It was strange that he didn’t feel much like himself after shedding most of his anger and his resentment. There was a lightness in his chest that felt foreign, despite the many thoughts that weighed in his mind. Desmond was a thinker --- not because he was unfeeling, but because he felt too much. Sensitive, his mind filtered his emotions as best he could, though he still lost himself to his worst impulses at times. He still worried, still longed for what had been lost and buried in the past, but his heart had been mending itself, healing just a little, one day at a time. It was a slow, gradual change, but it was there, it was palpable and he wanted to see it through. For that to happen, there was much left to be done, about himself --- and about the town too.
It was afternoon when he made his way to the Eve’s Apple. Desmond was in need of very specific herbs for a very specific ritual. Cael shouldn’t hear of them, lest he tried to stop him. It was an unorthodox practice, but then again that was a very peculiar town. Desmond was tired of being left in the dark: even if it put his life at risk, he’d rather try and find out what was going on in that place. If he was to make Ashbourne into a home, then he had to know.
The store was quiet, he thought it always smelled like old books and spices. The shelves were filled both with actual witchcraft paraphernalia and the sort of useless knick knacks humans loved to collect. His sight danced over the various bottles with colorful liquids inside them, the crystals and a collection of flashy books that were most likely written by witches with an incredible sense of humor.
By the time he reached the counter at the back, he had a small, amused smile stretched across his face. It faded into a thin, shocked line the moment his sight fell up the girl behind it, her sweet face one he’d longed to see for years and yet was terrified to think of her reaction if they ever met again. “Maeve,” he said, his voice a whisper. Surprise and fear mixed together in his light irises, concocting something fragile, a reflection of his spirit. There was a moment of silence where all their unspoken accusations weighed between them like a physical wall. The last time he’d seen her, she was a girl, and now a woman stood before his eyes. She’d grown so much, changed so much. Her opinion of him must’ve changed as well.
He parted his lips, preparing his heart for a blow, though no amount of preparation could shield him in that moment. “What are you doing in Ashbourne?”