"I swear, this is the most math I've ever done." I had my head resting in my hand as I looked over my floor plan. I was sitting in a tree a few hundred feet above the ground, cross-legged with the papers in my lap.

"How do you think I feel? I have to grow the trees into the shape you thought up, using your diagram as a guide." Seraphina was standing effortlessly a few branches away, having had the winds take her up there. I really envied the graceful immortals. They made everything look easy and effortless, whereas I've been half way to clumsy my whole life. Immortality didn't change that one bit.

"You're the one who agreed to do it." I glanced at my drawing of the place. Even with all the math I'd done, most of it was an approximation. I wanted my ceilings to be around 10 ft. tall and for there to be three or four floors. That much I knew for sure. "So how are we gonna do this?"

"We?" Seraphina lifted an eyebrow at me.

"You know what I mean. Floor by floor, all at once, what?"

"Gradually. I have to be careful how I rearrange the trees. I could end up harming them if I do it wrong." She considered the tree that was going to be the main part of my home. "For that reason alone I am glad you asked me to do this. Not all immortals able to re-shape trees in this manner would be so considerate about it."

"You really do care more for plants than you do people, don't you."

She turned to me, eyebrow up again. "With my past, would you?"

"Probably" I watched as she stepped forward, completely confident that the trees would support her. They did. As she got to where the branch would have broken, more moved to steady her and she kept walking towards what would soon be my house. When she was standing where a few minutes ago had been open air, but was now crisscrossed with branches supporting her weight, she gracefully raised her arms, palms towards the tree, while a look of concentration took over her features.

I watched as the tree started to bubble outward, slowly. It looked like a kid blowing a bubble with gum. Part of me couldn't help but wait for the pop. While she moved the tree around, I stood up and gingerly walked towards her, careful to step on the thicker branches only. As I got close to her, some branches made a little platform to her left. Aw, for me? You shouldn't have. I stepped onto the platform and the other, unnecessary branches went back to their original position. I wondered if they did that on their own or if she'd done it. I shrugged and turned my attention back to my home.

The bubble had now gotten to be bigger than a four-door car and was stating to spread around the trunk of the tree. It was weird to watch, the tree growing that rapidly. After the bubble - I don't even think that's what it technically was - had made it's way around the tree it started expanding more. It was surging upwards and outwards at the same time. It wasn't necessarily fast, but it was pretty quick compared to a tree's normal growth rate. Compared to how long a normal house took, too. A few times I held the floor plan up so she could check it, but overall I was just a spectator.

A few hours later the tree had settled into the right shape and Seraphina and I walked over and climbed in through one of the windows. Well, I climbed, she widened the opening so she could walk in. As I took my first steps around my home I had a small smile on my face. The first floor was basically three rooms; a kitchen, a bathroom and the living room. The living room took up about 1/2 of the space and he kitchen took about a third. There was a little doorway connecting each room and an actual door for the bathroom - because who want's the world to see them doing their business? In the center of everything was the tree itself. Despite the drastic shape change, the trunk itself had stayed the same thickness. That's because the center of the tree - the rings and such - were what Seraphina had used to re-shape the tree into my house. This allowed for access from the ground for those immortals who couldn't fly. Oh yeah, the center of the tree was now a spiral staircase. Awesome, right? All of the empty space had been moved to what I was standing on. I'm not gonna claim that I understood how she did it - nature's not my thing - but I will claim the genius behind the idea.

We walked to the opening that lead to the stairs and went up one floor to my library. The entire floor was library and library alone, with the bookshelves built in - or grown in - and everything. There were windows to let in natural light, like the whole house had, but aside from that, every inch was made for holding my books - literally. Up on the top floor was my bedroom. It was way smaller than the two previous floors, maybe a little smaller than the living room downstairs. Curving around behind the staircase was an alcove that would be my closet and the rest was bare. Well, everywhere was, but that's besides the point.

I turned to Seraphina. "It's amazing. Thank you so much, again, for doing this." I walked over to the nearest window and looked out at the vast expanse of treetops. I'd chosen one of the tallest trees to make my home in, so that I'd have an extra layer of natural camouflage, what with all of the lower branches hiding the place from view.

"There is actually another fifty feet of space left near the ground that I could rearrange. The staircase doesn't extend to the ground at this point." She'd come to stand next to me at the window, and was smiling at the blatant sign that, here at least, nature hadn't been snuffed out by the mortals.

"I don't know what else to add to this part."

"I could add a porch around the first floor. A sort of landing zone for those gifted with flight."

"That's actually a really good idea!" She shot me a look. "Oh, no. I'm just surprised I didn't think of it. Maybe we could have a rooftop porch too? That wouldn't take much right?"

"I could do that. And I could form some furniture as well."

"Now that would be really helpful. Tell you the truth, I wanted to ask you about that, but I didn't want to be asking for too much." She smiled regally, not looking at me. Ever since she'd come to the window she hadn't been able to tear her eyes away from the view. Aside from the look she shot me, that is. She wasn't the type for small talk. Good thing I could talk enough for both of us then, huh? "So... Finish this one first, or start on the others?"

"I believe I can finish on my own. To be frank you're in the way." Alright, so, part of me wanted to be insulted. The rest of me locked the aforementioned part in a closet and told it to shut up. I wasn't about to get into it with Mother Freaking Nature. I'd rather not be the reason that Armageddon came to be, thank you very much. "As well, if you aren't around the finished product can be a surprise."

I was suddenly happy that I hadn't been insulted. Seraphina might be a cold-hearted bitch from time to time, but she really was a good person under the thousands of years of betrayal and heartache. I still wouldn't want to piss her off, though. "Can't argue with that logic. Oh, and remember, I need a place for Del when he visits."

"You don't need to remind me about that. Every time Selie drops by she begins with a complaint about him." She smiled at me in a way that could almost be considered friendly. "I should be done by tonight or tomorrow, depending on how much I decide to add."

"Well, thank you. Again."

"You are welcome. Now leave, so I can get to work." She gracefully shooed me out the window.

Standing on a nearby branch, I looked back in to see her walking out of the doorway she'd made for herself. Sometimes, it was really hard to keep from disliking people, you know? She couldn't have made the door for me too? I shook my head a little as I called my wings, launching into the air.

Half a day later, I was back at the South Pole. After leaving the building site, I'd activated the first few wards on my way, the ones that would hide the sight from anyone. I'd get the others later. Anyway, as I dropped through the entryway and landed on the floor, the same nostalgia I'd felt when leaving my room a few days prior washed over me. Last time I'm here as a resident. I heard Sel's and Jack's voices wafting from the kitchen, and if Del's snores were any indication, he was there too. Might as well let the cat out of the bag. I headed towards where I knew everyone was congregating, equally dreading and anticipating their reactions.

When I got there, I stopped in the doorway, watching them. Dude, stop it. You're being creepy! ... Don't be creepy, don't be creepy... I giggled a little at my silent reference to Warm Bodies. I walked into the middle of the conversation, Sel seeing me first. "Story! You are back just in time!"

"For what?" I sat about halfway between her and Jack. Del was sleeping near the other end of the room, which meant the room vibrated every time he snored. Yeah, I wasn't gonna miss that either. As much as I love Del, snores that can shake a mountain are not conducive to a good night's sleep.

Jack was still smiling from whatever they'd been talking about before I'd walked in. "I'm about to head off to the annual meeting."

"So, did Bunny win?"

"Yeah, it's at the Warren. Wanna come?"

The nonchalant way he'd said it made it sound like he was offering me a cookie. Want a cookie? Want to go to the Warren? Same. "I'm invited?"

He shrugged. "Everyone liked having you at Christmas. So what if you're not officially invited by everyone? Rules were meant to be broken."

I snorted at him. "Sure. Eternal spring would be a nice change of pace." And a good warm up for me telling you I'm moving out. No pun intended. "When do we leave?"

"Half an hour. I can be the last if I want. Bunny always makes us wait, I figure the least I can do is repay the favor." He smirked.

I got up from my seat. "Alright. I'm gonna go change then. I'll be back." I caught Sel's eye as I walked away from the table. She got up as well, saying she was heading to the library.

I stopped in the hallway and waited for her. When she came out she followed me until we got to my room, where we were free to talk without any fear of our voices reverberating back to the boys. "So? Is everything set?" She sat on my bed, curling her tail up and around her.

"Seraphina's almost done. She adding a few more things since there's extra tree left that we didn't count on. But she can to that without me, so I was gonna pack up everything and tell the boys, buuuut..." I gestured towards the kitchen.

"Yes." She nodded. "Are you going to tell Jack there?"

"Most likely. Could you do me a favor?" I went to my closet and pulled out a change of clothes. "After Jack and I are gone, could you tell Del for me? After he wakes up?"

Sel almost smiled at the thought she'd be breaking the news to him. "It would be my pleasure."

"Don't be mean to him when you do it."

She looked at me, flabbergasted. "Me? Mean? I would never!" The smile at the end of her outrage fueled outburst gave her away. I threw a balled up shirt at her and she swatted it away. "I am going to go and find a book to read. Del could be out for a while." She slid off my bed but paused at the doorway. "Story?"

"Yeah?" I looked over from where I was re-hanging the shirt I'd thrown at her.

"I am happy for you. I hope that your new home is all that and a bag of chips." With that and a smile, she glided away, leaving me my privacy to change.

I stared after her for a few minutes before changing. All the while I looked around my room. No, not my room. My former room. I'd have to get Jack to help me take my art off the walls, but aside from that, I could pack by myself. I really hoped he didn't take it badly. I'd think about that when it happened though. Instead of re-hanging my clothes like I usually did, I instead folded them neatly and left them sitting on the bed. Why hang them up when I'd be packing them when I got back?

I walked out of the room that had been mine for seven years. Come to think of it, I'd spent the same amount of time in our first house, when I'd been little. Back then my room had been decorated with Barbie and Crayola Crayons. No I had not drawn on the walls with crayon... there was too much stuff there. I could still remember the multitude of changes that room had gone through. From a loft bed, to a traditional one. From pink to rainbow. From cutesy little girly girl to slightly crazy not-quite girly girl. My room here hadn't gone through nearly as much.

When I got back to the kitchen Jack was idly making ice sculptures. I stopped and watched for a while. He only did it when he was bored and there was nothing else to do, which meant you had to catch him in action. After a minute or two he stopped fiddling with it and sat back a little. Without turning around he said, "Doorway watching is for outsiders."

I moved into the room then, smiling as I did. "I thought I was quiet this time."

He looked over hi shoulder at me, smirking. "You make more noise than a herd of elephants in the middle of a stampede."

"Damn. Well, I guess I'm just gonna have to work on my stealth." I shrugged as I got to the table, leaning down to peer at the finished sculpture. Jack really was good. I'm not too much of a prude that I can't admit talent when I see it... I just like to think I'm more awesome. "Sel the ferocious harpy, huh?" The sculpture was of Sel when she's in what we'd all taken to calling her harpy mode. Basically when she's pissed off. This was the side I'd first met.

Jack shrugged. "Got bored." With a flick of his fingers the sculpture dissolved into a cloud of snowflakes that blew away. "You ready to go?" I nodded as he got up, swinging his staff around as he did. I never could figure out how he was so comfortable with the thing. I mean it was taller than he was, and he always had one hand occupied. This is why I was happy with my telepathically controlled papers. No hands needed, nothing in the way. Then again, after 300 years, I guess you'd get used to it.

As we took off, heading towards Easter Island - which was the most easily accessible entrance to the Warren - we were quiet. I didn't like it. "So, why'd you really invite me?"

He shot me a look. "What are you talking about? I told you already. They like you." I stared at him, suspicion plainly written on my face. "Okay, fine. They're boring as hell, you're not."

"'They' meaning the meetings or the Guardians."

He hesitated before answering. "Both. Sandy usually falls asleep, North and bunny end up arguing about which is more important Easter or Christmas. Then Tooth and Bunny get into it about his eggs ruining the kids' teeth. Then Bunny and I get into it about just about everything, but that's because pissing him off - even mildly - is hilarious. It's starting to get repetitive though, so I figure, if I bring you along, they'll try and suck it up for once."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? They'll 'suck it up'?"

"They, unlike the two of us, actually try and make good impressions on others."

"You got me there. We aren't really known for politeness, are we?"

"No we are not. Which will be hilarious to watch."

Jack had been right. Bringing me to the meeting had shaken things up. Turns out, painting a portrait of the Easter Bunny, is flattery enough that he goes out of his way to be polite to you. Which was doubly hilarious because Jack was being as annoying as usual - to Bunny that is. I've never once thought Jack was annoying. Me, yes. Him, no.

Sandy did fall asleep after the preliminary updates. Sometime after Sandy conked out, Bunny and North got into it about Easter vs. Christmas. It went on for a while. While they argued, Tooth, Jack and I explored a little. The Egg-Golems kept us from going too far. They were at least suspicious of Jack and I. Eventually, I went off on my own a little, leaving Tooth and Jack some alone time. I was secretly rooting for team rainbow snow-cone, not that either of them knew what that meant.

When everyone was heading out, I started to feel nervous. The time was neigh to tell Jack about my new abode. And I was dreading his response. I waited until we were more than halfway back before bringing it up. Well, he brought it up, actually. "Story? What's up, you're really quiet."

"Uh." Now or never. "I've got something to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I'm moving out." I said it really fast, like it was nothing. I don't know what I was expecting. On a scale of 'have fun' to 'don't leave me!' I figured his reaction would be somewhere around 'where you going?'. I was not expecting what he said next.

"What?" He said it the way a girl does. Simultaneously daring you to repeat what you said, and giving you a chance to change it.

"I'm moving out. After Halloween last year I got in touch with Mother Nature and got everything set up. She's finishing the building on my house now."

He stared at me for a few seconds, at a loss for words. "You're just telling me this now?"

"A - well..." I sighed. "I've been busy."

"Does anyone else know?"

"Sel knows. She was there when I asked Seraphina about it."

"Oh, so it's Seraphina now, is it?" He wasn't happy. In fact, you could say he was pissed.

"Jack, what's the matter? It's not like I'm never gonna see you again." He didn't respond. "Seriously, Jack. You're acting like I just dumped you or something." He looked away, still not talking to me. "Really? The silent treatment?"

"You know, Story, I don't know what to say. Congrats on your new house? Thanks for going behind my back and keeping a secret from me?" I stared at him. What the hell? I swear, the littlest thing sets him off. "You know what? I'll see you at home." He smiled humorlessly. "Oh wait, it's not 'home' anymore, is it?" He stormed off, literally. He created a storm behind him. I tell you, it was a good thing that the south was having winter right now, because he could have just set off some serious weather issues.

Battling my way through ice and snow wasn't how I'd expected to spend my day. Not at all. When I finally got to the sanctuary, I was gonna give Jack a piece of my mind. That ass. He could have at least faked enthusiasm for me. It's not like I threw his invite back in his face or anything. Hell, I'd been the one who asked to stay at his place in the first place! He was gonna get it.

After fighting my way through for a few minutes, I had to drop down until I was skimming the ground and moving at a snail's pace. The blizzard he'd whipped up was worse than the one usually around the sanctuary, and I wasn't willing to risk my wings. Dropping to the ground, I let them go. Looks like I'd have to wait out the storm. Or walk. Hell, I was immortal for Pete's sake, a little fall of rain can hardly hurt me now, am I right? Of course this wasn't rain, it was snow. Same difference! It's precipitation isn't it?

So I started walking. And walking. And walking. Honestly, I don't know how far I walked before I got to where the storm was light enough that I could risk my wings. I did know it took me a few hours of walking to get there. Man, was I gonna tear him a new one when I got back. Making me walk in a snowstorm like it was a sunny day!

It took me no time - compared to my earlier trek - to get back to the sanctuary. When I came within about three hundred feet of the entrance, Sel came flying over to me, having noted the raging storm Jack had left in his wake, and my considerable lateness. "What happened?"

"I told Jack I was moving is what happened. He took it like a fucking rejection!" She flew with me to the entrance where we both dropped through the hole to land on the floor almost a hundred feet below. Inside, you could barely hear the storm... but you still could hear it. As I took a step towards my room my foot slipped and I fell face first onto the ice. As I pushed myself up, I noticed that the fine grain the ice usually held to keep us from slipping, had become smooth as glass. "You little fucker." Jack knew that Sel and Del could maneuver fine on the slippery surface, whereas I would be reduced to falling on my face every step.

Sel leaned down and pulled me up. "Here, hold onto my arm. I will tow you around until Jack stops being childish."

"Don't let him hear you say that." I took another step, holding onto Sel's arm for dear life as I almost fell on my butt. "He'll make it worse." With a large amount of stumbling and sliding, I finally managed to make it to my room with Sel's much needed help. I quickly sat on my bed, taking advantage of semi solid ground. Immediately, I shivered, noticing a drastic temperature change. "Is it me, or is it way colder in here?"

"It seems as if Jack is going to torture you until you leave. I can feel it too." Sel had goose bumps on her arms that she tried to rub away.

I shook my head. For once, it seemed like I was the mature one... well, not exactly. If I saw him now, I couldn't promise that I wouldn't be sticking my tongue out at him like a little kid. I laid down on my bed and pulled out my suitcases from underneath it. "Time to start packing, I guess." I opened up the biggest one and moved to sit on my trunk, so I could reach between my closet and my bed. "This would be a whole lot easier if THE FLOOR WASN'T A DEATH TRAP!" I screamed the last part at the top of my lungs, making sure Jack could hear from where he no doubt sulked in his room.

Sel winced at the volume. "I believe you should just ignore him and focus on packing."

"I believe you're right... But I'll probably still scream a few things at him as I do." She rolled her eyes and sighed at the second bit, but didn't say anything more about it. As I packed my clothes, Sel managed to release my art and pictures from the walls. Thank god for Lillends. She stacked them neatly on my bed next to the suitcase. Just as she placed the last one on my bed, a gust of wind came in through the doorway and blew them all over the room. I stared openmouthed alongside Sel. "Did he just do what I think he did?"

As the papers fluttered to the ground, Sel and I were dumbstruck. "I think so."

The last one touched down and my mind snapped. "Oh, hell no!" I kicked off my shoes, knowing I'd get better traction with my feet alone and tore out of my room. I slid a little, but not as much as with my knockoff Toms. I went crashing into the far wall and used it to shove myself down the hallway towards Jack's room.

I heard Sel come out of my room behind me. "Story, calm down!" I ignored her and kept on towards the thin sheet of ice that led to the one room I'd never seen. "Shit. Story think about what you're doing!"

Yeah, I was beyond thinking. It was Jack who should have thought about what he was doing when he messed with my art. He knew that I'd once poked a kid with an craft knife for messing up a scratch board I'd just finished. Screw being the bigger person. "No, this ends now!" I reached the doorway on the opposite side of the hallway and turned to face it, ready to launch myself off the wall. As soon as I jumped, Sel was there holding me back. "Damn-it, Sel! Let me go!" It didn't matter how pissed I was, Sel was way stronger than me, hands down.

Sel glanced towards Jack's room. "Jack!" She had to yell to be heard over me, seeing as I was screaming obscenities. "If you know what is good for you, you will stay in there! The moment you come out, even if Story is gone by then, I wont be!" With me still kicking and screaming - literally - Sel dragged me back to my room and threw me down on my bed. After bouncing once I glared up at her. The patronizing look calmed me down enough to not try and go guns blazing towards Jack again. "I am living with children! I mean, really, Story, I am not the nanny!"

From the doorway came a puff of warm air, and I turned to see Del had laid his head down, blocking it. "What's going on?"

"Story and Jack got into it. It is a good thing I had kept my mind enough to hold her back or we would have a war zone here."

"What happened?" He looked at me with the one eye he could. He probably had his other eye closed.

"I told Jack that I was moving out and he flipped out! Ever since he's been petty about the whole thing! First he starts a blizzard I have to fight my way through, then he made the floor slippery, then made my room specifically colder, and to top it off, he just blew all of my art around my room!"

"They are acting like children." While Sel filled Del in on the unbiased version of events, I was still fuming. I took a breath to try and calm down. It didn't help.

"Jack did know that the thing with the art was gonna piss of both of you, right?" I noticed that Del had strategically blocked any escape route I had... or offensive one as it were.

"If he did not, he does now." Sel had her arms folded and her lips pursed in disappointment. She looked around my room at the works that were still scattered across the floor. "Lets clean this up before Jack decides to do something more, shall we?" She set to work picking up each and every piece of art from the floor. I watched in silence for a minute before climbing over my suitcase to sit on the trunk. Once there I went back to packing my clothes. Sel and I stayed at it for a few minutes before Del cleared his throat.

"I'm gonna go and see if I can talk some sense into Jack." With that, he crept down the hall towards Jack's room. Well, he couldn't fit in the room anyway.

Silently, I packed until there was nothing left to pack. My mind, however, was anything but quiet. As I packed, I slowly calmed down. Mindless labor does that. By the time was zipping the suitcase closed, I was to the point where I could see him in the hall and just ignore him. Don't get me wrong, I was still unbelievably pissed at how much he overreacted. I was just calm fury now. No guarantee that I'd be speaking to him anytime soon, but it was a start. I reached down and pulled out the rest of my bags, setting them on top of the suitcase. I then proceeded to roll each piece of art individually and set them one by one in the bags, zipping them once they were full. All this I did in silence still. Well, that old saying must be right. 'A quiet man is thinking, a quiet woman is dangerous.'

When we were done packing my things - aside from the trunk, which I was still sitting on - I looked around the room, once covered in colors. It looked empty. Not just because all of my things were now absent from the walls, but because my presence was as well. It was weird. "It looks so plain."

Sel sighed, giving the room a cursory glance. "It always does when it is not in use." She looked at me. "I wish that you could have left on better terms."

I shrugged. "Jack will realize how stupid he's being eventually. We'll be back to our usual selves in no time. Well, no time in immortal time, that is." I smirked at her from my perch on the trunk.

"If you say so." She glided over to the bed and picked up a few of the bags. "I am going to take these to the entryway. I will be back in a moment." After grabbing another bag, she sauntered out of my room, pointedly avoiding the end of the hall where Del was still attempting to get to Jack.

I moved back onto my bed, trying not to think about how the floor was still a danger zone. I leaned over, making sure there was nothing left underneath. I spotted something near the back that I couldn't reach from my current position. I sighed resignedly as I slid to the floor, all but laying down to try and keep my balance. I reached back and pulled out a flash drive that had obviously been there for a few years. I knew that because a) I didn't use flash drives anymore, and b) they didn't make them like this anymore. I clutched it tight and called a mini version of my wings.

I flew out of my room and around to the rarely used living room. As I passed Sel I told her I'd be right back, I just wanted to check something. When I got to the living room, I landed next to the game system that was hooked up. We used it mainly to play movies on, but occasionally, Jack and I had been known to engage in a mean game of Mario Carts. I plugged the flash drive into the USB port on the system and turned on the projector. As I opened up the files I was sent down memory lane. This held all of the things from my old laptop, from when I was mortal. I must have dropped it down between the bed and the wall ages ago. As I got to the 'documents' section, I noticed an icon I wasn't familiar with. I clicked on it and a video started playing. My jaw dropped. I'd completely forgotten that I'd made this.

It was a video featuring Jack. I'd made it about a month before meeting him. I'd used footage from the movie as well as fanart from many different sources. It was all set to the song 'Hey, Brother' by Avicii. All of a sudden, I wasn't so mad at Jack anymore. It hadn't occurred to me that he might feel like he was loosing a friend. "I'm an idiot." Okay, to myself I could admit that. However, I've never been the first to cave. I wasn't the one who'd overreacted here, I wasn't at fault. Jack was gonna be apologizing to me, not the other way around. But still... maybe I could have told him sooner.

I sighed as I stood up and unplugged the flash drive. I flew back to my room to find that Sel had cleared out the rest while I'd been taking a stroll down memory lane. Even the trunk was gone. As was my little globe. I went to the entryway to find both her and Del waiting for me. Sel looked up at m from where she crouched near my things. "Del has offered to help you transport your things. I would have, but as Jack is acting up, and I have promised to be here when he emerges, I cannot."

I smiled at her. "Be sure to punch him for me." She chuckled at my comment as she straightened up.

She glided over towards me. I met her halfway, still hovering a few inches above the floor. She embraced me in a hug that could have been too tight if I weren't immortal. "I will miss having you down the hall from me." When she pulled back she set her hand to the right side of my face, smiling ruefully.

"I'll miss you too Hedwig." She giggled lightly before moving around me towards the hallway that lead to the bedrooms. "Don't maul him, alright?"

Without turning around she shouted over her shoulder. "I make no promises!"

I shook my head at her, smiling, before turning back to Del. Hid expression was carefully controlled. Honestly, that wasn't that hard, dragons don't have as many facial expressions as humans, so you usually had to go by tone of voice. "Are you ready to go?" His voice gave away nothing either.

I nodded, reaching down to grab my suitcase. "Yeah. Let's go before the fighting starts." I hovered up and out of the way as Del grasped the rest of the bags, loping the straps around his talons. He moved down the hall to the room he entered and left through, while I soared up through the main entry. I met him outside and, with him following me, we headed off towards my home. Because I had Del with me, we took a roundabout route, to keep him out of sight. The whole flight over, he didn't say anything. Come to think of it, he hadn't said much of anything since I got back. Silence from Del could only mean one thing. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I wanted to but we both know you can't keep a secret to save your life." He didn't say or do anything to show that he'd heard me. "Del?"

"I know." He didn't look at me, rather he stared straight ahead. "And I understand." He sighed, watching the ground race beneath us. "I'm really gonna miss you though."

I dropped down until I was hovering right above his neck, leaning down to hug him as best I could. "I'm gonna miss you too, Morning Breath." I slid down until I was hovering in front of his face. "Just maybe not your actual morning breath." I smiled, laughing.

Del's deep rumble that was his laugh made the air around us reverberate. "It's gonna be quiet without you there, isn't it?"

"Most likely."

"I guess I'm gonna have to get used to that again."

"I guess so." We'd reached the sequoia forest and were almost to my house. I scanned the landscape, eventually spotting the abnormal shape sticking out above the majority of the trees. We dropped down until we were skimming over the giants, heading straight for my abode. "Oh yeah, I have a surprise for you."

"What?" He whipped his head to stare at me.

"I had Seraphina make a space for you so you can visit whenever you want." I lead him over to where it should have been and, lo and behold, there it was. A gigantic nest-like space formed from tree branches. It kinda looked like the inside of a blimp, and was definitely big enough for Del.

He slithered in through the opening, curling up inside like a house cat. "This is nice..."

I could tell by his voice that he was getting ready to fall asleep. "Hey, Del? Think I can have my bags first?"

"Yeah, sure." Without uncurling himself, he stretched out his leg that had been carrying my things until it was near the opening. A few seconds later, he was out. As I untangled the straps from his claws, I couldn't help laughing to myself. I wonder who can fall asleep faster, Del or Sandy? I might have to time them someday to find out, but it was a valid question.

I started carting my many bags into the main part of my house, dropping them all in my bedroom for the time being. When I was done I started looking for Seraphina, checking out the changes as I did. Aside from the porch, she'd made cabinets for me in the kitchen, a table, and chairs. I nudged one of the chairs, seeing if they'd move and they did, staying attached to the floor though, somehow. I crouched down to see closer, moving the chair as I did. Freaky. The chairs could slide any way you wanted, but they wouldn't leave the floor. I couldn't even begin to explain how it worked.

I went to look in other places. A few things had been added to the bathroom, a few tables in the living room. In the library there were a few tables and chairs as well. The chairs here worked the same as those in the kitchen, and it was just as freaky. I went up to the rooftop porch and looked around. Just outside of the staircase was a piece of paper stuck to the tree somehow. As I pulled it off to read I giggled a little. 'I finished with the rest of the building. I've added a few more things than you asked for, but I don't think you will mind. I will be back in Berzee by the time you read this. I hope you enjoy your new home. ~ Seraphina. P.S. Did you anger Jack? There is a large blizzard over the Antarctic ocean that wasn't scheduled.'

I went back down into my room, fwomping onto my bed. There wasn't a mattress yet, but I didn't care. I was going to follow Del's lead and get a little sleep. Maybe by the time I woke up Jack would be over it and ready to apologize. Not likely.