Methods.

(Y/n) was a reasonable, logical, methodical woman; she had always been. Ever since she was very little, it all followed a pattern in her eyes.

Being a scientist, a doctor, a knowledge thirsty person and, over all of those, a magical researcher; following methods had grown to be a practice she used day to day as basic, sweet and mere protocol.

While each method varies depending on the testing subject, (Y/n) had a very specific set of immensely useful questions she'd always use, both in her carrier and regular life.

This questions where simple:

1- What?

2- When?

3- Where?

4- How?

5- Why?

Yes. Those five questions where the ones her life revolved around.

With just those five short questions, she could organize any idea, could explain any phenomena and solve out any riddle ever presented with. That was her golden rule: Always use the five questions. This wasn't the exception, yet it was.

It didn't just happen one day, out of the blue. No. It was a way more complex process that just happened to camouflage in her daily life, tricking her into believing nothing was wrong. And it wasn't, but it was. Do you see the dilemma now?

After blending with the surroundings for a while, the problem finally made its existence known one rainy day in Sindria.

The king and his generals had been out for the day, taking care of business around the island so, when the rain started pouring like the sky was crying the death of a loved one, it was no surprise they all came back completely soaked.

While she managed to dispatch most of them without an issue, there where a few of them who seemed to present some early symptoms of a cold.

A cold isn't hard to heal with magic, so it was rather easy to send the few unlucky ones healthy on with their lives. So, you may wonder, what's the problem then? The problem is this:

One of the unlucky ones was Ja'far who, just like the others, came into her office leaving small puddles wherever he stood.

After helping Pisti, his turn came and she very calmly motioned for him to take a sit in an offered chair while she grabbed the needed herbs.

The man did as told and just sat, waiting patiently, completely unaware of the woman's red face.

She was confused the rest of the day, why would she react in such embarrassing way? Every time she'd try to look back at the situation, the image of Ja'far's wet hair would make her blush again, preventing her from rationalizing her actions.

That night, she sat on the desk of her office until late, and wrote down on a clean scroll her five golden questions.

'What?' she stared at the question for a while, letting it sink into her brain so she could correctly answer.

'I felt weird around Ja'far' she wrote next to it.

'When?' 'This afternoon'

'Where?' 'In my office'

'How?' 'I felt embarrassed and giddy, it was very strange and confusing as well'

'Why?'

The last one was actually the question she sat in her office for so long, it was that question the one that she read over and over again, attempting to find an answer; the right answer, more importantly.

Why? Why would I feel this way? What's a logical answer?

Embarrassment? For what though? I did nothing out of the usual nod did he, it was actually what would fit into a boring situation!

It was that point when she slammed her head against her desk, frustrated that, somehow, this particular boring situation was managing to break her precious golden rule. This wasn't helping, but realization hit her harder than her head hit the wood.

She looks up out of the blue and grabs her quill, suddenly seeing the issue clear; without camouflage.

'I like him'