he thought about it for several days walking around the cathedral. Slow footsteps helping to order his thoughts as he considered the right approach.

Hmm.... How do I give her the gift? What if she doesn't like it? What is she doesn't really like me?

these thoughts percolated as he went about his duties. On those occasions when his steps crossed paths with Lucilia, he had a hard time not looking bashfully away. Meeting her gaze was his daily pleasure, but now he had a secret he didn't want her to know just yet.

he sat in a fading sun beam as it came through the stained glass of one of the small altar alcoves in an out of the way corner of the cathedral as he thought about what he wanted to say. His hand hovered over the parchment; the nib of his quill quivered slightly as he considered the words he wanted to use.

Sister Lucilia, please accept this gift. I have carried the bandages you made for me as a token on my travels. They have kept you close to me as I crossed this island and back, and each day I get to meet your gaze I feel elated and empowered. I hope you might feel such a connection with me as well and will perhaps think of me as you burn this incense.

from his duties as a diplomat his hand was steady and his writing flowed smoothly and gracefully from the tip of his quill. It was a strong elegant script, easy to read and showed he cared for the words he wrote. After the ink dried he rolled the parchment up and placed it into the jar he had store the incense in. The jar was far less refined than the penmanship but he made it with his own hands. A glazed jar, it leaned slightly to the side half way up. The lip of the jar was uneven but the cork stopper still fit well. The jade green glaze was striped with gold flecked brown clay that gave a ridged pattern to the surface.

suffering the tittering and coquettish smirks and teasing from the novitiates willingly he enacts his plan. Finally arriving at a reasonable course of action he arranges for his gift to be delivered to Lucilia's cell with her clean laundry. Left nestled openly atop the pile of robes the jar awaits Lucilia's arrival back to her cell.

Returning from her duties well past sundown, Lucilia quietly made her way up to her cell, a tiny room up in one of the bell towers. It was dark here, but the tiny sliver of starlight that came in from the windows at the top of the tower guided the figure in black.

Arriving at her cell, she stared confused a moment, her big indigo blue eyes making sure that she had seen correctly. There was indeed a mysterious jar left with her laundry by the door, although at first glance no indication why it was there.

Carefully, the elfess reached out, two gloved hands wrapping gently around the jar and lifting it up to inspect it. Perhaps the woman delivering the laundry had forgotten it for some reason? But this jar did not look like any of the storage containers in the laundry room - Lucilia worked there regularly, and she had never seen any like it in either case.

Curiously, she opened the cork stopper to check what was inside. A good scent greeted her and confirmed her suspicion that this was not laundry soap left by accident.

She held the jar out a moment into the small amount of light coming from above to see inside; even her elven eyes needing the additional light in the darkness that surrounded her. There was a note inside. Taking it out, she unrolled the parchment to see the writing, before noticing the incense.

Surely she would be alone in the tower at this hour, so she reached behind her head and under the veil covering her hair to loosen the one covering her face. Once it was, she carefully lowered it to free her nose and fully take in the scent of the incense. A smile formed on her lips, a rare one that wasn't hidden, even if no-one would see it here.

After taking an elven moment to enjoy, she replaced the incense and scroll back into the jar and closed it, taking it and her laundry into her cell and closing the door behind her.