вlood & peтalѕ [ ĸoтlc - тιana ]

ch. iii

TIANA FOR LIFE

just putting that out there.

Magnate Leto sighed, as he plonked yet another musty old volume before him. The dust it gave off as it thumped against the solid wooden desk in the Principal's office set Tam off on another painful bout of sneeze-coughing. Which of course, brought up yet more floral bits.

He would never reveal it, but bringing up the petals was becoming more and more painful as time progressed. Of course, Linh seemed to understand, and refused to let go of his hand through the entire trip to Foxfire.

"-and then, I- Mr. Tam, are you listening to me?"

He blinked, jolting himself back to the present. "Hm?"

The slick-haired elf let out another sigh, something that seemed to happen far too often around the kids. "I said, your symptoms are similar to a human fictional disease I learnt about, during the human assistance program."

"And?" Linh pressed on. Tam squeezed her hand gratefully, silently thanking her for asking the question his throat was too dry to permit him to do so.

"That's the thing," Tiergan added. "Human. And fictional."

Tam tapped a shaky hand against the table. Coughing up petals for about two hours straight took a toll on his body. "So? That doesn't matter. H-how did I get it in the first place, and how do I-"

The coughs interrupted again, but this time, he was startled to see a small, whole rosebud nestled in the center of his palm, instead of the usual loose petals. Magnate Leto took a peek and blanched.

"This...this is far more serious than I had anticipated..."

"How?" Linh demanded, after glancing at the tiny bud as well. "How do we make it stop?"

Magnate Leto shook his head mournfully. "I will tell you what I know about Mr. Tam's condition. The rest, I am afraid, is up to him to figure out."

Dun dun dunnnnnnnn

*more Ami-and-Miyu music*