Pure

Finten walked slowly home, shivering, pushing the cart in front of himself, the clean, damp buckets and shovels rattling inside. He left a dripping trail of water behind him, and a scent trail he was pretty sure that even humans could follow. He’d washed before coming back into town, of course, but the awful smell he’d picked up working in the sewer pit wasn’t going to fade for a few days at least.

The sun was rising already, its weak morning rays reaching out to take some of the cold from his body. It had taken him longer to arrive at the field and empty out his cart than it should have. Ehir had asked to be excused from emptying out the cart. Finten had let him go. If Ehir needed to drink to deal with whatever it was he was going through, Finten wasn’t going to get in his way.

He was glad to see the rest of the carts were already parked behind the manor near the barn, when he got there. The others were already back home. He parked his cart and was making his way around to the side entrance of the manor when he saw Cara’s grandson, Eoghan go by in the square.

Finten paused, frowning, before deciding to check on the boy. Finten saw Eoghan stepping through the front door of the manor as he came around the corner. He followed him.

The servants Finten passed in the hallway covered their lower face, or turned away from him. His shoulders hunched closer to his ears as he hurried after Eoghan’s scent trail. He was surprised when it led him to the witch’s workroom.

He could hear the witch rudely refusing the boy whatever he’d asked for, as he approached the open door.

“I told you, I can pay,” Eoghan was saying, just as Finten stepped through the doorway.

Alvie smirked at him. “And I told you, bring your patient here if you want him cured. Maigred is nothing more than an uneducated hack. She’ll kill him.”

Eoghan turned away, disappointment on his face.

If the boy was here on behalf of Maigred, she must have really needed whatever he was looking for, and the thought of Maigred coming to the manor because the boy had failed made Finten nervous. He put his hand on the boys shoulder. “Wait. What is it you need?”

“Gumweed blossoms, sir,” the boy answered.

Finten frowned. Those would be impossible to find growing at time of the year. “Alvie, let the boy buy some blossoms from you. What harm can it do?”

Alvie turned her angry expression on Finten. “Stay out of my business, filth.” She covered her nose. “You smell like filth too. Get out of my workroom.”

Finten stepped closer to her. “You’ll get the boy the blossoms he wants, Alvie, or I will. I know you have more than you can use in your storeroom.”

Her mouth twisted into a smirk. “I’ll call the guards, if you try.”

Finten leaned closer to her. “And maybe I’ll snap your neck if you try to stop me.”

Her eyes widened. “You wouldn’t dare. You know what would happen if you did that!”

Finten grinned humorlessly at her. “It could be that I don’t care anymore.”

She stared up at him with wide eyes for one long moment and Finten thought she was going to call his bluff, but then she turned away and unlocked her store cupboard with shaking hands.

She pulled out a small bottle filled with a dark liquid and turned to Eoghan. “This is gumweed tincture, will that do?”

Eoghan stared at the little bottle, a helpless expression on his face.

“What does she need it for?” Finten asked.

“The donk- it’s, it’s for a cold, sir.”

Finten blinked. Had Eoghan been about to say donkey? “If it’s for a cold, the tincture will work fine.”

FInten waited to make sure that Alvie actually let the boy have the tincture after he paid, then he followed him out of her workroom.

“Thank you, sir.” Eoghan said.

Finten noticed that the boy was careful to breath through his mouth. He let out a soft breath. “Don’t worry about it. Just do me a favor and don’t tell Maigred that I had anything to do with this, okay?”

Eoghan nodded.

Finten nodded and clapped the boy on the back. “Good, lad. If you ever need anything else, just come find me, okay?”

“Thank you, sir.”

Finten nodded tiredly and left Eagan there, going straight back to the dorm. He was too tired to go to the kitchen and try to beg something from the cook to eat. He climbed up into his bed, fell on the mattress and immediately fell asleep.