Ever After (The Prince and the Pretender)

Witch of Whimpering Woods

Chapter 1: Witch of Whimpering Woods

White Light Coven, Outskirts of Gilead

For the first time in a long time, there was a line outside the cottage. Having the Bubonic Plague spreading from the Kingdom of Druada to the Kingdom of Azura, now affecting Gilead, the healers are busier than the high and mighty physicians that had claimed to have the cure but had failed and given up.

Witchcraft is highly forbidden in Gilead but freely practiced outside its monstrous towering boarders. But even with the plague, Gilead had never considered asking for help from outside its walls. Now the citizens have no choice but to pretend to be on a journey towards the other kingdoms just to line up outside the witches' cottages for a possible cure.

Georgette stared with non-existent pity, at how her mother held the nape of the greasy looking Gileadite with inflated nodules. They young powerless witch looked at the closed door and the windows shut tight that almost no light could enter. Only the light of the candles floating in the bowls of olive oil had provided luminescence to the dark cottage. She saw how the faint white light glowed underneath her mother's palms, slowly deflating the near bursting nodules of the old smelly man in suspenders.

Maya opened her eyes to see her patient, now better than how he was three minutes ago. "Now take a look." She said as she opened a window and handed the man a mirror. Maya smiled at how his reactions were so visible in his face. This is why she loved being a healer. She loved seeing the people so relived and thankful. She loved how the hope and the life comes to their eyes every time she heals them. This is how the White Light Coven survived for so many years. Healing; helping. Unlike their sister coven which they had already left and vowed to never talk about. "Georgie," she called her daughter, and nodded.

Georgette nodded in understanding, giving the man a small pouch of dried sage leaf crumbles and a small bottle of hydrangea extract. "Mix a dash of these crushed sage leaves in your morning tea every day until the boils are completely gone. When they are, apply the hydrangea extract every night for two months. When your supply is out, just come back so we could have them refilled." Georgette beamed, with a rattan basket in hand. An elaborate wickerwork Georgette is very good at. The man smiled back, amused at how lively the girl was, even when the conditions of their living is colossally destitute. He dropped in two gold coins, patted her head and left.

Two gold coins. Georgette saw how the man struggled as he walked limply out of their cottage, and he gave them two gold coins. Two is too much. Even one gold coin would be enough for her and her mother to survive for three days. Georgette ran to chase the man and gave him back his coin. "One gold coin was more than enough sir. We can't accept two." She said, winning not only the heart of the old man but the hearts of all those who heard her, willing to pay more than just a coin.

She went back to the cottage with her mother having her hands on a frumpy woman. Secretly envying her mother and the whole coven's abilities to heal, Georgette sat on a long rattan chair which she spent the whole winter to make. She wanted to help. She wanted to be the healer that people would run to, and not the witch that people would run from.

She remembered that early Sunday morning when their supplies were low and the merchants weren't able to sell in their camp. She came with her Aunt Danna to Gilead for their groceries. She remembered how disgusted the townspeople were. How they looked at her and her aunt's shabby clothes and bulky geode necklaces with disdain. How they'd whisper to each other and lead their children away like she and her aunt were carriers of some kind of plague.

Now that there really is a plague, the Gileadites didn't have a choice but to ask for our help. Georgette felt a smirk coming but Maya had called her attention. She nodded, giving the woman her hydrangea extract and the pouch of sage leaves. The woman smiled after Georgette gave her instructions and dropped in two gold coins in her rattan basket.