The Return Of Time

Chapter Eight: Plans For The Future

After Gaia left for school in the coming days, Biana could take a comfortable breath of air. She loved Gaia, and her work, but the resiple was only so big, and things were starting to get cramped. She had bought this little two person apartment after she had broken up with Chace Dramaine a few weeks ago, when she was starting to put the wheels in motion for her plan to get Gaia. They had lived together in a bigger resiple a few blocks away as of about a year ago, and had been dating for two years... until Biana told him the truth about the work she was helping her father with.

She had just started to tell him that she was going to retrieve an elf from the forbidden cities when he had wheeled on her, saying that this little elf was the reason she wasn't spending as much time with him. This was true, but he had never made any efforts to help her, and he hadn't bothered to ask about it, so in a way, he was also the cause of the problem, because if he had actually wanted to spend time with her, he would've tried to take the time out of his schedule to help with something that was really important to her. Naturally, this lead into a giant fight and... the rest is history.

It had been a mutual agreement to split, but that didn't mean that Biana left the relationship broken hearted. She had moved resiples to get a change in scenery so maybe it might be easier, but that ugly loneliness that cradled her so closely, so instead of choosing a more spacious living area, she chose this cozy little resiple, not understanding that it would not only prove to be too small later on. She hadn't foreseen the resiple becoming a pressure cooker of that loneliness that she had wanted so desperately to avoid. It was much easier with Gaia in the house, but when she was at school... that's when it all crept back up on Biana.

Had she thought that she could get over him by this new swing of routine with Gaia in her life? Definitely. Had she liked him a lot? Yes. Did she believe it was his fault? She felt guilty because of the very thought, but yes. Had she thought that he was the one? ...Maybe. He had definitely been a good contender.

The fact that their relationship was over didn't necessarily break her heart as much as the fact that he wasn't willing to compromise when it came to the whole Gaia situation. He had made it very clear that he didn't want another elf living in their apartment, even though they had a spare bedroom. Chase had tried to coax her into telling her father that she couldn't do this for them so he and Biana could live their normal lives without being interrupted... so she had made it very clear that he either had to accept the fact what Gaia would be living with them or that the relationship would be over. She had made her choice, and he made his.

Even though she was single again, she didn't regret her choice. She absolutely loved taking care of Gaia. She loved showing her the Elvin world and making dinner. She loved making jokes with her and bringing her to see Emrys where the two kids would go off on their own, no doubt riding Emrys's dragon around the property at some point, while Biana and the rest of the adults chatted over tea. She loved to learn about Gaia's life in the human world, and just more about her in general. Biana loved going shopping with Gaia, and showing her her latest designs, because she just felt so... proud to show her and hear her thoughts on them.

Gaia brought out this side of Biana that that she hadn't known existed, a side that strikingly reminded Biana of her mom, Della. Instead of sleeping in until noon, Biana was up by seven, making breakfast. She often asked Gaia how her day was after school, and helped her with her homework. She was even teaching her how to lightleap, and Biana couldn't help but feel that these were things that were shared between a mother and daughter. It warmed Biana's heart in a strange tingly way, and it made her wonder if this was what she had been missing all these turbulent years.

While many girls her age had spent the last two decades beginning to settle down and start their own families, Biana had tirelessly helped her father look for a way to cure Sophie, then to find Gaia. She also had spent the past two decades building a fashion empire out of her brand, and keeping up her public image. Della often told Biana that these were tough times, so it was perfectly normal for her to be single, and then Alden would remind her that he didn't actually start to get interested in pursuing a romantic relationship until about a century after he graduated Foxfire. But even if it was normal... the happiness Gaia added to her life couldn't help but make her ask herself why didn't she didn't think of doing something like this sooner, because she hadn't felt this happy in years. That's one of the reasons why she wanted to give Gaia the best life she could, and Biana decided that she couldn't do it in this little resiple.