Hazel narrowed her eyes slightly at the physician, prepared to make a brusque retort, but Penelope intervened first. Her cold blue eyes flicked towards the knight as she introduced the two healers to each other. She couldn’t have cared less what the physician’s name was, but the change in subject was enough to make her forget what she was going to say before. So, she leaned back in her chair and tapped her boot on the floor in mild irritation instead.

Her gaze drifted back to Jane as the dark-haired woman began speaking about her knowledge on similar illnesses as the one that plagued Myrefall. She wasn’t surprised to learn that this healer had cured similar diseases. In fact, she would have been more surprised if Jane had been completely unfamiliar with any of the symptoms, since she had heard that noble physicians were supposed to be apprenticed by masters with more understanding of medicines than the herbalist could ever hope to glean in her lifetime.

When Jane went on to ask what she had tried so far, Hazel clenched her jaw, involuntarily hesitant to share her findings with a noble. She forced herself to take a calming breath, [i]This is all for the good of the people of Myrefall… and of Crow. She’s not here to steal your work.[/i] After a moment’s pause, she finally answered the question: “I’ve prepared a few different herbal poultices for… a patient of mine.” She intentionally avoided using Crow’s name, since she remembered that he didn’t have the best reputation. It would be bad if word got back to the knights that the thief whose head was worth a small fortune was sick and vulnerable right now.

“This is what I’ve come up with so far,” she twisted at the waist to lean over and dig in her bag for the journal in which she had been keeping record of her medicinal recipes. Flipping to the page where she had written about the Creeping Death, she handed the book off to the physician, averting her gaze to ignore the surprised look in the other woman’s eyes. It was likely that Jane had never seen a literate peasant before.

Fortunately, the physician didn’t comment on it. Instead, she examined the writing with a critical expression. “Hawthorn, nettles, hibiscus, lobelia…” she read under her breath as she reviewed the herbalist’s work.

“I used herbs that target the heart and lungs,” Hazel explained with a shrug. “As far as I can tell, those are the parts of the body this illness hits the hardest.”

“I see,” Jane looked up at her contemplatively. “I happened to notice motherwort isn’t on this list.”

“Motherwort?” Hazel blinked, unfamiliar with the plant.

“Yes,” Jane nodded. “It’s an herb that regulates the heart.” She closed the journal and passed it back to the herbalist across the table. “I’m not surprised you don’t know about it. From my understanding, the plant only grows in the inner kingdom. Fortunately for us, I happen to have some with me.” Reaching into her own bag, she withdrew a dried plant with small, leathery-looking leaves and offered it to Hazel to examine it more closely. “The herbs you’ve been using are all good, but this one is much more potent. I’ve had great success with it in treating other illnesses of the heart.”

“Interesting,” Hazel mused as she rubbed one of the leaves between her thumb and forefinger. Momentarily forgetting her animosity towards the physician, she looked up at her curiously. “What do you usually mix it with?”

“See for yourself,” Jane handed the herbalist her own book, the pages of which were filled with neatly written herbal recipes. “I believe that if you pair this set of ingredients with the one on the next page—it’s for a lung disease—you’ll have a better foundation to build this cure on.”

Hazel nodded absently, her eyes skimming over the physician’s book as she memorized the herbs she needed. She knew most of the plants that were listed, but there were two that she didn’t recognize. “What are turmeric and chaparral?”

“Turmeric is another herbal heart remedy, and chaparral cleanses the lungs,” Jane explained. “I have some of those with me as well if you’d like to try them.”

“Please,” Hazel nodded gratefully. As the physician offered her the herbs, she was starting to think that perhaps it wasn’t such a waste of time to have agreed to meet with her after all. If what this woman said was true, these plants were quite a bit stronger than the ones she’d been using before, and she’d had no idea they even existed. She made a mental note to ask Simon to steal her some more up-to-date medical books later.

“I’ll start with these for now,” she said, looking up at the nobles again. “We should meet again in five days, so I have time to observe my patient for any changes. From there, we can refine it until we figure this out.”