“I do hope you get it all sorted soon,” Garethe said. “It’s a wonderful concept. The town loves it, from what I’ve seen. I’m tempted to steal the idea for back home, but I’m afraid I’m not at all handy.”
“Are you going back to Rhell for the spring?”
“No, I’m committed here for the full year. Perhaps longer, depending on how things are up there.” Garethe smiled, but there was a weariness about him, the lines on his face no longer full of good humor. Though he had a healthy pallor, Garethe had a gauntness to his frame that spoke of his long illness from Rhell’s poison.
“So, you’re assisting with Saren’s elective. Fancy yourself a grovetender now?”
Eunny made a face. “Hardly.” She hesitated, surreptitiously scanning the room. The Mighty Leaf always did steady business, and today was no different. Fortunately, Garethe’s table was situated such that, between a knee wall directing the pathing through the room and a nearby water feature, they had a decent amount of space between them and the nearest occupied table.
Garethe leaned closer, a roguish gleam putting new vigor in his eye. “I’m already intrigued.”
“It’s sort of a personal question,” Eunny said in apologetic tones.
He tsked at her. “I’m a terrible Rhellian. Corrupted by my time away. Ask.”
Eunny thought back on the snippets of an idea that had been floating through her head. The Healing Hut, and Dae taking a healing draught imbued with her own magic. Zhenya’s comment about the elective’s seedlings being more potent if grown in Rhell’s soil. The secret delegation plants being triggered to bloom after absorbing her magic—healing magic.
“What does the poison feel like?” she asked, voice low. “No, I guess I mean, what does the mending part after feel like?”
Garethe frowned, gaze going distant as he thought. “Exhausting. Maybe all mending feels that way to some extent. But with a wound, you can feel a bit of yourself in the repair. Feel your body holding on to the magic. The poison can’t be held, it only drains. It never feels like it’s fully gone, either.” He gave her a crooked smile. “Even here in the Valley, I can feel its touch. The Valley’s is just… stronger. When I breathe in, it’s like I feel the air here stick to me, but it’s only a coating over the poison, or the illness. A cap, but it can be worn away.”
“Like a dry spot in your throat?”
“If you like.” A laugh sounded through his nose. “Only instead of an itch or the need to cough, it’s like being stabbed. And then you cough, but it’s to bring up blood.”
“Lovely.” Eunny grimaced. She traced a filled-in crack on the tabletop with her finger, her words coming out hesitant. “The treatment Dae got while she was here, the preventative? They can’t make something like that for you?”
“Perhaps if I was magic-born, but I don’t have anything to grant it sticking power.” Garethe sat up, warmth in his manner. “Just means I get to stay down here more. It’s much nicer to be in a classroom than at court, let me tell you.” He stood, stretching out his back. “Speaking of, I should get back to grading, but it was a pleasure, Eunny. If you have any other questions, you’re always welcome to ask.”
“Thanks for indulging me.” Eunny felt her grin widen. “Make those kids earn their marks.”
Garethe tipped his head back with a shout of a laugh. “Not a problem from me. Poor lambs get quite the shock. They think the jolly Rhellian will be a breeze.” He winked. “It’s all misdirection. Sare is the soft touch, but these dear little Ini Ones are scared of him. They’ll learn in time.”
With a final wave, Garethe departed. Eunny watched him go, sipping at her tea as she tried to reconcile the cheerful Rhellian man with the reserved, stately Professor Rai. An unlikely pairing, but then, she was one to talk. Appearances could be deceiving, after all. As recently as a few weeks ago, Eunny wouldn’t have believed she’d be sleeping with Ollas Nevin. Would’ve laughed at the very thought.
Yerina took Garethe’s vacated seat, setting a small plate of fresh teacakes in front of Eunny. “New batch of red beans and Deiju syrup just came in this morning.”
Eunny bit into one, a gratified moan vibrating in her throat. “So good. Thanks, Auntie. Sorry I haven’t been by lately.”
“I can manage without you, Eunny dear. It’s good for you to be out.” Yerina watched Eunny wolf down another teacake. “I saw Gransen going through the café earlier.”
“Didn’t waste time, did he?” Eunny snorted. “I’m surprised he didn’t just camp out there.”
“You’ve decided on repairs?”
“I’ve delegated.”
A smile filled Yerina’s face. “I’m glad. The town just doesn’t feel right with it closed.”
Eunny’s own smile felt weak at the edges, as it always did when her repair café and the concept of permanency came up. She loved her aunt, but someone so kindly and full of sunshine would never understand the reticence Eunny felt. The guilt and the wrongness, trying to insert herself into the community like she was one of them. As if she deserved to be there despite what her rogue magic had done. Finding a level of personal comfort in the Grove was one thing, but having a space in the heart of Sylvan still made unease prickle her skin. To Yerina and her eternal optimism, those kinds of thoughts just didn’t register. The town loved her and tolerated Eunny sliding in on her auntie’s cloak tails. Eunny wasn’t foolish enough to hope for anything more. Would never ask for it.
Yerina didn’t notice Eunny’s frozen expression, but it was just as well, for she moved on to easier topics. “Tell me about your new work. How is Ollas doing? Terryl said he was almost recovered when she was in last week.”
Eunny chuckled. Her aunt rarely set foot on the campus grounds, but being good friends with Ollas’s mother, Terryl Nevin, a reference librarian at the school, ensured she was well informed on any school gossip.
She regaled her aunt with stories from the elective and Eunny’s middling attempts to grow the same plants as the class. Though she kept the specifics of her dabbling in apothecary work to a minimum, she admitted to enjoying being back at the school, and to her decision to linger until she was formally kicked out.
“It’s still mostly hauling dirt and stuff back and forth, cleaning pots and tools, that sort of thing. But… I like it,” Eunny said. “It’s different being there, this time around. The approach. It’s all new.”
