Closed First Date

[Lora]

When the waitress asked what Lora wanted to have she said, “Um, I’ll have what he is having. Thank you.” She smiled warmly at the waitress as she left to get their food.

It wasn’t long until another worker come and brought two wooden chairs out for the child. Lora helped to get Phobos situated in his chair. He was very reluctant to let go of her hair, which he had managed to get his hands on again but she was eventually able to pry him off and return to her seat.

“Oh, right!” Lora exclaimed in reaction to Garland reminding her about the necklace. She pulled it out of her pocket, in doing so, she reminded herself that her cloak was still on and suddenly realized she should take it off. After all she was wearing a fancy dress, why not show it off? She set the box with the necklace on the table and pulled the sleeves of her cloak off her arms and laying the fabric over the back of her chair.

Casting a nervous smile at Garland, hoping he liked the dress, she pulled open the box. Even though it was the second time she had opened it, if was still just as amazing. The silver reflected the warm golden light of the room and the quartz seemed to emanate it. It looked even more pretty than before.

Suddenly at a loss for words, Lora unclasped the necklace and pulled it around her neck. She rarely wore any sort of jewelry so it was not a surprise when she couldn’t seem to get the clasp done. She tried repeatedly but could not get it to work.

Embarrassed by her lack of experience, she looked up at Garland, “I can’t seem to get it on. Do you think you could…?” Her sentence faded off but the meaning was still there, or at least she hoped it was so she didn’t bother to finish her sentence.

By the time she had the necklace situated the waitress had returned with their food. Lora was amazed at how skillfully she was able to carry all for of the dishes without dropping any of them. She set two small bowls in front of the children, who immediately started gripping for it, and then the two salads in front of Lora and Garland.

“Enjoy,” As she bowed and disappeared back to the kitchen.

The salads were topped with beautifully colored bright yellow orange peaches and had a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese on top. Lora remembered when she couldn’t eat cheeses of any kind because of her milk allergy. She was glad it had gotten better that she could eat cheese not so she could enjoy this meal with Garland.

[Garland]

Garland had just only noticed Lora's dress, she was absolutely gorgeous. He just stared at her, at that moment, to him she was the most beautiful thing in the world.

He only snapped out of it when she asked him to help her put on the necklace he gave. "Of course." He got up from his chair and walked towards Lora. He clasped the necklace and smiled. "You know, you look beautiful right now." He said softly with a small blush on his cheeks.

He returned to his seat and looked at the waitress with a small smile. "Thank you." Though Garland hurriedly took the bowls from the twins before they could grab it and spill the contents or throw it at people.

The kids were quite annoyed at that, but they soon didn't mind when a spoon hovered over their mouths. Aneeka took the spoon into her mouth and did not let go. She held the spoon quite firmly and didn't let Garland take it away.

She loved the sweet taste and just sucked on the spoon like it was a bottle, they haven't been fed with solid foods a lot, but they were familiar with the oats and milk, they didn't know about the sweet honey though.

Garland gave up and let Aneeka keep the spoon for now, and then he started feeding Phobos. Garland hovered a spoonful of milk and oats over Phobos' mouth. The boy opened his mouth and took the food. Phobos liked the taste, he smiled and giggled with the new sweet sensation, though doing so made some milk spill from his mouth.

"They're both little troublemakers." He smiled at Lora and took a napkin and wiped off Phobos' spilled milk. "You know... I've missed you ever since you've left. I didn't always acknowledged it, but I really did miss talking to you, even if it was only a few times."

Garland looked at Lora, she looked beautiful with her white dress and the quarts necklace he gave her. It completed her look, she looked like a simple princess, nothing overly flashy, but she did stand out. At least to his eyes she did. "You look wonderful." Garland didn't even pay any attention to his food. He was just glad to spend time with her.

[Lora]

Lora starred in a happy silence as Garland fed his children. She enjoyed watching him taking care of them. It brought out a compassionate side of him that Lora knew was always there but loved to see it played out.

When he said he missed talking to her, Lora took a few seconds to realize he was talking to her. She stared out into space smiling until she snapped out of the daze she was in and nodded, quickly coming up with the best response she could pull together.

“I...um...me too.” She felt her cheeks growing red. She hoped with all her mind that she hadn’t just given away the fact that she had been staring at him. “I mean, I missed talking to you too.” She tried to be polite.

Honestly, Lora had not missed Garland. She had liked him well enough when they had met but as time went on, she had all but forgotten him. She had spent the next few weeks after they met thinking vaguely about him but when it became evident that they would not meet again she had moved on. Especially after she moved to Mura, with all that happened, she did not have any reason to even think about him.

Worried that Garland had seen through her lie, Lora shifted her focus to her food. She picked up the fork that was sitting tastefully on the side of her plate. With one tentative glance at Garland, she stuck her fork into a peach and a piece of lettuce.

Lora raised the combination of food and put it in her mouth. Suddenly self conscious of how she was chewing, she tried to do it as gracefully as one could chew.

She was stuck with how pleasingly the tastes ran together. The sweetness of the peach and the plain, almost bitter taste of the lettuce ran together to create something incredibly good.

“Mmmm,” Lora said, almost against her will. She quickly swallowed the food with a delighted smile. “That is amazing!” She chimed, looking up at Garland. She smiled excitedly clasping her hands in front of her. She watched Garland waiting for him to try the food.

[Garland]

Garland hadn't noticed Lora's lie, he was too busy with the twins. He smiled softly at Aneeka, she seemed to be enjoying the food.

Garland patted Aneeka's head while she ate the food. He hadn't really been paying attention to the food, he had been too busy with staring at Lora and taking care of his children.

He was simply captivated by Lora, though he tried not to stare at her too much, he didn't want to come off as desperate or clingy or creepy. "How was Mura? I always thought of visiting when I finish my training, maybe travel around for a bit. That might seem like a good idea to grow, though... These two basically ruined that plan. I wouldn't leave them for anything." He said softly, he enjoyed talking about his kids, they weren't even a year old but they were his pride and joy.

He absently ate the food, the taste was just as good as he remembered, although he wasn't really paying any attention to the food. He wanted this date to be perfect, he kept his eye out for anything that might ruin in. It would be the first time something happened since this is his first official date ever, still he kept an eye out.

He looked at Lora's face, she seemed to be enjoying the food, he was glad things were going smoothly so far. "I'm glad you like it! I was worried you might not like this place! The food tastes wonderful here, the only reason why I don't eat here as often is the price, but the food is well worth it." He replied with soft grin. The babies wanted to eat now that they've finished the spoonful Garland had fed them earlier.

They slammed their tiny hands on the table to get Garland's attention. Garland smiled patiently at the two kids. Garland took the spoon and scooped up a bit of Phobos' food and hovered it over his mouth. Aneeka saw this and was getting quite impatient, she slammed her hands faster on the table, trying to get Garland to feed her brother faster.

Garland finished feeding Phobos, who looked quite content, and went over to Aneeka, who was very annoyed, yelling and babbling until she got what she wanted. "Stop your whining, you adorable munchkin." He said and kissed Aneeka on the cheek, she paused for a bit and stared at Garland, then continued to smack her hands on the table.

Garland feed Aneeka with another spoonful, she seemed more eager than Phobos was, then again. These two were like opposites at times. "Hehe, these two are hard work. Babies just need so much love and care. I wonder how some people handle them sometimes."

[Lora]

Lora felt an unnatural warm in her chest as she watched Garland plant a kiss on Aneeka’s cheek. She didn’t know where the feeling had come from but she felt her mind wandering to thought of Garland kissing her own cheek. She could almost feel the soft warmth of his lips when suddenly, she felt herself blushing and she felt exceedingly guilty. She bit her lip gently. She had never had those kinds of thought about any one. Certainly, they couldn’t be proper for someone like her to have. She blinked and began biting the ends of her hair. She couldn’t seem to get the warmth to leave her chest. She took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind.

Lora forced her wandering mind to focus as Garland began to speak again. She let out a tense giggle at what he said. “You seem to be doing a lovely job of it. Of what I’ve seen, that is. Who else has to handle them?” Lora surprised herself with the question. It seemed to have come from nowhere and didn’t fit as well with her first statement as she would have like but she couldn’t think of a way to remedy it.

“I could help.” Lora added. “If you ever need it, that is. And I don’t know why you would, since you are doing so well yourself.” She felt herself blushing and worrying if she had offended him.

She looked away from Garland and picked up her fork again. She began to quickly finish her meal. Every bite tasted just as tasty as the first but she was suddenly anxious to get done with the food. She suddenly felt very nervous and wanted more than anything to leave from Garland’s company and return to her home.

When she had finished with her meal, Lora readjusted her gaze to her companion, mouth still full of salad. “Sudoo yuhhh-” Lora cut off quickly, realizing she was trying to to talk with her mouth full. She chewed the rest of the food, fast and then, even faster, gulped it down. Trying to push the embarrassment from her mind she continued as if nothing had happened. “So if you are finished with your food should we go?”

Lora waited until Garland said he was ready and then stood curtly from her seat. Lora suddenly remembered that they had not yet payed for their food. She swiftly sat down again and looked at Garland for help. Because she had never asked him for what she needed, he didn’t respond.

Realizing why she wasn’t getting an answer, Lora said, “Um...how should we ...pay?”

[Garland]

Garland had blushed softly and smiled when she offered to help with his children. "Of course. I would love your help." He gave small grin and looked over to Phobos and Aneeka, they seem to be getting bored of their confining seats.

He fed the two between bites for himself and watched as Lora simply devoured her food. It was very unladylike, but he didn't really care, food was meant to be enjoyed however you see fit.

Though somewhere in the back of his mind he was a bit worried. What if she was trying to finish her food quickly so that this date would be over quicker? The thought made him feel a bit dejected but he tried not to show it.

As both of them finished and the babies were sufficiently full. He planted a few gold pieces on the table. "I'll pay, don't worry. I don't use my money for anything else other than the occasional clothes or food. The knighthood covers my basic needs."

He picked up the two from their high chairs and held them tightly. The two of them seemed quite sleepy now that their stomachs were full. "What time is it? I was hoping we could have a walk in the park but it seemed these two had already changed that plan."

"Come on, I'll walk you home." Besides, I left some of my stuff at your house.

Garland stayed close to Lora as they walked, it was cold but the twins were bundled up quite warmly, along with a bellyful of warm food they were going to be fine for a little while.

The ground was covered in snow and there was a light snowfall happening now. "I wish I could have spent some more time, but I need to get these two back home." He said and walked Lora back home.

[Lora]

Lora felt goosebumps rise quickly from her shoulders as she left the warmth of the building and found herself once again in the snow filled world. A cool breeze drifted over Lora, making her draw her cloak more tightly around herself and almost wish to return to the building. If it had not been for the sudden realization that it had begun to snow, she may have.

The falling crystals enthralled her. She pulled a shivering hand from undercloak to feel small specks of snow dance lightly to skin before melting.

Realizing Garland was not so amazed by the snow and had not stopped walking, she dashed to catch up with him, leaving a trail of small foot prints in the newly fallen snow. She fell into step with her companion. She was so close to him that she could feel the warmth coming off his body. His children breathed out in small puffs of visible steam.

Lora was too astounded by the snow and the presence of Garland that she did not notice when they reached her door. She came to an abrupt halt, as Garland did and stood staring for moment. Hoping he didn’t notice her hesitation and confusion, she hurried to her door.

Fumbling to produce the key from her pocket, her shaking fingers caused it to knock into the sides of the key hole twice before it entered. She turned the lock. It opened with a satisfying click that seemed to bounce off the stone walls of the silent street creating a harsh contrast to the calm sound of the snow settling on the ground.

Lora was able to open the door without a single sound. She entered the room and was just about to say goodby to Garland when she noticed his cradleboard sitting on the her table, lit by the dying light of the remaining coals in her fire.

She smiled and turned around. “Come on in.” She said. “You seem to have left your cradleboard here.” She stepped out of the doorway but continued to hold the door opened so that she Garland could enter.

Once he had entered the room, she allowed the door to pull itself shut.

“I suppose you had better go then.” She said kindly. I hope I can see you again sometime.” She led him over to the table where his cradleboard lay.

[Garland]

Garland walked in and laid the children down on the table and took his things.

He bundled the twins up in their respective cradleboards. He placed them on his back and looked fondly at Lora. "I've had a wonderful time with you." He smiled softly and took her hand.

He planted a soft kiss on her delicate hands and smiled softly. "I hope to be seeing more of you." He said and left with his basket of baby supplies.

The snow was falling softly and the twins were bundled up with full bellies and were fast asleep. He would have liked to stay with for the night but her home was no place for the twins, they could have ruined one of her painting or worse.

Garland walked back to the dorms and removed the twins from the cradleboard and placed them in the crib. He watched the two's chests rise and lower softly as they slept, despite the hardships and whatever he may think from time to time, these two were his pride and joy.

He leaned down and kissed the two on the forehead and went to sleep himself. That night he dreamed of Lora.