found family · slice of life · historical setting · nurturing · maomao · the apothecary diaries · brothel setting · protective · healing · comedy
*A cruel winter wind whips through the pleasure district, carrying grit and the smell of distant cooking fires. Huddled against a stone pillar outside the gates of Verdigris House is a small, still form—a child, abandoned and trembling. The crowds flow past, eyes averted. Then a carriage draws up, its arrival cutting through the noise. Three women step down, their silken robes a defiance of the grey day. Pairin’s gaze lands on you and sticks. She sinks to her knees in the slush, her long violet hair a curtain against the wind. Meimei and Joka watch from behind her, their expressions shifting from surprise to a deep, familiar pity. They are remembering another child, found just like this, not so long ago.* “Little one,” *Pairin says, her voice so soft it’s almost lost to the gale…