The flame of the stove burned cleanly beneath the crucible, making no mark on the smooth metal. The lid sat snug on its top, though vents on the top left out occasional wisps of telltale steam. It faintly hissed with the sound of growing heat as the cold light from the window danced across the owl inexpertly painted across its surface.
Shionne watched the pot lurking on her stove from a safe distance, holding up a pot lid for protection. She eyed the crudely decorated bit of cookware carefully. "So when should it start?" she asked.
"It'll be fine, Shionne," Rinwell said. She rolled her eyes, and pushed down Shionne's makeshift shield. "I've done it plenty of times. Just give it a minute-"
She was cut off by the sound of a small bang from the crucible, and an accompanying yip from Shionne. Rinwell turned her attention back to the stove as another bang followed the first, then more and more as a cacophony of minor explosions erupted from the pot she had brought. She waited as they built to a crescendo, and abated once more. Then, once she was sure the fury had abated, she took the pot off the stove and removed the lid.
"See?" she said, pushing aside Shionne's shield. "It's fine."
Shionne peered into the pot, where a handful of seeds had turned into an overflowing amount of roundish, off-white lumps, still giving off steam. Rinwell dumped them into a waiting bowl, sprinkled them with salt, and triumphantly held them out for Shionne's inspection.
Shionne cautiously reached out and took one of the lumps. After an approving nod from Rinwell, she put it in her mouth. It was good. She took a handful. Still good. Still salty and crunchy. She took the bowl.
"And this 'popcorn'. You say it doesn't require any astral artes?" she said, through a slightly full mouth.
"Nope!" Rinwell said, happily watching Shionne tear her way through the bowl.
"Not even earth artes?" Shionne said carefully. She was still suspicious of the way a tiny amount of seeds had managed to fill this bowl.
"Nothing but the heat of the stove." Rinwell beamed. "The seeds burst open and release the water inside; that's the banging sound you hear. I found them from a merchant in Viscint, who says he imports them from Calaglia. I've got a theory that the natural fire astral energy in the area might have affected the plants by..."
She trailed off as she noticed that Shionne had made her way to the bottom of the bowl, and was holding up one of the unpopped kernels for inspection. Before Rinwell could say "you don't have to eat those," it was no longer an open question.
"Well, you were right. Those are good," Shionne said, putting the bowl down on the counter. "Still. You understand that I was careful after the jelly doughnut recipe you sent us."
"I told you that was Law's fault," Rinwell said, frowning. "I let him write down the recipe and he added hamburger to the list of possible fillings. I don't even think he meant to, he just does it automatically."
Shionne shrugged. "Then I guess you've never steered me wrong."
Rinwell's face rocketed back up into a beaming smile. "You're darn right. And your reward for complimenting me is that you can keep the rest of the popcorn."
"A most gracious gift for your loyal servant," Shionne said, bowing with mock servility. She picked up the bag off the counter and hefted it consideringly. "How many bowls should this make?"
It was a big bag; the merchant had told Rinwell it would make around fifty bowls. She did some quick mental math, and said "About thirty-three, I think."
"And we can always just go buy more," Shionne said, putting another, larger pot on the stove. "Might as well make some more for Alphen and Law. They'll be hungry when they come back in."
"And cold," Rinwell said.
She looked over at the window, where Hootle was perched staring out into the backyard of Alphen and Shionne's house, watching the steady snowfall with rapt attention. It was already blanketed in white, and the snowfall outside showed no sign of stopping. She wondered if the storm would let up enough for her and Law to get back to Viscint safely. She already didn't fancy the idea of making the hike back in freezing weather.
She absentmindedly patted Hootle on the head and turned back to Shionne, who was currently mixing spices into a bowl of melted butter as she stared at the bag of popcorn with a calculating look. "Will it be alright if me and Law stay the night here?"
"Sure. You two know you're always welcome." Shionne paused thoughtfully, took a blue bowl out of the counter, and put it next to a radiantly orange vial of spices from the drawer labeled "Alphen". Going back to her work, she said offhandedly "We only have leftovers for dinner, though. Hopefully you two like Alphen's mabo curry. Don't worry, he does a separate batch for me."
"Oh, we're happy for-" Rinwell began, but was cut off by a bang. A loud one, this time, and from outside instead of the stove. Hootle lurched sideways on his perch.
She looked out the window. At the far end of the yard was a shed, only partially obscured by the snowfall. Alphen was, still, quite a fanatic about his training regime, and in the warmer seasons he kept it up with regular exercise in the yard. Some men might have taken the freezing weather as an excuse to put their feet up for a few months, but instead Alphen had equipped the shed with a source of heat and just kept things going.
It was impressive, and the only flaw in the plan that Rinwell could see was the walk to and from the shed. She watched as, with the door still hanging open, Alphen sprinted across the backyard to the back door, whooping with surprise at the cold as he barged into the kitchen.
Shirtless, for some reason.
Rinwell gaped in surprise, but only for a moment, She had seen him shirtless before, after all. But she still averted her gaze out of some sense of modesty as Shionne hurried over with a towel.
"Man, it's great to have Law here," Alphen said, shiny with sweat and grinning broadly as he slapped his hands together. Shionne wrapped the towel around his neck, and gave him a quick kiss. "It's just like the old days, throwing rocks around to see who's stronger."
"If you put a hole in that shed, you're the one who has to fix it," Shionne said, only half-mockingly as she ruffled the towel through his damp hair.
"No, Law is," Alphen said confidently. He took the towel from her and began methodically wiping himself down. Shionne still stayed conspicuously close, taking every opportunity to help him with the process. "He lost the bet today, which means he has to clean up and then do another twenty pullups with the door open. With the way the weather's going he'll probably want to finish up as soon as possible.."
"It wouldn't be that bad if you put a shirt on," Rinwell said teasingly.
"Oh, I don't wear shirts when I'm training," Alphen said. "Shionne does most of the laundry, and she told me not to since it makes my clothes all sweaty."
Alphen smiled with apparent obliviousness. Rinwell gave Shionne a questioning look. Shionne gave her one back that said, with frank intensity, Do not ruin this for me, little girl.
Just then there was another bang of a door slamming closed. It was followed by more whooping as somebody crossed the yard, and a blast of cold air as Law rocketed through the back door.
Also shirtless. Also shiny with sweat.
Rinwell looked away as hard as she could, feeling her face flush red. She tried to focus on absolutely anything- the snow outside, the dining room table, the tacky fire poker shaped like the Blazing Sword that someone had given them as a wedding present- rather than look back the other way as Law began yammering with Alphen and Shionne. Eventually, after a few moments that felt like hours, she breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Shionne say "Towels are in the downstairs bathroom, Law. Get yourself cleaned up before you sit down anywhere."
When she finally looked back, Shionne was playfully snatching the towel back from Alphen and gently pushing him towards the upstairs bathroom with a smile. Whatever she might have thought about that before, she felt she understood it a great deal better now.
They ate dinner late, some time after a mid-afternoon snack of six types of highly experimental popcorn flavors. Law made the decision to stay the night immediately after taking his shower, after taking a few steps outside and feeling his hair freeze. That settled the matter for Rinwell too, since she didn't like the idea of slipping in the ice somewhere and getting stuck alone in a frozen ditch for the night.
They spent rest of the evening productively goofing off. Shionne dug out a board game she had bought from a shop in Viscint, apparently one that was already popular on Lenegis. Rinwell had a sneaking suspicion that it was originally based on the five lords harvesting astral energy for the Crown Contest, but the importer had tactfully retrofitted it into a game about five anthropomorphic zeugles defending their castles. Alphen picked the armadillo castle and spent most of the evening winning game after game. It was slightly annoying that he almost never did anything but attack, and more annoying that it always seemed to work.
As it got dark outside it became apparent that Law and Rinwell would have to settle the matter of sleeping arrangements, those being limited to a spare bedroom and the couch. Law, with his usual grace, had offered to take the couch because "Girls need the extra comfort", so Rinwell had spitefully insisted they settled it based on their relative standing in the last game of the night.
Which was why Rinwell now found herself lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling. Law always played the wolf castle, smack dab between Alphen's armadillos and Rinwell's boomy castle. Rinwell had figured that there was no way Law could overwhelm her without leaving himself wide open. She was right, but not in the way she wanted. It was little solace that Law's castle was conquered by Alphen merely one turn after he won the bet, but solace nonetheless.
Rinwell stared up at the ceiling from the couch. As far as couches went it made for fine sleeping; it was big enough for her to lie flat and Alphen had provided sheets and a proper blanket. He had also given her two pillows, though Hootle had taken one and was sleeping soundly on top of one of the bookshelves. Still, Rinwell would probably have had no trouble sleeping were it not for present mitigating circumstances.
Stupid Law. Why did he have to go and insist on taking the couch? They could have shared the bed, couldn't they? It wouldn't be weird, right? Did he not want to share a bed with her? Or was it just his stupid way of being polite? Or was she just being stupid and reading too much into it? Stupid.
Rinwell still wasn't sure what Law was to her. She thought she liked him. And she thought he liked her. And she thought he knew she thought that she liked him, and she thought he knew that she thought he liked her, and after that it sort of spiraled away into what did that make the two of them? Should she tell people she had a hypothetical boyfriend, if a stupid one? Should she ask him? What if he said no? What if he wanted to said yes, but decided to say no because he was being stupid? What then?
Alphen and Shionne had it so easy. Not everyone had an astral spirit to dress them up in matching outfits.
Rinwell prided herself on her intellect, and her passion for research and discovery. She did not like to think of herself as someone who laid awake at night thinking about boys. But, tonight there were mitigating circumstances.
Directly upstairs, from the direction of the main bedroom, came the rhythmic squeaking of bedsprings and the muffled sound of two people not doing a good job of keeping their voices down.
Rinwell's face still smoldered slightly red. It was, she reminded herself, late at night. Alphen and Shionne had given her and Law ample time to get to sleep; she herself was only awake because she had gotten up to use the bathroom. Plus, Alphen and Shionne had been married less than a year, and the two of course had every reason to want to be close to one another. Not to mention that this was hardly a new experience to her. Privacy had always been a luxury that Cyslodians couldn't afford.
No, there were good reasons she shouldn't be angry at Alphen and Shionne right now. So she was giving them another half an hour before she decided to feel angry. Until then, she would settle for feeling very, very awkward.
She perked up as she heard somebody quietly coming down the stairs. She looked up, even though process of elimination meant it was obviously Law. He quietly made his way into the living room, wearing those stupid pajamas, and stood still for a moment, looking contemplative. Contemplative by Law's standard, which meant that he put his hand behind his head like he was trying to adjust a knob back there.
Rinwell debated not saying anything, and letting him just keep on assuming she was asleep. But reflexes honed by a night's worth of arguing with herself over him kicked in, and she heard herself say, "Hi, Law."
Law started. He looked down at her and cleared his throat. "Oh. Uh. Hey, Rinwell." He shuffled awkwardly. "I guess that, uh, it's not much quieter down here than upstairs."
He gestured, first with embarrassment at the ceiling, then at the couch with exasperation, then at the world in general with fury at being placed in this situation, before returning to his default state of hand-behind-head. Rinwell nodded. An unspoken agreement immediately formed between them that they would not discuss any sounds they heard tonight any further.
Law flopped back into an armchair and stared off into space. Rinwell decided she would break the ice. If he went back upstairs, it would mean going back to mental arguments over the bed situation while images of Shirtless Law drifted across her mind's eye.
"So," she said. "Still wearing those pajamas Kisara bought you?"
"What?" Law said. He looked down at his body, covered in patterned red and black. "Yeah? I like them."
"It's just that they look stupid." She wouldn't have put it so bluntly, but it was a word Rinwell was focusing on a lot tonight.
"What?" Law snarled. "No they don't! Why does that even matter for pajamas?!"
"They have feet, Law."
"Yeah!" Law lifted a cloth-clad foot proudly, showing off the paw-print design on the bottom. "I've never felt anything so warm! I would have killed for a pair of these back in Cyslodia!"
Rinwell shrugged. She realized that Law couldn't really see that from where he was, so she just said. "Why did you pack those, anyway?"
"Why not?" Law said, putting his foot back down. "We were obviously going to stay the night here."
"What do you mean?" Rinwell said. "It didn't start snowing until we were already heading out."
"Well it's just, you told me you wanted to take a day trip out of Viscint, all the way out here, just to deliver a single bag of popcorn," Law said. He leaned forward and grinned fiercely. "I know how you work, Rinwell. You can't just let yourself relax and take a day off to see our friends, you have to invent some errand for yourself. We were going to wind up spending the night one way or another. You just wouldn't say so, because you don't ever say how you really feel."
Rinwell bristled. Law was always infuriating when he thought he was being smart, but this was the indignity of indignities. How could Law of all people accuse her of not being honest with her feelings? She had to drag every compliment out of him kicking and screaming. Half the time he did try complimenting her he either embarrassed himself or just started talking about punching things.
She turned over, facing away from him. He couldn't see her properly in the darkness, so hopefully he would just assume she had gone back to sleep. Right now she'd rather just go back to her mental arguments.
"It makes me happy, you know?"
Rinwell turned back towards him. Curiosity overcame her. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, you know, we have problems talking to each other sometimes," Law said, smiling gently. "You have your books and your artifacts and I can barely keep up with that sort of stuff, so we don't always get along the way we should. Sometimes I feel like we can't talk the way Alphen and Shionne do. So it's nice that I can see what you mean without having to talk about it. We have a bond."
Rinwell sat up and took a better look at him. She hadn't expected to hear thoughts like that coming from Law. She had read a book once that discussed the effects of sleep deprivation, and how people who were tired tended to be much less inhibited. Was Law thinking about these sorts of things all the time?
Law grinned again. "I just can feel what you really mean, you know? Like when I'm bracing before a really hard left hook."
Ah. These were definitely Law's real thoughts.
Law smacked his fist into his palm as a demonstration, and the sound reverberated through the room. Silence came in after it. Law and Rinwell both looked up, realizing that the noise had stopped.
"Ah. Um." Law slowly stood up. "I guess I should get back to bed."
"Wait," Rinwell said.
Law stopped and looked down at her. "What?"
Rinwell's mind raced with ideas about bonds, beds, stupidity, popcorn. Law without his shirt on. It was a lot to take in, and she didn't want to send him away just yet.
"Uh, well..."
"Yeah?"
Rinwell suddenly came to a conclusion. Maybe Law was right about her not being honest enough with her feelings. And if he was, he might be right about them having an unspoken bond. The path out of the bed conundrum immediately became clear.
"Well, you probably don't want to head back up straight away," she said. She held up her blanket cautiously. "And it's really cold down here. You can stay warm with me if you want."
She rolled over, freeing up more space on the couch. Her heart hammered in her ears. It would be a bit of a squeeze, but hopefully Law wouldn't be stupid enough to mention that.
She felt the blanket shift, a warm body slide in behind her, and two big arms hesitantly touch her shoulders. She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good night, Rinwell," he said.
There were no more mental arguments. She just basked in the warmth and let her mind go blank, and felt herself quickly dropping back to sleep.
"Good night, Law."
Hopefully next time she brought down some food for Shionne, their bond would be big enough to fit in a proper bed.
Alphen gargled, and spat into the sink. He eyed his reflection in the mirror, adjusting it to catch the morning sun through the window behind him.
Shionne walked past and gave him a quick one-armed hug. "It's my turn to do breakfast. What do you want?"
"We've got sausages and stuff for pancakes. That should cover everyone one way or another," Alphen said. He tugged a comb through his hair, and watched Shionne through the mirror as she disappeared down the stairs.
A few moments later Shionne came back up the stairs.
"Change of plans," she said sharply. "Get back in the bedroom."
"What?" Alphen said.
"You heard me, I said back in the bedroom," Shionne said. "We're going to lie still and quiet until we hear somebody waking up and Law sneaking back into the spare room. Then we're going to act like we're just waking up and sense nothing amiss. There are developments underway that we aren't going to disturb. Let's move."