Taker wakes up with difficulty on a pile of straw, he is in a kind of barn, a small fire is lit in a fireplace and a cauldron which is above the fire. He realizes that he was undressed to the waist, he gets up to take his shirt which has been placed on a wooden chair before going out.
He notices that the woman is sitting close of the river next to Markus, he could see that she was talking to his creature and laughing with him. He approaches them and the woman looks at Taker who comes towards them, she gets up while Markus turns around. You are finally awake!
"Who are you?" Taker asked ignoring his creature's comment as he stared at the woman standing next to Markus preparing a spell. She won't hurt us.
"I haven't spoken to you!" He shouts at Markus who withdraws into himself hiding behind the woman, she walks slowly towards Taker who looks like he wants to kill her but she decides to stay calm. "I'm Anastasia Fox, I'm an alchemist, I'm not an enemy, Taker." Said she tried to reassure him to let his guard down, Taker gently lowered his hands upon hearing her last name. Fox? thought Taker.
"I know your story and Markus told me what you were looking for and I can help you." She added, she takes Taker's cold hands in her hands, he frowns looking at her, this woman looks like Diana. Is it her mother? thought Taker.
She smiled at him innocently knowing he wasn't going to hurt her, he looked at Markus who walked slowly towards them behind. "We can talk inside if you wish?" Anastasia suggests, taking Taker's arm gently as she heads for the barn, then turns back to Markus who has stopped walking. "Come on Markus, listen at the window." She said smiling at the creature. Thank you Ana.
~!~
At the fortress, everyone tries to live their life trying not to think about the Majesty's absence. Pat leads the soldiers as usual in the snow, he thinks they are ready to fight, they are all putting in an incredible effort. Pat tries not to think about his grandfather's betrayal of the Calaways but it's stronger than him, he's upset. He doesn't understand why his grandfather did this just for a piece of land. He was at the Calaways cemetery and got down on one knee in front of Jeff's grave, paying his respects to his friend's grandfather. "I'm sorry."
~!~
Taker and Anastasia are in the barn, she made a good pumpkin soup to warm up from the cold outside. Taker knew that this woman came from a poor family, she always managed on her own, she became an alchemist in her own way and even kept her potion recipes in a book. In this book there are recipes against all and for all, Taker asked her if she had found a recipe against a curse but unfortunately she did not find one. Taker is annoyed about this, if there is no cure, how will he be able to control or ward it off?
He drinks his bowl of soup thinking about what he could do, then Taker wanted to get to know this strange woman a little. "Do you have a family?" He asked looking at her decomposed by this question, her face became sad, she took a breath of air before looking at Taker in his cold eyes. "I had.." she says harshly, she looks at her bowl of soup which is in her hands. "I had a husband and a little girl but I had to leave without giving them any news." She added, tears running down her cheeks thinking of them, regretting so much that she left them. "Why did you have to leave?" He asked, glancing out the window where Markus was standing then looking at her again.
"I'm not an ordinary woman, I confessed everything to my husband when he caught me talking with creatures..." She says, Taker is surprised what she just said, so this lady is hardly a human? "Be more clear." He said wanting to know more about her. She drinks her bowl of soup before looking him in his eyes. "My father.. was a mage but decided to give up his magic power by drinking a potion for love, he knew he spoke to creatures.." She says then stops talking when Taker gets up slowly with his bowl in hand, walking by the fireplace looking at the flames.
"Your husband's name was Frish, right?" He asked, she's surprised that this man knows Frish, she gets up abruptly. "Do you know him? How is he? How...how is my daughter?" She asked wanting to know if they're fine while Taker still has his back to her, refusing to look at her when he's going to tell her that her husband is dead. "Yes, I know them..I saved Frish and your daughter from Mendal's men who attacked their village..." He says before drinking the rest of his soup and turns to face her.
"Frish..your husband died during a Mendal attack on my fortress. He fought heart and soul to honor his debt to me. The bravest human I have ever seen." He says while Anastasia cries hot tears at the news of her husband's death, she feels hands resting on her shoulders, she looks at Taker who has compassionate eyes. "Your daughter is fine, she lives in my village, if you want, join me and I will accompany you to her." He says, she looks at him smiling delighted that he has offered her help so that she can see her daughter again.