“You seem down, Saint Charlotte. Did something happen?”
I was strolling the castle grounds when a voice interrupted me. I startled, finding Desmond, captain of the Second Knight Brigade, standing before me.
“Oh, uh, I was just thinking about how I haven’t seen Fia around lately,” I said truthfully.
He scowled. “Oh, her? She’s busy with a special job right now. She found this somewhat uncommon rose and has been tasked with checking on it every day and going, ‘Yeah, that’s still a rose,’ or something.”
That explanation didn’t really clear anything up, but it did sound like a task only Fia could do. I hunched. If she was busy with work, then I couldn’t go to her for help.
Desmond tilted his head at me. “Did you have some business with Fia?”
“Not quite, um… I was hoping she might have some of the greenorb fruit we found in Starfall Forest before.” What I really wanted was for Fia to make a hearing restoration potion for me again, but I didn’t want to bother her if she was busy. Maybe I could copy what she did and make the potion myself, but I didn’t have the ingredients to try it. I could find all the medicinal plants I needed except greenorb fruit around the castle grounds, but if I was missing that one key ingredient, it wouldn’t matter.
Desmond pointed at himself and said, “Oh, is that it? I could go pick some for you if you want. I’ve actually been looking for something to do to kill time, ha ha. This is my first day off in two whole weeks, but it’s still too early for the bars to open.”
“Oh, but I couldn’t impose. Isn’t Starfall Forest full of dangerous monsters?”
He laughed. “I appreciate the concern, but going through that forest is no different than taking a stroll through a garden for me. I’m not heading there to hunt monsters, so there shouldn’t be any real danger. I take it you’re making another hearing restoration potion? I still owe you for the one you made for me. If helping you means some other poor sap can get their hearing back, then I don’t mind one bit.”
The hearing restoration potion from last time had indeed healed Desmond’s left ear, but this time I wanted to make one to heal a familiar, not a person. Fia had made most of the potion herself, so the chances I could replicate it by myself were low.
“Um…” I said. “I’m actually trying to heal a familiar serving the Fourth Monster Tamer Knight Brigade. It’s actually quite a hard thing to make, and I only succeeded last time by chance, so I’ll probably fail this time. I can’t ask you to put yourself in danger for that…”
He stood up a little straighter. “In that case, I’ll bring along a captain who values familiars just as much as people. Should be easy enough if I tell him the potion’s for a familiar, and he’s got skill with a sword so we’ll have even less need to worry about the risks.”
“U-um…” I didn’t know which captain he meant, but I hesitated to impose on yet another person.
He left without another word, gallantly striding off and waving over his shoulder without looking back.
“What do I do?” I muttered to myself, but it was too late, so I just stood there fretting.
Only a couple of hours later, Desmond returned looking much the same as when he left. He handed me a large bag stuffed full of something and said, “Here’s the greenorb fruit, as promised. I made sure to get a lot, so don’t worry about messing up your potion-making. I’ve worked up a bit of an appetite heading to the forest and back; I get the feeling tonight’s drink will taste extra good. Let me know if you ever need me to fetch something again.”
He didn’t make a face even when I looked him up and down, checking for injuries. Rather, he promised to help me again if I ever needed it. What a kind man he was.
“Oh, right,” he continued, “Quentin wanted me to pass on a few words: ‘You have my gratitude for working to aid the familiars of my brigade.’ He’s grateful for the effort you’re going to for the familiars, regardless of whether you succeed or not.”
Desmond was such a kind man, he even made sure I wouldn’t feel bad if I failed.
“Thank you very much,” I said happily.
He shook his head. “Not at all. You’re trying to make potions for my fellow knights’ familiars. I should be the one thanking you.”