Happy Friday Readers! Here is chapter 25 of Needing Cassidy!

CHAPTER 25
Cassidy frowned down at the samples. After the odd encounter with Tor she’d retrieved Emily’s book, as requested. Then spent time trying to extricate herself from Ashley, who, apparently had used the fiska root to great success. She’d happily pointed out that at least five couples, including Mia and the prime had suspiciously disappeared for almost three days. Sadly Cassidy had missed the fun, being locked up in quarantine and all. She did, however, suspect that this prank might have had something to do with why Tor had visited the elite house as soon as quarantine lifted.
After Ashley’s confession she’d checked the gardens, which weren’t as terribly damaged as she had imagined, and then quickly booked it to the lab to re-check the samples in case there was some cross contamination.
Spoiler: there wasn’t. Which might have pissed her off a little except once she’d checked the patient samples she re-checked the Sirinchea over grown orchard samples, the ones she hadn’t thrown out already, out of pure curiosity.
What she found was...astonishing. Most of the samples remained about the same; the Sirinchea had taken over as far as it could, pulled all of the nutrients out of the sample medium and then begun to die off, slowly. However the samples with sap from the healthy trees were a completely different story. The last time she had viewed them the Sirinchea had taken over, but today, somehow it was completely annihilated. Oh, there was still some mystery bacteria, lots of it actually, It was as if it had killed off the Sirinchea by feeding off of it.
Elation buzzed through her. She’d finally found a solution...maybe. It was primitive at best, but if this mystery bacteria could run Sirinchea off, and the trees had stayed healthy through the illness of the orchard...then it stood to reason the mystery bacteria could fight off whatever was killing the fruit trees too.
She leapt up from the stool, careful to clean and sterilize everything before rushing from the room...and straight into Tor.
He grunted softly, his hands coming up automatically to steady her.
“Oh,” she breathed. “Hi Tor. I’ve gotta go and find Lim,” she grinned at him, her excitement uncontainable.
Tor’s eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth, about to say something. Probably give her more inane duties, so Cassidy didn’t give him the chance to protest, she shifted around him and nearly raced out the door. She felt a little bad as she did so, but, she decided, she could apologize later, maybe give the storage rooms an extra going over for forgiveness.
The evening meal was probably long over, but people tended to stay in the dining hall for socialization purposes into the night, so she made her way there. The room was beginning to empty, only about a quarter of the compound left, sitting and talking with one another. The lingering smells of a delicious meal beginning to fade.
“Lim!,” she spotted the unassuming Livarian toward the back sitting extremely close to his wife, a pretty blond girl Cassidy had only met once or twice with happy brown eyes. They were in the middle of a quiet conversation that was, quite possibly, a little on the naughty side, considering how furiously the woman was blushing. Normally she’d rein herself in and come back at a better time, but knowing the Livarians there was never going to be a better time. Insatiable, the lot of them.
Lim blinked up at her, a bit of a blush crawling up his own cheeks.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t hear anything,” she waved his expression away. “I have the answer! We can save the orchard...I think.”
He immediately sobered, leaning forward with interest, though one hand reached over to clasp that of his wife. “How? You know we cannot wait to act much longer, the area of infection has expanded to nearly double what it was on our first trip out.”
“The healthy trees, the ones in the contaminated area, have their own bacterial infection. But this one, I think, is beneficial. At least it doesn’t seem to affect the health of the tree. But even better the positive infection seems to be able to overcome the negative one.”
Lim breathed deeply. “That is good news. How do you propose we put it to use?”
Cassidy’s plan wasn’t the best, or at least it wasn’t complicated. She had no idea how someone would take her idea and produce a treatment, or how to keep that treatment stable, or really, if it would even be effective. She laid it out anyway, the thought was to simply remove some sap from the resistant trees and use it to infect the diseased trees with the good bacteria.
She worried a little that it was stupid, that it would never work, but honestly after suffering through Tor’s criticisms the idea that Lim might tell her she was stupid didn’t really upset her much.
Fortunately, Lim’s eyes lit up, his head nodding along as she explained herself.
“That’s brilliant,” he told her at last. “And now that your quarantine has lifted you can come and oversee the efforts.”
“I...What?” Cassidy’s heart stuttered a bit. She’d just gotten over the last trip to the orchard, though she knew the Livarians went every day or so.
“As I told you the orchard really only fell to me because I had the most interest in wood quality, hardly a viable reason to be caring for the trees. This proves you are much better suited. The Prime has already approved the designation and the extra protection needed so that you may tend to the trees. We rely heavily on the orchard Cassidy, it is a great honor that he is placing it in your hands.”
Shit. Well, she hadn’t really planned for that, had she? And the problem was she wasn’t sure she wanted the responsibility. What if her idea didn’t work? What if she let the entire compound down?
Lim’s wife was the one who seemed to pick up on her rising panic.
“You know they wouldn’t ask you if they didn’t need you hun. All they...all we ask is that you do your best. Nothing more.” The woman’s voice was sweet, and earnest...and it calmed her worries a little.
Cassidy blinked at her, suddenly completely aware of why Lim would have chosen such a partner.
She took a deep breath, her mind racing at the implications. “Alright,” she agreed, “I will try.”
And that was how she became the orchard manager for the Liviarian compound. Lim promised to arrange a trip to the orchard for the next day to start on her mission and Cassidy left the dining hall more than a little bemused.
Unaware of where her feet were taking her she found herself back at the medical building, which made sense, she supposed since her belongings were still in the little room she had acquired there. She’d have to move them back to the dorms soon. The sun had set, darkness falling around her quickly when she entered the main room, more than a little distracted.
That was when she saw the table. She had to actually stop and stare at it for a moment to process.
There were flowers everywhere. Bunches of vibrant colors of many blossoms, all precisely arranged around the two settings placed there. Small beads of light, glowing stones that were the Livarian equivalent to candles laid out among them and around the room provided the only lighting. The food filled the plates was arranged as beautifully as the table, details perfectly attended to...and long since cold.
Oh no!!!!! Poor Tor 😭😭
Oh, poor Tor 😭