Page 47 of It Varies
“Yes.Lucky me.”
She got her purse and checked her phone.“Is there somewhere I can answer these before I head home and they ambush me?”
“Certainly.Would you like more tea?”
“Um, please.I usually run on caffeine.”
He remained in his robe, walked her into a sitting room in the house, and showed her how to settle on the cushion while Mao fetched tea.
Vine looked at him and said, “Are all the teapot sets here antiques?”
He shrugged.“Yes.Why?”
“I was going to enchant one for never-ending tea, but that would require a bit of fiddling, and it might make them explode, so I would never do it to an antique.”
He smiled and poured the tea when Mao dropped it off.She answered the nine texts from Jennika, Ivy, and Sable.
“Your friends are worried?”
“Always.”She sighed.“Jenn and I started getting closer when she finished school and her sister took off.I helped her get through chef school and ate all of her experiments.”
He looked at her.“You don’t look it.”
“It burns a lot of calories to move against what your body wants to do.”She smiled as she answered all the texts.“I have a lot of weird muscle definition, as you may have noticed.”
Kazuya nodded.“It is common in bad breaks.The muscles form a sheath around the bone if they can.Your body knows the pattern and tries to hold it.”
“Yup.I saw a number of physiotherapists after the court cases were over and my parents were removed as my guardians.”
“Who took over?”
She smiled.“I hired a financial officer and a personal chef.There was also a tutor so I could finish school at my own pace.I started my little experiments and left help around the city when I could.I embedded a call for help in stones and a number of other little bits of hopefully helpful magic.”She kept texting.“I got better as I went along.”
Another text came in, and she sighed.“And now I have to stop at a butcher shop when I head home.”
Kazuya cocked his head.“Why?”
“Jennika couldn’t control herself with the scent of the ribs.And she ate them.Twelve pounds of ribs.Her protein intake in the last two months has been incredible.”
“The pixies are highly carnivorous.The intake of extra protein is usually up to the male.”
“I beg your pardon?”She looked up at him, appalled.
“He should be foraging for her.”Her host chuckled.
“Oh.I had all kinds of mental images.”She smiled.
“Mao will drive you home.”
“I am not going home.I am going to my butcher shop for steaks, burgers, and replacement ribs.”
He shrugged, “And Mao will go and carry everything for you.”
“That’s going to hurt him.”
“Did the five months without treatment hurt you?”
“Obviously.”
