CH440

“So, is Ben okay?” Pelenia asked over dinner, watching as he shakily shovelled greens into his mouth, all while Thera kept healing him from the side.

“Just a little anemic is all,” He told her, giving an unsteady thumbs up as Thera blushed and apologized again.

“I’m sorry, I guess I just kind of lost myself there.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, I asked for it after all.”

The day ended with dozens of failures, not one viable homunculus to their name, with all either of them had to show for it being Ben’s newfound lack of blood, which translated to a lack of energy as his body was struggling to keep up with its demands.

Given that, there hadn’t been much point in going back to the library when he so desperately needed to replace his body’s reserves, and being near a gate was the perfect excuse to impose on her family’s hospitality, taking advantage of the fact that they had a chef on hand to ensure he could keep chowing down, all while Thera’s mother laughed from the side.

“You know, I’d much prefer to hear about a different activity my daughter my been doing to wear on your body-”

“MOM!”

“Really, stabbings are the sort of thing you expect at the end of a relationship, not in the middle of a healthy one,” Pelenia sighed, acting like she didn’t hear her daughter’s objections.

“Stabbing stabbing stabbing,” Came the singsong voice of another at the table, the toddler Seren, as Lux rubbed her child’s head.

“Now now, don’t go learning anything strange from your aunt or cousin, okay? Most people don’t stab anyone they love.”

The young half-spirit nodded, bursting into a fit of giggles as Thera only sunk deeper into her seat, not knowing how to handle being teased from both sides while Pelenia enjoyed the show.

“Ah, but enough about endings. Ben, Falk happened to come here with a very very interesting letter. I don’t suppose you can guarantee that wasn’t a lie, right? I don’t think either of you will like the result of getting my hopes up.”

“If it was a lie then I’ll kill him before you can. Falk promised me he would and I just got finished dealing with almost dying in the life tower to make sure your sister would be confident enough to actually talk to him. I am getting the happy ending I want for everyone, even if it means working myself to the bone for it.”

“Hmph, well next time make sure you find a scheme to help me awaken something,” She told him, switching to a pout. “Do you know what Sonya did as soon as you left her?”

“Um, went back to Stonewall with Sachel?”

“No! She came here to brag! Give it a few decades and I’ll be looking older than her now, can you believe that? I refuse to let this stand!”

Not the complaint I was expecting, but okay. Also not what I would expect from Sonya, I guess it’s that sisterly bound… No, this is definitely some sort of payback, isn’t it? It’s not like she never complains about how much stress Pelenia would put her through back in their adventurer days. Well, if I ever think of anything, it wouldn’t hurt to be in my potential mother-in-law’s good books.

He had a decent grasp of her skills, the same he did for anyone he’d get close enough to check, but she didn’t have anything that stood out as a way that would be a path to awakening. It wasn’t like she wasn’t skilled at anything, she even surprisingly had a couple of seventh-level ones, but nothing in any magic he might help with.

Well, that’s a future problem.

“So how’s uncle Falk doing with his project anyway?” Thera asked, escaping her embarrassment with the change of topic. “It’s already been a while.”

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“And will be a while longer,” Her mother sighed. “I have your father out seeing him most days, helping to either materialize for him as he works or else dealing with some of the heavy lifting, but the rest is all him. Really, just why does he have to be so stubborn with his goal? The old ape should just talk to my sister and worry about the rest later instead of making her wait even longer. Hmph, they’re both such a handful.”

“Mother, both of them would hit you if they heard you saying that.”

“Boo, just keep healing your fiancé and try not to feel stabby with any of the cutlery on the table,” Pelenia told her, sticking out her tongue as Thera blushed more, looking between her and Ben before focusing back on his healing.

Right, I guess now that we’re dating that makes the whole forced engagement a bit more complicated, doesn’t it?

<I’d think it would make it less. Just marry her while you still can and be done with it.>

Thera would never want to give her mother that sort of win.