Salve

Night was the best time of day. Always so much quieter, so much more natural. Life was getting so much more difficult, and it was getting that much harder to sneak out because of her father staying up late drinking, but she had found a way out through the small window in her room. He didn't know she went out, and if he did, he didn't say anything. Her nightly outings were the only thing keeping her sane right now, as her and her father waited on edge, waiting for the inevitable. She knew it had to be soon, all the other men of the village were gone, except for him and another man by the name of Don, her archenemies father. The King had ordered most of the men out of the villages, leaving only a few behind to take care of government matters, and then they too would be ordered out. Her father and Don were those men for her village of Anteskany, and they had been waiting for two months since the orders, for the soldiers to come and get the last men.
But now was not the time to be thinking about this, she had business to attend to. Tonight was a full moon, and she had to make the salve for her father. She had planned it as a going away gift, and knew that he would be leaving soon, though not before this full moon. It was a surprise, and had so far taken three weeks of nightly gathering and mixing to get it ready for tonight. The moon would complete the potion, as a full moon was the completion of the moons cycle. This salve was special and had been her most complicated healing medicine yet, but with him going off to war, she figured he would need it.
Walking silently through the trees she used her magic to keep her tracks covered and her movements quiet. She could not afford to disturb the forest tonight, not on the most sacred night of the moon. The animals would be doing their own magic if they were awake, and if not, the forest itself would get angry for disturbing the deaf animals. If the forest got angry then she could never hope for the salve to work. Not that she would disturb the animals on a full moon night either way, but especially not tonight. Something rustled in the bushes behind her and she whirled around, hoping desperately that the trees hadn't noticed her presence and gotten angry.
"Shh..don't make a sound," the perpetrator muttered.
"What are you doing here," she hissed. "I have something I have to do and I can't be bothered by you of all people right now!"
"Relax Kay, I'm not going to bother you and your potion tonight. I happen to have a very special ingredient for it, as a matter of fact," he snapped back , handing her the leaf he had been holding in his hand. "I don't remember where I heard it from, but the Phoenix's salve works twice as well if it has sesame leaf in it."
Gasping, she looked at the leaf he held out for her. "Where did you get this?" She looked up at his face, which had now broken into a grin.
"My mother had it for the salve, but she never got to make it," he said, the smile on his face faltering slightly. "Come on, though, you have to hurry or the salve won't be ready before dawn." He hurried away, heading directly for her hidden place and using his magic also to hide his presence in the forest.
Shaking her head she followed him, wondering in complete disbelief why he would do this for her. They had been enemies from the time they were born, knowing their parents had been hoping they would marry. It had disgusted them, and forced them apart instead of together. They fought constantly whenever they were around each other, the thought of maybe having to marry preventing them from having what might have been a good friendship.

The night air was moving around them, though the rest of the forest was quiet. Silently they made their way to the clearing, Kay following behind Bren in the shadows.
"So why are you doing this? This salve is such a hard spell, you have to be so careful," Bren whispered as he pushed through the final trees and crossed in the clearing.
"It's for my dad. I figure he has more of a chance of coming home if he has something to help keep him alive out there."
They both knew what 'out there' was, and at the mention of it both fell silent.
Kay kneeled down by the middle of the clearing where a small pot sat by the remnants of a fire. Inside the pot was what looked to be a brown, watery like liquid. It was the beginnings of the salve, though with the sesame leaf in it, it would turn green.. The only thing Kay had left to do for the salve was crush the sesame leaf and put it in, then set it into the moonlight and whisper the spell. This was the hardest part as the spell had to be loud enough for the moon to hear it, but she could not speak too loud for fear of disturbing the forest or her hopes of finishing the salve would be gone.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing, Kay? Like I said, it's not an easy spell to do..." Bren said, his voice trailing off.
"I can't say I know exactly what I'm doing, but I do have a general idea. Please leave me alone so I can finish this without any disasters." Kay got up from where she had just put the sesame leaf in the salve, and picked up the pot. Moving quieter than ever, she stepped into the moonlight in the middle of the area and set the pot down directly in the sight of the moon. Stepping out of the moonlight, she started whispering.
"Moon of night, starlight so bright
Shining on this magic night;
Water, Earth, Night and Day
Combining to become the way
That magic flows, woven together
Elemental wind and fire;
See this bit of magic here
And set it free in moonlights tear.
Heal me here, always forever
Broken heart, eternal fever
Any ailment, I ask you take
And release by pain of death."
Kay stopped speaking, her eyes turning from the moon to the moonbeam set on the pot. The beam started to spin, moving faster and faster as it picked up the pot, tilting it upside down. The light from the moon grew stronger and the clearing became stuffy as power became stronger. Bren opened his mouth as though to gasp, but no sound came out. Kay became entranced by the spinning moonbeam as she whispered again and again, "Moon of night, starlight so bright, shining on this magic night. Moon of night, starlight so bright, shining on this magic night." Her voice became stronger, even as the beam was spinning even faster, and suddenly it was over.
The moonlight ceased, and slowly the pot settled down on the grass. Kay stumbled as she tried not to fall over when she stopped speaking. Bren reached for her, catching her arm and stumbling too as she fell into him. Together they fell over, landing on the grass, Kay gasping for air.
"That's it, you did it. The spell actually worked," Bren exclaimed as he sat up, staring at the pot that now held a green cream like substance.
"I didn't think I would actually be able to do it," Kay whispered in awe, still breathing hard. "It worked, even though it was after midnight. I don't know how it worked after midnight, but it did." She too sat up and crawled over to the pot. She picked it up and walked over to the bag she had taken with her. She then took out a small container that would fit in a pocket, and poured the green salve into it. Taking a stirring stick out of her bag she began to stir it, watching as it became thicker, it's consistency becoming that of a medical salve.
Bren sat watching her, then moved over to her as she finished and put a tight sealed lid on the container. She spoke a word, and the lid sealed completely. Looking up at him she whispered,

"Thank-you for the sesame leaf, this will work so much better now." Kay then turned to the bag and put the container and the pot into it and stood up. "Let's go now," she said, and walked away.
Bren followed, stepping carefully through the trees in her path. Soon they reached Kay's house, and she whispered goodnight as she retreated through the dark doorway.

“Where have you been,” a voice asked from the darkness, startling Kay as she headed for the stairs. She stopped and turned around, looking in the relative direction of the fireplace as she tried to adjust her eyes to the blackness around her. As her eyes changed into her magic vision, she noticed she was right about the direction her fathers voice had come from.

“I said, where have you been?”

Hesitating, she stepped forward, unsure of what to say. “I was...out in the forest...,” she whispered, her voice dieing off as she realized what she had just told him.

“You were where,” he asked, his voice suddenly angry and emphasizing the last word.

Kay shrunk under her fathers stare as he stood up from his chair, anger flashing in his eyes to match his tone of voice. “I was in the forest. I had to do something, and the only way I could do it was the be in the forest for the full moon. The forest didn't notice me, and I got it done without disturbing anything.”

“It doesn't matter that you succeeded, you still took the chance of waking up the forest on a full moon night!” He was yelling now, pacing in the dark of the little house. “What could have possibly possessed you to go into the forest at night, on a full moon night?!”

“I told you, I had to do something that would not have worked without the full moon in the forest. I needed the magic from the forest too, and like I said, nothing happened,” Kay yelled back.

“And what was it that you had to do that required the forests magic on top of your own, and a full moon,” he asked her, his voice now a dangerously low and calm tone.

Kay stopped again, unsure if she should tell him. Deciding it wasn't worth the fight she would have to put up against him, she told him. “I was making a salve. The Phoenix's salve, to be exact. It wouldn't have been completed without the full moon.” Staring up at her father, she hoped he would understand. She was wrong.

“You were doing what??? That spell is beyond your magic skills, and it's a healing potion you have never even heard of. How could you possibly have completed it?”

“I have heard of it, our teacher brought it up in class last year. And I completed it carefully. It's obviously not beyond my magic skills because I finished it without doing anything wrong.”

“Do you know what the risks are of doing that potion wrong,” he asked, ignoring her answers to his previous questions.

“I am very well aware of the risks that I took in making the salve, but I got it done , well on top of everything. I don't understand why you're still so upset. I didn't do anything wrong!”

“You didn't do anything wrong, that's true. It's what you did right that you don't understand. No one has EVER fully completed that spell their first time around without mistakes. And no one has ever tried it at your level of magic and walked away with magic to spare. It drains you of your core of magic if you do it wrong. You create a pathway to the moon, and if it's done wrong, the magic will take your magic to be its own. Even the highest level of sorcerers and healers have lost their magic to this salve. One of the most renowned healers tried this salve and carelessly lost his magic to it. What made you think you could do this? How did you do it,” he finished, sitting back down as his voice came down to a whisper.

Kay was shocked. She knew what it could do if it was done wrong, but she had no idea that no one had accomplished it successfully their first time, or that anyone at her magic level had never succeeded at it. Sitting down in a chair across from her father, she whispered, “I did it for you. I knew that you have to be leaving soon, and I wanted to give you a chance of coming home. I didn't know the full extent of the risks, only that it could drain the magic out of me if I stayed in the moonbeam. I knew it would be hard, maybe even impossible for me, but I wanted to try it anyway. I knew I was risking my magic, but I had never had trouble with potions before so I thought this time wouldn't be any different. I don't know how I did it.” She said the last part almost to herself, drawn into shock and confusion. There was no way it could be such a difficult potion, she was able to do it wasn't she? That alone should make it an easy potion. Her magic level was not high enough for something so difficult to work for the first time for her.

“I appreciate the thought,” her father said, startling her out of her thoughts after a while. “But don't ever endanger yourself like that again. Not for me, not for anyone. Especially not without knowing the full extent of the risks you are taking.”

“I thought I knew what I was doing. It worked though, I completed it.” Reaching into her pocket, Kay took out the salve and handed it to her father. “I'm going to go to bed, I'll finish talking to you tomorrow.” Turning away she made her way up the stairs to her original destination of her room. Climbing into her bed, she fell into a restless sleep. Something not unusual since the war started.