Eirik quietly sat down beside her, but she noticed that he left a little more space between them than usual.
"I'm not from here," she said. "I don't know if I'm from an alternate universe or if I've just traveled through time and I'm from the future. I don't know. All I know is I went to bed in my apartment one night and I woke up in the middle of nowhere, here. The family I was staying with when you and your brother took me, had found me and let me live with them because I had nowhere else to go. That blue haze you just saw, I saw it after I woke up here. I didn't create it. I don't know what it is for sure, but it could have been my only way back home."
He was quiet.
"I know you probably don't believe me. And it's fine if you want to think I'm crazy, but I swear, I'm not a witch. The reason I know things is because they've discovered what caused the plague in the future. And we can save a lot of people if you just believe me. If you don't, a lot of people are going to die."
"You think everyone should get a cat?" he asked.
"If it's possible." she said. "The plague is something caused by a tiny biting bug that lives on rats. If we can eliminate the rats as much as possible, we could probably avoid the plague altogether. If not, I do have one other thing I can try, but you have to trust me."
"Ulriech and my father will be harder to convince," he said.
"I understand." she nodded. "I need to gather berries."
"You're hungry?"
"No!" she said. "It's for medicine!"
He sighed and got to his feet, following her to a nearby berry patch where she pulled up her skirt and began filling it with berries.
"I need more," she said, even though her skirt was full of them.
"More?"
"We need to have the women gather as much as we can! It's important!" she said, carrying what she had back to her house.
"I'll spread the word," he said.
Within two days, Sophie had enough berries. She had several men hew thin slabs of wood that she could lay the berries on and stack up out of the reach of any rats that might come looking for them. Her entire house seemed to be full of berries.
"Are you going to dry them?" Eirik asked.
"I'm going to let them mold," she said.
"We can't eat them if they mold!" he exclaimed.
"It's not the berries I need!" she snapped. Why couldn't he just trust her? "It's the mold itself!"
She had always loved chemistry and had spent a lot of extra time in the lab when she'd been going to school to become a pharmacist. But having a state of the art lab to grow penicillium bacteria and trying to grow it on berries were two completely different things. She knew the concept, but had no idea if it would work in real life. She checked the berries every single day, making sure they stayed moist. If they dried out, her plan would fail.
When Eirik showed up to her house with two more kittens, she squealed with delight and took them both. They were from the same litter as her own kitten and were a bit more wild, but they were more than happy to finish off a dish of milk between them.
"I told Sabine I'd bring her one if we found any more," she said.
He watched her on the floor, petting them while they lapped at the milk. "Should we bring both and let her choose?" he asked.
"Yes!" she said. Then she turned to look at him. "Unless you have a preference,"
"Me?"
"Yes. The other one is going to your house." she said.
"No." he said firmly.
"Do you want the orange one, or the tabby?" she asked.
"Neither."
"You're taking one."
"No. I'm not."
"You think rats are cuter than these little guys?"
"They're cats. They're not cute."
"Oh yes they are," she smiled, picking one up and squishing it against her cheek as she walked over to him. "See, so adorable!"
He was shaking his head. "I'm not having a cat running loose in my house. They belong outside."
"Inside, where they can hunt rats." she said. "Rats are disgusting, and we've already discussed why. So you're taking a cat."
He sighed.
"Please," she said softly.
"Fine." he conceded. "But I'm not letting it sleep on my bed like you do,"
"How do you know I let mine sleep on my bed?" she asked. He nodded towards the open door of her bedroom and when she glanced over, her kitten stood up on the bed, stretched and curled back up in a different spot. "Okay, fine. He sleeps on my bed," she laughed.
They each carried one kitten and walked over to Sabine's house and Sophie knocked on the door. The woman opened it and a great big smile spread across her face. "You brought me Eirik! I can die a happy woman!"
Eirik's face turned red and he nearly dropped the kitten and ran, but Sophie grabbed him by the arm and pulled him inside. "We brought kittens!"
"Oh. Well I suppose if I can't keep Eirik locked in my house, a kitten will have to do." Sabine said, taking the orange kitten Sophie was holding. "This one's awfully cute."
"I've heard orange cats are usually really good mousers."
"Mousers?" Eirik asked.
"They're good at hunting, okay?"
Sabine held the other cat for a bit too, but finally decided on the orange one. "I think I'll name him Eirik," she winked at Sophie. "So, do I just let him wander around loose?"
"Yes," Sophie laughed.
Eirik handed the other kitten to Sophie but led her to his house where he opened the door for her. Once she'd set the cat inside, he closed the door. "Well, now I have a cat." he grumbled.
"I'll bet you never thought those words would ever leave your mouth," she smiled.
"Never."
"It's for a good cause," she said.
"I certainly hope so."
They were walking back towards the center of town when a woman came running out of one of the nearby houses. "Cedrin's sick!" she exclaimed. "He has a fever that just came on out of nowhere!"
Sophie glanced at Eirik. "It's starting already!" she gasped.
"We don't know that." he said. "Elgin, try to keep the fever down."
"Give him lots of water." Sophie said. "As much as he'll drink. I might have something for him, but I don't know if it's ready yet."
Elgin nodded and hurried back to her house.
Sophie took off running towards her own house, slamming the door open and hurrying over to the berries she had stacked in all corners of the house. She searched tray after tray, but she was worried there simply hadn't been enough time.
"Here's one." Eirik said. "If you're looking for mold."
"Yes!" she gasped, hurrying over to where he was crouched near one of the lower trays. There wasn't much, but it might be enough to start and she carefully took the tray over to the table where she used a grinding stone to smash the berries and the mold together. "Get me a pitcher," she said.
He brought her the nearest clay pitcher he could find and she scraped every bit of the mashed, moldy berries into the pitcher. She poured as much water as the pitcher would hold on top of the mixture before carrying it out the door and down the steps.
"Where are you going?" he asked, following after her.
She was careful not to spill a single drop as she went up the steps to the door of Elgin's house. When the woman opened the door, she stepped inside and explained what was in the water and what it would do. Not knowing how strong the mold molecules were, she instructed her to give him at least a cup a day.
"Are you sure this will help?" Elgin asked, looking down at the water.
"In theory, yes." she said. "Watch for lumps around his neck and throat. Or under his arms." She took a deep breath. "We're treating it early, so hopefully you won't see any of those symptoms. And it probably wouldn't hurt for you to drink some too."
Elgin wrinkled her nose, but nodded. If this sickness was as bad as she'd heard, drinking a little bit of chunky water was the least of her worries.
Sophie turned to Eirik as he finally appeared in the doorway. "We need more!" she said. She slipped past him and ran back to her house, knowing that the longer the mold was able to sit in the water, the stronger it would be.
With a groan, Eirik turned and wearily walked down the steps before jogging after her. "That was all there was!"