[POV: Solenne]
Solenne didn't expect him to return a few days later.
The bell above the apothecary door jingled mid-afternoon as the winter sun cast long golden beams across the counter. Solenne looked up from her mortar and pestle to find Thalos, cloak damp from melted snow, standing with an awkward half-smile.
"…It's my leg," he said, almost sheepishly. "It feels like it's on fire today."
Solenne scrutinized him silently for a moment, immediately recognizing his bluff. He wasn't in much pain at all—he just wanted to return.
She gestured him inside, her heart beating wildly with excitement. Perhaps he remembered her?
As she guided him to the cushioned seat they reserved for patients and retrieved the salve, she noticed how his eyes lingered on the apothecary walls. He looked at everything like it was familiar and alien, as if it were a memory just out of reach.
