Despite it being her home, a place that was meant to be comforting and relaxing, reaching it was the last thing Shilo wanted to do. As a matter of fact, she did everything she could to keep Caleb’s attention off of their little appointment. Unfortunately for her, Caleb wasn’t falling for it. The slower she walked, the faster he walked. The more their conversation shifted into a suggestion to do something else, the more he reminded her that they already made plans. Eventually there was no more avoiding her own home which quickly came to view.

And she just stood there, staring at the dark wooden door. Caleb turned and saw her planted a few feet away, the little witch as stubborn as ever. Avoiding the inevitable as always. This was a weekly occurrence, and it was starting to grow old..

“Um.. Aren’t you gonna open the door?”

“I was just thinkin’,” Shilo began, rubbing the back of her head. “Why don’t we just go visit Lux for a bit? We haven’t seen him a while.”

“Shi.” He rolled his eyes as he walked over to her, taking her hand and leading her to the deep green painted door. “You’re not getting out of this one. Now open up.” Poor Shilo just wasn't going to get away with skipping their appointment. It was best for her to just accept it and move on.

After a moment of silent disobedience, she finally gave in. After slowly pulling her key from her pocket, she unlocked the door and let it swing open. Her home was, in one word, cluttered. It seemed as if their walls were nothing but shelves filled with books or reports written by her father and mission logs left behind by her mother. Still, despite the horde of stuff, it was all pretty homey. There was a sense of calm even though there was a bit of chaos all over the place. Even Caleb felt at ease in her house. He had been visiting so often and for so long that it would feel weird not to be stepping over vials of fermenting herbs. 

“Dad? You home yet?” She casually walked into the house, hanging her key on the wall by the door. Caleb followed her, calmly closing the door as Shilo checked the kitchen.

“I was kinda hoping he’d be home early…” Shilo sighed as she sat on a stool by the long island in her kitchen. “Should have known. He always takes forever with his home calls.”

“I already told you,” Caleb began, his shoulder resting against the frame leading to the kitchen. “There’s no getting out of this one. Our lesson should have started long ago. Now get up and let’s head out back.”

“Geez, you’re worse than my dad.” Shilo hopped off the stool and began dragging her feet past Caleb, his calm expression never wavering. Once he heard the back door open Caleb allowed a small, crooked smile to grow on his face, though it disappeared the moment he turned to follow her.