Andres woke with the scent of something warm and fragrant wafting through the air.
The fire had long died down, but the chill had retreated. Sunlight filtered through the warped shutters, casting slanted golden lines across the floorboards. He sat up slowly, stretching his limbs, surprised by how light he felt, his body felt....strange.
His body felt strange and a foreign warm energy orbited in his core. This energy didn't felt different, alien.
He furrowed his brow. Before the thought could anchor itself, he heard her.
"You're awake."
Aurelia stood in the garden, sleeves rolled up, dirt on her hands and cheeks. She didn't look at him as she spoke, just continued plucking herbs like nothing had changed.
Andres blinked. "Yeah. I guess I am."
His eyes drifted to the table. A bowl of steaming porridge and spiced roots waited for him, covered neatly with a cloth to keep the warmth in.
"You cooked?"
"I didn't want your dramatic stomach to revolt again," she said dryly, finally looking at him with a small, crooked smile. "Eat before it gets cold."
He chuckled and sat down, the earlier sense of foreignness slipping quietly to the back of his mind.
---
Later, they worked side by side in the garden. The storm had torn branches and left thick mud in its wake. Andres moved slower than usual, eyes trailing her movements, sensing something different about her.
He broke the silence. "I must've slept like a rock. Don't remember much after sitting by the fire."
"You passed out," she said simply. "The cold triggered an internal injury, nasty thing, you almost didn't wake."
He paused as his mind processed her words. "What?"
"You're alive, that's what matters." Her tone was calm, like discussing spoiled vegetables. "I treated you. You'll be fine."
He stared at her, brow furrowing. "And you just handled it on your own?"
She shrugged. "Would've let you die, but I didn't want to clean up your corpse."
He laughed, uneasy. "Thank you, really."
"Eww, don't get all cringey on me."
He laughed lightly.
---
Later, when they went to refill the water buckets, Aurelia stumbled mid-step. The heavy wooden pail slipped from her grasp and spilled across the ground.
He was by her side in an instant. "Are you okay?"
She leaned into him, breath short, trembling slightly. "It's nothing. Caught a bit of the cold myself from yesterday. I'll be fine after some medicinal tea."
"You're done working today," he said firmly, guiding her back to the porch. "Sit. I'll make it."
"You don't even know which leaves to boil."
"Then teach me. Sit, woman."
Despite her protests, she smiled faintly and obeyed.
He returned with the tea, too bitter and too strong, but she drank it all and made a show of feeling better.
Still, he watched her. The way her hands trembled when she thought he wasn't looking, the way she smiled too easily, and how her eyes, always filled with mischief, now seemed quietly dimmed.
She laughed at his jokes, she teased him like she always did, but he still felt like something was different.
Andres tilted his head. She's cheerful, he thought, but also incredibly sad?
"Is something wrong?" he asked, not masking the concern.
She rolled her eyes. "Just reliving every bad meal I've had. Your tea is somewhere between poison and soap."
"Ah. There she is," he said, relieved.
He took her sarcasm as a sign she was just having a low day, maybe she remembered something from the past, he knew her past probably had bad memories too like his.
The days went on an thed the cracks in her act grew harder to ignore.
She stumbled again while lifting firewood, dropped a jar she'd never have fumbled before, he saw her sit by the window in the dead of night, just staring, as if waiting for something she knew would never return.
Andres decided he couldn't watch anymore, he needed to help. Maybe a gift would lift her spirits, or she just needed some time alone.
He went into the village. The market was small but bustling, he searched through it with care, looking for something that could lift her spirits.
Should I get her sweets? Jewelry, what kind of things does she even like?
While still trying to make a choice he moved around, looking at different stalls. That's when he ran into the healer.
She froze the moment she saw him, her eyes wide like oranges, her face pale and drained of colour, as if she'd seen a ghost.
She stepped back sharply, then she looked to be in thought and stopped.
"You're...! Wait." She hurried forward and grabbed his wrist, trembling fingers pressing against his pulse. "You're… alive?"
Andres blinked. "I… yeah? What's wrong?"
"You... you...no. You died," she said, eyes locked on him, voice barely above a whisper. "You weren't breathing. Your body was cold… your core was shattered, I checked, I was sure."
"What?" he breathed.
The healer stared at him, shaken. "I came with Aurelia that night, but uou were gone before we reached. She didn't say a word, just stood there like stone. I thought the shock had broken her."
She stepped back slowly, eyes narrowing as she studied him.
"But now you're here… alive. With a steady pulse. Your core… it's healed."
He said nothing, throat closing.
The healer frowned deeper, confusion and fear twisting her features. "I don't know what happened after I left but something did. I'm sure you were dead."
She stepped away, whispering to herself, staring back at him at intervals. "What did she do…?"
He stood there for a long time, unmoving and as still as a stature, if anyone had seen him, that would have been their first thought for sure.
"Oh look what a handsome, lifelike statue! It almost looks human! Wow!"
---
The healer's words echoed continuously in his head.
By the time he returned to the cottage, the sun had already dipped behind the hills. The warm orange light gave everything a false softness.
Aurelia was in the garden again, pulling weeds with more effort than should've been necessary.
He walked to her in silence.
She looked up. "Oh, you're back. Had a nice stroll, any pretty girl caught your eye?" She teased smiling.
He crouched and gently took her wrist.
"Andres?" she asked warily.
He didn't answer, just turned her palm over, then placed his hand near her chest, eyes searching.
Nothing, no orbit, no light, no power, empty.
He looked up, stricken.
"…Why?"
She pulled her hand away, eyes flickering, but said nothing.
"Aurelia… why?" His voice broke.
She didn't answer.
He sat beside her in the dirt, overwhelmed.
"You shouldn't have ," he whispered.
"Probably."
"You could've died, you nearly did."
She looked away. "You would've, if I didn't."
"Then let me give it back."
"You can't."
He let the silence fall like rain between them.
Then, quietly, he said, "I'll be responsible for you now, for the rest of your life. I'll find a way to give it back, I swear it."
She stood wordlessly and walked inside.
He watched the empty garden., felt the power inside him that wasn't his. The pulse of her sacrifice echoing in his core.
He closed his eyes. "This was a part of her, I'll cherish it and make sure she never regrets it"
And then he made another vow, one he didn't speak aloud.