When Nevin woke up, his body was aching, pounding in stiff pain. Eteri was curled around him, having fallen asleep and rolled onto her side, her body circled around his head. She looked - she looked much, much better than she had the night before. He was still exhausted, but now, it was a normal exhaustion. He looked up, at the warm light shining through the kitchen window, then carefully moved and stood up, careful not to disturb her as he got to his feet.

He stumbled into the bathroom, and peered at himself in the mirror. The red lines along his skin were thicker now, much more so. Before, they had just remained tiny, thin lines, hiding the threat and blessing that his threads were. Now, they were running across far more of his skin, a writhing network of red that seemed to beat in time with his heartbeat. He brushed a fingertip against his chest, and watched as the red seemed to harden for a moment. He leaned forward, and examined his eyes - the red in them was brighter now, the hue a warmer color, closer to the color of fresh blood. He coughed, and gave a weak chuckle.

“Well. Glad I’m not really trying to hide this any more.” He looked down, at the charred remnants of his pants. Last night he hadn’t taken the time to change out, and sleeping had messed up the remains. With a slight shrug, he ripped them off, the burnt threads snapping with ease, and tossed it into a corner of the room. Then he turned on the shower, waited until it got hot, and stepped into it, closing his eyes as he let the hot water drum against his skin. Thankfully, his new, denser skin didn’t reduce his sensitivity, so he still got to enjoy relaxing in the hot shower.

He was glad. Despite the bruises that were causing a very weird coloration effect on his stomach and face, he felt fantastic. Emotionally, that is. Eteri was, while maybe not back to normal all the way, better. She was back. If only he hadn’t been an idiot, had pursued her like he should have when she left - then maybe none of this would have happened. She would still be ok, not scarred and scared. He just thanked the Flow that he had been in time.

The sight of her walking into the fire with a blank expression on her face would haunt him for some time though. That had been more terrifying than the thought of leaping into the flames - even with the doubled burning, that had barely registered as desperate as he was to get to her. He - he thought he might have to avoid large amounts of flame in the near future. A little difficult because of his profession, but… but this would be something he could work around.

The sounds of movement in the kitchen made him shut off the shower, his muscles far more relaxed now. He stepped out and briefly toweled off, and wrapped it around his waist before heading out. Eteri, tail flicking, dressed in one of the dresses that she had left here - something he thought suited her far better than the white dress he had made her wear- was standing in front of the kettle, finishing stirring a cup. WHen she heard him, she turned around, and hesitated a moment when she saw him. He saw her eyes slide across his skin, and she bit a lip before thrusting the mug towards him.

“Eteri make coffee. Nevin drink.” He took it with a warm smile and kissed her forehead. He wasn’t going to let his skin’s new appearance bother him. Then he lifted the mug to his mouth and took a swallow -

And barely managed to twist his head to the side as he spat the coffee out. He wiped the back of his hand against his tongue, as Eteri’s face twisted in confused worry. The alchemist dipped a finger into the hot coffee and tasted it, his face scrunching up slightly. With a sigh, he set the mug by the sink, and rested a hand on Eteri’s head. She tensed up - and Nevin felt a pang before he slid his hand down to her shoulder.

“Eteri… I think you put salt in, instead of sugar.” Her eyes went wide.”Let’s try again, together?”

“Teach Eteri -ah…” She scrunched up her face. “P-please teach me the difference.” She sounded less….jovial, less ‘Eteri-like’ and more reserved. Nevin nodded and took her in his arms, turning her around to face the counter where she had been working. He hugged her, then stepped forward and pulled the salt and sugar jars to the edge. He tapped the letters on each.

“I know the writing for your language is different. For Tradespeak, you usually see one shape meaning a single letter, or a single sound. S.” He tapped both. “Both salt and sugar start with it. However.” He tapped the letters on the sugar jar. “U, g, a, and r. Five letters. Salt has, s, a, l, and t.” He pushed them back from the edge, his heart twisting. But he continued one.

“Salt is more, granular, like sand, right?” He took a pinch and set it on her palm, letting her feel and look at it. A slight pursing of his lips, and he blew it to the side, causing a light sprinkling to fall to the ground. Then he took up a pinch of sugar. “Sugar is finer, smaller. It’s more like a powder.” And he poured it into her hand, let her look at it closely. Then, trying to lighten the mood he cupped his hand around it and blew, forcing a small spray of sugar to fly up into his face.