Dinner was awkward, to put it mildly. Neither Asra nor I talked very much. Both of us had a lot we wanted to say, but not in front of my mother. We'd never hear the end of it with how much she used to tease that we were dating.

Were we dating now? It was pretty clear we had feelings for each other, but we hadn't really talked about what came next. I think I'll try to pull her into the workshop so we can finish our talk, but first, it looked like Mother wanted to talk.

"Do you have any plans for the rest of the evening?" Mother asked as we finished cleaning up.

"A bit," I answered. I wanted to look through what I had on hand and figure out what materials I wanted to use."

"Would you accompany me to the temple?" A wave of cold washed over me at my mother's words. Was she leaving again? "I have a meeting early in the morning. and it would be best if I spent the night there." Mother finished with a bit of sadness in her eyes.

"Yeah, definitely. When do you need to leave?" I asked, feeling a bit dumb for jumping to conclusions.

Mother thought for a moment before she answered. "Now would probably be best. I have a lot of paperwork I need to get done for your endorsement."

"Sure, just let me change first." I told her. "Um. Do I have to do anything special to take this stuff off, or does water work?"

"Water probably wouldn't help too much as most of it is water resistant..." Mother said with a warm smile, pilling a runed cloth out of nowhere. "But this should work quite well."

Without questioning it, I took the cloth and made my way to the bathroom. I wanted to finally get a look at myself. No one had let me near a mirror since they finished my makeup.

I didn't have words that could describe how I felt when looking in the mirror. I looked like a hot witch who was ready to kick ass, and I loved it. All I needed was a nice hat, and the look would be perfect.

Reluctantly, I started wiping the makeup off my face. I loved the look, but it definitely was not something I wanted permanently. I was going to have to ask them to teach me how to do it myself, wasn't I?

It didn't take long for me to wipe off the makeup with the strangely ever-clean cloth. The cloth took off the makeup like a damp rag to chalk. Intrigued, I decided to take a look at the rune work later.

As soon as I finished, I was off to my room to change my clothes. Quickly extracting myself from my clothes, I started looking through my closet. I picked a black shirt, denim trousers, and a sports bra and promptly put them on. Finally, I slipped back into my boots and was ready to go.

By the time I got back to the living room, my mother was already waiting by the door. "I'll be back in a bit." I called to Asra, who was relaxing on one of the couches.

"Stay safe." She shouted back.

Mother and I swiftly made our way over to the auto-carriage, where she started entering the destination. Apparently, Lyra had let us borrow it while I was asleep. I guess she was planning to use one of Sophia's or something if she was even planning to come home.

My mother's words ripped me from my thoughts. "You know I could hear you two from the kitchen, right?" I cringed at the overly happy smile that spread across her face.

"I always knew you two would end up together. It was just a matter of time." Mother teased. The self-satisfaction look on her face only made it worse.

"WE'RE NOT DATING!" I shouted a bit louder than I had intended before continuing with a mumble. "We haven't actually talked about that part yet."

"I know, sweetheart. I was just teasing you." Mother told me, smiling brightly. I grumbled, and she continued. "Just take your time and try your best. You know she loves you."

"I know it's just... overwhelming. I never really considered being in a relationship as a feasible possibility, especially after Asra told me she was a lesbian." I explained. "I have no idea what to do, and I just don't want to disappoint her."

"Sweetheart, no one knows what they're doing in their first relationship. You just do your best and hope it works out." Mother tried reassuring me, but I didn't feel any less worried.

I simply nodded in response, unable to muster any words that wouldn't betray my inner doubts. I knew logically that what she said was true, but my worries still swarmed in my mind. I really hate my brain sometimes.

"Do you need any help with anything for your projects?" Mother asked with a knowing look, changing the topic.

"I should have everything I need for the sword." I said, pausing for a moment to consider what I needed for the teleportation network. "I do need a location where I can build a third gate, though."

With a bright smile, Mother made an offer I didn't expect. "I can take care of that. What do you think about building it inside the temple?"

"If that's something that's possible, then I think it's the best option. I didn't think that was something you could just do." I told her.

"It's done then. I'll have a room ready for you in a few days." Mother said with a sense of finality.

Mother and I stuck to lighter topics for the rest of the ride. Mostly, I tell her stories about my daughters. By the time we got to the temple, she seemed quite excited to meet them.

After a quick hug, Mother stepped out of the carriage, leaving me alone. Shifting my attention to the console panel, I began deciphering how to set the destination. I hope my talk with Asra goes well.

As I step through the door, I notice Asra quickly turning away, trying to act like she wasn't watching the door. A smile crept across my face at the thought of her watching the door the entire time I was gone. Nervous Asra was really cute.

With a heavy sigh, I dropped onto the couch next to her. "I'm back." I said, smiling up at her.

"Welcome home." She answered back with a much more nervous smile.

"So about earlier..." I started her nerves growing with each word. "Are we dating now? I don't really know how any of this works?"

That seemed to have not been what she had expected me to say. She froze for a moment, seemingly waiting for her mind to restart before answering. "If you want to be. I don't know how any of this is supposed to work either."

"YES!!!" the word flew out of my mouth as soon as she finished speaking. "I mean, I'd love to."

"I think that means we're dating now. Man, that feels a bit surreal to finally be able to say." Asra said, her nervousness slowly fading.

"I know, right. I spent so long telling myself this would never happen. That it would never be possible. But here we are, girlfriends. It's like a dream come true." I excitedly told her.

"Oh, so you had dreams about being my girlfriend? That's nice to know." Asra teased.

"Yes. Yes, I did." I admitted bashfully. "They were some of my favorites."

"Oh." she uttered as a light blush bloomed across her cheeks before she continued, a bit uncertain of her words. "Any other dreams I can help make come true?"

Laying my pointer finger on my chin, I thought over how I should answer. "I can think of a few things." I teased. "But most of those should probably be saved for later. It's best to see if you can swim in the shallows before going into deep waters."

"That's probably for the best. Rushing into things most likely wouldn't end well." Asra agreed.

"So what now?" I asked after an awkward moment of silence.

Asra hummed in thought before answering. "I'm not really sure myself. I guess just do whatever feels natural, and if you are worried you're going too far, ask the other how they feel about it. Communication is key, as they say."

"Sounds good to me." I told her as I leaned into her side. A wave of relief washed over me. I hadn't expected that to be so simple.

"You still planning to look over your materials tonight?" Asra asked.

"Yeah. I can't really afford to be lazy right now." I answered reluctantly. I really didn't want to get up. "Any ideas on what I should use? I was thinking I'd use Mithril as the base."

Asra hummed as she pondered her answer. "Well, it will be going to Lyra in the end, so the lighter you can make it, the better. Despite her weapon form, she's more of an agility-based fighter. Maybe something to do with fire. Just to make sure those royals don't get too comfortable."

"I like your idea." I said, a smirk spreading across my face. "Very devious."

"Oh, hush you. that's nothing compared to some of the things you've done." Asra replied with an indignant tone.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just an innocent little girl." I said, trying to look as cute and innocent as possible.

"Ha. Tell that to Teryous Inverik. He still has nightmares about your 'punishments.'" Asra rebutted.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." I told her, feigning innocence.

A heavy sight escaped Asra. "Of course you don't. Don't you have something you need to be doing?"

"But I don't wanna." I complained, sounding much more whiny than I had intended. "You're too comfy."

Suppressing a laugh, Asra looked down at me with fondness. "I'll give you a kiss before bed if you get through everything."

I jolted upright at her words. "Promise?" I cringed internally at just how desperate I sounded.

"Promise." She returned with a smile so warm I wanted to cry.

"Fine." I said, extraditing myself from the couch. "Do you want to come with me?"

"I think I stay out here for now." Asra answered. "I'll go to the storeroom with you, though. After you're done looking through the workshop."

"Alright." I called out as I made my way to my workshop. "I'll see you in a bit."

Once in the workshop, I rushed over to a series of shelves and chests. Digging through them, I looked through what I had on hand. There wasn't enough of any one material to actually complete the task. Still, it was enough to get the ideas flowing.

As I looked, the image of a blade began to form in my mind. It was a single-edged, one-handed blade. The blade was narrow but a bit thicker than you'd expect it to be. The extra thickness was to compensate for the complex runic arrays etched into its surface, each inlaid with mana crystal. The whole thing ended in an intricately woven silver basket hilt. It was going to be a challenging build, but I think I can pull it off.

I grabbed a few chunks of mana crystal and brought them over to a large grindstone. Tossing them in, I started working them into a coarse sand. After transferring the mana crystal into a large bowl, I mixed in a few other reagents. The end product was a grainy paste that I would fill the etchings with. Once heated, the paste would crystalize, bonding to the metal and enhancing the enchantments.

Setting down the bowl, I turned to the door. I couldn't get any further with what I had on hand. It was time to head to the shop to search the storeroom.

gNatonthewall

Hello, everyone. What did you think of the chapter? September and Asra are officially together now! I hope I wrote their talk well. I don't actually have any personal relationship experience, so I hope it turned out well. The next chapter will be all about crafting the sword, so we'll finally be having a really crafting-heavy chapter. Thank you for reading, commenting, and favoriting. Have a nice day.