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“Oh god! It hurts!” Yuu sighed, casting a spell on the man’s leg. “AGH, IT HURTS–oh, the pain’s gone.” The man sighed, laying down on the mat fully. Storing the used up scroll, Yuu patted the spot next to his head twice.
“That should work. Rest and leave when you’re done. Your party paid me,” Yuu explained as she turned to leave the tent. The man sighed in response, following the cleric’s advice.
As Yuu exited her tent, she found a woman standing at her entrance. She wore large golden pauldrons that bore the sign of a god on its chest and a dark blue cloak underneath that flowed behind her. Her golden gauntlets were at her side, her pauldron shifting as she breathed heavily. Blood stained her midsection, an ornate knife still sticking out of her abdomen. And here Yuu thought that the man was her last patient of the day.
As Yuu carefully removed the blade, the woman chuckled to herself, or at least, the best she could in her wounded state.
“What’s funny?” Yuu asked as she used a cloth to press on the wound, the woman hissing underneath her.
“I hoped our party’s lack of a healer would have been fine,” the woman explained. “I’m not very good at healing.” Yuu sighed as the bleeding stopped, instructing the woman to keep the pressure as she went to grab more supplies.
“Maybe we can talk more once you’re not dying.” The woman laughed. Yuu ignored the pleasant sound to look for her stock of cream.
“So your party doesn’t have a healer? And you didn’t think to stock up on potions?” Yuu asked, incredulous at this party’s lack of preparation.
“I’d already healed that day!” the woman said, trying to defend her self. Giggling, Yuu came over with a small potion that’d help her pain. The woman thanked her before downing the potion, wrinkling her face at the taste. The cleric used a gloved hand to cover her amusement.
“Well, know that I come here every other day.” Yuu unwrapped the bandages one last time, checking for any problems. “You’ll be fine now. Just don’t overexert this area too much.” Yuu stared at the party symbol on the woman’s armour. “And in your party’s case too, don’t forget to purchase potions. There’s a merchant that sells some down the street.” Nodding, the woman kept staring at the ceiling of the cleric’s tent.
“We’re low on money. Time to steal…maybe the rich…” The woman muttered the last part.
“What?” The cleric leaned closer to the paladin. The woman shook her head.
“Never mind that.”
“Okay…?” Yuu stood up, holding out her hand. “Anyways, that’ll be 50 GP.” The paladin handed her the coins before promptly knocking out. Yuu didn’t understand adventurers at all.
Yuu groaned. She was low on stock for healing potions and scrolls, which meant the customers that would come for the rest of the day would need to be healed using spells until Yuu could visit the merchant the next day. She put away the sheet to order potions in her drawer.
The flap of her tent opened and the sound of padded footsteps against grass sounded behind the cleric. Yuu sighed, turning to see the woman from a week ago. Her pauldron was gone, leaving only her wrapped in her cloak. An arrow was stuck in her right shoulder and another was stuck somewhere on her left side, her cloak draped over it making the woman look like she had a third arm. Putting on her gloves, Yuu hoped this would go well.
“What do you mean you haven’t cast spells in forever?” the woman asked, making sure to sit up straight on the mat.
“I mean that after I quit adventuring, I started just using scrolls to cast healing spells. I ran out today of scrolls and potions.” Yuu set down her book of spells. “Why do you always have to get injured after merchant hours?” The paladin laughed that pleasant laugh. “Sit up. I’m going to pull out the arrows then cast the spell.”
“If I die, I’m telling my god.” Yuu laughed, sitting down next to the paladin.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you don’t die.”
Right as Yuu set down the second arrow, she placed a hand on the woman’s side and the other on her shoulder. She muttered under her breath, praying to her god that the paladin would be okay. The places where Yuu’s hand touched the woman glowed, the woman under her gritting her teeth. After the glowing died out, the woman sighed in relief. Yuu retracted her hands, ignoring the blush on the paladin’s cheeks. The paladin turned her head away from the cleric.
“Can I stay here for a little more?” she asked. Yuu looked around her tent at the empty mats.
“Sure.” The cleric went to close up the shop, flipping the sign. She looked out at the nearly empty marketplace before returning inside.
“So does your party do?” Yuu asked, pouring two cups of coffee. The paladin shifted in the chair behind her. Yuu had invited the paladin to her living space, which was an area walled off from her healing quarters at the back of her tent.
“We explore dungeons and…” The woman bit her lip. “Give most of it to the poor?”
“Oh! I remember dungeons.” Yuu didn’t remember much of her days of adventuring, but the one thing she did remember was those dank spaces. “That’s nice, uh…” Yuu furrowed her brow as she realized she didn’t know her patient’s name.
“Touko.”
“Yuu.”
“Wait, Yuu, you used to adventure?”
Yuu sighed at the sight of Touko being supported by another person at her tent entrance. The other woman, an elf, looked like she was struggling immensely, her wizard hat nearly falling off. The period between last week’s visit and today did give Yuu time to restock, but the fact the paladin was knocked out this time was more worrying.
“So what happened?” Yuu asked as she grabbed a potion from her box.
“Touko took a hit to the head so I wouldn’t,” the blonde woman grimaced. “I swear, she thinks she’s invincible. We don’t even have a healer.”
“This is her third visit this month,” Yuu chuckled, walking over to the two. The blonde woman rolled her eyes at her comment. The cleric brought the violet potion to the woman’s lips. “Hold her down, this potion sometimes has reactions.” When Yuu tilted the potion, the woman started to twitch, trying to stand up. The blonde woman seemed to have trouble holding Touko down, so Yuu used her elbow to assist her as she slowly gave the paladin more of the solution.
After she finished, Touko’s eyes flew open. She started coughing, so Yuu and the blonde let go of her. Once she stopped coughing, the paladin took a deep breath.
“What happened?” she asked, looking around the tent. “Why am I at the cute cleric’s tent, Sayaka?” Yuu cleared her throat. “Oh. Hi Yuu.”
The cleric finished wrapping a certain paladin’s left arm up in bandages. She sighed, standing up to grab the woman a drink.
“You sure are unlucky with these injuries, huh Touko?” Yuu said as she prepared two cups of coffee. “I mean, five weeks in a row and five bad injuries.” And even then, Yuu found herself still worried about the woman. The woman laughed behind her, her laughter sounding forced.
“Y-yeah! Crazy when an elf hits you with a hammer right into your arm, aha,” Touko replied with lots of enthusiasm. Perhaps a little too much. Yuu brushed it off, handing the woman her coffee.
As the two sipped coffee, Yuu decided to ask the paladin about something she had been pondering about all week.
“Touko.” The woman looked up from her coffee to face Yuu. “What was that last week about ‘the cute cleric’ when you were injured?” The paladin widened her eyes before setting down the coffee cup.
“Thank you for the coffee and your service! I’ll see you!” And like that, she was gone. Yuu put her fingers to her lips.
“I’ll see you.”
“How does a paladin get her leg chopped off by a saw blade?! You’re a paladin, not some thief stealing riches!” Yuu groaned, brewing a limb regrowth potion by scratch, since yet again, Touko was here at a time the merchants were closed. Touko’s leg was cut cleanly off, along with some of her hair. The paladin chuckled nervously.
“Dungeon traps?” she answered, sounding more like she was convincing herself. Yuu turned around, still holding the frog leg.
“Touko.” The paladin forced a smile at the cleric. “Tell me the truth.” The potion bubbled behind her. “It’s been two straight months of coming every week with injuries, and I’m starting to get worried.”
“Well, ah. Perhaps some of these injuries do have another motive.” Touko turned her head to the side. “I-”
“Wait, I’ve finished. Talk later.”
The cleric came over with the finished limb regrowth potion, the fresh cobalt blue solution bubbling. Pulling her gloves up, Yuu cupped the paladin’s cheek. She ignored the paladin running her tongue over her lips to put the potion to them. She ignored the paladin’s groaning as the potion took its course, her leg growing to its past state. After a few minutes, Touko’s leg was back, scratch the armour she usually wore.
“Okay, now speak,” Yuu said as she gestured for Touko to follow her into her living quarters.
“I like you, Yuu,” Touko muttered, refusing to look the cleric in the eye. The cleric’s eyes widened in shock. “Since our party doesn’t have a healer, I’ve been using that as an excuse to see you.” Sighing, Yuu shifted closer to the paladin.
“You could’ve just come over without any injuries, Touko.” The woman didn’t answer her, choosing to run her hand down her restored leg. “I enjoy your company.” That got a reaction from her, the woman flinching. The paladin stood up, grabbing her things.
“Thank you for healing me,” she said, her voice void of the emotion from earlier. Nodding, Yuu watched her walk out briskly, surprised at the pang of sadness that hit her.
The next week, Yuu attended to other patients as she wondered when Touko would come. Usually, she would have come at this time. Yuu watched as the sun set and the streets outside fell into darkness. Over the week, Yuu had plenty of time to think about Touko’s confession. She pondered over her party’s lack of a healer and her old days as an adventurer.
The issue is when Touko never came.
Yuu worried about the worst, hoping to her god that the paladin was okay. Maybe she was killed by an even deadlier trap. Or her party left her for dead. Maybe they ran out of money to pay for a visit. Whatever it was, it was at the back of the cleric’s mind the whole week. She wanted to see her again.
After two weeks of not seeing Touko, Yuu had stopped mentally preparing herself to see the paladin. She stopped hopefully looking towards the entrance of her tent, looking for any sign of a certain paladin. As Yuu organized her stock of supplies, she heard the tent entrance open behind her, padded footsteps entering. Yuu turned.
In front of her was a woman wearing a cloak with an all too familiar golden pauldron. She was panting, but this time she showed no visible sign of a previous “fight”.
“Yuu,” she said, approaching the cleric slowly.
“Do you need treatment, Touko?” Yuu asked, getting ready to grab some supplies. The paladin shook her head, gesturing to the living area of Yuu’s tent.
“I just want to visit.”
Yuu sipped her coffee. It was surprisingly awkward now. At least for the cleric, the confession of the paladin from two weeks ago still weighed on her mind. But now, Yuu perhaps had an answer.
“I’m sorry for-”
“I like you too,” Yuu interrupted, taking a long sip of her coffee. Touko stared at her as she drank, Yuu using it as an excuse to think of the best way to say this. “I like spending my time with you. I’ve decided I’ll join your party too.” She stood up, setting down her coffee cup.
“You don’t have to, Yuu.” Yuu turned to smile at the woman.
“I want to.”
Yuu finished packing her last item, finishing it off by snapping and compacting her tent into a tiny cube. She turned to the paladin.
“I’m ready.” The woman smiled back. She leaned to whisper in the cleric’s ear.
“I love you.” Yuu sighed, started to head towards the rest of the party. Touko followed after, smiling softly.
“I love you too, Touko.”