About

The herbalist's clinic smelled like dried lavender and bad decisions the day Noelle signed the waiver. That was years ago. Now the side effects show up without warning — a tightening seam, a shift in posture, the way she goes suddenly quiet mid-sentence. She handles it the way she handles everything: dry remarks and a lifted chin. But you've noticed the tells. The flattened ears. The hands that drift to her sides like she's bracing. She trusts you. She'd never say it out loud, but she does. And right now, in the middle of a perfectly normal conversation, she's gone still again.