Eight Intertwined

23 - Apothecary

Sleeping on the ground of the Riverlands was only marginally less comfortable than the beds of Sunshade's dancer dormitory, Primrose found. She had crashed nearly immediately after her night shift ended as far as guarding the group was concerned, and every little string that had been holding her together somehow came unwound. 

Her dreams had played back the events of her father's death, a pain that she was all too familiar with, but this time, Yusufa's murder accompanied such a string of events, and Primrose woke up with the taste of bile at the back of her throat. When she looked down to her hands, she could have sworn that she saw the outline of crimson. She had washed her skin a dozen times at least, but that did little to get rid of the phantom sensation that came with blood spreading across her flesh. 

Primrose had changed into a different copy of her regular red dancer's outfit, vowing that she was going to find something a bit less revealing as soon as they arrived in a new town. Sunshade scarcely had any clothing available that wasn't as sexualized as it got, and Primrose needed a break from that. Her charms were her greatest boon, but for a few moments, she wanted to be free of her scathing facade so that she could grieve for what had been lost. 

Primrose's mind was both beautifully empty and all too full as Clearbrook came into view. Tressa was the first to notice that a town had appeared on the horizon, and she let out a hopeful gasp as she gripped tightly to the straps of her bag. When she started dashing a bit faster down the path, Primrose had followed. The back of her mind screamed that she had to protect Tressa with everything she had. 

You don't want to lose anyone else. 

Clearbrook was smaller than its silhouette had made it seem, Primrose had to admit. The buildings of the town were less than two dozen in number, and the town was a sad shadow of Sunshade in terms of size. In a way though, that was refreshing to Primrose. The gentle whisper of the wind and the sway of the grass was just what she needed: a break. 

"I'm certain that we will be able to acquire camping gear here," Cyrus murmured, and Primrose nodded her agreement. Yes. Good. Keep talking. The back of her mind felt like a knot, and her job was to stay as far ahead of the tangle as possible. The second that she allowed her act to slip, the moment that her foot fell out of place, everything was going to fall apart. 

She couldn't think about the fact that Yusufa had been alive this time the day before. She couldn't think about the fact that she had murdered Helgenish and enjoyed it the whole way through. She couldn't think about the fact that she had left the dancers of Sunshade behind and undoubtedly thrown the town into disarray. All that mattered was the group of people at her side and the path that was stretching in front of her. Stillsnow awaited, and when she arrived, that surge was going to return. She was going to kill the man of the crow, and nobody was going to get in her way if they knew what was good for them. 

Tressa started to hum to herself as she walked deeper into the town. She admired the stores that sold various items, and a wide grin spread across her face when she found a store that sold weapons to its customers. "Hey, Olberic! We can get you another spear here!" she cried out, waving him over dramatically. 

Olberic nodded to himself and followed Tressa over in the direction of the store. Primrose eyed the lance that Olberic had been using throughout their past few battles. It was undoubtedly in the cut of a brigand, and Primrose had to admit that she would have likely wondered why Olberic, noble and proud, would ever stoop to the lows of wielding such a weapon had she stopped to think about it. Instead, she had been too concentrated on everything that had happened in the span of the past day. 

No. Stop. Out of the knot. Look forward like you always do. 

Primrose watched the path Tressa and Olberic were following to the store's entrance. She saw that a person was about to walk free of the door, and she let out a gasp before making to cry out that Tressa was going to run into the newcomer if she wasn't careful.