CH148 Thera’s perspective

Thera woke up alone, not surprised to see that Ben must have gone the entire night without rest working on whatever plan he had to complete his current quest and followed her bind skill to find him.

It was early in the morning still, which meant he was in the first place she’d look, even without it. He was in the kitchen cooking breakfast, and for whatever reason, the small dryad child was sitting on his shoulders and hounding him with questions.

“What’s that?”

“Pancakes, it’s a breakfast from my homeland.”

“Why aren’t we having frattles?”

“Well, I’ve never had a frattle, but I’ll see if your mom’ll teach me later so I can make them tomorrow if you want?”

“Yes please, they’re the best!”

“Ha, alright, you got it kiddo.”

“Hey mister apostle?”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you look so weird?”

“I promise I look very normal for my species.”

“But you’re not green and you don’t have boobs!”

“Haha, what? Not everyone has boobs, you know? Or’s green for that matter.”

“Why not?”

“Let’s see, I’m going to leave that as something you should ask your mom, okay?”

“Okay!”

Cute. Thera wasn’t used to being around small children, but it was adorable seeing the young girl so full of questions and energy, and there was a certain charm to how patiently Ben was talking to her as he worked, despite his hair being pulled and his chest kicked as she swung her legs.

She watched their exchange for a little while longer until Fontesh came into the kitchen.

“Delair, if you’re going to make him carry you then at the very least don’t kick him while he’s doing it.”

“Sorry mom. Why doesn’t he have boobs?”

“Uuh, I’ll tell you a bit after breakfast, okay hun?”

“Okay!”

“Thanks for putting up with her,” She told Ben, “I know she can be a little energetic.”

“Don’t worry about it. Food will be ready soon if you want to wake the others? Oh, but Skoe’s only been asleep for two hours so maybe leave him to rest.”

Fontesh agreed and went down to the basement while Delair continued to play with his hair, while Thera walked up beside him.

“You’re good with kids.”

“It was only a couple years ago my brother was her age, I’m used to it.”

She saw the look in his eyes and cursed herself for asking, it should have been obvious given what she knew about him, but even if he’d answered Ben always got a little bit sad when he’d think of his family. She could see it in his eyes before he’d try to push it away, and she was never good at knowing what to say when it happened. Thankfully Delair changed the topic, but the new one wasn’t much better.

“Why are you dressed like that?” She was asked in a voice filled with childlike innocence and left having no idea how to answer the question. The honest explanation was a bit complicated to tell a child, but it also wasn’t something she should brush off or lie about. Luckily, after a moment of silence where she struggled to figure out what to say, Ben saw what was going on and gave one himself.

“You see, Thera’s a super pretty girl under there, so she has to hide away or else everyone would fall in love with her.”

“Isn’t that good though?”

“It might seem like it would be, but she wants to be appreciated for her personality instead, so she has to hide away her looks.”

The young girl was now staring at her, wide-eyed and full of wonder. “Can I see?”

“Um, maybe later,” She said, awkwardly deferring it.

“Yeah, I’ll make you a magic necklace so it won’t cause any issue, you’ll just have to wait a bit, okay?”

“Okay!”