“How long has it been since I’ve felt like this again?” Rielle thinks.

Rielle looks at Artorius’ face as he looks back, smiles, and leads her through town. 

The two of them connected warmly by their hands.

“I’ve… Missed this feeling.” Rielle thinks. “That overflowing warmth from the smile of my lover. The sight of their silhouette. Their touch. Their presence on the cold nights. Their scent. How did I go so long without that?”

“Because you know you’re guilty!❤” A silent voice whispers into her ear.

Rielle’s eyes widen, and she releases her grip on Artorius’ hand and turns around frantically. But there’s not a soul behind her.

“Now I’m hearing things…?” Rielle questions.

Artorius jogs over to her and waves a hand in front of her.

“Are you okay?” He asks.

Rielle shows him a wry smile.

“I’m fine.” She says.

They continued their walk to the restaurant, but their distance grew just a millimeter as if something had driven a wedge between them. They enter the restaurant and find that it’s somewhat empty. Various shaped tables fill the room, so they sit near the window. Rielle grabs a menu from the side of the table and looks through a wide assortment of pasta dishes.

“It’s usually busier, looks like we lucked out.” He says.

“I’m glad, seems like you like this place,” Rielle says, placing the menu down.
A waiter walks over to them, wearing a black cap and vest.

“Ah, it’s you again. Do you want the usual?”

“Yeah, I’ll take that.” Artorius orders, he looks to Rielle.

“I’ll have the same thing.” She says.

“Gotcha! It won’t take long.” He says before heading into the kitchen.

Artorius leans in.

“Are you okay?” He asks. “You seemed a bit down earlier.”

“Ah, sorry. I just got lost in thought.” She says. “But more importantly. That guy knew your order. Sounds like you come here every day.”

“Well. This food reminds me the most of home.” He admits.

She places her hand atop his in the middle of the table.

“I get that.” She says. “Even if this place has a lot. It can’t completely replicate what we miss about the living world.”

“Right. But since you’ve come back, I’ve felt like it doesn’t matter where my home is as long as you’re there.” He states.

She is surprised by his words and blushes.

“Here it is! The food you’ve been waiting for!” The waiter exclaims as he approaches the table carrying two sizzling plates. He places them down and bows before taking his leave.

Rielle smirks.

“You are too much, you know that?” She says.

The plate was full of twisting pasta that had shaped like a tornado, coated in a white sauce with multiple pieces of white meat mixed in.

“This is the first dish I ever made for you.” She says.

“Yup. I never forgot the taste of it.” He says, grabbing a fork.

“Back then, you were chased out of your village.” She said. “They chased you pretty far into the woods, but just couldn’t keep up.” 

“I had to be good at running to catch escaped animals from my neighbor’s pens after all. But I don’t fault them for it.” He says. “I had gotten my mother, father, brothers, and uncle killed after all.”

Rielle frowns.

“I told you that was of no fault of your own.” She says pointing her finger at him. “You were cursed. For something that wasn’t even in our time.”

“You’re right. However, it was rough to talk about before. I feel like I can more easily speak of those times.” Artorius says. “Actually, I met my family here.”

“Really?! How did it go?!” She questions.

“Pretty good. I see my family at least twice a week now, and we all spend time catching up on what’s happened.” He explains. “What about you? Have you gone to find your family, yet?”

“Not yet. I’m planning to once I get my house situation handled.” She says.

“More accurately, I can’t sense my mother’s magic at all. Aside from the few large magical powers I feel, I can’t feel many others. Smaller ones like Erica and Maira are there, but magical powers large enough to belong to other witches or wizards are gone completely as if they never existed in this world. Either they’re in hiding or something is going on. Either way, there isn’t much I can do at the moment without standing out. At the very least, I’ll conceal my energy and just wait and see what happens.”  Rielle thinks.

“Rielle?” Artorius calls out.

“Hm?” She mutters as she looks up at him. 

“You needed to pick out some more furniture, right?” He asks.

“Yeah.” She says, taking a bite of her pasta.

“I know a place that has some furniture you might like.” He says. “It’s a bit out of the way, but I can vouch for the quality myself.”

“Alright, then I’ll leave it to you to guide the way.” She says.

After finishing their food and paying, they set out to the next location. He leads her out of the commercial district and back into the residential district.

Ping!

Rielle notices that someone used the spell message to contact her. Message allows one to contact others at a distance by transmitting one’s thoughts along a trail of ether. 

“Ms. Rosebane, this is the receptionist of the housing commission. I am contacting you to give you the status of your housing inquiry. Is this a good time?” She asks.

“This is perfect timing,” Rielle responds. 

“Great. So your request to build outside of the city has been denied. Unfortunately, there are too many variables that go into such a thing and it would require more resources than the city wishes to allocate.” She explains.

Rielle stops in her tracks.

“Too many resources? I can just make them myself.” Rielle states.

“Aside from the physical resources, the city would also need to ascertain your combat ability as the forest itself is full of dangerous beasts, as well as create regulations for you to follow, then make it so that other citizens could do the same if they liked.” The receptionist explains.

Rielle sighs.

“I… understand. So I’ll have to pick out a house nearby?”

“That’s right. Any house that has a yellow tag on the door is available. I hope you have a nice evening and enjoy your new home.” The receptionist cuts the connection.

Ping!

“That was… sudden.” Rielle thinks.

Artorius walks over to Rielle.

“Is everything okay?” He asks.

“Somewhat. I just got denied for my request to live outside the city.” Rielle mutters. “I’ll have to live alongside… Other people.”

Artorius chuckles.

“It should be interesting to see how you get on living like everyone else.” He says.

“You just wanna see me outside my comfort zone. Alright, I’ll show you that living among other people is easy!” She exclaims.

“Let's have a little wager. If you can’t handle living in the city, you’ll have to go on another date with me.” He states.

"Fine with me. If I can handle it, then you have to learn magic.” She says, pointing at him.

“Yikes. When it comes to magic she’s very strict. It will be rough going if I lose.” He thinks. 

"...Deal!” He exclaims.

After shaking on it, it wasn’t long before they made it to their destination. A small-looking house just a short 5-minute walk away from Maira’s home. The exterior was relatively plain but had a small bed of flowers in the front. Planted in a square pattern across the front lawn. He pulls out his key and opens the door. 

“This is your house.” She says. “Weren’t we going for furniture?”

“We still are. There’s something I want to show you.” He says.

He leads her into the house where they step onto a small mat in the hallway. Then, to the left, it meets her vision. The living room had rows and rows of tools hanging from the walls, and along the back was an array of dark shapes. The scent of wood and sawdust hung in the air as he flipped the light on. Reveals the smooth polish of dark wood furniture at the back of the room. 

“You turned it into a workshop. How long have you been practicing carpentry?” She asks.

“I was a bit inspired by you. You were able to dedicate so much of your life to studying magic so I thought I would try to learn something new myself.” He says. “I spent the last couple hundred years or so, trying to perfect the art.”

“No kidding.” She says.

She walked into the workshop, amazed by all the tools. Then, went to the back of the room and ran her fingers across the grain. Kneeling, she checked all of the small details, noticing the hours of care that went into each piece. The handles were made of metal but were of bronze in color and had an incredibly faint scent of sweetness coming from them.

“I may not know the most about furniture, but even I can tell these are masterworks.” She says. “You’ve been busy.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you.” He says as he walks closer.

“How so?” She asks.

“When I’m making these pieces, I imagine you. I try to match the silkiness of your hair, the glow of your skin, the warmth in your loving eyes.” Artorius whispers as he slowly draws closer to her “The subtle gentleness of your touch and the beauty of your curves. You are my inspiration whenever I create.”

The distance between them is less than an inch, as they can feel the heat from each other’s breath. He wraps his arms around her and his lips glide increasingly closer to hers. Her flushed expression only strengthened his visceral reaction as their lips made contact.