The ship has sailed

"Was he angry?" Athos questioned Mircea. Athos knew Carsten well, he had worked under Carsten for long enough to understand him as a chief of the front army. What he didn't know was how much Carsten cared for Mircea. 

"No, not much. He is sending six of his best soldiers with us, they will be my guards. Permanent ones." She added at the end.

Athos nodded at her, understanding. After a minute or two he told her, "You know he would have made such a brilliant father."

"I know." Carsten vowed to be alone for life. He never had been loved or was loved, he preferred it that day. Everyone knew that about the chief commanding officer of the front army. 

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Mircea glanced up at him, somewhere she knew she was asking it to herself. Athos shaked his head nodding at her. They both were sitting in the back garden of the palace. The sun was bidding a last goodbye to the ether by spreading a last set of pink rays in the dark blue sky. 

"Hey!" Leigh waved his hand from where he was standing at the other end of the garden. There was a glee on his face as he strolled toward Mircea and Athos. Mircea had told Athos to call Leigh here. She wanted to ask him about the poison. However, she didn't want to do it infront of Athos. 

She studied Athos' frame-he was sitting straight beside her. By the look on his face he was in a deep thought, Mircea knew he was thinking about tomorrow. She pondered on what excuse would get him to leave the garden without doubting about it. 

"Hi Leigh, I haven't seen you since the duel. How are you?" Mircea queried when he was close to them. Athos was staring at him from next to Mircea. Leigh simpered at her in response, "I'm doing good now that I will be returning back." 

Unknowingly Mircea's heart skipped a beat. Her mouth formed an oh but there was no sound from her throat. 

"When are you sailing back?" Athos asked, pulling Mircea out from her confusing reverie.

"To-morrow." Leigh beamed-Athos only nodded his head again at him. Mircea took a moment to pull herself together. There was one percent chance that Urban would never come back to Slyve. Howbeit, it did not matter. It should not matter, not anymore. Oh who was she kidding, she was afraid of that one percent.

"How did you manage to get the tickets?" Mircea questioned in a hoarse voice. Leigh and Athos both gave her a weird look. "The sailing has just started, the trade is flowing, quite impressively. It is hard to get tickets amidst all this." She explained herself. 

"Oh, Urban got it. I don't know anything about how he managed to get it." He answered. Well, that explained.

"Well it's good that we are meeting today then, I actually want to ask you something." Mircea said, rubbing her hands on her gown. She glanced at Athos who was listening to them dutifully. Sometimes she felt he had taken it upon himself to guard her and assist her on everything. 

She waited for Athos to get up and give them privacy but nothing sort of happened. Athos sat there waiting with Leigh for her to continue. 

"Ah, it is actually about my menstrual cycle. I have a regular cycle but it hurts too much. It's unbearable. Do you guys… do witches have any remedy on how to lessen the pain." Mircea wasn't going to tell Athos she was taking doses of a poison that eventually killed her father not long ago. He would make a scene furthermore he would kill Etna. Mircea didn't want to take the chances.

Athos and Leigh both went silent at her query. However, Athos was awkward while Leigh seemed to be thinking about it. Mircea knew Athos wasn't at all interested in her menstrual cycle. It would take only a minute or two to scare him off.

"We have a few herbs and some techniques. I can write them down for you. But tell me what exactly you feel or experience in the five day cycle. Wait, how long does your regular cycle last?" 

"Five days." Mircea told him, Leigh nodded at her with a calculating look. She gazed at Athos who looked pale. One last strike and he would be out of her sight. Mircea continued smiling viciously, internally, "I feel the pain a day or two before it actually starts bleeding-" Athos got up abruptly, interrupting Mircea and Leigh. He cleared his throat, "I-uh I am very hungry. I will go see if the supper is ready." He strode away before any of them could say anything further.

Mircea barked out a laugh. Leigh seemed lost-she felt like she owed him an explanation. "I want to talk to you about something else. I don't want him to know that." 

"Oh"

"Yes, I actually want to talk about a poison. Witches are familiar with poisons, right?" 

"Yes, we are taught about poison as infants. What poison are we talking about here?" 

"I have it with me." Mircea unsheathed her throwing knife and removed the poison from her leather knife cover. 

"Here" Mircea handed him the poison. He inspected the tiny glass container before he used a spell on it in an unknown language. He then walked to where flowers were planted-he glanced at Mircea for permission. She simply nodded at him. 

Leigh poured the poison on a red dahlia which shrinked away when the poison spread on its petals. "It's a mixture of verbena and cutting silver. This poison is used on witches. Where did you get this? This is forbidden in Gyyza. It is the worst of all poisons. It lessens our powers and without our powers we are nothing."

"And how does it work for mortals?" 

"Well, for mortals I don't know for sure but it must kill your vital organs because it cannot take your power. Which will eventually kill you guys." 

"Is it possible to build a tolerance for other poisons if one takes micro doses of this poison?" Mircea questioned

"It's hard to say. It's not like other poison where you die within a few minutes. This poison attacks your strengths. However, Urban once told me it is possible to build a tolerance for every poison in this world… You can ask Urban about this." 

"No, it's alright. I wanted to ask you one more thing. Do you know how to make an antidote?" Mircea wanted to have the antidote with her incase she started feeling up to the consequences. She trusted Etna at the same time she did not trust her. Mircea couldn't afford to take the chances. 

"I don't but Urban does. You should just ask him. He knows everything about these poisons and their antidotes." Urban had kept what had happened between them a secret. Leigh looked like he didn't have a clue about anything that was going on between them. And Mircea thought she, too, wanted to keep it that way. 

The less people knew about her escapade the less rumours would spread. 

"I guess I have no choice." Mircea tried to laugh it off but she knew she grimaced at her sentence. 

"He is in the library at the moment. Should I go and escort him here?" 

Mircea pondered on the thought-she didn't want to trouble him yet again she didn't want to take efforts to visit the library and see him. Moreover Leigh was not good at taking hints. She didn't want to ask Urban about the poison. Unlike Leigh, he would ask her questions about why she was asking about tolerance and how it works on the mortal body. 

"Yes please, that would be very nice of you." She gave up on her thinking. 

Leigh nodded at her bowing slightly as every other person in the palace did. He was a decent witcher who was not ready for the politics of this palace. He had seen too much to scare him enough. Mircea could understand why he wanted to go back. 

If she got the chance she would herself run from this gray place.