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“Thank you again, Winna.” Ena hugged me tightly.

“I’m happy to help! But it’s just as much Diana as me. She’s the one with the most power around here these days. I’m just the silly human that directs what she has. Gods know I can't handle much without her!" I snorted, shaking my head a little.

“Thank you too, Diana.” Ena laughed, waving at the sweet, diluted grey tabby.

Diana blinked her iridescent, blue-green eyes at them slowly, and bobbed her head in reply.

“She says you’re welcome!” I giggled.

“She’s a pretty cat.” Biren smiled tiredly.

“She really is!” Jedda agreed.

Lou maowed loudly, wanting attention as well, and the black cat watched with vague disinterest from the spot he’d claimed for himself on the corner of the fireplace.

“Oh Lou!” I laughed.

“This one is a very silly cat!” Biren laughed, bending and petting Lou with his un-bandaged hand. “She was running around before you’d woken up this morning like a crazy thing, trying to get the black cat to play with her.”

“Yeah, she’s goofy and playful!” I grinned, leaning over and scooping my Lou up, “Keeps life interesting! Everyone needs a silly cat like Lou and a sweet cat like Diana in their lives.”

“I want a kitty, Biren.” Ena pouted, linking her arm through her husband’s unhurt one.

“Oh fine.” he rolled his eyes, but was smiling.

“Two kitties. You owe me for scaring me half to death!”

“I’m not sure that’s how it works, but okay. Two kitties.” He agreed.

“Thank you!” she giggled, bobbing up to kiss her husband’s cheek, and he smiled fondly at her.

“We’d best be off now, kids.” Jedda said, ushering them towards the door.

“Come back a couple weeks from now and we’ll make sure it’s still doing well.” I told Biren, following them outside, but stopping at the top of the porch stairs.

“Yes ma’am.” he nodded.

“Thanks again, Winna!” Ena waved once she was in the cart.

“You’re welcome! Come see me soon! I look forward to trying out those recipes!”

“Sure thing!” she grinned at me.

Jedda flicked the reins, and the horses started off.

I waved until they were out of sight, then sighed.

It was nice to be able to help people.

Turning, I went back inside, and looked around my little cottage, hands on my hips. “Back to normal life, now, I guess! Although I hope we can all get acclimated to having a new friend around.” I smiled at the cats, who were sitting in various places throughout the living area.

The black cat was still on his fireplace perch, Diana was sitting primly near the entrance to the back hallway, and Lou was sprawled out in the middle of the floor by the heating rocks.

A giggle of joy bubbled up from me. Their personalities were evident even in how and where they sat. Diana was queenly, but kind and down to earth, and Lou was goofy with no dignity at all. The black cat was still wary, and preferred to watch from up high until he was used to the place, and also likely wanted to stay out of Diana’s way, given her reaction to him the day before. Hopefully they’d start to get along soon.

Stretching, I went to put away the now-clean breakfast dishes, as Ena had insisted on staying long enough to help with the washing up. It had been very nice to be in a family atmosphere again, and it made my heart ache a little for the years before my parents had passed.

I smiled sadly, and pushed the melancholy away. That was just the way of the world. Death was just another part of life, even though my mother should have had the same immortally young life as I did. But being immortally young didn’t protect from injury or illness. And though we were healers, there were some things that even magic couldn't fix. Certain illnesses were resistant to magic, and if an injury was bad enough, sometimes magic just wasn’t enough.

Fourteen years ago, there had been an earthquake, and many people had been trapped in the rubble, so my mother, father, Diana, and I had gone into town to try to help. Diana and I had been tending to a hurt child while my parents had been helping lift rubble from a partially collapsed house, which was trapping the child’s mother, when a small aftershock hit, and the rest of the house collapsed without warning. It crushed my parents, killing them immediately. I was sixteen.

In a strange twist of fate, the falling rubble that had killed my parents hadn’t struck the woman they were trying to save. Other helpers had been able to rescue her, and Diana had helped me heal her leg, despite the fact that I’d been bawling my eyes out at the time. The poor lady they'd died trying to save had been horrified, apologetic, and grateful all at once.

I shook my head, thinking of how awful she must have felt. What a complicated mass of emotions to feel, though it hadn’t been her fault.

I’d been heartbroken at the time, of course, but knew that I couldn't stop healing the other victims from the earthquake, since I was literally the only person around anymore that could. I knew that if I stopped to grieve, people would die. People I could save.

So I’d continued on. Only when I’d managed to get healing magic into every single person who’d been injured, did I stop and finally break down completely. I’d stayed with a close friend’s family for a while after that, just so I didn’t have to be alone.

It was at that time that Jedda had come and asked if I’d needed help with anything. I’d been having to go back to the cottage every morning and every evening to take care of the animals. It was a burden, going back and forth like that, but I’d also not wanted to live alone, given my grief, so I’d asked if he could maybe help me by taking the milk cows off my hands. He refused to simply take them, but had bought them from me instead, and then had helped me plan the funerals, which I used the money from the cows to pay for. He’d offered to pay for the funerals himself, as he and my parents had always been close friends. But in the same way Jedda had refused to take the cows as a gift, I’d refused to let him pay for the funerals, so we were kind of even.

Normally my brothers would have come immediately, but given the destruction they were facing from the earthquake, and the appalling state that the roads were in at the time because of the earthquake, they hadn’t been able to make it there until just before the funerals took place.

Once the funerals had happened, both brothers had insisted I move in with either of their families, but I didn’t have the heart to leave the family home. So they’d checked in on me frequently to make sure I had everything I needed. Although once I’d turned eighteen, they came less often, and now I only saw them once or twice a year. It was alright, though, they were both busy with their own families and careers.