“Give that a gentle wash, and we’ll get started.”
It felt like being an apprentice again, but I didn’t argue as I crossed to the sink and carefully rinsed the dirt from my prize.
Flantiera gestured to a cutting board and then began preparing the herb without waiting for my permission. Fair, given it was hers. I watched carefully as she first chopped it, then added only certain parts to a large stone mortar.
“Our island hasn’t been blessed by a visit from a m?gissa in a long time. But here you are, and with no idea what you are. I suppose it’s not too surprising, as it’s old Greek lore. But in English, it’s like a witch or sorceress. But m?gisses are always gifted with plants, as you are. They come in every species-including human, for the record. They have green witches with similar talents. But the centaurs haven’t had one among us in decades, at least.”
As I watched her expert preparation, dropping a crystal of mastic into the mortar as well as at least three other herbs from her jars, I wasn’t sure about that statement.
“You seem more than talented enough for the title,” I said, picking up several tricks just by watching her work.
She laughed, the sound a bit horsey on the back end, ironically. “I appreciate the compliment, but no. This is a normal skill honed over a long life full of menial labor. You have something innate, something I don’t possess.” She reached into an unlabeled jar and pulled out something dried. She made an impatient gesture for me to hold out my hand, then dropped the plant into my waiting palm. “What is that?”
“There’s no label on the jar…?” I asked, feeling obtuse. Did she expect me to identify it purely by looking at the shriveled bit of green? Many plants appeared similar when dehydrated and chopped.
Her eye roll was that of a much younger centaur, and suddenly, she really reminded me of her daughter, Flantia. “You really don’t know how any of it works, do you?”
“No. No one in my home pack knew where it came from or what it was. I was just weird.”
Elodie made an annoyed-sounding grunt behind me, but I didn’t turn around to confirm. It was all embarrassing, but Flantiera clearly wasn’t letting it go.
“So many gifts held by such uneducated people.” She sighed, shaking her head before closing my fingertips over the herb. “Close your eyes. Stop staring at it, and feel it. It’ll come to you.”
I did as she commanded, feeling properly chastised even though she’d given me no instructions the first time around. At first, I felt nothing. But within moments, tendrils of energy I could only describe as feeling green tingled against my palm, tickling like feathers. But in their wake, they left an unpleasant sting.
My eyes flew open. “Urtica dioica.”
Flantiera nodded, the faintest twist of a smile at the corner of her lips. “Very good.”
“Care to share with the class what that is in English?” Elodie poked her head over my shoulder, looking down at the small green crumbles I still held. “Looks kind of like parsley to me.”
“It’s stinging nettle,” I answered, carefully dropping the sample back onto her countertop, well away from the mortar where she was currently pulverizing the medicinal herbs for Lucien. Suddenly, I wanted to know every single thing the helpful centaur knew about me and my oddities.
“What else can I do?”
“Good question. There is some variation amongst m?gisses, but there are also some common skills. They can identify any plant by touch and, in time, without touch. You know how to properly prepare any plant for use and what its uses are without prior experience. If plants grew on the moon, I imagine you’d know how to use those too.”
I blinked, thinking back. It was true I could identify plants when I fell into my strange sleepwalks, but I’d never done it on purpose before today.
“That’s pretty cool,” Elodie interjected. “Anything else? Anything a warrior might find interesting?”
Flantiera nodded, considering the two of us. “You can identify poisons inside a patient or on a weapon without a sample of the plant that did the poisoning. You’ll also be drawn to the correct antidotes.”
“Well, shit, that’s useful.” Elodie grinned, squeezing my shoulder happily. “Just wait until we tell the others.”
The thought of telling the others made my throat clog with unease.
I wanted to be useful, but what if Flantiera was wrong about me? What if I was defective? I’d never been able to do anything like what she was saying, but I’d also never tried.
“But the most important tool of a m?gissa is their special ability. I can’t say what yours is, but if you pursue the power, it will find you.”
“Can you give us an example?” Elodie asked, all piqued curiosity with none of the anxiety that was currently trying to suffocate me.
Flantiera stared out the window into the garden, with her back to us, even though I knew she’d heard Elodie. She turned a potted plant on the windowsill just slightly before answering. “My mother’s gift was the ability to grow anything, anywhere. With one touch, plants would bloom for her, unfurling from their seeds even in the most arid, rocky soils.”
Somber understanding made me put a hand on her forearm. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
Flantiera’s nod was full of graceful acceptance, but I could see the pain she was trying to hide in the taut lines of her neck, the white grip of her knuckles on the granite pestle. “She has been gone for many, many years. But the garden was hers. When I was a filly, I had hoped I might inherit her powers… but a m?gissa’s gifts are too fickle to be so simple. They appear when and where they please. Or so my mother told me.”
“Thank you for sharing her memory with us.”
She nodded once more before shoving the mortar my way and gesturing for me to look inside. It was a simple green paste, but I decided to follow my instincts and use touch as she’d directed me to with the nettle. I scooped some of it up on my fingertip, closed my fist around the goo, and waited.
A sense of deep soothing coated my palm, chasing away the sting I’d felt before. The names of each plant popped into my head in rapid succession, but I found myself easily able to remember each one and knowing the reasons she’d included them. It was… magical.
When I met her steady gaze, I knew mine was tearful. But I couldn’t stop it. I was so damn grateful. “Thank you for teaching me. If we’re here a few more days, I would love to come back and spend some more time with you. If that would be okay.”
“Of course, child. But for now, you’d better go. Your man is going to need that before sunset, is he not?”
I snapped around to look out the open cottage door, dismayed to see how low the sun was trailing in the sky. The time we’d spent here felt like a short flash, but apparently, it had been longer than I’d realized.
While I’d been letting my senses analyze the ingredients in the mixture, she’d packaged it into a small bottle, corked for travel.
Elodie was already halfway out the door, but I paused in the doorway, turning back to where Flantiera stood, solemnly wiping her counter clean. “Thank you for your generosity. I won’t forget it or what you shared with me.”
“You’re welcome, child. Now run, or you’ll be too late.”Lucien
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