Odd Ones Out: Part 8
Lysander took a step back to avoid getting bumped into by Valeria, only to wish he hadn’t and had caught her instead.
He moved to her side and extended his hand.
“Are you alright?” he asked, and sounded worried that she had hurt herself.
“Here, give me your bag and I’ll help you up.” he offered.
Valeria had half-expected Lysander to catch her - since he is standing so close - but these expectations were turned to ashes as she feels the cold stone underneath her bare limbs. She feels a slight tingle of pain in her knees but waves it off. I’ve had worse. Cursing under her breath for being so careless, she ignores Lysander’s hand and instead helps herself up back on her feet. She honestly didn’t mean to ignore him, but the witch is not one to rely on other people for help. And so, she didn’t know how to react to the hand.
“I’m fine, it can’t kill me,” she assures the boy, dusting herself off. Quickly reaching into her bag, which Lysander had in his hands, Valeria pulls out a small, plain white handkerchief. After lightly patting it on her scratched knee, she removes the handkerchief - unstained by blood - to reveal perfectly smooth skin where the scratch had been just moments ago.
“Nothing a spell or a potion can’t fix,” she says as she throws the handkerchief back into her bag. “I poured a little wound-cleaning potion on it this morning. Always have it with me, just in case.”
Taking the bag back from Lysander’s hands, Valeria utters a word of thanks, and proceeds to going on with her life, unfazed by her small blunder.
