Tender
"How is she?" Thea asked when Aaryn finally returned home.
"I'm relieved she has Stormstrike, at least." Aaryn's expression was crestfallen. "She's… not doing well."
Thea swallowed, her throat still sore from all the smoke. "We didn't find him today."
With embers still hot, Thea worked with a small team throughout the day to find any lasting survivors. Rolim was not amongst them, and Thea's fingers were singed and stinging.
She collapsed into the chair of her small table, the drawings still stacked neatly to the side. She hadn't had time to hang them yet.
Thea shook her head, grief tightening her chest like a vise.
She'd known Rolim for years. She didn't even remember how they'd first met, really, but knew it must have been before they'd hid the druid circle in the clouds.
They'd sparred often, bickered aplenty, and teased each other like family. To Thea, he was her family.
"I hope we find him," Aaryn said.
"Me too." But she was scared for him.
"You're covered in soot."
"I know." Thea stared down at the crayon marks on the paper. "There's not much left of Skymore."
Even the docked boats had burned away, the empty shells filled with ash sinking into the water and pulled into the tide.
"We didn't find many survivors. Just a few. The school is gone. The hospitals. Entire neighborhoods. The market."
It was pure destruction, plain and simple. And why? What purpose did it serve?
"I didn't even have to dodge anyone from Evergale. It's like they just… destroyed and left." Which was plain odd. Usually when Evergale took such a path, it was with a goal in mind: control. To seize the city they'd overtaken and put it to use, like they'd done with Timberscale.
This devastation made no sense.
Thea propped her elbows on the table, burying her head in her hands before hissing and pulling away.
"What is it?" Aaryn asked, drawing away from the kettle and— "Great skies, Thea, what did you do?" She grabbed Thea's wrist to pull her hand closer.
The tips of her fingers were red and raw from digging through still-hot rubble for survivors.
"My gloves got burnt," she muttered, and tried to tug her hand back. "It's fine."
"Why didn't you go to the healers?" Aaryn asked, huffing and turning away. She began opening cabinets while the kettle sang.
"They have much more pressing matters to tend to," Thea reminded her. "I'll be fine."
Aaryn took the kettle off to silence it and then resumed searching through the cabinets.
"Tea cups are in the left cabinet," Thea supplied helpfully.
"Get cleaned up. I'll deal with you in a minute."
"D-deal with me?" Thea sputtered, ignoring the flush to her cheeks. "What did I do?"
Aaryn ignored her, and Thea was bewildered by her attitude. "Okay, well, I'm cleaning up because it's naturally the next step before bed. Not because you told me to."
"Alright," Aaryn said, completely unbothered as she moseyed about the kitchen.
Thea stared at her form while she collected clothes, hanging them over her arm and avoiding the use of her fingertips as much as possible. Then she managed to wash, soot turning the water a murky gray until her skin was its natural purplish pink once more.
When she dressed behind the folding screen, something glimmering caught her eye beneath a small pile of clothes.
She reached out and tugged it forward with her knuckle, and found…
jewels like the color of Starspark. With a grimace at the reminder of Evergale, Thea plucked them from the floor.
“I found your… your Tethered’s wristlet,” Thea called out.
A long pause. “I don’t need it anymore.”
“Alright,” Thea murmured, and laid it on the nearby stool. Just in case.
When she returned to the main living area, Aaryn was waiting at the table expectantly.
"Sit down," Aaryn told her. Before her were a small pot and a cloth.
Thea sat.
"What's that?" she asked.
Aaryn pulled the other chair to the side, closer to Thea. "I spent today with the healers."
Thea arched a brow, feeling something fuzzy in her chest at the knowledge.
"Don't look so impressed," Aaryn muttered. "I had one of the easiest jobs. Enya sent me home with this." She tapped the jar and lifted her gaze, lips twitching. "For you. I wondered why. Guess they know you well around here."
Thea's cheeks heated and she gestured at the steaming mug on the table. "Your tea will get cold."
"I like cold tea anyway," Aaryn said, and cracked open the jar. The slightly bitter scent of myrtle filled the space, spicy and fresh and green—and as it interacted with the fresh air, it began to glow. The healers had told her it’s because the plants were infused with magic through runes for expedited healing properties.
Magic was capable of so much. And Evergale didn’t want that? Why?
"Hand," she demanded, and held out her palm.
Thea placed the back of her hand in Aaryn's like an offering.
"Ouch," Aaryn murmured, glaring at the tips of her fingers. She flipped Thea's hand over, lifting the pot from the table and holding it beneath her fingers.
Carefully, Aaryn tilted the container and dipped the pad of Thea's forefinger into the ointment. It stung slightly, but less than it had acquiring the burns. The myrtle would soothe it in time.
Thea let her hand go limp in Aaryn's as she lifted what wasn't one sheet of cloth, but many tiny slivers. She wrapped the small strip around Thea's first finger, careful to keep the fabric flat over the most sensitive skin. Around and around it went until she tied it off with the smallest knot.
She worked in silence, and while she was preoccupied, Thea took her time studying Aaryn.
Her deep rose hair was braided back away from her face, but her work from the day left small tendrils escaping in every direction. Her full lips were firm in a line with concentration, brow furrowed.
Her hands were gentle as she lifted Thea's and dipped the next finger, before showing it the same amount of focus and care as she had the other.
Thea shifted her stiff back in the chair, and their knees brushed. Neither of them moved away.
"You make quite the healer," Thea said when Aaryn relinquished her hand. She studied the tidy knots and tested the strength by bending her fingers. The bandage didn't roll up.
"I watched a lot of people get bandaged today," she murmured, and held out her hand.
Thea placed her opposite hand in Aaryn's and waited for the tingly healing sensation.
"You didn't have to do this," Thea told her, a little uncomfortable at the attention, the tender care.
"I know," Aaryn said, easily waving her efforts off.
Thea bit back a smile and turned her head. It was then that she noticed a new drawing had been hung, separate from Thea's, next to the wardrobe.
"Did you hang that?" Thea asked.
Aaryn stiffened, glanced over at the new addition, and nodded. "One of the kids gave me that one in exchange for—well, I don't really know why, to be honest," she said.
Thea hummed, studying the drawing. It matched a few she had on her own wall. "That's probably Kiam."
"The small one," Aaryn clarified, lifting her gaze.
Thea nodded, swallowed. "Yeah, that's the one."
"He's cute. He lives with the taller boy?"
"The leader-ish one?" When Aaryn nodded, Thea continued. "Yeah. That's Finnan."
"Where are their parents?"
Thea blew out a breath. "Finnan lives with Kiam's family. They took him in after Timberscale."
Aaryn paused for a moment, attention trailing to the drawing and then back to the task at hand. "Oh."
"He's adjusted well. I think Kiam gives him someone to look after. Someone to distract him from it all."
"Good," Aaryn said softly, expression carefully blank as she tied off another finger.
Thea could guess what was hiding behind her facade, because she'd felt the same things. Instead of letting the feelings percolate, she lifted her hand, bending her fingers into a claw shape. And then she—meowed?
Aaryn's lip didn't even twitch, and it was a bit humiliating. "Can I ask you something?"
Thea nodded.
"What happened to your family?"
"Oh," Thea said, her hand falling back to her lap.
"You told me once that they were gone, but never how." Aaryn glanced up from her task quickly, gauging Thea's reaction. "Skymore was your home."
"You remember that?" Thea asked, lips pursing. She'd been short with Aaryn in the moment—months ago—because she hadn't wanted to talk about it, not something so intimate and personal, not while she was supposed to be Evergale's perfect little guard.
"Do you?" Aaryn asked, a particular look in her gaze that made Thea feel fragile.
"Don't," she said. Because Thea had it locked down tight. There was no use digging it all up. "It's a pretty basic story," she started. "We were poor; there wasn't enough work to go around. Our stall in the market didn't make very much. You know how it goes."
Aaryn was quiet as she tended to Thea's fingers. She was almost done, so Thea had to get this out quickly.
"Our stall was robbed one night, and my father had too much pride—he fought back. He didn't win."
One finger left.
"My mother couldn't do it on her own. It simply wasn't possible. Then she got sick, and since we couldn't afford medicine or healers and I was shit at thieving, she died. I was on my own pretty young. Vaelen found me one day, and… that's that," she finished.
"How old were you?"
Thea hummed. "I had been on my own for a while, maybe a year or two? So I was likely…" She did the math in her head. "Nine? Ten? Something like that."
Once Aaryn tied off the last knot, Thea felt warmth envelop her hand, and she glanced down to find Aaryn's fingers tangled with hers. Something in her chest caught, like the edge of cloth on a thorn.
"You were a baby," she said.
Thea shrugged. "There's lots of kids like me."
"Like Runa?"
Thea shook her head. "She's from the same area, yeah. But she got out."
"You did too, in your own way," Aaryn pointed out. "Arguably somewhere even better."
"Now you're getting it," Thea said, tone light despite the affection swelling heavily in her chest.