Eight Intertwined

58 - Vanessa

"Oh, miss, how can we ever repay you?"

Those were the first words Alfyn managed to hear after he broke through the crowd, and he let out a heavy sigh as he looked to the woman who had spoken. She was wearing an elaborate red dress that looked more expensive than anything Alfyn could have ever imagined back in Clearbrook. He gaped at her before realizing that most of the others at the center of the crowd were dressed just as fancily, and he could feel himself growing cheaper just being in the presence of such impressive figures.

"Thanks to your tincture, my husband is out of bed for the first time in weeks!" another woman exclaimed as she clapped her hands together. 

"My word, it worked like a miracle!" came the voice of a third woman as she nodded her agreement. 

The first woman nodded as well. "And for such a modest fee, no less! You could charge tenfold and it would still be a steal!" she cried out. 

There was one person in the crowd who didn't look anywhere near as fancy as the others. It was a young woman with purple hair tied into a ponytail while a small segment fell over one eye. She smiled and pressed a hand to her chest humbly. "Oh, you are far too kind. I was just doing my job," she said simply. "Seeing your hale and hearty smiles is payment enough for me. After all, we apothecaries have a sworn duty to ease suffering wherever we go, do we not?"

It didn't take long for the gears in Alfyn's head to start turning as he took a step out into the center of attention, ignoring the feeling of the eyes of the rich boring into him. "Fine words, those," he told the purple-haired woman. "You must be the apothecary everyone's been talking about."

The woman nodded as her gaze dropped to his bag. "Indeed. Judging by that satchel of yours, I trust I am speaking to a colleague?"

Alfyn nodded as well, a grin on his face. "You bet--though I've only started my journey. I'm Alfyn," he introduced, sticking one hand out to shake hers.

"Vanessa. Vanessa Hysel," the woman replied, returning the gesture and shaking Alfyn's hand with a smile of her own, though her grin was much smaller than Alfyn's was. It made sense; after all, few people could ever hope to match the brightness Alfyn exuded merely by existing.

Alfyn pulled his hand back and gripped at the handle of his satchel. "'A sworn duty to ease suffering,' eh? I like the sound of that," he said. "And I couldn't agree more--it's not about the coin we make. So long as I can keep myself fed, the joy of knowing I've eased someone's pain is all the payment I need."

"But of course. It is for that very purpose that I seek to ever hone my skills," Vanessa replied with a kindred smile. 

"Great minds think alike, eh?" Alfyn beamed. Around them, the aristocrats of Goldshore had started focusing on other conversations amongst themselves, and the crowd of people hoping to speak with Vanessa started to disperse at the realization that she would be talking with Alfyn for quite some time. Alfyn barely noticed despite his previous nerves, instead simply allowing his excitement to carry him through the next part of the conversation. "Hey, would it be too much to ask to take a look at your pharmaceutics?" Vanessa went tense and took a step back, but Alfyn continued regardless. "Just hearing about you, it's clear you're out of my league. The ingredients, the preparation--anything you could teach me, I'm all ears!" 

Vanessa was quiet for a long moment, and something unreadable flashed across her face before she shook her head. Alfyn's smile started to fade away, and he wondered just what was going on in her head to make her seem so hesitant and nervous all of a sudden. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't share trade secrets with those in the business..."

Alfyn was quick to recover to make sure he didn't look too disappointed at her refusal or too confused about the brief look of something like anxiety on her face. "Ah, beg pardon. I understand--we do need to put food on the table, after all," he said apologetically.