Day 14 - Domestic Fluff

"It seems selfish to admit, but...I had nearly forgotten the part of life which is composed of simply being people."

Nia snickered. "Must be because of all that refinement you've got."

A Melia Antiqua without refinement was hardly a Melia at all. It made the kicks all the kickier, of course. How was it that a mage contrived such a manoeuvre as her signature?

The rule of contrarianism, which Nia had mastered, in a different frame of nuance. The thought made Melia smile.

"It looks well on you."

"Does not! 'specially since you've known me for a good while, now. Made me right uncomfortable, and I hated lying to you, outright - you know that's what it felt like!"

Quite a different frame, indeed. But, as Melia gazed around the gardens they'd built at the Great Intersection, full of carpets of hanging plants from both worlds spiraling about in raucous growth together and stones fortified with new and magnificent alloys, she thought it perhaps best not to overanalyse, after all.

That, truly, was what she had missed. In truth, what she'd never known: the easy air of entertaining total strangers, not as a regent or monarch of any kind, but simply as a person. Of course, she'd supped with her close companions many a time; enjoyed Fiora's hearty cooking, Sharla's tart wisdom, Reyn's boisterous humour, Dunban's peculiar stories, Riki's even more peculiar perspective, and Shulk's...Shulk. But this, this decadent stage of getting to know someone...

Well. Even if she'd known her in the most intimate of ways for well over a thousand years.

Tea, they enjoyed together. Different blends, but due to availability rather than a matter of strict preference. Nia had a great love for regional cuisine. Melia knew of tenderer things about flowers.

Such blissful, precious time.