Vessa took a slow sip of her tea. She set the cup down on the table with a soft click. Her eyes stayed on the liquid inside instead of looking at Lys.

"I’ll tell you what: look, the guild can tell you more when you go there," she said. Her voice stayed even, like she wanted to avoid this talk. "No need to rush the details right now, okay? You just woke up after battling death in the face. So, rest for a while. Let us worry about that."

Lys leaned forward a little. The movement pulled at the bandages on his chest. "No, I want to know now. What happened to the herbs? Did the woman get them?"

Mira put her hand on his arm right away. "Lys, you can barely sit straight. Look at your face. Look at your left hand. You need to rest first. Work talk can wait for now."

Elara nodded from her chair. Her fingers stayed twisted together in her lap. "She is right, Lys. At least wait until tomorrow. We almost lost you again yesterday."

Lys shook his head. The small motion made his swollen jaw ache. "No, I can walk. I need to know if those herbs reached her or not. The quest was for her daughter. I collected them for a reason. I need to know if her daughter has gotten the cure. Without knowing that I can’t just rest now. Please, Miss Vessa. Tell me."

Vessa watched him for a few seconds. She did not argue right away, seeing how stubborn he was. Then she gave a small sigh. "Okay, if you are this set on it, then fine. But you have to walk slowly. And your mother and sister should head home. They have been up all night worrying."

Lys turned to Elara and Mira. "Yeah. That is better. You two go home and rest. I will be back soon. I promise. Besides, I can walk fine by myself. I’m not that injured, see." he showed them a little movement of his to prove his point.

Mira opened her mouth like she wanted to fight him on it, but Elara touched her shoulder. "Let him do this. We will wait at home. Not need to argue about this. Plus, I believe in Miss Vessa. If she says he is fine, then he is."

Vessa had a complicated look on her face, but she stayed quiet.

The two women left after one more long look at him. Mira hugged him again before she walked out, being careful around his ribs.

Vessa stood up. "Come on then."

They walked side by side through the village. The afternoon sun felt warm on Lys’s skin. People moved around them like any other day, women carrying baskets, a few old lady talking near the well.

But Lys noticed more eyes on him than usual. Some stared at his bandaged hand. Others looked at the bruises on his face. He told himself it was only because he looked beaten up. Nothing more.

The guild hall came into view. The big wooden doors stood open. Inside, the usual noise of voices and footsteps filled the space, but it felt quieter than normal. People at the tables glanced up when he entered, then looked away a little too fast.

Lys felt the careful distance. But he pushed the awkward feeling aside. The quest and that woman’s daughter mattered more right now.

Pell stood behind the counter like always. The middle-aged man gave a small nod when he saw both Lys and Vessa come at him with a steady pace. His face stayed kind, but something in his eyes turned heavier when seeing them.

Lys walked straight to the counter. "Mister Pell. The herb bag from yesterday. The one from the forest quest. I heard that was handed to you. What happened to it? Did you sent them to that woman who had requested the quest? Did she get that in time?"

Pell stopped what he was doing and wiped his hands on a cloth. "Yes, I got them safely. I processed it myself when Miss Vessa brought it in to me. Most of the herbs got crushed pretty badly in the fight you had. But a few in the outer pocket survived. They still looked usable. I sent them out right away to the woman in the outer settlement."

Lys felt a small weight lift off his chest. "Good. Then she got them?"

Pell paused. The pause stretched longer than it should have. His eyes flicked to Vessa for half a second, as if he was asking for her assistance.

But Vessa just turned her head away, as if she didn’t see his look.

Lys’s stomach tightened with Pell’s pause. He didn’t raise his voice, but there was urgency and nervousness in it. "Why are you stopping? Tell me. Did she get them in time?"

Pell looked down at the counter. He did not answer right away. When he finally spoke, his voice stayed low and steady, like he was reading a report.

"The surviving herbs reached her this morning. She lives a bit outside the village. The daughter... her condition got worse through the night. By the time the herbs arrived, the girl had already passed, I heard. She died before sunrise."

The words left out of him hung in the air.

Lys stood completely still at the counter. His splinted hand rested on the wood. He heard someone laugh near the quest board. He heard the door open behind him, and someone walk in. Boots scraped on the floor.

All of them were normal sounds. But they all felt far away, like they came from another room. Like all of a sudden, every sound around him got blurred instantly, hearing the shocking news.

He stared at Pell. The man’s face looked blurry for a moment, too.

"What are you talking about? She... died?" Lys asked. Trying to confirm if he heard wrong. His voice came out dry and rough.

Pell gave one small nod. "Yes. I’m sorry, lad. There was nothing we could do."

Lys’s mind tried to catch up. He remembered the woman clearly at the gate yesterday, her tired eyes, the way her hands shook when she saw the quest paper in his hands. The way she looked relieved that someone was actually doing the quest she requested for. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Just so he can save her daughter’s life, he even ran through the forest, collecting the herbs from so deep in the forest, fighting the goblin. The pain when it slammed him into the tree, he remembered clearly. All of it was for those plants and herbs she requested.

And now he was saying, the girl never got them in time!

She died?! That woman’s daughter died, just like that?!

He felt the ground under his feet stay solid, but everything else seemed to shift. The guild hall kept moving around him. A hunter walked past with a new bow. Two women talked quietly at a table about prices.

Life continued around him.

But inside Lys, something cracked open.