Chapter 6
The next morning, life returned to normal. As if the night before had never happened. Neither Enid nor Anelize had discussed all that they’d seen, nor of the Vedran they’d saved. All seamlessly returning back to normal to their mundane, bleak life in the port district. As it had always been.
Their aunt hadn’t said much when she’d ambled down the stairs the next morning and noticed both Yarrow sisters were gathered at the table in the kitchen, drinking tea over slices of hard bread they’d saved from last market day.
Save for the scolding looks Magda cast their way before striding past the kitchen, she hadn’t uttered a word.
Enid murmured that the saints had blessed them with the silence for once. Anelize couldn’t help but agree as she sipped her tea.
Patrons had filtered in and out of the shop throughout the day, each coming to her with requests for salves and tonics to aid with common colds while Enid watched the front of the shop, providing patrons with herbal remedies.
Magda had gone out to market—to neither of their surprise.
Normally, she forced one of them to accompany her but after the conversation Anelize had with her last night, it was no wonder the last thing she wanted was to be alone with either of them.
“Be sure to boil the decoction before drinking it tonight. It will have a bitter taste that will weigh heavily on your stomach so drink it after dinner,” Anelize advised as she walked the elderly woman toward the door.
“Bless you, my girl. I cannot properly express to you how fortunate we all are that you have taken to look after your father’s shop after his passing.
My husband and I will always be grateful for your care,” the elderly woman said, patting Anelize’s hand as she stepped onto the landing.
“And thank you for allowing us to receive it without paying such a high amount—”
“No thanks are necessary,” Anelize insisted, as she so often did whenever her father’s oldest patrons came into the shop. “I’m merely doing what my own father would have. He was quite fond of you and Avos.”
The woman smiled up at her, her hand gripping the top of her cane.
“My husband would have come with me today. He so loves to see you and Enid working the shop so diligently. But his joints haven’t been the best lately. He can barely walk during this cold season.”
Anelize frowned. “I can pay him a visit again later today if you wish. Perhaps a moxibustion will do him some good.”
She’d learned the technique for soothing aches and pains from old medical journals her father had obtained from a merchant who had hailed from the southern isles of Iashen.
She’d always wondered what lands were beyond the sea and what other remedies and treatments there were that none of the Madacian physicians knew of.
She supposed if she allowed herself to dream as Enid did, she’d let herself imagine the possibility of one day venturing off in search of more knowledge, more perspective.
“If that isn’t of an inconvenience to you, then we would be in your debt.
We shall eagerly await your arrival, then.
I’ll put out some tea for us,” the woman said before slowly making her way down the steps, mindful of the patches of snow that had melted only to ice over once more.
A ceaseless pest that it was, this winter that never wavered.
Footsteps hurried down the street, catching her attention before she could turn back into the shop.
Unruly red hair stood brightly against the dreary sights of the city as Wellyn made his way past the crowds heading to market, his cheeks red from the cold air and a smile on his lips.
A small bundle of snowdrops held in one of his hands.
They were the only flowers in Elvir that could be found in the winter.
They also bloomed as quickly as they withered, their lives fleeting. They were also Enid’s favorite.
His bright mood only sobered when he noticed the apothecary surveying him from the stoop as though he was a curiosity, her amusement no doubt evident as she grinned.
“Wellyn.”
The Dobrin boy straightened as he reached the steps, looking up at Anelize as if she were barring his path by her presence alone.
She never quite understood why she had such an effect on the boy her sister fancied.
It wasn’t as though she were cold or rude toward him, at least not more than she was to anyone else.
Wellyn fidgeted with the bundle of flowers. “Good morning, Anya. You’re looking…well. Busy this morning?”
“Very,” she hummed. “I doubt you’re here to make talk with the likes of me, though.” Anelize eyed the young man with an arched brow until he finally looked away, clearing his throat with a smile.
“Is Enid here?”
She motioned toward the opened doorway. “Eagerly awaiting your arrival, I’m sure.”
Wellyn took the steps two at a time until he reached the landing. He strode into the shop after giving Anelize a timid nod, calling out to her sister as if they hadn’t seen each other in weeks.
Anelize rolled her eyes, secretly smiling as she spun on her heel and closed the door behind her.
“Enid,” she called as she spotted the two already embracing behind the counter, the bouquet of snowdrops now held in Enid’s hand that rested over his shoulder.
The love between them palpable. So sweet it made her teeth hurt.
“I’m off to pay old man Avos a home visit.
I’ll be back in a few hours. Can you watch the shop while I’m gone? ”
Enid and Wellyn broke apart, though their hands never strayed from each other. As if a single inch would be unfathomable. She smiled, the rosy blush on her cheeks brightening her face as she turned to face Anelize. “Yes, you can count on me.”
“I know I can.”
Before she slipped out the door with the black bag packed with the necessary tools to perform the moxibustion, she paused at the threshold. She looked between the two of them, now leaning in close to each other as they talked in hushed tones, lost to a world of their own making.
“Wellyn.” The Dobrin boy looked up, his smile faltering slightly when he realized she was talking to him. “I’d like to speak with your parents today regarding your betrothal to my sister. We have a wedding to plan, after all. I take it they’ve already given their blessing.”
This time, he straightened to his full height, sharing a glimpse into the boy who was now, somehow within the span of a few moments, a man. A man who was very much in love with her sister.
He nodded. “Yes, they have. Thank you, Anya.”
“Keep my sister happy, that is all I ask. Or else I’ll be cross with you.”
His smile was bright, dimples appearing on his cheeks. “I will. I swear it.”
“Good.” She nodded then glanced to Enid. “I’ll be home soon.”
Enid’s eyes shined. “I’ll be here.”
In a small, cramped apartment along the docks, Anelize sat at a round table staring down at the steam swirling over a cup of tea the old woman had poured for her.
The sweet aroma of linden blossoms filled the drawing room long before the old woman had offered her the cup.
Anelize had warmed her hands against the slightly cracked porcelain as Avos breathed through the moxibustion treatment, laying still upon the small bed they owned, pushed against the wall.
“Again, thank you for paying this sour old man a visit, Anya. Would that I could offer you more than a meager cup of tea but as you see…we’ve been rather scarce since he was not able to work in the mill this winter,” the old woman said, wringing her hands atop her lap from her perch along the bed.
Avos grumbled. “If only the king finally gave a damn about the likes of us in the port like he did to those self-indulgent nobles in the upper district, then we’d all be better off.
Instead, he wastes his time and our money hunting down those Moroi.
But do they ever cease to wreak havoc upon us?
Of course not, they’re like roaches. Not even cutting off their heads will rid us of the infestation.
This entire city is nothing more than a lost cause. ”
Anelize stared at the old man blankly as his wife murmured an apology while he went into one of his many tirades on the Vedrans and king alike.
“I hear the king has issued a high reward to any who will report the rebels and their sympathizers to his men. They’ve been arresting them and hauling them off to the castle to stand trial.
I can’t imagine they’re alive for long after that.
I do think it a shame that neither side is willing to find a way to live peacefully. ”
Anelize said, “I believe it may be too late for peace after so many lives have been lost.”
Once the last of the smoke cleared from the treatment, she quickly gathered her tools and packed them into the old leather bag that had once been her father’s. She told the couple, “If you need me again, you can always call on me.”
The elder couple granted her kind smiles as they bid her farewell.
It was so rare these days, to witness kindness from strangers, let alone be on the receiving end of it.
Enid would probably consider it a wonderful thing, instill hope within her that someday the people of Elvir would change for the better.
That hardships would no longer hinder upon any of them, and that one day they would not regard each other with mistrust. That, perhaps, one day their blind hate and fear of the Vedrans would simply cease.
The reality, however, was not so simple. Not when they blamed the Vedrans for so many of their own king’s shortcomings.
As she stepped out onto the streets, she stared at the frozen tides of the sea beyond the docks. The gray skies reflected off their jagged black shards, a flock of black birds soaring about in a swirling dance.
The clamoring of voices filled the air as she began walking along the docks, back toward the shop.
The longer she walked, the louder the voices grew.
The sound of footsteps rushing past the streets granted her glimpses of several people urging each other to hurry.
She came to an abrupt halt as two small boys dressed in dirty, threadbare clothes rushed past her.
“Come on! We’ll miss it!”
“Wait for me!” One of the boys wailed when he tripped, arms flailing to catch himself.
Anelize caught him by the hand and pulled him up before he could fall flat on his face in the snow.
He looked up at her in surprise, his face covered in dirt.
He revealed two missing teeth when he smiled up at her. “Thank you, miss!”
“What’s going on?” she asked him, looking toward the rest of the boys that ran to a gathering crowd that all seemed to filter out of the main road.
“The Watchmen are arresting Vedrans! They’re taking them to the king to receive their sentencing!” the boy said, his breath whistling through the gap in his teeth.
“Brom! Come on!” one of the boys called to him.
“Don’t leave without me!” the boy called as he scrambled away before looking over his shoulder, the excitement on his face sending a strange, unwelcome feeling within her chest. “You should come watch too, miss!”
Anelize stood there, watching the boy go with a frown as they headed down the road.
She had never once wished to be privy to the death or public shaming of her own people.
No matter how many times she’d wished she weren’t a Vedran.
Merely watching the way those boys looked elated by the prospect of bearing witness to the arrest of Vedrans made her stomach roll.
Turning down the familiar street that led to the shop, she hurried her steps, wanting nothing more than to return home.
She should have realized something was terribly wrong the moment she noticed a throng of people gathered in the street. Dozens clustered together, screaming and demanding justice as Watchmen created a barrier around them.
Anelize’s heart sank as she watched them standing at the base of the steps of the shop.
The front door left wide open, the rounded stained-glass window in the center of it shattered.
Panic pricked at the back of her neck as she ran toward them.
She tried to push through the sea of people around her.
Her pleas to let her pass drowned out by bellows.
The joy and hate in the voices of her neighbors and patrons alike as they surveyed a Watchman step out of the shop.
A man with raven black hair tied back by a leather strap watched the crowd with cold eyes, his jaw set and face all too familiar after it had lingered in her mind all night, followed her in her dreams. His gloved hand gripping a rope as he glanced over his shoulder to the door, where Enid, with her hands bound and tears streaming down her face, stepped out.