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“This might be one of the worst things I have ever eaten.” Said Syrus.

[I… think I’m going to be sick…] (Eva)

[There is nothing wrong with my stomach. There is nothing wrong with my stomach. There is nothing wrong with my stomach, there is nothing wrong with my stomach–] (Luna)

Anlesa was slowly eating the medical meal that Ash had prepared.

“It’s not that bad.” Replied Ash.

“Now I am sure you burned off your taste buds at some point in your life.”

“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it.” Said Ash, who wasn’t looking at Anlesa anymore and instead cleaning off some towels and bandages.

“Fine.” Syrus leaned forward and scoffed the rest of the bowl down.

“Ergh.” Eva groaned.

[Just leave the body, you idiots!] (Syrus)

[Can’t… spent too long in Soul Space… now it's hard to return…] (Eva)

[I swear I have no fucking idea how that works.] (Syrus)

She wiped away the leftovers on her lips with their shirt and sat in silence for a moment while she regretted her choices.

Eva checked the ingredients first, and it wasn’t something that would negatively affect the body. They had a lot of energy and many different treats that the body needed. It was simply a health soup, but the taste was so awful. Syrus had grown up eating leftovers and scraps, and she was shocked that she found something that was worse than what she ate in those days.

They figured Ash being an apothecary would be an okay cook, but they were doubting everything they knew at the moment.

While they were unconscious, Ash did apply treatment to their body. She washed off the blood from their wounds, tied on bandages, and applied painkillers to the bruised and bleeding body parts.

“I feel sorry for anyone else you ever have to cook for.”

“Hey! I’m a fine cook. Just sometimes the taste isn’t the first priority.”

“There are a hundred different seasonings you could’ve drowned this in; some might not create tasty concoctions, but it would be better than this.”

Ash was about to get angry but pinched herself and calmed down. “Well if you can talk so much, I guess you are getting better.”

“Better than I was six hours ago, so yeah.”

Ash sat down next to Anlesa, pulled up Anlesa’s shirt, and began replacing the bandages. Syrus allowed and continued talking. “How’s Ethan doing?”

Ash wiped down the wound. She was concerned with how much blood was still coming out, but that was because of Syrus’ Blood attribute, which was doing its only healing process. She wasn’t going to tell Ash about that, just because she found out about their true form didn’t mean Anlesa was getting to let Ash learn more than she needed to.

Ash answered, “He is doing alright. He and his parents are doing okay; when I checked with them, they were looking through their house. It got rough up during the conflict.”

“Unsurprising there.” Ethan along the western side of the city, which was the major point of damage throughout the city.

“I also asked him to keep your involvement with the latter half of the incident quiet.”

“Do his parents know?”

“No.”

“That’s good.” Anlesa really didn’t know Ethan’s parents, so I didn’t want them talking about me with other people. They trusted Ethan not to spill any information about today’s events—not that he even knew much, but just not telling that she was involved in resolving today’s second incident was good.

“I’ve given them permission to rest in the backroom of my shop for the night as well; I haven’t been back to check on them though, as I’ve stayed here with you for most of the time. Speaking of which, I really do like your setup here; you did wonders with the place.”

“Thanks for the compliment and for helping out the kid.”

“I’m only doing this as a favour for you.”

“Shut up, don’t act like you're not a kind person.”

“It’s still a favour nonetheless.”

Once Ash was done tending to the wounds, she got up and sat back on the workstation. She said, “You can lay down now if you wish.”

“I’m good, resting on the wall is good enough. I kind of prefer to be sitting up right now.”

“Your loss.”

Anlesa looked out of the window after she peeled back the tiny inside wooden curtain, she could see people moving around the city in the dead of night, cleaning up, fixing buildings, and supplying food and aid around the city.

“People got back on their feet fast.”

“Thankfully…” Ash sighed. “There was a lot of panic after the second incident was resolved, especially since a large group of people woke up in a crowd with a dead body in the centre.”

“That did happen…” Ash looked over at Syrus for that comment.

“I can’t comment on what happened out there while you were fighting, but by the sounds, it didn’t sound good.”

“A good way to put it.” Syrus nodded. “So, what else happened afterwards?”

“Well… people got to work. It was pretty much a continuation of what was happening before the second incident, minus the cheer in the air, which was replaced with tension.”

“Again, can’t say I’m shocked about that.” Syrus cracked her neck.

Ash reprimanded, “Can you not try and injure your body?”

“I’m not–now did any more trouble happen afterwards?”

“Without any successful trouble, the guards did a mass search of the area and found some bandits nearby who we guess were waiting for night. They were rounded up, and most of them were executed. People were too worried about what happened before to leave a whole group like that in the destroyed prisons at the time. Outside of that, I’m not too sure about what has happened, as I’ve been here with you for most of it.”

Anlesa nodded again. They did appreciate the update from Ash even if they still weren’t too happy about the invasion of privacy, but it was hard for them to get upset at a doctor for waiting to treat an injured party just because they said no. Anlesa could see different ideas that Ash might’ve thought of–Anlesa could’ve been delirious or under the effects of a similar spell and could’ve bled to death in their room–were two easy guesses. The fact that Ash guessed their different appearance through the wrong means was also annoying, but there was nothing that could be done about that.

Ash looked down at Syrus’ sombre face. She did feel slightly bad about breaking the promise and coming in, but she wasn’t going to risk the potential death of her saviour.

“I can’t say I’m not surprised you hide yourself; from my understanding, pretty much every person with a transformation ability does that.”

“Then what does surprise you about my look?” Anlesa was guessing one of many things, from the colours, the horn, etc.

"Well, some people with exotic attributes grow up quickly, but I have no idea if you are one of those cases.” Ash sighed. “I’ve been trying so long to guess your age and when I saw your form change, I figured it would be my opportunity to find out, but no, you look around the same age still.”

“I… see…” Said Eva.

“I guess I do have some questions, well, mostly about who knows. Does the boy or some of the others in town?”

“No one besides you knows.”

“You kept that hidden huh…”

“Yeah, I did.”

“My bad.”

“I’ll forgive you if you don’t make me pay for any of this shit.”

Ash replied back, shocked! “What kind of doctor do you think I am?”

“One that breaks into people's houses.”

Ash couldn’t reply to that.

Their back and forth continued for a little longer, and Ash didn’t ask any really important questions to Syrus. Until the end. “Do you plan to leave town after this?”

“Leave the city?”

“Correct. I heard some people playing to leave. Some forever, some just until the repairs are done.”

[Any major suggestion?] (Syrus)

[We’ve already spoken about this.] (Luna)

[I know, just confirming.] (Syrus)

[A short trip would be good…] (Eva)

[Exactly what I was thinking. I think we should visit Elly and the children again and deliver the next paycheck in person.] (Syrus)

It matched what Syrus wanted to do. Not going far and the priority was still healing

[I’m… fine with that… I would like to see them again.] (Eva)

[Luna?] (Syrus)

[I’m in agreement.] (Luna)

Syrus answered. “Well, I think I will visit some family.”