just another graceless night

Amalia

the shield of safrin

"Not putrid, I suppose, so much as infected." Phoebe's cells come to mind, the blight eating into them like a monstrous thing. Honey is unlikely to prevent that onslaught (Vi knows, nothing else has), but it is as good a solution as she can come up with for now. "My grandmother used to say that bees were magic. That they were messengers of Rae, doing Their work upon the world." Her mother had scoffed off these declarations, but Amalia knew she believed it a little.

That the bite is fresh does not surprise her. But the scratches... those should have healed better by now. "Did you try anything for them?" she asks, finishing her work and tucking the cloth into itself, the man now fully bandaged, his skin almost invisible beneath white cloth.

His mention that the blighted are getting worse makes Amalia stiffen her spine. "Yes," the baker agrees tersely. "And not just the humans." She's seen Ronin, too, and the ones at the Spire. The effects of the illness have been devastating to all the infected, and time is slipping through their fingers.

Reaching out for Remi's arm, Amalia tries to guide him out of the bathroom. "Come on. I brought lunch, and I'll send a note to Evie for some more herbs. And I... I could use a drink, I think. As could you."

you are slowly growing

but you are still growing

and that is enough