As the first rays of the sun shone through the open window, Chloe’s eyes fluttered open and closed. Suddenly her eyes snapped fully open as she realized there was a face above her. After a panicked moment, in which she held perfectly still, she realized the face was Eloise’s. Panic subsiding, she spent a moment taking stock, Eloise was sitting up, back leaning against the wall and braced on one side by an arm on the bed, her other hand was still on Chloe’s head and she was sleeping soundly.

Chloe left her head in Eloise’s lap and just stared up at her for a time. Thinking back on the previous night, she had a vague memory of a softly sung lullaby and the reassuring caressing of her head. Seeing Eloise sleeping while sitting up, and remembering not just the last night, but everything else Eloise had done. A wide smile spread across her face, then she sighed internally.

“Always face the reality of a situation,” the memory of one of her father’s oft-repeated lectures floated through her head. “it doesn’t matter if it's unpleasant or unfair, recognize it for what it is and deal with it.”

“And the reality is,” Chloe thought to herself “I love Eloise. It may not be safe, possibly not even truly sane, to love a necromancer, but I do. And besides, very little that I plan to do could accurately be described as safe. So, accept that you’re in love with her and act accordingly.” The last of the unease left Chloe’s chest as she remembered something Ash had told her, “After all, will all die in the end whatever we do, best to live while you can.”

Smiling, she began to craft a spell. As she gently drew her body back and pulled her head off Eloise’s lap, she left a sphere of hardened air where her head had been. With her head now free, she had more hardened air lift her straight off the bed. A quick gesture sent a coin pouch flying from one of her shelves, straight to her hand. Looking down at herself, she had to suppress a bitter laugh, the fact that she had been to out of it the night before to even change from her robes into her nightgown was now proving highly convenient. Carefully angling her body, she flouted directly out the still open window. As she passed through she wondered, not for the first time, if the windows had intentionally been made wider than normal windows just for the students with an air affinity.

Once through the window, she sat up and released most of the air she had been hardening, leaving only a disc for her to sit on, then she began to craft her next batch of spells. First was a sphere surrounding her, any air encountering the sphere would flow around it, rather than crashing into it. Next, she cast a spell that would keep the air in the sphere breathable. Considering the short amount of time she intended to stay in it, it was probably unnecessary, but she preferred not to take the risk. Finally, she began to fly towards the town, accelerating rapidly. Even with the sphere negating air resistance, it took a lot of power to fly as fast as she was, and going this fast to town and back would leave her low on power for an hour or so. Since the preparations for the evening's celebrations meant there were no classes, however, this was perfectly acceptable if it meant she was able to make it to town and back before Eloise awoke. That thought led to another, and she called out mentally.

“Ash.”

“Yes”

“Where are you right now?”

“In the forest. While it’s missing a certain something, it is still pleasant.”

Ash picked up on the sigh Chloe let out at the words. “Why do you ask, need someone eaten?”

“No, I’m taking a quick trip to town, and I had hoped you were close enough to keep an eye on my room while I was gone.”

“You trust the necromance enough to sleep on her lap, but not enough to leave her alone with your stuff?” Ash asked with a snort of amusement.

“Quite the reverse, she’s asleep and it’s the rest of the academy I don’t trust. Speaking of, from what you’ve said, you’re making sure anything you do won’t cause me an excessive amount of trouble?”

“Yes, having you hunted down and killed would be very inconvenient.”

Chloe gave an amused snort, “I’d certainly agree with you on that, anyway, the point is I want you to priorities Eloise’s safety over concealment. While both would be good, and if there’s time I want you to talk to me before you do anything, if it comes down to a situation where she’s in immediate danger, I want you to act. I’m willing to make a run for Telkirin if I have to.”

There was silence for a moment, then an amused laugh. “Priorities a, well don’t worry, I’ll do what I can to keep both of you alive and unhunted.”

“Thanks Ash, I promise one we return to twin rivers I’ll bring you somewhere you can run as wild as you want.”

Rather than words, this time Ash simply pushed a feeling of contentment and anticipation through the link. Chloe smiled in relief, at least Ash didn’t seem to be bored enough to be a source of concern.

As Chloe looked down at the town, she sighed in resignation, it wasn’t what she had intended to do, but it was something that needed doing. She landed in a well-kept street. The town wasn’t big enough for a temple to each of the gods and goddesses to be practical, so the large building that stood halfway down the street was a church dedicated to the entire pantheon. On the same side of the of the street were two rows of shrines, half to the left of the church and half to right, which were used when praying to a specific god or goddess.

Chloe walked up to the third and fourth shrines. These two were closer together than any of the others, though that was unsurprising as they were to the twins Shirina and Celios. While both of them had multiple areas of influence, Shirina, for instance, was, among other things, the goddess of logical thought and judgment while Celios was the god of passion and war. However, those were all secondary roles of the twins, they were primarily the god of day and the goddess of the night, making the solstices and equinoxes their holy days.

Chloe slipped a gold coin into the wooden boxes both shrines had in front of them, then offered up a brief prayer to each before taking to the air once again.

This time when Chloe descended, it was in a clearly upper-class street. The building she walked into had windows making up almost the entirety of one of the walls, giving a beautiful view down the hill to the winding river. Chloe walked up to the counter and placed an order, then settled in to wait while it was prepared.

Her attention was drawn by the way the man behind the counter kept turning and looking at one point beyond the windows. She turned and looked in the same direction, not seeing anything for a moment. Then she noticed the wall of one of the warehouses down by the river had a large hole in it and, squinting intently, she thought some parts of the wall near the hole had large, red stains on them.

Now understanding the reason for the mans repeated nervous glances, Chloe quickly lost interest. Most likely a new gang was trying to move in and the hole and stains were either the result of them being violently evicted or gaining territory. Either way, the risk that customers might witness a murder and lose their appetite was likely the cause of the man's concern and it was of no interest to her.

Chloe smiled as the small box was handed to her, and placed a few coins on the counter before walking out. Once she was out of the building she rose into the air, recasting the spells she had used to fly to town so quickly. With her lavish expenditure of power, it took very little time for her to return to the academy. Instead of floating through her window, she walked through the main gates and picked up a jug of water on the way back to her room.

She opened her door as quietly as possible then floated into the room, avoiding any of the loud creaking noises her floor was so fond of making. Smiling contentedly at the sight of Eloise’s hand still resting on the sphere of hardened air, she sat down at her desk and began to float objects towards her. First, she pulled in a kettle a fire witch had enchanted so as that a touch of power would cause it to either heat or stop heating its contents, and poured her jug of water into it and gave it the first touch of power. Then she gestured at another shelf and two plates, two mugs, two sets of utensils and a box full of tea leaves floated to the desk.

Chloe smiled as she opened the box she had gone to town for, and felt the heat from it. The spell was a simple one which anyone with even a weak fire affinity could cast a hundred times without getting tired, and it wouldn’t last for more than an hour or two, but while it lasted and the box was closed no heat would escape from it. Inside was a large stack of berry pancakes, surrounded by more fresh berries. While the food the academy served wasn’t bad it also wasn’t anything to get excited over and after what Eloise had done the night before and with Chloe’s acceptance of how she felt about her, Chloe felt Eloise deserved far better than a simply breakfast of porridge in bed. Chloe carefully scooped some tea leaves into a pair of infusers and dropped them into the mugs.

At the hissing of the steam the kettle produced, Eloise began to stir and blink her eyes. Chloe touched the kettle with another little bit of power, then poured the water into the mugs and turned to look at Eloise. The look of surprised delight that spread over Eloise’s face as she saw the breakfast Chloe had prepared filled her with pure joy.