Alisa ducked down hastily and shoved out another box from the small pile at random, leaving the rest. "These can stay here," she declared, trying to stay serious. And failing. "Thanks for the help." She grinned like a crazy person, and couldn't stop herself.

What was going on with her today? This was ridiculous.

She needed to give herself a very stern lecture, but every time she caught Reen's eye her thoughts stopped making sense. They all fluffed apart, drifting like feathers in the wake of his presence.

Was he interested in her, or just being friendly because his sister had decreed that they must be friends? He didn't have to do this, he could have waited for Lia to finish and come down herself. But he'd taken the initiative.

"You-don't-have-a-girlfriend-do-you?" she blurted in a rush, face going bright hot as she immediately wanted to take it back.

"No-o... why do you ask?"

He was mocking her, she could tell. She couldn't bear to look at him, he must think she was so stupid, such a useless child. Her breath was coming fast now and she wanted nothing more than to run and hide. No answer came to her, so she only stood there, tensed, but unable to flee, trapped by the conflicting emotions boiling through her.

"Alisa? You alright?"

"I like you." She bit her lip and glanced hesitantly up at him, heart pounding as though she were about to fight for her life. Her whole body felt overwarm and she knew she was making a complete fool of herself, but the recklessness that had overtaken her insisted that she'd regret not speaking up more than any outcome of her daring. She wasn't sure she agreed with that assessment, but she also wasn't thinking clearly at the moment.

"I like you too," Reen said, with a little laugh.

"I mean... really. You're the best guy I've ever met."

His laugh froze and his eyebrows slowly went up. "Oh..."

They stared at each other, Alisa blushing furiously, Reen staring agape as he tried to process her abrupt confession.

"I'm sorry," Alisa said, desperately wishing she hadn't said anything. "I don't want to make things weird. If you don't— I mean, I wouldn't want to—"

"It's okay. I just... you caught me unprepared, I'm afraid. I've never had anyone... there are always the—“

“Let’s just forget this ever happened,” Alisa hastily backtracked. “Umm… What do you like doing?”

Fortunately, or unfortunately, before Reen could answer, Lia walked in with her familiar grin. Both their aelaniri flew in behind her, providing something else to focus on beside her utter embarrassment.

It always caught Alisa off guard how small Riss and Raxi were. Zen was getting so big, she always subconsciously assumed Raxi and Riss would be similarly large, catching up to Zen’s increased size rather than falling further behind. But whatever head start her late-hatching dragon had in growth spurts hadn't slowed, and in fact seemed to be speeding up. Zen wasn't quite half again as long as Raxi, but he was easily twice as wide and could probably have swallowed both of them if he really tried.

Sometimes Alisa wondered how much bigger he was going to get. According to Lia, Aelaniri could continue growing for between eight months and three years, at which point they'd be relatively stable and only grow thicker and stronger. Older Aelaniri were distinguished by their muscular girth more than anything else. (Zen vehemently declaimed the idea of becoming rounder and proudly insisted he would keep growing longer instead.)

Raxi immediately swooped over to wrap her long tail around Reen's waist, stooping to rub her head against his face while her wings beat madly to keep the rest of her in the air. Riss coiled himself on the floor beside Lia, watching Raxi with a kind of quiet judgment that made Alisa giggle.

Lia surveyed the small pile of boxes against one wall of the otherwise empty front room with her hands on her hips. "We're going to fix this place up," she declared. "Come on, no time to waste."

Alisa watched longingly as Riss and Raxi followed their masters. The two dragons hissed softly to each other, but didn’t fly off by themselves, didn’t leave their bonded mages to their own devices.

She tried not to be bitter at Zen, really tried not to blame him. He was young, he deserved the chance to fly off and do his own thing now and then. But it still stung, after she'd dedicated so many months of her life to him so completely, to be abandoned so easily.

No, she had to stop thinking about Zen. She sneaked a glance at Reen and this time didn’t fight the fluttery tension that rose in her chest. She might have ruined everything, but maybe not… he hadn’t turned her down immediately, so that was a good sign.

"First, we need to decide on a colour scheme," Lia said as the cart started down toward the markets. "There's few things more important to know going into a project, because if you don't have a solid concept of what you want it to look like you'll end up with a completely random mix of whatever strikes your fancy at the time. Not a good idea."

Alisa idly wondered if she could convince Reen to teach her how to drive. It looked pretty easy, but she’d heard of enough accidents that the idea hadn’t appealed to her in the past. Technically as a full student she could borrow a school cart if she wanted. She’d just never been rich enough or had anywhere to go to justify the effort of learning.

Lia was still talking, and Alisa was definitely paying attention, and not stealing glances at Reen as she tried to think of other ways to get him on his own so they could get to know each other properly. She already thought well of him from their past interactions, both the dramatic dragon-prompted ones and the calmer, more ordinary days where they happened to eat lunch together with Lia and her other friends.

But in all their interactions, she obviously hadn't spent nearly enough time staring at him, because the complex curve of his nose utterly fascinated her. From this angle, it was shown to great advantage. She imagined running her finger down it...

"So?"

She realized Lia's voice had stopped, and blinked over at the older girl. "Huh?"

"Favourite colours?"

"Uh, blond."

Lia stopped the cart and frowned at her. "For furniture, not for your hair. Ivory? Tan? Gold?"

"Well... ivory, I suppose. And red. I don't know how they'd look, but I like red."

"Red and ivory? I can work with that."

Alisa shifted uncomfortably. "I can't really afford—"

"Don't worry about that. I know places we can go to find things within our budget."

And so it was that Alisa Veyara went furniture shopping to furnish a home she fully intended to leave within the month, and somehow didn't spend every coin she had. They spent the entire evening riding from one shop to another, perusing their available wares with anything from a brief glance to intense scrutiny, then whisking away to the next shop on Lia’s list.

In the end, they settled on a handful of basic necessities - chairs, a table - while most of the budget was spent on decorative and ornamental objects of a surprising quality and variety. From discounted but no less elaborate wall hangings and paintings, to an exotic area rug with only a few unpleasant stains that Lia assured her could be covered up without much trouble, Alisa was truly in awe of how far Lia managed to stretch their pooled funds. Lia was a bartering goddess, haggling like she'd been born to it, talking the prices down even further from their already discounted rates.

Once the trip concluded, the furniture delivered and set in place in accordance with Lia's exacting designs, Alisa could hardly recognize the place.

She had to admit, it looked good. Now that she wasn't crammed into a single room, there was enough space to express her personal aesthetic. And with Lia's guidance and help, they'd found a great many things that made her feel happy.

The painting of a sunrise, all in shades of red and gold and white, over an old-fashioned wizard tower. The neat triangle patterns of her new rug, each curving just a little to interlock with the others in deep red waves. The pale wood and vibrant upholstery of the chairs, the dark polished wood of the table. It wasn't a perfect matched set, but she liked the contrast. It felt right.

Alisa lingered over the last few items, trying to make the night last longer, hoping Lia would get bored and leave...

Reen hadn’t given her an answer yet, but Alisa absolutely did not want to talk about it in front of Lia. Lia liked being in charge of everything, and this... if there was anything, if there could be anything between her and Reen, she didn't want Lia to take it over like she took over everything else. It should be kept special, just the two of them. No one else needed to know.

And if she was wrong, if she had spoken out of turn, if Reen would rather have nothing to do with her, she'd rather no one else bear witness to her humiliation.

Reen seemed to be hovering too, though whether that was his usual protectiveness or if he was hoping to speak with her alone, she couldn't guess.

But the right moment never came. The furnishings were all put out where they belonged, Lia bade Alisa a good day, and then she and Reen left with their dragons flying along behind.

Alisa sat down on her new chair, wondering if she'd ruined her chances with Reen forever. Wondering if there was any chance he might be able to see her as being even half as special as she knew he was. And wondering why she felt so strongly about him so suddenly.

But her worries didn't last for long, as dreams of the potential future replaced them. She sat running her hand across the wood of the table he’d helped her pick out, a quiet smile on her lips. Could she possibly take it with her when she left with Tay? Or, better yet, could he get both her and Reen out? She should ask Reen if he wanted out, first. But not promise something she couldn’t deliver.

No, no. She had to slow down, she was getting ahead of herself. She still might not be enough for Reen, he might turn her down, might have someone else that he’d never told her about.

Or, worse, he might agree just to be nice. Ugh! He was the sort to do that, too! Of course, no wonder he’d been so flustered. He only wanted to be friends - maybe not even that much, maybe only wanted to appease his sister’s insistence. That had to be it.

Alisa suddenly felt very tired, very drained, and wanted nothing more than to sleep. She sent out an obligatory mental query to Zen, but received no answer.

He really was getting altogether too independent. She had to do something about that one of these days.

No one wanted her. Even Sadie had her own group of friends. No one needed Alisa any longer. She tried to tell herself that was fine, that she didn't care, but all the promises she'd made herself in the past echoed hollow against the absense of a future.

It was one thing to sacrifice deeper friendships and stay apart from most others in pursuit of a goal. But when that target was removed? What had she been chasing, in the end? What was the use of all her late nights studying instead of partying, of memorizing circle structure, of practicing drawing precise lines over and over and over until hers were the smoothest and cleanest? What did any of it matter any longer?

Now she was alone, and for what? If her plans had worked, if she'd been able to become an enchanter or powerscript designer, it would all be worth it. What was it worth now?

"Zen, where are you?" she pleaded into the night. "I need you."

And this time, she felt him answer. The joy and pleasure he'd been so wrapped up in split and faded, replaced with concern and the vibrant echo of 'I'm coming.' First she immediately felt guilty at tearing him away from his fun, but then also angry that only now did he deign to reply. Was this how it would be? She had to be on the verge of a breakdown before he'd care to remember she existed?

The violently disparate emotions vied for supremacy, but when Zen finally poked his head into the house both fled.

Alisa ran and grabbed him around the chest, feeling his tiny forearms clutch at her shoulders, the solid muscle of his long, long body tensing and relaxing with the steady beats of his four wings as he kept himself aloft.

Zen bent his long neck down and pressed his warm scaly head against hers, and whispered comfort into her mind as she sobbed into his scaly chest. She wasn't even sure why she was crying, whether from making a fool of herself or the idea of leaving just when she'd started to care about someone else, or the reminder of losing her whole future all over again.

'I should not have left for so long,' Zen said, when she had calmed somewhat. 'You are my responsibility as much as I am yours, and I should not have forgotten that.'

"Don't go making it weird." Alisa hiccuped a laugh, Zen’s presence easing every pressure that had been straining at her heart. "I'm still the adult in this relationship."

'Only by your standards. I will be older than you in five months, and right now we are the same.'

"Not fair, maturing faster and living longer.”

'You can live long. I will protect you.'

"Not sure it works like that. Old age isn’t something you can fight."

Zen looped around her protectively. ’Watch me.’