Morana knows she's different from other people in more ways than one. Firstly, she's sixty-seven years old but stopped ageing in her twenties. Weird things have also happened around her right after she's wished for it. But most importantly, no matte...
I wanted to jump up and down with joy. Hug her and swing her around. I made sure to contain my excitement though. Especially because it felt like I was far too excited compared to what I should have been. But it was impossible to get the smile off my face, so I didn't even try.
"That's great!" I said, but then, feeling it was the wrong response considering my very practical reasoning of benefits I had used the day before, I changed it to, "I mean, I think it'll be good. We'd need to buy some more furniture for the extra room. If you want, we can move your stuff today. There is a bed in there so you can sleep here. Then we can buy any additional furniture you need tomorrow."
She shook her head. "I have work tomorrow."
A tinge of guilt spread over me again and it must have been noticeable on my face, because she raised an eyebrow.
"When I talked to your work and told them you were sick, I said you'd be out tomorrow also," I admitted and hung my head a little. "I just thought that was for the best, since I didn't know when you'd wake up or how you'd feel once you did."
I could see her worry, could almost see the numbers spinning in her head as she counted how much salary she would lose out on. I reached out and took hold of her hand.
"Let's eat now. You must be starving. We can talk more after we've eaten."
She nodded and finally sat back down again. She had a very faraway look throughout the meal and didn't say anything. I assumed she kept thinking about money issues and I wished she would stop. That she would understand money really wasn't any issue. I would take care of her if necessary. What was mine was hers.
I felt shocked at where my own thoughts took me. It almost was as if I considered her my girlfriend. No, more than that. It was as if I considered her my mate and wife.
I needed to stop that. She wasn't, and it wouldn't be good if we got too involved in such a way. We could be friends and I would help her as a friend. But it couldn't go further than that. No matter how much I wanted to tell her to stop worry because I would look after her, I couldn't.
"So, how are you feeling?" I asked when we had finished eating. "Want to move your stuff today?"
She nodded. "It's for the best. And got to let my landlord know basically today. If I tell him before the twentieth, I won't need to pay for next month."
"Then let's get going."
I stood up and held out my hand to her. She didn't take it immediately, and I started to worry if she felt forced into the situation. I knew I had been acting selfish, that there were so many other ways I could, and should, have gone about her first training session. But damn it, I was almost never even given the opportunity to be selfish, so wasn't it alright that I was it this one time? And I wasn't horribly selfish and it would benefit her to live with me.
Then she took my hand and my train of thought stopped.
"Are you sure teleporting right after food is the best?" she asked, and her cheeks grew slightly pink.
Relief over her question washed over me. That was her reason to hesitate and not second thoughts.
I smiled. "Should be fine. You haven't puked yet, have you?"
Her cheeks grew even redder, and I suppressed a laugh. I moved slightly closer before twisting my upper body and next thing, we were in her apartment.
She sat down on the bed for a moment to collect herself. While she did, I went over to the aquarium for a closer look. The turtle laid on a rock underneath a lamp I assumed gave off heat. There was one other bigger rock which went above the water that filled the aquarium up half-way. A few plants grew in the water and the bottom was covered in tiny pebbles.
"I can get everything over with magic," I said while watching the turtle sunbath. "But you should probably transport Leramidon by car. Doubt he'll be happy teleporting."
"Can you get the aquarium there safely?" she asked. I turned to her. It looked like she had already recovered. Her face was at least not pale anymore.
"Yeah. We'll just put it on the floor here and I'll hold on to it. Shouldn't be a problem making it a safe landing then."
She nodded and although she looked a bit worried, she seemed to decide to trust me. It was a strange feeling to not be relentlessly questioned. I waited for her to ask more, expected her to want to transport it some other way. But she just nodded and then went over to the wardrobe to pack.
She didn't have much. Mainly just some clothes and it all fitted into one backpack. I wondered if she would allow me to spoil her a little. If I could get to buy her some clothes or other material things. Though maybe she would also feel freer to do that herself now. I guessed she never kept a lot of stuff if she had moved cities every five years or so.
I took the backpack to my place first and then came back for the aquarium. We placed it together on the floor, Leramidon was already taken out of it.
"I'll see you back in the apartment," I smiled at her before bending down to take hold of it.
"Yeah," she said, and sounded a bit absentminded. I wanted to check how she was, but it didn't feel like the right moment. Somehow I could sense she needed to be alone for a little, and besides, I would have plenty of time to talk to her about all possible things now that she would be living with me. We could spend the whole evening just talking.
So I teleported myself to my spare room. There was only a bed and a wardrobe in there. When Rick or someone else wasn't visiting, the room stood empty and unused. For a moment, I considered what furniture we should get.
A table and chair would probably be nice. She would need another table to place the aquarium on. A mirror would probably also be good. Maybe she would want something to hang on the walls.
Though then another ridiculous thought came to me. That I actually hoped the room would continue to go unused. That she would spend every night in my bed next to me. But that couldn't happen. We couldn't be more than friends.
One day she would meet her mate and I would meet mine, and that day any romantic or sexual feelings we had for each other would disappear. If we got involved, then one of us would likely end up breaking the other's heart.
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