Orion returned with Kamala after an hour.
After saying "Show me the ingenuity you possess and fulfil those objectives.", Orion showed what true training was.
He made her suffer for forty-five minutes, training various ways to use magic in order to defend and attack at the same time.
"We're back."
Orion waved after crossing the portal, something he was used to do now. He kind of liked waving at people.
"Lady Kamala! What a terrible state!"
Timothy ran to support Kamala, who was completely exhausted.
"You lack stamina, and not a little."
He turned with a cold look. She saw it quite a lot, so much that she was used to it by now.
"What did you do to her?"
Timothy was slightly angered.
"I trained her. I needed to know what she excels in and what she lacks of."
"She is strong, I'll give you that. But other than that, there is a serious lack of efforts."
Timothy looked at Kamala who was walking toward her chair after passing him.
*sigh*
She sat on her chair and let out a long sigh of relief.
'It's feels so good to sit down.'
"Someone that fall on the ground gasping for air after fifty punches is not made for long battles. The moment that happens, be sure that the enemy will not hesitate."
Kamala twitched.
"Orion, just in time. Amelia is done."
He looked at Karteira.
"Alright. Let's go eat. You too. Timothy, you should go back."
"Heh?"
He made a weird face, because he received an order coming from someone other than Kamala.
"I can't go back without Lady Kamala!"
"Timothy, please. You don't want to stay here. I'll be back before you know it."
He looked at his tired Lord, and made his choice.
"Alright. Nothing can happen in here anyway."
Orion created a portal in front of him, and lead Timothy back into the other side.
"Lady Kamala, I'll see you later."
She nodded as he disappeared in the portal.
Orion returned, and the portal closed.
"Time to eat."
Kamala followed Orion, who himself followed Karteira.
"There's less stuff around, did you tidy everything?"
He looked around and saw that the furniture was almost completely removed from the outside.
"Yes, I took the time you were away to place them inside. I've bothered Amelia quite a bit, but we have a place to eat inside now."
"Thank you for doing that. I should have been the one to do it normally."
Orion wanted to apologize, but instead chose to thank her.
"Don't worry, I managed to see the result before you, so I'm happier like that."
She smirked at him.
'At least she's happy, compared to the one behind me.'
He glanced at a dejected Kamala.
During their training, he told her something that completely broke her will to live.
"Oh, the door."
Orion smiled when he saw it. He was so used to the house without any door, that now it looked funny.
"I've installed it. It was tough, but not impossible. There was a guide with it, so I simply followed it."
"Good work."
He praised Karteira, who really liked it.
"Welcome in!"
With exhilaration, she opened the door for them.
"Thank you."
He walked inside and saw a long carpet going from the entrance to the back of the room.
"Of course not all doors were placed."
Karteira said, returning to reality.
"I didn't expect you to finish the house in an hour. Don't worry about that."
The house wasn't painted yet, so the bricks were still visible outside and inside. The stairs leading to the first floor wasn't made yet, and the doors weren't all placed.
There was quite a lot to do still.
"To the right please."
Karteira led Orion through the door frame on his right.
Inside, there was a large table, and many chairs.
"The dining room?"
"Yes, that's what Amelia thought. She also said that she made a mistake in the construction."
'A mistake?'
Just when he thought that, Amelia came out of the room linked to the dining room.
"Karteira, help me. Orion and Kamala, just sit wherever you want."
"I'm coming."
Karteira disappeared with Amelia inside the other room.
In silence, both Orion and Kamala sat.
Orion always liked to sit on the side of table, so he sat there. Kamala sat in front of him.
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"Take, that. And that too! No, not that. Yes, this one."
'What are they talking about?'
He was curious, until Karteira appeared with tableware in her hands. Amelia was behind her holding a large pot in her hands.
They placed everything on the table.
"Today's vegetable broth. There's also some meat, so eat as much as you want."
Amelia said, a huge smile on her face.
Everyone was at the table, so Orion took this time to speak about his plan.
"Amelia, Karteira, we're going to spend a month in this space starting today."
Silence fell in the room, until Amelia asked the question in her and Karteira's mind.
"Why? You know we haven't finished buying everything we needed. What are we going to do about our food's stock? We've also left our bags inside the inn. And what about that urgent matter?"
Those were definitely valid questions.
"After we've ate, we'll go back to the other side and finish whatever needs to be bought. We'll buy enough food for a month, and we'll pick up our bags."
He continued.
"Us staying for a month here is related to the important matter in fact. What I'm going to say might surprise you, but Kamala is way too flawed to fight against Ivan in her current state."
Kamala twitched, and Karteira couldn't help but ask.
"Does that have something to do with her lack of stamina?"
Orion nodded.
"It is part of it. I cannot help her with her elements, but I can help her with building more strength being her punches. And for that, I need a month."
"Luckily, staying a month in this place amounts to twelve hours on the other side, so we can use this to our advantage."
'And I can work on this house too. I can't let these two do everything.'
Both girls fell in deep thoughts.
'Well, it is a month with Orion. We can familiarize ourselves in this home.'
Was what Amelia thought. There was no way she would refuse a moment of peace in her life.
'There's a few things I want to try, and this looks like a good opportunity.'
Karteira was thinking about training.
"I don't see any problem in doing that."
"Me neither."
Together, they agreed to his proposal.
With that said, they all stopped bothering with this conversation, as it was time to eat.
The tiredness Kamala felt was washed away by the delicious food Amelia prepared.
For everyone, eating her food was a great relaxing moment, as it was both good, and appeasing.
~
After eating.
'Alright, let's do some work around here.'
Orion had moved into the corridor, and looked at the inside.
'I should probably start with the stairs, now that I think of it.'
There was indeed no way to go, upstairs. And from what Amelia told everyone, this was were the bedrooms were.
'Good thing I've found the planks necessary for that.'
'But...'
He looked at his hands.
'There's no tools.'
The lack of tools was indeed a problem. He needed a hammer, something to cut the planks to the right size, metal pieces like nails, and many more things.
"What are you doing?"
Amelia walked from the dining room, right behind him.
He turned around with a bothered look."
"I was going to make the stairs, but now I only realized that I don't have the tools necessary for that."
"You want nails? I've already gave Karteira the hinges for the doors, so here."
She opened her hand, and nails began to appear right after the other. There was so much it began to fall on the floor.
"..."
"Oops."
She giggled after showing another absurd thing to Orion.
"You're better suited at making things than you are to fight."
This was his honest opinion. She was indeed strong, but when it came to crafting things and play with variations, this is were she shined the most.
"You don't even need a mold anymore."
"No, it only works for small parts. I can't do anything large. If I had to compare, it's like forming my daggers."
It clicked inside his head.
"I never thought like that."
He opened his hands, and the light and dark spheres formed slowly.
'I want a hammer and a saw right?'
The spheres began to change shape, while Amelia looked at all of this with an amused look on her face.
'I knew it, I'm not the only one able to picture what I want.'
She was happy that Orion could also create whatever he wanted, even if it was limited by his formless elements.
But sadly, it didn't go that well for him. His elements were hard to manipulate, they were used to two form, crossbows and daggers. Asking them to change was refused the moment he tried.
Instead, he received two daggers in his hands.
A smile appeared on his face.
"They refused."
He looked at their current form. It seemed like they like the form of Dawn and Dusk, closely looking like them.
"I'll do it with them. I'm sure I'll find something."
He shrugged and walked past Amelia, outside the house were the planks were waiting.
'Have fun with that.'
She smiled and walked toward the end of the corridor. She placed the nails there, and then returned to the entrance, to enter the room in front of the dining room, where the living room was going to be.
Orion stopped in front of the pile of planks and took one. He walked inside and tried to fit it between the wall, and the brick railing.
'I think I can make at least two stairs with one plank.'
He placed his daggers on the floor, and picked the one that was the most useful in cutting, Dawn.
'There right?'
Orion slashed straight while holding the plank, and sliced it perfectly straight.
'I forgot about the wooden beams I need for support. They should be outside too.'
He returned outside and began his hard work.
Dawn continued to be used to slice everything, while Dusk, surprisingly, was good in changing forms, so it helped hammering the nails in place.
One after the other, Orion began to create a simple, sturdy, and aesthetically pleasing staircase.
Placing the wooden beams on the side diagonally, and then placing one linked to both of those diagonal beams to place the stair on it.
He did that repeatedly for four hours.
"Orion, I heard you hammering for a whi- Wow!"
Karteira walked inside the room after training for a few hours. She stopped walking and observed a sweating Orion looking at his masterpiece.
"Hey. I'm done. We can go upstairs now."
"Wait, already?!"
Amelia's face appeared from the door frame of the living room. She was completely unbothered by the noise he made until now.
He made a thumbs up, proud of his hard work.
"I've tried it multiple time, it shouldn't break, ever."
"That's great! Let's go upstairs immediately!"
Amelia was so excited that she didn't wait for them and simply walked upstairs alone.
Karteira looked at Orion, and Orion looked back at her.
They both shrugged with a smile and followed her, even though they were both tired.
The layout of the first floor was slightly different, in that there was only a corridor leading to five rooms.
"How do we divide the bedrooms?"
Amelia turned around, and asked them.
"Let's see the rooms first, and then we'll decide. Though, I already have an idea."
Orion remembered the layout of the first floor. There was five rooms, one being the only small room of the floor, while the other four were equal in size.
"I don't really care about which one I get, they're all the same right?"
Karteira didn't mind having any of them.
"Alright."
Amelia nodded, and they all walked further inside the corridor. There a window at the end, letting light come in.
"So, on our left, there the lone room, and on our right, there's three rooms. I already now how it's going to end, so let's make it quick."
She continued.
"Orion will go on the left, I'll take the one furthest, and Karteira will take the one in the middle. The last one will stay empty for now, while we build a guest bedroom in the smallest room for Kamala."
"Why?"
Orion found it slightly unfair to give Kamala a small room.
"She's not going to live here permanently right? She doesn't have the need to have a lot of space for decoration or whatever. Also, it's not that small, so don't look at me like that."
In the end, Orion agreed to her points.
"In that, case, what we need the most are beds right?"
Karteira said, remembering the things that needed to be bought.
"Before that."
Orion stepped forward. He took out a carefully wrapped item from his pocket.
"I have a gift for you two."
"..."
They stay silent, in shock.
'A gift? It's the first time I ever received one from him!'
Amelia was excited.
'Eh? Why for me too?'
Karteira was confused why she was going to receive one too.
He first walked to Karteira, and touched her hair, above her right ear.
Once done, he walked toward Amelia.
He wrapped his arms around her neck, and walked away from her.
"I hope you like it."
A little blush appeared on his serious face, and he walked downstairs without saying anything else.
Karteira traced the shape of the item. It was an hairclip with a strange shape.
Amelia touched her neck, and felt something new around it.
They looked at each other, trying to understand what they received, also trying to stay calm.
Amelia was the first to describe Karteira's gift.
"It's a blue flower."
Orion, knowing a lot about flowers from reading, found the perfect flower to represent Karteira.
He chose a Zephyranthes flower, symbolizing 'Rebirth'. It was also called a Fairy Lily sometimes.
Even though both didn't knew the meaning of the gift, Karteira felt a need to grab her chest.
She turned to Amelia and look at what Orion gave her.
"You have a pendant around your neck. I don't know what that jewel is, but there's a sort of pearl attached to it."
Amelia touched the little ball attached to her pendant. What Orion found was a pearl from the Cape of Pearl Waters. An extremely difficult item to obtain, considering the place it was at.
At first, Orion thought that it was fake, but he realized that it was indeed a real pearl. There was magic flowing from it, a sign of it being the real deal.
"This is the first gift he ever gave us right?"
Amelia said to Karteira while touching her pendant.
"Yes, but why me too? Am I that important?"
Amelia nodded.
"You are. Orion doesn't have friends besides me. You being someone this close to his own personality only strengthened his feelings, I think."
She continued.
"You are our friend. Not an ally, or someone we can use. You are more important to us than you think."
"And I think that's why he decided to give you something too. You have been having a hard time with your own feelings, and he's trying to help you."
Karteira stayed silent.
They stayed like this for a few minutes, basking in the feelings.
"We should go, we still have to buy a lot of things."
Karteira broke from her thoughts, and forced Amelia to return to reality.
"You're right, let's not make him wait longer than we already have."
They both walked downstairs, where Orion was discussing with Kamala.
"You're finally here? Alright, let's return for now."
A portal opened, leading to the other side.