"I know what I saw Sol!" Gwen stamped her foot against the shop floor. Her little fists were balled up at her sides. She was glaring at the apothecary with a fierceness unbecoming of a child.

  Solenne put a hand on her hip. She knew Gwen wasn't a liar but surely she had just been imagining a [creature] in the city walls. Monsters had never gotten in before. Why would they start attacking now? Did it have to do with Lustration? Or was it because Bloom was spreading faster than it had since it first came to Caelora?

  "Okay. I believe you. I'm sorry Gwen. Forgive me?" She didn't want the girl angry with her. Gwen had a bad habit of disappearing for days on end when they argued. Solenne never knew where the girl went during those times. With everything going on, that was the last thing she wanted to happen.

  Gwen stuck her nose up and narrowed her eyes more. "Fine but you owe me a sweet treat. From that one shop in Central. You can make Emrys go get it."

  Solenne felt relief flood through her chest. Good. That was something she could agree to. "Very well. I will send him once he comes in today." He was due to arrive at any point in time.

  Bloom had been spreading amongst the Veil almost like wildfire. Ever since her episode, Emrys had been looking at her differently. She tried not to think about how his eyes lingered on her fingertips when she wrote or put together bundles. More than once she had caught him staring at the door to the cellar. There was this knot in her chest telling her that if she didn't live in the shop, he would have broken in to find out what was in the cellar.

  She grabbed the kettle and went to refill it upstairs. Each step caused her legs to ache. With more Bloom patients coming in, she was healing more people than she ever had before. The ash on her fingertips was almost to the second knuckle now. She was going to need gloves by the end of the week if she continued on. If she could continue on. Each healing felt as if it was taking more and more out of her. There was so little time between them since they had to be done at night after Emrys left.

  The bell rang. Solenne quickly filled the kettle and walked back downstairs. Emrys was standing there with his arms crossed as he stared down at Gwen. They were once more in some kind of standoff. She shook her head a bit while placing the kettle onto the coil.

  "You two act as if you're siblings." She teased.

  Emrys snorted at the same time Gwen did. Their shared reactions made Solenne chuckle. "See? You even think the same."

  "We do not." They said in tandem.

  The two of them sneered at one another. Solenne watched them far more carefully now. It was an odd resemblance. Emrys had that rusty red hair and Gwen was blonde but there were some facial features that were similar. They had the same slope to their noses, almost the same cheekbones too. The main differences were ages and gender. How odd. She wondered if maybe they were cousins? Solenne had known Gwen's parents and they'd never mentioned having another child before their tragic ends. Maybe she could do some digging to try and see if maybe they were related. If they were, Emrys could ask the Ecclesium to bring Gwen into their fold. She could be a scholar too, cared for in a way she wasn't now just being a street kid of the Veil.A snap brought her back to the world. She blinked a few times as Gwen's fingers came into focus. Solenne felt her face get hot. "My apologies."

  "No need to apologize, Solenne." Emrys smiled at her warmly which only added more heat to her burning cheeks. "Do we have any plans for the day?"

  The way he asked made her slightly uncomfortable. As did how he peered down at her hands. She had been sending him away earlier on the days she had hushed conversations with others. There was an obvious suspicion that she couldn't fault him for having. If she was in his position, she would have been suspicious as well.

  "I was thinking of handing out the Lustration bundles to the people of the Veil."

  Emrys looked a bit confused. "Wouldn't they just come get them?" There had been plenty of people coming in and out of the shop lately.

  Solenne shook her head. "Not always. I don't keep the shop open late so those that also work miss the chance to come by. I usually make deliveries for those who need them. We just haven't had many since you started your apprenticeship." Could she still call it that? He was learning and taking notes but she had yet to really let him put what he'd learned into practice. Then again, this was all just supposed to be so he could archive it once he went back to the Ecclesium.

  "Oh I understand. That sounds good then. I'll get those together." Emrys smiled at Solenne before he went to gather them from where she had them placed on the shelves in the shop.

  Maybe once they were done with their deliveries, she would have him make a few things. They were running low on breathing salves anyway. She looked surprised for a second as she realized she had thought of the shops as theirs. But why? He had only been in her life for a few weeks and they'd been nothing more than cordial and respectful to one another. Besides, Ecclesium scholars are usually celibate and don't usually take wives. So why?

  "Well while you two are off doing that, I'm going to go and cause some chaos." Gwen stated matter of factly, reminding Solenne that she was still standing there.

  "Please stay out of trouble Gwen and stay away from anyone who seems sick." She really didn't want to have to heal Gwen. Children should have been easier to heal given their bodies were still growing yet Solenne had a theory that was why it took so much more out of her to heal them. Gwen just grinned and waved as she left out of the shop.

  Turning her attention back to Emrys, she watched him as he gathered things up. He no longer wore the flowing scholar robes when he came to work. Now he was just in a quarter sleeved tunic that was cinched at his waist with a leather belt. A small journal hung from it, resting against his left hip. His trousers were dark in color and they melted into the boots he wore. His red hair had gotten longer too. He turned with his arms full and walked over to her.

  "I think I got them all." He said with a soft smile. His glasses had slid nearly all the way down his nose.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Solenne walked around the counter and right up to him. Reaching up, she gently pressed his glasses back up his nose. She smiled. "There we go. You'd almost lost those."

  His eyes were wider than usual, pupils large, and he kept looking between her eyes and her mouth. What was he thinking? She matched the look he was giving her wondering why... Emrys suddenly leaned in close to her, taking a step forward which made her step backwards. Another one and she felt the counter against her lower back. Her heart began to race as she tried to figure out exactly what was going on.

  Emrys was almost pressed against her. He still had the pouches in his arms as he leaned down so their faces were closer. Again his eyes flickered from her eyes to her mouth. He was close enough now that she could feel the heat of his skin. She watched his eyes start to close as his mouth got closer to hers.

  Ring!

  He nearly leapt back and turned quickly. Whoever was there spoke to Emrys who informed them they were about to leave the shop for a bit but if they came back in a few hours, she would gladly prepare something for them. Solenne didn't actually process any of that conversation. She was seemingly frozen in place replaying how close his lips had been to hers. There was no longer any doubt that he may like her. Choir be damned? Was that a phrase she could even use anymore if she no longer believed in the choir and what they stood for?

  "Solenne? Are you okay?" Emrys asked, looking concerned.

  "Uhm... Yes. I'm fine." She swallowed hard and smiled nervously.

  He smiled in return. "Good. Do you have a satchel you want these in? Or should I carry them like this?" How could he act like he hadn't just almost kissed her.

  "The satchel on the wall behind the counter." She replied.

  He walked by her and to where the satchel hung. Solenne watched him as she tried to calm her racing heart. It was only as he laid the pouches on the counter that she realized he was trembling. His whole hand was shaking hard as he grabbed the satchel. Emrys met her gaze and quickly looked away as if he was ashamed of what had almost happened. That stung her somewhere deep in her chest. She knew he was devout to the Aureate but that didn't make it hurt any less.

  Once Emrys had the pouches in the satchel, he put it over his shoulder and joined her on the shop floor. She didn't say anything as she walked out of the shop with him behind her. The cool air of the day hit her still pink, warmed cheeks causing her to sigh with a bit of relief. Emrys seemed to do the same. At least this would calm both of them down. Maybe then things wouldn't be too awkward. She wasn't a fan of that feeling.

  They started by heading across the street to the perfumer. As the pair crossed the street, Solenne caught a flash of movement in the corner of her eye. She turned looking for where the white streak had gone but she couldn't find anyone. Her brow knitted together. Solenne stopped walking as she looked around. Emrys came to a stop a few steps ahead when he realized she wasn't at his side anymore.

  "Are we going the wrong way?" He asked looking just as confused as she felt.

  "No. We are going the right way. I just thought I saw something is all. Must have been a trick of the light." She said as she returned to his side. They continued on but she looked back one more time wondering exactly what it was she saw and why it seemed like an oddly familiar color.

  ???????????????

  They visited the perfumer, the butcher, and they were on their way to the blacksmith. His shop was on the other side of the Veil from where Solenne's shop was. As they'd made their visits, that awkwardness left from their almost kiss had faded entirely. They were back to chatting about simpler things. She didn't think either of them had truly moved on but more it was put on a shelf to bring back up later if they were so inclined to do so.

  "What all do you know of Gwen?" Emrys asked as they walked by a row of empty shops. They were getting into a not so pleasant part of the Veil. This had been one of the first places quarantined when Bloom first showed up in Caelora. She had been a child then, living in the Mid, between the Veil and the Central. Her parents had been some of the first to contract Bloom. She watched as the struggled to breathe, begged them to stay with her even as they choked on whatever was growing in their lungs. Solenne closed her eyes for a second as she brought herself back to the present to answer his question.

  "She is an orphan along with a handful of children. Her parents contracted Bloom and went to the Basilica for healing." Solenne informed him. She left it there hoping he would take the context and not ask for her to elaborate. Sometimes people went to the Basilica to be cured and never came back. Especially in the earlier days of the infection. The ones she healed now were either those turned away by the Ecclesium healers like Roxa and Diedre had been or they were people who never went to the Basilica in fear they'd never return.

  "And?"

  Solenne should have known she wouldn't be that lucky. "And they never came back Emrys." Her words were not meant to cut, her tone had been soft even, yet he still flinched. She knew why he did. This was a harsh truth he did not want to accept. Who would? The Aureate was all he had known. The Ecclesium raised him, trained him, made him into a perfect scholar. Why would he ever think they were capable of such cruelties?

  "Oh. I'm sorry." He looked so small. Sounded smaller. As if it was personally his fault that the Ecclesium let them die.

  She reached over, taking his hand in hers, squeezing it gently, reassuringly. "You did nothing to them Emrys. They've been gone for a few years now and you are no healer so none would blame you." Seraph forbid he was a healer. There was a chance someone would have truly harmed him by this point. Funny how that worked.

  Emrys squeezed her hand back. Neither of them let go as they continued on along the cobblestone sidewalk. "Still. I don't pretend to understand why they do what they do. If it were up to me, the healers would heal everyone. Its not as if healing people has any drawbacks."

  As much as it should have been her turn to flinch, she couldn't. There were drawbacks to healing. As least when she did it there was. Did they know something she didn't and so their hands didn't turn black and their bodies burn when they healed someone? OF course not. Solenne was marked, dirty, unclean, given a curse whereas they were chosen to be healers.

  "I am sure they try their best. Bloom is a nasty sickness." Solenne knew that all too well.

  Emrys hummed in agreement. "I heard that there was a root out in the Wilds that had been used when the Bloom first showed up. Now what was it called?" He looked rather cute with how his face scrunched up while he thought. Solenne had been admiring it secretly since he started working with her. It was probably one of her favorite things about them.

  They turned a corner as he was still thinking. Just as he was about to say something, a scream pierced the air. He dropped her hand. In a heartbeat, Emrys was in front of her and she heard something solid slam into him. He went stumbling backwards into Solenne. All three bodies went crashing to the ground. She got lucky in catching herself as much as she could so her head wasn't injured. Looking over, she was shocked to see a woman screaming at Emrys. Then she began to cough in his face, a thick yet raspy sound that made Solenne's blood run cold.

  "Get off of him!" She screamed as she scrambled to her feet. All the commotion had drawn a few out of their houses. Two more men ran over, grabbing the woman off while spouting apologies. They didn't know how she got out. Someone was supposed to be watching her. They were so sorry. So sorry. Sorry. Didn't mean it. The words faded into the background as they dragged the woman away. All she could do was stare at Emrys who was looking up at her with wide eyes.