[Veltharr — East District — 10:00 AM]
Emily had ntioned the herbalist at breakfast.
Not as an invitation.
Just as information — that she wanted to go back, that there were things she hadn’t bought the first ti, that the high‑mountain plants had properties she was still processing.
Alex had put down his cup.
"I’ll go with you."
Emily looked at him.
"You don’t have to—"
"I want to."
A pause.
"Why?"
"Because you’ve been healing for weeks and I’ve never asked you what you like."
Emily was left without an imdiate answer.
Her cheeks moved toward red before she could do anything about it.
"Okay," she said finally.
---
[Five minutes later — Inn hallway]
Raven watched from the edge of the stairs as Alex and Emily left through the main door.
Kira ca up beside her.
"Where are they going?"
"To the herbalist." Raven watched them turn the corner. A pause. "Alone."
Kira processed that.
"So?"
"So Emily hasn’t had a mont alone with him for weeks." Raven turned around. "I want to see if she makes progress this ti."
Kira looked at her.
"Are we following them?"
"We’re following them."
"Why do you care?"
"Because I love her and I want her to be happy." Raven was already going down the stairs. "And because it’s entertaining."
Kira considered the ethics of the situation for about two seconds.
"I’ll go get the boy. He needs to get out anyway."
---
Grim was in the hallway.
**"I already know."**
"What do you know?"
**"That we’re going to follow them."**
"How—?"
**"I heard everything."**
Kira looked at him.
"From where?"
**"The roof."**
"Why were you on the roof?"
**"Practicing."**
Kira decided not to continue that conversation.
---
The boy was in his room looking at the ceiling when Kira knocked.
"We’re going out."
"Where?"
"To secretly follow Alex and Emily."
The boy processed that.
"Why secretly?"
"Because if they know we’re following them, the mont gets ruined."
"What mont?"
"One that Emily needs."
The boy thought about Emily — about the way she had reached out to him that first day with the Crowns and Kingdoms board. About how Luna appeared on her own when Emily needed help.
He stood up.
"I’m coming."
---
Maya was in her room with the map when they passed by her door.
Raven stopped.
She opened the door without knocking.
"Let’s go."
Maya looked up from the map.
"Where?"
"To follow Alex and Emily."
"Why would I do that?"
"Because you also want to know how it’s going." Raven looked directly at her. "And because you’ll have to do the sa thing at so point, and watching is practice."
Maya looked at the map.
Then she took her notebook.
"I’m going for independent research."
"Whatever you say."
Akari was already on her shoulders.
---
[East District — A prudent distance — 10:15 AM]
The group of five — Raven, Kira, Maya, the boy, and Grim — spread across the width of the street twenty ters behind Alex and Emily.
Far enough to see. Far enough not to be seen.
Kira with [Predator’s Sense] on minimum — just to monitor distance and position.
Maya with her notebook open.
The boy watching the operation with the expression of soone learning that the world outside the Catacombs was considerably more complex than the Heralds had described.
**"Is this normal?"** asked Grim in a very low voice.
"For us, yes," said Raven.
**"For humans in general?"**
"More than they would admit."
---
[Veltharr Herbalist Shop — 10:20 AM]
The herbalist saw Emily enter with the sa expression as the first ti — that of soone receiving a student who understands what she is looking at.
Then she saw Alex.
She evaluated him.
"Does he practice herbalism?"
"No," said Alex.
"Healing magic?"
"No."
"Then?"
Alex looked at Emily.
"I ca to learn what matters to her."
The herbalist evaluated him for three more seconds.
"Sit there." She pointed to a bench under the window. "Don’t touch anything until you’re told you can touch it."
Alex sat down.
Emily looked at the bench. Then at Alex sitting on it with the obedience of soone in unfamiliar territory.
Her cheeks.
That color again.
---
The herbalist spread out the morning’s work on the main table.
Emily began.
Not with explanations for Alex — with the work itself, because that was how Emily functioned. She did things and explained as she did them, not before.
"This is Umbra Root." She held a dark‑stemd plant.
"It only grows at altitudes above two thousand ters. The herbalist cultivates it here under specific conditions."
She started separating the leaves.
"It has magic‑flow stabilization properties — when ambient magic interferes with standard healing, this helps create a clean channel."
"Like on Level Two of the Catacombs?"
Emily looked at him.
"Exactly." A pause.
"If I’d had this before, Targeted Purification would have worked at seventy percent instead of fifty." She put down the root.
"I learned that afterward. I always learn it afterward."
"Does that bother you?"
"It motivates to learn more beforehand." She took another plant.
"It’s not the sa."
Alex watched her work.
The specific way Emily touched the plants — not as objects, but with the recognition of soone who understands what they are. Her hands that had trembled with exhaustion on Level Four now completely steady, precise, in their elent.
"When did you start with this?" he asked.
"Herbalism?"
"Healing in general."
Emily thought.
"I always knew it. Since I was little." She separated leaves with automatic movents.
"My mother was a village healer. Not from the Guild — the kind who heals with whatever is available before soone with official credentials arrives." A pause.
"I learned from her what the Guild books don’t teach."
"What do the Guild books teach?"
"The process." Emily looked up briefly.
"My mother taught the *reason* behind the process. Different."
Alex thought about that.
"Is that why your Targeted Purification works differently from the Temple’s standard technique?"
Emily put down the plants.
She looked at him.
"How do you know it’s different from the standard?"
"Because I’ve seen Temple healers, and what they do doesn’t look like what you do."
Emily looked at him for a mont.
"It’s not better or worse," she said finally.
"It’s more specific. The Temple’s technique heals systems. Mine heals people." A pause.
"They’re different problems."
The herbalist from the other side of the workshop, without looking up: "That’s the most accurate thing I’ve ever heard anyone say about the difference."
Emily blushed again.
---
[Outside — Twenty ters — Sa mont]
Raven leaned against the wall of the building across the street, arms crossed, watching the herbalist’s window where Emily and Alex were visible in silhouette.
"They’re talking," said Kira.
"They’re talking well." Raven noted it in the body language — Emily standing with that posture she had when explaining sothing that mattered to her. Alex on the bench, leaning slightly forward. "He’s really listening to her."
"Doesn’t he always?"
"He always does. But Emily doesn’t always notice it." A pause.
"Today she’s noticing it."
Maya made a note.
The boy watched the window.
"Why is it important that she notices?" he asked.
Raven looked at him.
"Because Emily takes care of everyone, but rarely does anyone take care of her." She said it without drama.
"Alex does. But with all the chaos of the last few months, Emily hasn’t had ti to process that."
The boy looked at the window.
"Ah."
**"Ah,"** confird Grim.
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