Thread by @nrem511

A #Sheith thread for @goddessarashi birthday ❤
🌿❤🌿
Every day Shiro tended to his herb garden, nurturing a vast array of aromatic plants. He had a reputation for being a herbalist, combining different ingredients into potions to help the townspeople with their minor ailments.

#Sheith
He meticulously selected specific herbs to relieve anything from insomnia and digestive problems to more acute complaints like tooth- and earache. The townsfolk trusted his intuition and as Shiro never accepted money they repaid him in goods and favors.

#Sheith
He never needed to purchase anything. Food, drink, laundry, transport, his herbal potions replaced the need for silver coins. All Shiro had to do was maintain his garden, turn the soil between his weathered hands, gently caress delicate green shoots, cultivate with love.

#Sheith
Apart from healing potions and culinary supplements, Shiro also applied his alchemy to more 'personal' concoctions. He understood that sometimes matters of the heart needed a helping hand. Special blends for romance and fertility proved exceedingly popular.

#Sheith
Shiro felt happy he could offer people a chance to restore their relationships, enhance their marriages or simply give a little courage to those lacking the necessary prowess to achieve their desired goal. He believed in love both spiritually and physically.

#Sheith
As Shiro watched those around him thrive and prosper, he found himself longing for someone to share his life with, a partner, a lover. There was somebody he had feelings for, but they happened to be the one person in the town who rejected his remedies as 'nonsense'.

#Sheith
Keith, the blacksmith's son.
Shiro coveted his violet eyes and raven locks, his strong forearms and confident stance as he forged tools and weapons at his father's side. Keith, who was tough and sober-minded, never fell ill & loudly dismissed whimsical notions of love.

#Sheith
Shiro couldn't have chosen a less suitable match, yet that seemed to make his heart beat even stronger. Keith's brusque manner and apparent lack of emotion drove the mild-natured herbalist wild, but he saw no way of ever connecting with such a stubborn character.

#Sheith
Until...one day while walking along the path beside the river, Shiro heard someone groaning. Quickening his pace he rushed towards the noise, only to find Keith half in the water gripping his leg in agony. To Shiro's horror he could see blood trickling downstream.

#Sheith
"What happened?" Shiro asked, kneeling down on the riverbank.
"I caught a big fish, but the bastard struggled and I lost my footing, sliced my calf open on that rock," Keith huffed, fighting back tears.
"Please, I can help you," Shiro said calmly.
Keith glared at him.

#Sheith
"Ack no! I don't need your useless plants and crazy spells. It’s nothing, just a scratch," Keith lied.
"It looks quite deep, you're losing blood. Don't be foolish, let me help." The young man winced as Shiro moved his hand away.
"Is th-that b-bone?" Keith stuttered.

#Sheith
Before the big guy could answer Keith passed out on the grass. Shiro tore a long strip of fabric off his shirt and tightly wound Keith's leg, stemming the bleeding. Then he lifted him up in his arms and carried him back to his home, not far from the river.

#Sheith
The wound needed urgent attention. Shiro set to work brewing a cleansing herbal mixture to prevent infection. Next he extracted fine thread from the silkworms that lived in his greenhouse. Fed on the juiciest mulberry leaves they produced a strong silk ideal for sutures.

#Sheith
As Keith lay unconscious on the table, Shiro carefully stitched the cleansed wound together. He applied a poultice of elderflower, echinacea & white willow bark to lower Keith's fever & prepared a ginger and honey tea for when he woke. Slowly color returned to his cheeks.

#Sheith
"Wh..where am I," he asked groggily.
"Don't worry you're safe. This is my home." Shiro smiled softly.
"My leg? You stitched it..." Keith exclaimed in amazement.
"I used silk, the wound should heal in a few days," Shiro gazed at Keith's violet eyes as he stared at his leg.

#Sheith
"Thank you. I think I owe you an apology," Keith said gruffly.
"No, it's okay..."
"Please, I know I've acted badly towards you in the past. I thought you were a charlatan who took advantage of people, but I see now that you have a genuine skill and a kind selfless soul."

#Sheith
Hearing such honest words from the man he desired filled Shiro’s chest with a warm glow. Could this be the connection he'd wished for? Had he finally pierced the young blacksmith's hardened exterior?
"Here, drink this," he handed him the ginger and honey tea.

#Sheith
"This better not be a love potion, I've heard the rumors," Keith smirked as he took a sip & closed his eyes at the soothing sweetness.
"Oh." Shiro blushed. "It wouldn't work anyway, you have to believe in love, allow it into your heart."
Violet eyes looked across at him.

#Sheith
"I believe in love. I just think it should happen naturally, not forced." Keith sipped the tea, his gaze fixed on Shiro's soft grey eyes.
"Did you think I hadn't noticed you?" He asked him, gently placing the cup on the table and reaching over to stroke Shiro's hand.

#Sheith
Goosebumps pebbled his skin as Keith touched him.
"I felt attracted to you, but I fought my feelings because I didn't trust you. I'm sorry."
The big man listened, both shocked and delighted.
"I've liked you for a long time," Shiro confessed. "I just never thought we..."

#Sheith
"Neither did I, but sometimes things happen for a reason." Keith smiled, still holding Shiro's hand. "Clearly our paths were meant to cross. Maybe the same magic that mixes your herbs drifted down the river and upset that fish, bringing us together...a force of nature."

#Sheith
Shiro's eyes sparkled. He loved the idea that nature had lead them towards one another, unseen powers had bonded their souls.
"I don't fully understand what it is that you do, but I'd like to know more about it...and you...if you'd let me." Keith meant every word.

#Sheith
"I'd like that very much," Shiro answered, a thousand butterflies fluttering in his belly. "But first we need to get your leg healed."
~~~~
In the weeks that followed Keith soon recovered and Shiro lovingly taught him all about the herbs and spices in the garden.

#Sheith
As time went by they set up home together. Keith built Shiro an even bigger greenhouse and a large wooden table with cast iron legs for chopping and blending herbs. He also forged him a special skillet for mixing his recipes. The blacksmith's devotion knew no limit.

#Sheith
Keith's past bluntness made way for a gentler demeanor, a more accepting outlook. Shiro's affection softened the gruff blacksmith and allowed their love to blossom naturally, just as Keith believed it should.
No potions...
Just the magic in their hearts.
❤🌿❤🌿❤

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