[POV: Solenne]
Solenne didn't sleep well after that night.
Dreams that didn't make sense plagued her, and the details slipped from her mind the moment her eyes opened each morning. She woke with a dull ache in her chest and an itch beneath her skin, feelings that had become normal since reawakening in the cave.
The next morning at Thistle & Thread was slow. Alde stayed in bed with a minor cold, leaving Solenne to tend to the apothecary herself. She didn't mind the quiet. As much as she had come to enjoy Alde's company, it was pleasant to have time to herself occasionally.
It was late morning, and Solenne was grinding a poultice with a mortar and pestle when the bell over the front door jingled.
She looked up, expecting a familiar miner or a child with frostbitten fingers.
…Instead, it was Emric.
She scanned his hands expectantly, but he didn't have a parcel this time. He didn't even have his messenger bag on him.
