, hopefully without causing any offense, the better looking," Fauna said and Scully's cheeks burned even more. "But, I digress. You're not here to hear about my predilection for redheaded women." She smiled and Scully shook her head, her cheeks still warm, and put her badge away as Mulder's hand dropped from her back.
"No," he said. "We were wondering if you could tell us more about Sarah Blackwell. Flora said that you would be the person to ask."
"Considering I devoured any information about her that I could as a child, which then led to this," she said, waving her hand around. "I'd say she was right."
"Indeed," Mulder laughed.
"Come on this way. I'll tell you all I know."
They followed her through the doorway she had just come through and found themselves in a low lit, overly warm room. People stood at long tables with black cauldron-like containers hanging over fake fires. Numerous bottles with different colored liquids sat on the tables, along with large ladles, notebooks and pens.
"It's this little thing we do here," Fauna said. "A little craft time for people to make "potions" like Sarah did. It's mostly colored water, but also a little bit of baking soda and vinegar to make it bubble. People like it a lot, especially the kids."
"I'm sure," Scully said, watching the people in the room as they laughed and enjoyed their experiments.
"Here's my office. It's warm inside and a bit of a tight squeeze, but if we leave the door open, it should be okay."
They sat down in the two chairs in front of a desk piled high with papers and books. Bookcases overflowed with items, four different clocks ticked softly on the wall, and a black cat meowed as it stretched from a small bed in a corner.
"Yes, hello to you too, Inky. You heading out for the night?" The cat blinked its yellow green eyes at her, nudged her with its head, and bounded out of the room. "Guess so." Fauna laughed and sat down, switching on a small fan. "Christ, this heat is unbearable. But I've got someone coming tomorrow to check on it. So, Sarah Blackwell…"
Scully only half listened to the discussion between Fauna and Mulder as she looked around the room at the items on the shelves and walls.
There was a double photo of her and Flora, one from childhood and one from a New Year's party in 1995, judging by the hats they were wearing.
Many renditions of drawings of Sarah were on the wall, her green eyes clear and bright, then sad and troubled in others. The one Scully liked the most, depicted her as a modern doctor, treating a man holistically, a pestle and mortar held in her hand.
"Do you think she wanted to follow in her fathers footsteps?" Scully asked, staring at the drawing, thinking of Sarah's possible private ambitions, not realizing she had interrupted the story Fauna was telling. "Oh, I'm sorry. My mind must have been wandering. Please continue."
"Forgiveness granted," Fauna said, smiling as she looked at her. "And I was actually just coming to that part of the story, so it's good timing. When Sarah's fathers health began to fail, he asked for her despite the fact that he had sent her away and kept her from seeing her own dying husband. Just like a man would do." She rolled her eyes and Scully smiled as she caught Mulder's expression.
"I believe it," Scully said, smiling when he looked at her.
"Yeah," Fauna agreed. "Well, Sarah went, so the story goes, but there wasn't much she could do but keep her father comfortable. Her mother had passed a few years prior so there was no one else to help care for him. She gave him his own medicine and tonics to soothe him, until they ran out and she used ones she had made and brought with her from home. However, when the priest came to visit and saw what she was doing, called her ministrations witchcraft and rallied the already suspicious townspeople to physically remove her from her fathers side. The townspeople set up a rock the clock guard, never allowing her the ability to see him. He lived for five more days, screaming in agony and calling for his daughter to help him."
"Jesus," Mulder said and Scully swallowed hard as Fauna nodded.
"Yeah. It's quite a tragic story," she said softly.
"What happened to her?" Scully asked and Fauna sighed.
"Lived the rest of her days in her little house, trying to perfect her remedies, though no one ever used them. They were found after she died and before they burned the house down with her body inside."
"Oh, God," Scully said, shaking her head as Fauna nodded slowly.
"She's obviously not buried in the cemetery, but there is a headstone there with her name on it along with the year of her birth and death. It wasn't until years later that it was erected though, people having heard the story and minds changed as medicine evolved. It's one of my favorite places to visit, especially knowing the cemetery was one of the main views she had from her home."
"What?" Mulder asked, leaning forward in his seat, and Fauna nodded.
"Yeah, her and Obadiah's home was near the cemetery, just before the edge of the forest that abuts it. Though it was a lot different back then."
Mulder looked at Scully and she knew at that moment that any plans to not visit the cemetery that night had just gone right out the window.