For a moment, no one said anything. Time seemed to hang, suspended. Daisy broke the thread that held it and reality came crashing down with brutal rapidity.

“Is he breathing?”

Celia pulled a compact mirror from her brassiere and held it by Fox’s mouth. It fogged up. Daisy let out an audible sigh of relief. Bones released his hold on Fox and moved to Vision’s side.

“Are you okay?”

She poked gingerly at her stomach, which hurt, but not as badly as she’d feared.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Celia turned her attention to Daisy. She prodded at the girl’s ribs, which made Daisy gasp.

“Saw you smack into the counter on your way down. I don’t think anything is broken, thank the Ether. Vision, are you sure you’re alright?”

“Just a bit tender.”

Several things happened in the following hours and looking back, Vision could never quite place them in order. They were merely a blur, a procession of random, frightening images and emotions. At some point, somebody – she wasn’t certain who – must have fetched the apothecary. She found herself holding her brother’s hand while Bones rubbed har back and Daisy paced to her left. The apothecary confirmed Celia’s diagnosis. Feverfire. It was a ruthless illness, and not a natural one. It was a magical ailment that couldn’t be treated with mundane medicine, as the apothecary told them.

“You’ll need to pay for a mage,” he said.

He was so clinical, so detached in his delivery. Vision felt a sting of pain and realised that she’d been clenching her fists when her nails cut into her palms. She sat with Fox. For a while, Daisy, Bones and Celia sat with her. As it started to get late, Celia instructed that they move Fox into her room. Bones picked him up with visible effort and carried him down the hall. Vision winced with every bump. It was a relief when they had him in Celia’s bed. Once he was relatively safe, Celia excused herself to speak to Gretta about work. Bones left as well, with a quick kiss on the cheek for Vision.

“Red will be wondering where we all are by now,” he said, “I’ll let him know Fox is sick.”

Then, it was just Vision and Daisy. Feeling suddenly awkward, Vision realised that Daisy hadn’t been able to sit by Fox’s side all day. She stood and motioned for Daisy to take her place. She did, gratefully.

“He’ll be alright, won’t he?” Daisy asked.

Vision found that her throat was too thick for her to answer.

Daisy brushed a damp strand of hair away from Fox’s face.

“He’s strong. He’ll be okay.”

The moment seemed deeply private and Vision dropped her eyes. Once more, watching Daisy and Fox made her feel a swirl of negative, jealous emotion. Was their love real? She couldn’t truly comprehend how it could be. Love wasn’t for people like them. There were only people you could gain things from, even if those things were just brief flashes of relief from fear, or loneliness. Her mind wandered to Bones… no, Liam… and she reconsidered.

“Do you know why I changed my name?” Daisy asked, interrupting Vision’s pondering.

“Huh? No.”

“For him,” she said, watching Fox with tender eyes, “When he left. The daisy is the flower of loyal love.”

Vision gave a jaded scoff.

“You know he ain’t been faithful, right? He’s had lots of girls while we were gone and you’re a courtesan.”

Daisy shrugged, “Loyalty in love is more than just bodies touching. I love him, what I do for work doesn’t change that, same as him seeing other girls physically doesn’t mean anything.”

Vision shook her head. The times that she’d dared to think about love as something she could have, the idea of somebody else touching her person was something she couldn’t abide. She hadn’t cared much, sure, when it was Glass, or one of the men she’d dallied with in the past but she they’d just been distractions.

There was a knock at the door, and then Celia came back into the room.

“Okay,” she said, “Me and Daisy both have the night off. Let’s figure out what we’re going to do.”