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Earendil's brow furrowed and he opened his mouth to say something to Miyuki, but the woman caught the look and smiled at him.

"It's all right," she assured him. She turned back to Miyuki. "Some people call them potions, yes. There are many names for them. I don't like to call them potions, though, that implies that there is some magic involved. I don't use magic. I'm an apothecary. I make draughts and mixtures, medicines and enhancers and the like. Some people consider it to be magic because they don't understand it, but it's all natural."

The woman smiled at Miyuki. "I understand you're going to be staying in the village for a while," she said, glancing over at Amalirahc.

"We sure are!" the boy grinned.

The woman laughed softly. "Yes. If you are interested, perhaps I could teach you a bit." She looked at Miyuki again, her eyes warm and inviting.

Earendil smiled warmly, glad that Miyuki had found someone else who could teach her - after all, her parents could only do so much with her, and it was better when she made the choice herself to learn things.

"First, however," he spoke up, "we should be seeing Haldia and Celeb, like we came for."

The woman laughed softly. "Of course, forgive me. It's rare that others are interested in my work so I'm afraid I was a little distracted. Come, they're upstairs."

She brushed past them and headed up the stairs, trusting that they would follow her.

At the top of the stairs, the hallway split into three directions: straight ahead, to the left, and to the right.

"I live to the right," she explained as she motioned for them to go down the hall to the left. "That way if I'm working at night, I'm not disturbing anyone. The other rooms are for boarders, such as your friends."

"At the moment, that hall is empty, Celeb and Haldia are my only boarders at the moment," the woman explained. "Sometimes I go for a long time without any boarders at all. I don't need the income, but I enjoy the company."

She led them to a door and knocked on it, and after about half a minute, the door opened and Celeb appeared in the doorway.

"Hey!" he beamed. "You guys made it!" He grinned at their hostess. "Thank you, Elarinya. We'll see you at dinner."

The woman smiled and nodded her head, then turned and headed back down the hall. Celeb held the door wide open for the others. "Come on in," he grinned, speaking in the Common Tongue again. "There's lots of space."

The room they entered was a sitting room, and Haldia was sitting in a rocking chair, rocking slowly back and forth with a blanket-wrapped infant in her arms. All that was showing of the baby was her face and a little bit of her hair: like her mother, she had dark skin, though not as black as Haldia's, and white hair. The baby was sleeping at the moment, so her eyes weren't visible.

"Hello, Miyuki," Haldia greeted the kitsune with a warm smile. "Ve have been vaiting for all of you to come."

Celeb motioned for Lin and Earendil to make themselves comfortable. There was a couch and a few chairs that were still unoccupied, as well as a small worktable with a few wooden chairs around it. "We've been well," he answered Lin's question. "We found this place the day after Alyarra was born. Elarinya's offered to let us stay here as long as we would like. How was the trip here from the swamp?"

Haldia giggled at Miyuki's comment.

"Vell, ve have been busy," she told her, shifting her position a bit so that Alyarra was laying in her lap instead of being held in her arms. "The time has passed very quickly."

As she spoke, she pulled the blanket back from the little girl so that Miyuki could see her better. She was wearing a little blue dress, her tiny fists closed tightly on the edges of her sleeves.

"Well, an uneventful trip can sometimes be a blessing," Celeb agreed, sitting in one of the chairs. "That storm ... wow. I'm just thankful we made it here in time. Haldia nearly lost it a few times in the air, I was terrified we wouldn't make it. She hasn't been able to summon her roc since."

"Thank you," Haldia smiled warmly at Miyuki. "Perhaps if she wakes up before you leave, vould you like to hold her? I vould offer now, but I do not vant her to vake up ..."

Celeb nodded. "No question about it. I think though that we're probably going to stay here until she can summon her spirit again, and rejoin the rest of you then. She wants to keep going, but I want to make sure she's properly rested first, and I think that's probably the surest way to know."

"Sounds logical to me," Earendil had to admit.