As Kaeda walks into the kitchen in the morning, dressed in one of the loose shirts and the pants Nico bought for her, a tall male stands up from the table across the room by the open window. She knows he must be Marley. He’s almost as tall as Nicolai, but they look nothing alike. This man has dark skin and dark eyes, with gray streaking through his dark hair. He exudes warmth and kindness with his broad smile wrinkling his skin. 

     “You must be Kaeda.” he holds out a weathered hand to her.

     He makes it impossible to feel uncomfortable meeting him, as if he already knows and loves her. She reaches out, and his fingers engulf hers as they greet each other. “Yeah. You must be Marley.”

     “The one and only.” he chuckles, gesturing to an empty seat at the table, as Nicolai joins them.

     “Sorry we missed you last night.” Nico says to Marley, pouring us both tea, and her cheeks heat a bit. “I have an idea to discuss with you.” he goes on, “Maybe I can help you in the workshop this morning?”

     Marley raises his eyebrows in curiosity. “Sure, yeah, I could always use the help. Especially when Moira spends the day in the market stall.”

     Kaeda is curious too, but she knows Nico will tell her later, so she jumps on the opportunity to make herself useful. “I could help you today, Moira, if you’d like?”

     “Of course, honey. It’ll be nice for us to spend the day together, and I could always use a second set of hands.” she answers. “We’ll gather everything up and go once you’ve eaten some breakfast.”

     Kaeda grabs a muffin from the basket on the table, spotting the berries baked in, and inhales the delicious smell of it. “I really missed your baking, Moira.”

     Marley grins. “Woman bakes too much for the two of us, it’s good you two are here now to help us eat it all.” 

     Moira laughs as he turns that grin on her, and they share a look so full of love. It makes Kaeda’s heart happy and she smiles at Nicolai, wondering if that’s what people see when they look at each other. He grabs her free hand under the table and gives it a gentle squeeze, as if he knows exactly what she’s thinking.

     When they’ve finished with breakfast, Nico gives her a quick kiss and disappears into the workshop with Marley, who has been explaining the soap making process to him.

     Moira and Kaeda gather up four large wicker baskets full of bars of soap in varying colors, with cute paper labels indicating their different scents, and they head off towards the market. 

     “Normally, Marley would help me carry the baskets to the stall. He might get spoiled, having you two here to help us out." she comments, with some humor. 

     “We’re happy to help. Really, it’s the least we can do.”

     “Oh, nonsense.” she brushes off the idea that they might owe her anything for her hospitality, and Kaeda just smiles - happy to be here. 

     She smells each different scent as they arrange the bars of soap on display in the stall, and she loves every single one of them. Pine, lavender, anise, bergamot, cinnamon, eucalyptus, lemon, and a few others. They all smell lovely. She remembers the bar of soap Nicolai had pulled from his pack to wash her clothes in the river. It had definitely been one of these, a eucalyptus one. 

     “We keep a small stock for ourselves at home, in the cabinet in the bathroom. You’re welcome to grab a couple for yourself.” Moira tells her, noticing her appreciation.

     “I think I will. I’ll grab a lavender one, thank you.” Kaeda smiles down at the beautiful arrangement they’ve made, and sits down in one of the two wooden chairs to wait for customers. “So, how did you and Marley get started making these?”

     “I actually started on my own.” she explains. “When Nicolai was missing, I assumed the worst, and I knew I needed to find a way to support myself without his help. I bought some supplies and started dabbling in making a few soaps. After a while, I was able to start selling them out here, but it wasn’t much. One day, Marley came strolling over with that big ol’ smile of his and bought a few. He came back the next day and bought another, and I suspected then that he was back just to see me, but I played along - secretly hoping he would keep coming. The day after that, he asked me to have dinner with him on his boat. It’s a houseboat, and I’d never seen anything like it. Anyway, the rest is history. We fell in love, started working together to increase the soap business using money he had left from his old business - crafting small boats for local fishermen in Hestle, and then we bought our house on the beach.”

     Kaeda can imagine Marley walking over to flirt with the pretty lady selling soap, and it makes her heart happy that Moira has this love. “That’s amazing, Moira. I’m so happy you two found each other.”

     After that, they have a steady stream of customers, and a handful of hours later, they’re all sold out. It seems like Moira and Marley are the only people anyone in Tavedor buys soap from. That’s probably true, probably nobody else here makes it. 

     They grab the baskets and head back to the house, where they find their males having sandwiches for lunch, and the guys were even thoughtful enough to make a couple for them.

     Kaeda wraps her arms around Nicolai, her chest pressed to his back, and plants a kiss on his neck. “You smell so good.” she murmurs in his ear. It’s not any particular scent, just a pleasant combination of all the oils he worked with today. 

     He chuckles low, a subtle, secret promise for things to come later, in the privacy of their bedroom, and she bites her lip.

     “I have good news!” he says, as she grabs a sandwich and sits next to him. “Marley agreed to let us stay on his houseboat, and we can park it a couple miles down the beach. That way we can stay close, but be far enough away to hopefully not lead any of Queen Nola’s men here to this house.”

     That… that could work, she thinks. That’s a good plan.