More hours passed and Ben made some significant progress when he noticed it was getting late and decided to go see Thera.

He walked around her home to see where she could be before finding her in what seemed to be her bedroom, laying down with a book, so he gave a knock to get her attention.

“Hey Thera, any idea when Sonya will be home? I thought I’d throw together dinner as a thanks for patching me up.”

“That would be great.” She said and put her book down. “She’s usually home in about an hour, do you want a hand?”

“Sure sounds good, thanks.”

With that, they made their way to the kitchen and Ben started to dig around looking at the ingredients before deciding on making a raninal soup and some stuffed chreb, both dishes he learned while cooking at the church. He got Thera to cut all the vegetables they would need while he focused on assembling the ingredients and cooking.

As they prepped the meal they chatted about the day, Thera talking about the book she was enjoying and Ben discussing his progress on his practice and how he was understanding why the cloaks were hard to come by, it was hard to imagine too many enchanters wanting to make these regularly. Eventually, they moved on to talking about other things while they worked on the food and let the time pass until Sonya got back.

When she walked into the kitchen she was surprised to see them both at the stove, Ben powering it and working on a pan while Thera stirred a soup, and gave them a greeting. “You know, usually patients are meant to rest and recover, but it does smell great in here.”

“Oh hey Sonya, you could say I’m recovering from practicing my enchanting technique all day, it’s super monotonous. Besides, I wanted to thank you for looking after me these past few days.”

“And you even got Thera to help.” She said with a smile.

“Hey I help you sometimes.” she spoke back defensively.

“She was a great help, I’m sure if we can ever find a stove that can handle her she’ll be a great cook. Anyway, it should be about ready so let's eat.”

They set the table and all sat down before digging in. Ben asked about Sonya’s day at the clinic and she asked what they had gotten up to before broaching another topic.

“So Ben, how exactly did you become an apostle?” Sonya tried to bring it up naturally, though the curiosity had been at her all day.

“Yeah, I’ve never met one before.” Thera added.

“It’s nothing too exciting guys, I’m pretty sure I got the role by default.”

“How could you possibly get such an important position with your god by default?” Thera asked.

“I’m the guy's only believer, so there were no other applicants for the job I guess. As soon as I accepted Myriad as my god it showed up as my title.”

“Wait, you're his only believer?” Sonya questioned. “Ben, don't tell me you’re involved with a forbidden god?”

“As long as he’s telling me the truth then he shouldn’t be.” Ben went on to explain what his god told him when they first met, how he was the accumulation of his race's souls and how his race destroyed their planet rather than let the invaders get it.

Thera and Sonya sat and listened with an intense focus until he finished explaining his god's backstory.

“Your god sounds insane.” Thera remarked.

“Are you sure you want to worship a god composed of a group that would blow up a planet?” Sonya asked.

“I wasn’t super into the idea at first but he’s a pretty good guy. Chatty too, I get the impression he may have been lonely without any believers.”

“If you say so. “ Sonya said a bit dubiously. “Though I still think I’ll check with the church to make sure he’s telling you the truth. But on a different topic, this meal was delightful Ben, thank you very much.”

“It’s no problem, I’m happy to cook while I’m here if it can help out at all.”

“And that brings up the next thing I was hoping to talk about. It should only take a couple more days to get you in top shape, but by then Falk will be gone and I’ll be busy in the clinic during the days so I’m a bit worried about Thera being alone while Roan is still on the loose.”

“I’ll be fine Aunty.”

“Maybe you will be, but I’m still worried. Ben since you’re going to have to take a while to make the cloak anyway do you think you could work on it here? You’re welcome to help yourself to whatever's in the house of course but I’ll feel a lot more comfortable having someone else around.”

“Sure If you guys don’t mind having me around I’m happy to stay here for a while, with the shop closed there won’t be a ton for me to do other than work on the cloak anyway.”

“Excellent! Thank you so much.” She said with a glowing smile. “And if it's alright I have another bit of a selfish request to ask you as well if that's okay?”

“Let’s hear it.”

“I picked up your plant and it’s just at the front door, you can bring it to the room later, but while I was grabbing it I couldn’t help notice all the paintings and drawings in your room. Would you happen to be an artist?”

“I guess I’m something of an amateur one, yeah.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, I thought the portrait you have in your room was fantastic.”

“Ah well thanks.” He told her with an awkwardness that she didn’t pick up, though Thera did. “It’s of my family.”

“I thought it looked great! Is there any chance I could hire you to do a couple of paintings for me?”

“Sure, after all you’ve done for me I’ll do them for free as long as there isn’t a time limit. What were you wanting me to paint?”

“I was hoping to get a couple portraits together with Thera if possible.”

“What, why?” Thera asked with a bit of discomfort on her face. “I’m not super into the idea of being stared at for hours to have a painting made.”

“Because it would make me and your parents happy.” She told her before turning back to Ben. “Growing up we could never commission any family portraits because we couldn’t find an artist who could handle her constitution, so her parents would absolutely love it.”

“Well sure I’ll be happy to. If there’s no rush, could I put it together after I get the cloak done?”

“That will be great for us, won’t it Thera.”

Thera for her part could see she wouldn’t be allowed to get out of it and let out a long sigh. “Alright sure.”