A Moment of Stillness

Gwen laughed and pulled into a street to the right after Bronx, and the clinic was inside a small building that only had a small wooden sign out in front that was written in fancy font with a sage green color.

Dawn pulled a lacey fabric out of her pocket, and she shook it out to the side before twisting back to tying it around her head to try and cover her up a little bit. Her robe from earlier was long gone, so Gwen did lose that touch on anoynimity that could have slipped her through anywhere.

She smiled back at Dawn, knowing that any bit of coverage would be safer than none. She would look the part of being apart of a noble family, but they wouldn't send her another glance that if looked up deeper would show that she was wearing Latimer family jewels.

There was nothing special about the street per se, but there was something about the quality of stillness and the calmness of the street with the blue sky and positioning of the sun that was hidden away behind the height of the buildings.

Cosette was already waiting there with a croissant in her mouth sitting outside on a wire-woven chair tucked in the corner of the clinic where it met another street. She stood up and waved when they approached her. Gwen hopped down and helped Dawn off too before turning back to Cosette.

"I didn't expect you to be here so soon," Gwen said.

"I know the town like the back of my hand," Cosette sang. "Let's get inside."

Bronx carried Zinnia inside who fell asleep on the ride there likely from exhaustion. She was completely knocked out, and Gwen could hardly blame her after the stressful events that had occurred today with multiple signs of struggle that were still left on her body from the fight.

Gwen greeted the doctor that came out of his hiding spot, and she went to his desk while Bronx laid Zinnia out on the clean bed where the doctor could treat her.

"Pleasure to meet you..." Gwen glanced down at the name tag that the doctor had on. "Dr. Kerr. We would love for you to treat that lovely lady there."

The doctor peered over at Zinnia and nodded. He was an older individual with slicked-back white hair, still nimble and quick on his feet but was clearly tired by the slump of his shoulders and dipped head. "Pleasure to meet you, ma'am."

Gwen glanced back to look at Cosette and wondered if she should properly introduce herself. It likely wouldn't be a problem anyways. Gwen extended her hand out between them, and Dr. Kerr shook it.

She smiled. "Duchess Gwendolyn Caddell Latimer."

The man's hand faltered, and he immediately bowed his head. "I have the wonderful pleasure of welcoming you to my humble clinic. Wouldn't it be in your favor to call the royal physicians from the capital?"

"That is not needed," Gwen said softly. "I am sure you will do well."

Dr. Kerr nodded. "I will do as I have done."

"We'll leave you in her care," Gwen said, and the doctor bowed his head once more.

He went over to Zinnia and softly awoke her, who was suddenly shot up awake by the new individual in her face with fear written all over her face. Dawn squeezed Zinnia's shoulder, trying to calm her, and Zinnia took in a few deep breaths when Dr. Kerr drew the curtain around them as he went to evaluate Zinnia.

Gwen walked out of the clinic to give Zinnia more privacy since she felt awkward just standing there looking at the wall, calmly intertwining her hands behind her back with Bronx and Cosette after trailing her despite her not going far. She sat down in the spot where Cosette was earlier and stretched out her legs.

"Are you tired, Your Grace?" Cosette asked.

"Oh, no. I'm fine, thank you," Gwen assured. "I'm wondering how far those rogues will get when Cassian and the rest of our crew catch them.

Bronx crossed his arms. "It won't be long. They were sloppy with their methods, leaving their traces everywhere."

"I'm going to say that's a good thing on our part," Gwen said. "Hopefully soon we'll be able to get some answers."

Cosette took the chair next to her and reclined back taking the bonnet from her head and placing it on her lap to reveal another tight twist that Gwen would shake out when Cosette suddenly snapped her fingers. "The baker nearby told me to stop later to grab his leftover pastries. We can go get them now."

"That's fine with me," Gwen said since she was beginning to feel peckish. She lifted a hand when Bronx was about to go with them. "Stay here and guard Zinnia. We'll be back soon."

Bronx leaned his back on the wall. "You are my sole priority, Your Grace."

"Thank you," Gwen smiled from the reminder. "But your task is to protect Zinnia and Dawn. Can you do that for me?"

Bronx seemed uncomfortable but nodded, and Gwen was glad that he agreed to her terms since she didn't want to ruffle any feathers. While Dawn and Zinnia were with them, Gwen would do everything in her power to try and keep them out of harm's way. For now, it would be best to be on the safe end with Bronx stationed outside.

"Shall we go, Your Grace?" Cosette asked.

Gwen extended her hand out. "Lead the way."

The bakery was as close as Cosette had mentioned, practically only a few steps away from where the clinic was since it was right around the corner stationed at the start of the next block with the lovely pink tents outside the windows and seats out in front to enjoy whatever baked confectionary was sold inside.

The door was held open by a tiny stool, and they both walked inside with Gwen getting hit with the strong scent of sugar and vanilla in the air. Warm buns of bread fresh from the oven were sitting out on top of the glass casing, and the gold leaf-topped macarons that were calling her name. Absolutely delectable.

It was a busy time in the day late afternoon, so they were a lot of people inside the bakery at the moment trying to purchase their daily bread, and Gwen was mentally going through what she wanted to purchase along with the free goodies that the bakers were going to send them off with since she wanted to appreciate their hard work.

She already found it odd that they were giving Cosette their day-old bread considering that there was nothing short that Gwen would provide for them, but she was grateful for the kind act nonetheless.