Eliza covered the salad she had just finished preparing, and looked at the mess in the kitchen, feeling slightly annoyed at her inability to keep the room clean. It was an improvement on what she was able to do in the past, but barely one if she could be honest; she was not made for house work or even preparing her own meals. She had never needed to do this for herself in the past and even when she adventured she didn’t cook as she chose to eat cured meats or prepared foods.

The phantom servant spell was a blessing since Julia had never let them get a servant when they were still together. She scratched her cheek, smiling at a memory of them having an argument about her lack of cleaning; she never needed to do dishes in her life and she wasn’t going to start making a habit out of it. The room hummed with magic as she spun around, her hands drew an invisible sigil in the air above her head, she clapped her hands twice and suddenly the vibrations in the room left, and she sensed the invisible spirit before her. She ordered the being to wash the dishes and clean up whilst she went to set the table on the balcony, taking the covered salad with her.

When she returned she saw that the plates were being put away by her invisible servant. She felt guilty for having used her own magical reserves to cast a simple utility spell, having not made headway on learning how to cast the spell in a similar manner to a wizard and was hoping she’d be able to do it tomorrow.

She let out a deep sigh before she turned the stove on and placed a frying pan atop of the open flame. She waited for the pan to heat up before she lowered the heat and placed a salmon fillet she had bought at the market that morning on it. It made a satisfying sizzling noise as she watched it. She had already informed Julia what time food would be ready, and she knew she would turn up at the exact minute she had specified. Even though she had given a vague time, she was now under a deadline.

She quickly shot a look at the grey cat that sat on the surface, watching her intensely as she cooked the fish.

“I’ve already fed you Mazin. This is for your mummy.” Eliza scratched behind his ear and cooed at him before he swatted her offending hand away and jumped off the counter, strutting away. At least he did not scratch her this time, she was unsure what his problem was; he didn’t seem to like her and she could not figure out why. She turned off the heat and set the fish onto a plate. She then placed the pan in the sink for her invisible servant to clean. Taking the plate and the bottle of white wine out of the cool box, she walked out onto the balcony. Putting the fish down she covered it with a bell-shaped metal cover, uncorking the bottle of white, she poured herself a glass. Eliza walked across the spacious balcony and looked out over at the city before she stared distantly at the view.

It was a lovely night, the sky was clear above her and there was a half moon. As she sipped her wine she wondered what she was to do about Rin. The devil was her problem to solve and she did not want to drag anyone else into it. Rin had become troublesome lately, Eliza was still unsure that telling her father was the right decision, but at the time the only thing she cared about was his safety. She did not want him getting harmed or endangered because of someone she had dated, but maybe she had over-reacted. Rin had not threatened her nor anyone else she knew, a deep sigh escaped her lips; this was complicated.

Eliza was startled out of her deep thoughts as a hand placed itself on her waist. She relaxed instantly when she saw it was Julia who stood close to her. Eliza smiled as she looked up at Julia who shyly clinked her glass of wine against her. She must have been distracted to not have noticed the taller woman come up and pour herself out a glass of wine. Julia was normally clumsy, but she supposed it had been a number of years; a lot could have changed since then. Eliza breathed in deeply getting a scent of floral perfume, it smelled divine and made her mind cloud over. She licked her lips as she stared at the gorgeous woman before her.

“Thank you for taking care of dinner, again.” Julia said after she took a sip of her wine, making a soft hum before brushing stray curls behind her ear. “This is a nice wine, shall we eat?”

“Yes, of course.” Eliza moved out of her touch and felt a loss of warmth. She uncovered the dishes and served them both, making sure to give Julia a larger portion of the salad she had prepared. She seated herself opposite the wizard, who looked eagerly at the food she had prepared; it was a little on the lighter side compared to what Julia would normally eat in the evening, but that was why she had prepared the fish for her. Julia tended to consume more food to maintain her athletic physique.

“Enjoy. You don’t need to worry about the cats this evening, I’ve taken care of them. Oh and I’ve also tried to keep the mess to a minimum in the kitchen.” Eliza said.

“I saw. Thank you for feeding the cats again.” Julia responded.

“I’m always happy to; though I think Mazin doesn’t like me.” Eliza said.

“Mazin is the sweetest, he’s just as affectionate as Schrodigner.”

“Maybe he’ll warm up to me eventually.” Eliza murmured, more to herself than Julia.

“This looks lovely, thank you. Is the fish to share?” Julia asked her.

“I would not say no to a small portion, but I mainly made it for you. I know the salad won’t provide you with enough protein. I hope it tastes okay.” Eliza responded as Julia nodded at her eating a mouthful of the pear and walnut salad with goats cheese she had made.

The taller woman leaned forward and sliced a small portion of salmon and placed it on Eliza’s plate, before she took the rest of it for herself. Eliza smiled gently at her as she ate her food slowly, impressed with how it turned out. It tasted good, and she supposed if there was one thing she learned whilst in a relationship with Julia; was how to make a good salad and how to pan fry salmon. They ate in comfortable silence as they enjoyed the meal. The only sound was the clinking of their cutlery.

***

Today I recommend checking out Horns by AwFraiser! :)