[Cattleya POV]
Why did she have to interrupt ?
I was on the verge of potentially discovering sothing incredible! I know it!
…
…
After so careful consideration, I graciously decided to accept Ava’s offer of lunch, if only so that she would not have an excuse to interrupt later on.
“Okay…” I said as I lowered my arms, watching as the sphere of mana in front of quickly dissipated.
Almost as soon as I did, Kierra got up and made her way over to join Ava on the blanket that had been set out earlier. All in all, it was a quaint little affair, no more than a plain blanket and a matching basket set out on the grass, yet for so reason… it felt like there was sothing more to it, though I could not say what exactly that was that caught my attention.
After a brief mont of hesitation in order to be polite, I made my way over to join the two of them. However, there was not much space left on the blanket aside from an open space next to Ava. As I was contemplating my options, Ava even gestured to the space in question.
“Are you going to sit?” She asked plainly.
…
“Of course I am.”
I just need sothing more… appropriate for my stature…
…
Maybe this is a good opportunity…
I made a show of waving my hand over the ground just beside the blanket, and in re monts, a stool made from the underlying tree roots erged. I had wanted to make sothing much more extravagant, a real showpiece, but unfortunately, I already knew that I had to conserve my mana lest I show a more than embarrassing side of myself.
The two on the blanket looked up at in awe as I sat myself down, making sure to cross my legs gracefully, exactly as I had been taught ti and ti again. This was not the ti to be making any mistakes in my presentation.
“Now-” I tried to speak up, but before I was able to get more than a single word out, sothing yanked on my arm and pulled down to the floor. In the process, my head abruptly collided with sothing firm, not hard; there was just enough give to it for it not to hurt in any way, but whatever it was, it was certainly solid.
“You were just sitting on the grass over there with no issues just now. You’ll survive sitting on a blanket for a few minutes while you eat.”
My eyelids tentatively fluttered open to assess the situation.
“…”
What greeted first was Ava’s face with those bright purple eyes staring down at , hardly a breath away. My instincts imdiately took over, and I pushed away, revealing that what I had fallen onto was none other than Ava’s shoulder. An unfamiliar feeling slowly began to co over , my face sohow heating up outside of my control.
It was a remarkably uncomfortable sensation. I simply could not feel anything other than overwhelming embarrassnt at the situation as it had unfolded. It was most unbecoming of one such as myself. I knew that I was supposed to carry myself better than that.
I need to save face.
I cannot fail this test. I need Kierra to help with this.
I do not have another option.
I repeated those words over in my head until I cald back down. My first instinct was to imdiately get up and re-approach the two of them from the beginning, to wipe the slate clean, but that would not have been the appropriate thing to do at this point. Unfortunately, the best thing that I could do was simply accept the hospitality I was being offered as it was being offered.
In an instant, I recomposed myself, checking both my hair and dress to ensure they were not in any sort of disarray to remain presentable.
“Alright. Might I ask what has been prepared for this lunch?” I asked.
“There you go, that’s much better… I think…” Ava said as she started looking through the basket beside her, “I just put together a few sandwiches this morning, nothing too heavy. I was originally planning on doing sothing else as it has been a few days since I have really gotten to have so fun cooking, but I thought these would be better for today.”
As she brought the sandwiches out, they appeared quite simple, nothing more than plain white bread with so fillings, although there was certainly a variety to choose from.
“Kierra, are you alright helping yourself?” She asked, her wings fluttering ever so slightly as she turned, “There’s more than enough in there, so don’t hesitate to just take as much as you want. I know you were always hungry as could be after training with Mom, so I prepared a bit extra just in case you needed it.”
“Mm,” Kierra responded simply before inching closer, looking through the basket herself and pulling out what appeared to be a sandwich filled with nothing but various different cuts of at.
Ava then quickly turned her attention back to , “So… any preferences? I’ve got quite the selection hidden under here. I’m sure I’ll have sothing you can stomach.”
…
What am I supposed to say?
What’s the right answer here?
…
“What do you recomnd?” I eventually asked, deciding that it would be better than risking asking for sothing that she would not be able to offer.
“Well, I recomnd anything I’ve put together,” She said, “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be offering it to you, y’know?”
“…”
“But if I absolutely had to pick sothing for you…” She pulled a sandwich out of the basket and held it out towards , “Then this would be a good place to start, sothing simple.”
I took the sandwich from her with both of my hands in order to ensure that I would not accidentally drop anything in the process. As expected, the sandwich was not anything particularly special, a few thin slices of at accompanied by a few vegetables and so kind of sauce that I was not able to identify from looks alone.
I was going to ask what exactly was inside the sandwich, but as I looked back up to do so, Ava was already taking a bite of her own.
Well…
I would not want to be rude.
After steeling myself for a brief mont, I brought the sandwich up to my mouth and took a small bite to test it. It was good; at least, it was better than I was initially expecting from its appearance. It was hard to tell what exactly it was, but there was a particularly addicting taste coming from either the sauce or the at.
“It is passable,” I said out of my own surprise and enjoynt, “At least for a simple sandwich.”
“Hmm? I’m sorry it’s not good enough for your… refined tastes then,” Ava retorted, “I guess that ans there’s more for the two of us.”
Wait, that is not what I ant!
I was complinting the sandwich.
…
I don’t understand.
“I did not say that…” I was unsure of what else I could say in response, but no matter what, I had to correct the misunderstanding.
“Sure,” She casually replied, “Well… If you sohow find yourself wanting any more… I guess you’d be welco to take another.”
“I… will keep that in mind,” I said as I took another bite of the sandwich I had been given.
Unfortunately, that bite was not quite like the last one. It was a subtle change, but I knew all too well what it ant; my fangs were coming out again.
But it was not supposed to happen again so soon! It has only been two days!
I know I used magic, but I did not use that much. I barely did any more than a few party tricks.
Despite what went through my mind, I could not deny the proof that was inside my mouth. Instinctively, I reached down for my pocket, only to find that it was not there. I had sohow completely forgotten that I had taken my coat off just before my demonstration.
“C-Can you please pass my coat?” I asked while covering my mouth with my free hand, being sure not to accidentally prick myself on the growing sickles behind my lips.
My coat was sitting just to the side of Kierra. I was hoping that she would be the one to pick it up, but… that was not how it turned out.
“Hmm? That’s no problem,” Ava said as she picked the coat up, “Are you feeling cold all of a sudden? I thought the weather was actually quite nice today.”
“N-No,” I said as I set the half-eaten sandwich down so that I could take my coat from her while keeping my other hand over my mouth, “I-I just need to-”
Before finishing my sentence, I set the coat down on my lap so that I could search through the pockets.
I hope I filled it up this morning.
Thankfully, my fingers swiftly found my vial. I imdiately pulled it out and removed the lid, only to find that there was hardly any wolf blood left inside. In my rush to get the cloak cleaned for this morning, I must have forgotten to fill it back up.
…
There was not anything else I could do, so I just drank what was left in the vial, hoping that it would be enough to at least make it through the rest of this lesson. As the crimson liquid slid down my throat, I could feel my fangs retracting and a weight being lifted from my shoulders.
I took a mont just to let the wave of relief pass over before quickly recomposing myself once again and quietly going back to eating my sandwich. I briefly looked up to make sure I did not accidentally offend anyone with my unbecoming display, and thankfully, aside from so glances coming from Ava and Kierra, it seed that everything had gone over well.
I just need to be careful to keep my magic in check for the next little while.
With that sole thought in mind, I quickly finished off the sandwich I had been given… as well as a second one that Ava was gracious enough to provide with.
“Now, it is ti to go back to the lesson,” I said as I stood up and dusted myself off, “I did not get very far before. But now that you have managed to concentrate your mana like that once, it should be easy for you to do so again. Then, Kierra, we can continue from where we left off.
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