A partially gloved hand brushed aside the curtain of vines, revealing the open mouth of what seemed to be a cavern. The distant plip plopping of water echoed off the rock walls, the tiny pitter patters of little feet of the creatures who inhabited the cavern in between. Yang raised her torch in front of her, the light of her fire flashing on the damp walls, turning them a glistening gray-orange. She only spared one moment of hesitation, enough to inhale a calming breath before pushing past the curtain of low-hanging vines and into the cave.
Her soft-soled boots made no sound against the hard floor, only catching on the occasional stick, fewer and further between the deeper she travelled. As the bright daylight that streamed through the thick canopied forest grew distant behind, so did the twittering of birds and the buzzing of insects. Only the sound of dripping water and her own breath calling back to her from the dark confines of the cavern filled the silence. Her fire was the beacon of light and warmth as the cold tendrils of isolation and darkness snaked around her, catching her ankles and whispering in her thick locks of golden hair.
A sane person would've turned back by now. No, a sane person would've turned back long ago, before the cave even was giving the opportunity to swallow them up, erasing their existence from the rest of the world.
Yang considered herself a sane person and would've agreed with any who called her trek a rather reckless one. But she also considered herself a loving person and a caregiver and, in this circumstance as with many involving her little sister, her bleeding heart easily triumphed over her rational mind.
It was with this thought in mind that Yang pushed forward, concentrating on keeping one foot in front of the other and gaze straight ahead. She feared that if she dared a glance back, even if just to check her progress she would lose her resolve and, in turn, let down Ruby.
And so she kept her head held high, until the low dip of the ceiling forced her to hunch over. The rough surface of rock pressed down against her spine, scraping the skin beneath her thin travel jacket, digging into her shoulder blades. The walls on her sides narrowed, pressing closer to her and causing her to keep her elbows tucked to her waist. Soon enough the vice grip of suffocation took her, her breath drawing short and her muscles aching from being so cramped together. She eventually had to leave her torch behind, putting it out with a convenient puddle of water before abandoning it on the floor, its use to her now fulfilled. The darkness wasted no time, leaping that final bound to consume her to end its pursuit. The darkness wrapped around her, enhancing the feeling of suffocation and in a desperate attempt to avoid being crushed, Yang pressed her hands against the jagged edges of the wall, letting the cavern that was so intent on becoming the location of her tomb become her guide to the exit.
At least, a white disk of salvation reached her line of sight - first a mere pinprick, growing to the size of the pad of her thumb, and eventually the size of the moon, mid-rise into the night sky: the exit. The dark tendrils released their hold on her lungs, the walls softened their weight on her limbs as she grew nearer and nearer, the sweet dewy taste of fresh air beckoning her forward. In no time at all Yang had lunged through the hole, landing on her hands and knees on a smooth patch of stone as she regained her bearings.
Taking her time to adjust to the light and the wind that freely played with her hair, caressing her cheeks in a gesture of how much she was missed, Yang lifted her head to assess her new surroundings.
On the other side of the mountain that she had just crawled through, the forest continued on, trees sprouting and vines swinging, uninterrupted by the large pointed rocks jutting from the ground. This one wasn't nearly as dense as the one Yang had just come from, but still served a rather habitable and resourceful spot for any creatures that lived here. The ground past the slab of stone she sat on sloped downward, leading to a large circle of more clustered forest in the center. The slope circled around the range of mountains, lining the base of them with greenery and life, moss and vines clinging to their base, edging up in a feeble attempt to traverse them completely.
The range of mountains cut through this particular area without mercy, an exception to this rule the very place Yang was standing now. A line of them wrapped around the outer edges of this isolated forest, enclosing it in what Yang could only describe as a sanctuary. The sturdy rock acted as a barrier, effectively dissuading those who played with the inkling of an idea to discover and explore the little patch of forest, disrupting the harmony that lilted within in a demure tune.
From the vegetation in the forest below, filled to the brim with an assortment of plants and grasses to the isolation provided in the shadow of the towering mountains, one would find this an ideal place to practice their study in peace and quiet.
Particularly a study involving herbs.
To her right there was a set of stairs, narrow and crudely made being etched into the side of the mountain. Rubble and decay littered the steps, making them a questionable mode of transport that only those truly desperate would be advised to take them. Yang rose to her feet and dusted of the dirt from her hands and knees. Unfortunately for her, she was one of those desperate bastards.
The staircase wasn't very long, but they lasted much longer than Yang felt safe being on them, losing footing every so often and grappling on thin air to regain balance lest she want to fall to her doom to the very bottom of the forest floor. The leafy canopies looked soft enough to break her fall, but she had no intention to test her theory and decided to stick close to the side of the mountain.
She reached the top eventually, sweat beaded on her brow and lungs heaving. The decrepit stone staircase opened up to the flat top of an overhang. Up here there were glasshouses stationed on the edge, the best position to soak up sunlight. There were two, the larger of the duo situated further away where it took up a large portion of the back half of the overhang. It's wide stature was the first and easily most noticeable thing upon climbing up the many stairs, the slanting glass roof reflecting the sun just so that Yang could feel its warmth but avoided being blinded by its light.
To her left was the second greenhouse. It was as big as a decent-sized shack, but sturdier. Between these two houses was a simple rock garden, a small fountain sprouting from the center. Sitting beside the fountain was a dark man, hair as green as the herbs he now studied carefully before him, a necklace of tattoos around his neck.
Yang straightened up and strode forward, her pace quick and confident, her eyes determined and hard. This was the man she was looking for, the herbalist who could help her cure her sick sister.
He did not look up as she approached, but Yang could tell that he was aware of her presence by the way his hands absentmindedly continued the task before him, his shadowed eyes flitting between the open tome sitting on a stool beside him and the ground before her boots.
"My sister is sick and I need some of your herbs to help her get better."
Forward and to the point, just the way she liked it. However it seemed that the man did not share her views on this matter, the corners of his mouth pulling into a frown and his brow furrowing into the bridge of his nose. When he finally lifted his head to look at her, his small, golden eyes pierced right through her chest, sharp and insulted.
Yang coughed into her fist and shuffled her feet. "Please."
Her lackadaisical addition to her initial demand did nothing to soften his gaze, but did prompt him to set aside his work to meet her in height. This, of course, being said figuratively because when he stood it was very clear immediately that he easily had some inches on her. Now tilting her head back to look him in the face Yang felt more intimidated than ever, struggling to remind herself that this man was simply an herbalist. They were not ones for violence of anything of the related nature, opting to remain neutral if not downright peaceful. Just when she had comforted herself with this little tidbit her eyes drifted downwards, catching on the glint of a silver, ragged-edged blade sheathed at his hip, just underneath his white coat.
The blonde gulped, snapping her gaze back to his face, trying to push the sight of it from her mind. She had no reason to fear the man….at least that's what everyone had insisted when they told her of him.
After a few more seconds of their staring match, Yang realized that this would ultimately going nowhere and precious seconds were being wasted, seconds she could be using to return to Ruby, seconds that were currently being used to diminish her current health.
Trying another approach, Yang unclenched her jaw and softened her features, her eyes wavering as she looked up pleadingly at the dark-skinned man, finding his simmering golden eyes and locking them with her own.
"Please," she repeated in a whisper.
Whether it was her final plea that broke him down or his own volition Yang couldn't discern for he stood there a few seconds more, expression unchanging even in the face of Yang's desperation. But he did eventually move, shifting his weight backwards so he no longer loomed over her much shorter stature and turned to his side, picking up the tome in one large hand, balancing it on his palm. He waved his hand towards her, motioning her to follow as he began walking towards the larger greenhouse, its set of double doors wide open.
The previously hot and humid air gave way to even hotter and more humid air as they stepped inside the building. Yang could feel herself immediately break out into an intense sweat as they walked down the aisles of tables topped with different plants and herbs. She unzipped her travel jacket and pulled uncomfortably at the collar, hoping to rid herself of the stuffy feeling that filled her lungs up like cotton, doubling the effort to breathe.
In front of her the herbalist walked, cool and calm, probably used to this sort of environment by now. His white coat, open and baring his chest, made much more sense now. The tail of it billowed out behind him, catching on a breeze Yang desperately wished to reach her and cool her down.
"Symptoms?"
Yang snapped out of her self-wallowing, racking her melted brain as she processed his sudden and short question. "Um...burning fever but she still gets cold chills, upset stomach and vomiting sometimes, she gets tired a lot too….and she sometimes has these real awful coughing fits that tear her throat right up…" She trailed off, remembering the state her little sister was in, the dull, lifeless gleam in her eyes, the frailty of her bones, her ceaseless coughing fits that sometimes resulted in blood...Her eyes misted over and she raised a hand to one of them, catching the tear that threatened to fall. Ruby looked as close to death as one could get while still breathing and she had left her behind.
Pushing that thought from her mind with the reminder that she was doing it to save her, Yang cleared her throat, coming to stand next to the man who now was fingering a bushel of leaves poking out of a bed of dirt. "So you…you have something for her, right?"
He didn't answer her right away and although she had half the mind to ask again, this time more demanding and backed by her fire-licked hair, she restrained herself, thoughts flashing back to the knife holstered on his hip. She was confident enough in her skill as a fighter to not worry about losing to a knife, but it was more the man wielding it than the blade itself that she was wary of. So she pressed her lips together, keeping silent and waiting not so patiently as the sage haired man continued his inspection, molten eyes glancing back to his text every so often as if to confirm something.
She couldn't help but jump when he snapped his book shut with one hand. Standing to full height again he looked over to her, giving her a curt nod - the answer to her previous question. All sense of annoyance left her, leaving her light and feathery, like a bird ready to soar above the clouds. Her heart beat faster, unburdened with the lead weight previously resting there and her lungs expanded with a gasp of relief.
"Thank you." Her voice wavered and she took a moment to clear his throat, blinking back tears of gratitude before speaking again. "Thank you so much. She means the world to me."
He seemed to understand, or rather, Yang pretended that he did, because as before his expression remained unchanged. It was probably a normal thing for him, to keep the same face no matter the circumstance, so she didn't ponder it too heavily. After all, now that she knew that her trip here was not a lost cause, her only thoughts were getting back to her beloved Ruby and nursing her back to full health with a little extra help from the medicine this man would provide her.
A sudden weight dropped into her hands, bringing her back down, ripping her head from the clouds. Yang looked down, seeing the thick tome that the man was just carrying, quirking an eyebrow in question.
"Take this inside for me," he said softly, but the authority laced in those words hinted more towards a command than a request. "I will be inside shortly to provide you something to eat and prepare your bedding." He walked back over to the plants he was investigating earlier, plucking a few leaves from one of the bushels. "For now, you should rest. You have travelled far; you must be tired."
Yang scoffed and let the book hang carelessly at her side, propped on her hip. "Look, I appreciate the hospitality but I really need to get going back to my sister now. Just...wrap up those herbs and I'll be on my way."
Gold eyes shot towards her and Yang nearly lost her grip on the book. His eyes, so bright against his dark skin, were not easy to miss, and certainly more difficult to draw your attention from once you had caught sight of them. The look behind them was even more unnerving than their burning intensity.
"You misunderstand my actions as ones of hospitality." His gaze redirected to the herbs in his hand, recounting the leaves he had collected. "Your medicine will not be ready until morning. This is your only option." He walked past her to the other end of the greenhouse, his coat tail brushing her shin when he passed. "Unless, of course, you want to return to your sister without my herbs."
She stormed out of the greenhouse, book clutched tightly in her hands, the leather edges singeing in her unbound rage.
For someone who would supposedly be calm and insightful, a trait one would eventually pick up after years of isolation with only the occasional visitor, the guy sure was a prick. Sure, Yang hadn't given him the best of "hello"s either, but in her defense that wasn't an excuse to be all prickly with her.
But even so, the blonde had to (begrudgingly) admit, the dude had a nice set up. His abode was a simple one, something expected of someone who lived on the side of a mountain in the middle of a place invisible to the naked eye, but it's simplicity was not to be confused for lack of class or interest. It was no castle by far, but to call it a simple hut would be out of line as well.
The house was one story, plain with a flat roof placed off to the left of the large greenhouse, shoved as close to the wall of the mountain as could be without the two meshing together as one. Its exterior was made up of plain slabs of wood, a modern-day cabin. It wasn't very large, a small square that broke off into a longer rectangle towards the back, forming an "L" shape, the corner home to a patch of flowers, blocked off by small stones.
The inside mirrored the outside: simplistic in design and minimalist in just about everything else. The lack of furniture was unsettling, the place not really feeling like a proper home without a proper couch or armchair shoved off to one side, but Yang supposed that when you lived alone such things had no place in a home and would only serve as decoration. The thought sent a pang through her heart and, for the first time since her arrival, she felt a hand of sympathy reaching out for the herbalist.
What the house lacked in furniture it made up for in space. The first room she stepped into, his living room she presumed by the glass coffee table littered with crushed up leaves and plucked petals and opened books, wasn't very large but gave the impression that it was with the utter lack of...well, anything. In the center of the room was the coffee table, a single throw pillow, red and fraying, placed in front of it, facing the far wall that was bare and dry.
Yang frowned. Well, this place certainly seemed to reflect the owner's personality, she'll give it that much.
Setting the heavy tome down on the table she took a seat on the pillow, resting her head on her folded arms. She'd have to give him another thing too - she was pretty exhausted from her journey. And now, sitting comfortably on this pillow in the warm silence of his house made her awfully sleepy, her eyelids drooping with the weighted silence, and everything faded away….
When she awoke the sun had set, and she heard noise to her left - the telltale whistle of a hot kettle. Erectifying herself and stretching out the kinks in her joints, Yang let out a yawn. Her nap hadn't been a long one, thirty minutes at the longest, but it was enough for the stiffness to settle into her bones and the numbness to take her right arm and hand. Shaking the useless limb vigorously, rubbing it to regain feeling which came in a rush of pinpricks and static, Yang stood from her seat, shuffling over quietly to the kitchen. Standing over a low, wood-carved table was the herbalist, pouring steaming hot water into two short wooden cups then dropping small leaves into the drink; Yang could smell the mint from her place in the doorway.
Crossing the miniscule distance between them and standing next to him, Yang happily picked up one of the cups with her left hand, the heat seeping through the wood into her fingers. She lifted her cup, a smirk on her face with a quiet "Cheers!" before lifting it to her mouth, downing it all in one go, leaf and all. When she lowered her cup she revealed the stunned expression of the herbalist, not quite as comical as she had hoped, but a nice change of pace from his neutral expression earlier.
And, just for kicks, she pursed her lips, blowing out a small dose of fire, followed by a thin trail of smoke.
"What can I say? Heat's kinda my thing."
Instead of humoring her with an answer as she had hoped, the man simply blew on his own tea before taking a careful sip. She let it pass though, satisfied enough with his earlier reaction. Hopping up on the table and crossing her legs, chest thrust forward and blonde curls falling down her back, she offered up a sweet smile, blindly hoping that her posture and demeanor would invoke a response from him, if not at least a reprimand for her to get off his table.
But he remained stoic and silent, as to be expected. It was kind of getting on her nerves, but a quick refresher of earlier in the greenhouse reminded the blonde that just about everything this guy had done so far today had done the same.
The silence remained over them, further dissolving the bliss gained from Yang's catnap. Just as the man finished with his tea, she hopped off the table, making her way back to the living room to do...something.
When he returned later again that night Yang found herself counting the pages of the large tome again, having lost count twenty minutes prior when her mind had wandered back to home, to Ruby. She perked up upon hearing his entrance, not necessarily glad that he was back but that now she had something else to do other than count pages that were already numbered.
A head of green hair appeared in the doorway, drenched with moisture and if Yang listened closely, she could hear the soothing quiet of the pitter patter of soft rainfall. Water beaded down his neck, rolling along his collarbone to his chest, pooling in the subtle abs imprinted on his skin. His white coat was removed, his bare skin finally naked and free, the groves of his chiseled muscle glinting in the low light of the house.
Yang quirked an eyebrow and smirked to herself. He wasn't much of a conversationalist but at least she could ogle him to her heart's content.
Without even bothering to find something to dry himself with he stepped into the living room and Yang moved aside, letting him take her previous place on the pillow. Silently he opened one of the books in the stack to his right, setting it right on top of the already opened ancient tome that Yang had been flipping through, and settled down to read. He procured a pen and notebook, scribbling notes in the margins of the book and crookedly on the lines of the notebook, going back and forth in his mad dash to record...something.
Yang watched all of this from the side, hands resting in her lap, lilac eyes following every stroke of the pen. They sat there silently, Yang basking in the presence of her host, said host absorbed entirely in his small flames dancing on the wicks of the two candles he had laid out on the table shed just enough light to illuminate his work, an orange glow cast across the pages and aging them beyond their years. He worked diligently, his golden eyes focused, his hand steady as it scrawled notes, his breathing calm and regular, almost as if he were asleep.
She watched him work in fascination, almost forgetting the reason she was here in the first place. He wasn't doing anything particularly interesting, but it was in watching the rhythm of his motions that mimicked the spinning hands of a clock that allowed her to easily pass time, calming watching the hands spin, calming watching his hand glide, his eyes shift, his chest rise and fall. Like clockwork, she found it luring her into a gentle state, bordering the lax of sleep but granting her the attentiveness of being awake.
The question passed her lips without a thought.
"Do you like it? Living here alone?"
And like clockwork, his motions did not cease nor falter, but remained steady and timed, keeping to the rhythm that sang to her like a lullaby, keeping her at ease. "Sometimes it is nice."
She blinked lethargically and brought her knees to her chest, resting her chin on them. "And sometimes it's not?"
This time he didn't answer, only glancing up at her huddled form beside the table, briefly disrupting his routine before falling back into it seamlessly. He worked like this for a few more minutes, and Yang could feel the haziness of sleep creeping up on her. So she began to hum in the hopes it would keep her alert, her concentration on carrying out a mindless tune requiring her to, at the very least, stay awake, even though her eyelids drooped halfway down. Her humming did not startle her companion, but it did catch his attention if his sudden shift of movement were any indication. And so they sat there, Yang humming her tone while the herbalist scrawled and scribbled, dashing out lines of notes and hastily writing replacements. This continued until the candles had burned halfway down, copious amounts of wax dripping down the sides, the flames dancing vivaciously, knowing their days were numbered.
By this time Yang was still humming, her tune slower with many pauses before she remembered to pick it back up. A wide-set hand rested on her shoulder and with bleary eyes she looked up to see that headful of green hair and those golden eyes looking down on her.
"It is time for you to rest. You have a long journey home in the morning."
She didn't bother to argue, not that she really wanted to either. With the help of her host she rose to her feet, patting down the wrinkles in her clothes before letting herself be led down the hallway to what she assumed was the back of the house, the one nearest the wall of the mountain. There he presented to her the room she was to sleep in for the night, small and plain, a simple, thin mat laid out in the middle of the floor. Yang fell upon it immediately, hardly noticing the lack of padding it provided, and fell asleep in a single breath.
The next morning the ground was damp and the forest below smelled of dew and musk, coating the air in its sickly sweet scent. The air felt more humid than it had the day before, but this time a chill accompanied it, the sun not yet at its full height to provide its full potential of heat. A soft mist hung in the air, wafting around trees and vegetation, hanging low near the base of the mountains, swirling with the air currents.
Yang rose early, neck stiff and back aching, suddenly regretting sleeping on the thin mat as she had. But she brushed her discomfort aside, favoring instead to dress as quickly as possible and rushing through the house to the front door, jogging over to the large greenhouse that overlooked the precipice that loomed above the forest pooled below them. The doors were open as they were yesterday and when she entered she saw the dark man scooping a pile of crushed herbs into a wooden container, small enough to fit into the palm of her hand. After securing the lid he turned and handed it to her, offering instructions on what to do with it after she returned to her ailing sister.
With a hearty "thank you" and vibrant smile, Yang took a step back, offering a shallow bow to the man before bouncing back up, bubbly and full of energy as ever. Now that she had received what she had come for she could return to Ruby and aid her back onto the path of good health. Giving a slight wave of her hand Yang turned and jogged back through the greenhouse, only to pause with her hand on the door and throw a glance back over her shoulder.
"Your name." Molten eyes blinked at her. "What is it?"
"Sage."
Yang nodded to herself, mouthing the name and feeling the way her tongue rolled with the absent sound. With another grin she turned back to face him, backing slowly out the door and into the rock garden.
"My name is Yang! Thanks for all your help!"
And with a dash back into the house to grab her things, tucking the container carefully away, Yang sprinted down the steps, a large grin on her face and an extra lift under her feet.
A/N: This is my first entry for RWBY Relationship Week! It's a tad bit late (I was super busy this weekend and simply did not have the time). But better late than never, right?
It was a bit difficult coming up with something for Sage since the guy hasn't had any screentime, but I think I did alright. If not, lemme know.
I'll try and get my 2nd and third entires up tomorrow, but no promises!