Astrape, along with Father, both returned to the tavern, opening the door to see Anemone sitting on Father's bed instead of being in her own room. She was holding what looked like a notebook. Father's notebook.
"Where have you both been?" Anemone said angrily, slapping her hands on her knees and standing up.
Father felt a trickle of sweat bead on his neck, flowing down as guilt flooded his mind. He should've told Anemone what had happened. Astrape didn't know how Father felt, but she stood forward to answer after seeing Father stagger for a moment, thinking maybe the pain hit him in his calf.
"We acquired a new quest to do tomorrow to fill the day of downtime we will have. It won't be difficult; we just need to acquire herbs, and we were even told where to find them. Father Hatheway suggested it…" She said while elbowing Father's side.
"O-oh, yeah. That's where we were. I was passing by the apothecary to acquire herbs for any wounds that may arise on us in our travels. The pharmacist just so happened to need them and planned to put up a quest, so we accepted it.
Father wasn't lying currently. He wasn't telling the full truth, but he felt he might be caught as he looked at his notebook open on the bed.
"Father, why have you been keeping notes on me?"
Father felt confused by this question; it wasn't what he was expecting. He looked at the notebook and noticed it was on one of the first few pages. Not the latest, where he put the notes for his necrosis or the Nossith. Meaning, she still didn't know, but this realization put him at ease. But, he still needed to find a way to deal with the current situation.
"Oh. uhhh. To help you in the future. Yes, by examining your routines and flaws, I can help you in the future, as you know, since you don't have a large mana pool, I can't help you train much without exhausting you. For that reason, I haven't come to you about it yet. I planned to once you became the next color core, the brown stage." He stuttered in the beginning, then began to speed up towards the second half of his speech.
"Father, you should tell me now. Tell me what I am messing up on so that I may become stronger and better."
"Okay, young one. I will." Father said, hugging Anemone.
"Good, now then, tell me about this quest," Anemone said, releasing Father from the embrace.
Astrape sat on the bed, near Anemone, the notebook behind her, as Father grabbed it to close it.
"We have two places to go. Now that I think about it, he never actually told us where. But anyway, we need to acquire Gravebloom and Silvermoss. Both are excellent for wounds. To cover them and promote them to heal. Yes, we have Father. But what if he needs to do something else or is exhausted?"
"You make a good point. But how will we know where to find it if he never told either of you?"
"We can just go back in the morning and ask before heading off to do it."
"Is there a payment?"
"No…" She said, letting her answer hang in the air before continuing. "The payment is the information on where to acquire the herbs."
"Okay, well, what time are we starting tomorrow?"
"Whenever Father decides."
The conversation became static, and they decided it was best to just swap topics or go to sleep. In the end, they chose the latter. Astrape acquired her own room, and in the night, Father pondered whether it was right or wrong to hide the truth from Anemone. Whether it be for now, or until a cure is found.
'What if I need her help?' He thought to himself.
But in the end, he couldn't find a clear solution. So he thought about the pros and cons. The pros being Anemone wouldn't have to worry, as when she gets to worrying, she would like to know everything. Anemone also wouldn't have to help in this search. He could do it alone. Then the cons, the cons included that he hated lying, especially to Anemone, who looked up to him. If he lied to her, she may begin to lie. Father also would have had to deal with this much longer if he had decided not to get help from Anemone. And finally, it was better to tell someone directly than for them to find out on their own. Father learned this on his own and applied it to every situation, except now.
'The cons outweigh the pros. Guess I will tell her the truth. Now is just the when."
And that decision was the correct one.
***
Father knocked on Anemone's door, and Anemone quickly shot out of the room like a bolt.
"Could you get Astrape? I don't know her well enough and would not like to wake her."
"I don't know her well either, but sure."
As Anemone stuck out her knuckles and was about to collide them with the door to Astrape's room, it opened, as if she knew.
"Good morning, Astrape!"
Father interjected between the two.
"You both get any errands you need done, go eat, and pack a bag. I will go to the pharmacist and ask for the locations of the herbs."
"Okay, Father."
Father then left the two alone; it wasn't just for them to do anything that needed to be done, but it was mainly for the two of them to get acquainted. Father wouldn't be here forever. Whether it be the Necrosis that kills him, a battle, or most likely old age. There hasn't been any miracle drug that just increased your life expectancy. And if it was, he had never heard about it.
Anemone and Astrape, now a bit more relaxed by themselves, began to just relax in Anemone's room.
"Astrape, I know you haven't known Father long, but doesn't it seem like he is off? Like, I feel like he is hiding something from me."
"Well, if he is hiding something, he is probably doing it for your own good. But you have known him a lot longer; if he doesn't hide stuff from you, then he probably isn't doing it now."
Anemone couldn't force the feeling out of her head, but she also didn't want to annoy Astrape with too many questions, so she just decided to outwardly agree for now, even though she felt differently internally.
"You're right. Well, since we may battle one day together. What are your abilities and/or specialties?"
Astrape began to think before speaking.
"I guess I am good with a bow, as I have said before. The short sword is for protection in close quarters, and I have lightning magic, though it is quite weak as it is not my main area of expertise. What about you? Cause when you both saved me, I was well, out of it to say the least."
"I use wind magic. That's all. My core is still quite young, so I can't use many spells a day, but I am growing, so maybe one day my mana pool won't be a problem. Father, though, now he is very skilled. He can use life magic and water magic. As you may know, almost every life magic user is skilled in water magic, as water is the essence of life. He also doesn't have a problem with his mana core; for him, it's old age."
"Oh my god! I wish I could use wind magic! Maybe make myself fly or levitate, and it's basically invisible, so people can't see what you are doing to them!"
"I can't even make myself fly! Let alone levitate, keep dreaming." Anemone began to chuckle.
***
Father entered the apothecary, and the pharmacist seemed to be expecting him. The pharmacist grabbed a rolled-up paper, which looked like a scroll, but wasn't, and put it on the table.
"My apologies for not giving you the locations yesterday."
Father stepped up to the counter.
"It's okay. Thank you for this information either way."
"You are helping me out, so I am helping you." The pharmacist leaned forward as Father approached, lowering his voice to sound almost spooky. "Now listen, these are dangerous. For both, it is best to go at night; the Gravebloom glows at night, and the Silvermoss changes from a green color to a silver color at night, hence the name. The Gravebloom grows on top of graves, and since a cemetery has the most graves, that is where you will be going. Walk north for two hours and you will stumble upon the city's grave. You look like a traveler, so you probably know that most cemeteries are near the city. This one isn't; the graves and the building it is near both radiate a miasma that sucks out your mana. Within an hour, most people pass out, so please, be careful."
"Okay, now about the Silvermoss."
"Oh, the Silvermoss will be simple to acquire; the directions are on this piece of paper."
The pharmacist handed the folded piece of paper to Father with a smile, a creepy smile in fact, as if he wasn't telling the whole story. Father couldn't speak about it as he felt it could anger the pharmacist, and since maybe even his life was at stake due to the necrosis, he just wanted to focus on the mission and not overthink it.
Father walked down the road while reading the piece of paper. It was just as the man stated, it was in a standalone cemetery, two hours north, outside the city. Or at least, that was what was described in the paper. The Silvermoss was described as being inside a magical forest, clinging to a giant tree surrounded by fireflies. The tree had sacs of sap hanging from the branches. The tree was standing alone on a small piece of land, surrounded by flowing water, which formed a nearby waterfall. There were also rare types of mushrooms and other plants that grew near it, but the paper didn't say what.
Father imagined it, and it seemed like it would be a beautiful sight, but with so much beauty, there must be a cost. He didn't have time to think about it as he entered the tavern, going back to the room.
***
"I hope Father comes back quickly. We only have about two hours of sunlight left, and I am bored." Astrape announced while lying on the bed, her hands behind her head.
"Let me focus on meditating, please. I can feel that I am close to breaking through to the next core stage." Anemone replied.
"Mi mi mi mi mi." Astrape mockingly said in a high-pitched voice.
Anemone opened her eyes, glaring at Astrape before jumping up, beginning to playfully fight her, just as Father walked in.
Father opened the door to see Astrape clenching Anemone's white hair in her hand, Anemone was readying her arm to elbow Astrape back. And then they suddenly relaxed their bodies, Astrape letting Anemone's hair go, and Anemone dropping her arms.
"Hi, Father." They said in unison, Astrape adding on his actual name.
"I said just call me 'Father,' Astrape."
"Sorry." She said, putting on a cute face.
Father looked at her, then began to shake his head as he sat down. Anemone looked at Father.
"So, what is our quest?"
"Two hours north of here, there is a cemetery; we need to go to it to get the Gravebloom. Then west is the Silvermoss."
"Well, let's go. I am bored." Astrape announced loudly.
"Well, might as well waste no time, so let's go, Father!" Anemone replied.
Father stood up, looking down at the two.
"Just be careful, watch your surroundings. I get the feeling the pharmacist didn't tell us everything."