It wasn't the largest basement Maeve had ever seen—Old Banks' underground vault was a fair bit bigger than this one—but it was her first time seeing an underground garden. It was about double the size of the surgical chamber with a relatively high ceiling to boot. Exotic flora unlike any she'd seen in Vharnveil's curated conservatories thrived from crisp beds of grass and earth. Crystal-clear streams of running water meandered between trees and bushes, feeding into ponds where small fishes and other aquatic beasts glided silently.

Unknowingly, she started walking forward and stepping onto the lush grass. Her fingers immediately brushed against the petals of a pinkish luminescent bloom, its texture silken and cool.

A small spark of recognition ignited in her memory.

"Is this..." she began, trailing off as she whirled to look at Gael.

Gael nodded by the bottom of the stairs, leaning against the textured stone wall. "You know the night-blooming primrose-jasmine hybrid?"

Maeve's eyes widened as she took in the array of blossoms. "These are specimens I've only encountered in texts," she murmured. "In 'Botanica Nocturna' and 'Floral Rarities of the Eastern Realms', primrose-jasmine hybrids are used to attract nocturnal Nightspawn. I know the Symbiote Exorcists grow these and use them to lure out Nightspawn, but I've never actually seen them."

"That so?"

"And this!" she said, pointing at another bell-shaped flower dangling over her head from a branch. "This is the evening pollenbell, isn't it? Its spores are used specifically against fast-breeding Nightspawn, because they damage the reproductive organs, right?"

"Mhm."

"And this! This is—"

"I guess the rumors are true after all. The City of Splendors doesn't cultivate any exotic plants up there, huh?" he said plainly. "It's probably 'cause many of these species are inherently toxic. It requires expertise to transform their properties into beneficial remedies, and you upper city folk would rather not have to deal with the consequences of mishandling toxic herbs, so you buy them from us down in the pipes."

She nodded idly, understanding the delicate balance required to harness the potential of such flora.​ Her mama had taught her as much about exotic flora back when she was in training.

As she wandered deeper into the garden, she eventually reached the heart where the moon-shaped lantern cast its brightest light.

Slowly, steadily, she lowered herself onto the grass and inhaled deeply.

She pulled her mask down, because it was evident she didn't need it down here.

Even the air here is remarkably pure.

Even more so than up there, despite the Vile Eater's growing efforts.

How did they—

"Cara and I have been gathering seeds and plants from various parts of Bharncair for the better part of the past two years." Gael leaned against a tree bearing unfamiliar fruits a little off to the side, watching her lay on her back. "A private garden is invaluable for medicinal production. For complex elixirs like the ones I'm shoving down Hosts' throats, fresh ingredients are absolutely essential, so this garden is something like the clinic's vault."

Maeve's gaze softened as she stared up at the moon lantern. "My mama maintained a modest garden like this, too."

Gael raised a brow. "Your biological mother?"

She shook her head. "My Exorcist mama. Since I stayed in the infirmary for a whole year before my mama found me, she often remarked that I carried the scent of antiseptics and confinement wherever I went, so on our days off, she'd take me through the upper city, collecting rare flowers to brighten my dorm quarters and her home. We had this… rooftop garden where we secretly cultivated exotic plants seldom seen in Vharnveil."

"A rooftop garden?"

"On the slanted tiles," she said, miming a square box with her fingers over her face. "We had stacks of individual pots that we just laid out across the roof, and we put tarps over them to keep people from noticing them down below."

"Hmph." Gael snorted. "It's gotta be pleasant up there if you can just afford to grow anything out in the open air. Try doing that down here. The Vile will eat your upper city flowers like dogs to a meaty bone." Then a dark chuckle escaped him. "It must be quite the adjustment for you residing here, where the sunlight is a sickly green and you can't even step outside without a mask, eh?"

Maeve's eyes hardened with determination. "It's a small price to pay if it means finding my mama."

Gael tilted his head slightly, but he didn't speak. Didn't push.

The rare silence between them stretched, and Maeve stared up at the lantern for a long while, until the words swelled up again in her chest and found their own way out.

"... After the incident in the catacombs," she began quietly, hands twisting into the fabric of her dress, "the Purity Tribunal—the three oldest pairs of Symbiote Exorcists—launched a formal inquiry. They decided I was unfit to work as a Hunter, so I spent three years in isolation. No visits. No voice from the outside. Not even my mama."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

She curled her knees into her chest, letting the fabric of her dress crumple beneath her touch.

"I thought… I'd never see her again."

Gael said nothing. She could feel his attention, though, quiet and pointed like a blade turned flat against her skin.

"But I heard my mama fought for me," she said softly, "I don't know all the details, but I heard enough when I was released. She'd stood before the Tribunal and told them I could be redeemed. She'd said I wasn't dangerous. She'd told them that if I were allowed to live, I would be able to prove my strength as a Hunter, but the other children I'd killed because I couldn't control how much poisonous blood I could release… they were disciples of other higher-ranking Exorcists. The kind with proper family names and bloodlines and records that stretched back decades older than mine. My mama didn't come from blood. Her name was barely inked in the ledgers, so standing up for me was seen as insolence."

"Exile," Gael corrected.

Maeve nodded. Her chin tucked in, and her voice shrank. "I'd heard she was banished from the upper city, and that they took her Symbiotic System away from her as well."

She didn't have to explain what that meant. Gael already knew. Carapathy, when left unchecked by a Symbiotic System, would bloom rapidly inside the Afflicted like a parasite chewing through a lantern's wick. Even more so for someone like her mama, who was already an established Hunter with at least a thousand, maybe two thousand BeS in aura. Symbiotic Systems were the only things that stood between an Afflicted and monstrosity. Systems regulated Carapathy. Controlled it. Suppressed the madness. Without one…

"... She's been gone a year now," Maeve whispered. "Maybe more. Maybe less. Nobody gave me a straight answer when the Purity Tribunal finally let me out a few months ago. I don't know where she was sent."

The brightness in the room dulled under the weight of her breath. She didn't cry. But her nails dug into her trousers, teeth clenching tight enough that her jaw ached.

"She might be dead already. Sick. Consumed. Or lost to whatever was left inside her." She stared blankly up at the lantern, feeling like covering her eyes with the back of her hand. "But… I want to believe she's still alive. Somehow. Maybe she came down here, found an illegal Wasp Symbiotic System, and bonded with a new Host. Maybe she found a way to control her Carapathy even without a system."

Another silence folded in.

"And that's why," she said at last, "when the Purity Tribunal told me to come down here to redeem myself, I didn't resist."

She glanced sideways at Gael, the ghost of a smile forming at the corner of her mouth.

"Did you know they call Blightmarch a trash heap even among the trash heap that is Bharncair?" she said. "That's why there's not even a single pair of Exorcists assigned to this ward. Not even one. It's considered a lost cause to the Myrmurs and Nightspawn that run rampant here, so they don't even want to bother trying to clean up this ward. I suppose that's why I heard my mama came down here. Nobody from the upper city would be able to find her here."

She looked away again.

"And I suppose… that's also why I can accept you."

Gael raised an eyebrow.

"As my Host," she clarified. "After all, if I become the strongest Exorcist and help you make this clinic become super well-known by clearing out Myrmurs and Nightspawn in this ward—if this clinic becomes so popular even people from other wards know about it—then there's a chance my mama might hear about us. If she's still alive, maybe she'll come here. Maybe she'll find me." Then she smiled faintly, eyes half-lidded. "Maybe then, I'll get to sit with her here in this garden. Talk about… stupid flowers again."

The sentence withered at the end.

Maeve folded her arms tight across her chest, already regretting how much she'd said. Again. Why was it always her talking? She was the trained Exorcist in this professional relationship—the one who should be keeping her thoughts neat and trimmed like rosebuds—but now here she was, spilling secrets like rain from a cracked basin, while Gael just leaned against that ridiculous little tree with his creepy mask and his stitched-up coat.

What am I doing?

What's it about this guy?

That mask… it's like just looking at it makes me want to—

"So that's why you're still hanging around me, huh?" Gael said quietly. "You just want to use the clinic's reputation to find your mama?"

Her spine straightened in an instant. A scowl pinched her brow before the words even formed. Wasn't he doing the exact same thing? Using her to boost the clinic's prestige and draw in patients with the Exorcist flair?

But before she could actually get a word out, Gael waved a hand and cut her off.

"Ain't nothing wrong with that," he said with a wide, mad grin. "Can't say I ain't using you for my own purpose, either. I'm just glad to hear you'll be sticking around long enough to get this place famous."

For a fleeting moment, Maeve felt her irritation waver. The heat behind her scowl cooled just enough to leave behind something strange.

Curiosity.

She found herself wondering, briefly, what he was doing all this for. What his past looked like. What led a man to wear that mask and build this clinic and smile like nothing in the world could ever truly bother him.

The thought startled her. She turned away sharply, embarrassment prickling her cheeks.

"... I didn't ask for a Plagueplain Doctor's opinion," she muttered. "I don't particularly care what you think about my reasons."

"Sure, sure. But what about my request?"

She turned her head slightly and saw him pulling something out of his coat pocket. A cloth scrap, yellowed and fraying at the edges. He unfolded it and held it out, revealing a shaky sketch of a flower: oddly coiled, almost spiderlike in structure, with layered petals and thorns like claws.

"You know a thing or two about flowers, right?" he asked.

Maeve pushed up her glasses, furrowing her brows as she squinted at the sketch.

"This is the flower I've been hunting down for the past two weeks," he continued. "Even Juno didn't have a trace of it in stock. It's for the new bioarcanic weapon I've been thinking about, but… well, I've already searched Blightmarch high and low like a drunk gutter rat, and nothing. There's no way you'd know where I could possibly get it either—"

"Wait."

He was already sighing, folding the cloth back up and stuffing it into his pocket when she stopped him.

"Show me again," she said sternly.

He raised an eyebrow, but took out the cloth again without protest. Maeve immediately leaned over and snatched it from his gloved fingers, smoothing the creases carefully.

Her eyes lingered on the lines, tracing them slowly. The shape of the flower was unmistakable. Exotic. Dangerous. But she knew it, because she'd seen one just a few days ago.

She looked up at him, eyes wide.

"I know where to find it."

Gael raised a brow. "Where?"

"We're going to have to rob a rather nice lady."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.