Mari slowly starts to wake up, realising she’s still on Cassandra’s bed and lying in her arms. She must have fallen asleep alongside her without realising. The last thing she remembers is… right… how in the world does that girl always know the perfect words to soothe Mari’s heart? She basks in the peace and quiet of this moment. She didn’t realise until now, but at some point after arriving here those disconnected emotions seemed to go away. It might be worth looking into them at some point, there’s almost certainly some kind of magical explanation for it, but for now she’s just glad there’s only one set of feelings running through her.

 

Cassandra keeps her room dark as much as she can, but the traces of orange that can be seen through the edges of the curtains tell Mari that the sun is setting. The two of them must have slept for a few hours then. She also notices a couple of glasses of water on the nightstand, her parents must have checked in them while they were asleep. Mari thinks about how fortunate Cassandra is to have parents who care about her like that, especially considering her circumstances, as she holds her just a little tighter.

 

It’s been a long time since anything like this has happened, so even if it was the result of her plans going south, she can’t help but feel a little lucky to be here, like this, at this moment in time. Mari wishes it didn’t have to end, that she could stay like this forever. She never stopped loving Cassandra, even after having her heart broken, and times like these are what she’s always dreamed of. Maybe it’s not all bad though, if they can still have moments like this without actually being together, then maybe it’ll all be okay anyway. Even if it’s not enough to fully satisfy Mari, it’s still better than nothing, right? As long as she can still spend time with the one person who was always there for her, she’ll be able to manage.

 

Mari’s train of thought is interrupted as she starts to feel Cassandra stir, she must have moved around a bit while she was waking up, which roused her friend out of her own slumber.

 

“Mmm… Good morning, Marielle.” She says with a satisfied smile.

 

“I’m afraid there’s still a ways to go before morning, Cass.” Mari sits up and puts her legs over the side of the bed. “Sorry if you’re a little sore or anything, I didn’t expect to fall asleep as well.”

 

“No, not at all actually. I think that did both of us some good, you’re looking a lot better.”

 

“Yeah, thanks for all that. I… I think I really needed it.”

 

“Thank you for getting me home so quickly, I keep forgetting how strong you are until you pick me up like that, Marielle.”

 

“C’mon Cass, you know I lost most of my muscle mass years ago. You’re just… light enough that you’re easy to lift…” Mari does her best to not mention, or even think about, the fact that the only reason it’s become so easy to carry Cassandra is because she’s slowly losing more and more weight as the years go on.

 

“I suppose I shouldn’t keep you here much longer though.” Cassandra says while letting out a small yawn. “You’ve probably got other things to take care of, right?”

 

Mari sighs, and takes a sip from one of the glasses. “Yeah… I guess I do… Not having to worry about money helps a lot, but there’s still a ton of work to be done on that house before I can say I’ve properly moved in.”

 

“I can imagine, a place that big must be a lot of work to maintain.”

 

“Oh absolutely, I’ll get there eventually, especially once I’ve got more dolls, it’ll just take a long time. Definitely doesn’t help that I have to fit all of that around my work schedule though.”

 

“Do you need to keep working so much though?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“You’ve mentioned before that your only real expenses are food and medical stuff at this point, right? It sounds like you could cut your hours down and still easily have all the money you need.”

 

“Yeah… Yeah, you're right…” Mari says, shocked that she never even thought about that. She’s so used to working as much as she can just to survive that the idea that she doesn’t have to keep doing that now that she’s better off never once popped into her mind. Now that she’s stopped to consider it, it’s a very appealing idea, and she can’t help but think of the possibilities.

 

She’s already saved up a fair bit since the move, so emergency funds are sorted, why not start taking it a bit easier from here on out? It would certainly mean she’d have more time to learn magic and make some more dolls, not to mention more time to spend with Cassandra. Even just having some time to actually relax would be a godsend, Mari feels like she’s been scrambling to get things done ever since the witch left town.

 

“That’s a really good idea, Cass. I’ll be able to sort everything out with the house much sooner that way.”

 

“Sounds great, I’m sure you’ve got a lot you want to do once that’s all taken care of, right?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I don’t know, I just thought you’d have some big plans for the place, especially with you becoming a witch and all.”

 

“I mean, I’m not really a witch. I’ve just picked up a few spells that I needed to get by, I don’t think that really counts.”

 

“Marielle,” Cassandra chuckles, “you can teleport around town and create animated dolls to do chores for you, I think you meet the requirements.”

 

“I dunno, I just… I’m not sure I’m important enough for a title like that. Could I really call myself a witch?”

 

“Well, you’re still learning magic right? When does it stop being something you’re doing because you need it to live in that house, and when does it become something you’re doing because you want to?”

 

“I… Well…” Mari puts her hand to her chin, twice in one afternoon Cassandra has stopped her in her tracks with something that she never even thought to consider until now. If she’s being completely honest with herself, she’s technically already crossed that line, right? She did just spend several weeks practising a spell to do something nice for Cassandra. That had nothing to do with taking care of the house, in fact, she put her plans for that on hold to do so. There are other things she wants to do with her magic as well, but she doesn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up on that front, not even her own, so that’s staying tucked away in the corners of her mind until she has a better grasp on what’s possible.

 

She also can’t blame Cassandra for thinking she’d have some plan for the place once she’s finally able to settle in properly, but everything happened so fast she feels like she never even had time to put any thought into it. Her old apartment wasn’t much more than a place to keep her stuff, and even if she could afford to do more with the place, there wasn’t much that the landlord would have allowed her to do. But she can do whatever she wants with her new place, and it would be a waste to keep most of those rooms empty, wouldn’t it?

 

What could she do though? Now that she’s taking the time to ponder what to do with the place once she’s able to maintain it properly, she’s drawing a complete blank on what she could actually do with it. Mari’s never really had the luxury of being able to think about her future all that often, there was always too much to be dealt with in the present, and the one time she did have a dream in mind, when visiting Cassandra for the first time after her lungs were saved, that dream ended up getting dashed.

 

Mari gets up, starting to wander a bit as she thinks about all of this. “I think I’m going to need more time before I can give you a good answer.”

 

She finds herself stopping near the shelves in the corner, and looking at the figurine of the knight.

 

“Is everything okay?” Cassandra asks, unsure what’s grabbed her attention.

 

“Just thinking about something” Mari replies, picking up the figure to inspect it. “It’s probably a little silly, but looking at this got me thinking. She’s probably been pretty lonely standing watch on her own over here for all these years, maybe I could do a little searching and reunite her with her friends.”

 

Cassandra smiles wistfully. “I think she’d appreciate that a whole lot, Marielle, just make sure you’re taking care of yourself first, okay?”

 

“Don’t worry, I will.” Mari puts the figure back on the shelf and walks over to the bed again. “Thanks again for today, Cassandra. It started out pretty shit, but everything after that was… really nice. If… If it’s okay with you I think it would be good if we could keep doing stuff like this every so often.”

 

Cassandra almost looks a little surprised, and for a split second Mari thinks she can feel that distant sadness return, but it’s gone again before she can say for sure, and Cassandra regains her smile. “That would be nice… I enjoyed this as well.”

 

“We still gotta redye your hair as well, Cass, these roots are getting pretty bad.” Mari says while gently grabbing a lock of Cassandra’s hair, the brown is much more prominent than it was the last time she was here.

 

“Yeahhhh, I know… I’ll text you if I’m up for it next weekend” Cassandra playfully pushes her hand away, and Mari steps back, getting ready to leave. Cassandra’s in a good mood, but Mari knows she still needs more sleep.

 

“Hey Cass… I’ll try to think of better places we can go in the future, but once everything’s been taken care of it’d be nice to have you over to my place sometime.”

 

“That’d be great, I’m sure all your other friends would love to see it as well.”

 

“Yeah, of course… Okay, I better let you get some more sleep, I’ll try to make sure it’s not as long until my next visit.”

 

The two exchange goodbyes before Mari jumps back home, hoping to have a quiet night after everything that happened today, although she’d find there’s still a bit to do after arriving in the lobby, as she finds Naomi sobbing on the floor again. Apparently her arriving home much later than she planned led the doll to think that she had forgotten all about it, and was never coming home. It took some time to calm it down before she could start to think about anything else.

 

Tomorrow is Sunday, and it seems like a good time to finally get started on that second doll. Maybe having one more around the house will help with Naomi’s unexplained abandonment issues as well. The only thing she wants to do tonight is send an email to work, asking about reducing her hours, but she can’t stop thinking about some of the things Cassandra asked her today.

 

What does she want to do with this place? Exactly how much magic does she plan on learning? Will that mean she becomes a witch? Is she one already? Does she actually even want that? How will her answers to any of these questions affect her going forward? While considering all of this, one particular thing her friend said earlier in the day sticks out to her:

 

‘There's no longer a place for me in that world.’

 

And Mari finds herself wishing that she can create a world where Cassandra does belong.