Eternal Bond: A Shapeshifter's Salvation For An Elf

Chapter 3

   Closing the door quickly behind her, Emma makes her way through the house to the kitchen.  Setting her knapsack on the counter before walking over to the sink to wash her hands. Over by the sink there are a pair of shears and some twine that she brings with her over to the counter. Slowly emptying the contents of her bag onto the counter. She first pulls out some lavender, then some rhubarb the stalks being the brightest shade of pink, next there was chamomile and some mint. At the bottom of her bag there was the dog thistle wrapped in a handkerchief so that she wouldn't get poked with the thistle needles because they can cause a really mean skin irritation. Its a complicated plant to work with, but Emma had been working with plants for so long, that this wasn't any challenge for her. Reaching for a pair of cloth gloves, Emma unwraps the thistle and lies it upon the counter top. Walking over to the cabinet next to the stove, she digs through a box with some tools for scraping and pulls out what looks like a stubbed knife. Back at the counter, Emma slowly takes the knife and scrapes off the top layer of the thistle, removing the needles and exposing a gel like substance in the center. She does this to all of the thistle stalks and then takes the same knife and scoops the gel out of the thistle. Walking back over to the cabinet she grabs an empty jar and then brings it back to put all the gel into the jar and save it for later. 

   Emma cleans the counter top and then removes her gloves and places them off to the side. Next she grabs her other plants and groups them together, taking the twine and wrapping their stalks tightly, she prepares them to dry. The floral aroma filling the kitchen as Emma placed the last bundle of herbs above the counter to dry. Taking a moment to clean up the pieces of plant materials that fell from being moved around, then grabbing a wash cloth to wipe down the counter. Emma stands there in the kitchen, and thinks about her run in with Sid earlier, when all of a sudden she hears a cough coming from Will's room. Snapping out of her thoughts, she walks over to peek her head in, and when she does she sees her brother laying in his bed, skin glistening with sweat and flushed as if he was overheating. His cough sounding as if there were liquid in it and coming from deep within. 

   A shocked look on her face as he was not this bad mere hours ago, "Willy!" she gasped out, rushing to his bedside. Placing her hand on his forehead, she could feel the heat radiating off of him. 

   Opening his eyes to the cool of her touch, he shivers and then weakly says, "I don't feel so good Emma." Taking a slow inhale and then speaking again, "it's hard to breathe." A concerned look appearing on his face as he tried to prop himself up some with a pillow. 

   Helping her brother get comfortable, she tried to remember from her studies how to treat this, but she couldn't remember without looking in her notes. She doesn't want to worry her brother so she figures to go and get him something to drink so she could try and find out. "I am going to go and make you something to drink, and then I will be right back." she says before kissing his clammy head and walking towards the door. Another cough coming from him, this one more violent than the last. 

   As she reached the kitchen, she began to heat some water on the stove and then went to her journals that were still on the counter top. Flipping through the pages, searching for anything that says breathing, when suddenly she uses her hand to hold the page. Reading through the symptoms; cough, fever, shortness of breath, weak muscles, fatigue and vomiting. Thinking to herself, that sounds about right. Running her finger down the page, she finds a list of herbs and plants that can be used to make a syrup that can be mixed with water and drank to cure the symptoms. Reading the list off to herself; peppermint, eucalyptus, ginger, honey, silver lotus and night bell flowers. Her stomach turns as she reads the last two ingredients needed, because she knows that she has to go into the grove to retrieve them, and deeper than she has ever gone before.