“Don’t be so quick to leave childhood behind, girl,” Bruna said. “You’ll find you miss it when its gone. There’s more to the world than laying under a man and making his babies.”

“But what else could compare?” Leesha asked.

Bruna gestured to her shelf. “Choose a book,” she said. “Any book. Bring it here, and I’ll show you what else the world can offer.”

CHAPTER 5

CROWDED HOME

319 AR

LEESHA WOKE WITH A START as Bruna’s old rooster crowed to mark the dawn. She rubbed her face, feeling the imprint of the book on her cheek. Gared and Bruna were still fast asleep. The Herb Gatherer had passed out early, but despite her own fatigue, Leesha kept on reading late into the night. She had thought Herb Gathering was just setting bones and birthing babes, but there was so much more. Herb Gatherers studied the entire natural world, finding ways to combine the Creator’s many gifts for the benefit of His children.

Leesha took the ribbon that held back her dark hair and laid it across the page, closing the book as reverently as she did the Canon. She rose and stretched, laying fresh wood on the fire and stirring the embers into a flame. She put the kettle on, and then went over to shake Gared.

“Wake up, lazybones,” she said, keeping her voice low. Gared only groaned. Whatever Bruna had given him, it was strong. She shook harder, and he swatted at her, eyes still closed.

“Get up or there’ll be no breakfast for you,” Leesha laughed, kicking him.

Gared groaned again, and his eyes cracked. When Leesha drew her foot back a second time, he reached out and grabbed her leg, pulling her down on top of him with a yelp.

He rolled atop her, encircling her in his burly arms, and Leesha giggled at his kisses.

“Stop it,” she said, swatting at him halfheartedly, “you’ll wake Bruna.”

“So what if I do?” Gared asked. “The old hag is a hundred years old and blind as a bat.”

“The hag’s ears are still sharp,” Bruna said, cracking open one of her milky white eyes. Gared yelped and practically flew to his feet, distancing himself from Leesha and Bruna both.

“You keep your hands to yourself in my home, boy, or I’ll brew a potion to keep your manhood slack for a year,” Bruna said. Leesha saw the color drain from Gared’s face, and bit her lip to keep from laughing. For some reason, Bruna no longer frightened her, but she loved watching the old woman intimidate everyone else.

“We understand one another?” Bruna asked.

“Yes’m,” Gared said immediately.

“Good,” Bruna said. “Now put those burly shoulders to work and split some wood for the firebox.” Gared was out the door before she finished. Leesha laughed as the door slammed.

“Liked that, did you?” Bruna asked.

“I’ve never seen anyone send Gared scurrying like that,” Leesha said.

“Come closer, so I can see you,” Bruna said. When Leesha did, she went on, “Being village healer is more than brewing potions. A strong dose of fear is good for the biggest boy in the village. Maybe help him think twice before hurting someone.”

“Gared would never hurt anyone,” Leesha said.

“As you say,” Bruna said, but she didn’t sound at all convinced.

“Could you really have made a potion to take his manhood away?” Leesha asked.

Bruna cackled. “Not for a year,” she said. “Not with one dose, anyway. But a few days, or even a week? As easily as I dosed his tea.”

Leesha looked thoughtful.

“What is it, girl?” Bruna asked. “Having doubts your boy will leave you unplucked before your wedding?”

“I was thinking more on Steave,” Leesha said.

Bruna nodded. “And well you should,” she advised. “But have care. Your mother is wise to the trick. She came to me often when she was young, needing Gatherer’s tricks to stem her flow and keep her from getting with child while she had her fun. I didn’t see her for what she was, then, and I’m sad to say I taught her more than I should have.”

“Mum wasn’t a virgin when Da carried her across his wards?” Leesha asked in shock.

Bruna snorted. “Half the town had a roll with her before Steave drove the others away.”

Leesha’s jaw dropped. “Mum condemned Klarissa when she got with child,” she said.

Bruna spat on the floor. “Everyone turned on that poor girl. Hypocrites, all! Smitt talks of family, but he didn’t lift a finger when his wife led the town after that girl like a pack of flame demons. Half those women pointing at her and crying ‘Sin!’ were guilty of the same deed, they were just lucky enough to marry fast, or smart enough to take precautions.”

“Precautions?” Leesha asked.

Bruna shook her head. “Elona’s so eager to have a grandson she’s kept you in the dark about everything, eh?” she asked. “Tell me, girl, how are babies made?”

Leesha blushed. “The man, I mean, your husband … He …”

“Out with it, girl,” Bruna snapped, “I’m too old to wait for the red to leave your face.”

“He spends his seed in you,” Leesha said, her face reddening further.

Bruna cackled. “You can treat burns and demon wounds, but blush at how life is made?”

Leesha opened her mouth to reply, but Bruna cut her off.

“Make your boy spend his seed on your belly, and you can lie with him to your heart’s content,” Bruna said. “But boys can’t be trusted to pull from you in time, as Klarissa learned. The smarter ones come to me for tea.”

“Tea?” Leesha asked, leaning on every word.

“Pomm leaves, leached in the right dose with some other herbs, create a tea that will keep a man’s seed from taking root.”

“But Tender Michel says …” Leesha began.

“Spare me the recitation from the Canon,” Bruna cut her off. “It’s a book written by men, without a thought given towards the plight of women.”

Leesha’s mouth closed with a click.

“Your mum visited me often,” Bruna went on, “asking questions, helping me around the hut, grinding herbs for me. I had thought to make her my apprentice, but all she wanted was the secret of the tea. Once I told her how it was made, she left and never returned.”

“That does sound like her,” Leesha said.

“Pomm tea is safe enough in small doses,” Bruna said, “but Steave is lusty, and your mother took too much. The two of them must have slapped stomachs a thousand times before your father’s business began to prosper, and his purse caught her eye. By then, your mum’s womb was scraped dry.”

Leesha looked at her curiously.

“After she married your father, Elona tried for two years to conceive without success,” Bruna said. “Steave married some young girl and got her with child overnight, which only made your mum more desperate. Finally, she came back to me, begging for help.”

Leesha leaned in close, knowing her existence had hinged on whatever Bruna said next.

“Pomm tea must be taken in small doses,” Bruna repeated, “and once a month it is best to stop it and allow your flow to come. Fail this, and you risk becoming barren. I warned Elona, but she was a slave to her loins, and failed to listen. For months I gave her herbs and checked her flow, giving her herbs to slip into your father’s food. Finally, she conceived.”