Weak To Fire

21

"Anyway, there was something I wanted to tell you."

Mereoleona wanted to take every single one of those words back as soon as she had uttered them. Who the hell told people that? 'I want to talk to you.' That was a recipe for disaster. Nothing good had ever come from those words and now Y/N probably was starting to worry right away and Mereoleona would have to try and calm her down somehow. And she wasn't usually good at that.

And what she wanted to say wasn't really anything bad at all. If anything it was a good thing, but maybe not one that even mattered to Y/N all too much. Mereoleona couldn't imagine that a water spirit that was basically immortal had much interest in what was happening in her life on a day to day basis, but every time she told Y/N about her day, even if it was just the most mundane thing, she was listening with those big eyes of hers. Mereoleona told her about the most basic stuff and Y/N treated whatever she was saying as if it was gold or something like that.

And if Mereoleona was honest, she really liked having that sort of attention. It felt good to have someone who took an honest interest in what she was doing, but who wasn't pushy about it. Normally people listened to Mereoleona because they were scared of her, but Y/N wasn't scared. She had no reason to be, anyway, because she could easily hand Mereo's ass to her on a silver platter.

Either way, now she had to somehow make sure that Y/N didn't get worried and there was one thing that Mereo was always incredibly awkward with and that was trying to assure people that they didn't have to worry. They always ended up worrying much more than before. And it was freaking her out right now, because she really cared about Y/N and she didn't want her to worry about anything, especially when there was literally nothing to worry about. Everything was absolutely fine and Mereoleona just had no idea how to communicate with people.

And now here she was seeing Y/N's eyes getting wider and wider and she knew exactly what she was thinking about and that wasn't what she wanted to talk about at all, but now here she was not saying anything and making it worse, because everything in her mind just completely blacked out, because she felt like anything would make things worse now. Mereoleona was a mess when it came to talking to people and solving interpersonal problems and she knew that. And by trying to avoid looking like a mess, she usually became even more of a mess. Either way she was spinning it, it was going to end badly and Mereo already hated it.

"O-okay... what does that mean?" Y/N wanted to know. Her eyes were looking slightly glassy and Mereo wasn't sure whether that was a water spirit thing or whether she was just very emotional in general, but she hated that she was feeling sad because of her now. Mereo had noticed that Y/N was someone who cried very easily (probably because she was a water spirit), but that didn't mean that it made it any easier on Mereoleona. She found it difficult to deal with people that were crying.

"Uhm... oh God. Y/N, honestly, I'm pretty sure it's not what you think this is, really. I'm sorry, I shouldn't even have said it like that, it just came out wrong and-"

Mereoleona stopped herself when she saw Y/N holding up her hand to get her to stop babbling and took a deep breath. She lifted her head again, giving her a patient look, but clearly trying to keep the tears in her eyes.

"Look, Mereo, just say what's going on. You can go into the detailed explanations later." she said to her. Mereoleona nodded. Right, yeah. She should just get to the point already. She should have gotten to the point from the very start of this. It was just... how would she phrase this best...?

"So here's the thing: I got a promotion." Mereoleona said. It wasn't really a promotion, but more like... she got an actual job that wasn't just filling in for her younger brother but still. Y/N wanted her to get to the point. She seemed to just falter in on herself, as she let out a relieved sigh.

"Okay and why exactly have you made such a big deal out of it? I was honestly scared you'd tell me something that I wasn't going to like! That's great, Mereo! Honestly, I'm glad for you. What promotion is it?" Y/N wanted to know. Mereo smiled, glad that Y/N was so damn forgiving.

"Due to all the terrorist attacks the Wizard King is building up a new Magic Knights Squad. Selected members of the other squads will form it and he wants to make me the captain of that squad." Mereoleona told her. Y/N's smile widened, which kind of confused Mereoleona. Did she realise that meant that Mereo would have to stay in the capital much more than usual?

"That's great! That is... that is if that's what you want to do. I assume you want to do the job? You wouldn't have taken it otherwise, right?" Y/N replied. Mereoleona smiled and took Y/N's hand into hers.

"I do want to take it. The question is... what are we going to do about you? What do you want to do in the future?" she wanted to know. Y/N tilted her head and gave her a surprised look.

"Why are you asking?" she wanted to know. Mereoleona sighed. So she hadn't thought of it yet. Of course. Unless she already had made up her mind on the issue of where she was going to live in the future, she didn't have time to realise what Mereo meant when she had asked about her future.

"Look, when I'm taking this job, I won't have a whole lot of time that I can spend away from the capital. For now my days of just living out in nature without a care in the world seem to be over. Which begs the question of how we're going to continue this relationship. That is, if you want to do that..." Mereoleona said, hoping she didn't just put the idea of breaking up into Y/N's head. She wanted to work something out with her, that much was sure. She just didn't really know what was going to work for her and what wasn't going to work and she was a little scared to ask, which was an odd feeling for Mereo. She rarely was scared of anything.

"Of course I want to continue our relationship. Mereo, I love you. You know that. And I'm pretty easy with how to continue that, I mean... I don't really mind living in a bathtub, especially because your bathtubs are pretty spacious and all... I just sometimes would need to get to some natural water source. Not sure just how often, but... I'll just get a feeling, you know? So... I guess it's up to you, whether I stay here or not." Y/N told her with a wide smile. Mereoleona nodded. Honestly, she wanted nothing more than to keep Y/N close at all times, but she also knew that a water spirit belonged in some natural body of water and not a bathtub.

"Look, I... I want you to stay as close to me as possible, okay? But I also want you to be happy and healthy and just... live under the best conditions. So... I'm not really sure what the best decision here is, but... I'd really like it if you could stay with me whenever possible. It would mean a lot to me. But please don't put yourself in any danger just for me, okay? I... I wouldn't want that either." Mereoleona told her. This felt like a much more complicated situation than it had to be, but Mereo had no idea how to make it any easier. She never had to think about the logistics of housing a nature spirit before. Maybe this was all going to be too stressful...

"Then I'll stay here. And when I need to go back, I'll make sure to go back in time, before it's too late. Stay there for a while and then I can come back to the capital. How does that sound?" Y/N asked with a gentle smile, as she squeezed Mereoleona's hands. Mereo looked up at her and nodded with a smile.

"That sounds perfect."