--- Elise

That harsh cough was definitely strange.

Two or three weeks after Roric's birthday, Elise started noticing that Dominic wasn't feeling well. At first she didn't pay much attention to his signs of illness, not because she wasn't interested, just because she didn't fully realize how real it was. The farmer had always been her anchor, the most certain aspect of her life. Everyone died, sooner or later, but there was no way it would have happened to him.

Now, however, the girl wasn't so sure of it. Her guardian was visibly getting weaker and there were some times when he would get up late in the morning, something completely foreign to his habits. All without mentioning the fact that he was paying less and less attention to where she went.

Is he alright? It might just be some seasonal disease, but at his age...

She tried to consult Roric for advice, but the boy replied that he knew little about medicine and had never learned how to treat any illness from his company's priest. Anyway, he offered to go with her to the local temple in search of someone capable to help Dominic.

"I'm concerned about him," said the girl, as they walked towards the top of Fradot. "Why won't he ask for aid? There is no shame in being sick."

"He doesn't want to make you worry, probably," guessed Roric. "As the head of the household, he must think to make a good example if he shows strength and faces it alone."

"Good example my ass," replied Elise, without caring for the weird look she got after her very unwomanly words. "If he needs help, he only has to ask. It's not like I would judge him."

"So you really want to take care of it?"

"Yes. That man might be stubborn, but he's always been there for me. It's about time I do something for him."

The two reached the temple, passing through the open doors at a steady pace.

"Lod! Are you here?" Elise's voice echoed on the stone walls. "We need your opinion on a certain issue."

A rumble of papers caught their attention. It came from behind the small altar to the Makers, where the local priest had just stumbled spreading on the floor a pile of books that he was carrying. The girl hurried to his side, with Roric in tow.

"Everything alright?" she addressed him, helping him up.

"I... I must have missed a step, my dear," answered the man, cleaning up his sacramental vest from the dust. "I swear, I'm going to learn where they are, sooner or later. Did you need me for something?"

Lod was a foreigner, just like Elise and Dominic. He was born in a land far away in the East, leaving home young to receive a religious education in a place called the Sacred Town or something similar. The girl remembered well the day he had arrived in Fradot as a substitute for their previous priest, who had passed away of old age. At first everyone in the village was skeptical towards him because of his frail, skeleton-like body and passive attitude, but after a couple of months Lod had begun to be liked by the locals thanks to his helpful nature.

It was worth to mention that he had the tendency to space out a bit and was a hopeless coward, but without any doubt he also knew many things about the healing arts and was said to perform small miracles from time to time.

"Here, I'll grab those," said Roric, gathering the books and moving them out of the way.

"Thank you, child. I... I was just in the middle of some research with pine resin and-"

"Lod. Lod! Focus for a moment," Elise called, until she was sure to have his attention. "We have a problem. Dominic is sick, we don't know what he is suffering from and there's the need for your knowledge."

The priest became a little pale. He made every possible effort to hide it, bowing his head and turning around to face a shady corner, but it didn't slip through the girl's watchful gaze. Avoiding her eyes, he walked through the temple and acted like he was suddenly very busy.

"Where... Where did I put it?" he wondered, but his tone wasn't convincing at all. "Makers, I have so many things to do, these days. Yes, many things."

"Lod, if you know what I'm talking about, please," continued Elise. "You have to help us!"

"Eh? No... No, I don't know a thing. Now, why don't you two-"

"Hey, priest."

Roric spoke from the other side of the building. He had quietly sat down on a bench and was looking at Lod with a menacing expression.

"You'd better not lie," he said, standing up and coming closer. "I may not look like a traveler, but you are not the first priest I meet. If you refuse to aid us, the Makers might punish you. That, and you obviously have more than a clue on what we need to know. Why don't you cooperate?"

The priest seemed on the point of exploding. His gaze went left and right, like he was searching for an escape route. Then, he turned to face Elise and gathered what remained of his squeaky voice.

"Fine! He... Dominic. He told me that I wasn't to tell anyone about this. Especially you, Elise."

"He did what?" asked Elise. "But why? He is... Sick, right? What's his illness, exactly?"

"I can't say, I can't say," replied the man, this time more firmly. "You two won't get anything more from me."

Roric was clearly about to grab his neck, but the girl stopped him by holding his right arm. Arguing with Lod would have been a complete waste of time, plus they would have scared to death that poor man. He had probably been dragged into that uncomfortable situation unwillingly. They left the temple without a single word, leaving the pale priest alone.

We are back to the starting point. This is irritating, but I can't let Roric handle things for me. There must be something I can do.

"You alright?" said the boy, with a worried look on his face. "You think I'm that violent? I wasn't going to hurt him. Just a little push would have been enough to force what we needed out of him. He already had the answers we wanted."

"I know. But I want to ask around first. Remember, everyone in this village is fond of me. I can't simply go around and threaten people, here."

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"Sorry. I didn't think straight in there. The way he was hiding the truth from us..."

"Don't worry about it."

Elise visited the houses of many of her acquaintances in search for information. Surprisingly, however, nobody seemed to have noticed about the old farmer's bad shape. Most of them, in fact, had hardly spoken with him during the past months.

This isn't possible. We even asked those he said he was visiting for business. There is definitely a secret he doesn't want to reveal to anyone... Not even to me.

She glanced at Roric. Her friend spent a lot of time with the farmer, but he wouldn't have kept something like that from her, right? No, there was no way that... Unless Dominic himself made him promise like he did with Lod. Elise struggled to find a solution.

Do we really need to terrorize the priest, after all? No... I am overthinking it.

In that moment they were passing in front of old Gerna's house. The woman waved at them with her usual grin, but addressed exclusively Roric.

"Good morning, my boy. Still around here?"

Everything about her, from her mocking tone to the smug attitude she always had, pushed Elise's already wavering tolerance to the limit. She was just a big mouth who didn't even leave her house. All she kept living for were empty gossip and talking trash to anyone who got too close to her window.

"Greetings, ma'am," replied Roric, without giving any sign of being upset. "Yes, mister Dominic allowed me to stay."

"I see. What I can't understand, however, is what you brought you and your girl to the village since early in the morning. I saw you running around. In a hurry."

"I'm not his girl!" complained Elise. "Gerna, one of these days you are going to bite that forked tongue of yours off."

"Calm down," whispered Roric. "We are just talking."

The girl stopped, giving him a puzzled look. He had obviously met that old hag before and she was showing to be well disposed towards him. Maybe he wanted to use that to his advantage, to gather some pieces of knowledge. Yet, Elise felt another weird vibe crawling under her skin.

What... This is not the moment or the place. Dominic needs help. I'll have all the time as I want to be jealous when we get home.

"Not only we are in a hurry, Gerna," said Roric. "We also have a big problem. The farmer has something he won't talk other people about. He even went to the priest and told him to keep his mouth shut."

"I know that, lad," answered the old lady. "Every time he comes up here, I see him passing in front of the window."

"He's been doing this for a long time. Elise herself doesn't know a thing, and has lived with him since she was little. Do you know anything about this story?"

Something sparked inside the old woman's eyes. She had taken the bait.

What a big mouth.

"We asked around, and nobody knows," commented the girl, trying to emulate the tone of the women of the village when they were gossiping. "Isn't his family supposed to be informed, at least?"

Gerna's smile quietly turned into a more serious expression. She let out a deep sigh.

"I told him it was a bad idea to keep it hidden from you. You are... A smart girl. She will notice it, I said. Trust old Gerna. But it seems like he didn't listen, as always."

Elise held her breath.

It worked? This might be the first time I witness the miracle of Gerna being helpful. Still, I fear what she's about to say...

"The truth is simple, girl," declared the woman. "Your Dominic is dying. He's been dying for quite some time, now. He's been making trips to the temple with increasing frequency since last Autumn. Lately, Lod told him that he couldn't slow down his decay anymore. Sorry, but I don't know how long he's going to last."

The girl's mouth went wide open, but no sound came out of it. She just turned around and ran, leaving Roric and Gerna there.

Everyone dies, sooner or later.

Still, her tears couldn't accept it.

***

--- Roric

"You already knew, am I right? It's written all over your face, lad."

"I did, but he made me promise to keep it for myself," answered Roric. "But he never said that someone couldn't tell her on my behalf. I should apologize for that."

With a bitter laugh, the woman reached for the shutters.

"She is going to need you when that fool dies. Don't waste time here and get back home."

The boy nodded, even if she had already closed the window. She was the biggest mouth in the entire village, that was sure. Yet, Gerna still possessed something similar to a heart.

***

When Roric arrived at the farm, Elise was nowhere to be found.

Only Dominic was there, sitting on the bench with his pipe lit and a gloomy face. He glared at the boy as he got closer but waited until he was near to speak.

"I hope it wasn't you who told her. That would be a big disappointment."

"I didn't say a word, mister," Roric reassured him. "I just helped her as she followed the threads."

The farmer coughed a bit and chuckled.

"You really are trustworthy. I didn't know what to say to her, to be honest. It might sound stupid at this point, but... The right thing to do was being honest from the start."

"Now that Elise knows, it's better if you two spend some more time together. At least to clear whatever doubts you have towards each other."

Dominic shook his head.

"Roric," he asked. "Do you think that I'm a bad person?"

"No, not at all."

"And why is that?"

"Because no matter what you did in the past," explained Roric. "You care for Elise and you have always been at her side."

The old man, however, sighed and took a mouthful of smoke from the pipe.

"Yes. Always hiding her away from the outside world. Always telling her half truths and keeping secrets... Now that my life is closing its end, I'm really starting to regret that promise I made many years ago."

"Why can't you simply leave that promise behind and tell her everything she wants to hear?"

"I..." replied Dominic. "I just can't, that's all. Maybe one day you'll understand."

He isn't going to give her what she wants, even in the face of death. It must be of vital importance to him.

"How much time do you have?" the boy asked.

"I should already be dead," stated the farmer. "Lod's magic has been the only thing that kept me going for many months now. That's why I asked if you were going to stop here for a while."

"What is going to happen after you die?"

"I have one last thing to do, but I can't allow anyone to know the details. I hope you won't pry this time. It's for Elise's safety."

Roric huffed. He was getting really tired of all those secrets.

"Fine, keep it for yourself. Tell me where she went."

"That way, along the river. We argued and she ran off, but she didn't have the look of someone who would have gone far from here."

"Better for you if she didn't," concluded the boy. "I'll bring her back."

***

After searching for some time, Roric finally stumbled into the place when he and Elise were used to train with spears since a while before.

There she is.

The girl was frantically fending off invisible enemies, her beautiful eyes blinded by rage. She didn't even notice him approaching and almost moved to impale him in her rampage. Roric was ready to dodge, but didn't make any sudden move in order not to scare her.

"Hey."

Elise's expression was beyond desperate. Her cheeks were wet with tears, her hair wild and disheveled. The boy took the spear from her trembling hands and enveloped her between his arms.

"I'm here for you."

"You say that now. You too... You will leave me too."

A broken voice.

"Don't be silly. I'm not going anywhere."

The girl cried and cried, and Roric didn't let go of her until she was done.

After that stubborn man dies, she won't be alone. That's a promise.