@bluewiggly
Winter was setting in. The air was cold enough his breathe created a fog when he breathed. It’s a good thing he had finally found the town, and he intended to sell his dries herbs and salves to a doctor in the hopes of getting enough to afford an inn.
He normally would not bother to do so, food was more important after all,but a few days ago a cough had settled in his chest, ans he could feel it every time he took a deep breath.
He had gotten info from a townsperson informing him of a traveling doctor who had recently come into town, set up in a row house. So that is where he went. The Shoji was open, inviting people in, so he enters, moving to take the bamboo basket off his shoulder.
But he freezes, someone is there, back to him. Her hair jet black and done in a loop. A smell hits his nose… It seems she’d heard him enter because she starts turning and seeing her face only confirms everything….
Suddenly he’s frozen. There’s a lump in his throat. His chest tightens and he can’t breathe, somehow his mind is blank and racing with thoughts and emotions.
It’s her. It’s her. It’s her…
Hand clutches his chest, fingers clawing into his clothing. He gasps and wheezes trying to come up with something to say. But all he can manage to choke out is;
“T-T-…To-mo….To-Mo-e…”
Arriving in this town had been a relief, with the encroaching cold and rough weather conditions surely on the way Tomoe could not help but worry over what would have happened had they still been on the road when temperature inevitably dropped further.
Her fears had been assuaged by the good fortune of finding a place to set up quickly and without much hassle for the good doctor, who happened to be out when she heard someone enter and turned to address a potential patient.
"I'm sorry, the doctor is away at the-"
Her words were cut off by the distressed look on his face and the way he muttered under his breath. Was he having a heart issue? She hadn't seen anything like that before but then, most of the things they treated on the road were fairly mundane.
"I'm sorry, is there something the matter? You seem to have gone pale."
