The old woman sat him down on a stool at a small booth. “I’m mostly a healer,” she said. “The soldiers come to me with broken swords and shields, sometimes wounds.”
    “How much do you charge?” asked Jara.
    “Nothing. The king himself pays me.” Which is why you only have a booth and not a cottage like most of my Japafian aunts, Jara thought.
    The woman reached under the booth and retrieved two towels. “I assume you know how to use a towel, right?”
    “Yes.” Immediately Jara regretted his words. Was she going to ask him to-
    “You know the coordinates of the Japafian army headquarters?” she asked.
    “No. I haven’t been to Japafia since I was a baby.” Not true, but whatever.
    “Well then, we’ll have to do something about that.”
While the lady rummaged through her supplies for spell-casting, Jara caught the edge of the city gate at the corner of his eye. He had almost forgotten why he was here in the first place!
    I’ve got to get away from this crazy woman, thought Jara. He could easily make a break for it. But the lady would call the guards and that would not do.
He groaned. What a great situation to be in. And Kayla needed him at the gate now!
    Then it clicked. Spell-casting! And supplies were right here! “Actually,” he started, “I think I do remember some of the coordinates. I was shown a map of it a while ago…”
    “A map!” cried the woman. “Where? Where?”
    “Uh, it got destroyed in a fire.” Wow Jara, you are a master liar. “But I remember some of it. I need some arieda herbs and a bowl of water.”
    “What for?”
    “To conjure my memory.” Jara prayed this would work. Hopefully the lady wouldn’t remember what arieda herbs also did…
    The old woman promptly retrieved them from her bag and handed them to Jara. Jara dropped the herbs in the bowl and poured water in. Then he placed his hand over the surface of the water and closed his eyes.
    He muttered a quick spell, then took his hand out. The lady stared intently at the bowl.
    “What do you see?” asked Jara.
    “I see…I see…”
    “A map should appear in a few seconds if you stare closely enough.” The lady stared even more intently.
    Her eyes began to droop. Her breathing began to slow. The water was now sparkling ruby red.
    The lady fell face first into the water, sound asleep. Jara pushed her back behind her booth so no one would see her, then placed a “Closed” sign over the stand. Then he ran to the gates, hoping he wouldn’t be too late.
 

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