I will admit that a part of me, the part that couldn’t forget my upbringing in the Autumn Court, felt more than just a twinge of annoyance as I waited for the duo to respond. The twinge intensified while the elf and the dwarf exchanged a series of glances, apparently having an entire silent conversation right in front of me.

  Naturally, I squashed that annoyance, or at least kept it under careful lock and key. It would help no one if I played the part of yet another huffy Noble Fae. But it was a near thing as the silence dragged on.

  At long last, the dwarf spoke. “You can do healing stuff, right?”

  My lips twitched. Reminding myself that I hoped to secure a steady supply of meats and other farm animal products for Alys and myself from these two, I kept my voice calm.

  “Yes. I ‘can do healing stuff.’ As I believe I’ve proven with all the ‘healing stuff’ I’ve made, including potions.”

  The elf sighed. “Oh, let’s just be out with it, Hagmar,” she grumbled, then looked me in the eye. “I am pregnant.”

  My frustration evaporated instantly. To my knowledge, Swiftband had no children yet.

  As if reading that thought on my face, she continued, “First in town, as far as we can tell. The little one will be here in about six months. And I am terrified.”

  Were I to be honest, she had good reason to be. I could only hope the settlement drive had included a midwife. Failing that, Nelaeryn would have to rely on our town doctor. Vance possessed a surprisingly deep well of knowledge for someone who hadn’t received his schooling from one of the major medical institutions, but I doubted he had any specialized knowledge of childbirth.

  From what I knew on the subject, which was admittedly not a lot, even healers weren’t trained for such things. Healers could utilize magic to restore a body to full health, but for childbirth, even they preferred to have a midwife at hand.

  “I… see,” I finally replied, realizing they were watching me rather intently. “Congratulations! I can see why you would be a bit stressed, as well as thrilled.”

  “That is about the sum of it, aye.” The dwarf reached across the small gap they’d left between each other and grasped the elf’s hand. “We don’t know how well Vance and Fiona will handle things.”

  “Fiona?”

  “You haven’t met her yet, I betcha. She isn’t one for company. Stays inside most of the time. She’s the midwife who joined us at the very start of the drive.”

  I nodded, glad that we did in fact have an expert on the subject. This still left me with a question, though.

  “How would you like me to help you, exactly? I’ll warn you now: I know nothing about childbirth. I could help boost the health of the mother and the child, and perhaps brew something to ease the birth process for both, but not much else.”

  “That would be more than enough.” Nelaeryn gave me a relieved smile. “My family doesn’t have the best luck with health or childbirth. I still wanted, and want, children of our own, but I am… worried.”

  “Can you expand on that a little?” I asked with a frown, quickly running my eyes over her.

  She didn’t look sickly. Tired, perhaps, and even a little drawn, but that could simply be the result of frontier life and the expectations placed on everyone’s shoulders. Taking care of one’s own animal farm, even when it was relatively small like Nelaeryn’s, was no simple task.

  “The women of my family tend to get sick easily during pregnancy,” she replied. “We feel weaker and get tired far more easily than other expecting mothers. Birth is also unusually hard on our bodies. There have been some… deaths during childbirth in our line.”

  That didn’t sound entirely normal. Though inferior to fae in this and every regard, elves as a species were highly in tune with nature. They tended to be much tougher and more vital than humans or similar species. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that elves were supposed to glide through pregnancy with ease, but they certainly weren’t supposed to suffer so much from it, either.

  I held out my hand. “May I examine you briefly? I am not a healer, truly, but I do have some training in matters concerning health and the body.”

  Mostly on how to ruin both, but they didn’t need to know that.

  Nelaeryn hesitated. “What will this examination entail?”

  “I just need to hold your hand for a moment. You will sense my mana interacting with yours, but that’s it.”

  The elf nodded, beckoned me to approach, and placed her hand in mine under the wary gaze of her… husband? Titles didn’t matter much, I supposed. I myself had already crossed the line of what would be considered acceptable for a courting couple with Alys.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Setting all such thoughts aside, I focused on casting a diagnostic spell, trying to catch any issues with Nelaeryn’s health.

  To my shock, I felt something resonate with me from deep within her bones.

  It was some sort of lingering mana, heavy, dark, clingy, and old. It had already started to stir before I took a peek at it, and I felt a much more violent reaction rising due to my presence.

  I pulled away as quickly as I could. I didn’t think I had done any damage, but I couldn’t conceal my worry as my gaze swept over the elf one more time.

  “What is it?” Hagmar demanded roughly, squeezing his wife’s other hand tighter.

  “I…” I shook my head, dispelling the odd feeling of animosity towards the elf that attempted to surge up within me. “I am guessing the answer is ‘no’, but… did you know you are cursed?”

  “Cursed?” Nelaeryn’s eyes widened as she held onto Hagmar’s hand with all the strength she could muster, making the poor dwarf grit his teeth in pain. “Are you certain?”

  “Quite. The curse is old, I think. Very old. If I had to venture a guess, all the symptoms you described in women of your family were once far more dire.” I paused briefly, then surrendered the other piece of information I had discovered. “The curse is also fae in origin.”

  What I didn’t say was that only a handful of fae could possibly cast a curse that powerful and that long-lasting. In other words, one of the four Seasons themselves had chosen to make the life of Nelaeryn’s family miserable.

  As for why…

  I tried not to grimace as stories from ancient history unfurled in my mind.

  When that arrogant ‘World Tree’ had created the elves so long ago, modeling the species after fae, the fae Courts had felt personally offended. Seeing the tree’s attempt as unpardonably arrogant and the elves’ existence as an insult, the fae armies had marched on the elven capital city, killed most of the high-ranking elves, and burned down the tree.

  By now, of course, this was truly ancient history. Elves and fae had coexisted peacefully for generations.

  But fae curses, especially curses cast by one of the four Seasons, would not simply disappear.

  I was willing to bet that Nelaeryn’s family had once been rather important. Perhaps they had even been part of the original elven kingdom when the fae Courts tore it apart. In the aftermath of that conflict, one of the four Seasons had probably decided that mere death was not enough for this particular line of ‘upstart’ elves.

  ‘One of the four Seasons.’ I kept saying that, but in truth, the curse would only resonate so strongly with me if it came from either Autumn or Summer. And since Summer much preferred burning people from the inside out when they displeased her…

  I was likely looking at Autumn’s own handiwork.

  “Fae? But we never…” Nelaeryn trailed off, looking pale and shaky. Hagmar, on the other hand, was now glaring at me with a grim expression.

  Noting the suspicion in his gaze, I sighed. “Please don’t look at me like that. Common fae have nothing to do with curses. Besides, I am telling you about it, am I not? If I wanted to hurt your wife, I would simply keep quiet.”

  “You will still help, then?” Hagmar asked sharply, his eyes still narrowed.

  I couldn’t blame him for doubting. It was a well-known rule that fae avoided involvement with the grudges of other fae.

  “Yes, I will help,” I assured them both. “From what I can tell, the curse has weakened considerably. I don’t know if this happened naturally, or if one of your ancestors managed to undo the curse partially, but it is now fading. It shouldn’t threaten your health so long as you are careful.”

  “I still don’t understand. How could I not know I am cursed?” Nelaeryn protested. “No one ever said anything about this. My grandmother would have warned me, at least!”

  “Remember I said that the curse used to be more potent,” I explained patiently. “It is very likely that the members of your family who knew the truth died off, either in childbirth or due to accidents. Powerful curses tend to infect their victims with bad luck of all sorts, after all. I imagine the warnings about your ‘weak physique’ and the acknowledged struggles with pregnancy only started spreading once the curse weakened enough for your ancestors to survive it.”

  She looked vaguely ill at that point. Hoping to lift her spirits by pairing some good news with all this bad news, I went on, “I know this is alarming, but you shouldn’t worry too much. By now, the curse is not deadly unless it’s mishandled. I can help strengthen you ahead of time. I promise to monitor your health and work on improving it. I’ll also brew a few potions that should get you through childbirth much more easily.”

  I meant every word. I didn’t have any recipes for such concoctions, but I was willing to put in the work to develop them. It would be useful to prepare for the future, just in case…

  Besides, I had recently resolved to try and enjoy alchemy. And wasn’t experimentation the part of alchemy that appealed to me the most?

  My eyes brightened at the sudden realization that I already had something that would help.

  “Here, you should have some of these. Take at least two every day, preferably at breakfast and at dinner.” I extracted a jar of the honey ginger candies from my storage bag and handed it over. My mischief flared briefly, but I ignored it and decided to offer a warning. “Mind the taste. It is pretty potent.”

  “Oh, these!” Nelaeryn exclaimed happily at the sight of the candies, her mood instantly improving. “I heard about them, but you can only get them at the Hall, and I haven’t been by recently. I was thinking about how to break the news to the elders, and worrying about…”

  I nodded my head reassuringly, not wanting her to revisit the fears from which I had just managed to distract her.

  “The candies will bolster your immune system a little and keep you healthier in general. I’ll also brew some potions that will hopefully keep you from getting sick.”

  I still had materials left over from the kappa. I remembered thinking when I first acquired them that they could be useful for improving a person’s immune system. Then I had been forced to use some of those materials for the antidote to my poison, which had thwarted my plans to prioritize anti-plague preparations.

  Yet protecting the first child to be born in Swiftband, along with their mother, was a nice alternative.

  “Thank you,” Nelaeryn whispered, clutching the jar of candies to her stomach like she was terrified it would disappear.

  “You are welcome. Truly. Now… about that feed I made?”

  My forceful change of subject caught the pair visibly off-guard. A moment later, though, small smiles emerged on their faces.

  “Aye.” Hagmar’s tone was laced with amusement. “I figure we can help you out.”

  I just grinned back at him, not even trying to conceal my own amusement. In the course of a single conversation, I’d moved from trying to raise livestock numbers to taking care of pregnant elves.

  At least with the latter, I wouldn’t have to worry about the taste of offspring while assisting their mother.