Chapter 21

»The dress suits ya.« Pit's voice was like a razor cutting through Tivon. »What a shame I didn't know earlier that you work here.«

»P-please leave me alone.« Said Tivon, his voice weak.

Pit came closer, tightening his grip on Tivon. »What did ya say shary?«

It took all of Tivon's energy to scream and push himself away from Pit. »Leave me alone!«

Pit grabbed him even tighter and pulled him closer. »Huh?! Ya dare to tell me what to do?«

Then suddenly, a woman stepped between them and pushed Pit away, causing Tivon to fall. »Didn't you hear him? He said to leave him alone!«

Pit scowled at her, said something to himself and left with the crowd. He knew better than to mess with a woman.

The woman turned around. »Are you okay?«

Tivon nodded. The woman with long light brown hair dressed in a beautiful long blue dress offered him her hand. Tivon accepted it and she pulled him to his feet. »I hate to see you boys working with these horrible people.«

The sleeve on her hand moved, revealing wounds all over her hand. Tivon recognized them. Anasities. He caught them when he was six. If you caught them, you got these unusual wounds all over your body and a fever, but it was nothing serious.

»Anasities.«

The woman quickly covered her hand. »I-it's not contagious, I swear.«

»Oh, I know, I had them as a child.«

Her eyes suddenly glowed up with hope. »There's a cure?«

»Yes.«

The woman looked around and then at Tivon. »What's your name?«

»T-Tivon.«

»Okay. My poor son has these, and he is struggling a lot. Nobody knows what this is. Right now, I'm running late and I don't have time to talk. I'll arrange a visit at The Jade Paradise with you so we can talk in peace.« The woman was talking so fast that Tivon had a problem comprehending all the information. Before he could say anything to her, she was already rushing up the street.

Tivon felt delusional. I need to get some sleep tonight. Before he could overthink what just happened, he headed inside The Jade Paradise for his morning visit.

Tivon managed to stay awake throughout his first visit of the day. He didn't know if he was just tired or if it was just the fact there were so many things happening that Tivon couldn't comprehend anymore. He wanted to go to sleep, but he had a customer right after his morning visit.

He moved towards the room that was assigned to him. When he opened the door the woman in a blue dress whom he met earlier in the morning, was standing by the window. Tivon had already forgotten that he had met her.

»Oh, welcome.« Said Tivon bowing to her.

»No need for that.« She smiled. She rolled up her sleeve revealing the unusual wounds. »You said you know what this is.«

Tivon came closer and examined it more carefully now. »Yes, this is Anasities.«

The woman looked worried. »Is it deadly?«

»No, it's not.« Tivon nodded off. »But if you don't treat it in time it can leave some bad consequences.«

The woman looked at him with worried eyes. »How long?«

»About two years.«

He could see the relief in her eyes. »You said there's a cure.«

»Yes. Oligies. It's an orange flower, and when it's mixed with milk it helps with the Anasities. Just a glass of it gets rid of the fever in minutes and in a couple of hours it slowly gets rid of wounds, but it'll take some time for the wounds to fully disappear.«

»Where can I get these flowers?« Asked the woman, rolling down her sleeve.

»I saw them on the market square up the street. They may be called something different here.« He looked at her. »But they can be expensive.«

»That's okay. Anything for my son. Poor sweet thing has been struggling for weeks and nobody wanted to see him, because they thought it's contagious.« She smiled, and Tivon could see the hope spark in her eyes. »But now he'll be okay.«

Tivon then got to the drawer and pulled out a notebook and a pen. He stepped to the table and started drawing the Oligy flower and writing all the stuff she'd need to do. When he finished, he handed her the paper.

»If you'll have problems finding it, this is how it looks. Make the milk mixture once a week.« The woman carefully took the paper. »Just make sure you hid it away from the guards.«

»You can write? And all these things that you know...« She looked up from the paper. »Why do you choose to work here? With this knowledge, you could do so much more.«

Tivon didn't know how to answer her.

"Well, it doesn't matter." The woman took Tivon's hands and hid the paper in her sleeve. »Thank you so much Tivon. I'll make sure to pay you back in some way.«

»You really don't have to. You already had to pay to get here. Save the money for the flowers.«

She smiled. »Don't worry about that.« She opened the door and turned to Tivon. »Thank you again.«

And just like that, she left, leaving Tivon alone with his thoughts. He sighed and headed towards his cell, hoping that he'd manage to sleep.

Fortunately, he didn't have any visits for the rest of the day. He fell on the uncomfortable bed and fell asleep.

The sleep wasn't pleasant. Tivon would wake up every five minutes, moving over to the other side of the bed, his body in pain from the week of tiredness.

He was fully woken up by the bell. She needs me. He slowly moved out of the bed and headed to her office. Luana was sitting by the table, her angry eyes fixed on Tivon.

»Sit down.« She said her voice sharp.

Tivon quickly sat down, his heart pounding, all of his tiredness washing away. Did she find out I was in her office?

»I heard you've been doing a really good job.« She leaned slightly forward. »An unusually good job.«

She stood up from her table and started walking around the room. »Today a woman came to me after your visit, and she paid quite a lot of money. I wasn't surprised, a lot of your customers leave a lot of money.« She moved to her drawer and opened it. »A lot money for a boy that's been here for just a week.«

Tivon's heart was racing fast. She knows.

Luana took out one of her silver knives. »But earlier she came back, giving you even more money.« She turned to Tivon. »A lot more money. She said that you changed her life. Turns out she is the daughter of a wealthy Baron.« She started walking towards him, fidgeting the knife in her hands. »Tell me Tivon…« she moved to him, brushing the non-sharp part of the knife against his cheek. Tivon was paralyzed, unable to move. »What's your secret?«

She moved around him like a snake waiting to catch its prey. »What's your technique?« She was smoothly moving her long nails across his shoulders. »Is it the way you talk? Is it the way you touch them?« She moved her lips to his ear and whispered. »Or is it just the way you look?«

Tivon didn't dare to move, he even forgot to breathe.

She moved her knife to his back. »It's not okay to keep secrets from me marily.«

Tivon could feel the point of the knife against his right shoulder.

»Don't worry. I'll figure it out in time.« She moved the knife away and stepped to her drawer. »But for now, I'll look through it.«

Tivon allowed himself to breathe when she put the knife back where she got it from.

»You make me quite a lot of money.« She grabbed something from the shelf. She came back to Tivon, took his hand, and put a green bracelet in his hand.

»I never had a jade boy skip a rank.« She peered through him with a fierce look. »Don't make me regret it.«

She went back to her table and sat down. »My sister saw you two days ago. She asked me about you.« She smiled viciously.

Tivon was still sitting in his chair, looking at the green bracelet, unable to move.

»Maybe you're lucky and she'll want to visit you.« Tivon looked at her. »I'll have to think about it though.« She took her quellazaire and lit it up. »Go now.«

She didn't have to tell him twice, because Tivon's body moved on its own and he was outside the office in a minute.

He almost ran to his cell, closed the curtains, and cuddled out in the corner of the bed. That was too close. His body was shaking. He could feel every touch, every whisper of her on him.

That was too close. She was too close.