I'm in a pickle. I was really looking forward to writing this segment of my story, but now that I'm writing it I don't know how I want to form the series of events. I know what needs to happen, but I don't know what should happen in between the events in question. Here is an explanation of what I'm trying to do: My MC, Kaina, saved a boy she's encountered several times before named Teran. He was being chased by a member of the city guard who had a vendetta of sorts against him, Teran got injured, and Kaina managed to scare the man off. She healed the boy's wound with her new powers. Knowing that he still isn't safe, she suggested he claim sanctuary at the temple (she's a priestess) until he is strong enough to fend for himself, just in case the guard finds a reason to go after him again and arrest him (long story short: Teran didn't do anything wrong, was standing up for what's right, and this guard is a prick). So now Teran is currently resting/regaining his strength on temple grounds. Kaina has been finding that she really cares for him, but she doesn't know how deep that care goes. She recently "broke up" with a fellow priestess who she had developed a romantic relationship with (and that girl has since been excommunicated), so that still is a fresh wound for her. Regardless of her conflicting feelings, the story is going to bring Kaina and Teran together romantically. In this segment of the story, where he's recovering, Kaina is going to want to visit him whenever she is able. She already checked in with him once, on the evening of the first day he was brought in. But I need to figure out how to balance this out. She can't go visiting him too often, as that would seem suspicious to the other priestesses, and she will still have to perform her other duties and continue her training in the meantime. But I'm at the point where her everyday stuff is not so interesting or important to the overall story, and I can't be having everything she do be interrupted by some rude priestess who has an issue with her, or just so happen to run into the only two friends she still has at the temple, because that would just look like a very convenient coincidence (the temple isn't exactly a small place, with a hundred priestesses living and working there). I also am still on the fence about the use of time skips in my story. Even though skipping ahead would save me the pain of trying to write a scene that I don't know what to do with, it at the same time would make things feel rushed, and then the segment would just be crammed full of only one kind of scene since I would skip over the non-important stuff. This is an issue that I know I've struggled with before, and have made a thread in the past. To be clear, Teran is only going to be on temple grounds for a few days, and no romance is going to reveal itself during that time, but the scenario will bring him and Kaina closer together emotionally. So this segment does have a purpose. Now, in a past thread I made, about the whole 2 romances thing, people suggested that I have several months pass between the first romance and the development of the second. That is the realistic course of action, but I again worry about how to fill up the space between that. I have some other main plot stuff that needs to be resolved and addressed, but I sort of want the romance between Kaina and Teran to blossom before those are taken care of, as those developments will lead to the final, climatic stretch of the story. I've gotten as far as I have through pure strength of will, and I'd hate to hit a wall this late in the game. Once again, it boils down to getting the important stuff out there without rushing it and while avoiding pointless everyday "filler" that just acts to kill time. Sorry for the looooooooong post, but I wanted to be as thorough as possible so that it's clear for anyone who wants to help.
It depends on how badly injured he is, but one possibility might be that he starts doing some work at the temple in the garden / library / kitchen or somewhere while he recovers, to earn his keep and repay the generosity? It gives them a way to "just happen" to encounter each other while working in the same area, without it appearing too suspicious. That way, you can give snippets of her daily routine while keeping the focus on their interactions.
I hadn't considered that! If he was to do any work, he'd probably work with the stables since the only men who are on the grounds are involved with that. I'll give it some more thought.
