Lilynn accepted many similar jobs after the incident.
They were, of course, all the same. Rich owners who only gave little money with a somewhat acceptable sleeping place. Quite frequently, they all had the same habit of threatening their maids if something went wrong. In rarer cases, maids were hurt or abused.
Years went by.
Under Lord Finn, her latest served person, her life was not at all perfect. But how could she know what "better" was? By that point, she accepted that ill treatment was to be always expected. Hell, she thought of it as her destiny.
Those girls out there are probably having the same thoughts. The world uses them as tools as toys without any respect.
How could anyone go against such deeply rooted evil?
Now, as she was standing in the tavern room, the coldness of the place sunk into her fingertips. She was touching the room's window, drawing invisible shapes on the thin glass. Her memories, like spring streams, broke out of her mind as if it had been frozen for a long time. She was evoking them, flooding her brain with everything she tried to tuck away under ice before.
Behind Lilynn the tavern room's door opened. Erwand came back.
He stood there for a second, glancing at Lilynn. He shaved his short beard and got a clean shirt on.
"Hey," he finally said.
"H-Hey," Lilynn tried to repeat without the gloominess that covered her.
Erwand realized it.
"Are you all right, what happened?"
Lilynn did not know what to say. She said a plain "Fine" to him.
Erwand stepped closer. Now Lilynn could almost feel his warmth as opposed to the cold window.
"Do you want me to leave you alone?" he asked worriedly.
"No!" Lilynn said with maybe a bit too much emotion in her voice. "No..."
Erwand slowly put his hand on Lilynn's. It almost felt like a surge of hot water, but Lilynn did not move her arms.
"You are freezing."
"It is you who is almost like a furnace here," Lilynn said while looking away. He did not speak for a brief time. They were just holding hands, like two kids who fell in love for the first time.
Lilynn finally looked up. The man in front of him was looking at her with those greyish eyes again, bringing her back to the real world. Or was it a completely different one? Where happiness ruled instead of the cold past?
Lilynn let her hands free.
"Remember what you said about your duty?" Lilynn asked him. "That it is connected to a great loss? I did not really think about it then. Even thought that it might be a joke. You being haunted by the past? I could not image. But now... I am also just..."
She could not say more, or tears would have come out. Thankfully, Erwand knew what she was trying to say:
"I know what it is like to heal. Long and torturing. The opposite of what it was supposed to be."
She nodded.
At that moment, Erwand was the most beautiful person she knew. Only a single candle was lighting the room, portraying the man in a mysterious orange light. His sharp jawline moved as he wanted to say something, but stayed silent at the end. Looking at her with those shining eyes, and warm, muscular body, that Lilynn could see through the thin textile...
"Let's just sleep. We need to figure out how to catch a demon tomorrow," Lilynn said, and turned away. Erwand did not argue, but Lilynn knew he perhaps wanted more.
She blew the candle, and the room went dark.
Lilynn soon discovered that she could not sleep. Her eyes got used to the incoming moonlight quickly.
The big silhouette of Erwand's back lay before her like a mountain. The one blanket they shared was large enough for both of them.
Lilynn was happy to share it with him.
His warmth, his smell were so familiar. The smell of the various herbs from the alchemist carriage that got into his hair. Without realizing it, Lilynn got closer. Her whole body was touching Erwand's back. She could hear that he was awake from his breathing pattern.
Then he slowly turned around, facing Lilynn. The pale moonlight through the room's small window lighted the sharp edges of his face.
"Hi," Lilynn whispered.
"Hi, demoness."
Their faces were so close that their noses almost touched.
"I- I enjoy sleeping with you," Lilynn said softly.
"I do too."
They were so close, but not too much. Lilynn enjoyed it. Their whole little conversation in the bed sleeping next to each other felt embarrassing to her, but in a reassuring way. And she wondered what Erwand felt.
Is she supposed to go further? Her body felt filled with warmth. Was *that* supposed to be what her body wanted? The thought evoked all the dark memories again, erasing all the urge to do it.
Even though she did have special feelings towards the man she was sleeping with.
"Erwand?"
"Hm?"
"You also... feel it right? I feel something, but I do not want... you know..."
"I know. And I understand."
"But do you..."
He slowly put his hand on her cheek. "No," he whispered, and lifted it back to under the blanket.
She exhaled loudly. Under the blanket, Erwand's big hands closed on hers. Like a walnut's outer shell closing on the vulnerable core.
Lilynn's nose touched Erwands, and she gave him a little kiss on the mouth. Small and warm. The wild memory streams in her mind were all quiet.
Then, they fell asleep.