Honestly, Tara would have preferred staying at home for a month on end at least. Matteo had friends to catch up with and stories to share with Mark; she had a still-unfinished sketch hanging on her wall that she could very well spend an entire day on and still make barely any progress.
Unfortunately, with an anxious mind like hers, even if she tried to briefly resume life as per usual she wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. She just had to make due with making it a reward of sorts—some time to herself and her own projects after a month of running around pleasing a god. It would be fitting.
Matteo went out to go with his friends after eating breakfast; Tara helped Adelinde and Rene clean up, then Adelinde left for the conversatory. Tara’s thoughts weren’t necessarily in one place, moving from the final step of Itzun’s game and her projects and idle musing on if there would be snow. She couldn’t really focus on one thing or the other.
Rene must have noticed, standing by the door waiting for Tara to come down with her sketchbook and pencils. Her mother offered a slightly concerned look as Tara reached the top stair.
“Is something bothering you? You look a little distracted.”
She half-stumbled, not expecting the question. Rene gave an apologetic look in response.
What would be the best way to put it? “I’m just…thinking.”
It was accurate enough, at least. Rene didn’t seem convinced.
“Could you tell me what you’re thinking about?”
Tara shook her head. “It would worry you. I’m fine.”
“That’s the excuse I gave Adelinde when I was doing stuff for the Dazuz family,” Rene pointed out. She did her best reassuring smile, more convincing than she likely expected it to be. “I want to help, if I can—I’d rather know than feel like you’re hiding something.”
She still didn’t want to admit the main cause—having to bind her own blood somewhere. Even if she just had to prick her finger with something sharp, Rene wouldn’t be pleased to hear it. If she could avoid telling her or Adelinde, she would; Matteo wouldn’t even know if he wasn’t the one to translate the instruction.
Tara continued down the steps without answering Rene, which made the latter frown a bit. She spoke up again once Tara reached the bottom.
“Would it help if Adelinde and I came with you two?” Rene asked kindly. “Then we can treat it like a short vacation—and we can look and see if we can start planning a trip to that place you saw. That should help keep things lighter, at least.”
Tara considered it. She might not mind the privacy, but it would guarantee that they heard from her; if Matteo was serious about telling them, he would likely wait until the last moment just to give Tara the chance to say it herself. Matteo wouldn’t be put off by the lack of conversation, either.
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“…It might,” she decided after a minute.
Rene seemed pleased enough with the answer. “Then we can get two extra tickets while we’re there. Worst case, we just turn in the extras, but I should be able to take off without any issues if I say it’s for you kids.”
She murmured some agreement. If nothing else, if Itzun was wrong—about the amount of blood needed, about her still living afterwards—it wouldn’t rely solely on Matteo to tell Adelinde and Rene the results. For better or worse, they would see it for themselves.
…
They bought tickets for the trains that would take them there and the trains that would take them back; it would be another week before they could leave, but at least they had everything planned.
Rene and Tara went to the conservatory after finishing up at the station, gaining Adelinde’s approval for the plan while there. Rene left around midday to work; about an hour later, Adelinde walked Tara home before leaving to give a friend’s child piano lessons.
Tara didn’t mind being home alone—not while it was sunny, at least. Considering the chill outside, snow was more likely than rain, so if any weather did come it would be silent.
She worked up some kind of motivation to work on her hanging drawing, trying to focus on some detail work near the bottom. She couldn’t draw on the wall itself—if only because fixing mistakes would be nigh impossible, and it would smudge far too easily—but a canvas the size of the wall would work just as well. It might be a bit much for one person, but…maybe she could have the chance to draw something with someone else later. She would be as normal as possible once this was done.
She didn’t keep track of the time, only remembering to stand up and stretch a bit when the front door opened downstairs. There were a few murmurs—she could only really hear Matteo’s voice, although there were two others that likely belonged to his friends—then the door closed again.
Tara sat her pencils aside and waited by her door for Matteo to get up the steps. He half-jumped when he glanced over on his way to his room.
He chuckled once he recovered. “I didn’t expect you to be home. Did I worry you?”
Tara shook her head. “Adelinde locked me in, so I knew it had to be someone with a key. Is it late?”
“About four fifty.”
“…I’ll head down to the music room, then.” She was at a good stopping point for now; she didn’t want to be halfway through one section just to be called down for dinner.
Matteo nodded some agreement. “I’ll be there in a second, I just have to put some stuff away.”
Tara murmured in response and let him go; she took out a sketchbook and reclaimed her scattered pencils off the floor before going downstairs. She took a seat against the wall and flipped through her sketchbook for something she could color; she had a few unfinished sketches from the overseas trips.
She looked up once Matteo came in, carrying a book and making his way towards one of the chairs.
“Adelinde and Rene will be coming with us,” Tara said. “The train will leave next week.”
“Good to know. I can get some work done with Mark in the meantime.” He cast her a half-curious, half-serious look. “Have you told Mom and Rene the details yet?”
“No. It’s not something I want to bring up out of nowhere, nor do I want anyone else to hear it. I’ll have to explain if they’ll see me, I just…need that time to think of a good way to phrase it.”
“…I guess that works. But I’m glad you have some sort of plan thought out.”
He reached a chair and sat down; they fell into silence as he started reading and Tara continued drawing. Adelinde came home shortly afterwards and sparked some conversation with Matteo, the latter mostly just relaying the best parts about his day to her. Rene came home and started dinner about thirty minutes later, and they all migrated into the kitchen to wait.