Maria of Bara thought of herself as a simple woman.

She was hardworking, fairly smart, she knew how to read, write, and perform basic math. She was skilled in cooking and a dedicated mother. She had also occasionally received some flattery for her looks, though she paid little attention to such comments. She simply went through life doing what she could to ensure she and her daughter could live and fill their bellies. That was all.

Her life hadn’t been exactly easy, but she had made her peace with it. Living in the small village of Bara, a village so small that it wasn’t even shown on most maps, life was very ordinary.

Her life hadn’t been too hard either. With only occasional worries about a bad harvest and very few monster attacks, since their village wasn’t near any important location nor any dangerous monster’s nest, it could be said that she had a fairly uneventful life in relative safety.

Her only concern had been her daughter, who she loved deeply and to whom she dedicated her life.

After the only man she had ever loved and from whom she had taken her last name, Matthew Ranaborak, had died in an unfortunate fire in the woods a decade ago, Maria had closed her heart and never loved another person. That event was one of the few true tragedies of her life, one of the saddest days in her memory. Many people had lost their lives that day when monsters had attacked them in the forest and set it aflame.

A tragedy of the past, which she would not forget but still tried not to think too much about.

Maria had raised their daughter alone, a hard duty but one she did with a smile and a heart full of love. Aina was a lovely child. Cute, honest, clever and hardworking, but she had sadly suffered since early childhood due to painful tremors. Maria knew that her daughter was a kind and good girl, but was also a bit lonely due to the lack of friends.

There had been hard times, but also very good times. Their simple and ordinary life together in the village had carried on for a decade, the pair supporting each other and enjoying the mutual company.

That was, until that day one week ago, when everything changed.

That day one week ago, when lightning had fallen from the sky directly on Aina and killed the people around her.

The terrified and superstitious villagers had declared her an evil witch and condemned her to die, not caring in the slightest about Maria’s pleas for mercy or her request of calling for authorities from the cities.

Then they had carried the sentence, and a mob had gathered with the purpose and intention of throwing stones to a little girl until she died.

How could such a barbaric thing ever be called justice?

Maria had despaired and faced the fact that her daughter would die that night. So she took the decision of fighting to protect Aina, hopeless as that was, and to take as many of the villagers she could with them before they killed her. Maria had taken the decision to die protecting Aina, for if there was anyone wishing to harm her daughter they would only do it over Maria’s mangled dead body.

Unfortunately, despite her resolution, Maria didn’t have combat Classes, she was a [Cook], not a [Warrior] or a [Hunter].

Ultimately, she hadn’t been able to stop the mob of villagers, barely killed two before getting heavily wounded. She still thought about those moments sometimes, when she was alone. The fact that she had killed people could not be erased and should not be forgotten as if nothing had happened.

She did not take pride in that, she hadn’t enjoyed it. But neither did she regret it. If anyone tried to hurt her daughter again, Maria would fight with everything she had again.

Although now that notion seemed like a silly situation. The pair had, after all, gained a powerful protector beyond their wildest dreams.

Maria would never forget the moment when everything was getting dark and she felt her life leaving her. The tiger’s roar that shattered all her fears and despair.

The moment she had first met Navin Lakar.

The giant white tiger wreathed in lightning in front of which she had knelt to plea for her daughter’s salvation, offering everything she had to give, in hopes that the mighty spirit helped them.

Little did she know, that the being in front of her would not demand anything from her and had immediately moved to save Aina.

Their village had been completely destroyed and the villagers killed due to the massive storm that formed during Aina’s tribulation. Something that wasn’t made any easier on Maria’s consciousness just because many of them had been trying to kill them. There were good people in that village too, children and elderly people who didn’t participate in the stoning.

It was something that she would need to carry for the rest of her life. But the feeling of sadness and guilt were overshadowed by the feelings of awe, the happiness, and sheer enjoyment that Navin had brought to their lives.

After rescuing them from the villagers, Navin gave them a new home. The giant white tiger had turned into an almost ludicrously handsome man with a bright and warm smile who had taken Aina as a Disciple – the third disciple, he had said – and taught Maria that she could be so much more than what she had ever dreamed.

Their lives had changed drastically since that night, and good did not seem to be a word that made it justice. The improvement had been far too great and amazing for that simple word.

Lord Navin had shown them the world in a way they had never imagined.

They had flown in the sky, explored the forests, had fun for days on the beach and even seen what the underwater territory was like. He had given them a fortune in gold and platinum, cooked amazing food for them, taught Maria how magic was done, and they had even met a Goblin that was a good person.

It had been an entire week of pure bliss and wonderful surprises. And all this seemed to be just the prelude of what promised to be a lifetime of amazing things.

Maria thought about all these things as she baked a cherry pie. She owed it to Aina, after all. Maria could hear her daughter’s cheerful voice coming from outside, no doubt she was playing around with something, maybe Lord Navin had given her something to entertain herself. Maria danced around the kitchen of the Traveler’s Cabin, cooking in this place was quite an experience, everything was so easy with all these tools and multiple ingredients.

Ovens and stoves that cooked food very fast and efficiently, without the need to use wood or coal. A refrigerator that kept food fresh and drinks cold, filled with an immense amount of fruits, various vegetables, and spices that she could use to cook to her heart’s content. A freezer full of meat from different animals and another that had that delicious dessert called ice cream in many different varieties.

Maria was certain that many of these ingredients weren’t even from her world, and the kitchen seemed to always have whatever she was looking for. There were multiple cooking utensils and appliances, some of which she was still learning to handle to help her to prepare new dishes.

It was a dream come true for a cook like her, enabling her to cook to her heart’s content and test any recipe that caught her interest.

Maria sliced onions, garlic, red and green bell peppers, celery and other vegetables. She peeled and cut some potatoes into little cubes but also took others and turn them into thin slices to be fried later. White onion, fresh tomatoes, and lettuce would make a good salad. She put those aside for the moment and went to the freezer to get the main ingredients for her planned meal.

She took from the freezer a bit of ground beef and a pair of boneless and skinless chicken breasts.

She was going to prepare different mixtures and thus required multiple skillets and saucepans, but her wonderful magical kitchen was up for the challenge and didn’t fail to provide everything she needed.

Maria was going to prepare some dumplings. To be more precise, a type of deep fried dumplings called empanadas. Although they could also be baked in the oven. Maria decided she would make different styles too.

She would have loved to try some of the more extravagant and eye-catching recipes that were supposed to be ‘Immortal Meals’ but while the house and Lord Navin might have provided her the ingredients, she had no idea how to prepare those high-level dishes, since they required not only ingredients she was not familiar with, but also the use and manipulation of Qi during the cooking process.

How was she supposed to cook ‘Crystal Mountain and Spirit Rivers Stew’ anyways? How could she prepare ‘Kraken Karaage with Dozen Sacred Sauces’ or ‘Thunder Dragon Steak on Blazing Soul Wine and Hundred Flavors Herb with Thousand Mantras Rice’ if she needed to use those strange ingredients and ‘harmonize her Qi with the Aura of each ingredient and guide them to concoct the meal while tempering their residual Intents’? Crazy recipe books.

It was frankly beyond her level of skill and the knowledge of any chef of this world. She doubted anyone on the continent would recognize what even a tenth of those ingredients was.

So she would settle for preparing mortal meals for now, thank you very much.

For about an hour, that was all she did: cook. Following the recipes that she had recently learned and happily experiencing the challenge of new dishes.

She heated olive oil in a large skillet. Added the ground beef and cooked it until it browned, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon. Minutes later, she added chopped onions and cooked until they were soft for about 5 minutes more. Then Maria stirred in sliced tomato, olives stuffed with minced pimientos, minced garlic, dried oregano, and ground black pepper, thus forming the sofrito sauce, whatever that word was supposed to mean. Lowered the heat and simmered until the mixture thickened. Thus the beef mixture was ready to be put into the dough.

For the chicken, Maria put the chicken breasts in the bottom of a large pot, then seasoned them with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Covered the chicken with an inch of water and boiled it on the stove for a few minutes. After checking that it had reached the appropriate temperature of 73.89 °C using an 'instant-read meat thermometer', a cooking utensil that looked for all intents and purposes like a thin metal stake with a little crystal rectangle on the top for Maria but enabled to know the exact temperature of things safely, although Maria didn't have any notion of the degrees of temperature, she simply did what the recipe said; so once the chicken reached those numbers and it was properly done –not dry nor tough–, Maria placed it on a plate, covered it, and let it rest for five more minutes. Once it was cooled, Maria shredded the chicken. In a saucepan, she melted butter, added chopped green onions and cooked for about few minutes until it was tender, added 2 cloves of chopped garlic and cooked them for one more minute. Now it was ready to mix in the cooked chicken, salt, half a teaspoon of nutmeg, and black pepper. After a couple of minutes of more cooking, it was ready.

Once the mixtures were ready, Maria put a large sheet of plastic –wonderfully useful invention– on the large kitchen table and lightly floured it. Then, using a rolling pin, rolled out discs of the dough and arranged the discs on the flat surface of the kitchen table. She dabbed a little water around the rims then placed a large tablespoonful of either the chicken mixture or the meat mixture in the center; folded them over in half to form a half moon and pinched the moistened edges to seal the empanadas.

And there she had it. Two different sets of empanadas ready to be fried or baked. She would fry the meat ones in a deep saucepan until they were crisp and golden brown in color, and bake the chicken ones in the oven for about 20 minutes until they too were golden.

There was also salad and potatoes ready to be fried; cheese, eggs, and sausages on the fridge if anyone felt like accompanying the empanadas with something else.

Finishing everything she had set out to do, Maria decided she would relax for a bit. Aina had been laughing for quite some time, so Maria was getting curious about what she was doing. Maybe a magical toy? Perhaps they were flying? Aina had discovered she loved the sensation of being in the air and asked Lord Navin to teach her ways to fly with magic.

In the end, curiosity won. Maria made sure everything was in order in the kitchen before leaving it. She had a lot of empanadas ready for cooking, it was just a matter of waiting a bit until Aina got hungry and they would eat.

Maria got out of the house, finding her savior and benefactor sitting on a wooden bench near the door.

Lord Navin was drinking from a glass of a reddish-purple juice. He turned his head towards her and gracefully smiled in greeting, pearly white teeth and sparkling azure eyes on a lightly tanned face that looked in his twenties yet belonged to a man who had lived for millennia.

It seemed that his most natural state was smiling, but she had occasionally found melancholy in his eyes as he looked into the distance. No doubt he carried his own burdens that he hadn’t shared with them.

She returned the smile and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. Aina’s laughter was louder and cleared here, and Maria immediately found the reason for her daughter’s joy.

In front of the house, wide extensions of some black fabric had been laid. It was tensed and stretched between strange frames that connected to form multiple structures that suspended it above the ground. It was not only horizontally placed, but also vertically and in varying heights, making multiple levels. The structures extended like a tunnel, shaping a gigantic octagon with the house at the center.

On this strange taut material, Aina was jumping around and laughing like a hysterical madwoman clearly having the time of her life.

Maria watched in amazement as her daughter quickly jumped from one level to another and bounced off the ‘walls’ of the structure to get to greater heights and then fall back to the lower levels only to jump once again at high speed as she ran laps around the house.

Aina was spinning, somersaulting, and even making poses in midair. All the while, laughing at the top of her lungs, letting out shouts of pure and unrestrained glee.

The sight drew a smile on Maria’s face.

“Should I ask?”

Maria said as she took a seat next to Lord Navin. It made her heart beat higher and louder, being so close to him. She was almost certain he could hear it, but he didn’t make any comment and she was really glad she had gotten used to his presence enough that she could talk without stuttering.

“Aina really loves the trampoline. She was feeling very energetic after absorbing that lightning this morning, so I gave her something where she could spend her extra energy and entertain herself.”

He replied in a captivating voice, serene yet deep and speaking her own language fluently and without an accent.

“Trampoline? Is it magic?”

Maria asked while watching the device where Aina bounced on. Lord Navin offered juice to her, and she accepted it. It was sweet with a bit of an acidic flavor. Corozo, he called it. This juice reminded her of what she had heard about the Baktris Guis, a fruit that was grown in the northern coastal regions of the Republic of Oeria, she briefly wondered if it was the same fruit.

“Not really. It’s just a taut fabric stretched between a frame using coiled springs. The material is strong, sure, but the elasticity that enables the bouncing comes from the steel springs, nothing magical there. Although I did conjure and install it with magic, so there’s that.”

He showed one of the springs to Maria, pressing it between his fingers and releasing it. Many of these little things were placed around the structure to make it work properly.

“Fascinating.”

Maria watched the spring compress and stretch with interest. She had learned that little objects like this were integral parts of large and complex mechanism all around the world, so their value shouldn’t be underestimated.

“Would you like to try jumping in the trampoline?”

Navin invited her as they finished their respective glass of juice. Maria eyed the structure, she was curious, but Aina was really jumping all over the place at high speed and they might crash into each other. Besides, it was fine that children had fun without their parents around, so Maria shook her head.

“Maybe later. I think I’ll let Aina enjoy it by herself for now.”

Maria replied and made herself comfortable on the bench. Navin chuckled softly but didn’t insist. They sat in comfortable silence for a minute, the only sound was Aina’s laughter, who surprisingly hadn’t gone hoarse when by all accounts her throat should be sore at this point.

If anything, Aina’s game had gotten even more showy and intense, as she was now jumping around while using lightning.

“Do you have any plans for where we are going next, Lord Navin?”

“Hmm, not in particular details. We can go anywhere you want. Explore new cities, visit different cultures, meet new people, hunt for monsters and continue training. I promised Aina to accompany her to a Dungeon next week, but other than that our schedule is pretty lax.”

Indeed, they had no pressing matters. No responsibilities burdening them and no timeline that they needed to follow. Simple and free-spirited, that was the current state of their journey. Aina occasionally hunted animals and monsters, but she was always protected by Lord Navin.

“Then, do you have personal plans? I mean, things that you want to do yourself or responsibilities?”

Maria asked him while brushing a lock of her hair. She wondered what the personal plans of Lord Navin were, what were the responsibilities of an immortal, more so an immortal that Aina assured her was at the top of the ruling class of the universe? She honestly couldn’t imagine. He hummed a bit in thought before replying.

“Do you remember what I told you about my presence here and my different bodies?”

She did, of course. It was the way he could be in different places at the same time and carry out all kind of tasks while still having a part of him relax. While she did not understand exactly how he did that. She understood the implications.

He had multiple duties, but had separated a portion of his mind and dedicated it to taking care of Aina and Maria. Accompanying them, entertaining them and teaching them. That was something invaluable.

Maria nodded her head and he continued speaking after seeing her affirmation.

“Well, there are lots of things I have to take care of, but I have handled the most urgent ones during this past week. There are some issues with the people in charge of some factions in other worlds, but it isn’t too hard. I should be able to relax a bit more for a while. At least until they make some serious moves and create a real mess. However, that’s not something you need to worry about, and none of those people will be able to hurt you nor Aina.”

He was shouldering burdens that he didn’t tell them. Responsibilities of a scale and difficulty that Maria could not begin to imagine, but talked of it as if it was nothing just so she wouldn’t worry. The thought warmed her inside.

“I think I never actually thanked you. For everything that you have done for us. You never even asked anything in return.”

Maria commented after a while. She remembered this past week and how different it was from her life before. It felt like two entirely different lifetimes.

“There isn’t any need for that, Maria. From the moment Aina became my Disciple, both of you came to be under my responsibility. You also swore to work for me, so it’s only natural that I take care of your needs. If anything, I would like you two to consider me part of your family, not some stranger towards whom you need to be wary or feel in debt. But someone you can trust and rely on for anything you need, without hesitation or reservation.”

He replied easily, as if it was not a big deal. Like giving them all these things was the natural thing to do and represented no effort for him. It was also funny that he used her employment as an excuse for it. She had, after all, not done any work for him at all in this entire week and was already richer than she had ever dreamed, as evidenced by the bag of holding full of platinum and gold coins in the living room.

Her only “duty” had been to take care of Aina and the house chores when Lord Navin was away, because when he was around he did them himself. The first was something she would obviously do anyways and had been doing for the past 12 years because she was Aina’s mother, and the second was ridiculously easy because the house cleaned itself with magic at fixed intervals and somehow also dealt with the trash that was thrown in the trash cans. Aina had said there was a booklet that showed the Traveler’s Cabin’s functions and properties, Maria decided she would study it later.

Lord Navin also cooked delicious food and cleaned the dishes, so most of the time Aina and Maria were simply enjoying a blissful time, playing around while testing the different things in the house and learning how to handle Qi.

He hadn’t actually asked for anything in return from them. Their deal was full of benefits for Maria and Aina. He genuinely seemed to have fun and enjoy giving them lessons in manipulating Qi and teaching them about the Cosmos, but Maria doubted that could be a benefit comparable to the power Aina had acquired and the changes Maria had experienced in her body.

One couldn’t simply say that the payment for making someone immortal was the act of making them immortal, right? That was in no way equivalent.

“I can’t possibly thank you enough for what you have done for us. Is there really nothing I can do for you?”

Maria leaned a bit forward as she spoke, heart beating fast on her chest. She couldn’t help but have once more the fleeting thought that had been with her for the past week: what if he asked for her body in return for his help?

She admitted to herself that the first couple of days she had been a bit scared by that thought. It wouldn’t be too strange for a man to ask such payments for women who could not offer anything else, Maria had heard such practice being done since ancient times, although it was of course frowned upon nearly everywhere. But Lord Navin hadn’t made any weird insinuations nor advances on her, Aina even found out that he had stayed outside the first night they were on the Traveler’s Cabin and made him promise he would not do that again. The house could accommodate them all comfortably, after all.

While he spoke with familiarity with them, he was always respectful, it had even taken Maria the better part of three days to make him stop calling her ‘Madame’ or ‘Lady’.

Maria had mixed feelings about this situation.

On one hand, it showed he was a man of integrity that wasn’t influenced by lewd impulses or dirty thoughts. On the other hand, it could be he simply didn’t find her attractive, and that thought was mildly hurting her pride. Ironically, now that she knew he was really a man of principles that would not force himself to her, she had come to take a genuine liking to him and even start fancying sharing a bed with him. He was a very attractive man, and during their time on the beach she had gotten a good view of the muscular and vigorous body he had under his clothes, it had been quite a sight.

But she understood he was a man of higher station and not someone she ordinarily could pretend as a partner. Still, she could try; the worst that could happen was a bit of embarrassment.

His hand moved toward her face and she went stiff. The tip of his fingers softly passed over her chin, lips, and cheek. She felt electrified by the touch. Was he going to-

He lightly tapped her nose with his index finger.

“You have a face like you were thinking needless stuff. Don’t worry about making things to thank me, just be yourself.”

Right, he is a deity. Of course he can see what’s inside my heart.

Maria blushed as embarrassment and a bit of disappointment filled her. He shook his head with a smile.

“Don’t worry about unnecessary things, Maria. We have eternity ahead of us, why should you worry about what’s happened in our first week together? There will be plenty of ways for you to repay me if you are feeling so guilty about it, so don’t let those thoughts distract you.”

“R-right…”

“How about this: let’s start by you not calling me ‘Lord’. Just Navin is enough, I complied to your request of not calling you with honorifics, so do the same with me. Equality in a relationship, you know?”

He had been insisting that Maria referred to him without an honorific, though she had so far stubbornly refused to do so. But alright, if he wanted to be called that, then she would call him that way, even if she felt weird to even think of him without honorifics. She wondered what he actually thought about her and if there was perhaps a hidden meaning in Lor… no, in Navin’s words.

There were a lot of things about him that she didn’t know. And most of the time Maria couldn’t be sure she grasped what he was thinking about. And just as she wondered what he thought of her, she found herself wondering exactly what she thought of him.

She didn’t love Navin, of that much she was sure. She didn’t know him nearly enough to have developed any deep feelings towards him. But he had caused a… strong impression on her, he had saved Aina and given them both a good house to live in comfort, plus he was charismatic and it was always interesting to hear him speak, he was a good listener too. Being around him was simply very comfortable.

For the first time in many years, she found herself attracted to someone else. It may just be that she simply wanted to enjoy this feeling a bit more.

She could honestly find no fault in him. No matter what measurement was used, he was an ideal partner for any woman. Rich, handsome, strong, educated, attentive, probably had many properties of his own, she wouldn’t be surprised if he had a kingdom somewhere.

Maria was only 31 years old, so she was neither a young inexperienced maiden saving herself for a dreamed partner nor an old woman past her prime that had lost her beauty and drive for pleasure.

Although she understood that perhaps it would be awkward for him to have that kind of relationship with her, as that could put him in a weird position with Aina. But Maria was fairly sure that Aina would only be happy if they got together. It’s not like she was thinking of becoming his wife, but…

Maria’s thoughts reached a point she hadn’t previously considered.

What if he was married?

She felt like an idiot and mentally chastised herself for not thinking about it before. Of course such a man would have already found a wife.

Maria noticed that Navin’s lips quirked upwards. Had she been staring at his lips? She made a mental note to turn her gaze somewhere safer, like that grey cloud floating up in the sky.

There was nothing to be nervous about, he was just an immortal and charming man who she might or might not have a crush on. Nothing to make a fuss about, yeah.

“You are thinking of weird things again.”

He playfully accused her. Was he really not reading her mind and simply noticing a weird expression on her face? She didn’t know, and at this point she was beyond caring much about it. Too late to regret it. Now she must regain composure. What was her friend Tarika’s advice about men, again?

‘Men like a shy and pure attitude on young girls but they love the challenge of a confident attitude on a mature woman’

“Hmm, well…”

Her voice threatened to go up in volume and pitch slightly. She was nervous, it was silly, but she couldn’t help it. It had been quite a while since she had last engaged in flirting or having private talks with a man. Or a woman, for that matter, but besides some fooling around during her teenage years, Maria had only been interested in men. However, she had only been with her husband Mathew, and he had passed away a decade ago.

It had been quite some time. So she was out of practice. She needed to get her voice under control to avoid further embarrassments. Maria cleared her throat and thanked the gods that it didn't sound loudly.

Play it cool, Maria. Breath in, breath out. Move your Qi if necessary to calm yourself. Good, keep your cool. Even if he probably noticed the flow of Qi...

OH MY GOD, HE WILL NOTICE THAT I’M NERVOUS. No, no. calm down, breath in, breath out. There you go. Don’t freak out. You can do this. Be smooth and to the point. Speak casually, as Tarika said.

“Are you married?”

There, she said it. She had to know. Now he would answer and she could die of embarrassment in the kitchen after finishing one last pie for Aina. She would at least make sure it was the best pie ever.

To her surprise, Navin shook his head.

“No, never married. Circumstances varied, but I never formalized any of my previous relationships, even when they lasted for a long time. None of my partners cared much about such things either.”

Oh, so he doesn’t have a wife. Good to know.

Maria exhaled slowly and some of her nervousness left her. Then she noticed he was still looking at her and the flush on her face came back with a vengeance. Damn it.

Trying to regain some of her dignity in this conversation, Maria covered her mouth and teased him.

“Oh? So many women have fallen to your charms?”

Perfect, no stuttering and spoken like someone in control.

Remember what Tarika used to say: Show yourself as someone cool but still interested. Be smooth and confident, men love that.

The talks with her old friend who had left the village to live in the big cities many years ago came into mind.

A part of her opined that her mind was working a bit too hard to help her in seduction, Maria mentally took that opinion by the neck, broke it with the practiced ease of a [Cook] who had broken hundreds of chicken necks, and quickly discarded it to focus on something that actually helped her to succeed.

Navin laughed again, seemingly in a joyous mood, or perhaps simply enjoying the conversation. Or, as Maria’s doubts told her, perhaps he was laughing at her little mental freak out. But for now he didn’t comment on it, so she was saved the embarrassment.

“Nah, I’m not really a womanizer. I suppose the number may seem big if compared to a normal human, but that’s simply because I have lived a long life.”

So he had a large number of previous partners, but had dodged actually saying the number. Hmm, not that it mattered, really.

“How old are you? If it’s not too troublesome to answer.”

Curiosity got the best of her. She couldn’t help it, during some of their conversations he had hinted on being thousands of years old, which was impressive because he looked less than thirty. That was magic for you. Something to look forward if her training enabled her to look young even when her age reached four digits.

He showed her a strange smile, a bit troubled with a mix of amusement and resignation. As if he was about to tell her an embarrassing memory or something that had bothered him in the past but currently found funny.

“Well, it’s not like it’s a secret. Some people in the higher worlds like to make rumors that I’m some ancient entity that has lived for eons, but I’m just one million years old.”

A million years!?

Maria’s mouth was agape. She couldn’t help but take another look at him. Wavy brown hair cut in a style that was longer on the back than on the sides, a tanned face with a fine nose and strong features, pearly white teeth, neatly shaped eyebrows, sparkling wide eyes that seemed to be able to see through everything and lips that she was increasingly wondering what they tasted like…

Sending her gaze to the trampoline so her mind would keep in safer avenues of thought, Maria thought about the bit of information that had just been revealed to her.

Ok, so he is a million years old. Alright, so he is very old… so what? Tarika used to say that age is just a number, though I doubt she has ever been in a similar situation. I’m not a silly girl dating an older man for fun or money, and he is not any decrepit geezer; there is not even the slightest sign of old age in him, he is the living image of youthfulness, just with a vast knowledge that’s literally from out of this world.

Except perhaps for the eyes, Maria admitted, they had some powerful presence in there that young people couldn’t have. The weight of accumulated experience and long years of life.

She supposed it made sense that he had introduced himself as an ‘Immortal Cultivator’ when they first met, if he had lived that long. He didn’t even talk like an old person. It was hard to believe. She couldn’t even imagine how many things would change in the span of a thousand years, how much more must he have seen and lived through in a thousand millenniums?

“Surprised?”

He asked with a slight dip of the head, the smile still on his face. Maria regained a modicum of composure and nodded.

“A bit.”

Biggest understatement in her life. Maria bravely carried on with the conversation, forcing her surprised mouth to stop being simply open like an idiot and actually make proper conversation.

“You don’t really look old. It’s also a bit hard to imagine such length of time. That’s all.”

“Ah, I’m not that old, there are plenty of beings older than me. Among the Powerhouses, I was among the youngest; there are some entities of Eighth Stage that are older than me. There were guys from the Tenth Stage that had lived more than one Kalpas, now that is really ancient people.”

Stages, a classification of power for mighty entities that classified them according to the changes they had experienced and signified how much comprehension of the Cosmos they possessed. Aina was convinced that Navin was at the top of that pyramid of ascending power. She had told Maria that she had seen that information within the Cultivation Art inherited from her Master.

Maria imagined that a Kalpa was some exorbitantly long period of time. The concept of the difference between the Stages was still too abstract for Maria to truly grasp, she was only certain that entities above the Third Stage were beyond her understanding and ability to face.

And if he is above them all…

Maria looked down at the grass in front of her. Was she like an insect in front of him? Maybe that was the reason. How could a mere mortal like her grasp the attention of such an exalted paragon?

“You are really… beyond.”

She softly said, still looking down. Maria felt his gaze on her, studying her, but it was not a piercing gaze. It was a soft touch, like the caress of a feather over her face.

“I think that you are fixating too much on how the things are now, Maria. I believe you should be looking ahead, to the future.”

His voice was calm and soft, speaking in a cadence that strangely comforted her. Maria raised her head and searched for the blue eyes again, she found them gazing into the distance.

“I wasn’t born powerful, Maria. I, too, was once a mortal living in a small village, just like you and Aina. Everything I have now is the fruit of my efforts and training, and quite a bit of luck, too. But I have bled and fought, faced perils and challenges, risked my life and soul, and sacrificed a lot to reach this point of my life. I know how hard it is to rise from the bottom all the way to the top, even if outsiders liked to think I was blessed by Fate and had it easy simply because I succeeded or did things faster than others. I do not judge people based on their origins, I prefer to look at their potential. Knowing the past of someone is fine, it’s important to not lose sight of our roots, but the past should never chain us. What we must set our eyes on is the future. And before you right now, there’s a path that even I can’t see the end of. So, please, never underrate yourself.”

He turned to look at her again, an encouraging look on his face. His smile was warm and his gaze profound. Slowly, carefully, he placed his hand over hers. He did it without turning his eyes to her hand, as if he knew perfectly well where it was without even looking at it.

“There’s no need for you to compare yourself with others. You don’t have to force yourself to be better for my sake or for Aina’s sake. No one has the right to dictate the kind of life you live except yourself. You can choose to live in simple and careless bliss without concerning with the rest of the world, there’s nothing wrong with it. But if you want to rise? If you decide to put effort and work hard to improve yourself and ascend?”

His grin turned a bit sharper then, a strange glint filled his eyes. The grip on her hand was different now, it felt like a promise of support, like a vow to accompany someone to battle. The light in his eyes told her that he was expecting a challenge and was utterly confident in his victory. As if he was looking forward to what was ahead of him, something that only he could see and was greatly anticipating it.

“You would be surprised by the kind of things you will be capable of in a thousand years. What is a week compared to eternity? Have more confidence in yourself, Maria. The path ahead may not be easy, but it can be trodden if you advance courageously. And if someone dares to underestimate you or attempts to humiliate you, I assure you they will sorely regret it.”

Then the glint was gone as if it had never been there and he laid back with languid grace against the bench. He closed his eyes and relaxed. The hold on her hand loosened, but he did not remove his hand and she made no attempt to separate them either.

“Choose your own path freely, and live the life you want. Whatever you decide, do it because you wish it, not because of someone else, and not because of what others may think or say.”

And that was all. He stayed there in silence as if he had said everything he wanted and there was no need to say anything else.

Maria shakily let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding, and suddenly laughed.

She couldn’t help it, she simply wanted to laugh. Unrestrained and unbidden, letting go of any other thought. It was all so silly, she realized now.

Her lack of confidence, her hesitation, her spinning thoughts about her infatuation, her thoughts about the worth of people to match each other. Just silly thoughts that didn’t contribute much. Was she someone special? Maria didn’t know, she didn’t think she had ever done anything extraordinary to deserve being sitting in this bench alongside the most powerful being in existence.

But then, so what? Was there ever a need for a justification for being here? Must she prove to someone that she was worthy of the extended hand and the new way of life offered to her?

Of course not!

Because it had been given to her without expecting anything in return, simply because it was her. And the Powerhouse with his eyes closed and a comfortable smile on his face, listening to the sound of her laughter –and her daughter’s laugh– as it was the melody he had been wanting to hear the whole day, was utterly unconcerned about reasons and justification. He just was who he was, moving true to his wishes. Nothing more and nothing less.

Aina had been received as a Disciple because of what she was and the potential she had to go beyond.

Maria had been taken as an assistant of this powerful being because he had seen something worthy in her. Not in something she could do or something she had, but in who she was. And there was nothing and no one who could make him change his mind.

He would simply do as he wished, and thus encouraged her to do as she herself wished.

So Maria laughed, simply because she wished to. Until her sides hurt a bit and her mouth was shaking, until she was satisfied. It was with that high spirits that she closed the distance separating her from the man next to her, interlocking her fingers with his and without thinking further leaned her head on his shoulder. It was easy to do since he was quite a bit taller than her.

More importantly, he did not reject her, instead leaned his head on hers.

“Thank you, Navin. For this, and all before, and for the future ahead.”

She spoke softly, a tinge of red coloring her cheeks as she said his name without any honorifics for the first time. She had no right to be here, sitting next to the most powerful being in the Cosmos. But so what? Right had nothing to do with this. She had chosen to do this and he had chosen to let her do so.

That was all that mattered.

Did she love him? At this point Maria was not sure, but she was certain that she enjoyed his company a lot. So at least for now, she simply wanted to sit here at his side. Did he have feelings for her or even the slightest interest? She had no way to know, but at least she was certain that Navin did not dislike her company.

What if she was just an ordinary mortal Cook from a little village? That would change with time. Because she was certain that she could no longer be ordinary, no, she was already no longer ordinary. Not when she was living in a magical artifact and was surrounded daily by wonders from other worlds and felt the breath of the world within herself strengthening her more with every passing day.

She was already convinced that Aina was destined for greatness, and being the Disciple of Navin, she would surely rise to unimaginable heights. And now, looking at her daughter crowned with beautiful violet lightning as she ran as if flying at an extreme speed, Maria decided that she would not be left behind.

"You are welcome."

That was all he said.

With a soft smile on her lips, Maria closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment, silently making a resolution within her heart and soul. One day, she would be stronger. So strong that nobody could ever question her place standing at the top or sitting next to this Immortal Cultivator.

If her daughter Aina was a girl who would pierce the heavens, then Maria Ranaborak was the woman who would make the whole world tremble.

“It is simply the truth. Nothing wrong with saying it.”

Thus spoke the Sovereign. Was he answering her spoken words or the thoughts within her soul?

She did not know, and for now, she did not care.

Time would tell.