"Just let me get cleaned up and we'll head out. My truck's not that fancy, but it runs."
Ten minutes later, after offering to carry the crate of my goods to it myself, I found myself in the passenger seat of a well-worn pickup. Martha started the vehicle after unplugging the 'refrigeration unit' mounted on the flatbed.
As we left, I caught sight of something I hadn't noticed coming in that made my senses sharpen. Carved and painted into the wooden fence posts around her property were symbols I recognized - not from Helene's memories, but from my own royal education.
Protective marks. Landscape magic. And the configuration of what is hanging from her rear mirror is similar to the warding-talismans used by traveling merchants in my world. Examples of specific dried herbs hung at intervals in tiny glass vials that keep fae entities at bay.
