Some time later, they were back at the inn awaiting the doctor's news. Tutu sighed and stared at her hands as she twisted them worriedly in her lap. The sound of footsteps approaching made her look up. "Femio!"

"Are you still out here all by your lonesome?" He smiled kindly at her. "You don't need to feel so bad, you know. It was an accident; happens to everyone."

Tutu glanced back down at her hands, remorse written all over her face. "But Mytho got hurt... I can't believe I made such a clumsy mistake. It should've been me to fall..." Some White Swan I am, getting startled so easily.

"Nonsense!" Femio interjected. "Mytho has always been a king of drama like that, throwing himself in the place of anyone in the vicinity of harm. You should've seen him growing up..." He gave a helpless chuckle.

"Ah, yes, I remember!" Madam Eponine chimed in as she stepped out onto the porch. "Here, if you don't mind me joining you..." Tucking her skirt deftly about her legs, she plopped down next to Tutu. "Remember the winter when you two were twelve, Femio? Remember those kittens?"

"How could I forget!" Femio sighed dramatically, putting his hand to his forehead. "Those kittens..." He leaned against the column and turned back to Tutu. "You see, one of the first winters we worked here, Mytho found two kittens in a ditch when he was walking home from town."

"It was so cold that night," Eponine sighed. "And I'd told him not to go, but he went anyway..."

Femio shook his head. "And the poor things were on their way to the gates of paradise already, but Mytho decided to try and save them anyways. He took his mittens off and put a kitten in each, and carried them home."

"You should have seen his fingers!" Eponine cried, as if the incident had happened just yesterday. "All blue with frostbite! I was sure he was going to lose his pinkie at the very least... But the doctor was able to fix them up, and said he was a very lucky young man."

"And Eponine, remember the commotion you caused afterwards! You gave him quite the scolding," Femio laughed, throwing his head back and wiping a tear away. "She said he was the craziest boy he'd ever met, and that she'd have him committed to an asylum if he did something so foolish again! But, Mytho is Mytho... He's always saving even the tiniest of creatures like that."

Tutu smiled fondly. "He's so selfless..."

"He is," Femio sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Though I wish he'd stop to use common sense sometimes. He's worried us quite a bit over the years." He pouted.

Tutu tilted her head, lost in thought. "But... What happened to the kittens?"

Eponine exhaled. "They died, both of them. Too far gone; couldn't save them. But we did our best to warm them up, and we hoped that they at least passed in some comfort."

The revelation saddened Tutu. "Those poor kittens... And poor Mytho, getting injured for nothing... But, perhaps, if it's as Madam Eponine says, it was worth it to give the kittens a comfortable place to go at peace."

Femio chuckled then, and Tutu looked up at him in surprise.

"Mytho said the exact same thing," he murmured, his gaze looking off into a long ago time.

Another pair of approaching footsteps made them all rise to their feet. "Doctor!" Madam Eponine cried. "He's alright, then?"

The doctor, a stern looking man in his twilight years, sighed, his disapproval of the situation apparent. "He's awake, and he's alert. No lasting damage that I can tell."

Tutu let out a long breath of relief that she hadn't even realized she was holding in. Thank goodness.

"The cut on his head was long but shallow; it won't need stitches, but he'll need to keep that bandage on for a few days." The doctor pulled out a glass jar full of some sort of herbal concotion. "You'll have to change the bandage in the morning with a fresh one, wash the wound, and re-apply the bandage with this mixture on it. Wake him up at night to check on him, and let me know if he becomes disoriented." He sighed again and shook his head before taking his leave. "That young man..."

"Mytho's alright!" Femio cried, collapsing against the column dramatically. "I must go to see him at once...!"

"I'd like to see him too," Tutu ventured quickly. "I'd like to apologize..."

"Of course you can!" Madam Eponine exclaimed, grabbing Femio back by the shoulder. "Femio, you've already fussed over him enough for the afternoon; let Tutu make her peace."

"Yes, Madam..." Femio sighed.

It was with nervous steps that Tutu approached Mytho's room. He was sitting propped up on a pile of pillows on the bed, hands folded on his lap, gazing off into space. The sunlight glinted brightly off of his dazzlingly white hair, but Tutu's stomach dropped when she saw the bandage half-hidden among the locks. He glanced up when he heard Tutu enter the room and immediately broke into a smile. His gaze flustered her, and she scrambled for the right words to start with.

"I..." She swallowed the nervous lump in her throat. "I'm glad that you're going to be okay!" She dropped into a swift curtsy. "And I am so sorry! I can't believe you were injured because of my carelessness, so-" She halted when she saw him raise his hands hastily, urging her to stop.

He opened his mouth to speak, but remembering his lack of a voice, paused before settling on a tentative smile, shaking his head.

He's saying it's alright...? Tutu straightened up. "But... I really do feel bad, so..." She took a deep breath. It's up to me to make things right! "If it's alright, I'd like to help watch over you until you heal!"

His eyes went wide, and his mouth opened in surprise. Tutu felt her face flushing red in response. Why does he have to have such unnerving golden eyes?!

"I mean, if it's alright with you," she reiterated, moving closer. "I don't mean to overstep boundaries..."

"I think it's a wonderful idea!" Madam Eponine's voice boomed from behind. Tutu jumped, but then relaxed. I felt so nervous alone with him... Eponine rested a hand on Tutu's shoulder. "I know he won't be much trouble, and it'll be a nice break from all the hard work you've been doing." She smiled and winked at Mytho. "My, aren't you the lucky young man, having such a wonderful girl eager to look after you!"

Mytho smiled sheepishly before looking away, and Tutu felt her face getting warm once more.

"I'll go fetch some hot water, then maybe Tutu can get that dirt on your face cleaned up!" Eponine sang, feigning ignorance at the atmosphere. She brushed some dust from Mytho's cheek, tutting, before bustling away.

Tutu pulled a chair over to his bedside, and settled in. "But, you know, you don't look ruffled at all, everything considered..." She ventured, trying to fill the silence. "I mean, that is to say, you don't look that dirty!" Her own words sunk in, and she stared wide-eyed at her feet. Did I really just say something so foolish...? Where have my manners gone?!

But a hint of movement to her left interrupted her inner monologue and made her look up. Mytho's shoulders were shaking slightly, and his lips were oddly pursed, as if he were holding back laughter. But the laughter won out, and he tilted his head back slightly, the silent laughs coming out as little more than labored breaths.

Tutu stared at him in awe. He seemed to glow in the sunlight. Oh... She swallowed hard.

I wish he were my prince.

She shook the thoughts away and gave a half-hearted giggle of her own. "I suppose I shouldn't be so awkward... I apologize."

Mytho shook his head once more, beaming at her. Tutu felt a genuine smile rise on her lips in response.

Madame Eponine entered once more, carrying a bucket with a rag soaking in it. "Here you are!" She set it down next to Tutu before taking her leave once again.

Tutu reached down into the water and rung the rag out before carefully raising it. She paused before bringing it to Mytho's face. "May I?"

He nodded and closed his eyes.

Tutu took a silent deep breath and gently began to dab the dirt from his face. She noticed a small streak of dried blood, and her stomach tinged once more with guilt.

He sat completely still as she washed his face, his long eyelashes fluttering only when she passed the rag across his upper cheek. Tutu silently willed her hands to remain steady. It seemed impossible for anyone to be so beautiful, and yet here he sat, an angel in the flesh, before her. She drank in the opportunity to wonder at his delicate features. Tilted nose, rosebud lips, slender but well-shaped eyebrows... She moved the rag to his forehead, gently brushing back his bangs. Smooth, pale skin, with not a flaw in sight; such thick, dark eyelashes...

She realized with a jolt that her hand had paused, and she quickly drew her hand away. "There. Feeling better?" She asked, successfully masking the tremor she felt within.

His golden eyes opened, looking back at her. They seemed to dance in the light...

Tutu's hands twitched into fists.

Dancing eyes, brilliant smile...

That oh-so-familiar brilliant smile that eclipsed all else shone back at her now, a single ray of light that outshone even the sun. Her heart began to pound.

He reached out and gently touched her hand.

Thank you, he mouthed.