Eternity Glass

VIII: Home Sweet Home

Eyal tapped at dragon's wing that decorated the armrest of the throne.

Three minutes ago, Zafiro gave his report of his recent session with Fallon. How, though her hesitance still showed, she slowly began to learn more of her magic and how her magic began to learn more about her.

Right when he finished, Eyal had just stared at him, as if that would force any more information out of him. When it became clear that there was nothing more Zafiro could offer him, a sickly smile spread across the man's aging face. "And to think I started doubting you, Zafiro."

The latter clenched his jaw.

Eyal stood from the throne—King Xythlar's throne—and waved his hand. "Phoris's daughter is turning out to be the perfect asencir for our Glass problem. Who knows? Once that's fixed, I could fix her up with Rezar—"

Zafiro's lip twitched, and damn it, Eyal caught it.

"You're right. His ego would be too fragile to have a more powerful wife. Maybe... she could be yours."

A reaction. That was all the god wanted from him. Some sort of reaction to reveal what Zafiro truly thought about the whole ordeal, what he thought about Fallon.

So Zafiro looked at Eyal dead in the eye and offered a tilt of his head. "Whatever you wish, my lord."

Eyal dismissed him, and Zafiro vomited the second he returned to his quarters. Truth spells never settled well.

~

What sounded like an interesting summer vacation of magic turned to be incredibly dreary, very, very fast. Days turned into weeks. Fallon would start with Kamalita's herbology and meditation practices right when the sun rose, studying texts upon texts of notes written by multiple witches. When she got lucky, Kamalita would allow her to experiment on her own, but they would only be the tamest of potions. Sleep pouches, purifying water. At one point, she mixed up an ingredient for ginger root and caused a whole mess of fire poppers ricocheting throughout the library. Tristan didn't speak to her for a whole day because of that, but the explanation of her mess up earned her his forgiveness... along with a preview of the first chapter of the story she was working on. The story she hadn't touched all summer.

And she wouldn't touch it for a very long time, as Zafiro would pick up right when she fell asleep, her astral body gravitating towards the lake like it was the safest place in all the realms, which it probably was. Zafiro explained that the first place a person's astral self is exposed will most likely become the person's "safe house" among the realms, the spot they would return to should they become scared or stressed and couldn't reach their physical body.

As romantic and peaceful that sounded, the male witch did everything to make sure Fallon didn't relax. Well, that was an exaggeration, but it sure felt like that was the case. Every evening, he'd instruct her on how to use her magic. It started off small, transferring energy to a wilting flower until it bloomed to perfection or until Fallon passed out, whichever came first. When she could do that much without feeling lightheaded, they began manipulation techniques.

And sleep. God, her sleep schedule was wrecked. Zafiro told her that Phoris would only need to sleep for an hour a day to fight effectively, to which Fallon sent a bolt of fiery lightning to his ass.

"Honestly, Fallon, I don't know why you're complaining." Lita crossed her legs and accepted a cup of tea from her son, who proceeded to settle down next to the latter on the couch, "Your pacing is faster than anticipated, and from what you've told me, you're enchanting that Reaper."

The girl held back from rolling her eyes, as the last dozen times she had done so, the deity had scolded her for being unladylike. Enchanting was definitely not the word she'd use. Try... barely getting along with. "I'm not complaining. I'm just wondering what's taking so long. There hasn't been a move made from either side, and—" she waved a hand to reveal a phone-sized glimpse of the Eternity Glass while trying to hide her pride in the fact that she had successfully summoned the barrier, "it hasn't gotten better."