Chapter 9: Home

"I'm home," Beth shouted as she came in the front door. She but down the bag she was carrying and closed the door. She smelled sugar and plants from the kitchen, and could hear her uncle working in there. And a small explosion.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Ken yelled.

Beth walked in. "Again? When will you learn?" It has been a week since they got reunited, and they now rented an apartment near the guild. Ken started learning Celestial Magic from Lucy when she had the time, and Beth was doing jobs around Magnolia. She looked around the room and saw the batter on the walls and ceiling, and the plants she grew in pots in the window. She also saw that lettuce, carrot pieces, and strawberries were everywhere on the counters and table. She smiled and pulled her uncle, who was wearing a formally white apron now rainbow with food stains that wouldn't come out after washing it at least a hundred times, away from the stove.

"Why were you making salad on the stove with it on?" she asked when she felt the heat.

"It's not the stove, it's the oven," he said as pointed at it. Beth looked inside and found a half done cake in the oven, it's top looking like it was about to burst.

"What did you do?" she asked as she grabbed a toothpick and poked a hole in the top of the cake, deflating it slowly but surely.

"I wanted to surprise you with dinner and dessert, " he replied as Beth swept the greens off the counters and table into a strainer, "but the food wouldn't let me cook it. The greens especially didn't like me."

"I'd say the cake hates you more," she said as she ran the greens under the tap to wash them.

Ken looked around the room. "Yeah, it took me three batches to get enough batter for the cake into the pan. The rest decided to be free of me and live on the walls."

Beth chuckled and shook her head before setting the greens into a bowl after drying them off, and grabbed some paper towels. Handing some to her uncle and running her own under the tap, and started cleaning up the batter from her plants and the ceiling, using her magic to help her reach. Her uncle did the same for the lower walls and counter and table tops. They took a half hour to get the batter cleaned up, and then set the table for the two of them. Beth also took the cake out of the oven, this time it looked normal and smelled even better. She set it on the stove to cool. After an hour, they sat down to dinner, and Beth ate most of the salad.

Ken chuckled. "Tough job?"

"No, I just had to do a lot of running around. This guy was slippery, but I finally cornered him in an old warehouse on the edge of town. Took all day and I skipped lunch.

He wasn't much of a fight though."

Ken nodded. "Well, let's hope this streak keeps up. Maybe we can have a house instead of renting soon."

"If we don't, I can make a treehouse."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," he said chuckling. "So you ready to frost that cake?" Beth stood as an answer and got a jar of chocolate frosting and some sprinkles. They frosted the cake, and Ken added sprinkles as Beth ate the remaining frosting from her spreader. She somehow got it on her nose and didn't realize it. "You got something there," he said, gesturing to her nose. Beth looked at her nose and tried to lick it, failing miserably. Ken chuckled as she used her finger to get the frosting, humming in triumph as she ate it.

—

"Morning, Beth," Mira said as Beth walked into the guild hall. Beth nodded her head in acknowledgment and went over to talk to Natsu, who was currently in front of the job board with Happy.

"Hey Natsu," Beth said. "What ya looking at?"

"Nothing in particular. What about this one Happy?" Natsu took a flier from the board and showed it to the exceed.

"Looks good. We can handle it on our own?"

"There's a key in the reward, so maybe get Lucy." Natsu looked thoughtful for a second. "Hey Beth," he said turning to the other wizard, "was Naymmi acting strange for the last seven years you were with her?"

Beth thought for a second. "Not normally. Some nights, she would practice her magic when she thought I was asleep. When she stopped for the night, I would hear her sigh and talk to herself. Mostly it was plans for the next day or a new spell she would teach me, but a few times it was 'I'm lucky,' 'I never knew we were different, but it saved us,' or 'don't fret, the time is soon.' And she would stare at the moon. I'm not sure what it meant. But now that she left, I know something's up. Maybe those phrases mean something." Beth looked at Natsu. "Any ideas?"

"None. But if I hear any dragon related activity, I'll let you know."

"Thanks." She turned back to the job board. Maybe this one. She reached for a flier. Natsu looked over her shoulder at it.

"Tracking a thief down. Why are you only doing jobs in Magnolia?"

"You need to travel," Happy said.

"My uncle isn't the best cook, and we're still working some things out. I need to make sure he'll be okay if I leave."

"Best cook as in?"

"The kitchen looks like you went overboard except with food and not fire."

Natsu laughed. "That bad, huh? Yeah, makes sense. See ya, Beth," he said walking away with Happy to find Lucy. Beth took the flier and was about to exit the guild hall when she heard a crash behind her. Then "how dare you touch my cake!" reached her ears. Gray and Natsu ran passed her and she ran with them, even though she didn't do anything.

"Why are you running?" Gary asked her as they ran from Erza's wrath.

"So I don't get trampled by you two and to also say race you."

"Where to?" Natsu asked.

"Anywhere."

"You're on!" they said.

Hey they have a house now! And exploding cake batter. What else can ya want in life? Hope you're having a good week. Go get 'em tigers!

-ThinMintE