Once upon a time, there was an ordinary girl named Felicia Myne.

She was the eldest among her siblings, which numbered five in total. Aaron, Pip, Bryn, and Elt—those were their names. Each was separated by just a few years in age. They were a family of farmers, so having that many male children was a welcome surprise. Not that her parents specifically planned for it. They simply were too much of a harmonious couple that they couldn’t help having more kids every few years. Contraceptive potions were too expensive for them to buy after all.

They lived in a village so small and insignificant it didn’t even have its own name. They knew however that they lived inside the Vehta territory, under the rule of Monas Vehta, one of the members of the ruling council of the Magocracy. All they knew about him was that he was this great Earth mage, and that they should all be thankful of his benevolent rule, though the insignificancy of their village meant other than the usual yearly tax, said rule didn’t really reach them. They didn’t have any provincial guards walking around. Any crime that happened would be dealt by the village elder instead.

Felicia Myne was a pretty little girl, with striking red curls on her short shoulder-length hair that only enhanced the innocent look she had. She wore a dull and discolored grey knee-length dress with miscolored patches sewn all over it, a common choice for clothing for girls in her village. It was already too small for her, showing an uncommonly high amount of ankles. Her mother had promised to sew in more fabric at the hem, as well as enlarging the already somewhat tight waist and shoulders, but alas, she hadn’t been able to procure the necessary scrap fabrics to do so. With the last harvest being so terrible, it only made it more important for her to cut any unnecessary expenses.

There was one thing that wasn’t dull and terrible on her, however. It was the hair accessories she often wore on her head. They were made out of the wild flowers that grew on the base of the nearby mountains and she would often make it herself whenever she had to go out there to gather some medicinal plants for her alchemy.

Oh yes, she was already a budding little alchemist, even as her tender nine-year old self Instead of following the path of her father and mother in becoming a simple farmer, she instead showed great interest in the art of alchemy, thanks to the village’s doctor. She wanted to help and cure people, just like she did.

She would’ve lived a simple and happy life.

Alas, Fate had other plans for her.

--------

"Aaron, you're burning! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Ehehehe, sorry, Sis," he gave her a bashful smile. "It's just a little cold. I don't want to worry you, so I thought it'd just sleep it off."

It started that fateful night when the family was having their dinner. As usual, they did it in their living room, sitting together on the dirt floor in a circle. Even though there were seven of them in total, they only had two rooms in their tiny, cramped house—the living room and the bedroom.

“Come. I’ll take you to bed. I’ll make you some nirnroot juice as well.”

Nirnroot juice was a simple alchemical concoction even she could make. It’s the common go-to medicine for fevers and colds. She had learned the process to brew it from the village’s healer, who was more than happy to accept her as her apprentice.

She took her brown-haired little brother to the bedroom, laying him down on the straw bed before covering his body with a thin blanket. She then went back to the living room and began cooking the brew using her mother’s cooking pot. Thankfully she still had some nirnroots laying around that she could immediately use.

“Aah, look at her. She’s such a good girl, isn’t she?”

As she worked, the rest of her family watched with an impressed look, especially her mother, who had a dreamy look on her face.

It was clear that the little girl got her cuteness from said mother. Despite the ragged dress she wore, she was still what you would call a breathtaking beauty. Her slim waist, full chest, and striking wavy red hair was something her daughter would inherit in the future. She used to be the village beauty, and her husband was very lucky to have her indeed.

"Felicia! You're done with your dinner?"

"Yes, Mother!"

Their dinner tonight was a bowl of vegetable soup. It wasn't all that nutritious or delicious, but it was the best her mother could afford with the funds their family had. With how high the tax on their produce was, they didn't have much to spend on themselves.

"She's just like you, honey." The father placed his hand on the wife's shoulder with a smile on his face. "Always working so hard for the sake of her family."

"Oh no." She responded by leaning herself towards him. "I'm never that smart. She’s more like you in that department, dearie.” She then landed a short kiss on his cheek.

With loving parents and siblings, Felicia didn’t want for anything else in this world. She was perfectly content in growing up like a normal girl, raising her little brothers and maturing alongside them, and perhaps even becoming the successor to the village’s healer, as the old woman wanted.

If only she knew the storm that was about to come.

----------

“Pip? You’re burning up too?!”

“I-I guess I am, Sis.” He coughed with a weak smile. “Got it from Aaron, I reckon’. I played with him all day yesterday, after all.”

The next morning, Felicia went into panic mode once more.

Pip had fallen ill as well, while Aaron’s fever wasn’t dying down in the slightest, even after she gave him the juice.

“Just you wait, alright? I’m going to Granny Yan right away.”

“W-wait, there’s no need to— Ah, she’s already gone. Aaron, this is all your fault, you know! When you pinned me to the dirt yesterday, you coughed on me and gave me this illness! Now you’re making me make Big Sister worry!”

“Hmph! That's your fault! You stole my flower!"

"Your flower?! That's my flower! I was the one who found it first!"

"No, I did!"

"You didn't!"

"I did!"

"You didn't!"

"Alright, that's enough, you two! Go back to bed at once!"

The mother stopped their argument by gently knocking the top of their heads. Like the good kids they were, they could only obey. Their mother could get really scary when she's mad, after all.

Their fight started by a simple, frivolous matter. They had played at the base of the nearby mountain yesterday and by pure accident, they found a rare flower that normally was only found at the higher reaches on said mountain. Knowing that their sister had a fondness of rare flowers in general, they got into a fight on who should take the credit for finding it.

In fact, both had somewhat of a rivalry on her affections. The two were only a year apart age-wise from each other and it showed in their interactions. In their childish minds, they even wished to marry her once they grew older.

But now, that rivalry had to be put on hold, as none of them dared to incite more of their mother’s wrath. That, and they wanted to rest as much as they could so they would be the first to get better. All for the sake of their big sister, of course.

--------

Felicia made her way to the small hut at the edge of the village, going as fast as her small legs could take her. It was where the healer of the village lived. Known only as Granny Yan, she had lived there pretty much forever. She apparently used to live in the nearby town when she was younger, but no one knew, nor cared, about the details. To the rest of the village, she was like their own grandmother, albeit a grumpy and slightly odd one.

Once she arrived, Felicia opened her front door at once, not even bothering to knock beforehand.

"Oh, Granny Yan! Thank the Founder you're here!"

She found the old woman hunched over in the front of her cauldron, performing the oft-forgotten branch of alchemy called cooking.

At her words, the old woman turned to face her visitor.

The first impression one would get from her was that she's some sort of a witch, thanks to how wrinkled her face looked and how hooked her nose was. She was a hunchback, thanks to her spine bending as she grew older with age. She wore an all black dress though not with the classical witch hat. Instead, she wore a black bonnet that covered her greying hair.

"Hmph. It's you. Nosy Redhead."

Her voice was raspy and thin, adding ten more years to her appearance.

"Granny Yan! I need your help! Aaron and Pip are sick and my medicine wouldn't work!"

The old woman stared into the young girl's wettening eyes. Sighing, she replied, "Just make them rest. No medicine works right away."

"I already gave the potion to Aaron yesterday night! Usually, that would be enough time for it to kick in!"

“Silly girl! You messed up the brewing again, didn’t you? I told you before! Three times clockwise and then three times counterclockwise once the liquid started to boil! If you performed it backwards and did the counter-clockwise first, that potion would lose its efficacy completely!”

“I didn’t mess it up!” She fired back. “I know what I did! Do you think I wouldn’t be careful when it’s for Aaron?! You said it yourself! Alchemists killed more people by failed potions than mages did by stray spells! You said it so much I can't get it out of my head!"

The old woman rested her gaze at the angry young girl in front of her, before shaking her head.

"Fine. I'll make your potion. But after I finished cooking this blasted soup."

Felicia clasped her hands, a bright smile forming on her little face. "Oh, thank you, Gran! I'll fetch you some fernleaves as payment! You always need them, don't you?"

Before the old woman could say anything, Felicia already ran off from her house, earning yet another sigh from her wrinkled old lips.

"I do need them for my poor old bones…"

---------

When Felicia returned with the leaves at noon, the old woman was already ready with the fever potion. She gave it to her, received the potion in exchange, and made a mad dash back home to where her two sick brothers were.

"Here! Drink this, you two!"

Without stopping to talk or even catch her breath, she administered the medicine to each of them. They would've groaned at how bitter it was, but they kept their tough act, not wanting to cause trouble for their big sister who had done so much for them. Her dress clung to her skin from sweat, and she had skipped her breakfast to fetch their medicine.

Only after she did so that she sat down, smiling with relief. There was no way Granny Yan's potion could fail. She believed it with all her heart.

But of course, it did.

---------

The next day, their fever still continued. And to make matters worse, the other two brothers, Bryn and Elt, showed signs of being feverish as well.

She made her way to the old woman’s dwelling once more. She told her what had transpired.

“...I see.”

A shadow fell on the grump’s face.

“...I shall make a visit to a friend of mine at Karkala. You stay here and help them as best as you could.”

“W-what? What do you mean? You’re just going to leave us here?!”

“Silence, girl! There’s something important I need to check there! You want to be an alchemist, don't you? Then use that pretty little head of yours and make the cure yourself!"

And just like that, the old woman left Felicia on her own, slamming the door behind her as she made her way to the village's carriage driver. 

Felicia knew where Karkala was. It was a small town to the southeast of the village. It wasn't that far so she could only hope the old woman could return soon.

That's right! I shouldn't be so dependent on her! Look at all these books she has! One of them must be the key to curing this strange fever!

With a renewed resolve, she rummaged through her house, reading any alchemy books she could get her hands on. She wanted to know how to make even better fever potions so she could heal her little brothers.

She spent her entire day there before finally finding what she wanted. The only problem was that one of the ingredients she needed was a rare ingredient that she could only find at the peak of the nearby mountain. It was an egg of a bird species that only lived at such a high altitude.

She had no choice. She had to ask the village’s hunter to aid her in her quest. There’s no way she could defend herself against the monsters and the treacherous terrain she had to traverse through to get there on her own.

Unfortunately for her, when she came to his dwelling, his wife came out with the news that he too had fallen sick. And not only that, it was with the very same symptoms that his little brothers suffered.

N-no, this can’t…

A-a plague? Could it be?!

She had heard of what the adults called a “plague” before. It was some kind of a terrifying sickness that could transmit itself from one person to another.

I-it all makes sense! That’s why it… Oh no …

She ran as fast as she could back to her house.

"Mother! Father! We have to—"

"*cough* Where have you been all day? *cough*"

She was greeted by the sight of her mother, coughing as she was cooking dinner. Her face was flushed and she seemed to be shivering in place.

Felicia rested her hand on her arm, and it was immediately obvious that she was burning up.

Her worst fear had just been realized.

"Mother! You're sick! You should be resting!"

"Then who would cook food for your father and brothers? They're all sick as well." She coughed again. "This really is a bad cold, huh? Spreading around like this?" She forced a smile.

"Mother! Let me do it! You just rest with the others, alright?"

"N-no. You should *cough* you should stay at Molly's for a bit, so you won't catch this illness too."

Felicia shook her head. "Don't be silly, Mother! I'm tougher than I look! I won't get sick from a mere cold!"

The redheaded woman sighed. “Alright, if you insist. Don't burn anything now.” She ruffled her daughter’s head with a smile. Nine year old and she was already this responsible. A mother could not ask for a better daughter.

The woman then went to the bedroom before sleeping in the bed with his husband, trusting Felicia to wake her and the others up when dinner was ready.

Felicia was about to tell her to keep her distance from her sick brothers, but clearly it was already too late for that.

As for herself, she didn’t know why she hadn’t caught it as well. Was it really just because she rarely got sick in the first place? Truth be told, the last time she got sick was as a baby. The illness would’ve killed her if not for Granny Yan’s help. Ever since that grave illness, she had never been sick ever again, not even when her sniffling brothers cough in the front of her faces.

It didn’t matter though. She thanked the Founder for not being sick. That meant she could still go up the mountain to take those eggs she needed for her potion.

She had to cure them. Fast. Before the disease spread to the rest of the village. She had heard tales of entire villages or even towns being wiped out from plagues. And as long as she breathed, she would never let that happen!

----------

The next morning, she woke up early.

After cooking her family breakfast, leaving it on the only table they had, she departed.

With the hunter gone, she had to ask for other people’s help. She knew that it would be foolhardy for her to go on her own.

Only to find that none of the adults were willing to help her.

“G-go up the mountain? Are you crazy, young lady? Do you even know what kind of horrible monsters are up there?”

“What? Where’s that Granny of yours? She left? Then just wait. She’ll be back with your cure. Or just sleep it off. That’s what I did when I got a cold last time. Slept for seven nights straight.”

“A plague? Don’t be silly! You say they only got fevers and coughs, right? That’s no plague! That’s just cold! Come back when you see boils on their skins!”

No use. Not a single one would come with her to the mountain.

They got a point. It still could just be cold. Every story she had heard of plagues always had its sufferers experience itching all over their body. Strange bumps and sores would pop up everywhere and they would start puking and coughing blood. Compared to that, what her family was experiencing couldn’t really be called a plague.

And so, she had no choice.

She had to go up there on her own.

----------

“Grrrrrrgrrrrr…”

Wolves!

Halfway up the mountain, she encountered her first great problem.

Mountain Wolves. She had alerted one of them of her presence and now she had to climb up a tree to keep herself safe.

She hugged the large tree branch she was on, staying as still as she could as the wolf tried to sniff the scent she left behind.

Soon, however, the monster gave up, making her take a huge sigh of relief before thanking the Founder for her luck. She was lucky she was clever enough to think up the plan of rubbing herself all over with the leaves of the Forsen tree she had met on the way. It was a tree with leaves that had a strong leaf-like smell to them, to the point that if you would rub your hands with them, your hands would smell like leaves for a good few hours afterwards. So now, she smelled just like the leaves that surrounded her. It was enough to fool even the sharp nose of a Mountain Wolf.

Once she was sure that the wolf was gone, she climbed down and resumed her journey.

She was not backing down just because of one small danger.

------------

She continued climbing upwards that way, hiding herself from any monsters that might notice her presence. Granny Yan never really taught her this skill. She instead learned it from how her little brothers would conceal themselves in the base of the mountain whenever they played hide-and-seek there. Even though they were the son of a farmer, that didn’t mean they had no interest in hunting as well. They would frequently catch rabbits to be cooked for their family, which was certainly welcome since meat was really expensive to buy after all. The village hunter would rather sell his meat to Karkala where he could get paid for a lot more instead of selling it cheap to the other villagers.

Ignoring the monsters, it still wasn’t an easy climb. Many times she would trip on vines or roots, or the hem of her dress would get caught on some branches or bushes. And with how old and ragged it was, it didn’t take much until her ragged dress grew even more ragged, with tears and holes appearing all over the place.

She didn’t care though. Even if she had to climb this mountain, she will get those eggs and cure her family from their illness!

Eventually, she heard it—the characteristic chirping of the birds whose eggs she was after. The book was kind enough to tell her how it differed from ordinary birds.

She pinpointed which tree the sound came from and, as if she was a boy, she climbed it with no hesitation. It was a large and tall tree, difficult for a small girl like her to climb on her own. She had to be really careful with—

“Aaah!”

She let out a scream as she fell. Her butt hit the ground first.

“Uuu, it hurts…”

She rubbed her aching behind. She was lucky she didn’t fall head first.

That’s it! I can use that!

Using her clever little brain once again, she pillaged all the leaves from the nearby bushes to create a bed of leaves under the tree. That way, if she fell down once more, and from a higher height, she would be hurt less from it.

And so, she climbed.

And fell.

And climbed.

And fell again.

And climbed again.

And fell yet again.

It was now not only her butt that was sore, but her entire legs and arms as well.

She cursed herself. She could’ve learned to be a better tree climber from Aaron. And yet, she thought tree climbing was something a girl shouldn’t be doing (an opinion her mother shared).

She gritted her teeth. No, she’s not going to give up! She was so close! She just had to jump a little bit further so her arms could reach that final branch!

And so, she climbed for the very last time.

And she did it. She managed to get to the branch where the birds had their nest. She hugged it as tightly as she could, thanking the Founder over and over with tears in her eyes.

Once she calmed herself, she looked forward to said nest. It was located right at the edge of the large branch. She merely just needed to slowly crawl there.

Her heart beat like it never before. With a gulp, she did just that, praying that the birds wouldn’t decide to attack her. She had to empty the whole nest too, in case she messed up with her potions.

Once she got there near the edge, she looked above the nest. To her relief, Father and Mother birds weren’t there. They were only the little chicks.

Please… little birdies… forgive me for this… but I really really really need your eggs to save my family…

As gently as she could, she reached her right arm forward. She didn’t want to startle the birds with her movement.

Got it!

She grabbed a whole palmful and then slowly lifted her hand upwards, ignoring the chicks that were there on the nest.

Only to find that they immediately became hostile as they realized their unborn siblings were being stolen by this large hand coming from the outside.

“O-ouch! Ouuuuuuch!”

All of them, about ten or so, began biting on her hand. They might be small but thanks to their beaks having teeth in them, it was really painful for the poor girl.

She promptly sat upwards, shaking her right hand as fast as she could so she could take them off her hand. 

No dice. Their beaks’ grip was far too strong.

Her left hand reacted, trying to peel off the birds one by one. Only to find that they bit so strong she would pretty much have to tear a chunk of her own flesh if she was going to do so.

"Aaahh, get off! Get off!"

She could only endure the pain as she put the eggs inside her satchel. Once she did, she slammed her right hand over and over to the branch she was sitting on. If she couldn't peel them off, then she would crush them and kill them instead. Mercy was far gone in her mind thanks to how painful their teeth were.

*CRACK*

And thanks to that, the branch snapped, sending her flying downwards.

*CRASH*

The last thing she saw was a large branch meeting her face.