CH770

“And thus ends one task for the night,” Ben said as they walked home, trying to sound bright as they went. “Now all that’s left is to talk to Sonya and sort out Mora’s room, it will be great. Is there anything you want to have for it, buddy?”

“I don’t need anything.”

“Sure, but we’re not talking about need. Furniture you’d like, books or art or anything else?”

“…I’m fine.”

The kiddo’s definitely making this hard by keeping me from his thoughts.

Mind reading was just such a handy skill to cut out formality and get to the heart of any matter, having someone block him out couldn’t help but be a challenge in comparison, but if the kid wanted some privacy then Ben had to at least try and respect that no matter what challenges it raised, all while Thera brought up another issue.

“Oh gods above,” She muttered, realizing something she should have thought about long before. “Um, Mora, what would you want to do tomorrow? The option is either coming to work with me or Ben, but… I’m going to a hospital and there’s not going to be a lot I should be exposing a child to…”

“He can come with me while I work if you guys want. I’ll already be training Delair, I can teach him some stuff while I’m at it if he’d want.”

“Okay, maybe that would be for the best-”

“I’ll go to the hospital,” The child told them, making his opinion known for the first time and stepping a bit closer to Thera while she looked at Ben, getting a shrug in return.

“If it’s what he wants then why not let him? If it gets too much or he gets bored just take a break and come bring him to me, I can come up with some entertaining options.”

“…Okay, sounds like a plan.”

She wasn’t sure if bringing Mora with her while she worked would really be a good idea but the entire matter left her torn. She wouldn’t normally bring a child but she’d allow any spirit to follow her without a second thought, figuring out how to manage someone who was both was already proving complicated.

But in that single day he’d barely said anything when he hadn’t first been asked, she couldn’t just deny him when he’d spoken up to come with her. It was something she’d need to explain to her coworkers when she arrived but she at least needed to try, with the swarm of worries going through her head only getting replaced by the time they got home, with talking to her aunt being left as the last priority.

But one that was going to have to be delayed. It was late enough that Sonya had likely been long asleep, her work as constant and exhausting as anyone else’s which delayed their talk to the morning and left Ben and Thera to bring their voices down.

“Should we quickly clean out my old room then?” He asked as she shook her head in response.

“We can tomorrow, it’s not like we have too much in there aside from your tree.”

“Fredrick’s a bush.”

“Maybe it was at one point but I have no clue how you’re getting it to grow so big. Either way, it’s comfortable enough for the night and we can work on it from there. Mora, will you be okay in here tonight sweety?”

“I can be.”

It was said as neutrally as anything else he had spoken across the day but it still left Thera to pause before ultimately giving in.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Okay, but if you need anything, our room is just over there so don’t hesitate to come in and wake us, alright?”

“Alright.”

“Okay, in that case, have a good…” She trailed off, a look dawning coming to her face as she did, realizing once more that she couldn’t just focus on his youth, she needed to be aware of his total spiritual heritage. “You don’t need sleep, do you?”