Altheda cures Asha and gives up her chance at the Fountain

Altheda cures Asha during the companions’ final approach to the Fountain of Fair Fortune, and the cure changes what the Fountain means to the group. With Asha restored by an ordinary potion made from gathered herbs, Altheda sees a way to earn gold by treating the disease herself; she gives up her chance to bathe and urges Amata to take the opportunity instead. The moment turns the quest from a contest for a miraculous reward into a chain of voluntary relinquishments, ultimately opening the way for Sir Luckless.

Asha’s Collapse and Altheda’s Response

The group reaches the summit after Amata interprets the inscription on the stream: she draws memories of happy times with her vanished lover from her mind and casts them into the rushing water. The stream carries them away, stepping stones appear, and the three witches and Sir Luckless cross. The Fountain shimmers among unusually beautiful herbs and flowers beneath a ruby-colored sky. Just as the companions must decide who will bathe, Asha collapses. Exhausted by the climb and close to death, she is in mortal agony and begs the others not to touch her.

Altheda responds not by carrying Asha to the Fountain but by searching for a remedy. She picks the herbs she considers most promising, mixes them with water in Sir Luckless’s gourd, and pours the potion into Asha’s mouth. The choice is practical and immediate: with Asha unable to be carried and pleading against being touched, Altheda works with the materials available rather than relying on the Fountain’s still-undecided reward.

The Cure and Its Reversal

The effect is immediate. Asha can stand, and every symptom of her dread malady has vanished. She declares that she is cured and has no need of the Fountain, then offers Altheda the chance to bathe. The reversal is central to the episode: the person whose illness appeared to make the Fountain essential no longer needs it, because Altheda has already achieved a cure through her own knowledge and effort.

Altheda, however, is already gathering more herbs into her apron. Rather than accepting Asha’s offer, she recognizes a possible livelihood in what she has just done. If she can cure the disease, she reasons, she can earn ample gold; she therefore tells Amata to bathe. Her response makes the cure more than a rescue of one companion: it suggests that the remedy can be repeated and that its value may extend beyond the summit.

The Renounced Turns

Altheda’s decision begins a sequence in which each companion gives up the Fountain for a different reason. Asha no longer needs its promised benefit because she is cured. Altheda chooses the possibility of earning money by treating others over bathing herself. Amata, in turn, refuses her offered place: after the stream carries away her regret, she understands that her vanished lover was cruel and faithless and feels happy simply to be free of him.

Amata then gestures the opportunity toward Sir Luckless, telling him that he should bathe as a reward for his chivalry. Altheda’s refusal is therefore one link in a wider movement of generosity and changed priorities. She does not claim the Fountain or insist that the others defer to her; her practical discovery helps make room for the others to decide what they genuinely need.

Meaning in the Quest

The episode contrasts the Fountain’s concentrated, almost miraculous promise with a cure made from herbs, water, and attentive action. Asha reaches the brink of death just as the group arrives at the place for which they have struggled, yet the decisive help comes from Altheda’s gathering and mixing rather than from bathing. The Fountain’s value is not simply denied: the companions’ approach has brought them to a choice, but the encounter reveals that the wish for its reward can give way when circumstances change.

Altheda’s response also turns compassion into an opportunity for future work. She first treats Asha in immediate danger, then sees that the remedy may allow her to earn gold by curing the same disease. The narrative does not describe later treatments or their results; it establishes only her intention and the discovery that prompts it. Within the quest, that intention helps displace private reward with a practical use for what she has learned, while the successive refusals prepare for Amata’s invitation to Sir Luckless.