Scholar Durand,

  After receiving your report and speaking to the others, we have decided to recall you from the Veil. We do not believe you need to say farewells to the apothecary. Your talents have been missed in the Aurifer. Return immediately.

  Primarch Aldren

  Perhaps if he closed the thick cream paper the words written on it would change. Surely it would work this time. If he just wished harder, prayed even harder, then the Choir would change the words. They would manipulate the deep red ink into a missive stating he could stay with Solenne, that his talents weren't missed, and that he was no longer chosen nor needed by the Ecclesium. Then he could stay at the shop with Solenne, learn how to love her how she wants to be loved, and then maybe, just maybe, ask if he could love her that way.

  He put the paper down on the end table. Emrys got up and began to pack. Despite the protest in his aching body and the screaming in his lungs, he moved quickly to gather up what few things he had in the room. Luckily, he hadn't acquired much more than he bought over the month he'd been in this room. A month. Had it truly been that long already? It felt like he had just gotten here yesterday, bluffed his way into working with Solenne, and began this mission of his.

  Why did he have to be chosen? Why? What good had it done? Solenne was no who they thought she was. The only thing that had come from all of this was the fact that he got to meet her. Emrys got to know how she took her coffee, how her smile lit up the shop, and how those beautiful honey-golden eyes made his heart race in his chest. All any of this did was make him realize he wanted more than he ever thought he would. Emrys had never wanted to take a wife. His life had been dedicated to being a scholar, to studying the old texts and persevering the new for scholars after him.

  Something warm dripped down onto his clenched fists as they gripped the top of his bag. He blinked. Another drop hit his hand. Reaching up, he wiped at his cheek. Tears. He was crying. Emrys tried to sniffle but the action triggered a coughing fit. He doubled over, gripping at his chest, trying to cough up whatever was strangling his lungs. As much as he hated to admit it, he was starting to think this wasn't just allergies. Emrys groaned as the coughing finally stopped. He shut his eyes tight, squeezing out the tears for Solenne and the tears at realizing something was wrong.

  Emrys grabbed the tin of Hylarin. He opened it, gathered what was left from it, and spread it on his chest. Taking a deep breath in, he felt the start of a cough but held it back as he exhaled slowly. Inhaling again, he felt the way the air got stuck on something in his his lungs. He could go to the healers. They would fix this. That was what he needed to focus on. Emrys closed the empty tin, slipped it in his pocket, and finished packing. He needed to be healed or his missing of Solenne wouldn't matter if he died.

  He walked out of the room with the pack he'd come in with. It was fuller than it had been when he arrived but not enough that he needed to carry anything in his hands. He walked to the front and checked out of the inn. Emrys slipped the innkeeper a bit extra as a tip for keeping him comfortable during his stay. It pained him to leave. Solenne was the leading cause of that pain but he had also gotten to know the people who worked in the inn. Maybe he could visit them at some point. Surely the Auerate wouldn't mind that.

  Leaving the inn, Emrys took one last look towards the shop. It took everything out of him to go in the opposite direction. The walk up the hill to the Center of Caelora felt like it took forever. He wanted to blame it on the way his lungs refused to entirely expand but he knew that wasn't the only reason why. By the time Emrys got to his building, he was feeling every bit of that walk. He opened the door and walked into the place he used to find solace after work.

  Now his flat felt like a mausoleum, devoid of life and warmth, frozen exactly how he had left it. Emrys sat his bag down by the door before closing it behind him. This place felt wrong. Cold. It smelled so familiar but it was missing something. Well it was missing her. Walking over to the windows, he pried them open to let some fresh air in. He shivered as fresh air flowed through. It took some of the stuffiness out almost instantly.

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  The next little while he puttered around, unpacking his bag, and just refamiliarizing himself with his old home. Emrys frowned. The inn felt more like home than this flat. Hell the shop felt more like his home. There had been more than once he'd taken a nap behind the counter, covered by a blanket that smelled like coffee and something warm he could never place. Emrys had spent a whole afternoon trying to find what in the shop gave off that warm scent but nothing she had on the shelves did. He was starting to think it was just how Solenne smelled. Or it was something in her room that he would never get to smell.

  Emrys ran his hand through his hair as that realization washed over him. He would never see her room. They wouldn't share a bed, hold each other, know what its like to have their breathing sync as they sleep. He sat on the edge of his bed and shook his head. There had been no indication she wanted that. Sure, she'd never pulled away when they'd gotten close and she looked at him the same way he looked at her but she had never said anything. Emrys wondered if she would even miss him. She hadn't wanted him there at first.

  He started to get up when another round of coughing started. Emrys hated all of this. He just wanted to go back, sick or not, and tell Solenne how he felt. Then he could get healed by the Ecclesium and tell them he was thankful for everything but this wasn't where he was meant to be. The Aureate didn't need him anymore. He'd completed his mission. It would all be fine. He was allowed to be happy and that shop in the Veil was where he'd been the happiest he had ever been.

  He tried to stand but couldn't. His legs wobbled, his vision swam, and he was instantly back on the bed. "Maybe I should just try to rest." He murmured to no one as he started to strip his robes off. Why did his arms feel heavy? And why was it so cold in here? Or was it hot? As he pulled his top off, his hand brushed over his forehead. He was sweating. What was going on? When had he gotten a fever? Was it a fever? Emrys heard the door open. He blinked a few times but couldn't see who was walking in before everything went black.

  ???????????????

  "Now how did you manage to get sick?" A voice that he didn't recognize asked him, clicking their tongue after speaking.

  Emrys tried to move his arm only to have it pressed back down. He tired to push against whoever was touching him but he couldn't. Why was he so weak? He had been fine walking back to the flat and even when first entering it. Had the walk done this? Had it made his condition worse somehow?

  "Poor little scholar. You weren't supposed to be in need of a healing." The voice paused. "Though perhaps this works out in our favor."

  "F-favor?" He stammered out as he tried to open his eyes. They were so heavy. Emrys whimpered as a cool hand brushed his hair off of his forehead.

  "Shhh little scholar. Yes, our favor. She will want to heal you... to save you, awaken you. Finally. You've done an awful job waking up yourself. We gave you everything to study and yet." They sighed a bit.

  Emrys tried again to move. Whoever kept him lying on his back.

  "Now now. You need to rest. If you move too much you risk your sickness being too much for her to heal."

  He grunted as he squirmed under their touch. Then the coughing started, wracking his body, making him gasp for air when it finished. Tears stung his eyes.

  "Please. She can't heal me. I need to go to the Ecclesium healers. Solenne is just an apothecary." Emrys knew she wasn't a serpahic healer. She couldn't be.

  The person laughed. It sounded so clear, like a bell, and made him wince. A bell shouldn't sound so harsh. "Oh my dear chosen scholar. You are absolutely adorable. No wonder she likes you." A hand ran through his hair. "Your fever is going to get worse. Soon you won't be able to breathe at all. You'll choke on the forest growing in your lungs. I know you don't want to die. Not without seeing her again. So I'm going to get her."

  A weight shifted off of his bed. Emrys tried to open his eyes again. He needed to see who it was. Someone was going to set Solenne up to watch him die. Was this a sick punishment for her for not being Marked? Or was this his punishment for not lying? He couldn't lie. They would have known he was. Besides, Emrys was far too loyal to the Light to lie about something so serious.

  The door creaked open. He gritted his teeth and once again tried to force his eyes open. They cracked enough for him to see a tall figure in the door. Messy blonde hair and multiple pairs of familiar eyes stared back at him. The shock opened his eyes even more as he stared at the person in his door. An aura of white and gold surrounded them. It was the fever. He was delirious. There was no way he was seeing who he thought was standing there. It couldn't be. It was inconceivable.

  "See you soon, frog."