#anisai

“What exactly are you doing with these?”  Z’equah smiled at the tall elezen as she wrapped several bunches of flowers in individual paper cones.  “Can’t say we get a lot of demand for these blooms together.”

“An arrangement for a friend,”  Anisai replied with a smile, handing over a handful of coins in exchange for the paper-wrapped packages.  “They’re ideal for what I have in mind.” The florist shrugged, pocketing the coin.  People were strange.

Back at the Enclave, Ani unwrapped the flowers and carefully trimmed them, reflecting that it was unlikely the recipient would know the meaning of his selections.   Cowslip for grace, white dahlias for elegance and dignity, sweetpea for gratitude, and oak leaves throughout for strength.  Something he admired a great deal.

Once the bouquet was arranged to his liking, he wrapped the stems in twine, then rearranged it into some of the discarded paper, wrapping the flowers up carefully before securing with twine and settling them into a basket that already had a bottle of wine, a small box of candied nuts, and a pillow that looked slightly worse for wear, with a small fish-shaped patch on the casing with a folded note attached just below.

Anisai was still too newly arrived for anything resembling a friendship, and could not, as a friend, approach directly.  But he did recognize the signs of strain; and knew all too well how difficult it could be for a leader to acknowledge she needed help.

He left the basket outside her office before going to prepare for a patient consultation, hoping he had not misinterpreted what he had seen -  it wouldn’t do to make her feel as though her privacy was being invaded, when his intent was to let her know she wasn’t alone. 

The note, when opened, was scribed in a tidy, neat hand and read:

My lady,

I am pleased to report that our patient, ‘Fishy’, will make a full recovery.  He has inquired on the possibility of completing his convalescence in your offices, as it is thanks to your efforts that he is still with us.

The flowers are as much for him as for you.  

Your servant,

-A.S.D.

I’m sure no one is surprised by this for Cat.

... Ani on the other hand...

The Test~

Prompt Fourteen: Scour

Catrienne Sevin lay in the pool of mineral water, her head resting in the divot created by the pool’s spring source.  Water cascaded over her head, splashing in her ears, sour and stinky and hot and utterly glorious and cleansing.

She’d lost her last bout, and lost it badly.  As she reclined in the pool, she mentally catalogued her injuries; broken scapula, four cracked ribs, a fractured finger and – she snorted, wincing at the pain – she’d broken her nose.  For the fifth time.  

“I’d strongly suggest you consider a new line of work, Miss,” The clucking Lalafell physician told her.  “That shoulder’s in bad shape, and if you continue getting yourself beaten like this, we won’t be able to keep patching you up.”

Cat tilted her head back, letting the water rush over her face, wishing it could scour away her mistakes, her past as easily as it did the blood and dirt. She hadn’t seen Anisai in the better part of a decade, and there was no going back to her past life - even if they had been on speaking terms.

A strong hand lifted her into a sitting position, a cup of something that smelled of citrus and unidentified green things appearing in another familiar, long-fingered grip.  “Drink this, it’ll help you feel better.”

“How’s she doing?”  Another voice, softer, more feminine, asked from out of Cat’s field of view.

“Bit of fever still,”  The elezen man perched on her bedside murmured, his hand rubbing soothingly up and down her back, now that she was more or less balanced on her own.  “The tea should help.”

Sweet with undertones of bitter orange, the hot beverage swirled through her mouth, herbal notes of lemongrass and chamomile dancing on her tongue, soothing the swollen, sore tissues of her throat.

Anisai Sevin Delahaye looked down at the girl he loved as his own, leaning to kiss her temple.  “Drink up, and get some sleep.”

Two decades later, Catrienne sat in a tavern in Ishgard, a cup of tea purling aromatic steam around her face.  She thought of the past, of what had happened, and what might have been.  Paying for the drink, she left it to grow cold on the counter and went to find a bed for the night.

—–

Anisai Sevin stared dully at the empty berth where the Procidia’s longboat should have been.  She was gone, along with her crew.  Beside him, his niece Catrienne stood, pale and shaking.  It was because of her they were dockside, and not on board.  Because of her… they’d been left behind.

Amelia’s final words echoed in his mind, her lovely face snarling with anger. “You put the idea in the child’s head, you fix it. Don’t come back until it’s done!”  

He stared down at the silent, trembling teenager at his side and felt his own surge of irrational anger.  He had told her this was a bad idea, that nothing but grief would come of it, but she insisted.  Now he whirled on his heel, stalking away without another word.   

Cat’s anger and hatred runs deep and hot.  She holds grudges of all types - small, medium or large, and she holds onto them like painful little security items.  Her desire for revenge got her through the darkest period of her life, and she won’t, I think, settle into the new life she’s found for herself until she’s able to fully close the door on her past.

Anisai is obsessed with cleanliness.  His rooms, his person, his clothing... He works hard to keep it under control enough that no one else realizes he has a problem, although now that he’s in a clinical setting, he’s under higher risk of someone noticing that every time he shakes a hand or touches someone, he has to go wash.  

Cat... sometimes wishes she could change the past.  She’d make a different choice/  But at the same time, she is who she is now because of the decisions she made previously.  And while there are some aspects of her life she’s less thrilled with, overall she’s in a good place. 

Anisai would sacrifice everything he’s built to be able to go back and save Cat from what she endured.