p class="MsoNormal"Chapter span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span6/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Leo stood in his temporary bedroom holding the letter; he was going to send with Usagi for his brothers. The morning sun streamed in through the windows carrying with it some of the first fallen leaves of fall. He watched as they spun and danced about on the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"He was nervous. Yesterday had been all about diplomacy, even if he had fumbled it a little. Today however he was starting his venture with courtship. He had faced many dangers and fought against great odds… apparently to the point of becoming a bit of a legend. And never would he have expected that the idea of getting to know a woman would make him feel this unsure of himself./p
p class="MsoNormal"Someone knocked at the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes, come in." Leo said as he made his was across the room./p
p class="MsoNormal"Usagi opened the door and entered, followed by the chameleon servant. Leo was mentally calling him Bob./p
p class="MsoNormal""Do you have it ready?"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanUsagi asked./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leo answered by handing Usagi the letter. "Here. Thanks for doing all the foot work, Usagi."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Not a problem, my friend. I will return with your brother's quickly."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Not too quickly. I could use a little time…"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Usage smiled knowingly. "You would like to get to know the lord's daughters without their intrusion. You will have time. It did take us a week to get here."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh." Leo glanced at Bob then back to Usagi. "I didn't realize you were taking the same rout back to my home." He stated, thinking Usagi was going back across the ocean as opposed to just finding a hidden spot to open the portal back to third earth./p
p class="MsoNormal"Usagi glanced at Bob, who raised an eye ridge, then back at Leo. "I am not. But I will come back here the same way."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leo nodded. "A week then."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Usagi style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe and Leo then both looked at Bob expectantly, unsure of exactly why he had followed Usagi into the room in the first place./p
p class="MsoNormal""I am to bring you to breakfast." Bob stated./p
p class="MsoNormal""A week and breakfast?" Usagi suggested with a glance toward Leo./p
p class="MsoNormal""A week and breakfast." Leonardo agreed. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Breakfast was…noisy. Everyone that had been at dinner the night before was in attendance, plus Min and Emry. Rayen and Lyra had already left for guard duty so they were not included in the excited babble. Leo honestly wasn't sure which conversation to follow, and as his friend had eaten quickly and made leave for his journey, Leo was feeling a little…/p
p class="MsoNormal""Anachorism."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leonardo blinked at Min who was looking at him expectantly from across the table. "I'm sorry what?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""You look as though you are feeling like an anachorism." Min stated before taking a bite of her fruit dabbled porridge./p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't know if I should be insulted or flattered." Leo replied./p
p class="MsoNormal"Emry let out a small giggle as she shook her head. "Don't be either. No one knows what she is talking about."/p
p class="MsoNormal""You act as if I don't speak plainly." Min frowned at her sister./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well that's because you don't." Shrugging, Emery took a bight of her fruity porridge./p
p class="MsoNormal"Min turned her frown to Leonardo. "I thought as a man of the world you would read at least occasionally."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I do." Leo defended against the possible insult. "I just like to read about history and strategy mostly."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hmm." Min hummed. "An anachorism is something that is geographically out of place or foreign in a country."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Ah. Well I would say that I am the very definition of anachorism then, being foreign and all." Leo pushed his porridge around his bowl. "Where I am from we call that 'feeling out of place'"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Min's attention had shifted to scraping out the last of her porridge from her bowl. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Well, hopefully we will be able to make you feel more at home quickly." She spared Leonardo a sweet smile before taking her last bite of porridge. "Perhaps you should start your courtship with Emry. I am dealing with a difficult patient here shortly…"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Ms. Lupnick?" Emry asked/p
p class="MsoNormal"Min nodded. "The woman is healthy as a horse, but insists that she is dying from every known illness. "/p
p class="MsoNormal""Sounds like a hypochondriac." Leo stated between bites of food./p
p class="MsoNormal"Emry smiled and elbowed her sister. "See he knows a things." She gave Leonardo a wink then continued, "I guess you will be joining me in the garden then."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanLeo blushed a little at the wink. "Y..ya. Sounds good."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Breakfast and conversation was had, Bob was given instruction to chaperone, and little by little the family dispersed to go about their daily business./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leo stood on a covered walkway that opened up into one of the gardens. Pillars wrapped in fruit laden vines lined the covered walk. A set of rounded stone steps led down to a stone walkway that wondered through the elaborate garden. Given that fall had started to creep in, there was not much left of the summer flowers, and some of the leaves were showing signs of gold and red at their edges./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leonardo reached up and touched one of the bulbous green fruit that hung off the pillar encasing vines./p
p class="MsoNormal""Not that one." Emry advised as she reached out and plucked a deep reddish purple fruit from the vine. "Here, this one is ripe."/p
p class="MsoNormal"She handed it to Leo and he turned it over in his hand. "What is it?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""It's a passion fruit." She replied as she found herself a large basket by the foot of the stairs./p
p class="MsoNormal"Though Leo had eaten passion fruit mixed in different things, April had occasionally brought in, he had never actually seen one./p
p class="MsoNormal"Emry returned to his side and held out the basket. "Here. We will pick some fruit and vegetables and take it into town. The orphanage and some of the poorer districts would appreciate the extra food."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Charitable. That was a kindness Leo could definitely get style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"And so the rest of their morning went. Plucking fruit from trees, bushes, and vines and pulling up or cutting down vegetables from four, of the seven, large gardens that surrounded the keep. This went on till the servants, which helped with the lifting, had filled a small horse drawn cart. Emery chattering on about the gardens, the importance of where they had been placed around the keep, the soil types, (some imported) and what plants residing in them. Apparently every plant in all seven gardens had a purpose whether it be food or medicinal. And each garden was dedicated accordingly./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanLeo even learned a few things he had been doing wrong in his own little garden, which explained why his tomatoes weren't the best. He had attempted to tell his date about his own small garden set up in the layer, but explaining the use of artificial light to someone that had never seen a light bulb was… difficult. So he mostly listened to her style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe was the queen of this domain of life, and the plants in her garden where her treasure./p
p class="MsoNormal"They made a pass through the three herb gardens collecting some bushels of herbs, some in a basket for town and some going into a satchel. A few of the herbs were wrapped in cloth before going into the satchel./p
p class="MsoNormal""Some plants you don't want touch or have it touch anything that will be ingested." Emry explained. These she had even worn leather gloves to handle. "This one in particular is stinging nettle…"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Emry hesitated for a moment, "I hope I haven't bored you with all this talk of plants."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Not at all." Leonardo insisted. "I have learned a lot. Being a ninja I deal mostly with cyanide poison, and some basic salves and teas for healing. I have to say your knowledge on the subject is impressive. For instance the only thing I know about stinging nettle is to not touch it."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Emery beamed at the praise. Charity was more her strong suit to humility. "Well being a man you wouldn't have much use for it. It helps with more feminine concerns."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I see." Leo stated as they walked along the path, Bob walking dutifully behind them./p
p class="MsoNormal""Why do ninjas use cyanide?" Emry asked in an attempt to keep the conversation going./p
p class="MsoNormal""Mostly because it is easy to come by." Leo answered as they reached the little cart and took the horse's lead in hand. "It is in a lot of plants. It's easy to save apple seeds and peach pits. Getting the cyanide out of the pits is the hard part."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Arsenic is almost equally as abundant. Why not use that?" Emry questioned as she led the way down a cobble stone road, that led to one of the gates through the keep's surrounding wall./p
p class="MsoNormal""Cyanide is faster. Like minutes to months." Leo explained. "and you can dip darts in it."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh. That does make sense. My sister deals more in medicine than poison but knows how to make both. Speaking of which, we come to our first stop." Emery flashed that bright smile of hers and hurried to the door of the small building , near the gates that Lord Maru had tried the day before. Today however it was not locked./p
p class="MsoNormal"After waiting for Leonardo to tie the horse and catch up to her, Emery opened the door and stepped inside. The room they entered had bottles of every shape, color, and size on shelves that covered every wall. A couple of wooden chairs sat in the middle of the room. One occupied by an old feeble looking style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal""Is the apothecary in?" Emry called out. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"In between the shelves at the back of the room was a door way covered with a heavy dark red curtain./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes, of course I am here." Min's voice muscled its way through the curtain./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, I have brought lunch. And those herbs you needed." Emery called back./p
p class="MsoNormal"There was some shuffling about and some muffled talking in the back room. Min then pushed the curtain open slipping it onto a hearty looking hook./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leo stifled a chuckle at min's expense. Though she was a lovely woman, bright eyed and well defined features, she obviously was one who had little concern for style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe was wearing a leather apron, this one without pockets, a plain and worn brown dress and a cloth mask hanging about her neck, and a pair of glasses, with no less than twenty different movable lenses, perched atop her head. She looked as much the mad scientist as she had when they had first met. Honestly it reminded him of a little of Donnie, always using some strange looking… thing that was useful for things Leo didn't care to dabble in. He was already getting the feeling Min wasn't going to be his type and he had only had two very short conversations with the strange style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe wondered if this made him shallow./p
p class="MsoNormal"Min was followed out of the back room by a young very pregnant rabbit./p
p class="MsoNormal""Keep drinking lots of water. And do not worry, you will deliver very soon." Min gave the tired looking rabbit that smile that had graced her lips when she had been talking to Leo earlier that morning. "The walk home will help."/p
p class="MsoNormal"He had categorized it as sweet this morning. But it wasn't sweet in the way of warming like Emry's. It was sweet in the way of one showing concern and trying to be comforting. It suddenly occurred to Leo that Min had in fact been attempting to show him comfort and pity as opposed to being welcoming, with her statement of him "feeling a home quickly", at breakfast./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanMin saw the woman out. Then, thanked Emry for the meal and herbs, Mumbled something about needing to get the nettle ready to help with the impending birth, sat the satchel and lunch basket down next to a shelf, then ushered the old gecko, slowly, into the back room. Seeming to forget thet Leo and Emry were still there./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well… onward?" Emry beamed, lighting up the room with her enthusiasm./p
p class="MsoNormal""Good idea." Leo smiled softly opening the door to let Emry through./p
p class="MsoNormal"Taking up the horse's lead again the two started back on their walk into the city. Emery leading the way, down different roads, than where her father had taken Leonardo the day before./p
p class="MsoNormal"After a few moments of quiet admiration of the artistic paintings and chimes that graced even this less fastidious part of town, where stucco chipped away from walls, and paint was very much needed in places other than around windows and doors, Leo looked down at Emry as she practically skipped along, "So…your sister she is…kinda…"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Emery paused in her merry gate and looked up at Leo, "Dry, over indulgent in the use of language no uses anymore, makes one feel as if one could never have a conversation with her without feeling like an imbecile at the end of it?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leonardo blinked at Emry, "Well I wasn't going to put it quite that way."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Emery waved him off a she started walking again. "I does not matter. It has all been said. There is a lot more to her you know."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Feeling a bit like an ass, Leo frowned. "I am sure there is."/p
p class="MsoNormal""She doesn't charge anyone you know." Emery stopped to look up at Leo again. "Getting medication and medical attention in town isn't cheap. She started out just bandaging wounds." She started walking again though her gate was slower, heavier. "When it became obvious that the people here…"She waved her hand to show case the poorer side of town, "needed more than gauze and splints she came to me to grow the plants needed for medicine. We spent months and years reading and learning dosage and the proper uses. She is a self-made apothecary and medic. You can't do that willy-nilly, Leonardo. If you do people die and it is your fault. She carries the weight of everyone she wasn't able to save or cure even if it was no fault of her own. She is a good woman you would be lucky to have her as your wife."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leonardo sighed. "I did not mean to offend you or your sister. I was only meaning to note her… quirks."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Emery Smiled and laughed then. "She is rather quirky."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leo smiled at Emry's sudden switch back to joy, her entire demeanor lifting and lighting up./p
p class="MsoNormal"They stopped at a large but worn building. So worn in fact that there were holes that lead from the outside all the way in./p
p class="MsoNormal"Emry pulled a good sized leather case from the back of the cart and slung it across her carapace with a leather strap. Then picking up one of the baskets started for the dilapidated doors of the orphanage./p
p class="MsoNormal"Scooping up two baskets of produce, Leo followed style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Leo stood in his temporary bedroom holding the letter; he was going to send with Usagi for his brothers. The morning sun streamed in through the windows carrying with it some of the first fallen leaves of fall. He watched as they spun and danced about on the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"He was nervous. Yesterday had been all about diplomacy, even if he had fumbled it a little. Today however he was starting his venture with courtship. He had faced many dangers and fought against great odds… apparently to the point of becoming a bit of a legend. And never would he have expected that the idea of getting to know a woman would make him feel this unsure of himself./p
p class="MsoNormal"Someone knocked at the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes, come in." Leo said as he made his was across the room./p
p class="MsoNormal"Usagi opened the door and entered, followed by the chameleon servant. Leo was mentally calling him Bob./p
p class="MsoNormal""Do you have it ready?"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanUsagi asked./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leo answered by handing Usagi the letter. "Here. Thanks for doing all the foot work, Usagi."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Not a problem, my friend. I will return with your brother's quickly."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Not too quickly. I could use a little time…"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Usage smiled knowingly. "You would like to get to know the lord's daughters without their intrusion. You will have time. It did take us a week to get here."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh." Leo glanced at Bob then back to Usagi. "I didn't realize you were taking the same rout back to my home." He stated, thinking Usagi was going back across the ocean as opposed to just finding a hidden spot to open the portal back to third earth./p
p class="MsoNormal"Usagi glanced at Bob, who raised an eye ridge, then back at Leo. "I am not. But I will come back here the same way."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leo nodded. "A week then."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Usagi style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe and Leo then both looked at Bob expectantly, unsure of exactly why he had followed Usagi into the room in the first place./p
p class="MsoNormal""I am to bring you to breakfast." Bob stated./p
p class="MsoNormal""A week and breakfast?" Usagi suggested with a glance toward Leo./p
p class="MsoNormal""A week and breakfast." Leonardo agreed. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Breakfast was…noisy. Everyone that had been at dinner the night before was in attendance, plus Min and Emry. Rayen and Lyra had already left for guard duty so they were not included in the excited babble. Leo honestly wasn't sure which conversation to follow, and as his friend had eaten quickly and made leave for his journey, Leo was feeling a little…/p
p class="MsoNormal""Anachorism."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leonardo blinked at Min who was looking at him expectantly from across the table. "I'm sorry what?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""You look as though you are feeling like an anachorism." Min stated before taking a bite of her fruit dabbled porridge./p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't know if I should be insulted or flattered." Leo replied./p
p class="MsoNormal"Emry let out a small giggle as she shook her head. "Don't be either. No one knows what she is talking about."/p
p class="MsoNormal""You act as if I don't speak plainly." Min frowned at her sister./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well that's because you don't." Shrugging, Emery took a bight of her fruity porridge./p
p class="MsoNormal"Min turned her frown to Leonardo. "I thought as a man of the world you would read at least occasionally."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I do." Leo defended against the possible insult. "I just like to read about history and strategy mostly."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hmm." Min hummed. "An anachorism is something that is geographically out of place or foreign in a country."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Ah. Well I would say that I am the very definition of anachorism then, being foreign and all." Leo pushed his porridge around his bowl. "Where I am from we call that 'feeling out of place'"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Min's attention had shifted to scraping out the last of her porridge from her bowl. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Well, hopefully we will be able to make you feel more at home quickly." She spared Leonardo a sweet smile before taking her last bite of porridge. "Perhaps you should start your courtship with Emry. I am dealing with a difficult patient here shortly…"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Ms. Lupnick?" Emry asked/p
p class="MsoNormal"Min nodded. "The woman is healthy as a horse, but insists that she is dying from every known illness. "/p
p class="MsoNormal""Sounds like a hypochondriac." Leo stated between bites of food./p
p class="MsoNormal"Emry smiled and elbowed her sister. "See he knows a things." She gave Leonardo a wink then continued, "I guess you will be joining me in the garden then."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanLeo blushed a little at the wink. "Y..ya. Sounds good."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Breakfast and conversation was had, Bob was given instruction to chaperone, and little by little the family dispersed to go about their daily business./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leo stood on a covered walkway that opened up into one of the gardens. Pillars wrapped in fruit laden vines lined the covered walk. A set of rounded stone steps led down to a stone walkway that wondered through the elaborate garden. Given that fall had started to creep in, there was not much left of the summer flowers, and some of the leaves were showing signs of gold and red at their edges./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leonardo reached up and touched one of the bulbous green fruit that hung off the pillar encasing vines./p
p class="MsoNormal""Not that one." Emry advised as she reached out and plucked a deep reddish purple fruit from the vine. "Here, this one is ripe."/p
p class="MsoNormal"She handed it to Leo and he turned it over in his hand. "What is it?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""It's a passion fruit." She replied as she found herself a large basket by the foot of the stairs./p
p class="MsoNormal"Though Leo had eaten passion fruit mixed in different things, April had occasionally brought in, he had never actually seen one./p
p class="MsoNormal"Emry returned to his side and held out the basket. "Here. We will pick some fruit and vegetables and take it into town. The orphanage and some of the poorer districts would appreciate the extra food."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Charitable. That was a kindness Leo could definitely get style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"And so the rest of their morning went. Plucking fruit from trees, bushes, and vines and pulling up or cutting down vegetables from four, of the seven, large gardens that surrounded the keep. This went on till the servants, which helped with the lifting, had filled a small horse drawn cart. Emery chattering on about the gardens, the importance of where they had been placed around the keep, the soil types, (some imported) and what plants residing in them. Apparently every plant in all seven gardens had a purpose whether it be food or medicinal. And each garden was dedicated accordingly./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanLeo even learned a few things he had been doing wrong in his own little garden, which explained why his tomatoes weren't the best. He had attempted to tell his date about his own small garden set up in the layer, but explaining the use of artificial light to someone that had never seen a light bulb was… difficult. So he mostly listened to her style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe was the queen of this domain of life, and the plants in her garden where her treasure./p
p class="MsoNormal"They made a pass through the three herb gardens collecting some bushels of herbs, some in a basket for town and some going into a satchel. A few of the herbs were wrapped in cloth before going into the satchel./p
p class="MsoNormal""Some plants you don't want touch or have it touch anything that will be ingested." Emry explained. These she had even worn leather gloves to handle. "This one in particular is stinging nettle…"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Emry hesitated for a moment, "I hope I haven't bored you with all this talk of plants."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Not at all." Leonardo insisted. "I have learned a lot. Being a ninja I deal mostly with cyanide poison, and some basic salves and teas for healing. I have to say your knowledge on the subject is impressive. For instance the only thing I know about stinging nettle is to not touch it."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Emery beamed at the praise. Charity was more her strong suit to humility. "Well being a man you wouldn't have much use for it. It helps with more feminine concerns."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I see." Leo stated as they walked along the path, Bob walking dutifully behind them./p
p class="MsoNormal""Why do ninjas use cyanide?" Emry asked in an attempt to keep the conversation going./p
p class="MsoNormal""Mostly because it is easy to come by." Leo answered as they reached the little cart and took the horse's lead in hand. "It is in a lot of plants. It's easy to save apple seeds and peach pits. Getting the cyanide out of the pits is the hard part."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Arsenic is almost equally as abundant. Why not use that?" Emry questioned as she led the way down a cobble stone road, that led to one of the gates through the keep's surrounding wall./p
p class="MsoNormal""Cyanide is faster. Like minutes to months." Leo explained. "and you can dip darts in it."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh. That does make sense. My sister deals more in medicine than poison but knows how to make both. Speaking of which, we come to our first stop." Emery flashed that bright smile of hers and hurried to the door of the small building , near the gates that Lord Maru had tried the day before. Today however it was not locked./p
p class="MsoNormal"After waiting for Leonardo to tie the horse and catch up to her, Emery opened the door and stepped inside. The room they entered had bottles of every shape, color, and size on shelves that covered every wall. A couple of wooden chairs sat in the middle of the room. One occupied by an old feeble looking style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal""Is the apothecary in?" Emry called out. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"In between the shelves at the back of the room was a door way covered with a heavy dark red curtain./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes, of course I am here." Min's voice muscled its way through the curtain./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, I have brought lunch. And those herbs you needed." Emery called back./p
p class="MsoNormal"There was some shuffling about and some muffled talking in the back room. Min then pushed the curtain open slipping it onto a hearty looking hook./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leo stifled a chuckle at min's expense. Though she was a lovely woman, bright eyed and well defined features, she obviously was one who had little concern for style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe was wearing a leather apron, this one without pockets, a plain and worn brown dress and a cloth mask hanging about her neck, and a pair of glasses, with no less than twenty different movable lenses, perched atop her head. She looked as much the mad scientist as she had when they had first met. Honestly it reminded him of a little of Donnie, always using some strange looking… thing that was useful for things Leo didn't care to dabble in. He was already getting the feeling Min wasn't going to be his type and he had only had two very short conversations with the strange style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe wondered if this made him shallow./p
p class="MsoNormal"Min was followed out of the back room by a young very pregnant rabbit./p
p class="MsoNormal""Keep drinking lots of water. And do not worry, you will deliver very soon." Min gave the tired looking rabbit that smile that had graced her lips when she had been talking to Leo earlier that morning. "The walk home will help."/p
p class="MsoNormal"He had categorized it as sweet this morning. But it wasn't sweet in the way of warming like Emry's. It was sweet in the way of one showing concern and trying to be comforting. It suddenly occurred to Leo that Min had in fact been attempting to show him comfort and pity as opposed to being welcoming, with her statement of him "feeling a home quickly", at breakfast./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanMin saw the woman out. Then, thanked Emry for the meal and herbs, Mumbled something about needing to get the nettle ready to help with the impending birth, sat the satchel and lunch basket down next to a shelf, then ushered the old gecko, slowly, into the back room. Seeming to forget thet Leo and Emry were still there./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well… onward?" Emry beamed, lighting up the room with her enthusiasm./p
p class="MsoNormal""Good idea." Leo smiled softly opening the door to let Emry through./p
p class="MsoNormal"Taking up the horse's lead again the two started back on their walk into the city. Emery leading the way, down different roads, than where her father had taken Leonardo the day before./p
p class="MsoNormal"After a few moments of quiet admiration of the artistic paintings and chimes that graced even this less fastidious part of town, where stucco chipped away from walls, and paint was very much needed in places other than around windows and doors, Leo looked down at Emry as she practically skipped along, "So…your sister she is…kinda…"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Emery paused in her merry gate and looked up at Leo, "Dry, over indulgent in the use of language no uses anymore, makes one feel as if one could never have a conversation with her without feeling like an imbecile at the end of it?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leonardo blinked at Emry, "Well I wasn't going to put it quite that way."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Emery waved him off a she started walking again. "I does not matter. It has all been said. There is a lot more to her you know."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Feeling a bit like an ass, Leo frowned. "I am sure there is."/p
p class="MsoNormal""She doesn't charge anyone you know." Emery stopped to look up at Leo again. "Getting medication and medical attention in town isn't cheap. She started out just bandaging wounds." She started walking again though her gate was slower, heavier. "When it became obvious that the people here…"She waved her hand to show case the poorer side of town, "needed more than gauze and splints she came to me to grow the plants needed for medicine. We spent months and years reading and learning dosage and the proper uses. She is a self-made apothecary and medic. You can't do that willy-nilly, Leonardo. If you do people die and it is your fault. She carries the weight of everyone she wasn't able to save or cure even if it was no fault of her own. She is a good woman you would be lucky to have her as your wife."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leonardo sighed. "I did not mean to offend you or your sister. I was only meaning to note her… quirks."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Emery Smiled and laughed then. "She is rather quirky."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leo smiled at Emry's sudden switch back to joy, her entire demeanor lifting and lighting up./p
p class="MsoNormal"They stopped at a large but worn building. So worn in fact that there were holes that lead from the outside all the way in./p
p class="MsoNormal"Emry pulled a good sized leather case from the back of the cart and slung it across her carapace with a leather strap. Then picking up one of the baskets started for the dilapidated doors of the orphanage./p
p class="MsoNormal"Scooping up two baskets of produce, Leo followed style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
