We Are The Cure : The Plague Doctor's Tale.

Chapter 21

When Doctor came back, for almost the whole evening they weren't talking to each other. They even ate separately. However, before bedtime Doctor spoke to her.

"... I may be cold and harsh at the times but please, believe in my good intentions as I do not want to cause you any harm or pain. You probably do not understand it now but you certainly will later." He was sitting on the chair ready to fall asleep again.

"Let me sleep on that chair tonight. You can take the bed." It acted like she didn't hear Doctor's words but she did. Doctor shook his head in disagreement.

"I will not let a lady sleep on the chair. You are staying on the bed. Besides, Baltane is tomorrow so I can manage one more night on the chair. I got used to it." After these words they exchanged good nights and fell asleep.

...

The next day was a beautiful sunny weather. It felt almost like summer. Rosalynn woke up first but this time she didn't even dare to come closer to Doctor. After she cleaned her face with soap and water, she went down to eat a breakfast alone. She was surprised to see Giovanni waiting outside the inn. Rosalynn changed her mind and went outside the inn and when the two met Giovanni seemed both surprised and discontented. 

"To be honest, I expected Doctor to woke up that early but it's just you." He spoke with his funny accent which made Rosalynn involuntarily smile. "And why are you smiling?"

"Doctor is still sleeping but soon he will wake up as well." She ignored his second question. "Why are you here, Giovanni?" Hearing that he gave her a grave look.

" Firstly, I don't remember letting you calling me by my name. Call me Sir and I will call you Miss. And secondly, I'm waiting for Doctor to accept my offer." Just right after he finished this sentence he covered his mouth. Despite his harsh words, Rosalynn laughed at the reaction of his body.

"What offer?" She asked amused. "Or perhaps it's a secret between you and Doctor." She smiled and looked carefully in Giovanni's eyes. He didn't want to look at her and by doing so he resembled a small child which posed to be stronger and bigger but in fact was very weak.

"It's none of you business, Miss." He crossed his arms and both of them heard a loud growling in his stomach.

"Maybe you would consider joining me while breakfast?" To her surprise, Giovanni reluctantly accepted her offer and soon they both were eating Scottish breakfast. 

Not so long after that Doctor came down and sit with them by the table. He was surprised to see Giovanni here but in the next moment he understood the reason behind his visit. 

"I assume you are here to know the answer for your question." Doctor was sitting next to Rosalynn and in front of Giovanni. Rosalynn looked carefully at Giovanni and then at Doctor as he continued. "After having considered advantages and disadvantages of you offer I came to conclusion that perhaps it might be beneficial for both of us to cooperate." He made a little pause. "For that reason I have decided to take you under my supervision. All I hope is you will get along with Rosalynn as she is equally knowledgeable as you." Giovanni's reaction was very funny as he was happy to hear that Doctor wanted to teach him but the thought of Rosalynn being his new colleague was rather unsatisfactory, however, he must have accepted that fact. 

"I'm glad to hear that, Doctor. I hope to learn from you as much as possible." He offered his hand so they could shake hands but Doctor didn't do the same. Instead he stood up, approached the counter and ordered a breakfast to their room. 

And now it was Rosalynn's job to cheer Giovanni up from the immeasurable disappointment caused by this unfortunate event. She mentioned that Doctor keeps himself as sterile as it is possible so he shouldn't be upset with Doctor's distant behaviour.

After Doctor ate his breakfast, the three went to the longed-for festival of Baltane. All Rosalynn knew about this festival was there must have been a huge bonfire and some traditional dances. She was enormously surprised to see a huge filed covered with people and special areas which could be divided into three zones. The first zone was a food zone where people could have bought regional food and eat while the festival. Rosalynn wanted to try some dishes but she was right after breakfast so she promised herself to come back there later. Behind the gastronomy zone there were two other zones: sports zone and arts zone. In the first one, all men no matter Scots, Englishmen, or others, were competing in different sports disciplines. Rosalynn could see some men holding a huge caber and then throwing them. Others were long jumping or lifting heavy stones. It was truly impressive to see all these strong men. The second zone was mainly dominated by women performing dances of different kinds, singing traditional songs, saying poems and creating small flowery bouquets and garlands. Rosalynn was so intrigued that she joined the ladies and was given the plants which were rowan, primrose, hazel, marsh marigold, hawthorn,  and gorse. 

"What is that?" She asked with Doctor's translational help.

"It is a traditional Baltane bouquet. You create it and then whisper all your wishes and at the end of the festival you throw it in the Great Bonfire and hope for your wished to come true." Answered one of the girls and Rosalynn smiled. As she was having fun creating yellow- white bouquet, Doctor joined Giovanni who was listening to the poems being read aloud. 

When she was done, the three of them decided to go and watch sports competitions. Both men noticed a modest primrose garland on Rosalynn's head but none of them made a remark. 
They found themselves a nice places to watch the competitions and Giovanni noticed Arran as he was lifting a stone. 

"Over there!" He pointed their friend and Rosalynn waved at Arran who probably was too busy with the stone. At the end of this competition Arran was given a huge applause and after a short break he decided to do long jumps. All three must have admitted that Arran was well prepared for Baltane disciplines as he did each of them with ease. The last one which was throwing a caber went so good that Arran was given the loudest applause. When he was done, he joined them and together the four went to watch Malie competing in traditional dances and there they met Jyne who was cheering up her sister. 

By the end of the day, when all the competitions came to an end, there was much more space to organise a huge dancing party with traditional Scottish music before the main Baltane event which was the Great Fire.  Despite the upcoming darkness, it was bright enough outside because of the numerous candles placed on the trees and smaller bonfires which lighted Calton Hil.

Most men were asking ladies to join them in dancing but everyone was surprised to see Jyne taking Giovanni's hand and disappearing in the crowd of dancing people. Malie was soon taken off to dance by some stranger as well as Rosalynn was taken off by Arran. Typically of him, Doctor came closer to the trees so nobody would offer him a dance nor force him to join the rest of the people. 

It was Rosalynn's first dance with a man and she must admitted it was fun. Arran despite his huge height and massive posture was quite nimble and gentle in dancing. He paid so much care not to harm Rosalynn and was watching his own steps to not step on her feet. They weren't dancing together for very long as soon there was a pair swap and now it was Giovanni who was dancing with her.