"Rose! Bring me two bunches of nettle, one of lilac, and a half a cup of chicken fat!" Mistress Yaga yelled.
She scurried to the pantry to find the ingredients. In her head she went over the ingredients. No this wouldn't be a poison. She sighed in relief. She hated dealing with the criminal sort who wanted poisons. The nice ones would sneer at her and the ones who were too nice would grab at her. When she was younger, Mistress Yaga would tell her that they only sold poisons to those that really needed it, like women with cruel husbands or heroes slaying giants. Rose was 18 now and it had been clear to her for quite some time that this was not the case. No, today it was a big poultice for ant bites, really bad ant bites. A little boy from town fell into a fire ant hill and was covered in bites and dangerously swollen. This poultice would save his life. It was times like this that made Rose proud to be studying under Mistress Yaga.
It took Mistress Yaga 30 minutes to make her concoction. It was a tense 30 minutes. There were no sounds besides the ones made by Mistress Yaga's tools. Finally it was done.
"Here. Rub this all over the child, careful not to get it in his eyes or mouth. Do this twice a day until it runs out, about 3 days. Do not bathe him at all, and he must stay in bed. Then on the fourth day, bathe him in cold water," she ordered.
The grateful mother was sobbing as she offered Mistress Yaga thanks and blessings.
"Yes, yes," Mistress Yaga said shortly, "My Wendell please,".
The woman nodded her head and produced the coin. As soon as Mistress Yaga was pleased that it was a real coin, the woman ran home.
"This is good," Mistress Yaga said as she put the coin away, "Tomorrow we will go to the capitol,".
Rose couldn't believe her ears.
" 'We' Mistress?" she stuttered. Many times had the older woman gone to the capitol. She had friends, connections, in the city that needed to be looked to. It was a good place for rare trade and ingredients. But mostly she went there to establish herself with the wealthy businessmen and minor nobles that inhabited the place. Slowly over the years she had built a name for herself there. But throughout the years and her many visits, she had never taken Rose.
"Yes 'we'. So go to bed early. We leave at dusk," she said in her no-nonsense tone. Which wasn't so different from her usual tone.
Rose was almost too excited to sleep that night. It only took a day to get to the capitol. Tomorrow evening she would see the palace for the first time. The thought of the palace made her sigh. She pictured lords and ladies dancing at grand balls. The silk of the ladies' gowns swishing in time with the music. She heard their laughter as a handsome nobleman told them a stupid joke. (From her observations amongst the townspeople, laughing at a boy's joke, even when not funny, was a very effective flirting method.) Then Prince… no King, he had been King for almost a month now, Wendell would come forward and choose the most beautiful lady to dance with. Secretly Rose would put herself in that lady's dress. She would feel the warmth from the King's hand as he closed his fingers around her delicate gloved hand.
Then she would shake her head and feel beyond stupid. She was not the type to dream silly girl dreams. She did not want to be some useless lady. Here she was, helping save lives (sometimes), and it made her happy. No, this Wendell fantasy was just silly.
"Besides," she thought a little glumly, "kings don't marry peasants,". With that final bitter thought, she fell asleep.
The next morning right after dawn, the two were heading down the road. Mistress Yaga took charge of the horses and so Rose was left with nothing to do. So she studied the landscape and tried not to get caught up in her daydreams. Somehow Mistress Yaga always knew when she was daydreaming, maybe it was a look on her face.
"Mistress, are people in the city rude? Or violent?" she asked.
"Wendell doesn't allow any other cities to have rude or violent, or even unpleasant citizens, why should he allow it in his own city?" Mistress Yaga snorted. She felt that many of the laws of the 4th kingdom were too strict. They fell into silence again. Only for a short time though.
"Mistress, why are we going into the capitol?" Rose asked.
"Would you rather stay home?" Mistress Yaga asked in a way that showed that was all the explaining she would do. And so for the last leg of the journey they were once again silent.
The further down the road they got, the busier it got. There were carriages, riders, wagons, and even pedestrians all going to and from the city in surprising numbers. Finally they were close enough to the city to see the palace, tall and bright above the other buildings.
Rose gasped, "It's lovely,".
They were stalled at the gate to wait for traffic to slow. It was too crowded for them to pass through yet.
"Thank goodness I already have a room for us," Mistress Yaga grumbled.
"Is there a festival? I've never seen so many people?" Rose asked, directing her question to Mistress Yaga. It was a guard at the gate who gave her the answer though.
"Oh some lords and ladies from the 2nd kingdom are expected day after tomorrow. There's going to be a big celebration and show, a sort of citywide reception," he said while flashing a grin at Rose.
She blushed and looked down at her feet. Mistress Yaga clucked her tongue at Rose and urged the horses on.
"Do not flirt girl," she warned, "It only leads to trouble,".
Rose decided not to say anything. She decided not to tell Mistress Yaga that she had only asked a question, and that was not flirting. She learned over the years that it was much easier to give up on the subject. Mistress Yaga was very protective about things like that. And after seeing so many young girls come to Mistress Yaga for potions to cure something, whether it was a baby or a sickness, a boy had given them Rose was glad.