Vanya shuddered awake. Her heart had relaxed itself into a calm rhythm and her body was covered in a warm coat. She was still in the middle of the empty field right before she passed out while handing the pieces of skin she managed to scrape off of the Ombrah to Rhohaz.

She remembered hearing him ask her for directions but by then she had already faded away.

With her still alive and breathing, she assumed Rhohaz had figured it out on his own and managed to revive her. She looked to her left watching him diligently wrapping the hem of her dress around her bleeding shoulder not surprised to see her awake and alert.

“It worked then? It really worked?” she asked him. He held her shoulders pushing her back gently to rest herself on the rock behind her back.

“Don’t overexert yourself,” he said while a relieved smile crossed his tired face. He looked much better now, as opposed to the doomed face Vanya saw only moments ago.

She smiled to herself happy that she could save Joan. She peeked back at him and said, “We must go now. We should help Joan quickly.”

“No, we stay here till I feel your pulse return to normal,” he said calmly and watched her make a face and lay back against the rock. Vanya felt her blood flow improve and her body strengthen.

After a moment he looked back at her, “You don’t seem concerned in the slightest as to how I healed you. So you knew, this entire time?”

Vanya blinked at him forgetting that he had no idea the extent of things she was involved in with Roza. She bit her lip. Everything was out in the open, his secrets and hers. She looked towards him to say vaguely, “I happen to stumble upon it.”

“Upon what exactly?” he said, testing her.

“That Shalom is not as lonely of a village and the villagers are not as boring as I thought they might be.”

He burst into laughter hearing her, then crossed his arms to gaze into her eyes as if she had him right under her finger.

“You know, they say you are the complete opposite of your sister. But I think you two have more in common than one might think you do,” she said.

He leaned in still locked in on her dark eyes. She gulped seeing him so close to her with an amused smile crossing his lips, “And what’s that?”

“You are both involved in breaking the law of the land in some way, shape, or form. She’s just open about it.”

Vanya was surprised to find herself speaking without an ounce of hesitation. She watched as he smirked to himself smitten by her.

“When did you know? That I practice magic as much as my sister does?”

She helped herself up a little to sit straighter before leaning in closer to him as if an unknown force was pulling her in without her knowledge, “Your eyes, they give everything away.”

***

It took a moment before Rhohaz gently pushed Vanya up so she could stand. He made her lean on him with a hand over his shoulder for balance. It was perhaps the closest she had ever been to him, feeling the warmth of the very air he was exhaling. He adjusted the coat around her making sure it was concealing her from the cold breeze passing through Shalom. It was his jacket that Vanya so fondly loved when she wore it for the first time a week ago.

He looked at her furrowing his brows making her anxious, “What is it?”

“Your pulse…it was doing fine a moment ago–” he stopped speaking any further realizing it. He let his fingers wrap around Vanya’s wrist to smile to himself before beginning to walk holding on to her.

She blushed in embarrassment. Her heart raced the moment she stood closer to him and it continued to stubbornly beat despite her wanting to dig a hole and disappear away.

Rhohaz was careful but Vanya was clumsy. They almost fell face flat on the ground if it wasn't for Rhohaz balancing the both of them well.

“Stop it,” he warned her as her legs tried speeding past him for no reason.

“Sorry,” she stepped on his toes before calming down next to him.

By the time they drew closer to the village Roza found them. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she embraced Vanya making Rhohaz warn her not to put pressure on Vanya’s injured shoulder.

Vanya had to calm Roza down several times before Roza finally heaved to a stop with her eyes bloodshot and her lips quivering.

It wasn’t just Roza however. Both Tilly and Joan remained silently in the kitchen letting the dinner run cold when Roza opened the door to reveal Vanya with a bandaged shoulder and a ripped dress behind it.

Joan was devastated. She immediately had Vanya led to their room and into her bed. Tilly too was shocked to see Vanya’s state.

It wasn’t until everything calmed later during the night that Roza managed to seat her family down to fill in the details of what happened.

Rhohaz was furious. His fists balled up and his anger shot through his eyes.

“Do you understand how dangerous that is? Not even Father got as close to the Ombrah as you two did today,” he whispered harshly hoping not to disturb Vanya and Joan in their room.

Tilly placed her hand in Rhohaz’s to calm him down, “What’s done is done. I sensed the dark energy in Joan the first day I met her. I treated her every day only to sense it again the next morning. I thought the poor girl was cursed with a lifelong illness when she was truly dying all this time,” she then caught Roza’s hand and continued, “I am proud of you both for using your abilities to do good. I am proud of you, Roza, for helping figure out a solution for Joan and being relentless in your education of magic. And I am proud of you Rhohaz for healing someone so well with little to no practice.”

They leaned on their grandmother, their only true family left, to hug her deeply as she held them so lovingly.

Later that night, Vanya was deep in sleep when Joan sat in the living room and unwrapped her bandages to reveal the state of her own wound. Rhohaz crushed the skin of the Ombrah he had left and spread it evenly while Roza made a herb paste and applied it diligently. Once they were done, Tilly took her seat opposite Joan and began to heal her with her eyes turning vibrant gold. Joan held on to her blanket while watching Tilly silently perform magic. Roza peered watching her grandmother while Rhohaz moved to check on Vanya fast asleep in her bed.

He heard her squirm. He hurried into her room to see her with furrowed brows still asleep. He naturally found himself crouching next to her and letting his hand rest on her forehead before he checked to see if her shoulder was doing okay.

A moment later her face relaxed and went back to sleeping peacefully while having a slight smile on her lips.

“I hope you know you scared me tonight,” he whispered, unable to contain it anymore. He had never felt so devastated. The last time he felt as if he was losing all control over everything was when his mother passed away ten years ago. He felt as if he lost the anchor to his soul that kept him from floating away.

But seeing Vanya on the brink of death he felt the same surge of emotions stir up in him. Seeing her bleed out and the dark poison begin to spread in her body made him start counting the minutes left before she would leave this earth. He had seen stranded men found dead and even in the process of dying after an Ombrah’s bite. He had seen the worst of it all. But seeing her, someone he never expected to even like much less feel utterly consumed by, heaving for her last breaths he felt truly powerless.

***

Vanya and Joan spent the next day sleeping and recovering fully while occasionally waking to be fed soup and broth and everything in between by Tilly.

By the evening Joan woke up to noise coming from the kitchen.

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“What’s all this?” Joan asked, finding Timmie in Tilly’s kitchen engaged in very meticulous work.

He stopped her for a moment putting his finger up in the air while he placed a cherry on top of a white hurriedly made flat cake. It read ‘Happy Birtday’.

“Who’s birthday is it?” Joan whispered trying not to startle him.

He sighed in relief seeing the cherries finally lined up as he wanted them to.

“Our beloved leader’s. He has no idea I have all of this prepared for him,” Timmie said, pointing to the abysmal amount of alcohol neatly lined up in the living room.

Joan's jaw dropped at the sight. Timmie clapped in excitement, “I’ve even got one that’s fifty years old in the making.” He giggled like a child before scurrying away to adjust the bottles around.

Tilly along with Vanya soon joined Timmie and Joan in the kitchen to wait for Rhohaz to make his way to Tilly’s as Timmie had instructed him that morning.

Vanya bit her lip not knowing what to do. It was his birthday and she was empty-handed, even after he saved her life last night.

Roza stormed in at the last minute through the porch door startling everyone.

“Hope I am not late,” she said as she entered and took a seat beside Vanya.

“How are you?” Roza asked.

“Much better,” Vanya said, calmly.

“He’s coming!” Timmie shouted while peeking from the window. They let out the rest of the candlelight except for the one lit on the “Birtday cake” Timmie was holding so carefully.

The doorknob rattled before it opened to Rhohaz, who was greeted by a loud ‘Happy Birthday!’. He took a step back in shock. Garin, who was right beside him, held him from falling on his back and pushed him forward.

Rhohaz did not see it coming at all. There were cheers and congratulations exchanged between the few gathered. Timmie shoved a piece of cake into Rhohaz’s mouth while the girls laughed. Garin, who was Rhohaz’s escort to the occasion, helped Timmie try smearing the cake on Rhohaz's face. But they did not succeed in the slightest leaving Timmie to end up face-planting himself in it instead.

Rhohaz caught glimpses of Vanya laughing along with Joan by her side between all the happy chaos. It made him delighted to see her back to normal. He was far more content seeing her laughing on a day like this than any present neatly wrapped with a bow would ever make him feel.

After everyone calmed themselves, Tilly forced a large dinner upon the younger people and finally bid goodnight. Timmie cracked open a few bottles of his favorite wine.

“You do realize that the cake said birt-day, don’t you?” Roza poked Timmie to which he only made a face at her.

Upon Timmie’s request, everyone raised their humble cups brimmed with some sort of poison as Timmie attempted to make a toast. He stumbled trying to stand up then settled to keep sitting. He messed up his words almost calling Rhohaz his lover and trailed off to a whisper.

“What he’s trying to say is, I am happy to spend my birthday with all of you,” Rhohaz explained making Timmie as equally happy as if he’d said it himself.

They gulped wine and played games throughout the night until Timmie, who everyone suspected was already drunk before they even began, fell asleep early on Joan’s lap.

Roza had stepped out to take a walk by the beach and Garin was preparing some tea for everyone to ease themselves into a good night's sleep.

“Roza would like this one,” Vanya, still very much drunk from gulping whatever Timmie was sending her way, rose suddenly finding her balance.

Rhohaz watched her scurry out the porch bare feet. He followed her immediately seeing her start to wander off onto the shore.

“Do you see her?”

He found her squinting at the sea with her feet sunk in the soft sand so comfortably as if she’d done it her whole life. He shook his head in response and waited watching her smile to herself.

“You know I’ve never played those games before. It was so fun,” she said, smiling to herself drunk with happiness.

He drew closer to her and stood silently listening to her unusually chatty.

“I thought kids in Esmeth played them more often than we did,” he finally made a comment watching her twinkly eyes following a bright star she had spotted in the night sky.

“Well, I never truly grew up in Esmeth,” she said, her voice sounding sad.

“Oh yes, you told us you grew up in the East.”

She nodded as something took over her mind. Her hands held onto her shoulders as she braced the chilly breeze that had been blowing past since sundown.

Noticing Vanya grow uncomfortable and silent, Rhohaz suggested, “We should head inside. It’s pretty cold out here.”

Vanya shook her head violently to blurt out, “No! I must wait for Roza.”

Unable to argue with her, he looked towards his home which had a candle burning inside.

“Maybe Roza’s at home. Do you want to accompany me and go hand her the wine yourself?”

Vanya’s eyes lit in joy. She held up the wine bottle in excitement. Rhohaz had never seen her so openly expressive. He found it quite loving.

He led the way to his home while Vanya waddled behind him.

He opened the back door to let her enter their humble kitchen that had not had a proper meal made in it in years.

While Vanya observed the beautiful blue-green vase by the kitchen table, Rhohaz scoured the rest of his home to realize Roza was not inside.

“She’s not home. She probably went out to get some air. Why don’t we leave the wine and head back to Grandma’s?” He asked hoping Vanya would agree but she only leaned against the counter by the back door to think and then replied, “I will stay. I will hand it to her myself.”

It made Rhohaz chuckle at her innocent words.

“Very well.” He agreed and leaned against the kitchen table right opposite her.

“You have sweet friends, do you know?” Vanya asked while holding the wine bottle closer to her heart.

“Do I?”

“Oh yes, you do. I’ve never really had anyone surprise me for my birthday. It was a given, you know, that there’d be a celebration when it rolled around.”

“Hmmm, interesting. Is it usually a big celebration?” he asked not in curiosity but in wantingness to have her be so chatty.

“Very big, huge! But it’s often so lonesome. That reminds me! I’m sorry I haven’t prepared anything for you today.”

Rhohaz waved his hands and said, “Please, it’s okay. You don’t need to—“

Vanya pushed the wine aside onto the counter and leaped forward, “But I must! After all, you saved my life yesterday. I haven’t even said thank you for it.”

“Well then, go ahead and say thank you. That’s an excellent present for my birthday,” he said.

But she only narrowed her eyes at him, “Your humbleness is being misrepresented as cockiness!”

Rhohaz burst out laughing and patted her head. Vanya caught his hand to push it away.

“Stop patting my head!”

“Why? Do you not like it?” he pressed on wanting to spite her for fun.

“No! I hate it!”

“Why is that?”

“It makes me feel like…feel like a child!”

“Well, I’m only doing it because I find you adorable,” Rhohaz partly confessed.

“Adorable?! How ridiculous!” She huffed.

“You don’t like being called adorable?” he chuckled following it.

“Is that what you called Taru’s sister then? Did you find her adorable too?” she spat out, honesty flowing out like water.

Rhohaz looked at her puzzled as to how she came to that conclusion, “What does it matter what I thought of her?”

“You told me you found her beautiful, more beautiful than Taru himself.”

He paused for a second, watching her get impatient.

“Why? Do you…want me to find you beautiful as well? Just like Taru’s sister?”

She stayed quiet before bursting out, “Nonsense! I’d rather be annoying—“

“I don’t find you annoying…” he cut her off, making her fall silent while listening to him continue, “…Alright, fine. I do admit that you do get on my nerves more often than not…”

Vanya leaned in prepared to debate it but Rhohaz had more to say, “…But I like it. I like how you make me feel. Something about you is…drawing me in, making me want to know everything about you, little by little and then all at once.”

Rhohaz thought he had made a mistake opening himself up so easily seeing her shocked and frozen in front of him. He couldn’t read her at all. He couldn’t gauge what was going through her mind in the slightest. And before he knew it she was glaring at him as if to warn him he’d said something completely out of line.

He watched her huff in anger then suddenly grab him by his collar as if to punch him hard across his face.

But a moment later, he felt her lips press against his ever so gently. His eyes widened seeing her leaning against him, tiptoeing to meet him, leaving no space in between. He felt as if time itself froze for a moment.

Then suddenly, she let go of him. Her lips tearing away at once.

Vanya gasped realizing what she had done. She took an immediate step back to see Rhohaz as equally startled as she was. Her hand clasped on her lips touching it while confirming it was indeed her lips that were on his. She felt embarrassment flush her cheeks.

“I should—“

But Vanya only managed to speak so much before she found Rhohaz wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer in a matter of seconds. He gazed into her eyes as if to speak a thousand words at once. She saw it then. He looked truly happy seeing her in his arms tonight as if he'd kept denying his feelings that kept becoming clearer every day, waiting for her to reveal hers first. And before Vanya knew it, he crashed his lips on hers, his palm clasping her cheek ever so softly, to finish what she had begun in the first place.