Eliza looked up triumphantly when she successfully cast the spell only to see she was alone in a now darkened living room. Judging by the stiffness in her shoulders, a number of hours must have passed while she memorised the ritual. She stretched out as she stood up making a mental reminder to do some yoga when she returned home later. She was surprised to see dusk had settled in as she glanced out onto the balcony, her stomach grumbled letting her know it was time to eat and that she should sort out dinner for herself and probably for Julia. Knowing all too well that Julia would be focused on her new books about energy crystals. Eliza had found the books on her adventures, and hoped they would contain knowledge on lost pre-Cataclysm technology, allowing their nation, The Stormlands, to begin creating them again. She had tried looking through the books herself but did not understand a word in there, it was far too advanced for her to comprehend and the only person she trusted to safely bring back the technology was Julia. 

Scratching could be heard from the other side of the bedroom as she walked towards the balcony wanting to have a cigarette break before doing anything else. She supposed she should let the cats out since they’d been stuck in the bedroom for the majority of the afternoon, their meowing making a compelling argument to delay her smoke break. As she opened the door a grey cat; Mazin, charged at her. She narrowly dodged him as he hissed at her like it was her fault that he was stuck in the bedroom all day. He had yet to warm up to her; she was still a stranger to him since Julia had got him after they broke up. Schrödinger however seemed more appreciative as he rubbed against her and mewed. Getting the hint she picked up Schrödinger and took him to the kitchen, she put her cigarette behind her ear as she scanned the room to find the meal planner that Julia kept for the cats. Finding it, she opened the neat leather binder and saw that today was tuna day for them. Giving the tabby cat a kiss on the head she placed him down and rummaged around the kitchen to find the fish that Julia had prepared for them, measuring out the exact amounts written, she served them onto two plates and placed them on the floor. Mazin swiped at her hand, which caused the plate she had almost put down to clatter on the floor. It was an extremely small drop thankfully and the plate was in the position she had wanted it. Her hand stung as she looked at the scratch he had left, not enough to draw blood but her skin was torn. She glared at the cat who turned away from her, his tail up as he ate his food.

"That wasn’t nice Mazin." Eliza sighed as the grey cat ignored her, she decided to not waste any time on him and cleaned up the mess she had made when she prepared their dinner and thought about what she and Julia could eat this evening. Ordering take out from the local curry house seemed like a safe option.

Opening the drawer where Julia kept the directory for restaurants that catered to wizards, she found the curry house she wanted and its sigil she’d need to draw out. Conducting her hands, she traced an invisible sigil in the air. The movement created a faint blue glow which brightened as she hummed a soft melody. The sigil took hold as it connected directly to the restaurant, and a friendly voice came through into her mind to greet her. She quickly made her order of a range of vegetable curries and rotis. Once her order had been confirmed with the delivery time she said goodbye to the restaurant and swiped the sigil from the air. She had thirty to forty minutes to kill.

She decided to browse through Julia’s drinks cabinet and found herself a decent bottle of red...that she had bought whilst she had been living there. She placed it back unsure if she was saving it or was nostalgic and pulled out another bottle of red which again looked to be one of hers, she sighed as she took the bottle into the kitchen. She made her way through the kitchen as if she still lived there, she had no issue in finding a jug to aerate the wine nor the corkscrew to open it. As she poured into the jug and back into the bottle she retrieved two elegant wine glasses and set them on the balcony table, making sure to fill her own glass. The temperature on the balcony was warm and inviting, an enchantment Julia had placed on it whilst she was still living with her. An enchantment she had not removed despite the fact that she preferred the cooler temperatures. This made her nostalgic and wishing she could go back to a simpler time with Julia. A strong sense of longing ran through her as she sat down on the rattan taking a sip of her wine before pulling her cigarette from behind her ear, dragging a few strands of hair with it.

She lit her cigarette and exhaled a flume of smoke, it felt like the tensions of the day were becoming less of a problem. Eliza looked at how the last of the orange sun illuminated the balcony and wondered if this would be perceived as romantic. She tapped her cigarette over the ash tray and decided to not worry about that right now, by the time the food would arrive the sun would have disappeared.