Chagara - Chaos in the Darkness (Levi x OC Fanfic / AttackOnTitan)

64. "How does she know a lesser spotted eagle?"

Levi leaned his head back, but did not stay in this position for long. Had he been mistaken or was there a small piece of paper lying in the opposite corner of his bathtub next to his soap tray? "Soaked. Completely," Levi realised after staring at it for a while. He brought his upper body to a more upright position. "Why are there lots of soggy papers in my bathroom?" Were they some remnants of Ayumi's closet work?

Suddenly, Ayumi jumped up. Droplets of water splashed on Levi's face. She had fallen asleep leaning against his chest. Confused, she looked around. It took her a moment to remember. Embarrassed, she looked over her shoulder into Levi's grinning face. With flushed cheeks, she glanced down at herself. Levi hugged her from behind and kissed her neck. "Getting chilly," he murmured into her hair. "Let's go to bed."

Ayumi nodded and thought back to the past few hours with a smile as Levi got out of the bath. Her smile disappeared, however, as she wanted to leave the bathtub as well.

"Do you want me to carry you?," said Levi amusedly, putting away his used towel.

"No," Ayumi grumbled as she climbed out of the bath somewhat awkwardly. "Is that sore muscles?," she pondered as she stared at her pubic hair. But Ayumi didn't have time to dwell on that question. Levi wrapped her in a towel and pulled her against him.

"Are you okay?," he whispered, kissing the tip of her nose. Or had he overdone it?

"Mmm." Ayumi nodded and sealed his lips with hers. When Levi pulled away from her embrace, however, her eyes sparkled angrily at him. "Already forgotten?," he began after pulling the bath plug. "You should go to sleep. Gonna be a hard workout tomorrow," he repeated with a grin and left the bathroom.

"You're so mean, Levi!," she shouted after him when she had understood his innuendo.

"That sounded quite different an hour ago," he replied calmly.

***

As Steve stood in front of the carriage with the empty bread baskets, he set the box with the medicines down on the ground. "Can't they clean up properly?," he muttered with a sigh and began to stack the baskets and boxes neatly. Because of the bad weather, the bread distribution had not taken place until the afternoon. Steve had hoped to pack the carriage full of medicine boxes for the way back, but he had only been given one box by the pharmacist. It still looked like more than last time. But that was an illusion. When he opened the box, he found that only a fifth of it was filled with medicines. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his index finger. "Damn," he cursed. The doctor had cut himself on a sharp edge. Grimly, he looked at his injured finger. Blood gushed out and ran into his palm.

"Yarrow," a girl's voice said behind him.

Surprised, the doctor turned around. Ymir was standing in front of him. She pulled a crumpled but clean handkerchief from her trouser pocket.

"Yarrow," she repeated. "The plant," she added. "You don't know it?," she questioned when Steve frowned. "Yarrow stops bleeding," Ymir explained.

Indeed, Steve was familiar with the plant. However, this effect was unknown to him. Neither one of the farmers' wives had ever told him about it, nor had he read about it in his book on medicinal herbs. "How does she know?," wondered Steve in amazement. "Thank you," he said as he accepted her handkerchief and pressed it on the bleeding. "You'll get that back. I'll bring it over to Henry Dober."

Ymir nodded and wanted to leave. Apparently she was going to the bookstore. "Um," Steve stopped her. "Yarrow. As a tincture?," he inquired with interest.

The girl nodded. "And then as a poultice. That's how I know it," she said, looking up at the sky. Steve guessed what, or more precisely who, had her attention. He knew the screams. Little Cloudy flew above them.