The Arcana: His Apprentice

"What Exactly Are We...?" (Asra's POV)

Y/N rolls her eyes and groans.

"Give me one good reason why I should let you inside instead of going back to sleep?" She says with sass in her tone.

I smile sheepishly at her and raise my arms up dramatically.

"Because you don't want me to stay out in the cold and possibly get sick?" I say, smiling mischievously.

Y/N groans again and goes back into her room, going back to the window shortly after. She throws down a dusty rope ladder, the same one we use when I sneak in at night, like tonight. I climb up the ladder and into Y/N's room as she backs away, giving me some space to enter. I finally make it inside and move the ladder away from the window. Y/N walks over to her bed and down face down onto it.

"I thought you were on your way home." She says, sounding muffled from her face down into some pillows.

"I was but I wanted to talk to you for a bit." I respond, taking my bag off and dropping it down onto the floor.

I take off my scarf slowly, revealing Faust still curled up around my neck fast asleep. I slowly remove Faust from my neck so as to not disturb her and I carefully place her onto a pillow on the ground. I sit next to Y/N, who's still slipped face down onto the bed. I look around her room, many pillows scattered across the floor most of them for decoration, making it feel a bit cozy. The scent of honey and lavender lingering in the air, probably from the incense and candles that she often uses. Shelves full of books, energy crystals, stone figurines of animals and protective charms. I look at her bedside table, full of tangled up jewelry, dried up flowers and crinkled up pages. A soft glow hovers around the room thanks to the many candles she has lit up.

I take another glance around the room. A painting hung up on the wall of a golden wheat field, a place she likes to go when she needs to be alone. An array of masks displayed next to the painting, the same masks she bought from me the night of the masquerade a year ago. I blush at the memory, I can't believe she still kept them after all thus time. I continue looking around the room but notice something slightly out of place. A book on her bed, the cover is a deep purple with cursive handwriting in gold on it as well as a dried up rose glued on it. The same book she was looking through while we were cleaning up the shop. I pick up the book and look at the cover.

"What's with you and this book?" I ask, still holding the book.

Y/N slowly sits up and looks at the book. She sighs heavily and starts speaking softly.

"It was my mother's.." She says quietly.

I don't know much of her situation since it might be a sensitive topic and I don't wanna pry. I place my hand over hers and smile softly.

"You never did tell me about your family, if you want to talk about it with me you can. If you don't, that's okay." I say reassuringly.

Y/N sighs and nods.

"I...lost my parents when I was really young, before I met you all those years ago." She says.

"..." I stay silent, not wanting to disturb her.

"According to Auntie, my mother was a potion merchant from a faraway village and my father was a blacksmith here in Vesuvia. They met when my mother's cart was broken and she went to get it repaired. They got married and had me shortly after. They lived on the outskirts of Vesuvia in a little cottage they had built together. My father died from an unknown illness, I was very young so I don't remember him. A few years later my mother got into an accident, a runaway cart had hit her and she died...Auntie was the only relative, being my father's only sibling that lived here so she took me in...and I've been living with her since..."

"..." I continue to stay quiet, waiting to see if she has more to say.

"I don't remember them much...nothing of my father and only bits and pieces of memories with my mother..." She says softly.

"The book is my mother's journal...she kept it and wrote about everything. She wrote about her life before coming to Vesuvia, meeting and falling in love with my father, having me, everything about her life..." Y/N says, taking the book from my hands gently.

I watched as she opened the book and started flipping through the pages. She stops after flipping through a few of them and hands me the open book. I look at the pages to see elegant cursive scribbled onto the pages along with some sketches and dried up flowers. I read the book silently to myself.

October 27
It feels like each passing day Y/N grows up even faster. Earlier today, she went out into the garden while I was preoccupied with my and picked out some lilies of the valley. She came back in and handed one to me. She called it a "fwow", her version of flower. She then walked over to Alexander and did the same thing. He looked like he was about to cry, seeing how much she has grown to before him. He stood up and congratulated her and spun her around. Sometimes, I can't believe the life I'm living. I'm with the love of my life and we have a happy and healthy little baby girl. My dreams have become a reality, to have a happy family and to be able to care for them. Maybe in the future, we can have a little brother or sister for our dear Y/N. Only time will tell but let's hope for the best.

-𝓜𝓪𝓭𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓮

I look at the pages to see a sketch of a younger Y/N holding out a small flower and another of a man holding her, assuming that it's her father. I see dried up flowers, the ones that were mentioned in the journal. Lilies of the valley, flowers flattened out onto the page. Their scent lost over time but their beauty everlasting.

"I'm glad that you have this opportunity to find out more about your family, when if it's just old scriptures and journal entries. But if it's too much to handle, you don't have to, you can come and talk to me if Auntie Aurora." I say, trying to comfort her as much as possible.

Y/N nods and places her hand over mine. I lean my forehead against hers, closing my eyes. The silence of the night filling the room, comforting. After a while, I move my head slowly away from hers and look at her soft facial features. I slowly lean in again, kissing her softly. She kissed me back, feeling what I feel through our connection. We slowly separate from each other, looking at each other while blushing. I clear my throat and hold her hand.

"S-Sorry, that was really sudden." I apologize, my blush spreading across my entire face.

Y/N giggles and smiles softly at me.

"But..." she says, trailing off.

I straighten myself up quickly, what if she didn't like the kiss? What if she doesn't see doesn't see me that way?

"D-did you not like the kiss, o-or me...?" I say while hanging my head low.

"N-no, I enjoyed the kiss very much, a-and I really you." Y/N says, holding my hand and squeezing it slightly.

"Th-then, what's wrong?" I asked concerned.

"Well...what exactly are we?"